Orochimaru's Silence

That night.

"That was too dangerous. Don't ever do something like that again. If it weren't for an energy like Chakra, if you had been even half a second later, your arm would be gone."

Gen'ichi furrowed his brow, examining Might Duy's left hand after stripping away all the Nuclear Radiation.

His flesh and blood were mangled, and even the bone was severely damaged.

It was a miracle given the circumstances.

If Gen'ichi had fully unleashed that jutsu, Might Duy's arm would have been gone in an instant.

Melted on the spot.

"Hahaha, at least the result is good! As expected, the Anbu in the village are reliable!" Might Duy laughed heartily, completely carefree.

"Father..." Might Guy knelt, looking at his incredibly optimistic father with deep emotion.

Then, the father and son launched into another round of lecturing and crying while hugging each other.

It made Gen'ichi's head ache just watching them.

"Father, how did you know Gen'ichi-san still had such powerful strength hidden?" Might Guy asked, bewildered, after he finished crying.

You could say he and Gen'ichi were the closest of companions; they'd been hanging out together for years.

In Might Guy's mind, Gen'ichi was an incredibly lazy guy, very sharp, but completely unconcerned with training.

Dai smiled confidently: "Guy, Gen'ichi-san's strength has always been this powerful. He's always been training intensely in his own way. It's just that for some reason, it wasn't convenient for Gen'ichi-san to use that power."

Dai glanced at Gen'ichi, who was calmly drinking tea with a smile, and instantly recalled the scene he had witnessed a year ago.

To test that jutsu, Gen'ichi had completely ruined his own hands, and over half his body was subjected to terrible corrosion.

Seeing those injuries made even Dai's heart pound; he thought Gen'ichi was going to die and almost went to find a Medical Ninja in the village for help.

"That time was truly dangerous, Gen'ichi-san..." Dai sighed with emotion.

Gen'ichi put down his teacup, pondered for a moment, and said solemnly, "Doing anything requires a price. As long as you believe it is right, you should steadfastly continue doing it. This is... Youth!"

"Oh!"

"Oh oh oh!!"

"As expected of Gen'ichi-san, to interpret Youth to this extent?"

"Ahhh, Guy, do you see? Gen'ichi-san is your role model! Looking at him, you can see passionate Youth!!"

"Father!"

"Guy!"

The father and son hugged each other and cried.

"..."

Damn it.

Gen'ichi felt incredibly awkward, unable to sit still.

He admired Dai and Might Guy's philosophy of Youth and believed these two weren't wrong; Youth itself was a process of desperate effort and struggle.

But damn it...

Gen'ichi watched the two idiots with a pained expression, kept muttering to himself inwardly: "My subordinates, my subordinates, they're precious, I have to adapt, I have to get used to it..."

The father and son, who had rarely found kindred spirits in their lives, were so fired up by Gen'ichi that they immediately rushed out of the house and started competing to run laps around the village on their hands.

"Gen'ichi-san, Father is heavier than me. To make it fair, I also need to find a way to gain weight. You can hold onto me," Might Guy said seriously, upside down, extending a hand towards Gen'ichi.

"...Get lost!"

Gen'ichi watched the figures of the father and son yelling and rushing madly into the distance, and slightly shook his head.

They were truly full of fighting spirit.

However...

"However, I'm just afraid they haven't noticed the Anbu watching them from all sides."

Gen'ichi casually closed the door.

Then he sat on the bed and began Chakra Extraction.

With his powerful senses, he vaguely detected some watchful eyes.

It must be the Anbu.

Whether it was the special traits Gen'ichi displayed, or the characteristics he showed when facing the White-Eyed Brothers during the day, it had already attracted the village's attention.

"Hmm, in this situation, I still don't want Dai to be exposed. Knowing how the village operates, if they really knew about Dai's special abilities, they would absolutely send Dai to the battlefield and wear him down."

Gen'ichi shook his head inwardly.

Putting everything else aside, in the original story, Dai opened the Eight Gates and completely wiped out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Would the village elders feel regret for Dai? Perhaps they would, sighing that they hadn't noticed such a powerful ninja sooner.

But many more would definitely think Dai's death was incredibly worth it.

Trading the life of an unvalued "Genin" for the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, who were on average Elite Jonin level, was practically pure profit! The cost-effectiveness was through the roof, wasn't it?!

Especially when the war was expanding and Konoha was under immense pressure, something like this happening would make the Konoha higher-ups secretly rejoice.

But Gen'ichi didn't want Dai to die like that. If his Youth was to burn, it should be for him, not for the Third Hokage.

"Now, under the guise of awakening a Kekkei Genkai, I can start cultivating a suitable genius persona, a genius who got full marks in political class..."

Gen'ichi smiled.

Outside.

Several Anbu watched for a long time.

"How is it?"

"Might Duy seems fine. His Chakra levels are typical for a Genin. As for Gen'ichi Shiranui's Chakra... how should I put it? The total amount exceeds most Chunin, and the speed and scale of his Chakra Extraction are even more astonishing. What a powerful bloodline."

"It seems he's been intermittently awakening his Kekkei Genkai over the past few years... and hasn't suffered severe physical damage like Gekko Hayate, for now."

The leading Anbu nodded. Awakening a Kekkei Genkai does have some slight effects on the body.

After what happened during the day, the Third Hokage naturally casually instructed the Anbu to investigate thoroughly and see if anything was missed.

At the same time.

In a dim underground laboratory.

Splish!

A man with long hair was meticulously dissecting some animals, making the most of the limited time he had back in the village to conduct experiments.

"Heh heh heh, Anko, I heard you lost today, lost to a Dead Last," Orochimaru's voice was hoarse.

"I'm very sorry, Sensei. Next time, I definitely won't lose!"

Anko, who had just entered the lab, felt uneasy.

Swish!

Several snakes suddenly emerged from Orochimaru's sleeve, then pried open Anko's mouth, bit down hard, and drew out some blood.

"This Original Kekkei Genkai, it's the first time I've heard of it, I'm very curious... losing most of your fighting strength just from a bite of blood, how interesting."

Orochimaru licked his lips, smiling sinisterly.

Currently, he was obsessed with collecting various Kekkei Genkai to uncover the secret of Immortality.

He was extremely interested in special Kekkei Genkai, especially first-time awakeners like Gen'ichi with an Original Kekkei Genkai.

If it could be stably inherited, Konoha would see the emergence of a completely new Bloodline Clan.

"It's quite late, Anko. Don't worry too much about losing the match. I have great faith in your talent and aptitude," Orochimaru said with a low chuckle as he put Anko's cells into a test tube.

But Anko fidgeted, then, blushing slightly, carefully pulled out two skewers of Three-Color Dango from behind her back and offered one to Orochimaru.

"Is there something else?"

"Sensei, this is my favorite food. Here, have half..."

These two skewers were the last two she managed to buy after queuing for a long time.

"..."

Orochimaru was silent for a moment.

"...I see. In that case, I won't stand on ceremony. Just smelling it makes me impatient."