The Third Hokage's Summons

Konoha Year 38

That day, Orochimaru left Tsunade's residence and returned to his long-neglected little house.

But before he could even sit down, someone came calling.

"Lord Orochimaru, the Third Hokage requests your presence!"

An Anbu ninja arrived outside Orochimaru's house, his voice beneath the mask allowing no refusal.

"Hiruzen-sensei? It has been a long time. Just as well."

Orochimaru did not decline. Since coming to this world, this was the first time he had been summoned by the Hokage.

At Dan Katō's funeral, they had only exchanged a brief glance and had not spoken much.

In the original owner's memories, his Hokage teacher was conservative, rigid, and skilled at political maneuvering.

Under his leadership these past years, Konoha had suffered no great disasters, but neither had it seen any major development.

Balancing and suppressing the major clans was already the limit of his ability.

Looking over his life, there were no dazzling battle records and no outstanding accomplishments.

Other than taking the battlefield during the First Shinobi World War, he had not personally fought in recent years, much less led troops into battle.

As for titles such as "the strongest Hokage of all generations" and "Professor of Ninjutsu," they were only meant to intimidate foreign enemies. They sounded nice, but no one should take them seriously.

His mediocre abilities would have been one thing, but he indulged Danzo's reckless actions. He could even tolerate Danzo sending people to assassinate him.

Danzo had sent people to seize Kakashi's Sharingan and had been caught red-handed, yet he still faced no punishment afterward.

Not to mention conspiring with Konoha's other higher-ups to massacre the Uchiha. Orochimaru truly could not bring himself to like such a man.

The only highlight of his tenure was proposing the squad system of one jonin leading three newly graduated genin. In Orochimaru's eyes, that was the only thing worth mentioning.

After quickly reviewing his past and present life's impressions of the Third Hokage, Orochimaru soon arrived at the Hokage Residence.

"Teacher, you wanted to see me?"

The door was not closed, so Orochimaru walked straight into the Hokage's office.

"Hmm. I heard you've recently been conducting biological research?"

Seeing him arrive, Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped what he was doing and looked up at Orochimaru. His sharp gaze seemed intent on seeing through everything about him.

The instant their eyes met, Orochimaru felt the oppressive aura of one in authority.

"Yes. I suddenly took an interest in it. It is merely something to pass the time when I am bored."

Orochimaru could hardly tell him that he had witnessed too many partings of life and death and wished to explore immortality and pursue the mysteries of life.

If he said that, people would either call his aspirations lofty or think he was insane.

They were all adults. Saying that he had seen too many vehicles on the road and wanted to research spacecraft so he could travel through space would be like saying he wanted to fly to the heavens.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not care whether he was telling the truth. Clearly, the process was unimportant; the result was what he wanted.

"The village has decided to establish a research team responsible for studying the First Hokage's cells and developing methods to fuse and utilize them."

The moment those words were spoken, Orochimaru's pupils contracted. He had thought this project would not be put on the agenda for another two years. He had not expected it to begin so soon.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was pleased with Orochimaru's reaction and continued.

"I want you to serve as the leader of this research team. Volunteers have already signed up within the village. Do you have confidence?"

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, Orochimaru was exceptionally gifted and intelligent from a young age, with great talent for academic work. Moreover, he had recently discovered that Orochimaru was conducting clinical trials.

After deliberation among Konoha's higher-ups, they unanimously agreed that Orochimaru was the most suitable person to lead this research project.

Having experienced the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, Konoha had realized that deploying Tailed Beasts as weapons of war could greatly reduce casualties while also dealing devastating blows to enemy ninja.

Imagine two armies at war. If our side had controllable Tailed Beasts, nuclear weapons of this sort, while the enemy could only throw lives at them, what an overwhelming advantage that would be.

But the best tools for controlling Tailed Beasts were the First Hokage Hashirama Senju's Wood Release and the Sharingan.

The Sharingan was not under consideration for now. The Uchiha clan would never allow Konoha to use their clan's eyes for research.

Wood Release was the most suitable option. Not only was the First Hokage one of their own, but the preserved Wood Release Ninjutsu were also in their hands.

"Confidence is built on data. Before attempting it, I cannot guarantee anything. After all, those are the First Hokage's cells!"

Orochimaru did not make any bold promises. He knew how high this project's failure rate and mortality rate were. How far he could take it remained unknown.

"Hmm. Science must be rigorous. Your attitude is proper. From now on, you will be responsible for this project. I hope that, as before, you will not disappoint me!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe, his eyes filled with appreciation.

After that, Hiruzen Sarutobi explained many more matters to Orochimaru, including confidentiality requirements, personnel arrangements, and so on.

When Orochimaru left the Hokage Residence, he had acquired a considerable amount of material, including a list of volunteers and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju's human research records.

These research records could save Orochimaru many detours. The Second Hokage had been a peerless genius and had gone farther than him down the path of human research.

But his most pressing task now was not reviewing those materials, but checking the system in his mind.

The system's prompt had sounded just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was asking him to lead the research project.

"Host has triggered a world scenario: Hashirama Cells research. You have the following choices.

① Accept the research project. Scientists always rise to challenges. You will receive the reward Heavenly Ghost Evasion (Sonido).

② Refuse the research and live a laid-back life. You will receive the reward Justice Aura."

Faced with these two choices, Orochimaru naturally accepted without hesitation. Konoha's higher-ups had already discussed it, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had placed the materials right before him. Could he refuse?

There was no need to do something so thankless as offending everyone at once. He still needed to remain in Konoha to trigger scenarios, so he had to keep his options open.

Besides, was the Justice Aura reward from the second option meant to whitewash him? Reputation was the most useless thing to Orochimaru. He would rather have something practical.

"Congratulations, Host, for obtaining the space Ninjutsu—Heavenly Ghost Evasion (Sonido). Note: As a scientist, you must run fast when the laboratory explodes."

Although Orochimaru did not know what Heavenly Ghost Evasion was like, he knew Sonido.

As the unique movement technique of the Hollows from the world of the anime "Death God" in his previous life, it had already surpassed Shunpo's method of using explosive force to close in on an enemy.

Sonido was a spatial ability capable of evading sensory detection. It would be immensely helpful in mid- to long-range combat, allowing him to rapidly approach enemies and easily reach them from any direction or angle.