The Gloomy Laboratory

Drip...

Drip...

Drip...

The sound of dripping water echoed through the gloomy passageway, making Hyuga Kagami unconsciously pull his robe tighter around himself.

He hated this place. The pitch-black corridor ahead seemed to lead straight to hell, always stirring up all kinds of unpleasant associations. But the One-eyed Viper perched on his shoulder dispelled any thought of turning back.

He had no choice!

Reaching the end of the corridor, Hyuga Kagami pushed open the door. Beyond it lay a fully equipped laboratory, with a figure standing inside.

The figure turned around. "It's Kagami-kun."

Hearing that hoarse voice, Hyuga Kagami's heart trembled. He quickly lowered his head. "Lord Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru watched Hyuga Kagami thoughtfully for a long while before saying, "This laboratory will be yours from now on."

Feeling Orochimaru's almost tangible gaze, Hyuga Kagami did not dare let his thoughts wander and promptly bowed. "Please rest assured. I will work even harder!"

Orochimaru looked away and swept his gaze around the laboratory. A trace of melancholy unexpectedly appeared in his eyes.

"I may be leaving the village. You'll have to find your own materials from now on."

"Yes!"

Hyuga Kagami still nodded obediently without the slightest hesitation, while the One-eyed Viper on his shoulder lazily flicked its scarlet tongue.

After giving Hyuga Kagami one last glance, Orochimaru offered no further instructions and simply left with the Body Flicker Technique.

As Orochimaru departed, the immense and gloomy chakra filling the laboratory gradually receded.

"Whew..."

Hyuga Kagami let out a soft breath.

Recently, Orochimaru's presence had grown increasingly cold and sharp, as though tinged with the smell of blood. Even when Hyuga Kagami merely reported the progress of an experiment from afar, he felt intensely uncomfortable.

Fortunately, those difficult days seemed to be coming to an end.

But on second thought, Hyuga Kagami became somewhat puzzled.

According to his vague memories from his previous life, Orochimaru had seemingly been caught red-handed when the Third Hokage led a team in a raid on his secret laboratory, forcing him to defect.

Yet Orochimaru's behavior just now suggested that he had long since planned to defect and could set it in motion at any time.

Where had things gone wrong, causing Orochimaru to defect of his own accord? Was it because of me?

After carefully sorting through everything that had happened, Hyuga Kagami still could not figure it out. But Orochimaru's defection was ultimately a good thing for him. Whether it had been voluntary or forced was not worth investigating.

Hyuga Kagami's feelings toward Orochimaru were complicated.

If not for Orochimaru's protection, Hyuga Kagami knew he would never have survived the war so easily. After all, seventy or eighty percent of his classmates from the same class had already died on the battlefield.

Even a genius like Kakashi had nearly lost his life on the battlefield, while during the school's group combat exercises, Hyuga Kagami had not even been able to withstand a single move from him.

In this world, weakness was the original sin!

More than ten years had passed since he transmigrated here, yet even now, Hyuga Kagami still found it difficult to adapt to this ninja world steeped in slaughter. That was also one reason he had voluntarily sought refuge with Orochimaru. In terms of combat talent, he lagged far behind others his age. Especially in life-or-death situations, his reactions were always slower than everyone else's.

At times, he truly admired the ninjas of this world. They often possessed the ability to kill at six or seven years old, and going to war around the age of ten was commonplace. Some, like Kakashi, had already become Jonin at twelve, having slaughtered countless enemies.

Hyuga Kagami did not possess such talent. Fortunately, he had been born into the Hyuga Clan and possessed the Byakugan from birth. With the Byakugan's aid, he had narrowly escaped danger several times on the battlefield.

But luck would not always favor him. Watching his classmates die one after another, Hyuga Kagami resolutely chose to seek refuge with Orochimaru.

He had to survive first. Staying alive was what mattered most!

Hyuga Kagami was not without advantages of his own. Thanks to the solid education of his previous life, his comprehension far surpassed that of ninjas his age. Coupled with the Byakugan's innate advantage, he soon distinguished himself in Orochimaru's laboratory, becoming one of Orochimaru's more important experimental assistants and learning much genetic technology from him.

Perhaps because he had witnessed too much death, Orochimaru had become utterly obsessed with the mysteries of life in the later stages of the war.

The most obvious sign was that Orochimaru no longer feared the Third Hokage, no longer adhered to his already meager moral bottom line, and began conducting large numbers of cruel and bloody human experiments.

As a result, Orochimaru also developed a deep interest in Kekkei Genkai such as Wood Release, the Byakugan, and the Sharingan.

Hyuga Kagami's voluntary allegiance allowed Orochimaru to study the secrets of the Byakugan more easily, so Orochimaru had been fairly dedicated in guiding him.

Their interests aligned perfectly, which led to what had just happened.

Of course, Hyuga Kagami had dared to seek refuge with Orochimaru because he knew that before long, Orochimaru's attention would be drawn to forbidden techniques within the village, such as Impure World Reincarnation and the Eight Branches Technique. Besides, with the Caged Bird Seal protecting him, he did not fear Orochimaru conducting human experiments on him directly.

That was right. For the current Hyuga Kagami, the Caged Bird Seal truly was a form of protection.

Or more precisely, for all weak Hyuga clansmen merely struggling to survive, the Caged Bird Seal was not only not a shackle, but a form of protection. Because of its existence, members of the Hyuga Branch Family had avoided much covetous attention from both inside and outside the village.

As for the other reason he had sought refuge with Orochimaru, it was the Tenseigan!

With Hyuga Kagami's mediocre talent, aside from the Tenseigan, he truly could not think of any other way to turn his life around and seize his fate in his own hands.

As for Senjutsu, even Orochimaru found it difficult to master, so it was even more out of the question for him.

In fact, not to mention someone as mediocre as Hyuga Kagami, even Hyuga Neji, the Hyuga Clan genius from his memories of his previous life, had been a tragic character who merely played a supporting role throughout and ultimately died for no clear reason.

The Byakugan indeed gave the Hyuga Clan unparalleled advantages at the Genin, Chunin, and even Jonin stages.

But once one rose to the Kage-level, or even the Super-Kage-level, the Byakugan's advantage became far less apparent. For the Hyuga Clan, which specialized in the Gentle Fist, relying solely on the Gentle Fist to contend against enemies on the level of Susanoo, Jinchuriki, Sage Bodies, and the like was truly beyond their capabilities. Thus, the Tenseigan could almost be called the Hyuga Clan's only hope of participating in Super-Kage-level battles.

This was what Hyuga Kagami had never been able to forget since the very beginning of his transmigration.

But evolving the Byakugan into the Tenseigan was easier said than done. Hyuga Kagami possessed almost no knowledge of Kekkei Genkai, so to achieve this goal, the only person in the entire village who could help him was the research fanatic, Orochimaru...