Orochimaru: Constant Change, Unchanging Oddity

Konohagakure, Training Ground 3.

This place is located in a remote forest, beautiful and rarely visited, considered a prime training spot for ninjas.

As long as you submit an application in advance, no one will disturb you even if you train all day.

But now Qing Xuan was starting to regret choosing such a terrible place.

"Uchiha Qing Xuan."

A hoarse voice, like a venomous snake filled with malice, slithered out with the darkest of whispers.

Qing Xuan's single tomoe eyes spun rapidly as he looked at the man walking towards him.

He never expected to meet "Snake Uncle" in this situation.

After all, he was just badmouthing someone behind their back, and then the person in question appeared. It was... pretty awkward.

"I didn't expect to meet you in this situation..."

Qing Xuan gave an awkward smile.

I didn't expect it either! By the way, Snake Uncle, can you read minds?

"No."

Orochimaru's pale face held a playful smile as he looked teasingly at Qing Xuan, whose expression gradually stiffened. "It's just that your expression is too easy to read."

At this moment, Qing Xuan felt a sense of humiliation?

Even Danzo and the Third Hokage praised him for being smart and ambitious, but to Orochimaru, he was just a simpleton who wore his heart on his sleeve?

A strong desire to win drove him to make a face at Snake Uncle. Can you guess this?

Snake Uncle shook his head. "I can't guess."

Qing Xuan was instantly shocked: "You can read minds!"

Asuma, standing nearby, slapped himself across the face. He thought he must be sick, otherwise, why would he so easily believe this person's nonsense?

It was truly inexcusable.

"Lord Orochimaru, why are you here?"

Seeing the Hokage's foolish son, Snake Uncle's smile widened. "I was just free today, so the Third Hokage asked me to look after this new... junior disciple."

As he spoke, his smiling eyes turned back to Qing Xuan. Meeting those eyes, full of resistance, seemed to make him even happier.

"Asuma, you can go back," he said calmly.

Qing Xuan panicked instantly!

No! Brother, don't go! Don't leave me alone to face this pervert!

He looked pleadingly at Asuma, only to find that he was gone.

What the hell? He ran off that fast? Even honest people can't be relied upon!

"Hehehehe..."

A chilling laugh echoed through the empty forest, sending shivers down one's spine.

"Now it's just the two of us!"

This standard opening line for a crime scene made Qing Xuan feel uneasy.

"Uncle, are you the legendary Sannin, Lord Orochimaru?"

He rubbed his face, his stiff expression instantly becoming lively.

At this moment, his survival instinct was maxed out.

"It's no use, Uchiha Qing Xuan."

Snake Uncle's teasing smile never changed. He stared at Qing Xuan, not treating him like a person at all, but stating it as a fact.

"I know everything about you."

A fierce wind suddenly rose from the ground.

It whipped the grass, and the howling wind seemed to cry out in despair as it passed through the forest.

Amidst the sound of the wind, Qing Xuan's innocent expression remained unchanged.

"Then do you know what color underwear I'm wearing today?"

The sudden audacity caused Snake Uncle's smile to freeze for a moment.

He fell silent, his snake-like eyes beginning to scrutinize Qing Xuan, as if contemplating something.

The two stared at each other, each seemingly trying to figure out the other's thoughts.

After a moment, Snake Uncle's gaze suddenly changed. The joy of seeing an acquaintance was gone, replaced by something increasingly unfamiliar.

"You are not Uchiha Ryuu..."

He said slowly, his smile gradually fading, his expression turning cold.

"Who exactly are you?"

Qing Xuan suddenly felt a genuine killing intent emanating from the coldness.

The many questions he had since first arriving in this world suddenly surfaced in his mind at this moment.

Fugaku Uchiha's brother, a living Nawaki, numerous altered plot points, and an Orochimaru who hadn't defected...

No wonder the cave where he first existed looked so much like a laboratory.

Having read many Naruto fanfictions, Qing Xuan's eyes slowly narrowed.

This plot... it's very familiar!

At this moment, he suddenly understood something.

Who did the other party mistake him for at first?

Someone who had been dead for many years?

Or perhaps...

A flash of light crossed Qing Xuan's eyes.

Another transmigrator?

If that were the case, many of the inconsistencies would make much more sense.

Then what was his own identity?

A clone? Or a vessel used by someone for some purpose?

Looking at Qing Xuan, who was frowning in thought, the killing intent in Orochimaru's eyes slowly dissipated, and a playful smile reappeared on his face.

He thought of a very interesting possibility.

"When the numerator changes, the denominator stays the same."

Startled by this, Qing Xuan suddenly looked up and blurted out involuntarily.

"What about the signs, depending on the quadrant?"

Looking at his stunned expression, the smile on Orochimaru's face could no longer be contained, and a hint of fanaticism even appeared in his snake-like eyes.

"As expected!"

His hoarse voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"You really are from the same world as him!"

Damn! As expected of Orochimaru!

As the greatest scientist in Naruto, who was best at breaking conventional thinking, his ability to accept new things was indeed unparalleled!

While Qing Xuan was pondering everything, the other party was also pondering him.

"Where did you hear that phrase?"

He looked up and asked Orochimaru.

Orochimaru hid nothing, his gaze sweeping over Qing Xuan again, as if looking at another unique creation.

"Naturally, I heard it from your father. He always says some inexplicable and novel things."

The tense atmosphere began to ease at this moment.

"Is he really my father?"

Qing Xuan looked directly into the other's snake-like eyes and asked, "I mean, in the truest sense."

Orochimaru's lips curved upwards, and he gave an unexpected answer, "I don't know."

At this moment, he seemed very patient.

"We were partners for a long time. He knows a lot about me, and I know him clearly..."

"Perhaps I don't know him that well, but..."

He suddenly flashed a mischievous smile, as if wanting to see into Qing Xuan's deepest thoughts, and said, "What I can tell you is that Tsunade really gave birth to a child six years ago!"

As if to satisfy his own wicked amusement, Orochimaru began to pour fragmented information onto Qing Xuan.

"He named the child Uchiha Qing Xuan, saying it would be his only child. But that child disappeared not long after birth, and very few people know about it..."

"Tsunade argued with him, and after that, Tsunade left the village. Liu Yun went to the front lines and died there. But before that, he provided me with a set of data about clones, but this data was incomplete, missing too many crucial parts. Even now, I haven't fully grasped it..."

This messy, chronological-like information was utterly terrible, disrupting the set of deductions Qing Xuan had just established. What had become slightly clearer was once again shrouded in mist.

He covered his head and glared at the man who was smiling wantonly.

Are you a fucking shit-stirrer?!