"What is the ultimate meaning of life? Perhaps I could find the answer in Lord Akira."
Orochimaru's golden eyes brimmed with an intense desire to explore, a desire that had surpassed romantic love, power, and worldly ambitions.
It seemed carved into Orochimaru's very bones, leaving him utterly obsessed.
In his view, many people went their entire lives without even knowing what they truly wanted.
Even Elite Jonin, Kage-level experts, and the Kage of a village were no exception.
They merely followed the education they had received since childhood, then summarized or were influenced into forming so-called bonds and dreams.
But to Orochimaru, that was far too childish.
Those were nothing more than concepts passed down generation after generation because of people's selfish thoughts and desires.
A person should devote their life to their own dreams and seek out what they truly wanted in this lifetime.
For Orochimaru, what he had always wanted was never immortality.
Immortality was merely a process. What he wanted was to find the meaning of life within an eternal existence.
To witness the most dazzling scenery in this world—what exactly lay at the end of life?
What exactly lay at the end of ninjutsu?
For that, even if he had to give up his life and everything else, he would do so willingly. Just as he had unhesitatingly chosen to defect from the village back then, all for the sake of seeking the meaning of life.
And now, he had returned to Konoha, disguised himself as a Konoha ninja, and risked his life just to get close to Uchiha Akira.
"Find the answer in me?"
A faint voice sounded behind him, like a breeze, yet also like a deathly wind from hell. Orochimaru's whole body stiffened. He spun around and saw the youth standing there with