Sarutobi's Memories

Wood Release?

What was that? The Third Hokage was deeply puzzled, but he did not show it.

He knew that Orochimaru's attitude meant Wood Release was something extremely important.

Though he revealed nothing, his calm demeanor still surprised Orochimaru.

This was Wood Release! The legendary power that had pacified an age of war! Yet his teacher was not excited at all upon hearing of it? Or had he long known that Danzo had concealed something so important?

Orochimaru felt that was probably the case.

That fellow Danzo had always been in his teacher's palm.

Orochimaru's feelings were somewhat complicated. If he had not agreed to succeed as the Fifth Hokage, he probably would never have learned about the survivor of the Wood Release experiments.

He would have missed such an important test subject.

What mattered was not the test subject itself, but what it represented: a line of research he had once discarded that was actually a path to success.

And Danzo really had continued researching along that path he had discarded. It was just that, in Orochimaru's eyes, their researchers were far too incompetent. So far, aside from that "Kinoe," they had not produced a single successful case.

That did not mean their research materials were worthless. At the very least, they gave Orochimaru references for continuing research in this direction and saved him a great deal of effort.

Orochimaru was in an excellent mood because a successful direction had been established.

The Wood Release research he had originally abandoned could be taken up again.

And one had to know.

Wood Release possessed tremendous vitality.

Perhaps hidden within it was the secret he so desperately sought.

His heart burned with anticipation now, and he could not wait to resume Wood Release research!

"Teacher, if there is nothing else..."

Action was better than temptation.

"Orochimaru, you are the Hokage now," Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly said.

Orochimaru was caught off guard.

"You should start doing what a Hokage ought to do."

Was he handing over authority early? So readily? In some ways, this was indeed a good thing. But Orochimaru was in a hurry. He felt that Hokage work could wait until he officially assumed the position.

"But Teacher, I am not the official Hokage yet."

"You should familiarize yourself with the work in advance."

"You are more seasoned. I believe Konoha still needs your steady leadership."

The Third Hokage shook his head.

"Young people have more energy to handle these important matters. I am old now, no longer useful."

"...But."

"I'll leave this place to you. You decide everything. Orochimaru, I have faith in how you handle things."

The Third Hokage turned and slipped away.

Was this a joke? He was about to retire. Why would he add more burdens to himself?

He still wanted to properly study martial arts and learn from his failed Bao Dan attempt. Oh, right, he was genuinely interested in ninjutsu too.

He truly had no interest in wasting time on such trivial affairs. Now that he had tossed the work away, no one had better ask him to do it!

Seeing the Third Hokage flee so efficiently, Orochimaru stood silently where he was for a long time.

Did his teacher trust him? Or could he truly no longer bear the pressure and was handing everything over completely?

Logically, should he not have stayed behind first and explained the things to watch out for after becoming Hokage? Passed down some experience?

But the problem was, what Hokage experience did the current Third Hokage have to pass on?

If he went into too much depth on the subject, would he not expose himself?

Fortunately, Orochimaru already understood the village's situation well and had developed his own network and influence within it. His teacher handing over authority so directly did not seem to pose much of a problem to him.

It was just that he had to suppress his researcher's heart and first resolve some of the village's affairs.

So, he sat down at the Hokage's desk.

A strange feeling welled up within him.

He was practically the Hokage now.

Only the final title remained to be formally established.

Then he needed to prepare for the future as well and cultivate capable subordinates.

A pineapple-headed boy immediately popped into his mind, his cheeks puffed out with dumplings stuffed into his mouth. Orochimaru helplessly shook his head at once.

Anko would not do.

Still, there was one child he thought highly of.

During the earlier Nine-Tails' Rampage, while he had done his best to gather the village's medical forces to treat the wounded, one child had displayed remarkable talent.

Now that he was Hokage, it seemed he ought to take in a disciple who met his standards.

After all, Anko was truly... difficult to put into words.

While Orochimaru was in a complicated mood and buried in paperwork, the Third Hokage, who felt free at last—a National Martial Arts grandmaster who had failed at Bao Dan and been reborn in another body—used his status to enter the Ninjutsu Secret Archive.

There was actually a Forbidden Jutsu Library with an even higher classification level, and he could visit it as the Third Hokage.

But after thinking it over, he decided to start with the more basic material.

He first instructed the guards not to disturb him, then began searching through the Ninjutsu Secret Archive.

His purpose was clear. While reviewing documents earlier, he had noticed something regarding how ninja gathered intelligence: ninja could use ninjutsu to read memories from a dead person's brain.

Of course, it was best if they had only recently died. The longer someone had been dead, the more fragmented the memories that could be read would become, until they could no longer be read at all.

Since even a dead person's brain could have its memories read, then this body of his, which was still alive, must surely contain the original memories of this body, right?

That way, he could read this body's memories and quickly grasp its power and experience.

Found it!

He read through it carefully and studied it. It did not seem difficult, and it even felt instinctively familiar. The original owner of this body had probably already mastered this intelligence-gathering ninjutsu.

So, he performed the ninjutsu.

When reading memories from his own mind, the easiest ones to access were surely the deepest memories...

He closed his eyes, then opened them speechlessly a moment later.

"So that crystal ball on the desk was used for that."

He had thought it was merely decoration.

Then he closed his eyes again.

Then opened them.

"They were actually so wary of the Uchiha Clan? Let me see why."

He closed his eyes once more, then opened them again.

Rubbing his chin, he said,

"Does this count as a hereditary mental illness? They cannot endure stimulation, and once stimulated, they easily go to extremes, yet they can gain power from it. No wonder they are so wary."

If he remembered correctly, the nickname of the anime Naruto was "Legend of Eyes"?

Could this Legend of Eyes refer to the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan? Right, Konoha also had the Byakugan. Its utility was highly valued; revealing the battlefield map was indeed of great strategic value.

After that, he closed his eyes once again.

This time, he kept them closed for a long time. When he finally opened them, his eyes widened in shock.

He had already been shocked after witnessing all kinds of ninjutsu that spat fire and water, controlled lightning, and even altered the weather! Then, in his memories, he saw two legendary men.

The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and the Uchiha ancestor, Madara Uchiha.

Their terrifying power, which had pacified an age of war.