Are You My Master

Under the dim chandelier, a gaunt figure gripped a scalpel, mechanically parting flesh and muscle, his face half-hidden in the shadows.

"Hoo..."

Orochimaru's eyes were dull and weary as he let out a soft breath.

A precious body of a Kekkei Genkai user had been wasted; unless something unexpected happened, tonight would be another fruitless endeavor.

Rumble, rumble...

The underground laboratory, located within the Root base, suddenly began to shake violently.

Orochimaru's body shuddered, and the scalpel carved a deep gash into the cadaver's beating heart, causing blood to spray outward.

A chorus of hissing snakes and pythons echoed from the shadows, excited and restless due to the thick scent of blood, yet a moment later, they all fell silent.

Just as Orochimaru was about to focus on correcting his mistake, a strange atmosphere began to spread throughout the laboratory.

"Hm?!"

Orochimaru set down the scalpel, his narrow snake-like pupils scanning the room, and quickly locked onto the source of the anomaly.

On the square table beside the operating bed, a golden, long-spouted pot had appeared out of thin air, wedged among the experimental instruments and emitting a soft, radiant glow.

Orochimaru recognized it at a glance: it was a lamp, an Aladdin Lamp, said to be capable of granting the wishes of its possessor.

This wasn't because of his vast knowledge, but because floating above the Aladdin Lamp was a line of bold, golden text:

"I am the Aladdin Lamp. Touch the lamp wall to awaken the Genie and have your wishes granted!!!"

It was very straightforward, a very tempting... trap.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly.

He was certain this item had not been on the table before, and he was confident that no one in the ninja world could place something under his nose without being detected...

This Aladdin Lamp had appeared out of thin air.

The ninja world was not lacking in ninja tools with special abilities: the Sword of Totsuka, which could seal enemies into a drunken dream world of genjutsu, or the legendary Amber Purifying Pot and Sword of Nunoboko wielded by the Sage of Six Paths... adding one more pot—an Aladdin Lamp—that could grant wishes didn't seem particularly strange.

Orochimaru became interested in the lamp.

There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, but if he could determine the conditions and limitations of the Aladdin Lamp's wish-granting, could he perhaps achieve some form of equivalent exchange with this so-called Genie?

Orochimaru was not stingy about paying a price, especially since he had become increasingly aware of his own limitations in recent years.

Kekkei Genkai, ocular techniques... under the constraints of bloodlines, he was no different from an ordinary ninja.

Just as Orochimaru was thinking this, a knock sounded at the door; the visitor was a Root ninja under Danzo's direct command.

These vermin hiding in the shadows of Konoha, ghosts whose deaths no one would care about, were the perfect experimental lab rats.

Orochimaru licked his lips. "Come in!"

Soon, a Root ninja flashed into the lab, knelt on one knee, and said anxiously, "Lord Orochimaru, the Nine-Tails has suddenly appeared in the village and is causing massive destruction. Lord Danzo has summoned you to discuss the matter."

Recalling the inexplicable shaking of the lab earlier, Orochimaru frowned. "The Nine-Tails?"

The current jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails was Uzumaki Kushina. Although she was not a perfect jinchuriki, she kept the Nine-Tails firmly under control through her bloodline advantages and the sealing arts of the Uzumaki clan. Coupled with the protection of the Fourth Hokage, there was no way the Nine-Tails could break the seal and escape under normal circumstances.

It seemed something had gone wrong during Kushina's childbirth.

Orochimaru smiled with a touch of schadenfreude. "That guy Minato actually slipped up."

He couldn't say he didn't mind that Jiraiya's student had surpassed him to become the Fourth Hokage; he was, in fact, quite resentful.

Hearing that Minato had hit a snag put Orochimaru in a very pleasant mood.

As for Danzo's so-called meeting, Orochimaru couldn't care less. He knew Namikaze Minato's abilities all too well; the Nine-Tails was no match for Minato, nor could it overcome the sealing arts of the Uzumaki clan. He had no interest in joining Danzo to watch the Fourth Hokage's spectacle.

Orochimaru looked at the Root ninja. "You, go pick up that lamp."

"This..."

The Root ninja raised his head, which had been kept low, wanting to say something, but upon meeting Orochimaru's cold, icy gaze, he swallowed his words, his face hidden behind a mask twisted in a grimace.

He knew very well that he had no room to refuse.

The moment the Aladdin Lamp was picked up, a mass of translucent smoke spewed from the spout, rapidly condensing into a human shape in mid-air.

The facial features were blurred, yet a voice clearly emanated from its mouth: "Hahaha, I am the Aladdin Lamp, your on-duty Genie. Tell me, are you my master?"

Orochimaru frowned slightly.

He didn't know what a "master" was, but it likely meant owner or contractor; in this context, "victim" might be more appropriate.

But what made Orochimaru feel a faint sense of unease was that the Genie emerging from the Aladdin Lamp did not seem to be speaking to the Root ninja.

Those eyes, hidden beneath the mist, were looking clearly at him, and the greeting lacked any questioning tone; it was clearly mocking.

The strangest part was that the Root ninja stood frozen in place, waiting for his next instruction, seemingly blind and deaf to the Genie.

Orochimaru suppressed the doubts in his heart and pointed at the Root ninja. "Aladdin Lamp Genie, the one who awakened you was not me, but him."

"Oh, and who exactly awakened me?"

The human-shaped smoke's laughter was laced with playfulness. "Was it the one who awakened me that awakened me, or was it the one who ordered the one who awakened me that awakened me?"

Orochimaru's expression darkened. The intelligence of the Aladdin Lamp's Genie was truly beyond his expectations, entirely different from the mindless, mechanical responses of a Death God or an Evil God.

This was bad, because the Genie before him might not be fair, nor was he easy to fool.

Orochimaru looked as if he were facing a formidable enemy, and the humanoid smoke, seeing this, spoke unhurriedly, "Vigilance, suspicion, doubt... you have sufficient reason to be wary of my existence."

"However... it is actually completely unnecessary."

"Because..."

"You cannot resist me at all."

The humanoid smoke surged toward Orochimaru like a tide, and in the blink of an eye, it poured entirely into his body.

The next moment, that body dissipated with a 'poof'.

Orochimaru appeared on the side of the laboratory, but before he could even rejoice at having dodged the attack with a substitution, a voice rang out in his mind.

"Hiding, you cannot hide; what connects us is a contract, a rule."

The voice said unhurriedly, "I have the ability to take over your body at any time."

"Lo-Lord Orochimaru..."

Witnessing Orochimaru's abnormal behavior, the Root ninja, holding the Aladdin Lamp, was somewhat at a loss.

"Get out!"

A shout erupted from Orochimaru's mouth, yet it did not come from his own will.

"Yes."

The Root ninja placed the Aladdin Lamp back in its original spot, opened the door, slipped out, and closed the door—a sequence of movements performed with fluid ease.

In the blink of an eye, the laboratory returned to the state of being just Orochimaru... and one Genie.

"Now, have you recognized the reality of the situation?"

With him as the meat on the chopping block and the other as the knife, Orochimaru was silent for a moment before his consciousness spoke in his mind, "Genie, what do you want?"

"As a Genie, I have only ever come here for one thing..."

"To fulfill your wish for immortality!"

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