The Goal is the Class Advancement System

The boy at the desk, named Yamato, held the Root codename 'Kinoe' and was the only ninja in the shinobi world currently capable of wielding Wood Release.

Though only about 11 years old, he had experienced more in his short life than most people did in a lifetime.

Having lost both parents in his youth, he wandered as an orphan until he was selected by Root as a test subject; he survived experiments that had a ten-in-ten chance of death, luckily gained the power of the 'God of Shinobi', and now, thanks to a transaction, had the fortune to leave the dark, hopeless depths of Root.

Genie stroked his chin, looking the Wood Release boy up and down.

The boy was burdened with too many factors; logically, he should have been a child of destiny, a fated protagonist, but unfortunately, in the shinobi world, bloodline theory outweighed everything else. Judging by the original timeline, his future ceiling was merely that of an elite jonin—he could only be described as average.

However, now, standing before him and under the guidance of Orochimaru, the boy had a chance to change his fate.

Sitting behind the desk, Orochimaru flipped through the documents, reading ten lines at a glance.

There were many records of First Hokage Cells experiments, but limited by the researchers' capabilities, the data was largely repetitive. In less than half a day, Orochimaru had finished reviewing them all, categorizing the important records and setting them aside.

Genie leaned his head in, "Judging by your expression, you've gained quite a bit."

"Indeed."

Orochimaru curled his lips, his eyes gleaming with joy, "With Yamato and this data, I can restart an abandoned experiment..."

After briefly describing the experiment, the two men and the Genie headed straight for the laboratory outside the village.

On the way, Yamato's emotions remained stable. Even knowing he was about to face experimentation again, he stared with dead-fish eyes, his expression unchanging.

Rather than calling it a resilient personality, it was more like numbness.

In the Konoha forest, inside the underground laboratory, Orochimaru worked methodically.

He extracted Yamato's cells, intending to use them as a foundation to re-develop a genetic serum that would allow others to master Wood Release.

The principles and steps for this experiment were already established; there were no technical difficulties.

The reason it had been abandoned in the past was that once the First Hokage Cells used as experimental material were separated from the original body, they acted like cancer cells, absorbing nutrient solution to proliferate uncontrollably until they grew into a large tree.

But now, as experimental material, Yamato's cells showed much higher stability than the First Hokage Cells, according to the Root experimental data.

Even so, Orochimaru still failed six times before finally succeeding.

Swirling the pale green liquid in the container, a hint of intoxication flashed in Orochimaru's eyes before he drank it in one gulp.

In the past, when encountering such experiments, he would have had to laboriously capture lab mice and conduct multiple controlled variable experiments.

But now that he had learned the Breathing Technique and gained deeper control over his body, even if problems arose during the experiment, Orochimaru was confident he could suppress the repercussions to a minimum.

"Ahhh—"

As the pale green liquid entered his body, Orochimaru collapsed to the ground, spasming and twitching, suppressing short, sharp wails in his throat.

The rejection reaction was within expectations.

Although Yamato's cells were somewhat weakened, they inherently possessed the aggression of the First Hokage Cells and had to be tamed using his own chakra and willpower.

On the other side of the laboratory, witnessing the changes in Orochimaru, ripples appeared in Yamato's dead eyes, though it was unclear what he was thinking.

The experiment did not take much time.

Orochimaru stood up, a look of confusion on his face.

The rejection reaction had completely vanished from his body, but there seemed to be no obvious changes, nor had he mastered Wood Release.

"No, the experiment was a success. You gained a new ability; I saw it clearly."

Genie poked his head out from Orochimaru's body, his tone sounding somewhat strange, "It's just that this ability isn't Wood Release."

He had observed the entire experiment from within Orochimaru's body and knew the changes to his physique like the back of his hand.

From his perspective, a new piece of information had appeared within Orochimaru's body.

This information was his newly awakened ability.

Genie didn't say much more; he directly controlled a hand to pick up a scalpel and sliced a finger-length wound into Orochimaru's arm.

The pain interrupted Orochimaru's thoughts. He looked down, staring at the wound on his arm, his expression shifting.

The wound was healing. Although it couldn't compare to medical ninjutsu, the wound was indeed healing on its own.

Even though he hadn't exerted any influence, the chakra around the wound was being consumed.

It was as if this body had a will of its own.

"Interesting." Orochimaru licked his lips, "Could this be the powerful recovery of the First Hokage?"

"Far from it, but you do possess a portion of the Sage Body, albeit an extremely incomplete one. Unlike ninjutsu, it functions passively; it should be called a passive skill."

There was a hint of surprise in Genie's tone; it was his first time encountering a host awakening a passive skill.

Orochimaru certainly had many passives; if nothing else, his affinity for various types of chakra should be exceptionally high.

But this information regarding passive abilities was intertwined with the complex, redundant information of the human body itself, unlike active ninjutsu which he could capture when cast.

However, the process of the passive skill appearing in Orochimaru's body just now gave him some ideas; perhaps he could use this to develop a method to sense passive skills.

Genie told Orochimaru that he needed to go dormant for a while.

Orochimaru looked at Genie, puzzled, "A so-called passive skill? You couldn't replicate this before?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am?"

The Genie rolled his eyes, "My Genie, the abilities granted by my profession are only to sign contracts, grant wishes, and collect payment."

Orochimaru finally realized that abilities like replicating ninjutsu were all developed by the Genie before him, unique to his own repertoire.

He was not satisfied with being treated as a functional tool; he had been actively developing his potential and expanding his business, with the goal of one day changing his profession to... a multi-functional system.

System, another strange term, Orochimaru thought to himself.

However, it sounded quite inspirational; such an immortal existence was still constantly thirsting for progress.

"Wait, if you fall into a slumber, who will wrap up the previous arrangements?"

Orochimaru suddenly woke up to the reality, his face showing dissatisfaction.

We agreed to each perform our own duties, so why are you quitting the job now?

"I said before that I could help you, but if you rely on me... you will die very quickly."

"Now, you must learn to feel shame."

The Genie said with a straight face, pouring chicken soup for the soul onto Orochimaru as if it were free.

From the very beginning, his goal had been very clear: the world is vast, but improving oneself is paramount.

Ninjutsu and knowledge are quantitative improvements, while the ability to acquire and extract passive skills is a qualitative improvement.

Now that there was an opportunity to expand his new abilities, how could he still care about Orochimaru? Anyway, given the current situation in Konoha, it wouldn't collapse.

The worst-case scenario was just that, like in the original timeline, Orochimaru would defect.

It was no big deal.

The effect of the chicken soup was mediocre, and after confirming that the other party really didn't care and had walked away, Orochimaru's face turned sour.

However, when it came down to it, he still had to face his own affairs himself.

What Orochimaru was angry about was that the other party did not keep his promise.

"By the way, Water Breathing can be selectively taught to Yamato; his potential is greater than you imagine."

Leaving behind this sentence, the Genie's voice fell into silence.