Building Momentum

Three days later, in the Hokage office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi carefully flipped through the documents in his hands, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Even though the Third Hokage had estimated Orochimaru's strength, he had not expected him to reach such a level, single-handedly confronting Konoha's strongest ocular jutsu clan.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took the pipe from his mouth and exhaled a long plume of smoke. He handed the intelligence report to Jiraiya, who was standing to the side, and asked, "Jiraiya, with your strength, could you achieve this level?"

Jiraiya held the child in one arm while taking the document with his other hand. After a rough scan, he laughed, "I am confident I could fight Orochimaru to a draw, but to defeat an entire ninja clan like he did? I couldn't do it.

His ninjutsu and combat style are much better suited for group battles than mine."

Speaking of lethality against large numbers of ninja, Jiraiya glanced at the little Naruto in his arms and couldn't help but sigh, "Actually, Minato was the real expert at group combat. His efficiency in killing enemies even exceeded Orochimaru's."

Mentioning the Fourth Hokage who had just died in battle, Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent.

The reason Minato was able to become Hokage was inseparable from his performance during the Third Shinobi World War.

The Yellow Flash was a title of respect in Konoha, but to the enemy, it was a naked nightmare.

With speed that reached the extreme, combined with superior dynamic vision and reflexes, mid-level ninja stood almost no chance against Minato in a single exchange.

Compared to Orochimaru's overwhelming force, Minato's style of dancing on the edge of a blade was a different kind of combat—sharper and more elegant.

In fact, as a ninja, the Third Hokage appreciated Minato's fighting style more. But he also understood that the First Hokage, revered as the God of Shinobi, and his arch-rival Madara Uchiha, both fought with grand, sweeping power.

The posture Orochimaru was now displaying also had the potential to develop in that direction.

Sighing softly, the Third Hokage turned the topic back to Orochimaru, "Orochimaru helped the Uchiha improve their barrier techniques; I fear he intends to use this to deal with the Jinchuriki of Kumogakure."

"That must be it. Orochimaru really put in the effort this time; he didn't hold anything back."

Thinking of the coming war, Jiraiya asked, "What is the intelligence from the front lines? Will Kumogakure really launch a war? They suffered heavy losses during the Third Shinobi World War as well."

The Third Hokage shook his head, "Although Iwagakure dragged the Third Raikage to his death, the new Raikage and both Jinchuriki have grown up. The high-level combat power of Kumogakure cannot be underestimated."

"While there are factions that oppose the war, it is the Fourth Raikage who intends to launch it, and he has the support of both Jinchuriki. Unlike us in Konoha, the Raikage's power is highly centralized; it won't take long for him to suppress any dissenting voices."

Among the five great ninja villages, Konoha was the most prosperous, but precisely because of that, there were many factions, and the Hokage and his direct Anbu were only the largest among them.

The Uchiha clan and Root went without saying, while others like the Hyuga, the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance... all had their own political demands.

Especially the Hyuga clan; due to the existence of the Caged Bird Seal, the Hyuga could be considered the most 'united' clan in Konoha.

It was fortunate that the Hyuga main branch was corrupted by the power brought by the Caged Bird Seal, with no decent individuals appearing for several generations, otherwise, the village's power struggles would have been even more lively.

"Regardless, we must make preparations for the war with Kumogakure early."

Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned his assistant, "Find the right time to disseminate this intelligence."

The assistant scanned the document briefly, paused for a moment, and then bowed hurriedly, "Yes!"

Watching the assistant leave, the Third Hokage thought to himself, With this news, the villagers' wariness of the Uchiha will likely decrease significantly. It's just that... Orochimaru's prestige will also rise.

Unable to fathom Orochimaru's true purpose, the Third Hokage felt a faint sense of unease.

I can only hope that things are as Orochimaru says, and that he harbors no malice toward the village.

In the underground laboratory, the chandelier was turned to its maximum brightness, the light slightly dispelling the cold, bloody atmosphere.

Orochimaru took a petri dish from the storage cabinet, placed it under the microscope, and began to carefully observe the changes in the cells.

This petri dish contained a mixture of First Hokage Cells, Shinsuke Uchiha's cells, and Yamato's cells as a stabilizer, making it perfectly suited for studying the Uchiha clan's resistance to the First Hokage Cells.

"The current state is still very stable. With the isolation provided by Yamato's cells, the erosion of the First Hokage Cells remains inert."

Orochimaru licked his lips. Shinsuke Uchiha was an elite Jonin, ranking among the best in the Konoha Military Police Force.

The fact that adding his cells to the mixture of Yamato and First Hokage cells could still maintain a balance gave Orochimaru even greater expectations for today's experiment.

Perhaps today he could develop a superior genetic serum.

After recording the experimental data, Orochimaru proceeded with the experiment in an orderly fashion.

However, when the nutrient solution was supplied, the First Hokage Cells once again displayed extreme aggression. They not only assimilated Yamato's cells, but Shinsuke Uchiha's cells also proved to have no resistance, just like those of an ordinary person.

Just as before, the experiment failed at the exact same point.

"Where is the problem?"

After discarding the petri dish, Orochimaru fell into deep thought.

The situation before him was completely different from what the Genie had said; the Uchiha clan's cells did not possess the expected resistance.

Was the Genie wrong, or was his experimental method incorrect?

"The Uchiha clansmen have a suppressive power against the First Hokage Cells. What makes them different from ordinary people?"

Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly, "It's the Sharingan!"

Thinking of this possibility, he frowned slightly, "But the Sharingan is, at the end of the day, just a Kekkei Genkai of ocular jutsu."

"Kekkei Genkai are related to cells and genes; there is no reason for the chakra contained in their cells to be different from their eyes."

"No, that's not right. Perhaps they really are different..."

Orochimaru thought of the scenes of the Uchiha clan using the Sharingan every time.

They would perform the act of awakening their eyes, shifting their pupils from their normal black state to a diseased red, yet this awakening could not be maintained indefinitely, reverting to its original state after a period of time.

"So, in reality, the Sharingan is just an unstable Kekkei Genkai?"

Orochimaru himself possessed no ocular Kekkei Genkai, so he could only rely on common logic and his research into Kekkei Genkai to make his guesses.

At the very least, in all his records, no other Kekkei Genkai ninja needed to enter an explosive state to manifest their bloodline techniques.

"Then what is the stable state of the Sharingan Kekkei Genkai? The Mangekyo Sharingan?"

Orochimaru shook his head; although he had never truly witnessed that pair belonging to Shisui, judging by his performance, the Mangekyo Sharingan was not the end of the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai either.

A true ocular Kekkei Genkai should be a state that, once mastered, never regresses.

"It seems that if I want to test the Uchiha clan's resistance to First Hokage Cells, I will have to conduct human experiments on them."

Orochimaru licked his lips; for the moment, this matter still presented some difficulties.

Poof.

Suddenly, a burst of white smoke exploded.

Orochimaru shifted his gaze as a viper slithered in front of him, spitting a scroll out from its mouth.