Teacher, I Choose to Leave with You

A moment later.

Ao's eyes flew open. Clutching his head, he slowly stood up.

"I survived..."

He forced himself to ignore the dizziness and tended to his wounds. Once he'd tightly bandaged the puncture wound, it was no longer a problem.

He reached into the enemy's clothes and pulled out a ninja tool pouch. He also found four Explosive Tags stuck to the man's chest and carefully removed them.

There were two short swords hidden at his waist and ankles, too.

It was all money.

One Explosive Tag cost at least three hundred ryo. Four of them would cover his family's food expenses for a month.

He pried open the corpse's mouth and pulled out its tongue.

A black Cursed Seal was visible on it, extending deep into the throat.

"As expected, Root... The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal!"

Even though he'd already suspected as much, he was still startled when he confirmed it.

Orochimaru and Danzo were supposedly allies, yet they were still secretly at odds.

After the Fourth Hokage's death, Orochimaru had become the biggest obstacle to Danzo's becoming Hokage. Their alliance had probably already fallen apart.

After dealing with the corpse, Ao quietly slipped out of the bedroom.

He left the rest area.

He first went to the warehouse where the various materials were stored. There was no sign of a disturbance, and everything was intact.

Quietly, he put all the First Hokage serum into his ninja tool pouch. Twelve vials... That was presumably Orochimaru's entire collection.

Then he made his way to the quarters where the experimental subjects lived.

Several of Orochimaru's subordinates were assigned to guard the place. The people living inside were all successful experimental subjects.

The two guards at the entrance were already lying on the ground. Blood flowed from their necks, staining the floor.

"Did they come for the experimental subjects?"

Ao's expression changed. He stopped and hid in the shadows along the passageway.

Before long, three ninjas emerged, restraining someone between them. They swiftly raced down the passage toward the base's exit.

Ao watched them go but didn't intervene. With his current strength, showing himself would mean certain death.

He waited there for a long time before slowly emerging from the shadows.

Stepping past the bodies at the entrance, he entered the secret chamber where the experimental subjects were held.

Inside,

he saw eight glass tanks filled with deep blue liquid. A pale corpse was immersed in each one.

"Teacher really is a genius. He actually managed to develop a solution specifically for preserving corpses with technology like this."

Looking at the scene before him, Ao couldn't help but marvel.

Technology in this world was still far too backward. They didn't even have much electrical equipment, and yet people had managed to create objects that seemed like miracles.

With the help of ninjutsu, some of Orochimaru's biological research had already surpassed what Ao had known in his previous life.

Past the corridor lined with tanks was a residential area.

The surviving experimental subjects lived there.

Ao glanced around and saw five rooms in total. Two of them were empty.

The other three showed signs of habitation.

Only two rooms had occupants. One person was so obese that their limbs and facial features were invisible, their entire body covered in blister-like skin. At a glance, they looked like an inflated balloon. Capillaries and organs beneath their skin were clearly visible. They lay on a white hospital bed, moaning nonstop.

They endured the pain wracking their body.

The other room housed someone with normal limbs but a vacant stare, unresponsive to everything around them.

The intruders hadn't killed these two experimental subjects.

"Failed First Cell transplants?"

Noticing their condition, Ao immediately understood.

A powerful aura of First Hokage Cells emanated from both of them.

Ao turned the lock and pushed open the door. He extracted some cellular fluid from the mentally impaired subject's head, then collected some more from the obese subject's body.

The two of them had undergone transplants using First Hokage Cells from different body parts, and suffered varying degrees of bodily damage.

Purifying the First Hokage Cells from their bodies would be a great help to future experiments.

Just as Ao put the collected cells into his ninja tool pouch,

a familiar figure appeared in the corridor.

"Ao-kun, what are you doing here?"

Orochimaru's voice carried a note of suspicion. A moment later, the entire passageway filled with snakes. They hissed and encircled Uchiha Ao.

At the slightest sign of trouble,

he'd be devoured.

Orochimaru had anticipated this. He'd probably watched Kinoe get taken away by Root without lifting a finger.

Why would he do that?

Ao was deeply confused.

"The base was attacked. I killed the attacker and rushed over, but I was still too late. The intruders had already left."

Ao told the truth, leaving out only part of what he'd done.

The Chakra around Orochimaru grew slightly agitated.

He surveyed the area, then his expression settled.

His slit-pupiled eyes fixed on Ao.

The air was tense.

Under Orochimaru's scrutiny, Ao remained calm.

At last, Orochimaru was the first to break the silence.

"I understand. Things are unsettled around here lately. You'd better not come to the base for a while..."

After saying this, Orochimaru turned and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

He didn't seem particularly concerned about the attack on the base.

Perhaps he'd expected it.

He'd already moved all the crucial experimental materials.

It seemed Orochimaru had taken his warning to heart.

He'd made preparations in advance.

That meant that when he defected in the future, he wouldn't have to flee in haste and abandon most of his belongings.

As long as Orochimaru's research materials remained safe,

the deaths of a few subordinates wouldn't mean much to the base as a whole.

Ao watched Orochimaru's back, silently weighing his options.

Danzo might make his move soon.

This had clearly been an attack by Root, yet Orochimaru had no intention of investigating it further.

He'd probably already decided to defect.

Ao just didn't know whether Orochimaru would take him along...

If he had a choice, Ao still wanted to leave with Orochimaru.

With his current status as both a member of the Uchiha Clan and Orochimaru's student, staying in Konoha would only make him a target.

Anko, a civilian genius who'd become a Chunin at twelve, had originally been a staunch supporter of the Third.

After Orochimaru defected,

she'd been branded as Orochimaru's student, and things hadn't gone well for her either.

More than ten years later,

when Naruto and the others were taking the Chunin Exams, she was still only a Special Jonin.

She never even made it to full Jonin, and was completely shut out of the village's inner circle.

She could only play a marginal role in minor missions.

"Teacher Orochimaru, are you planning to leave?"

Ao called out toward the end of the corridor.

The figure in the distance suddenly stopped.

He turned his head, casting a meaningful glance back.

Orochimaru quietly studied Ao's face. Noticing the eager look in his eyes, he stirred slightly and gave a small nod.

"Yes. Konoha... is no longer a place where I can conduct research in peace."

There were too many restrictions.

His teacher wouldn't violate the Second's prohibition and allow him to conduct human experiments.

Seeing this, Ao immediately seized the opportunity!

With Danzo, his last remaining ally, betraying him, there was no reason to stay here any longer.

"Can I leave with you?"

With that single question, Ao made his stance clear.

Orochimaru's pupils contracted. He clearly hadn't expected Uchiha Ao to give up his bright future and choose to leave with a ninja who was about to defect.

"Are you sure? Once you leave the village, your Uchiha identity won't be worth a thing. It might even put your life in danger."

"The Uchiha will hunt you down with everything they have."

"You know better than I do how terrifying the Uchiha's power is."

Orochimaru turned around, his eyes darkening.

The Uchiha's standing in Konoha was beyond question. As one of the only two clans that had founded the village, they'd be safe as long as they obediently remained there.

They could live out their lives in peace.

Even if they faced some criticism from the village, it couldn't shake their position.

Defecting

meant completely severing ties with both the village and the Uchiha Clan.

In the future, both the village and the Uchiha would hunt him down.

No one in history had ever survived being hunted by the Uchiha.

It was a choice with a stark imbalance between its risks and benefits.

No sane person would make it.

But Uchiha Ao was an exception.

He knew that staying in Konoha would only mean a slow death.

"Teacher, for the sake of pursuing eternal life... I'm willing to leave with you!"

Those words struck home with Orochimaru.

Ao had earned his approval.