Orochimaru was in his laboratory in Konoha.
The few subjects Zhengyi had brought him earlier served as control groups.
The men and women who ate high-calorie snacks every day had grown happily chubby.
The men and women who ate high-protein food every day had developed abs and toned physiques.
Life was simply wonderful when all they had to do was open their mouths and be fed. Lord Orochimaru and Lord Zhengyi were the best!!
To be honest, they had thought they were going to die at first.
Meanwhile, Zhengyi, the man they were so grateful to, was sitting on the desk, his butt covering a sheet of experimental data as he laid out all the current disadvantages to Orochimaru:
"Teacher, have you noticed? The Third Hokage doesn't want you to become Hokage. The one he truly values is Minato Namikaze."
"If you keep going like this, you might..."
Zhengyi left the rest unsaid.
If Orochimaru kept thinking his victory was assured and didn't make a move, Minato could push him aside in no time.
At that, Orochimaru stopped his research and looked solemnly at Zhengyi. "Perhaps you misunderstand the teacher a little, Zhengyi."
Who in all of Konoha didn't know he was the student the teacher valued most?
The Konoha Sannin were him, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.
In the past, Hiruzen Sarutobi had rarely praised his other two students in public, but he had never held back when praising him.
Tsunade and Jiraiya's words carried far less weight with their teacher than his did.
In fact, right after the Second Shinobi World War ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered retiring early and passing the Hokage position to him.
He had only politely declined because he thought his teacher was still young.
Over the years, how many big and small matters had he handled for his teacher? There was no reason he shouldn't become Hokage.
"Heh. When they were children, Tsunade and Jiraiya were never taken home to eat by the teacher, Zhengyi." Orochimaru chuckled as he reminisced. This was the first time Zhengyi had seen the man known as the Cold Lord smile.
The only person in Konoha who could still stir something in Orochimaru's cold heart was probably Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Even Jiraiya, who had grown up with him, couldn't do it.
"But!" Zhengyi looked anxious. What happened in the past was the past. Now a man named Minato Namikaze had appeared, and he was steadily taking Orochimaru's place in the Third Hokage's heart.
If you explained it using the plot of some melodramatic novel...
Orochimaru might have shared years of hardship with Hiruzen Sarutobi, but his only role was that of the villain. Minato Namikaze was the pure-hearted white lotus, Hiruzen Sarutobi's true, heaven-appointed "female lead."
Once Minato Namikaze appeared, no emotional explanation could make sense.
The original Naruto story mostly followed that same trajectory. When Orochimaru realized he was increasingly no match for Minato, he chose to team up with Danzo to compete for the Hokage position. And once he teamed up with Danzo, he must have made plenty of underhanded moves against Minato.
Meanwhile, Minato was kindhearted and wouldn't strike back.
As a result, Hiruzen Sarutobi would only feel more and more sympathy for Minato, and become all the more determined to make him Hokage. That idea even reached Naruto, since Naruto was Minato's child.
Now Orochimaru was reminiscing about the many moments he had shared with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
No matter what Zhengyi said, it was useless.
If he kept at it, Orochimaru might even beat him up.
"Teacher, perhaps you're right."
"Zhengyi, stand next to Kakashi and Obito. Let's see which of you is tallest."
When Team 7's students got together in private, Rin invited Zhengyi along, even though he was free at home.
No matter how unhappy Obito was, he could only keep it to himself.
Kakashi, that bastard, was there, and now Zhengyi was here too. Why did Konoha's two most obnoxious guys both have it in for him?
They stood together to compare heights. Zhengyi was clearly taller; the other two only reached his eyebrows.
"Oh, Zhengyi's the tallest," Rin said with a smile.
"Damn it." Having come up shorter than Zhengyi in front of the girl he loved, Obito was eager to make up for it in some other way.
"What's the point of being tall? What matters for a ninja is strength."
"Come on, arm wrestle!"
Obito flexed his biceps. For years, he'd followed Minato-sensei's advice and made sure to eat his vegetables!
"Hngh..." The two grunted as they arm-wrestled.
Obito was strong, almost as strong as Kakashi. He just lacked technique in battle. Since he couldn't beat Kakashi, Obito was satisfied and looked at Zhengyi with a smug grin. "Your turn?"
If he and Kakashi were about equally strong, then surely he was stronger than Zhengyi. That made sense, right?
"Rin, watch this." Obito struck a pose and relaxed his arm.
Zhengyi knew that if he beat Obito at arm wrestling, Obito would never leave him alone.
So he planned to go easy on him.
But when they planted their hands on the table and clasped them, Zhengyi was a little confused. "Uh, aren't you going to push?"
Obito was already using all his strength. But with Rin there, he kept a perfect poker face, so Zhengyi thought he wasn't trying.
Hearing Zhengyi, Obito couldn't tell whether he was being mocked.
"Heh. Why don't you try putting some strength into it?" Obito was screaming inside, but he still managed to look smug.
Only Kakashi, watching from the sidelines, sensed something was off. Obito's strength and Zhengyi's were on completely different levels.
What in the world had Zhengyi been eating?
Even Rin had noticed, because Obito was sweating.
Two minutes later, Obito deftly changed the subject. "Lately, I've been training with Minato-sensei at night too. He said he'd teach me his signature Rasengan after the war ends."
"Congratulations, Obito." Rin smiled, then turned to Zhengyi. "What about you? Has Lord Orochimaru taught you anything lately?"
Obito and Kakashi glanced at Zhengyi, curious about Orochimaru's teaching.
"Teacher Orochimaru? He hasn't really taught me any jutsu. He just takes care of my food and drink."
Zhengyi was telling the truth. At Orochimaru's place, he ate beef like it was rice and drank Protein Powder like water. Recently, Orochimaru had given him a jar of Multivitamin Supplement too. Just six tablets a day provided all the vitamins his body needed.
Compared to the malnourished Obito and Kakashi, Zhengyi was visibly better off by a wide margin, whether it was his height, the shine of his hair, or the smoothness of his skin.
The slightly painful thing was that, if you looked closely, Obito and Kakashi standing next to Zhengyi were almost like children from the mountains.
"Huh? So what do you usually eat?" Rin asked enviously, looking at Zhengyi's skin. It was more luminous and fair than even the girls'.
"What? Rin! Scars are a man's badge of honor!" Looking at Zhengyi's fair, spotless body, Obito guessed that he must spend all his time pouring tea and fetching water for Orochimaru. If he never went to the battlefield, he'd never get any sun.
Which meant Zhengyi probably hadn't had anything to do with the Konoha Ninja who had infiltrated the Land of Lightning.
Before he came, he'd been a little afraid Zhengyi might be among those people, in which case little Rin would keep pressing him for details.
Now it seemed... tsk, tsk.
And he'd already fought plenty of people.
He had "battle honors" to show for it.
Before you continue