Orochimaru: "I am the one Master values most."

Orochimaru was in his laboratory in Konoha.

He was observing the control groups that Zhengyi had helped him capture earlier.

The men and women who ate high-calorie snacks every day had become happily plump.

The men and women who ate high-protein meals every day had developed visible abs and toned physiques, looking lean and capable.

Having meals served to us like this every day is simply wonderful! Lord Orochimaru and Lord Zhengyi are the best!!

To be honest, they had initially thought they were going to die.

And the Lord Zhengyi they were so grateful to was currently sitting on a table, his backside pressing down on a stack of experimental data, as he laid out the various disadvantages to Orochimaru:

"Teacher, have you seen it? The Third Hokage does not want you to be Hokage; the one he truly values is Minato Namikaze."

"If you continue like this, it is very likely that..."

Zhengyi left the rest of the sentence unsaid.

If Orochimaru continued to believe he had the victory in the bag and failed to seize the position, he would be pushed aside by Minato in a heartbeat.

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru stopped his research and looked at Zhengyi solemnly, "Perhaps you have some misunderstandings about your teacher, Zhengyi-kun."

In all of Konoha, who didn't know that he was the student the teacher valued the most?

The Sannin of Konoha were him, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

In the past, Hiruzen Sarutobi rarely praised his other two students in public; only his praise for Orochimaru had been given without reservation.

The weight of Tsunade and Jiraiya's words before their teacher was far less than his.

Even when the Second Shinobi World War had just ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered retiring early to pass the position of Hokage to him.

It was only because he felt his teacher was still young at the time that he had politely declined.

Over these years, how many matters, big and small, had he handled for his teacher? Therefore, there was no reason why the Hokage should not be him.

"Heh, Tsunade and Jiraiya were never brought home by the teacher for meals when they were children, Zhengyi-kun." Orochimaru actually chuckled as he reminisced; this was the first time Zhengyi had seen the man nicknamed the Cold Lord laugh.

The only thing in Konoha that could still cause ripples in Orochimaru's cold heart was likely Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Even Jiraiya, who had grown up with him, could not do that.

"But!" Zhengyi's face was full of anxiety. The past was the past, but now there was a person named Minato Namikaze who had stepped forward and was constantly usurping your position in the Third Hokage's heart.

If one were to explain it using the tropes of a cheesy novel:

Although Orochimaru had been through thick and thin with Hiruzen Sarutobi for so many years, his identity was merely that of a vicious villain. Minato Namikaze was the "little white lotus," the true destined "heroine" of Hiruzen Sarutobi.

From the moment Minato Namikaze appeared, any emotional explanation would be futile.

The plot progression in the original Hokage story was roughly the same; Orochimaru discovered that he was increasingly no match for Minato, so he chose to ally with Danzo to compete for the Hokage seat. Since he was allying with Danzo, there were definitely many underhanded moves made against Minato in private.

And yet, Minato was still pure-hearted and incapable of fighting back.

Consequently, Hiruzen Sarutobi would only feel more and more sorry for Minato, and his intention to have Minato succeed him would only grow stronger—a sentiment that even extended to Naruto, because Naruto was Minato's child.

The current Orochimaru was lost in memories of the bits and pieces of his time with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Nothing Zhengyi said was of any use.

If he kept talking, Orochimaru might just beat him up.

"Teacher, perhaps that is the case."

"Zhengyi, stand with Kakashi and Obito. I want to see who is taller."

In private, when the students of Team 7 gathered, Rin had also invited Zhengyi, who was idling at home.

No matter how much displeasure Obito felt, he could only bottle it up.

Why did that bastard Kakashi have to come, and why did Zhengyi have to come too? Why did the two most detestable bastards in Konoha have to chase him around?

The three of them compared heights; it was obvious that Zhengyi was the tallest, as the other two only reached his eyebrows.

"Oh~ Zhengyi is the tallest," Rin laughed.

"Damn it." Being a head shorter than Zhengyi in front of the person he loved, Obito was eager to win back some ground in another way.

"What's the use of being tall? A shinobi relies on strength."

"Come on, arm wrestling!"

Obito flexed his biceps; he had been strictly following Minato's advice to eat more vegetables all these years!

"Hmph..." These were the grunts of the two as they arm-wrestled.

Obito had a decent amount of strength; his power was even on par with Kakashi's, though he lacked technique in combat. Unable to determine a winner against Kakashi, Obito looked at Zhengyi with a smug, triumphant smile, "Your turn?"

If his strength was about the same as Kakashi's, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume he was much stronger than Zhengyi?

"Rin, watch closely." Obito relaxed his arm to prepare.

Zhengyi knew that if he beat Obito, there was no telling how much the boy would pester him afterward.

So, he prepared to throw the match.

But the moment the two of them locked hands on the table, Zhengyi was a bit confused. "Uh, go ahead and push."

Obito was already using every ounce of his strength, but since Rin was present, he maintained his composure so well that Zhengyi assumed he wasn't even trying.

Hearing Zhengyi's words, Obito couldn't tell for a moment if he was being mocked.

"Heh, you should try using some force yourself," Obito screamed internally, though he still looked incredibly smug on the surface.

Only Kakashi, standing on the sidelines, sensed that something was off; Obito's strength was simply not in the same league as Zhengyi's.

What on earth did this guy Zhengyi grow up eating?

Even Rin noticed, because Obito was starting to sweat.

Two minutes later, Obito cleverly diverted the topic. "I've been going to Minato-sensei for training every night lately. Minato-sensei said that once the war is over, he's going to teach me his signature move, the Rasengan."

"Congratulations, Obito," Rin said with a smile, then looked at Zhengyi. "What about you, Zhengyi? Has Orochimaru-sama taught you anything recently?"

Obito and Kakashi both turned their gazes toward Zhengyi, quite interested in Orochimaru's teaching methods.

"Orochimaru-sensei? He doesn't really teach me ninjutsu; he mostly just worries about my food and drink."

Zhengyi was telling the truth. Under Orochimaru's care, he ate beef like it was rice and drank Protein Powder like it was water. Recently, Orochimaru had even tossed him a bottle of Multivitamin Supplement, claiming that just six pills a day were enough to replenish all the vitamins his body needed.

Therefore, compared to the malnourished Obito and Kakashi.

Whether it was height, hair luster, or skin texture, Zhengyi was visibly a cut above the two of them, who had been living off Military Ration Pills for so long.

What was a bit heart-wrenching was that when compared to Zhengyi, Obito and Kakashi actually looked a bit like children from the mountains.

"Ah? Then what do you usually eat?" Rin looked at Zhengyi's skin with envy; it was even more supple and translucent than her own.

"What is that! Rin! Scars are the medals of a real man!" Looking at Zhengyi's fair, clean skin, Obito scoffed to himself, Hmph, he must just be serving tea and water for Orochimaru all day. He doesn't go to the battlefield, so he doesn't get any sun.

It seemed that the Konoha ninjas infiltrating the Land of Lightning had nothing to do with Zhengyi after all.

Before he arrived, he had been a little worried that Zhengyi might have been among that group, only to be grilled for details by Rin.

Now it seemed, tsk tsk.

And he had already fought many people.

He, after all, had "war merits" on his record.