Orochimaru

As the classroom door slid open once more, a white-haired shinobi over six feet tall swaggered inside, clacking along in his wooden sandals.

"Lord Jiraiya?!"

Everyone there except Uchiha Matsuri cried out in surprise.

"Hahaha, hello, everyone," Jiraiya greeted them with a grin.

"Team 5. Jonin instructor: Jiraiya. Members: Minato Namikaze, Kiba Inuzuka, and Chōji Dōtō," the Chunin beside them read from the team assignments before the six could respond.

"Wow! My teacher is the famous Lord Jiraiya! My mom will be so happy when she hears!" Chōji Dōtō cheered when he heard his name among the members of Team Jiraiya.

"Teacher Jiraiya, I'm Minato Namikaze. It's a pleasure to meet you," Minato said with a smile, walking respectfully up to Jiraiya.

After Minato and the others left, Kushina Uzumaki and Nohara Shin immediately grew dejected.

Even Lord Jiraiya had been "snatched away." Would they really end up with an ordinary jonin as their instructor?

Uchiha Matsuri, who had known the team assignments from the start, had been calmly waiting for Orochimaru to arrive.

Suddenly, a chill crept through Uchiha Matsuri.

He was close...

As the classroom door slowly opened, Kushina Uzumaki and Nohara Shin couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

The moment the door swung all the way open, a pale-faced man with upright black hair and slit pupils stepped into the classroom, his gaze ice-cold.

"How interesting." The man licked his lips, staring at the three who had frozen in place as though he'd discovered something amusing. "A Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, a little Uchiha, and a dead last. I wonder how our teacher came up with these teams."

"Are you Lord Orochimaru?" Nohara Shin watched the man. His instincts told him that this man was dangerous, but he made no attempt to hide his excitement.

"Team 6. Elite Jonin Orochimaru will serve as your instructor. The members are Uchiha Matsuri, Kushina Uzumaki, and Nohara Shin," the Chunin read aloud.

"Let's go." Orochimaru glanced at the three with cold eyes, then walked out of the classroom without another word.

"That man is terrifying." Remembering the look he'd given her, Kushina Uzumaki shuddered.

"Little girl, you shouldn't let people hear you talking about them behind their backs," Orochimaru said mildly, stopping all of a sudden.

Kushina Uzumaki froze when she realized Orochimaru had heard her muttering. Sensing the tension, Nohara Shin hurriedly changed the subject.

"Ah, um, Lord Orochimaru, where are we going?" Nohara Shin asked with an awkward smile.

"The Training Ground." Orochimaru tossed out the two words and continued on without looking back.

What a dangerous guy. I'll have to be careful around him from now on. Uchiha Matsuri watched Orochimaru's retreating figure.

Hokage Office.

The Chunin who had read out the team assignments to the graduating class that morning was now standing respectfully before the Third Hokage.

"Lord Hokage, the team assignments have all been announced. This year's graduates have each been assigned to their respective jonin instructors," the Chunin said respectfully.

"Mm, thanks for your effort. You may go," the Third Hokage said with a smile, waving the Chunin away.

"Yes, sir."

After the Chunin left, the Third Hokage picked up the team assignment sheet in front of him and murmured to himself, "I wonder if assigning those three children to Orochimaru was the right choice."

Over the past few years, Orochimaru had led four graduating classes. Every member of those classes had died under mysterious circumstances within six months of graduating, and even their bodies had vanished without a trace.

Whenever Orochimaru was asked why, he would merely say that they had died fighting enemy shinobi. Although the Third Hokage was deeply suspicious of his explanation, he was so unusually "fond" of Orochimaru that he never considered looking into the matter further.

At the Training Ground.

Orochimaru stood in the middle of the training area. He swept his gaze over the three before him, then suddenly spoke. "Introduce yourselves. Name, likes, and dreams."

"I'm Nohara Shin. I like lying on the grass at night and looking at the stars. As for my dream, I want to become a great Hokage, just like Grandpa the Third!" As usual, Nohara Shin answered first.

Orochimaru ignored Nohara Shin and turned instead to Kushina Uzumaki.

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki. I like salty ramen, and I don't like coffee or tomatoes. My dream is to become the first woman Hokage and, during my term, put a complete stop to wars around the world and protect peace in the Shinobi World," Kushina Uzumaki said earnestly.

Hearing Kushina Uzumaki's dream, Orochimaru gave a soft snort, then looked at Uchiha Matsuri, who had been silent for a while.

"I'm Uchiha Matsuri. There's nothing in particular that I like or dislike," Uchiha Matsuri said calmly. "As for my dream, like most people, I aspire to become Hokage."

When Uchiha Matsuri mentioned his dream, Orochimaru suddenly furrowed his brow.

Indeed, if asked about their dreams, ninety-nine out of a hundred children in Konoha would say they wanted to become Hokage. But among the four of them, only Orochimaru, who was deeply involved with the village's leadership, knew that the Uchiha Clan and the Hokage might never have anything to do with each other.

Thanks to the Second Hokage, the Uchiha Clan had been given responsibility for the Konoha Military Police Force. To outsiders, entrusting Konoha's security to the Uchiha Clan appeared to be a sign of the Second Hokage's trust in and esteem for them. But only the Konoha High Command and the Uchiha themselves knew that it was actually a way for the Second Hokage to keep the clan in check.

By assigning the Uchiha Clan to the Konoha Military Police Force, a position that was neither high nor low—and making the clan head its captain—he made it clear that the Uchiha would never be allowed into Konoha's leadership, let alone become Hokage.

Yet the Uchiha boy standing before him had calmly said that he wanted to become Hokage. Did he really not know the Uchiha Clan's current predicament?

Uchiha Matsuri, of course, had no idea what Orochimaru was thinking. His own reasoning was simple enough.

He genuinely wanted to become Hokage. Only by becoming Hokage could he control his own fate more freely—and, along the way, search for a forbidden space-time transfer technique.

As for the Second and Third Hokage's wariness of and restrictions on the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Matsuri, who had skimmed through Naruto in his previous life, knew all about them. But he also felt that, since childhood, he had never had much to do with the Uchiha Clan, and his personality was the polar opposite of the clan's usual arrogance.