The Serpent's Consideration

Orochimaru?!

Qianyu's heart sank. The lingering drowsiness and confusion were instantly replaced by vigilance. He actually dared to sneak directly into his home?!

But he quickly forced himself to calm down. Orochimaru had not attacked immediately in the forest before, and he had even left behind that strange code phrase. That meant he did not have any immediate intent to kill, at least for now. Besides, Qianyu had now mastered Sage Mode, and with Abin at his side, he was not without the strength to fight.

More importantly... he had to figure out what "the odd variable changes, the even variable stays the same" was all about!

Qianyu steadied himself and pushed open the door.

The sight inside was somewhat strange.

In the living room, Karin was still asleep on the sofa, covered by a thin blanket and breathing steadily. Abin had clearly taken good care of her.

Meanwhile, another person sat leisurely at the tea table in the living room with his back to the door. He had even brewed himself a pot of tea and was holding a teacup, gently blowing on the steam. The fading sunlight slanted in through the window, casting a warm hue across his pale profile, yet it did nothing to dispel his sinister, uncanny aura.

It was Orochimaru.

Hearing the door open, Orochimaru slowly turned his head. His golden slit pupils settled on Qianyu, and the corner of his mouth curled into a faint, ambiguous smile.

"Qianyu-kun, we meet again. Would you like some tea? The tea leaves in your home are surprisingly good."

Qianyu shut the door behind him. He did not reach for the ninja tool pouch at his waist, merely walked over to the chair opposite Orochimaru and sat down, his eyes fixed firmly on him.

"Who exactly are you?" Qianyu's voice was slightly hoarse. "That phrase... who taught it to you?"

Orochimaru took a light sip of tea and let out a satisfied sigh before answering unhurriedly, "Heh heh, that person was right. When you heard those words, you would definitely be startled."

Qianyu's gaze sharpened. From that single sentence, he immediately deduced two crucial points: first, someone else had taught that phrase to Orochimaru; second, the person who had taught him was very likely a transmigrator like himself!

Seeing the realization flash through Qianyu's eyes, Orochimaru knew he had guessed part of the truth and simply stopped beating around the bush.

"A few months ago, when I was planning... hm, certain matters in the Land of Wind." Orochimaru chose his words carefully. "A young man suddenly appeared before me without any warning."

He set down his teacup, a trace of recollection and lingering shock appearing in his eyes.

"He was very young, around twenty years old. Black hair, features somewhat similar to yours, though more mature and cold. His temperament was entirely different as well." Orochimaru's description made Qianyu's heart skip a beat.

"He did not waste words. He directly showed me several things." Orochimaru's tongue slid across his lips as if savoring the memory. "The Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan, and even... the Rinnegan. Then there was Wood Release—extremely pure and powerful Wood Release, mixed with perfect natural energy. Oh, and the Byakugan, along with an ocular power I had never seen before, something similar to... the legendary 'Tenseigan'? I cannot be completely certain."

Qianyu held his breath as he listened. Sharingan, Wood Release, Byakugan... these were practically the powers he possessed now, or perhaps the powers he might evolve in the future!

"Then, he gave me a chakra information scroll." Orochimaru continued, his eyes gleaming with the fanatical light of a scientist beholding truth. "Within it were the complete research findings of one person—regarding immortality, soul transfer, the fusion and evolution of bloodline limits, even the Otsutsuki, of whom I had never heard... Vast, profound, inconceivable. And many of its ideas coincided perfectly with the directions of research I was pursuing, or had only vaguely begun to conceive..."

He looked at Qianyu. "When I first saw it, I was deeply alarmed and even suspected it was a trap. I immediately asked him: How was I supposed to verify these things? What was his purpose?"

Imitating the young man's tone from that time, Orochimaru's voice became calm, carrying an unquestionable indifference. "He merely replied lightly, 'Say that I am the savior of this world. Go to Konoha and find someone named Cangshu Qianyu. He will tell you everything.'"

Qianyu's heart began to pound violently. Savior? His future self? What exactly had happened?

"Of course, I did not believe him—or rather, I needed more proof." Orochimaru spread his hands. "I asked him, how am I supposed to make you believe me? After all, I am considered 'notorious.'"

"And then," Orochimaru's golden slit pupils locked firmly onto Qianyu, "he left behind one phrase—'the odd variable changes, the even variable stays the same.' Once he said it, he vanished in a Body Flicker just as suddenly as he had appeared. Even I could not track him."

"I was very curious." Orochimaru leaned forward slightly, radiating an intensely oppressive desire to investigate. "Curious about the knowledge within that scroll, curious about that young man's identity and power, and even more curious about you—the one he told me to find—and what secrets you were hiding. So I came, Qianyu-kun."

Qianyu lowered his head, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists. His mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments.

The timing matched. A few months ago was roughly not long after Urashiki's attack, after his future self had appeared and then left.

The identity and abilities matched. Multiple bloodline limits, perfect Sage Mode—it all aligned with the power his future self had displayed.

The purpose was vague, yet the implication was clear. "Savior"? "Tell you everything"? Had some world-ending disaster occurred in the future, forcing his future self to return to the past to make arrangements and seek help? But would that not create even worse temporal paradoxes and chaos?

"Orochimaru," Qianyu raised his head, brows furrowed tightly. "Don't you think this is dangerous? Interfering with time, especially with information from the future, could lead to..."

"To the disorder and collapse of predetermined fate?" Orochimaru cut in, a nearly mocking smile appearing on his face. "Qianyu-kun, you are too bound by causality and linearity. Just as we are fated to be sitting here talking now, your future self is also fated to return to the past and fated to let me learn these things. This itself is part of causality—already existing 'history.'"

He paused, his voice lowering. "Perhaps it is precisely because of our conversation today, because of my involvement, that the future me and you can become that 'savior,' and have the opportunity to return to this point in time. Who can say?"

Qianyu fell silent. Orochimaru's way of thinking had always differed from ordinary people's, and matters concerning time and fate were even more abstruse. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt, so he simply gave up for the moment.

In any case, the fact that this Orochimaru could speak that code phrase, understood only by a specific group of people, already proved that his future self was behind this. At least for now, Orochimaru had come with the intention of cooperating or observing, rather than with simple hostility.

"So you came back now just to relay that message to me?" Qianyu asked, his tone easing somewhat. "And why did you place a curse mark on Sasuke?"

"Relaying the message was only one of my objectives." Orochimaru admitted openly. "More importantly, I wanted to see for myself what the 'key' designated by that person was like. As for Sasuke-kun... excellent material. That curse mark is a gift, as well as a test. Whether he can control it, or be consumed by it."

He made no attempt to hide his desire for the Sharingan, but there was no urgency in his tone. It was more like he was conducting an interesting long-term experiment.

Just then, Orochimaru abruptly changed the subject. His voice lowered, carrying the weight of a declaration.

"Also, I returned this time to carry out... the Konoha Crush Plan."

Before his words had even faded—

BOOM!!!

The wooden house's door was violently kicked open from outside by an immense force! Splinters flew everywhere!

Tsunade appeared in the doorway, her face twisted with fury, fire burning in her eyes. Her fists clenched with cracking sounds as terrifying chakra fluctuations poured from her body.

"Orochimaru! So it really was you!" Tsunade gritted her teeth, her voice as icy as winter frost. "You sneaked back into Konoha—what exactly are you trying to do?!"

As she had reached the door just now, she had happened to clearly hear the words "Konoha Crush Plan."

Facing the enraged Tsunade, Orochimaru remained utterly unhurried. He even spread his hands, answering in a calm tone that was almost eerie.

"Kill the teacher."

Tsunade: "???"

She froze for a moment, then a huge vein bulged on her forehead as rage instantly overwhelmed her reason!

"You bastard! What did you just say?!"

Too enraged to waste words, Tsunade shattered the ground beneath her feet and shot forward like a cannonball. Her fist, wrapped in terrifying monstrous strength and trailing a howling gust, smashed viciously toward Orochimaru's head!

Orochimaru seemed to have no intention of dodging.

Bang—!

With a dull thud, Orochimaru's head was punched backward at an unnatural angle by Tsunade, snapping cleanly off his neck. It spun through the air, struck the wall, and rolled to the floor.

Yet something bizarre happened.

The headless body neither fell nor sprayed blood. Instead, the severed stump of its neck writhed nauseatingly, and a new, intact Orochimaru head slowly emerged from the headless torso like a snake shedding its skin, accompanied by wet, sticky sounds.

The newly grown Orochimaru twisted his neck, producing a soft crack. That infuriating smile still sat on his face—calm, yet faintly mocking.

"You're still as crude as ever, Tsunade."

Watching that revolting sight, Tsunade fought down the urge to vomit, though her fury was temporarily dampened by the bizarre ability. She glared at Orochimaru. "Explain. Now. Otherwise, even if I have to tear this house apart today, I'll grind every piece of your flesh to pulp!"

Orochimaru adjusted his collar and slowly walked to the window, his gaze settling on the Hokage Rock outside, with its faces of past Hokage. In the sunset, his profile looked shadowed and unreadable.

"Don't you think that Sensei has... become senile?" Orochimaru's voice was soft, yet it carried a sharp, piercing force. "Hiruzen Sarutobi, once renowned across the ninja world as the 'Professor,' is now nothing more than an old man clinging to power, immersed in past glory, numbing himself and others with a false peace."

He turned to Tsunade, cold light flashing in his golden slit pupils. "This stale wind from a bygone era is becoming a slow disaster—for Konoha, and for himself."

Tsunade pressed her lips together but did not immediately argue. Though she had spent most of these years wandering outside the village, she was not entirely ignorant of Konoha's internal affairs. She had heard about some of Hiruzen-sensei's decisions and compromises over the years, and she was not without her own misgivings.

"The teacher who once dared to reform and forge ahead died long ago." Orochimaru's voice continued, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue as it peeled away the festering sores concealed beneath the surface of peace.

"Now, to preserve that fragile balance, he indulges Danzo's Root in acting without restraint, tacitly permits—or even drives—the Uchiha clan's extermination, stands by while Hatake Sakumo is driven to death by rumors, and for the sake of that illusory 'return of Wood Release,' secretly allows how many forbidden experiments on Senju clan members, ordinary ninja, and even orphans..."

With every sentence, Tsunade's face grew paler, and her fists clenched tighter. Some of these things she knew. Some she had vaguely suspected. Others shook her to the core. The parts involving the Senju clan and human experimentation especially touched the deepest pain in her heart—and her greatest taboo.

"Does a Hokage like that, a rule like that, truly still need to exist?" A trace of temptation entered Orochimaru's tone. "I came back this time because I want Sensei to die gloriously as a hero, to fall on the battlefield in a battle to protect the village."

"Rather than in the future, when his incompetence and compromises have completely dragged Konoha down, or when some new ambitious figure overturns the old accounts, and he is stripped bare of every secret and nailed to the pillar of shame in the ninja world like an old dog."

He turned around and looked straight into Tsunade's eyes. "A Hokage should be like Minato and the Second Hokage—dying at the height of their glory, on the battlefield protecting the village. Not slowly rotting away in the seat of power, taking all of Konoha down into mold with them."

The room fell deathly silent. Only Karin's steady breathing remained, along with the faint bustle of Konoha at dusk drifting in from outside.

Tsunade stood where she was, motionless. A fierce struggle raged within her. On one side was the teacher who had taught and cared for her for decades, the symbol of Konoha. On the other was the bloody dark reality Orochimaru had exposed—one she could not deny—and her deep concern for Konoha's future.

Orochimaru's words had been like a cold blade, cutting open things she had always refused to think too deeply about.

She slowly walked to the sofa and sat down with some difficulty, covering her face with both hands. After a long time, she lowered them again. Her face was weary and deeply conflicted.

"He is old now, that's true." Tsunade's voice was hoarse. "But... he is still our teacher."

Orochimaru neither agreed nor disagreed.

"Handle your own mess." Tsunade finally raised her head. Her gaze was complicated as she looked at Orochimaru, then at the silent Qianyu beside him. "I won't help you. And I won't help him either."

This was the greatest neutrality—and acquiescence—she could offer. She tacitly accepted Orochimaru's "judgment" of Hiruzen Sarutobi, as well as the coming storm.

Orochimaru did not seem surprised by this result. He turned to Qianyu, and the playfulness and curiosity in his gaze vanished, replaced by a measure of seriousness.

He understood that this boy might be the most important link among the variables of the future.

"So, Qianyu-kun, what about you?" Orochimaru asked. "The Konoha Crush Plan will inevitably bring battle and chaos. What is your position?"

Qianyu had been listening from the side all along, his heart equally turbulent. Some of Orochimaru's accusations against Hiruzen were things he already knew. Tsunade's final choice was also understandable.

Hearing Orochimaru's question, he raised his head. His face showed little expression.

"Me? Just don't crush my hot spring hotel while you're fighting."

He paused, then added, his tone carrying the helplessness expected of a boy his age.

"I still have to make money to support my master. The hole she digs when she loses gambling isn't easy to fill."

Orochimaru paused slightly. Then, for the first time, an expression that could be called a smile appeared on his pale face.

"Heh heh... Interesting."