Orochimaru: "Anko Is Still Young. You Must Work Hard."

Good news.

On his twelfth birthday, Masaichi, already a Konoha Chunin, awakened the memories of his past life.

Bad news.

He... he had fucking picked the wrong side.

Inside an underground laboratory with poor visibility.

"Happy birthday, Masaichi." The pale-faced man held a small six-inch cake.

"Masaichi, don't misunderstand. I chipped in for the cake Orochimaru-sensei bought too. I really didn't forget your birthday." The speaker was a little girl of around nine, her cheeks still carrying baby fat.

"Yes, yes." Orochimaru looked helplessly at Anko as she mischievously stuck out her tongue at him.

This was the scene Masaichi saw after absorbing the memories of his past life.

He looked at the man holding the cake with a stomachache.

Orochimaru.

One of the legendary Sannin, and his teacher in this life.

The Third Shinobi World War had only just begun to show signs of brewing, yet his teacher Orochimaru had already secured Konoha an opening victory. Calls for him to succeed the Hokage were growing louder by the day.

Some even believed Orochimaru was a sure thing for the Fourth Hokage, while the Fifth Hokage's successor might well be Masaichi. All sorts of little gifts were being sent to his nine-square-meter ninja dormitory.

But only he knew that Orochimaru would lose the competition for Fourth Hokage.

Not only would he lose, but his human experiments would eventually be exposed, and Hiruzen Sarutobi would drive him out of the village.

His reputation would be utterly ruined.

After Orochimaru defected, his subordinates would naturally scatter like monkeys from a fallen tree. Some would be investigated, others interrogated.

Masaichi's best possible outcome would be to become a Special Jonin like Anko and stay far from the center of power.

But Anko would probably be kept as an example to soothe Orochimaru's former subordinates, and besides, the little girl had never done anything wrong.

As for him... Masaichi...

Before awakening his past-life memories, he had been Orochimaru's die-hard fan. Back when Orochimaru believed becoming Hokage was practically guaranteed, he had entrusted Masaichi with important responsibilities.

He had often secretly ordered him to capture materials for human experiments.

And those materials were, of course...

If my teacher defects in the future, even if I don't die, I'll still lose a layer of skin, won't I?

He was just an ordinary commoner in this life, with no clan behind him to support him.

He had only become Orochimaru's disciple because he was smart.

A few years from now, the Third Hokage and the ANBU would wipe out Orochimaru's experimental base in one sweep. Orochimaru himself would only escape because the old Third was softhearted. How could he possibly have time to take Masaichi with him?

Wearing a Chunin vest whose inner lining was utterly out of place for this era, with an aesthetic twenty or thirty years ahead of its time, Masaichi looked like a sweating king as cold sweat broke out across his forehead. Orochimaru keenly noticed that something was wrong with his student's mood, but he said nothing.

He rather appreciated Masaichi. The kid was open-minded and modern, unlike those stubborn old fossils in Konoha.

Perhaps the only ones willing to change Konoha's current rotten order were commoners like them.

That was also why he had taken Masaichi as a disciple right after he graduated from the Ninja Academy at nine.

At this point, Orochimaru still retained the faintest trace of human warmth.

"All right, you and Anko continue celebrating." Orochimaru set the cake on the table, then returned to his experiments. He was busy too.

"Okay."

But after Masaichi came back to himself, he could not help wondering whether Orochimaru-sensei would abandon his experiments and stay with him the whole time if he were Nawaki.

Tch.

Compared to that, his little cake seemed rather shabby.

"What are you looking at?" Masaichi looked toward Anko, who kept swallowing.

Of course Anko was craving it. "Can I eat it?"

"Eat? Go ahead. You can have all of it."

Masaichi did not eat sweets. Consuming a large amount of sugar at once would interfere with the body's insulin. Not only would it make someone fat, it could also trigger inflammation.

He was not one of those overpowered cheaters. He had neither the Senju Bloodline nor the Sharingan. In this life, he did not even have a family name.

So he could only rely on science in the ninja world.

He wondered whether scientifically supplementing his nutrition and training his body every day could let him reach Kage-level strength.

Anko knew that Masaichi, like their teacher, did not like sweets. So after cutting Masaichi a piece just for show, she intended to put all the rest into her stomach.

"Eat fewer sweet things." Masaichi was still worrying about how to help his teacher beat Minato.

You, Minato, were a newcomer. Had you participated in the Second Shinobi World War? Did you have enough seniority?

But Hiruzen Sarutobi simply liked that young man. There was nothing anyone could do about it.

Seeing Anko stuff cake into her mouth like her life depended on it, Masaichi, already feeling melancholy, could not stand it any longer. He simply snatched the plate away.

And then... Anko cried.

Orochimaru came over, somewhat impatient and somewhat speechless.

Think about it. He had been in the middle of an experiment, like a man consumed by desire who was just about to do that sort of thing and was suddenly interrupted. Anyone would be pissed off.

"Masaichi, it is only a piece of cake," Orochimaru said.

"But cake has a very high glycemic index. It is not good for the human body. Sensei, I was doing it for Anko's sake." Masaichi had principles. Although! He had snatched it away just now because he was upset, but! He truly was doing it for Anko's sake.

Anko wiped away her tears, only half convinced.

"Glycemic?" Orochimaru caught a term, and a spark of interest appeared in his eyes. "What is glycemic? It is not good for the human body?"

Although he did not eat sweets.

Children always smiled when they ate sugar. Sugar, to humanity, seemed like a need engraved into instinct...

"That's right. Eating sugar causes acne, and it also causes..."

"Get to the point!" Orochimaru was a little impressed by this student of his. He loved talking nonsense.

For people who cared about beauty, those words were extremely valuable, but to him?

Masaichi was a jack of all trades and master of none. He could certainly rattle off a whole bunch of explanations for Orochimaru, but if they went into further detail, he would not know either.

There was no helping it. A person's energy was always limited.

"This and that, and therefore, Orochimaru-sensei, do you understand my painstaking intentions now? I was doing it all for her own good."

"As if! I eat rice dumplings every day, and I'm fine."

"Quiet, Anko. You are fatter than when you graduated from the Ninja Academy. I see. Then, Masaichi, if it were you, what do you think one should eat every day?"

"How am I fat?" Anko had wanted to act cute and have someone comfort her, but when she saw her teacher's longing for life, his thirst for life, the men in those adult books did not have eyes that excited even on their wedding night.

She left.

Heh. Men.

Masaichi was enjoying himself too. Everyone in the Naruto world ignored science. He truly did not fit in.

Though Snake Uncle had a strange personality, Snake Uncle was a materialist!

"Eggs."

"Why?"

"Because..."

"Get to the point!"

"Yes!"

"..."

"I see!" Orochimaru suddenly closed his eyes, his mind racing. He seemed to have discovered why this body liked eating eggs.

So it had all been instinct.

No madness, no greatness.

Orochimaru opened his eyes again, his entire body trembling with excitement. He steadied himself and said, "Masaichi, I have a task for you. It will be difficult, but this is your teacher's order."

"I cannot trust anyone else."

"Anko is young and ignorant. As for the Fifth Hokage... you must work hard."