Orochimaru: "I'm the teacher's most valued one."

Orochimaru was in his laboratory in Konoha.

The several control groups Masaichi had caught for him earlier—

The male and female groups who ate high-calorie snacks every day had put on happy weight.

The male and female groups who ate high-protein meals every day had developed abs and defined waistlines, their bodies lean and toned.

This life of having food handed to them every day was simply wonderful. Lord Orochimaru and Lord Masaichi were the best!!

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

And Lord Masaichi, whom they were so deeply grateful to, was sitting on the table, his butt pressing down on a sheet of experimental data as he laid out the current disadvantages to Orochimaru:

"Teacher, did you see it? The Third doesn't want you to become Hokage. The one he truly values is Minato Namikaze."

"If this continues, you might very well..."

Masaichi did not say the rest.

If Orochimaru continued believing victory was assured and did not fight for it, Minato could push him out at any moment.

Orochimaru paused his research upon hearing that and looked seriously at Masaichi. "Perhaps you misunderstand our teacher somewhat, Masaichi."

Who in all of Konoha did not know that he was his teacher's most valued student?

Konoha's Three Ninja were himself, Tsunade, and Jiraiya.

In the past, Hiruzen Sarutobi had rarely praised the other two students in public, while his praise for Orochimaru had never been stingy.

Tsunade and Jiraiya carried far less weight than he did when speaking before their teacher.

In fact, just after the Second Shinobi World War ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered retiring early and passing the position of Hokage to him.

He had merely declined because he believed his teacher was still young.

Over the years, how many major and minor matters had he handled for his teacher? There was no reason the Hokage could be anyone but him.

"Hehe, Tsunade and Jiraiya were never brought home by our teacher for meals when they were children, Masaichi." Recalling it, Orochimaru actually chuckled. It was the first time Masaichi had seen this man, nicknamed the Cold Lord, smile.

Perhaps the only person left in Konoha who could stir ripples in Orochimaru's cold heart was Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Not even Jiraiya, who had grown up with him, could do so.

"But!" Masaichi's face was full of anxiety. The past was the past, but now someone named Minato Namikaze had stepped forward and was constantly replacing him in the Third's heart.

If explained according to the plot of some melodramatic novel—

Although Orochimaru had shared a deep bond with Hiruzen Sarutobi for so many years, he was merely the vicious villain. Minato Namikaze was the pure little lotus, Hiruzen Sarutobi's true fated "heroine."

From the moment Minato Namikaze appeared, no emotional explanation made sense anymore.

The plot of the original Naruto story had roughly gone the same way. As Orochimaru realized he was becoming less and less of a match for Minato, he chose to join forces with Danzo to compete for the Hokage position. Since he had joined Danzo, there had certainly been no shortage of little schemes against Minato behind the scenes.

And Minato was pure-hearted and would not strike back.

Thus, Hiruzen Sarutobi would only feel more and more sorry for Minato and become even more determined to put him in office. That determination had even extended to Naruto, because Naruto was Minato's child.

Right now, Orochimaru was reminiscing over every little moment he had shared with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Nothing Masaichi said would work.

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

"Teacher, perhaps you're right."

"Masaichi, stand with Kakashi and Obito. Let me see which of you is taller."

During a private gathering of Team 7's students, Rin had also invited Masaichi, who was idle at home.

No matter how displeased Obito was, he could only swallow it.

That bastard Kakashi was here, and Masaichi was here too. Why were Konoha's two most detestable bastards chasing him down to kill him?

The three of them compared heights. Masaichi was clearly taller; the other two only reached his eyebrows.

"Ah, Masaichi is the tallest." Rin smiled.

"Damn it." Being a whole head shorter than Masaichi in front of the girl he loved, Obito hurried to make up for it elsewhere.

"What use is being tall? What matters for a ninja is strength."

"Come on, arm wrestle!"

Obito flexed his biceps. Over the past few years, he had strictly followed Teacher Minato's advice and eaten more vegetables!

"Hmph..." Those were the muffled grunts the two made while arm wrestling.

Obito had considerable strength. His strength was even on par with Kakashi's, though he lacked technique in battle. Unable to determine a winner against Kakashi, Obito was satisfied and looked smugly at Masaichi. "Your turn?"

His strength was about the same as Kakashi's, so was it not perfectly reasonable for him to be stronger than Masaichi?

"Rin, watch closely." Obito struck a pose and relaxed his arm.

Masaichi knew that if he beat Obito, Obito had no idea how much he would pester him afterward.

So he intended to go easy on him.

But the moment their hands clasped upright on the table, Masaichi was a little confused. "Uh, go on. Push."

Obito was already using every ounce of strength he had, but with Rin there, he managed his expression well. Masaichi thought he had not exerted himself yet.

Hearing Masaichi's words, Obito could not tell for a moment whether he was being mocked.

"Hehe, why don't you put some strength into it?" Obito was screaming inside, but his face still put on a cool act.

Only Kakashi, standing outside the contest, noticed something was off. Obito's strength and Masaichi's were not even in the same league.

What exactly had Masaichi grown up eating?

Even Rin could tell, because Obito was sweating.

Two minutes later, Obito deftly changed the subject. "Lately, I've been training with Teacher Minato every night. Teacher Minato said that after the war ends, he'll teach me his best technique, the Rasengan."

"Congratulations, Obito." Rin smiled, then looked at Masaichi. "What about you, Masaichi? Has Lord Orochimaru taught you anything lately?"

Obito and Kakashi both turned their gazes toward Masaichi, very interested in Orochimaru's teaching.

"Teacher Orochimaru? It seems he hasn't taught me much ninjutsu. He just makes sure I'm fed and watered."

Masaichi was telling the truth. Here with Orochimaru, he ate beef like staple food and drank protein powder like water. Recently, Orochimaru had even tossed him a bottle of multivitamin tablets. Just six a day could replenish all the vitamins his body needed.

So compared to the malnourished Obito and Kakashi—

Masaichi was visibly far superior to those two, who had spent years gnawing on Military Ration Pills, whether in height, the shine of his hair, or the smoothness of his skin.

What stung a little was that, compared carefully beside Masaichi, Obito and Kakashi actually looked somewhat like children from the mountains.

"Huh? Then what do you normally eat?" Rin looked enviously at Masaichi's skin. It was more supple than even the girls' and translucently fair.

"What are you saying, Rin? Scars are a man's medals!" Looking at Masaichi's clean, fair body, Obito guessed that he must normally just run errands and pour tea for Orochimaru. If he never went to the battlefield, of course he would never get tanned by the sun.

Then Konoha's ninja infiltration of the Land of Lightning probably had nothing to do with Masaichi.

Before coming here, he had been a little afraid Masaichi had been among those people and that Rin would chase after him asking for details.

Now, it seemed... heh heh.

And he had already fought plenty of people.

He had "battle achievements" on his body.