The Student Who Herded Cows, Orochimaru

Listening to the sobbing inside the room, Masaichi felt tormented. Was he right, or was he wrong?

But the scene in the laboratory differed somewhat from what he had imagined.

To Orochimaru's left were several baskets of boiled eggs, while to his right were the desserts Konoha villagers loved to eat in the afternoon.

What he intended to do was feed these foods to the people every day and observe their changes after a period of time.

"Eat!"

Like feeding pigs, Orochimaru directly dumped several baskets of eggs in front of one group of men and women.

Then he poured all the desserts in front of another group.

"Is this our last meal?"

Unable to speak, the people thought this might be the final meal of their lives. They crammed the food into their mouths without caring about their appearance.

Sobs, sobs, sobs...

Before being captured, they had suffered endless abuse from the local wealthy families and owed mountains of debt. Eggs were something they only got to eat on their birthdays.

Those eating desserts were even happier. They did not dare hesitate for even a moment, afraid that one more second of hesitation would mean one less bite.

Some people began crying tears of happiness as they ate, but Masaichi outside did not know that. The little angel and little devil in his heart were fighting.

While these people gorged themselves, Orochimaru used specialized instruments to thoroughly study the "power" contained within the food.

"Teacher! The conscience in my heart won't allow you to conduct human experiments!"

"Either kill me and continue, or use white mice for my sake."

"I'm doing this for your own good, Teacher..."

In the end, Masaichi had not lost his humanity. He charged into the laboratory with his eyes closed. Thinking of how ruthless Orochimaru was, he had started out tough, but gradually softened and prepared to play the emotional card.

But when he saw Orochimaru in the laboratory, moving as boldly as a farmer feeding pigs and splashing bucket after bucket of "slop" in front of the villagers...

He felt a little awkward. It seemed he had misunderstood.

"Oh..."

"Oh... I see, I see. So that's what it is."

Orochimaru remained in the pose of pouring things out. He was rather embarrassed too. Acting so crudely in front of his student—normally, he was quite lofty and elegant.

"Get out."

"Yes!"

"Close the door!"

"Yes, yes!!"

The Third Shinobi World War had begun because of the disappearance of Sand Village's Third Kazekage.

A bunch of dark-skinned barbarians from the Hidden Cloud Village discovered that this was a perfect opportunity for territorial expansion and chose to wage war against the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Wind.

Konoha Village occupied the most fertile land and was also one of only two ninja villages where Jinchūriki could not demonstrate their power. Unlike the poor Sand Village, it naturally drew the covetous eyes of the entire Ninja World.

At the Jonin meeting.

"What is Orochimaru doing?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, seated at the head of the table, had been overwhelmed with worries lately.

Just like during the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, Konoha's enemy was still potentially the entire Ninja World.

The great nations were certain to clash with Konoha.

As for the smaller nations, every so often one would suddenly pop up, wanting to bite a chunk of flesh off the Land of Fire.

The battle lines had stretched far and wide, and every able-bodied young fighter in the village had been dispatched.

Yet at a time when manpower was desperately needed everywhere, news came that Orochimaru had recently opened a chicken farm, raising chickens, ducks, and cattle.

He had even sent his student to attend the Jonin meeting in his place.

With such a major fighting force absent from the front lines, Konoha's battle line had been pushed back quite a ways.

Danzo Shimura, one of Konoha's current F4, had gone to the front to oversee the war. The remaining three—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado—looked at Masaichi in the meeting room.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was damn frustrated. His most valued student had gone off to herd cattle.

Back when they were children, it had always been Jiraiya who annoyed him for being so unpromising, and he had feared Jiraiya might end up herding cattle one day.

Now it had actually reversed. That carefree slacker Jiraiya had led Minato to sweep the battlefield, while Orochimaru had rented a plot of land outside Konoha to graze livestock.

He was so angry he laughed, feeling bitterly disappointed. "Why didn't your teacher come?"

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado could only helplessly pinch their brows as well.

Masaichi knew that in the original timeline, Orochimaru had never researched food.

This was really absurd.

What if, lacking Orochimaru's top-tier combat strength and strategic mind, the Third Shinobi World War deviated from its course and Konoha lost?

Seeing every Jonin staying in Konoha to recuperate staring at him anxiously, Masaichi had no idea how to explain it.

Was he supposed to explain that his teacher was researching the "energy" contained in food?

Would Konoha even understand? Did Konoha know what dietary nourishment was?

Most likely, the Jonin would all make faces like subway elders staring at a phone, then drag him off to haul his teacher onto the battlefield.

Hiruzen Sarutobi understood his student's strange temperament and did not make things difficult for Masaichi.

He merely felt some regret in his heart.

Orochimaru... did not possess the Will of Fire that would sacrifice for Konoha.

Masaichi did not know whether his teacher would defect in this life.

Anyway, if his teacher defected, then he would defect too and follow his teacher.

Teacher, are you moved?

When Madara left back then, not a single person followed him.

But you have me.

"You're back? What did Teacher Sarutobi say?"

When Masaichi returned, Orochimaru was shaking something in a water cup. Beside him, a Shadow Clone was checking the physical condition of the "materials" on schedule.

"The Third Hokage ordered that you must head to the Hidden Cloud Village front in two days to deal with the A-B Brothers..."

Orochimaru simply left him on read. He nodded but did not say whether he would go.

Masaichi understood.

Right now, his teacher clearly held a greater advantage than Minato.

But Minato was practically a workhorse. He had heard that Minato could be found on several of Konoha's battlefields.

"The group eating eggs lost weight, but all the weight lost was fat. Their weight decreased, yet their physical fitness and stamina improved."

"The group eating only desserts gained a great deal of weight. Most of that gain was body fat, while their physical fitness and stamina declined slightly."

"..."

Orochimaru continued shaking the water cup as he discussed the findings with his Shadow Clone, his eyes filled with a desire to explore.

The human body was truly marvelous.

Why had the group eating eggs lost weight while gaining strength?

"Teacher, at today's Jonin meeting, Grandmaster seemed rather dissatisfied with you." Masaichi sat before a table covered in experimental data, analyzing the situation with Orochimaru with a thoughtful expression.

"I heard from my classmate Obito that Minato wants to compete for the position of Hokage. Jiraiya supports Minato competing for it, though I don't know whether Obito was just bragging to our classmates."

"Damn it, the war isn't even over, and that master-disciple pair is already thinking about what comes after it. They're not truly thinking for Konoha at all."

Masaichi complained.

"So that's it."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up. "The human body consists of lean flesh, fatty flesh, bones, and water."

"Teacher, you're the senior one with military achievements. Why should a greenhorn brat like Minato be qualified to compete with you for Hokage?" Masaichi said indignantly.

Of course, Masaichi himself was only twelve this year, much younger than Minato.

Orochimaru, meanwhile, murmured:

"Eggs contain a substance that can be absorbed by the human body and converted into lean flesh, while desserts contain a substance that can likewise be absorbed and converted into fatty flesh."

"For us ninja, the functionality of lean flesh far surpasses that of fatty flesh!!"

"Masaichi! Your suggestion was excellent. It truly helped your teacher a great deal."

Orochimaru cast him an approving look.

"Eh, really?" Masaichi scratched his head awkwardly. He had merely analyzed that the Orochimaru faction and Jiraiya faction were bound to clash in the future.

Such praise was far too much!