Orochimaru

Only ten people remained after the trial concluded, which Kato Osamu had not expected.

"Rumble..."

The earthen wall slowly vanished, leaving only the remaining ten people half-kneeling on the ground before Danzo finally arrived fashionably late with his cane.

"Hmph!"

Danzo slammed his cane hard against the ground, sending a fierce momentum sweeping over them.

Kato Osamu struggled, fiercely resisting this oppressive aura.

"No past, no future, no name, no emotion.

Supporting Konoha from the shadows, deeply rooted in the earth, is the will of our Root!"

The ten people shouted in unison, which seemed to satisfy Danzo somewhat before he slowly turned and walked away.

After Danzo left, A-Three appeared before them, holding something that made everyone's gaze lock onto it.

"These are your shinobi headbands and masks. From today on, you are official Root shinobi."

A-Three handed a headband to Kato Osamu, though he seemed to cast a strange look his way.

He had no mask.

Kato Osamu saw the difference between himself and the others, but he did not speak up; in the Root, it was not yet his place to talk.

"Ram, follow me. There is an adult who wishes to see you..."

What expression lay beneath A-Three's mask Kato Osamu could not know, but he could clearly sense the cold eyes of the other children.

"Yes, Lord A-Three!"

A spacious training ground—this was a rarely used training ground, one that Kato Osamu had practically never visited in the past three years.

"Wait here..."

A-Three's voice was frigid, and after speaking, he vanished. Kato Osamu silently surveyed his surroundings. There were no wooden posts or shooting ranges like those in ordinary training grounds, only pitch-black, extremely hard stone walls covered in scratches, which looked like sword marks.

Dappled firelight flickered around the area, and Kato Osamu roughly guessed that this was some sort of swordsmanship training ground, even though he had no idea why there was not a single soul here.

"Do you know why there is no one here?"

Kato Osamu detected no chakra or spiritual fluctuations whatsoever when a strange voice suddenly exploded right beside his ear, making his scalp instantly go numb.

This person was the most powerful individual he had ever encountered, aside from Danzo.

He could not gauge how the two compared, but he could clearly sense the difference between them and ordinary shinobi.

"N-No, I don't..."

He did not dare to look back. Although he was inside the Root base where no enemies should exist, this person possessed an aura that forbade him from moving.

"Because the man who once defeated everyone in this entire training ground, the most skilled swordsman in all of Konoha, the one regarded as a goal by every shinobi practicing swordsmanship in the Root and the ANBU, died inside his own home today.

Like some pathetic worm, he ended his own life."

The man slowly walked up to Kato Osamu, and only then did Kato Osamu get a clear look at his face. He possessed a slightly effeminate appearance, yet he was an absolute beauty.

"Lord White Fang... How could that be?"

"A person who easily abandons his own life is not worthy of respect."

Although the man's tone was icy, it seemed tinged with a trace of anger, suggesting he likely had some friendship with White Fang.

"Kato Osamu, Root codename 'Ram', Genin, has mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique and used it to develop a special sensory secret technique, boasting extremely high aptitude for soul-based secret techniques."

"Participated in trials twenty-three times, engaged in combat a total of ten times, repeatedly abandoning objectives to prioritize self-preservation."

The man pulled out a small scroll and read aloud.

"A shinobi who thinks only of self-preservation and is completely out of place in the Root..."

"It seems the instructors under Danzo's command are due for a replacement."

Kato Osamu remained silent, standing quietly to one side. His days in the Root were centered around training, and he was largely oblivious to affairs in the village outside of occasionally hearing about special events.

He never expected that the renowned White Fang would die inside his own home. It was like a five-star general on Blue Star suddenly committing suicide at home; no one would ever think this was simply a matter of 'I feel like killing myself today'.

"You cherish your life very much. That is a very good mindset..."

The man's eyes were as sharp and cold as those of some beast, and Kato Osamu did not know if this was caused by some special trait.

"The cruelest thing about life is that it must end. As long as death exists, no matter how long a life is, it feels fleeting, and the end of glory is ultimately eternal darkness."

"You can call me Orochimaru, Kato-kun. Since you practice the Spirit Transformation Technique, what do you think the essence of a person is—the soul or the flesh?"

Was this Orochimaru, one of the Three Legendary Sannin? Kato Osamu finally reacted; this was his first time seeing the famed Sannin.

Orochimaru's words were heavy with a sense of lingering unwillingness. Kato Osamu raised his head once more to look at Orochimaru. This man in his thirties was entirely different from any shinobi he had ever met before—not only in strength, but with the air of an investigator and a philosopher.

"The soul. The flesh is merely a tool to carry the soul. Perhaps what we think of as death is merely the soul journeying to another world."

Having lived a second life, Kato Osamu did not hesitate at all. The soul held a special significance for him.

"So this is your answer..."

Orochimaru looked at Kato Osamu with a hint of surprise.

To an ordinary eight-year-old child, this question seemed far too profound, yet Kato Osamu showed no hesitation whatsoever, as if he frequently pondered this issue and had already arrived at his own conclusion.

An answer identical to his own.

"Then, Kato-kun, are you willing to follow me?"

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"

There was no need for hesitation; Orochimaru had been able to enter the Root openly, meaning Danzo must have known, and moreover, he was merely a small pawn with zero possibility of refusal.

"Then let me see just how far you have cultivated the Spirit Transformation Technique, Kato-kun..."

"Spirit Transformation Technique!"

Kato Osamu did not hesitate in the slightest, flashing backward and forming hand seals. In an instant, his physical body became completely motionless, and a faint, nearly imperceptible phantom drifted out from it.

"Truly beautiful..."

"A technique just like Dan's..."

Orochimaru watched Kato Osamu skillfully execute the Spirit Transformation Technique, a flash of peculiar emotion crossing his eyes.

"Hah!"

Kato Osamu gave a soft cry, and his spiritual body transformed into a blur of light, hurtling toward Orochimaru.

"Ignoring distance, immune to all attacks, and capable of being resisted solely by one's own willpower. Aside from the main body being a weakness, it is a nearly flawless secret technique."

Orochimaru watched the spiritual body drifting toward him, licked his lips, and flicked his finger, sending a small pebble striking right between Kato Osamu's brows.

Kato Osamu's spiritual body, flying toward Orochimaru, halted instantly in its tracks, snapping swiftly back into his physical body as he lapsed into unconsciousness.

"The weakness is too obvious. If targeted, certain death follows..."

Orochimaru looked at Kato Osamu lying unconscious on the ground, picked him up effortlessly, and slung him over his shoulder.

"Elder Danzo, you certainly sent me quite a generous gift..."

"Orochimaru, this old man promised to support you in ascending to the position of Hokage, and it will definitely succeed."

Danzo's figure had appeared there at some unknown moment.

"Could it be that you think I would lose to Hatake Sakumo? The old man would never hand the position of Hokage over to him."

"Even with the slightest threat present, his death was well-deserved."

Orochimaru licked his lips and said nothing more.

"This child is Dan's nephew, right? I didn't expect the last remaining seedling of the Kato Clan to be dragged into this place by Elder Danzo as well..."

"Dan's nephew is already dead. He is a Root shinobi, with no past and no future."

Danzo leaned on his cane and slowly walked deeper into the base, his figure hiding in the darkness looking somewhat terrifying under the flickering firelight.

"So this is the 'Root' of Konoha..."

Watching Danzo slowly turn and vanish from the training ground, Orochimaru also disappeared from the Root base.

Konoha's warm sunlight shone down upon Orochimaru. Looking at the milling crowds on the street gossiping over White Fang's suicide, Orochimaru suddenly felt how utterly foolish they were.

For the very first time, he felt a deep sense of revulsion toward this place.