You're Too Much Like a Snake

"W-wait! Don't you want eternal Eternity?"

Desperate to survive, Hiruko protested, "You're strong, but even the strongest people die! The God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, died. Madara Uchiha died. What makes you any different?"

"All right."

Big Brother Shinji glanced at him. "If you want to live, it's simple..."

Hiruko's eyes lit up.

"Name your terms. I'll agree to anything! Spare me, and I'll never appear before you again. How's that?!"

"Tch. You really are afraid of dying."

Big Brother Shinji shook his head with a smile. "Simple. Work for me, and I'll support your research unconditionally. Tell me which Kekkei Genkai user you want, and I'll capture them for you. How's that?"

"Huh?!"

Hiruko stared at him, wide-eyed. "...Are you serious?"

All he had to do was work for him?

And Big Brother Shinji would support his research into the Chimera Technique unconditionally?

"But aren't you a Konoha Ninja?!"

Big Brother Shinji looked baffled. "What's wrong with that? Can't a Konoha Ninja invest in research?"

Hiruko's expression stiffened. "You can accept human experimentation? You won't treat me like a freak?"

"I will."

Hiruko froze. "I knew it..."

Big Brother Shinji thought for a moment. "But I'll send you somewhere you'll meet a colleague. He's researching a way to achieve immortality too."

"Maybe you two will have something to talk about."

Hiruko stared at him. "There's someone else like that in the Shinobi World? Who?"

Big Brother Shinji grinned. "I'll keep you guessing. You'll find out soon."

"How soon..."

Whoosh!

On the road outside Kusagakure, Big Brother Shinji and Hiruko vanished in an instant. All they left behind was an unusually shaped Kunai tossed into the grass and three "wandering ninja," their corpses mutilated and abandoned in the wilderness.

"...is soon?"

Drip—drip—

The next moment, Hiruko stood in a cave,