Beneath Konoha.
The mass Orochimaru had named "law code," a conceptual entity of pure "existence" and "nonexistence," slowly revolved in his palm, devouring all the light around it like a miniature black hole and radiating a terror that made the soul tremble.
Orochimaru wore a crazed smile that mingled the fervor of a creator with the devotion of a pilgrim. His golden, serpentine eyes reflected Shinichi's figure, brimming with anticipation, as though he were waiting for "God" to commend his latest work.
What he received instead was the figurative bucket of ice-cold water Uchiha Shinichi dumped over his head.
"Stop."
Shinichi uttered just one word, calm but carrying a will that brooked no argument.
The revolving mass of "law code" abruptly stalled.
The fanatical smile on Orochimaru's face froze as well.
"Brother?" He sounded confused, even a little aggrieved.
This was the first strand of primordial power he had painstakingly extracted from a "god's" remains, the key to truth. Why would his brother... react like this?
"Orochimaru," Shinichi said, extending a finger to poke listlessly at the mass of "nothingness" still struggling in Orochimaru's palm, as though prodding a lump of unruly jelly. "Let me ask you something."
"Please, go ahead, Brother." Orochimaru immediately composed himself and bowed his head respectfully.
"Can you cook?"
"...?"
The question came so far out of left field that even Orochimaru's brain, comparable to a supercomputer, crashed for one hundredth of a second.
Cook?
He was the Shinobi World's foremost scientist, hailed as a genius who came along only once every fifty years, and his brother was asking whether he could cook?
"Judging by that look, you can't."
Shinichi curled his lip and withdrew his finger, speaking in the tone of someone dealing with a hopeless case. "Right now, you're like someone who's never