Life Return 7.0

Uchiha Makoto accepted the scrolls with both hands and politely thanked him.

Then he opened them right in front of Orochimaru.

He glanced through them.

It really was just a glance.

He spent about three seconds reading the introductions, then... closed them.

His face showed no expression.

No surprise, no excitement, none of the enthusiasm of "Wow, these are B-rank Ninjutsu! Amazing!"

He was as calm as if he had just accepted two exercise books.

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly.

He had been watching Uchiha Makoto's expression the entire time. Normally, a six-year-old receiving B-rank Ninjutsu scrolls should have shown some reaction, no matter how composed he was.

Excitement, curiosity, eagerness... anything would have done.

But Uchiha Makoto showed none of it. He simply glanced through them and put them away.

It felt like... like an adult receiving a child's scribble and politely saying, "Thank you," while actually thinking, What the hell is this supposed to be?

For the first time, Orochimaru felt a flicker of genuine curiosity about his newly acquired disciple.

Uchiha Makoto had no idea what Orochimaru was thinking.

Even if he had known, he would not have cared.

C- and B-rank Ninjutsu?

That's it?

If I weren't afraid of scaring Obito and Guy, I would have "created" a whole pile of A- and S-Rank Forbidden Techniques already. Would I still need you to hand them over, Orochimaru?

Of course, he could only think that to himself.

Outwardly, he remained the picture of obedience. "Thank you, Lord Orochimaru. I'll study them diligently."

Orochimaru nodded and did not dwell on the subject.

"I'll come find you again in six months," he said. "Keep studying at school in the meantime. However..."

He paused, a cold gleam flashing through his golden, slit-pupiled eyes.

"Now that you're my disciple, certain people may not be very pleased. Watch yourself."

With that, his figure slowly vanished into the air like melting wax.

No hand seals, no smoke. He was simply gone.

Uchiha Makoto stood where he was, watching the spot where Orochimaru had disappeared as the obedient expression gradually faded from his face.

"Certain people... may not be very pleased?"

He repeated the words under his breath.

Who else could it be? Danzo, obviously.

That old bastard failed to snatch me up in the Hokage's office yesterday. He's probably seething right now.

Orochimaru might offer him protection, but tripping people up behind the scenes and striking from the shadows were Root's specialties.

Orochimaru had gone out of his way to warn him. It certainly was not without reason.

It seemed the next six months would be anything but peaceful.

"Stay away from places with few people..." Uchiha Makoto muttered to himself. "The Training Ground, the Back Mountain, the Grove... those places are off-limits for now. Go straight home after school, stick to the main roads, stay with classmates whenever possible..."

As he worked out his plans, he stuffed the dango in his hand into his mouth.

It was sweet.

But he felt a little bitter inside.

He lowered his gaze to the two scrolls in his hands.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands and Multiple Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

He casually tucked the scrolls inside his clothes. He was not bragging.

Given half a day, he could "create" improved versions of these two ordinary snake-based Ninjutsu.

After all, his head was packed with countless wildly imaginative "Ninjutsu concepts" dreamed up by internet users from another world.

"Still..." Uchiha Makoto chewed his dango, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Since Orochimaru gave me a present, I might as well use it. This is the perfect chance to see if I can... milk a little 'trust' out of him."

He licked the sweet sauce from the corner of his mouth and smiled.

That smile looked a little like a fox's.

And a little like... a snake's.

Six months was neither particularly long nor particularly short.

Long enough for a child to go from a new Ninja Academy student to a ninja capable of holding his own.

Short enough that... Uchiha Makoto felt he could keep grinding for another six months.

Over those six months, he finally figured things out.

Hide?

Hide my ass.

Ever since Orochimaru had approached him that day and offered to take him as a disciple, he had known that the old foxes in Konoha High Command had their eyes on him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was watching, and Shimura Danzō was keeping tabs on him.

Since he could not hide, he would stop trying.

Not only would he stop hiding, he would openly show what he could do.

Of course, not everything.

Being a genius was fine. Being a freak of nature was not.

Having potential was fine. Being too much of a threat was not.

Uchiha Makoto managed that balance very well.

Over those six months, the thing Uchiha Makoto did most was milk people for all they were worth.

He had three prime sheep nearby to keep shearing: Obito Uchiha, Might Guy, and Shisui Uchiha.

Obito and Guy went without saying. Those two lovable idiots trusted Uchiha Makoto to an absurd degree.

They believed whatever Uchiha Makoto said. Sometimes, even he thought he had made something up that was far too ridiculous, yet they would still nod admiringly. "You're right, Makoto!"

As for Shisui...

The kid really was clever, and he kept his thoughts well hidden.

But that was no match for the "persona" Uchiha Makoto had built!

An exceptionally gifted Uchiha genius who worked hard, strove to improve, and genuinely cared about his clansmen. Add in the occasional cultivation insight Uchiha Makoto "accidentally" let slip from methods he had "invented," and Shisui's trust in him steadily rose as well.

It was not as extreme as Obito's and Guy's, but it was still enough for the system to harvest.

Besides, Uchiha Makoto took a relaxed view of it.

So what if Shisui was under surveillance? Who wasn't?

Shisui Uchiha was being watched-did that mean I wasn't?

So Uchiha Makoto simply stopped hiding.

Before, he had approached Shisui cautiously. Now, he did it openly.

The first thing Uchiha Makoto milked relentlessly over those six months was "Life Return."

Life Return 2.0 had previously increased the speed of chakra training roughly two- to threefold, while also providing a modest boost to physical fitness.

But with the support of Uchiha Makoto's "Lie-Into-Reality" system...

Life Return 7.0: the ultimate overhauled version, with training speed ×10+, explosive growth in physical vitality, and a whole assortment of added effects such as rapid recovery, fatigue elimination, and mild toxin resistance.

Uchiha Makoto himself practiced version 7.0.

A tenfold difference, and that was only in chakra training speed.

The benefits of physical revitalization were even more outrageous-muscle strength, nerve responses, bone density, cellular vitality... all of them improved at a visibly noticeable rate.

Uchiha Makoto could feel his seven-year-old body growing stronger every day.

Of course, he did not dare give Obito and the others such an outrageous version.

What he gave the three of them was Life Return 2.1.

It was a slightly optimized version of 2.0, raising training speed to roughly 3.5 times normal and boosting physical vitality as well, but not to such a ridiculous degree.

Even that was already frightening enough.

After Obito and Guy practiced it for two months, their Taijutsu skills shot up.