Teacher Is Orochimaru

"The war is over! The war is over!" Watching the jubilant crowd before him, Kenichi Amamiya felt no joy at all. He only found them far too noisy.

But when he thought of how the Third Great Ninja War had finally come to an end, Kenichi Amamiya felt that this was not so bad after all. At the very least, he would not be sent out as cannon fodder, though no such order would have come down to him anyway.

It was incredible. Konoha had suffered heavy casualties in the Third Great Ninja War, and a Genin like Kenichi Amamiya could only be considered expendable. Fortunately, he had a good teacher.

"The war is over, Kenichi." At the sound of that gentle voice, Kenichi did not even need to turn around to know who stood behind him.

One of Konoha's Sannin, and the man many would later call Uncle Snake—Orochimaru. A man who had once seemed impossible to redeem, yet was somehow redeemed later on. This man was his teacher.

"Teacher, now that this war is over, Third is getting old. He will step down, right?" Kenichi Amamiya's voice still carried some childishness. After all, he was only ten years old. Yet he was mature and remarkably calm, qualities Orochimaru greatly appreciated.

The reason for that calmness was that this small body housed an adult soul.

His name had not originally been this. On a rainy night after working overtime, he had lost consciousness. When he woke again, he had arrived in this world, becoming one of Konoha's war orphans and being placed in an orphanage.

Unfortunately, he had encountered Orochimaru while he was secretly gathering subjects for human experiments. Fortunately, his performance had caught Orochimaru's attention, transforming him from someone who might have become a test subject into Orochimaru's student.

Even now, recalling the hardships along the way made Kenichi Amamiya feel as though he had been treading on thin ice. One wrong move, and he could have become an experiment.

Although Kenichi Amamiya had not watched all of Naruto and had skipped quite a few flashback arcs, he still remembered some of it. He had also watched several explanation videos and roughly knew some of Naruto's plot and Timeline.

He did not know much beyond that, but even so, Kenichi Amamiya felt it was enough.

"Do not be so disrespectful next time, Kenichi. Though Teacher is old, he is still Konoha's Hokage." There was no emotion in Orochimaru's voice. In truth, he was not angry, and Kenichi Amamiya roughly knew why.

When had it started? In any case, Orochimaru had long held some dissatisfaction toward Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, though it was still barely under control.

Kenichi knew that Orochimaru still had hopes of becoming Fourth Hokage. But once he learned that the Fourth would be Minato Namikaze, he would probably completely change his mind, wouldn't he?

"Teacher, has the experiment made any progress?" Kenichi followed Orochimaru's footsteps. He was not an exceptionally gifted ninja. Even at ten, he had only barely become a Genin. Someone like him should not have been qualified to survive under Orochimaru.

But fortunately, Kenichi Amamiya had displayed talent in science.

In scientific matters, Kenichi Amamiya could help Orochimaru. His novel "ideas" and "inspirations" had also allowed him to occupy a small place in Orochimaru's mind. Orochimaru was interested in him. That was Kenichi Amamiya's rule for survival.

"Not bad. Although Danzo has been urging us rather urgently, our experiment has indeed made some progress. We may be able to begin live testing." At the mention of something that interested him, a faint smile appeared on Orochimaru's face. Kenichi Amamiya smiled as well.

Orochimaru and Danzo were researching the First Hokage's cells, intending to see whether they could create a child capable of using Wood Release. Kenichi did not remember much, but he recalled that they seemed to succeed. Quite a few people had died in the process, though.

But what did that matter? Orochimaru was that sort of person, and Shimura Danzō was extremely dangerous as well. More than once, he had wanted to turn Kenichi Amamiya into a member of Root, only to be refused by Orochimaru.

Later, Shimura Danzō had even proposed placing a Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on Kenichi Amamiya's tongue. Fortunately, Orochimaru had refused that as well.

This left Kenichi Amamiya deeply dissatisfied with Shimura Danzō, but he cleverly suppressed that dissatisfaction. He only showed a slight hint of unhappiness. Schemes were fine, but too many would only invite suspicion.

Before his strength was sufficient to reveal his hand, Kenichi Amamiya would not show any open dissatisfaction toward Danzo.

Upon returning to Orochimaru's secret laboratory, Kenichi Amamiya relaxed. There were several servants in this laboratory, responsible only for cleaning and tending to Kenichi Amamiya's daily needs. These pitiful people would never leave for the rest of their lives—or rather, the day they left would be the day they died.

Kenichi Amamiya had grown accustomed to such a life. In this wicked world, strength was the only true foundation. Whenever he thought of the absurd Combat Power of the future, his urgency to improve his own strength grew even stronger.

Current research target: Hashirama Senju's Sage Body

Research progress: 99.8%

A panel only he could see appeared before Kenichi Amamiya. It was precisely because of this thing that he had sufficient confidence in his future.

When he had transmigrated here, he had gained a cheat ability that could research and analyze everything in this world. However, it required samples. Once the analysis and research were complete, he could replace his own traits with it and gain those abilities.

It was because of this cheat ability that Kenichi Amamiya, once an ordinary person incapable of becoming a ninja, had become a Genin.

But that was all. His Physical Fitness was far too poor, making it difficult for him to advance any further. So he had set his sights on constitutions—or rather, bloodlines.

Originally, Kenichi Amamiya's target had been the Uzumaki Clan. Kushina Uzumaki was a good target, and the Uzumaki Clan's constitution was quite good as well.

But later, Orochimaru had taken an interest in him, so he changed his target. Taking advantage of his special status, he acquired Hashirama Senju's cells.

Unfortunately, the First's constitution was extremely special, and his analysis progressed very slowly. Two and a half years had passed before it was finally nearing completion.

But the wait was worth it. This was the First Hokage's Sage Body. It would definitely improve his aptitude.

"Bring me that thing of mine." Kenichi Amamiya called out, and a Test Tube was immediately placed in his hand. He was currently researching the Sharingan.