Became a Necromancer

Kenichi Amamiya thought of a joke: a hero's younger brother had died, and the archer and mage both said they would help the hero avenge him.

Then the necromancer in the party added, "And your dead younger brother!"

It was an extremely dark joke.

And now, Kenichi Amamiya had essentially changed classes into a necromancer. Orochimaru had formally taught him the forbidden technique, Impure World Reincarnation, although he could not use it in the village for the time being.

Orochimaru also said that the forbidden technique was still being improved and would likely become more practical once it had been perfected.

"Sensei, since souls and the Pure Land exist in this world, what kind of energy do souls and the Pure Land rely on?" Kenichi asked curiously.

What energy did souls rely on? It couldn't possibly be antimatter energy, could it?

"I don't know. The existence of souls has been confirmed, but what they specifically depend on remains unknown." Orochimaru shook his head. He genuinely did not know much about that subject.

"Are you planning to research it?" Orochimaru glanced at his disciple. Had this little fellow already become so overconfident that he wanted to study souls?

"No, no. I'm just curious. I can't research that yet." Kenichi hurriedly waved his hands. What a joke—research souls now? Wouldn't that draw the Sage of Six Paths' attention?

Although Kenichi had skipped many of the flashback scenes in Naruto, he remembered that the Sage of Six Paths seemed to reside in the Pure Land, where there were also countless ninja souls.

But according to the law of conservation of energy, souls should also consume energy to exist. So what did they consume?

That was rather interesting.

"Good. For now, you can research what interests you and be ready at all times." Orochimaru nodded. Souls were far too mysterious; it was not yet time to study them.

Kenichi nodded as well. Although Orochimaru had not said what he needed to be ready for, Kenichi could roughly guess. His teacher was probably already planning to defect from the village.

"Sensei, why is there another person in this photograph of yours?" Kenichi finally could not help asking. He had been looking at that picture for quite a while and had always wondered who the extra person was.

It was a group photo of four people. Kenichi recognized three of them—the Sannin—but he did not know the other man.

Still, the man was rather handsome.

"Oh, him? That's Hiruko, someone the village ruthlessly abandoned for violating a taboo." Orochimaru glanced at the photograph, a cold sneer appearing on his face.

Kenichi fell into thought. Hiruko? He seemed to have heard that name before. He remembered that the man had developed some ninjutsu capable of fusing various Kekkei Genkai.

What a pity. Kenichi did not know where he was, or he could have tried to get ahead of him—or at least obtained some of his body tissue for research.

After leaving the laboratory, Kenichi returned home. The surrounding woods were quiet, but he knew that quite a few Root ninja were hidden there.

Danzo and Orochimaru's cooperation had always been like this. Danzo had even arranged people to protect him—though Kenichi felt it was more like surveillance. Orochimaru did not seem to mind.

When Kenichi was about to buy some groceries and go home to cook, he ran into Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

"Oh my, little Amamiya, are you buying groceries too?" Kushina looked very happy lately, and the smile on her face had grown sweeter.

"Yes, Older Sister Kushina. I'm planning to go home and make sukiyaki." Kenichi gave her a sweet smile. Kushina's hair had already been taken to the laboratory by him.

Extracting the abnormal Gene Chain was relatively simple. Orochimaru had done something similar with the First's Cells before, so theoretically, the task could be completed in a few days.

Thus, Kenichi no longer felt the same closeness toward Kushina as before. Since he intended to leave the village with his teacher, there was no need to be overly friendly.

Of course, some necessary contact still had to be maintained. Who knew what the future held? Perhaps, under the Butterfly Effect, Orochimaru would decide not to defect after all. Or perhaps the Third would recruit Kenichi as an undercover agent.

"Amamiya, you can cook too? That's really impressive." Minato Namikaze was smiling as well. Though he looked like that most of the time; cheerful and sunny were the impressions many people had of him.

Kenichi wondered whether Minato Namikaze would still love Konoha so much after learning that his son would not enjoy the treatment owed to a Konoha hero's child, but would instead be cursed every day as the Demon Fox and subjected to exclusion.

Perhaps he would have had complaints. Otherwise, he would not have apologized to Naruto so many times.

"Hehe." Kenichi smiled shyly.

He had originally planned to casually obtain something from Minato Namikaze and Kushina for use as Impure World Reincarnation materials in the future.

But after remembering that Minato would use the Reaper Death Seal, he lost interest. Kenichi remembered that someone inside the Shinigami's stomach could not be reincarnated through Impure World Reincarnation.

As for Kushina, she was not exceptionally strong, but as a member of the Uzumaki Clan, the Sealing Jutsu she possessed was powerful. So Kenichi decided to collect some materials from her later.

After finally seeing off the overly enthusiastic Minato Namikaze and his wife, Kenichi bought some ingredients and carried his food home to cook.

The next day, a major event took place in the village: the Fourth Hokage was to announce his inauguration.

It was somewhat fast, but only natural. After all, Konoha's higher-ups had already settled on who the Fourth would be. This was merely making it public and informing all of Konoha's villagers.

The Fourth Hokage's inauguration filled the village with a joyous atmosphere. Orochimaru, who had previously been discussed so fiercely, seemed to have become a mere passerby overnight.

Everyone was talking about Minato Namikaze's Great Achievements and his illustrious military exploits.

"Kenichi, do you know what I see?" Orochimaru stood with his arms folded, watching the cheering crowd with a faint smile on his face.

Kenichi shook his head.

"I see a decaying village, ambitions unwilling to relinquish power, and ignorant people who have been manipulated without even realizing it." Orochimaru's gaze was cold, and hatred colored his voice.

Kenichi watched in silence. Konoha's White Fang's death had involved Danzo's scheming, along with other reasons.