A Little Good-Teacher Shock for the Students

"It might not be that the village could no longer accommodate Orochimaru-sensei. Perhaps Sensei had plans of his own."

Uchiha Yuan understood. The moment Orochimaru took all his research equipment and materials with him, his attitude had already been made clear.

He was not only a crazed scientific genius, but also one of the rare reformists among Hidden Leaf Village's ninja.

Use technology to arm the Hidden Leaf Village.

Back when he had helped Kazuma and the other ninja monks at the Fire Temple create the Fake Nine-Tails Jinchuriki,

Orochimaru had indeed wanted to become the Fifth Hokage.

After all, becoming Hokage would provide ample convenience, whether for forbidden research or implementing policies.

But during the Sea Country mission, Danzo and Orochimaru had clashed.

Orochimaru believed in strength. He had deliberately taught Uchiha Yuan and even prepared a Jinchuriki, intending to subdue the Three-Tails and weaken the Hidden Mist Village's deterrent power.

Danzo, by comparison, was better at political maneuvering.

He had exploited the Third Mizukage's political crisis and the rebellion of the Kekkei Genkai Clans, successfully inciting internal conflict within the Hidden Mist Village.

Their goals had been the same: weaken the Hidden Mist Village, protect the Hidden Leaf Village, and build political capital for becoming the Fifth Hokage.

Only one ninja could become the Fifth Hokage.

At the start of the mission, Danzo had sent ninja to attack Uchiha Yuan precisely to warn Orochimaru.

But Orochimaru had preparations of his own.

As long as he sealed and controlled the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki—or even became the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki himself—

he would still have a chance of becoming the Fifth Hokage. After all, aside from the Hidden Stone Village and the Hidden Mist Village, the Jinchuriki of every era had not had particularly poor relationships with their Kage.

But at the instant he watched Uchiha Yuan's soul get swallowed by Isobu, Orochimaru understood that he had lost his qualification to compete for the position of Fifth Hokage.

After returning to the village, he had witnessed one ugly farce after another among the village's upper ranks.

Hokage Advisor Danzo's assassination attempt, which he believed no one knew about; his teacher, the Third Hokage, using something that had belonged to the Uchiha in exchange for votes of confidence.

Even if he became the Fifth Hokage, could that sort of forbidden research truly proceed smoothly?

Since its founding, the Hidden Leaf Village had enjoyed more than fifty years of history. Its foundations were so deep that it could resist the other four great ninja villages with the strength of one village alone.

Yet in recent years of war, the Hidden Leaf Village had become increasingly stretched thin. In the most recent war, the enemy had even fought their way to the village gates.

Were they still going to cling stubbornly to the old ways? Other than systematically training medical ninja, did the Hidden Leaf Village not intend to make any changes at all?

Alongside his disappointment, Orochimaru also felt a new excitement.

The Hidden Mist Village's Kekkei Genkai! That was what he had gained from the Sea Country mission.

He knew he had drawn several steps closer to the truth of forbidden arts and his goal of eternal life.

"He has always had plans of his own. He is absolutely not the sort of person who would do something stupid."

Within Orochimaru Squad, no one understood Orochimaru better than Anko.

He treated her like a daughter, and she regarded him as a father.

Although they were not related by blood, the tacit understanding and familiarity between them were beyond comparison to Uchiha Yuan and the others.

"I just feel like Orochimaru-sensei will become very unfamiliar when he comes back."

Kurama Shion sighed.

"All right, let's put aside our sadness for now. How about we see what Sensei left us?"

The four had no objections to their substitute teacher's suggestion.

As the only boy, Uchiha Yuan opened the wooden box first.

A wriggling lump of flesh rested on a wooden tray carved with the Senju and Uchiha clan crests, with a scroll placed beside it.

"What is this?"

"Sensei, is this a prank?"

"Yuan-kun, did you offend Orochimaru-sensei?"

Uchiha Yuan raised a brow. The three female ninja did not know much about Hashirama Senju.

The lump of flesh possessed an exceptionally dense life force. It was undoubtedly Hashirama Cells, while the scroll recorded the relevant cultivation and transplantation methods.

Uchiha Yuan closed the wooden box.

"Look at yours!"

Not asking and not explaining was the unspoken understanding among the four.

Kurama Shion opened her wooden box. Beside a scroll titled "The Possibilities and Preliminary Exploration of Life Replication Technology" lay a laboratory key labeled No. 04.

Hyuga Ryo and Anko clearly did not recognize what kind of material it was.

Uchiha Yuan glanced at their substitute teacher.

The Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai Genjutsu was powerful, but apart from the main family, the clan had only a little over ten households.

It was said that the current clan head had worried himself gray over the problem of the clan's reproduction.

"Good thing it's just a scroll. If there had been a lump of flesh in there, that would've been terrifying."

Kurama Shion patted her chest and put away the wooden box.

It was obvious that she was very satisfied.

"Ling, you're up!"

Uchiha Yuan was somewhat expectant.

The gifts Orochimaru had given his students had clearly been specially prepared.

Hyuga Ryo opened her box. It likewise contained a scroll.

"Preliminary Research on the Caged Bird Curse Mark."

"All right, Anko! Your turn~"

Hyuga Ryo quickly put away her box, smiling sweetly.

"But I haven't gotten a good look yet... Fine, I get it."

Inside the opened wooden box was a yellowed colored portrait. It depicted a red-haired woman and a man wearing a forehead protector bearing the Senju clan crest.

Anko resembled those two by seventy or eighty percent.

Uchiha Yuan finally understood the question he had had back in Sea Country.

Why had the Hidden Leaf Village's side not prepared a Jinchuriki?

The Jinchuriki had actually been Orochimaru's student, Mitarashi Anko.

Thinking about it now, the signs had been there all along.

Compared to Kurama Shion and Hyuga Ryo, Anko had a livelier personality, greater vitality, and a recovery ability far superior to theirs.

Those were precisely traits of the Senju and Uzumaki Clans.

"Ah, there's also a map under the portrait!"

From the shape of the coastline, they could vaguely make out that it was a map of a city in the now-destroyed Whirlpool Country.

"How strange. I don't know why, but I suddenly really want to visit this place."

Anko seemed to realize something, while Uchiha Yuan, Ryo, and Shion exchanged looks.

"All right, it seems Sensei prepared very special gifts for us. So, how about helping each other out?"

"Huh? Shion-sensei, if I'm not mistaken, your materials are about expanding your clan's population, right? None of us can help with that, except Yuan-kun."

"Ah!!! Ling, didn't you suffer enough last time?!"

Watching the two girls frolic in the snow, Uchiha Yuan was utterly speechless.

Soon, Anko joined the fray, and even he was dragged into it.

Laughter echoed across the snow-covered Hokage Rock, and the atmosphere grew lively.

By the time Uchiha Yuan returned, covered in snow, it was already six in the evening.

Lacking experimental equipment, Uchiha Yuan was in no hurry to fuse the genes contained within the Hashirama Cells.

With Orochimaru no longer coveting them, he intended to save the opportunity for his Sharingan.

After mastering numerous ninja techniques, accumulating combat experience was extremely important. In that regard, the Sharingan, with its powers of observation and copying, was the greatest authority.

For now, Uchiha Yuan studied the Hashirama Cell cultivation and transplantation methods Orochimaru had provided.

Combined with the research materials Old Madara had left behind, he discovered that the Demonic Statue Fragment still had the potential for further cultivation.

At present, the Demonic Statue Fragment served more as a Chakra power bank.

If cultivated further, even if it might not reach the scale of the God Tree's body, the statue's own abilities would awaken further.

Orochimaru had left Kurama Shion a laboratory key.

But for safety reasons, Uchiha Yuan had no intention of borrowing it.

"Hey! Yuan, long time no see~"

Scale Pill, whom he had seen only that afternoon, suddenly appeared.

It flicked its scarlet tongue.

"This time, Shion asked me to invite you to Laboratory No. 4! And don't forget the jerky!"