Chapter 34: It Is Normal for a Disciple to Have Some Bad Intentions Toward His Teacher, Right?
"I suddenly had a bold idea."
Kenichi Amamiya looked at the trembling kunoichi and could not help curling his lips into a strange smile.
He already understood the basics of his teacher's Living Corpse Reincarnation. The soul was reincarnated into another person's body, seizing their vessel. The only thing that changed was the soul.
The body itself remained exactly the same.
So a thought surfaced in his mind.
If he could study the mysteries of the soul in depth, then subtly alter a soul through the vessel it inhabited, just what kind of teacher would he eventually cultivate?
For an instant, a string of bizarre phrases flashed through Kenichi's mind.
He quietly swallowed them back down.
For now, it was only an idea. The soul was far too mysterious. Even now, Kenichi had barely scratched the surface of soul related research.
And if Orochimaru ever discovered what he was thinking, the situation would get completely out of hand.
It would be a joke if he ended up being the one turned into a girl.
After the experiment concluded, the remaining three captives were taken away. Kenichi did not ask where his teacher intended to move them. He simply followed Orochimaru out of the lab.
"I have noticed that you and Kakashi seem to be on quite good terms lately," Orochimaru said casually, glancing back at the disciple trailing behind him.
"Yes. I have already mastered the Chidori that Kakashi developed." Kenichi admitted without hesitation.
He was very interested in Kakashi's ninjutsu. He was even more interested in Kakashi's Sharingan.
His plan was already set.
On the night the Nine Tails went berserk, he would take Kakashi's eye.
Seizing Kakashi's Sharingan itself was not difficult.
The tricky part was what came after.
Once the Fourth Hokage died and the Third Hokage returned to power, the loss of Kakashi's eye would inevitably become an issue that needed to be investigated.
Unless he could knock Kakashi out instantly and keep him unconscious, someone would eventually see what he had done.
And on the night of the Nine Tails' attack, it was hard to say whether a rising star like Kakashi, a key talent for Konoha's future, would be kept under special protection or thrown into the chaos.
Kenichi frowned slightly.
They needed a way to handle all of that fallout.
His gaze slid toward his teacher. In terms of pure strength, Orochimaru could easily deal with Kakashi.
But the more he considered dragging his teacher into it, the more Kenichi felt it would only create trouble for Orochimaru. Besides, the exact moves his teacher planned to make on the night of the Nine Tails' rampage were still a huge unknown.
"The Hatake clan is strong enough on its own. But even though the Sharingan is powerful, it is ultimately a borrowed power. It would be better for him to properly train in his clan's kenjutsu," Orochimaru said lightly.
His evaluation of Kakashi was not particularly high.
The Sharingan could indeed greatly increase combat power, but it was not a power that belonged to Kakashi himself. With a single glance, Orochimaru could see how much chakra that eye was draining from him every day.
How was someone supposed to become truly strong like that?
"Kakashi values his friendship with Obito a lot," Kenichi said with a small shrug. He had tried to persuade Kakashi before, but Kakashi had refused. There was nothing more he could do.
"Friendship," Orochimaru echoed with a mocking little laugh.
The word reminded him of his former teammates, Tsunade and Jiraiya. The legendary Sannin.
And what was left of that bond now?
Kenichi, meanwhile, continued to turn Kakashi's situation over in his mind.
He had considered taking the Sharingan before the Nine Tails incident, but without that night of chaos, the village would remain too stable, too tightly controlled. It would be difficult to make a move without drawing direct attention.
In the end, the Nine Tails' rampage was still the best opportunity.
That night, most of the village's top combat power would be lured elsewhere. With his current relationship with Kakashi, getting close to him would be easy.
Catching him off guard and knocking him out in a single strike was not impossible.
Even someone as strong as Madara Uchiha had been brought down by Black Zetsu's sneak attack from behind.
When he watched commentary videos in his previous life, he heard plenty of people say that whole scene existed because the author did not know how to make Madara lose.
But plot device or not, it proved that no one was truly safe from a well timed backstab.
Of course, the simplest approach would be to arrange things so that Orochimaru defected on the same night as the Nine Tails' rampage.
Then Kenichi could leave the village directly with him.
If that happened, even if the Third Hokage wanted to investigate, he might never get the chance.
The more he thought about it, the more Kenichi felt that this plan was workable.
He decided to file it away as a backup option.
"Teacher, do we still have to deliver tobacco to the Third Hokage today?" Kenichi asked with a bright, harmless smile.
"Yes. I must give him a pack. He gets restless if he goes a day without smoking," Orochimaru replied, his own lips curling.
He had not had many amusements lately. Watching Hiruzen Sarutobi smoke had become his biggest source of entertainment.
Every time he saw his former teacher take another drag, his mood improved significantly. And when Danzo and the other Konoha elders stood nearby, quietly absorbing secondhand smoke, he felt even better.
Despite all of Hiruzen's caution, there were still things he did not know.
Orochimaru had already quietly left a little something behind in the lungs of his teacher and several elders.
Early stage lung cancer.
It was the result of his careful work over this period. Any further progression would be too obvious and easily detected. But this slow development was enough to give Orochimaru a twisted sense of satisfaction, like playing a long running game.
So the cigarettes had to be delivered.
Orochimaru, with Kame and Kenichi Amamiya accompanying him, made his way toward the Sarutobi clan compound.
"Looking at this place, what do you think?" he asked, arms folded as he surveyed the clan grounds.
"At the gate of the monkey clan, wine and meat go to waste; out on the road, a thousand hands lie as bones," Kenichi said softly. That was his truest feeling.
In the beginning, Konoha had been founded by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, a feat that shook the entire ninja world.
And now?
Where was the Senju clan?
The Senju had been scattered and diluted. The Uchiha had been pushed to the village's outskirts. Meanwhile, the Sarutobi clan, supported by the Third Hokage's power, occupied one of the best locations and enjoyed outrageous benefits.
"Hmm."
Orochimaru led Kenichi through the compound's gate. His thoughts ran along the same lines.
His teacher had fallen.
He liked to speak grandly about dedicating himself to the village, but in his heart, what he cared about most was the Sarutobi clan's position.
His so called Will of Fire was nothing more than a convenient slogan to deceive the next generation.
Shout a few lines, wave a few flags, brainwash others into sacrificing everything for the village.
But had the village truly given back what it should in return?
Just look at the Fourth Hokage.
In name, he was Hokage. In reality, he had been little more than a puppet. Even puppeteers usually had enough shame not to be that blatant.
"Orochimaru."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, his gaze sweeping briefly over his former student before pausing for a second on Kenichi at his side and then returning to Orochimaru.
"Teacher, it has been so long. I have missed you terribly."
Orochimaru greeted him with a warm, sincere smile.
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