Chapter 562: Hikari's Genjutsu
"Lord Orochimaru, these are all the orphans currently under our care."
Warm sunlight spilled across the courtyard of Konoha's orphanage, illuminating the smiling face of the woman standing nearby.
Kenichi stared blankly at the tall man before him.
Orochimaru.
One of Konoha's Legendary Sannin.
Kenichi had originally thought that transmigrating into this world and becoming an orphan was already unlucky enough.
He had never expected his luck to become even worse by bringing Orochimaru directly to his doorstep.
Orochimaru's eyes were slightly narrowed.
Those strange pupils alone gave people an instinctive sense of unease.
His gaze swept across the excited children gathered before him, and a trace of amusement appeared in his eyes.
"What is his name?"
Orochimaru raised a hand and pointed directly at Kenichi.
Kenichi's heart skipped a beat.
"This child is Amamiya Kenichi. He's nine years old this year," the orphanage director answered with a smile.
Although this was also an orphanage in Konoha, its director was not Yakushi Nonou.
She was simply an ordinary, gentle woman.
Orochimaru nodded.
A moment earlier, he had noticed a trace of fear and vigilance in the boy's eyes.
However, that was not the reason he chose Kenichi.
"I'll take him."
Orochimaru made his decision casually.
The war had already ended.
But could an orphanage realistically refuse a request from one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin?
Moreover, Orochimaru currently possessed considerable prestige within the village and vaguely seemed like a possible candidate to become the next Hokage.
Kenichi could only accept his fate.
He packed his small backpack and left the orphanage where he had lived for more than eight years.
"Have you ever refined chakra?"
Orochimaru walked ahead in white clothing.
His pace was not particularly fast.
People they passed along the street greeted him enthusiastically, and Orochimaru responded with a faint smile.
But in Kenichi's eyes, that smile looked exactly like the expression of a king cobra from an animal documentary calmly watching its prey.
"No."
Kenichi hurriedly answered.
"The ninja who tested me said I didn't have the qualifications to become a ninja."
His footsteps suddenly felt much heavier.
Life had played an enormous joke on him.
It had sent him into the world of Naruto.
And then it refused to let him become a ninja.
He had not even been given the basic aptitude required to walk that path.
As for a cheat?
He did not have one.
At least, he had never discovered one.
"Hmm. You truly don't possess the aptitude to become a ninja."
Orochimaru did not seem surprised.
He had already read some of the records concerning the children living in the orphanage.
Kenichi was the oldest child there, and his file contained a very simple remark.
[Lacks ninja aptitude.]
Becoming a ninja looked easy from the outside.
In reality, it was anything but easy.
If someone was not born with the necessary aptitude, there was usually very little they could do to change that later.
Not every child possessed the ability to refine and store chakra.
Only those capable of refining and storing chakra had the potential to become ninja.
Everyone else could only remain an ordinary civilian, working every day to earn enough money to survive and becoming part of the foundation that allowed Konoha to prosper.
As for joining Root?
What kind of joke was that?
An ordinary civilian wanted to become a member of Root?
Even becoming one of the nameless pieces of cannon fodder whose casualties were never mentioned in the story would already be beyond the reach of most civilians.
"Lord Orochimaru is right."
Kenichi remained extremely obedient.
He neither argued nor talked back.
Arguing with someone powerful enough to kill him with a single finger would be equivalent to complaining that his life was not dangerous enough.
"Do you want to change your destiny?"
Orochimaru remained casual.
He did not seem particularly concerned by Kenichi's attitude.
Kenichi's footsteps paused for a fraction of a second.
Then he quickly caught up again.
If someone else had asked him this question, such as the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi or the future Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, Kenichi probably would have become extremely excited.
The problem was...
This was Orochimaru.
If Kenichi enthusiastically answered yes, there was a very real possibility he would be strapped to an operating table within minutes.
"Change my destiny?"
Kenichi still had to answer somehow.
So he deliberately made himself look confused, as though he did not understand what Orochimaru meant.
"To allow you to become a ninja."
Orochimaru spoke as though discussing something trivial.
"The experiment might fail. But if it succeeds, you could gain the ability to become one."
"...Do I actually have the right to choose?"
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
His voice became slightly dispirited.
So it was exactly what he had suspected.
Orochimaru had visited the orphanage to select experimental subjects.
And as for why he had chosen Kenichi...
It was probably because Kenichi was the oldest child there and possessed relatively good physical fitness.
Although Kenichi had no aptitude to become a ninja, he had never stopped exercising.
Because of that, he was noticeably stronger than other children his age.
"..."
Orochimaru glanced at him.
This little brat was actually rather interesting.
Kenichi's parents had died because of the war shortly after his birth.
He had then spent almost his entire childhood inside an orphanage.
Yet his temperament was noticeably different from that of the other children.
He seemed much steadier.
"Of course you do."
Orochimaru's answer made Kenichi pause.
After briefly wondering whether this was some kind of trap, Kenichi still chose to answer honestly.
"I don't want to."
Based on what Kenichi remembered from the anime, Orochimaru had performed countless experiments.
Yet he could not remember any major success involving the transformation of ordinary civilians into people capable of becoming ninja.
That meant Orochimaru's current experiment was almost certainly not some casual project he would simply abandon after the first failure.
Later, Orochimaru had gone on to research methods of granting newborn children Wood Release.
That experimentation eventually resulted in Yamato, who successfully possessed Wood Release but whose power remained worlds apart from Hashirama's.
If that was anything to judge by...
The mortality rate of the experiment Orochimaru was proposing now had probably approached one hundred percent.
"I was joking."
Orochimaru turned his head and looked at Kenichi with obvious amusement.
"You didn't actually take me seriously, did you?"
"..."
Kenichi's expression immediately became ugly.
Orochimaru's mood improved slightly upon seeing it.
Even the irritation he had felt earlier after being lectured by that idiot Danzo faded a little.
Watching the strange expression on Kenichi's face, Orochimaru smiled and casually patted him on the head without using much force.
Kenichi immediately forced himself to look cheerful as well.
Because he had already noticed the reporters waiting ahead.
Since Orochimaru wanted to maintain a certain public image, Kenichi naturally had to cooperate.
If he performed well enough, perhaps Orochimaru might even remove his name from whatever experimental subject list he had prepared.
Orochimaru had also noticed the ninja waiting ahead.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
This brat really was interesting.
Forget it.
For now, Orochimaru could use someone else as an experimental subject.
Kenichi's eyes suddenly became unfocused.
Something had appeared above Orochimaru's head.
6%.
Kenichi stared at the number.
He recognized its appearance.
The font was from a free asset library he had once used in his previous life.
Before transmigrating, Kenichi had once tried developing an independent game after getting home from work.
His goal had been extremely simple.
Make money.
Unfortunately, Kenichi had been a complete amateur who had started from scratch without any professional training.
The development process could be summarized in three phrases.
No funding.
Not enough staff.
Not enough experience.
The book titled Introduction to Indie Game Production that he had impulsively purchased eventually ended up gathering dust on a bookshelf.
It had completed the entire journey from introduction to burial.
Eventually, Kenichi had almost given up and considered turning the project into an adult game instead.
He used free asset libraries for much of the material and only managed to complete one major system.
The Favorability System.
Important characters would have favorability values.
The protagonist's dialogue and choices would increase those values.
Once favorability reached certain thresholds, small challenges would activate.
Completing those challenges would unlock special CGs and rewards associated with the character.
As for what those rewards were supposed to be?
Kenichi had never gotten that far.
He had simply written the word "related" into the design document and moved on.
The basic idea had seemed reasonable.
Actually implementing it had been another story.
Even compiling such a simple system had been painfully difficult for an inexperienced developer like him.
In the end, he only completed the basic framework.
It remained abandoned forever on his D drive.
So why was one of the free UI assets from that unfinished game now floating above Orochimaru's head?
Favorability?
Was this thing actually tracking Orochimaru as one of the system's interaction targets?
Seriously?
Kenichi looked at Orochimaru, his expression becoming complicated.
This was Orochimaru.
A terrifying man whose bizarre techniques seemed capable of producing snakes, swords, and even entire replacement bodies in ways that constantly defied common sense.
No matter how strange Orochimaru's abilities became in the anime, Kenichi had certainly never imagined himself dealing with him through some leftover game mechanic from his previous life.
"What's wrong?"
Orochimaru noticed the strange look in Kenichi's eyes.
Without visibly reacting, he glanced slightly upward, toward the space above his own head.
There was nothing there.
Kenichi immediately shook his head.
Whatever this mutated system actually was, he had no better option now.
During the nine years since he transmigrated, Kenichi had already tried countless different paths.
The road of the ninja was closed to him.
He had found no alternative.
Because of that, he had eventually considered becoming a plagiarist or manga artist and recreating famous works from his previous life.
Then he discovered another problem.
Although Kenichi had read many novels before transmigrating, there were surprisingly few whose full contents he could accurately remember.
Paper and ink also cost money.
Worse, he still had to properly learn the written language used in the Naruto world.
That had been even more painful.
And just when he had finally prepared himself to begin putting his ideas into practice...
Orochimaru had appeared.
"Let's go."
Orochimaru smiled.
Kenichi obediently followed him.
Orochimaru did not immediately bring him to a laboratory.
Instead, he arranged a place for Kenichi to stay inside Konoha.
It was a completely ordinary room.
Not particularly large.
Orochimaru left one thousand ryo behind and instructed Kenichi to buy his own food.
Then he simply left.
Clean and decisive.
For the next five days, Orochimaru only appeared occasionally to check on him.
The rest of the time, Kenichi was alone.
During those five days, Kenichi also investigated his strange new ability.
For now, the number only seemed to appear above Orochimaru's head.
Kenichi gradually began identifying several patterns.
Strictly speaking, the ability did not truly resemble the favorability system he had once programmed.
It felt more like some kind of analytical ability.
The number itself appeared to function as a progress indicator.
Apparently, whatever had followed him into this world had mutated.
Unfortunately, before Kenichi could investigate it further, something troublesome happened.
Orochimaru returned.
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Kenichi immediately bowed his head respectfully.
He noticed the subtle expression on Orochimaru's face.
Orochimaru did not seem to be in a particularly good mood.
Orochimaru said nothing.
He merely stood there and quietly observed Kenichi.
During the past five days, the brat had behaved surprisingly well.
Kenichi had never attempted to escape.
Not that escaping would have accomplished anything.
Orochimaru had already placed a chakra mark on Kenichi's body.
If the boy attempted to flee, Orochimaru would immediately sense it.
Thinking of that, Orochimaru's mood improved slightly.
"Follow me."
His voice remained calm.
Although he appreciated Kenichi's sense of propriety, his experiment was still more important.
"Okay."
Kenichi took a deep breath.
From the moment Orochimaru chose him at the orphanage, Kenichi had known that entering the laboratory was probably unavoidable.
Unless his mysterious ability suddenly turned him into an overwhelmingly powerful existence, he would eventually end up on an operating table.
However, when Kenichi looked above Orochimaru's head, he noticed something.
The number had changed.
9%.
How exactly was this progress increasing?
Orochimaru led Kenichi outside Konoha.
They entered a forest near the village.
There, Orochimaru opened a hidden entrance and led him underground.
Kenichi silently followed.
A laboratory waited below.
Its furnishings were relatively simple.
But the entire place was unnaturally quiet.
Only the echoes of Orochimaru's footsteps and Kenichi's own could be heard.
"Come here and lie down."
Orochimaru patted the operating table in front of him.
His expression was indifferent.
The number floating above his head had now stopped at 12%.
Kenichi swallowed.
He knew the critical moment had arrived.
If he failed here, he would be strapped to the operating table, turned into an experimental subject, and eventually buried underground as fertilizer.
If he succeeded...
He might still have a chance to survive.
"Lord Orochimaru, may I ask you a question?"
Kenichi desperately forced himself to remain calm.
"Oh?"
Orochimaru looked at him with interest.
He wanted to see what this strange little brat intended to ask at a moment like this.
"What shape does chakra have?"
Orochimaru frowned slightly.
"Chakra has no fixed shape."
He answered without hesitation.
The next moment, Orochimaru pressed Kenichi onto the operating table.
...
"It's actually rather interesting."
Kenichi smacked his lips.
"Using genjutsu to revisit old memories once in a while isn't bad."
The moment he had seen the Mangekyo Sharingan in Hikari's eyes, Kenichi had already figured out how to respond.
In fact, he could have avoided falling into the genjutsu entirely.
However, Kenichi wanted to understand Hikari's Mangekyo ability.
So he had deliberately allowed himself to experience it.
And as a result, he had found himself reliving the days when he first met Orochimaru.
Still...
The memories had clearly been distorted to some extent.
Even details such as the weather on the day he met his teacher and some of the exact words they had exchanged were slightly different from what Kenichi remembered.
....
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