Orochimaru had misunderstood!
That wasn’t what Kei meant at all.
The moment Kei learned that Orochimaru had begun experimenting on Anko, he had already set his sights on Orochimaru’s academic achievements.
The Cursed Seal.
In other words, a weakened version of Sage Mode.
Not everyone possessed the talent required to practice senjutsu. Even a genius like Orochimaru had failed, hadn’t he?
But anyone could potentially have a Cursed Seal implanted in them.
The only prerequisite was that it couldn’t contain fragments of Orochimaru’s soul and turn the recipient into a vessel for Orochimaru’s resurrection.
The moment Kei had decided that he needed to increase his own strength, he had already set his sights on Orochimaru, the scientist.
He had even sent Hotaru to "seduce" him!
If Orochimaru remained the Cold-blooded Orochimaru, then all of Kei’s effort would have been wasted.
But if he became a cold-blooded snake instead...
Wouldn’t that make him easy prey for Kei?
In any case, Kei’s ultimate goal was the Cursed Seal.
Any additional benefits were merely pleasant surprises on top of the main objective.
Therefore, Kei believed that Orochimaru would accept any condition he proposed.
After interacting with Orochimaru, Kei had discovered something interesting.
Orochimaru wasn’t actually afraid of death.
Anyone could tell that from his research.
A man who constantly pushed himself toward death through dangerous experiments couldn’t possibly be afraid of dying.
So his endless pursuit of immortality didn’t quite make sense.
Or rather, there was probably more to it.
His experiments with the souls of the dead might have served another purpose.
Even his obsession with the Uchiha bloodline was suspicious.
He had gone through far too much trouble.
First, he wanted to make the target stronger, and then he would take over the body?
What was the point?
If he took over someone else’s body, couldn’t he just train it himself?
If Orochimaru were merely after the Uchiha bloodline, then considering that he had previously cooperated with Danzō, he should have had plenty of opportunities to obtain Uchiha blood.
Whether eyes or bodies, Kei refused to believe that Danzō hadn’t kept some for himself.
That old bastard even possessed Hashirama’s cells.
Why wouldn’t he have Uchiha material as well?
Suppose—
Just suppose.
Suppose Orochimaru’s true objective from beginning to end had been resurrecting someone.
Then perhaps everything Orochimaru had done could be explained.
Maybe he wanted to resurrect Nawaki Senju, the true heir of Konoha who had died while under his command.
Why couldn’t Orochimaru be someone who appeared cold on the outside but was actually soft-hearted within?
After all, this was what had caused such a major rift between him and Tsunade.
Perhaps he simply wanted to make amends.
If that really was what Orochimaru was doing, then perhaps this was the most important reason Hiruzen couldn’t tolerate him—and Danzō couldn’t tolerate him either.
Otherwise, human experimentation was far too trivial a crime.
This was the shinobi world.
Cruel things happened every single day.
Anyone who didn’t believe that could go take a look at the Torture and Interrogation Division of the Intelligence Department.
Compared to what happened there, something like this was hardly worth mentioning.
Especially for a highly decorated shinobi like Orochimaru.
After all, when Orochimaru eventually joined the Akatsuki, his objective was also connected to the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
But that technique required the Rinnegan.
And the prerequisite for the Rinnegan was the Sharingan.
That also explained another possible reason why the Uchiha Clan had to be exterminated.
They had the potential to resurrect the dead.
For example, Kei had never understood why Impure World Reincarnation was classified as a forbidden technique.
If the choice was between sending the living to die in battle and having the dead continue fighting on behalf of the living, surely the latter was more in line with human nature.
Humans were selfish, after all.
The shinobi world was such a cruel place.
A saintly do-gooder wasn’t going to survive for long.
If there were a way for the dead to fight in place of the living, what living person would refuse?
So what if it involved manipulating the souls of the dead?
People in this world were capable of things far more outrageous than that.
This might also explain why, when Orochimaru first officially used Impure World Reincarnation to summon the Second Hokage, the Second Hokage didn’t say much about the matter.
For whatever reason, he ultimately did nothing except kill the Third Hokage, and the matter was over.
It was rather like summoning a great revolutionary leader from history and expecting him to denounce the entire government as a bunch of reactionaries.
At most, he’d probably take away a few people who had gone too far.
After Tsunade overcame her hemophobia, Orochimaru surprisingly began behaving himself and became Sasuke’s teacher.
That was strange too.
Otherwise, with Sasuke’s personality, manipulating him wouldn’t have required anything more than a functioning brain.
Of course, all of this was merely Kei’s speculation.
Only the people involved knew the truth.
But it didn’t matter.
A person’s position determined their perspective.
As long as he could become allies with Orochimaru, Kei was perfectly willing to whitewash Orochimaru’s reputation.
At this point, Hotaru, who had been listening for a long time, finally understood.
So that’s it.
The man standing before me isn’t a man.
He’s a giant snake!
Everything suddenly made sense.
The snake really does love me!
This poor old man had failed in his experiments with ninjutsu, suffered the consequences of transforming into a snake, and ultimately become the snake she loved most.
At that moment, Hotaru’s wariness toward Orochimaru finally disappeared.
There was only pity in her eyes.
Poor little thing.
But being a snake isn’t so bad, is it?
Orochimaru noticed that Hotaru had relaxed and felt rather pleased.
He continued,
"I understand. Konoha can no longer accommodate you."
"I won’t take Hotaru away."
"I’ll leave all of my ninjutsu and my shinobi experience behind."
"Hotaru is already an excellent shinobi. With my knowledge and experience in ninjutsu, I imagine she’ll be able to advance even further."
Kei accepted Orochimaru’s goodwill.
But it wasn’t what he wanted.
"Thank you, Lord Orochimaru."
"You intend to announce throughout Konoha that you’ve taken Hotaru as your disciple, making it known to everyone that an Uchiha has become a disciple of the Hokage’s Faction, correct?"
Kei couldn’t help admiring Orochimaru.
Orochimaru always seemed capable of identifying the key point of a situation.
Even Kei hadn’t thought of this.
What Hiruzen needed was the support of the people—the support of those who stood against the Uchiha.
But having a disciple from the Uchiha Clan become Orochimaru’s student could cause those who had once followed Orochimaru into battle to waver.
And if they wavered, Hiruzen’s objective would fail.
It would also give Orochimaru a perfectly legitimate excuse not to participate in a civil war.
I can’t help my own teacher.
Naturally, I can’t help my own disciple either.
No one could criticize that reasoning.
"Lord Orochimaru, I appreciate your kindness."
"I am willing to have Hotaru become your disciple, but only because I respect you as an outstanding researcher."
"I hope you’ll pass on everything you’ve learned throughout your life to this girl, so that she can eventually become a scientist without ever needing to step onto a battlefield again."
The favor Orochimaru was offering wasn’t what Kei wanted.
Popular support was too intangible.
What Kei wanted was something practical.
He wanted the technology Orochimaru truly possessed.
Seeing Kei’s attitude, Orochimaru understood.
He had overthought the situation.
Perhaps, to Kei, whether Orochimaru participated in the coming civil war didn’t matter at all.
"Oh? Kei-kun, you’re still as straightforward as ever."
"It seems you aren’t particularly concerned about your teacher’s hostility toward you."
"You must already have everything under control."
Kei didn’t bother being modest.
"That’s right."
After giving that simple answer, he immediately changed the subject.
"Lord Orochimaru, I wonder..."
"Is the cursed-seal technique also among the ninjutsu you’re leaving with Hotaru?"
The moment he heard this, Orochimaru understood.
So that’s what he was after.
Uchiha Kei’s intelligence network really is impressive.
"Yes."
"The technology is already mature."
"At the very least, I’ve already tested it on Anko."
"Why? Are you interested in it, Kei-kun?"
Kei nodded firmly.
"Of course."
"Who doesn’t want to become excellent without having to work for it?"
"The Cursed Seal gives people like me hope."
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