As Andrew stepped out of the hospital, he immediately noticed a familiar presence lingering near the entrance—Yuhi Kurenai.
She stood still, hesitant, clearly debating whether to walk in or walk away.
"Is something wrong?" Andrew asked, pausing mid-step and casting her a calm look.
Yuhi Kurenai looked up, startled that she had been noticed. The two of them weren't close, and there was little reason for her to visit Kakashi at this hour—especially since their squads were from different eras. No, it wasn't Kakashi she came to see.
It was him.
"I…" Kurenai exhaled deeply. "I came to apologize."
Andrew's expression remained neutral, but internally, he understood. The mention of an apology could only mean one thing: the Nine Tails Rebellion.
Kurenai's father had died the night of the attack. And for years, like many others, she had blamed the Uchiha clan for it—a hatred born from loss and misinformation. Now, with the truth exposed—that the masked man with Sharingan wasn't part of the village's Uchiha—her emotions had nowhere to go but guilt.
"There's no need," Andrew said plainly. "The Uchiha clan only ever sought the truth. We don't need apologies from people who were deceived by lies."
His voice was steady but cold. The days when Uchiha longed for Konoha's recognition were gone.
"When Uchiha cared about Konoha," he added, "every insult and every slight hurt us deeply. But now, when we no longer care… your apologies don't matter anymore."
"But…" Kurenai began again, her voice trembling.
Andrew didn't wait.
"If there's nothing more, I'm leaving. The war has begun, and I have more pressing matters to handle."
He turned without hesitation and walked away.
Behind him, Kurenai whispered, "I just wanted to apologize to you…"
Her words were lost to the wind.
She remembered provoking Andrew back when he was with the Konoha Police Force. She had used her authority to harass him and even encouraged Asuma Sarutobi to confront him. It hadn't harmed him—but it had revealed her own prejudice.
Now, she wanted to make amends, but Andrew was no longer the man who needed closure.
---
Far away in the Land of Rice Fields, Andrew arrived at his next destination—Otogakure, the hidden village secretly built by Orochimaru after he defected from Konoha.
Officially, Orochimaru wasn't listed as its leader. Instead, he ruled from the shadows, manipulating the daimyo and the local ninja village with careful precision.
But recently, things had gotten complicated. The ongoing conflict between Cloud Shinobi and Rock Shinobi had spilled into Rice Country, and the area was now a volatile battlefield.
For someone like Orochimaru, this limited movement and disrupted experiments. If he bumped into a major force from either village, he might need to invoke Sage of Six Paths blessings just to survive.
Andrew arrived at Orochimaru's underground laboratory. Even by Konoha's standards, it was astonishing.
"Orochimaru, your obsession with research really knows no bounds," Andrew said, scanning the advanced equipment lining the walls. "This stuff must have cost a fortune."
"Hehehe, not bad, right?" Orochimaru chuckled. "Most of it was originally funded by Danzo. For all his lack of talent, he had excellent ambition. As long as my work focused on First Hokage's cells, he threw money at me like it grew on trees."
Orochimaru had been bound under Kotoamatsukami, the ultimate genjutsu of the Uchiha, and while it didn't make him harmless, it ensured loyalty to the Uchiha leadership.
Still, even without the jutsu's influence, Orochimaru found Uchiha more agreeable than Danzo ever was. Uchiha paid better—and didn't micromanage his work.
"True," Andrew smirked. "Danzo's entire family, the Shimura clan, is probably still digging through empty coffers wondering where all their money went."
After Danzo's fall, the Shimura clan didn't collapse—but it lost all political traction. Without him, they were just a large but powerless family. And now that Andrew had forced changes to the Civilian Promotion Plan, many ninja from noble clans were being sent to border patrols.
Ironically, Shimura's assigned border was closest to active war zones.
"Anyway," Orochimaru said, leading Andrew to a workbench, "let me show you what you asked for."
He pulled off a tarp, revealing a Lightning Style Internal Combustion Engine. It hummed faintly with static chakra.
"It works, but it's power-hungry," Orochimaru explained. "A standard Jōnin could only fuel it for thirty minutes. Even then, it eats through chakra like a starving beast."
Andrew examined the device with interest.
"That's fine. It's just a prototype—for the daimyo to parade around. Do you think they'll care if it drains three Jōnin dry every hour?"
Orochimaru tilted his head. "You're trying to impress nobles again?"
"I was originally thinking of developing a chakra-powered electric motor," Andrew said. "But I guess you interpreted that a bit… literally."
"Still," he added, "this engine shows that a chakra-based machine is viable. That means the broader model—the chakra internal combustion engine—is within reach."
Orochimaru's expression lit up. He was less interested in politics and more in breakthroughs.
"In that case, you'll love this one," he said, pulling another cover.
This engine was smaller, more refined. Even at rest, it emanated a steady hum—not of a single element, but a blend of chakra types.
Andrew's eyes narrowed. He activated his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, drawing forth Senjutsu chakra and the power of Yang. As his fingertips made contact with the engine, he sent a stream of chakra into it.
The device came alive.
Orochimaru's eyes lit up like a child discovering a new toy.
"Fascinating… I've seen very few with access to Yang chakra manipulation," Orochimaru whispered, watching closely. "You may have just opened an entirely new avenue of chakra engineering."
Despite his loyalty to the Uchiha cause, Orochimaru's hunger for power and discovery never faded. This Yang-based power was rare—even among elite shinobi—and he could barely contain his excitement.
Andrew took note. Orochimaru's loyalty was real, but so was his ambition. And if left unchecked, even a leashed serpent could grow fangs again.
Still, for now, they shared a common purpose. And Andrew was willing to feed that ambition—so long as it fueled Uchiha's rise.
---
To be continued...
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