Chapter 1: The Teacher Is Orochimaru
"The war is over! The war is over!"
The crowd around him cheered and shouted, faces lit with relief and joy. Kenichi Amamiya, however, felt no happiness at all. To him, they were simply too noisy.
Still, when he thought about how the Third Shinobi World War had finally come to an end, Kenichi had to admit that it was a good thing. At the very least, he would no longer be thrown onto suicide missions. Not that anyone had been eager to give him proper orders in the first place.
It was unbelievable, really. Konoha had suffered heavy casualties in the Third Shinobi World War, and genin like Kenichi were essentially expendable. Under normal circumstances, he should have been nothing more than cannon fodder. The only reason he had survived this long was because he had a very good teacher.
"The war is over, Kenichi."
A gentle voice spoke from behind him. Kenichi did not even need to turn around to know who it was.
Orochimaru, one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, a man who in another time would be known by many as a sinister snake and a traitor who could barely clear his own name, was his teacher.
"Teacher, after this war ends, the Third Hokage will be getting old and will have to abdicate, right?"
Kenichi's voice still carried the slight softness of a child. After all, he was only ten years old. Even so, he was unusually calm and composed for his age, something Orochimaru quietly appreciated.
The reason for that calmness was simple. The soul of an adult had been stuffed into this small body.
He had not originally been called Kenichi Amamiya. One rainy night, on his way home after working overtime, he had lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, he had already arrived in this world, reborn as a war orphan of Konoha and taken in by an orphanage.
Unfortunately, that orphanage had caught the attention of Orochimaru, who was secretly collecting human test subjects. Fortunately, Kenichi's performance had stood out in Orochimaru's eyes, and he had gone from being a potential experiment to becoming Orochimaru's student.
Even now, when he thought back on those hardships and dangers, Kenichi felt as if he had been walking on thin ice. If he had made even the slightest mistake back then, he would have ended up as nothing more than a test subject on an operating table.
Although Kenichi had never watched all of Naruto and had skipped many of the flashback episodes, he still remembered some parts of the story. He had also watched quite a few Naruto commentary videos, so he roughly understood the timeline of the Naruto world.
He did not know much beyond that, but even so, Kenichi felt it was enough.
"Do not be so rude next time, Kenichi. Even if our teacher is old, he is still the Hokage of Konoha."
Orochimaru's voice held no obvious emotion. He did not sound angry, and Kenichi thought he understood why.
When had it started? Kenichi was not sure, but at some point Orochimaru had developed a quiet dissatisfaction with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. For now, he could still barely suppress it.
Kenichi also knew that Orochimaru still held some expectations of becoming the Fourth Hokage. Once he learned that the person chosen as the Fourth would be Minato Namikaze, that expectation would probably shatter completely.
"Teacher, has there been any progress with the experiment?" Kenichi quickly caught up to Orochimaru.
He was not a particularly gifted ninja. Even at the age of ten, he could only barely qualify as a genin. Under normal standards, he had no right to live and train under Orochimaru's direct supervision.
Fortunately, Kenichi had shown talent in another field.
In science, Kenichi could genuinely help Orochimaru. His unusual ideas and inspirations had allowed him to carve out a small space in Orochimaru's heart. Orochimaru was very interested in him. That interest was Kenichi's greatest survival strategy.
"Not bad," Orochimaru replied, a faint smile touching his lips as he brought up a topic that genuinely interested him. "Although Danzo keeps urging us to hurry, our experiments have indeed made progress. We may be able to begin live trials soon."
Kenichi also smiled.
Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura were currently studying the cells of the First Hokage, trying to see if they could create a child who could control Wood Release. Kenichi did not remember all the details, but he did recall that they eventually succeeded in creating such a child, although countless people died in the process.
But so what?
Orochimaru was that kind of person. Danzo was just as dangerous. He had tried more than once to drag Kenichi into Root, but each time, Orochimaru refused.
Later, Danzo even proposed placing a Tongue Eradication Seal on Kenichi's tongue. Thankfully, Orochimaru rejected that as well.
Even so, Kenichi felt a deep sense of displeasure toward Danzo. He made sure to keep that feeling carefully hidden, only allowing a trace of unhappiness to appear on his face now and then. Being a little cunning was acceptable, but being too cunning would only make others suspicious.
Until he could truly reveal his strength, Kenichi had no intention of showing any open hostility toward Danzo.
When they returned to Orochimaru's secret laboratory, Kenichi finally relaxed a little.
The laboratory had a few servants whose sole responsibilities were cleaning and taking care of Kenichi's daily needs. These poor people would never leave this place, or rather, the only time they would ever leave was when they were carried out as corpses.
Kenichi had long since grown used to such a life.
In this cruel world, strength was the most basic qualification for survival. When he thought about how terrifyingly strong people would become in the future, Kenichi's desire to improve his own power only grew stronger.
[Current research subject: Hashirama Senju's physique. Research progress: 99.8 percent.]
A translucent screen that only he could see appeared before his eyes. It was because of this that he had so much confidence in his future.
When he transmigrated, he had received a cheat ability, a system that allowed him to research and analyze anything in the world, as long as he obtained a sample. Once the analysis and research were complete, he could replace his own body with the sample data and gain the same abilities.
It was thanks to this cheat that Kenichi had gone from an ordinary person who could never have become a ninja to someone who could at least stand at the level of a genin.
But that was as far as it went. His physical condition was too poor, and improvement through normal training was painfully slow. That was why he had set his sights on physique, or rather, on bloodline.
His original target had been the Uzumaki clan. Kushina Uzumaki would have been a very suitable source, given the Uzumaki clan's famously strong life force and vitality.
However, once he caught Orochimaru's eye, Kenichi shifted his focus. Using his special status at Orochimaru's side, he managed to get his hands on Hashirama's cells.
Unfortunately, the First Hokage's body was far too special. The research and analysis progressed extremely slowly. It had taken two and a half years just to reach this final stage.
Even so, the wait was worth it. This was the body of the legendary first Hokage, a near immortal physique. Once it was fully analyzed, it would definitely improve his potential by leaps and bounds.
"Hand me that," Kenichi said calmly.
At his command, a test tube was immediately placed in his hand.
He lowered his eyes, studying the liquid inside. At the moment, he was also conducting research on the Sharingan.