"Hanzo? That man was quite capable. His poison techniques were… impressive. How did he end up dead?"
Orochimaru blinked, clearly not having expected that to be the big development in the Land of Rain.
But right after that surprise, another question rose in "her" mind.
"Kenichi," she looked up at her disciple. Because of her current, smaller body, she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes—
but that gaze still carried the same suffocating pressure as always.
"How did you find out?"
Hanzo's death was the kind of thing even Rain itself would want to hide.
A weak village with only one real top-tier fighter… once that pillar fell, every predator in the ninja world would start circling.
There was no way they'd just announce it publicly.
"Because I joined a group over there."
Kenichi raised his hand, showing the ring on his finger.
"Their leader—Pain—told me."
Orochimaru's golden eyes slid to the ring.
The character「玉」was carved on it.
Simple. Elegant. Unfamiliar.
"An organization," she repeated softly. "With a leader."
Her gaze sharpened.
So. Her little disciple was starting to act on his own now, huh?
"You'll definitely be interested, Sensei," Kenichi said, eyes brightening. "Their leader's eyes… they're ringed. Like a ripple. Just like the Sage's eyes from those old scrolls!"
Orochimaru's pupils narrowed.
"Rinnegan?"
She understood far more about those ancient legends than Kenichi realized.
If that really was the Sage's eye…
Then this "organization" was very interesting indeed.
For years, she'd assumed the Rinnegan was just exaggerated myth—
a fairy tale from an age when people needed gods.
But if someone was walking around with the real thing…
"Tell me everything that happened," Orochimaru said.
She formed a pair of crude stone chairs with Earth Release, sat down, and gestured for him to do the same.
She wanted details.
Kenichi went through his journey step by step.
Crossing borders.
The rain.
Being surrounded.
The test against the Preta Path.
The Rinnegan.
The rings.
He tried to keep his voice steady.
Which was hard, because Orochimaru—currently in the body of a petite blond girl—was sitting in front of him with absolutely zero awareness of… angles.
Skirt. Casual posture. Legs not exactly modestly placed.
From where he sat, he could kind of see—
Kenichi coughed and forcefully dragged his eyes back to her face.
Amamiya Kenichi, get a grip.
That's Orochimaru. That's the actual man who experiments on people for fun. The snake man. The one who literally plays with snakes.
This was not a "cute blond girl."
This was Danger in a human costume.
"Akatsuki, huh…" Orochimaru tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I've heard of them. A small group active in the Rain. Naive little dreamers talking about 'peace'."
Her voice dripped with amusement.
To her, trying to bring peace to the ninja world was the same as trying to convince wolves to go vegan.
Stupid. Noble. And doomed.
"And if I recall correctly," she added, "they had some connection to that idiot Jiraiya."
Kenichi's eyelid twitched.
Yeah, that tracked.
"Oh, right—Sensei, Akatsuki invited you too."
He almost forgot the important part.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out the second ring—the one marked 「空」.
He held it out.
Orochimaru smiled faintly and accepted it, sliding the ring onto her finger without hesitation.
"…Huh."
Kenichi scratched his cheek.
Why did this feel so wrong?
He knew it was a criminal organization's ID badge. A uniform piece. An official symbol.
But the way he'd just stood there, putting a ring into the hand of a pretty blond girl…
It looked way too much like he was proposing.
Orochimaru, for her part, didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
She had originally planned to build her own underground group in a small neighboring country, use it as a base to continue her research.
But now…
Now there was a ready-made organization with manpower, intelligence networks, and—most importantly—
A leader with the legendary Rinnegan.
The so-called "eyes of the Sage."
And Orochimaru desperately wanted to see what those eyes could do.
"Good work, Kenichi." She looked very satisfied. "Didn't you say you wanted some materials before you left? I acquired them. They're in Lab Three."
Kenichi froze for a second.
Then his face lit up.
"Seriously? Thank you, Sensei!"
Those weren't cheap.
He knew because he'd priced them out before.
Key components for his thermobaric bomb project.
And Orochimaru had just… gotten them for him.
Originally, she'd only sent him to the Rain to get him out of the way while she tested Living Corpse Reincarnation.
She hadn't expected him to walk back in with news of Hanzo's death and recruitment into a Rinnegan-led group.
As tests went, that result was… beyond excellent.
And on top of that, he'd seen her in this new body and remained obedient, respectful, and cautious.
No probing questions.
No attempts to test her weakened state.
No greedy staring—well, not in a threatening way, anyway.
All in all, a passing grade.
"It's fine," she waved off his gratitude. Then her expression sharpened. "By the way, Kenichi… you've seen this body now, haven't you?"
"I have, Sensei." Kenichi put on his most innocent face. "What happened to you?"
Of course he knew.
But he had no intention of revealing that.
He'd seen the old experimental logs.
He'd read the notes about soul transfer.
He knew what this was.
"This is a jutsu I developed," Orochimaru said calmly. "Living Corpse Reincarnation. If you want to learn it in the future, I can teach you."
Kenichi blinked, genuinely surprised.
He hadn't expected her to just… say it.
Then he remembered one particular line from a lab record he'd read:
"Post-transfer: incompatibility between soul and vessel may result in a significant drop in combat capability."
Which meant:
After switching bodies, Orochimaru was temporarily weaker.
And now—right after she'd moved into this new vessel—she was casually bringing up the jutsu in front of him.
A test, then.
"Thank you, Sensei," Kenichi said, smiling. "But I'm still young. I think I can use this body for a good long while before I need a spare."
His tone was light. Relaxed.
But under that, he made sure to send a clear message:
I'm not looking at you as prey, I'm not trying to steal your technique, and I'm not planning a coup.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, another thought floated up:
Also, I am absolutely not telling you that I fully plan to see what happens when you end up conditioned like a lab dog in that body.
Orochimaru watched him for a moment.
Then she smiled.
"…Very well."