On top of the Hokage Monument.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru sat cross-legged in the grass, relaxed, shoulders loose.
"Orochimaru," Hiruzen asked, "what's your dream?"
"To understand every jutsu in the world, and make life stop being so fragile," Orochimaru said. After what they'd just shared, he wasn't going to dress it up in pretty words.
He paused, then added, voice steady. "And getting your recognition, and the village's. Becoming the legitimate Fourth Hokage. That's one of them too."
"You really are like I was," Hiruzen said, smiling as he shook his head. "When I was young, I thought I could master every jutsu, become the strongest Hokage. People even started calling me the 'Professor'…"
"Then I realized I was nothing special. Just an ordinary man. Keeping the village running wears me out."
"If I hadn't happened to dream of Tobirama-sama giving me a push, if I hadn't found the will to break what needed breaking… who knows where I'd be now."
His tone shifted, softer with feeling.
"But you're not the same as me, Orochimaru…"
"You're young. You've got better talent. When I look at you, it feels like I'm seeing a better version of myself."
Orochimaru's chest tightened.
On one hand, his teacher's praise and approval hit right where it mattered. It felt good.
On the other… Hiruzen was being too modest.
With the way his teacher trained every day now, pushing forward like a blade being honed, was Orochimaru really more talented than him?
Forty-something was old for most shinobi.
But for Hiruzen Sarutobi, it almost felt like the age where a man really hit his stride.
"You don't have to say it like that, Sensei," Orochimaru said before he could stop himself. "You… you're not like other shinobi."
"Maybe," Hiruzen said with a sigh. "But a person's life isn't only about talent."
"The era you're born into, the state of the shinobi world, those things matter too. If Tobirama-sama had come back from that battlefield… I might've become someone else entirely."
Then he added quietly, like it was a fact carved into him.
"But he gave his life for the village. For me. So whatever I do now, I owe it."
Orochimaru nodded.
Taking the Hokage's burden while still young… the pressure was crushing.
Improving yourself required room to breathe.
If work pressure already broke you, where would you find the time for anything else?
"But you're different. You're stronger than me."
"You have me carrying the weight for you, as your teacher."
Orochimaru's pupils tightened, and something hot spread through his chest.
The way Hiruzen said that…
Even a snake, cold-blooded by nature, would have trouble not feeling warmed.
"I only ask one thing of you," Hiruzen said. "Before you act, remember you're a Konoha shinobi. You grew up under the Will of Fire left behind by those who came before."
"If you run into a temptation you can't easily resist, hold yourself back. Don't let desire blind you."
"Desire makes people rash. But if you calm down and really look, there are always more ways to solve a problem." Hiruzen stared up at the sky. "Slower can be steadier. It won't make your loved ones grieve. It won't make you regret it later."
Orochimaru listened, thoughtful.
He understood the warning buried in Hiruzen's words.
With Immortality Jutsu and the limits of current technique, the "target" was almost certainly another person.
But technique didn't stay frozen forever.
From the Warring States Era to the era of hidden villages, in just a few decades, ninjutsu and biology had leapt forward. Forbidden techniques kept appearing, one after another…
Maybe one day the wall would crack.
And when that day came, if Orochimaru truly coveted a Konoha shinobi's talent, it wouldn't be hard for him to get the "material" openly.
Not that anyone had appeared yet who made Orochimaru feel that kind of pull…
But even if someone did…
Tobirama Senju's sacrifice had forced Hiruzen Sarutobi to shoulder the village without hesitation.
All the years of care, the support, the trust Hiruzen was giving him now… wasn't that worth Orochimaru choosing restraint?
And even stepping back and looking at it purely through benefit…
Leaning on the village's resources was how his research could go further.
Besides, Immortality Jutsu, for Orochimaru right now, was just a final card. A path to fake immortality.
As a genius, what he wanted more was to complete himself. Taking someone else's body would always be a lesser substitute…
In a way, it was admitting he couldn't do it as himself.
"Sensei, I'll always remember I'm a Konoha shinobi," Orochimaru said. No dramatic oath. Just a steady, serious promise.
"Good," Hiruzen said, nodding.
Between men, sometimes that was all it was. Plain words, carrying a crushing weight.
"Maybe someday," Hiruzen went on, "you'll end up like the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave, and truly become something that lives forever."
He lit a cigarette, shoulders easing, and even joked a little. "If that happens, you won't need to be Hokage at all. Just remember to find a few contract holders in Konoha."
Looking at Hiruzen's expression, Orochimaru felt a tightness in his throat.
It was like watching an ordinary old father imagining his kid graduating the Academy, becoming a jonin, even becoming Hokage, reaching heights the father could never reach.
"When that day comes," Orochimaru said, forcing some life back into himself so he could tease back, "I'll carve a plaque that says: 'Hiruzen Sarutobi, the great Third Hokage, will always be my teacher.'"
But inside, he sighed.
If Hiruzen had Orochimaru's resources and timing, maybe he really could've achieved something terrifying. Those fantasies weren't impossible.
It was biased, sure.
But in Hiruzen's heart, it was true.
He wasn't like everyone else.
All the effort he poured into making Konoha stronger hadn't vanished. It had become part of him. It had become his talent.
Step by step, growing stronger, raising his own ceiling, cashing in what he built, that was what Hiruzen had been doing all along.
It wasn't obvious yet, not on the surface. But enough accumulation changed the kind of thing you were.
He had patience. He had grit.
He just wasn't going to tell anyone.
"This jutsu still needs to be officially reported," Hiruzen said at last. "We'll put it under my name. Say we developed it together."
"My credibility is still good. People won't think too much."
To research and refine a technique like this, resources would have to move.
With things progressing this smoothly, it wasn't reasonable to stop Orochimaru from continuing.
But resources drew attention.
From his rival Danzo Shimura, to the "neutral" elders Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, even to someone like Hiruko…
Without an official cover, private experiments could become a disaster the moment they were exposed.
A storm of rumors strong enough to crush Orochimaru's name.
But if it was under the Hokage's name, it was different.
Kind, dove-leaning, steady. Those were the labels people slapped onto Hiruzen Sarutobi.
If the jutsu was filed under him, it could be stamped with the highest secrecy. No one would question it.
It protected Orochimaru.
And it didn't really cost Hiruzen anything.
"Sensei, you don't have to go that far," Orochimaru said, frowning. "I already promised you…"
"I won't say I'll never use this technique, but the chances are basically zero, unless I reach old age and still have no breakthrough at all."
"And if anyone dares smear me, I'll fight them."
His teacher was thinking about him so much it made Orochimaru feel ashamed.
Hiruzen spoke slowly. "Some people say Danzo Shimura carries the village's darkness for me…"
"Maybe they're not wrong. But what I have to carry isn't only that."
"Someday you might understand. Someday you might not. But it's fine either way."
"It's all the same."
Orochimaru listened, unsettled, not quite understanding.
But Hiruzen only waved a hand, brushing past the topic.
A few days later.
Hokage Tower.
Danzo Shimura brought in a piece of critical intelligence.
The last piece of the puzzle needed to revive a certain man.
Information on the holder of Earth Grudge Fear.
Kakuzu.