Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Without a word, Hyuga Kotone and Yamanaka Yuki took Orochimaru to another room.

Matsumoto Kazuka stood rooted to the spot, too afraid to move.

He turned around, his gaze falling on her, and asked bluntly, "You have a bloodline disease, why have you never mentioned it to me?"

"I don't want Lord Shen to be distracted by me."

Matsumoto Waka said weakly, "My bloodline disease is rooted in my genes and cannot be cured. I only want to develop the original curse seal into a truly usable curse seal for you in this limited life."

"Cough cough..."

She covered her mouth and coughed lightly twice uncontrollably. When she released her grip, there were mottled bloodstains on her palm.

Shen Er frowned.

He released the Heavenly Compassion Line and roughly pierced into her body to investigate.

The deeper one perceives, the more tightly one furrows their brow.

It's often said that a doctor can't heal himself, and while there's some truth to that, it's not always the case. As a seasoned medical ninja, Matsumoto Waka had already determined that her bloodline disease was incurable, and that was indeed the case.

The more they learned about medical ninjutsu, the more difficult her problem seemed.

In Shen'er's perception, her physical energy was irreversibly and continuously declining, and she was clearly on the verge of exhaustion. This was the exact opposite of Hashirama's symptoms, where his spiritual energy was constantly being depleted.

What they have in common is that even if they do nothing, they will die within two or three years. In this situation, unless Naruto travels back in the future, or the Sage of Six Paths appears and infuses her with Yang energy, no one can save her.

Shen Er expressionlessly retracted the Heavenly Compassion Thread back into his body.

"Teacher Shen'er, my health must be really bad."

She didn't answer the question, but instead said calmly, "What other wishes do you have?"

That's tantamount to sentencing her to death.

"I have no more wishes. If I had to say something, it would be to develop the prototype cursed seal for you, Master. However, judging from the current progress, I may not be able to do it. I can only entrust it to Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru, what method did you use to cultivate Orochimaru?"

Even so, she couldn't help but ask.

Whether Matsumoto Waka was alive or dead, he didn't really care. What truly concerned him was that Orochimaru, who should have been born naturally, was now being cultivated by Matsumoto Waka using her own genes.

According to Shen Er, hematogenous diseases are essentially genetic diseases.

He couldn't be sure if this version of Orochimaru would increase his risk of developing bloodline disease.

They consider 25 years old as the "kill line".

Is it possible for Orochimaru to develop the Reanimation Jutsu to extend lifespan before the age of 25?

Orochimaru was 25 years old, which was Konoha Year 38. At that time, the ninja world was probably still going through World War II. Judging from his performance in the battle with Hanzo, Orochimaru at that time had neither modified his body nor had he mastered forbidden techniques.

From this perspective, 25 years old is the watershed moment in Orochimaru's life.

Before this, he was a brilliant ninja; after this, he fell into confusion due to the successive deaths of his relatives and friends, and turned to the pursuit of immortality, becoming a dark scientist.

If he dies before the age of 25 due to a bloodline disease...

"This is the only thing I cannot tell the teacher. Please forgive me, I cannot let you be exposed to such a dark taboo." Matsumoto Waka placed her hands on her lower abdomen and told a lie.

Even though he had something on his mind, he didn't say it aloud.

This darkness is no different from a blank sheet of paper to him; he just needs cyborg technology.

Matsumoto Waka seemed to have seen through Shen'er's thoughts and added, "But please rest assured, this bloodline disease is only passed on to women and not men. Orochimaru will not inherit it and will continue to grow up healthy."

"If I ever pass away due to a relapse of my bloodline disease, please witness Orochimaru's growth. He is a very talented child and will complete all my research on the Cursed Seal."

"Please, teacher, this is my lifelong request."

"..."

Shen Er remained silent for a long time, not directly responding to her request, but only uttering three words:

"Live."

Faced with such a worshipper who is absolutely loyal to himself, has no interest in personal gain, and follows him solely out of faith.

Although Shen'er didn't care whether she lived or died, he wouldn't just watch her walk towards her death.

This wasn't out of concern or weakness; it was merely a convenient tactic. Holding Matsumoto Waka as a "hostage" would later serve as a chain of bonds to restrain Orochimaru, ensuring that Orochimaru's loyalty would outweigh his pursuit of the unknown.

Resurrection techniques truly exist in the ninja world.

Rebirth of the self, rebirth of the undead, rebirth of the dragon, reincarnation of the heavenly being, sacrifice to evil gods...

In a moment of silence, he quickly went through all the secret techniques that could prolong life and bring the dead back to life in his mind, only to find that none of these techniques had yet appeared in the world in this era.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

As long as her body can be preserved from decay, her soul can be "imprisoned" using the Impure World Reincarnation technique. In the future, the lives of important people can be used to force the holders of these resurrection spells to exchange one life for another, thus resurrecting Matsumoto Waka.

Those who will be sacrificed in the future to perform the resurrection spell will die.

But what do the lives and deaths of outsiders have to do with him?

Chapter 93 Ninjas at the End of the Bronze Age

The long day has finally come to an end.

Orochimaru opened his eyes in bed, and his mother told him that he could go out and move around from today onwards.

So it turns out you can go out after your birthday.

Orochimaru silently made a mental note of this, and after washing up, he couldn't wait to follow Matsumoto Kaori out the door, stepping onto the streets of Konoha for the first time.

Everything in Konoha was new and exciting to him. But the villagers on the street were not friendly to the two of them.

As Shinji's disciple, Matsumoto Waka was already under intense scrutiny from the villagers. Although there was no public announcement of her previous secret house arrest, rumors had already been circulating.

Many people privately speculated that she had offended Shen Er.

Now that Matsumoto Kaori has reappeared on the streets, the villagers have noticed that she has taken off the glasses that Shinji gave her years ago, and there is a strange little boy with her.

A normal person would probably think that this kid might be the child of Lord Shinji, which is why Matsumoto Waka secretly left the Fukuin Hospital.

However, most Konoha villagers did not think so. In their view, given Orochimaru's status, he would never have any connection with Matsumoto Kaori, who was an outsider, other than a master-disciple relationship. They regarded Orochimaru as a wild child of unknown origin and gossiped about him in private.

When Orochimaru first went out into the streets, he felt no warmth, only the cold malice from the villagers.

He saw his mother trying to buy something with money, but she was turned away directly, and some merchants even ignored them.

Orochimaru didn't understand why this was happening.

Didn't "The Will of Fire" say that the villagers of Konoha are all family?

Why treat your family like this?

Fortunately, the villagers of Konoha were ultimately wary of Matsumoto and Kaori's past identities, and without concrete evidence, they dared not bully the mother and son any further.

Orochimaru stood on the street, looking utterly dejected.

He looked up as if possessed and saw a figure with golden pigtails in the distance, surrounded by a crowd, looking very popular.

Following his gaze, Matsumoto Waka explained from the side, "That's Tsunade, the Hokage's granddaughter."

Naruto was the word Orochimaru saw most often in books.

The books always say that the Hokage is the most respected figure in the village.

Let's get closer.

Orochimaru realized that the person accompanying Tsunade and taking her for a walk was none other than Shen, who had visited his home the day before.

She was still wearing that pure white haori.

Orochimaru wanted to go up and greet him, but Matsumoto Kaori grabbed his hand and led him in the opposite direction: "Unless Lord Jinji summons us, we cannot approach him."

If you break a taboo, you should act like you're breaking a taboo.

She has already been tainted by the forbidden mire, so how could she possibly approach Lord Shen and further taint his feather robe?

Orochimaru didn't understand any of this; he just found it strange.

Why can't we get close?

Bathed in the morning sun, Shen'er's silhouette was deeply reflected in Orochimaru's eyes.

...

Today is a holiday, and Shen Er was even visited by a visibly embarrassed Long Zhi.

After he told Tsunade the story of "Shen Erli" yesterday, Tsunade became very interested in Shen Erli and insisted on having him play with her today.

Longzhi had assumed that Shen'er would refuse.

He wanted to make Tsunade give up and drag her back to her studies.

Unexpectedly, Shen Er did not refuse, but readily agreed to her request.

This is exactly what Shen wanted.

He deliberately led Tsunade around the most crowded areas of Konoha. On the way, they happened to run into Chiri, who was also on vacation, and the three of them wandered aimlessly through the shopping street, looking more like a family of three.

Yuzhi on the left, Qianshou on the right...

So majestic.

Even so, this is the kind of stereotype people want to be created. As long as he's there, any past conflicts between Konoha and the Uchiha can be resolved.

This forms the basis for his future campaign to become the Third Hokage.

Even though he never publicly displayed his strength, and even though Tobirama ultimately forced Hiruzen Sarutobi to become the Third Hokage, in Konoha, strength was only one factor considered when becoming Hokage…

The First Hokage once said that the most crucial factor in becoming Hokage is the recognition of "everyone".

To survive in this world, you need power and connections.

In this respect, Hiruzen Sarutobi is far inferior to me; he is the real challenger!

Even so, Hiruzen Sarutobi is to Orochimaru in the future what Minato Namikaze is to him—a true veteran and senior figure.

During her stroll, Tsunade would occasionally look up and secretly peek at Uchiha Chiri.

Her preconceived notions about the Uchiha clan came from the daily teachings of her two grandfathers.