How to Survive as an Uchiha-Chapter 192 - The Sannin Who Chose Loneliness

Deep underground, Orochimaru was organizing his new laboratory.

Looking at the brand-new equipment, he was quite satisfied.

Leaving Konoha made him realize how difficult it was for Danzō.

These devices were not easy to acquire...

He had even secretly taken some funds from Akatsuki's treasury. Hopefully, Kakuzu wouldn't notice.

He must complete that jutsu.

Only eternal life could carry his dreams forward.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed through the empty corridor behind him.

Orochimaru frowned. He turned around and looked toward the doorway.

There wasn't a door yet. He hadn't installed one.

I need to set up soundproofing. That was his first thought.

Back in Root, when he was conducting experiments, who dared to disturb him?

These missing-nin were just too impatient. No matter how serious the issue, it couldn't possibly be that Third Hokage had come knocking, right?

A sound ninja appeared in his vision.

Orochimaru's yellow snake-like pupils fixated on the ninja, carrying an almost malicious intent.

But in reality, he wasn't thinking anything sinister. He wasn't desperate enough to use his subordinates as experiment materials—not that they were worth much anyway.

"Orochimaru-sama, someone is outside," the sound ninja said. He had been running quickly, but when he met Orochimaru's gaze, his scalp tingled, and a chill ran down his spine. So, he stood properly at the entrance, lowering his voice.

Orochimaru responded with a simple "Hmm" and kept looking at him.

After a moment, when he noticed the ninja just standing there, saying nothing more, Orochimaru, used to Konoha's professionalism, felt that these missing-nin were testing his leadership.

"If you don't explain yourself properly today..." Orochimaru patted the clean surgical table behind him. "You'll be its first guest."

"N-No! It's the White Ghost!" The sound ninja was terrified and blurted out everything he knew.

"Oh?" Orochimaru found this intriguing. "And yet, you're still alive?"

"No, he didn't attack. He said... he's here to visit a friend," the sound ninja carefully replied.

"A friend?" Orochimaru chuckled.

If Masashi was referring to someone else as a "friend" and not himself, Orochimaru wouldn't believe it.

He knew exactly what kind of people he had recruited.

Masashi's list of friends could be counted on one hand—and they were all in Konoha.

As for himself, Orochimaru wasn't exactly a friend to him, but he wasn't an enemy either.

They shared a connection as fellow practitioners of Ryūchi Cave's techniques.

Though, to the White Snake Sage, Masashi, having mastered Ryūchi Cave's Senjutsu, was probably considered a true member of the cave.

Unlike Orochimaru—who had failed to master it.

"Understood," he said, turning back to organize his things. "Escort him here. Use your judgment—don't give him an excuse to kill you."

A new home should not be tainted with blood.

He had his own sense of order.

As for serving tea?

He was already letting Masashi tour his newest laboratory. Did he really need to serve tea?

Well, truth be told, he didn't have any. This underground base was still unfinished—only the lab was properly set up. The other rooms were still just bare concrete shells.

At most, he had a cafeteria.

Orochimaru wasn't completely ignorant of hospitality, but what could he do when he had nothing to offer?

Masashi was the one who came looking for him. Given the current conditions, he would just have to make do.

The sound ninja had already disappeared.

Orochimaru ignored him and continued cleaning.

He meticulously sorted and sterilized his equipment—his precious tools.

Then, the sound of footsteps returned. He didn't turn around immediately. He calmly finished putting away his tools before looking toward the entrance.

Masashi stood there, gazing at him with an unreadable expression.

Two practitioners of Ryūchi Cave's techniques silently faced each other.

The sound ninja who had escorted Masashi lowered his head and cautiously took a few steps back. Seeing that neither of the two paid him any mind, he took the opportunity to slip away.

He couldn't handle the pressure of their silent stare-down.

After a moment, Orochimaru was the first to speak.

"You came looking for me?"

"Just wanted to see how you have been doing," Masashi replied, glancing around. "Your new lab... isn't much worse than the one you had in Konoha."

The craftsmanship of the lab's construction wasn't great.

Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha had the best biotechnology facilities, but that foundation wasn't built by Orochimaru alone.

"Are you mocking me?" Orochimaru asked. "That's rather dull."

"No, I'm just not great at small talk today," Masashi replied casually. "Or any day, really."

He wasn't here to mock Orochimaru. The premise didn't even exist.

Since the Sannin defected, the Hokage's office had constantly been searching for his whereabouts. The main concern was that he knew too much about Konoha—if he joined another village, he could become Konoha's greatest threat.

But Masashi knew that was impossible.

Join another village? No chance.

If Konoha couldn't give him what he wanted, no other village could either.

As for the rumors that Orochimaru harbored resentment over not becoming Hokage and sought revenge on Konoha—those were nonsense.

He had no interest in that.

He was too absorbed in his research.

If left undisturbed, he would probably stay in his lab until the end of time.

The only part of Konoha that still mattered to him was his bond with his old teacher and teammates.

That kind of connection couldn't just disappear.

Of course, the word bond wasn't necessarily a positive term. But in the case of the Three Sannin, it fit perfectly.

Their relationship had always been complex.

The three of them had been through it all together. Training, battles, stupid fights, and way too many close calls to count.

When they had put their lives on the line to save one another, it was genuine. And when they had to sever ties and fight, they didn't hold back.

At least, Orochimaru never did.

Masashi had always believed that true friends didn't beg each other to stay, nor did one person endlessly sacrifice for the other.

Orochimaru never wavered in his choices. His friends and teacher couldn't understand him, so when their paths diverged, he simply said, "Fine, I'll go my own way."

His ability to endure loneliness was his greatest strength.

"What do you really want?" Orochimaru asked.

After a brief pause, he added, "And since you're here... how about participating in an experiment? I'm willing to trade."

"No thanks," Masashi waved a hand. "I don't plan on experimenting on myself."

"That's wise," Orochimaru nodded approvingly. "Rushing in without enough samples leads to failure."

He glanced around his lab and sighed.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't bring my old samples."

Of course not. Did you think they'd let you?

"That's what you get for experimenting on your own people," Masashi sighed. "What were you thinking back then? Did you do it on purpose?"

"Not really. I just found it boring." Orochimaru waved it off. "But let's not talk about the past. Why are you here?"

Can you give me a copy of your Cursed Seal technique?

Of course, it couldn't be asked that directly. Some groundwork was needed.

"Have you ever thought about going back?" Masashi asked.

He thought it was a good setup, and he was genuinely curious about the answer.

In the original timeline, Orochimaru ended up helping Sasuke in the end. Although there were reasons given, they weren't entirely convincing.

"Danzō died quite cleanly," Orochimaru chuckled. "The Wood Release experiment was never going to succeed. Just tell the the Sandaime this—the child's Wood Release is not the kind Konoha wants."

"I'm not here to pass messages for the Sandaime," Masashi replied.

"Oh, then never mind. Let's change the topic." Orochimaru's expression turned enigmatic. "Do you hope the Wood Release experiment continues, or do you prefer it to stop?"

Masashi looked at him.

"You haven't gone digging up the First Hokage's grave again, have you?"

"Of course not. That research direction was incorrect," Orochimaru said. "The First Hokage had an abnormally strong life force, even surpassing the Uzumaki clan. The secret lies in his chakra. Unfortunately, I haven't found any leads in that area."

After a pause, he added,

"Looking at Konoha now, the most practical and effective methods still come from the powers of the Uzumaki and Uchiha clans."

Masashi nodded.

Orochimaru was stating the facts.

The Wood Release experiments were something he had never believed in.

In his life as Muzo, the focus was on studying chakra, but even under ideal conditions, Asura's chakra couldn't be replicated.

Of course, no one else knew the real reason Hashirama's chakra was so unique.

By the Third Hokage's era, the Wood Release experiments had already compromised—chakra replication was no longer required; just having Wood Release was enough.

From that point on, the Wood Release experiments became nothing more than a waste of human lives.

Just look at Yamato's performance under White Zetsu's control in the original timeline. Without sufficient Yang Release power, the obtained Wood Release was simply not worth the sacrifices made.

After Orochimaru defected, this pointless research was abandoned as well.

There was no one left in Konoha capable of continuing these experiments.

"So, Masashi, did you come looking for me because the Uzumaki clan is being rebuilt?"

Orochimaru looked at Masashi with great interest.

As a former student of Hiruzen, he was well aware of the inner workings of both the Hokage's administration and the Uchiha clan. He was one of the people in Konoha who understood the situation best.

Right now, the Hokage's office and the Uchiha clan seemed to be getting along very well, but in his eyes, it was just a temporary state.

People always chased after wealth.

But wealth came from peace, and peace came from strength.

What made all the difference was the fact that this generation of Uchiha had such overwhelming strength, nearly recreating their peak from the village's founding era.

Currently, a single clan held equal power to an entire faction. In the critical matter of tailed beasts, Masashi had suppressed the Nine-Tails first and then subdued the Two-Tails, becoming the third person in Konoha's history to fully control a tailed beast.

The balance of power between the two sides had been completely equalized.

That's why the Hokage's office was now treating the Uchiha clan so well.

Suppressing the Uchiha members in the past, even if it led to conflict, was considered growing pains.

In Orochimaru's view, this honeymoon phase was unlikely to last forever. Human desired are never satisfied.

Even Hashirama and Madara had fallen out. What did Minato and Fugaku's friendship amount to?

As long as no Uchiha became Hokage, returning to a state of outward harmony but inner discord was inevitable.

However, even if that happened, the Hyūga-Uchiha alliance was unlikely to dissolve. The Hyūga clan had gained the most from their partnership with the Uchiha clan and were now too deeply tied together to turn back.

Honestly, Orochimaru was quite surprised. He knew that when the Uchiha members got serious, they were formidable, but he hadn't expected them to be this powerful.

Two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan aside, he had never seen a three-tomoe Sharingan user as strong as Masashi.

No wonder the Hokage's office wanted to use this opportunity to revive the Uzumaki clan.

It must be one of the old man's and those two's strategies again.

Thinking of this, Orochimaru felt even more certain that leaving Konoha had been the right choice.

If he had stayed with those people, he would never have been able to focus on his research properly—he would have wasted all his time dealing with this nonsense.

"Rebuilding it is fine by me." Masashi ignored the sarcasm in Orochimaru's tone. "Actually, I came to talk to you about Anko. I took her to Ryūchi Cave once."

"So that child went to Ryūchi Cave?" Orochimaru's tone was calm. "Are you planning to train her?"

"I did put her in a tough spot once. Consider this compensation—we're from the same village, after all."

"Heh..." Orochimaru sneered. "You're taking in disciples left and right. Be careful—they might turn on you before you even get to use them."

He then said something that felt completely out of character for him. "Don't underestimate the Will of Fire."

"Then you shouldn't underestimate Jiraiya," Masashi countered. "He even put you in his books. I'm not sure if it was Icha Icha Paradise or another one. Want me to look it up and bring you a set next time?"

Orochimaru was visibly annoyed.

Even though he kept his cool expression, Masashi, with his experience from his previous lives, could tell the irritation was real.

"Orochimaru, as fellow inheritors of Ryūchi Cave's teachings, we should have other things to discuss."

"I don't think so."

Fellow inheritors of Ryūchi Cave? Why didn't you think of that when you blocked my path last time?

You seemed quite happy to stop me then!

"Your perspective is too small..." Masashi sighed.

Orochimaru remained unfazed.

Masashi sighing in a conversation meant trouble. Even though Orochimaru had left Konoha, he still knew that much.

"Funds must be tight, huh?"

"Research is always like that. Are you offering to invest?"

Although there was no projector or PowerPoint here, Masashi was ready to use his silver tongue.

After dealing with both Danzō and the Land of Rice Fields' daimyō, he was quite the expert at... persuasion.

"Of course not. Did you forget you're a missing-nin?"

"Ah, then if there's nothing else, I won't see you off. I'm quite busy."

"Don't be so hasty." Masashi glanced at the equipment in the lab. "These aren't from the Land of Fire, are they? Speaking of smuggling, you know we have a bit of a... private connection."

"Price," Orochimaru said concisely.

"Twenty percent off the original price," Masashi replied. "That's already the cost price—we still need to pay the middlemen."

"Deal." Orochimaru was satisfied. That was a fair price. "Increasing the supply won't be a problem, right? I don't just have this one lab, and I modify my equipment, which leads to losses."

"Quantity isn't an issue."

"Then that's good. Tell me, what technique do you want?" Orochimaru's attitude had improved significantly. "If there's no existing technique, I can start a new project."

"Cursed Seal," Masashi said. "I know you've been researching it based on senjutsu. I want that knowledge."

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