Plink…
Plink…
Plink…
Water dripping sounds echoed in the dark passage, making Hyuga Kagami unconsciously tighten his robe.
He hated it here. The dark passage ahead seemed to lead straight to hell, always giving him bad thoughts, but the one-eyed viper on his shoulder made him abandon the idea of turning back.
He couldn't help himself!
Walking to the end of the passage, Hyuga Kagami pushed open a large door. Behind the door was a fully equipped laboratory, and a figure stood inside.
The figure turned around: "It's Kagami-kun."
Hearing this hoarse voice, Hyuga Kagami's heart trembled, and he quickly bowed his head: "Lord Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru watched Hyuga Kagami thoughtfully, and only after a long while did he speak: "This laboratory will belong to you from now on."
Feeling Orochimaru's gaze, which felt almost tangible, Hyuga Kagami didn't dare to let his mind wander, and quickly bowed and replied: "Please rest assured, I will definitely work even harder!"
Orochimaru shifted his gaze, briefly looked around the laboratory, and a hint of melancholy appeared in his eyes.
"I may have to leave the village. For future materials, you'll have to figure it out yourself!"
"Understood!"
Hyuga Kagami still nodded obediently, without the slightest hesitation, while the one-eyed viper standing on his shoulder lazily flicked its crimson tongue.
Taking one last glance at Hyuga Kagami, Orochimaru didn't give any further instructions and directly left using the Body Flicker Technique.
With Orochimaru's departure, the vast and gloomy chakra that filled the laboratory slowly faded.
"Sigh..."
Hyuga Kagami quietly let out a sigh.
Lately, Orochimaru's aura had become increasingly chilling, seemingly tinged with a scent of blood. Even just reporting experimental progress from afar made Hyuga Kagami feel extremely uncomfortable.
Fortunately, these difficult days seemed to be coming to an end.
However, upon second thought, Hyuga Kagami felt a little confused.
According to his vague memories from his previous life, Orochimaru seemed to have been forced to defect after the Third Hokage led a raid on his secret laboratory, catching him red-handed.
But Orochimaru's demeanor just now suggested he had already planned to defect and was ready to act at any time.
"Where did things go wrong that caused Orochimaru to proactively defect? Was it because of me?"
After carefully reviewing everything that had happened, Hyuga Kagami still couldn't figure out why. However, Orochimaru's defection was ultimately a good thing for him. Whether he defected proactively or passively didn't matter to him, there was no point in dwelling on it.
As for Orochimaru, Hyuga Kagami's feelings were complex.
If it weren't for Orochimaru's protection, Hyuga Kagami knew he definitely wouldn't have survived the war so easily. After all, seven or eight out of ten of his classmates from the same period had already died on the battlefield.
Even a genius like Kakashi almost lost his life on the battlefield, and when they were grouped for combat practice at the academy, he couldn't even withstand one of Kakashi's moves.
Living in this world, weakness was the original sin!
He had been transmigrated here for over a decade, but even now, Hyuga Kagami still found it difficult to adapt to this ninja world filled with slaughter. This was also one of the reasons he proactively sought refuge with Orochimaru, because when it came to combat talent, he was far behind his peers. Especially in split-second life-or-death situations, his reactions were always a little slower than others.
Sometimes, he truly admired the ninjas of this world. They often possessed the ability to kill by the age of six or seven, going to the battlefield around ten was commonplace, and even more so for someone like Kakashi, who was already a Jonin who had killed countless enemies by twelve.
Hyuga Kagami didn't have this talent, but fortunately, he was born into the Hyuga Clan and naturally possessed the Byakugan. With the help of the Byakugan, he managed to escape several dangerous situations on the battlefield.
But good luck wouldn't always favor him. Seeing his classmates from the same period die one after another, Hyuga Kagami resolutely sought refuge with Orochimaru.
He had to survive first; staying alive was the most important thing!
Hyuga Kagami was not without his advantages. Relying on his good education from his previous life, his comprehension ability far surpassed that of his peers. Coupled with the natural advantage of the Byakugan, he quickly stood out in Orochimaru's laboratory, becoming one of Orochimaru's more important experimental assistants, and learned many genetic techniques from Orochimaru.
Perhaps having experienced too much death, Orochimaru in the later stages of the war had become extremely obsessed with the mysteries of life.
The most direct result was that Orochimaru no longer cared about the Third Hokage, no longer adhered to his already not-very-high moral bottom line, and began conducting large numbers of cruel and bloody human experiments.
Along with this, Orochimaru also developed a strong interest in Wood Style, Byakugan, Sharingan, and other kekkei genkai.
Hyuga Kagami's voluntary joining allowed Orochimaru to research the secrets of the Byakugan more easily, so in guiding Hyuga Kagami, Orochimaru could be considered dedicated.
The two sides immediately hit it off, which is why the scene just now happened.
Of course, the reason Hyuga Kagami dared to seek refuge with Orochimaru was also because he was aware that before long, Orochimaru's attention would be drawn to village forbidden jutsu such as the 'Impure World Reincarnation', the 'Eight Branches Technique', and others.
Furthermore, he had the protection of the 'Cage Bird Seal', so he wasn't worried about Orochimaru directly conducting human experiments on him.
That's right, for the current Hyuga Kagami, the 'Cage Bird Seal' was indeed a form of protection.
Or more accurately, for all members of the Hyuga Branch Family who were weak and merely surviving, the 'Cage Bird Seal' was not a restriction, but rather a protection. Because of its existence, members of the Hyuga Branch Family avoided much coveting both inside and outside the village.
As for the other reason for seeking refuge with Orochimaru, it was the Tenseigan!
With Hyuga Kagami's mediocre talent, aside from the Tenseigan, he truly couldn't think of any other way that could allow him to turn things around and take his destiny into his own hands.
As for Sage Mode, even Orochimaru found it difficult to master, so there was even less need to mention him.
In fact, let alone someone with mediocre talent like Hyuga Kagami, even the genius of the Hyuga Clan from his past life memories, Hyuga Neji, was essentially a minor character throughout, ending up as a tragic figure who died inexplicably.
The Byakugan indeed gave the Hyuga Clan unparalleled advantages at the Genin, Chunin, and even Jonin stages.
However, once they reached the Kage level, or even beyond Kage level, the Byakugan's advantages became less pronounced. And for the Hyuga Clan, who specialized in Gentle Fist, simply using Gentle Fist to contend against enemies at that level, such as Susano'o users, Jinchuriki, Sage Body users, etc., was truly beyond their ability. Therefore, the Tenseigan could almost be said to be the only hope for the Hyuga Clan to participate in battles beyond Kage level.
This was also something Hyuga Kagami had been thinking about since the beginning of his transmigration.
But evolving the Byakugan into the Tenseigan was easier said than done. In terms of kekkei genkai, Hyuga Kagami had almost no knowledge base. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the only one in the entire village who could help him was the research fanatic Orochimaru...
(End of this chapter)