Chapter 60: A Heart-to-Heart at the Gravesite; Hiruzen's "Killing Intent"?
Orochimaru's arrival and his request piqued Hiruzen's interest.
The Hokage stood up, stretching his muscles. "A walk sounds perfect. A leader needs to know when to step away from the desk. Work-life balance, after all."
Orochimaru offered a thin, knowing smile.
A good start, the pale man thought.
The master and disciple walked side-by-side beneath the starlit sky of Konoha, their conversation drifting between mundane village affairs and technical jutsu theory. Led by Orochimaru, they eventually found themselves at the edge of the village's public cemetery.
"War has taken so much from us, Sensei," Orochimaru murmured, his gaze sweeping over the rows of stone markers. "Nawaki... Dan... and the world is already preparing for the next conflict."
Hiruzen nodded in silent agreement.
They continued through the paths until they reached a specific, weathered headstone. The moonlight caught the chiseled names: The Graves of Orochimaru's Parents.
They had been Leaf shinobi who perished during a border skirmish when Orochimaru was just a boy.
"Ah, them..."
Hiruzen let out a long sigh. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his pack of cigarettes, and carefully placed three of them in the sand-filled incense burner before the grave. With a flick of his finger, he ignited them with a tiny Spark Style flame.
Orochimaru watched the smoke rise, a rare warmth touching his heart. "Sensei... may I have one?"
"They say these things are a slow poison, but with our physical constitutions..." Hiruzen shook his head, handing a cigarette to his student. "Worrying about health seems a bit redundant for us."
Orochimaru took the cigarette and leaned in as Hiruzen provided the light. For a long time, neither spoke. They stood in the cool night breeze, the only movement being the two orange embers dancing in the dark—a silent vigil for those lost to time.
Orochimaru's mind drifted to the past. He remembered the day Hiruzen had first taken him here after the funeral. It was here that Orochimaru had found the shed skin of a white snake. Hiruzen had told him then that it was a symbol of luck and rebirth.
We've come a long way since that day, Orochimaru thought. We've lost so many people... but at least I haven't lost him yet.
Orochimaru crushed his cigarette under his boot.
"Sensei, I have perfected a forbidden jutsu. I call it the Living Corpse Reincarnation (Fushi Tensei)."
"It allows the soul to migrate from its original vessel into a new body."
Orochimaru didn't use metaphors or flowery language. He was blunt, laying his cards on the table. "I am obsessed with this technique. I believe it is the only way to achieve my dream—to witness all the truths of this world."
As he spoke, Orochimaru handed a dark, heavy scroll to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen's eyebrow arched. He smirked inwardly.
Of course, Arata thought. In the Ninja World, the path of a genius always leads to the same destination. Master Tobirama studied reanimation and soul-binding; Orochimaru studies immortality. When life is cheap and the soul is visible, how could a curious mind not try to conquer death?
But "Immortality" was a dangerous word. It was a catalyst for madness, a pursuit that usually involved shredding one's humanity. In the face of eternal life, ethics and order were fragile things.
Hiruzen took the scroll and unrolled it, his expression unreadable.
Orochimaru felt his heart hammer against his ribs like a trapped bird. He instinctively ignited a small flame on his fingertip to provide light for his master to read by.
Hiruzen scanned the formulas with clinical precision.
It was a complex, multi-layered masterpiece. First, the jutsu required the user to have a supernatural sensitivity to the "Spiritual Anchor." You had to be able to feel your own soul as a tangible object to drive it into a migration. This step alone disqualified 99% of the shinobi population.
It was similar to the Flying Raijin. A ninja who can use basic summoning already has an affinity for "Space," but a Flying Raijin user sees space as a physical block they can touch and move through.
But the "Soul Drive" was only half the battle. The "Vessel" was the true bottleneck. Just as a body can reject a foreign organ, a soul would reject an incompatible body. If the "Sync-Rate" was too low, the soul would feel like it was being cooked alive inside a furnace, withering away until it vanished.
Furthermore, it wasn't a permanent fix. Unlike the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, which allowed for a brief out-of-body experience, this technique fused the soul and the new vessel. According to Orochimaru's data, the "Soul-Cooldown" meant a user could only jump bodies once every three years—longer if the vessel was poor.
It's an unfinished masterpiece, Hiruzen realized.
But then, he thought of the secret vault. He thought of the Izuna-Tobirama Clone.
The compatibility issues Orochimaru was worried about didn't exist for the creature in the tank. Tobirama had literally built that body using his own cells as the "bridge." The "Sync-Rate" would be near 100%.
Master Tobirama's obsession with Izuna Uchiha has finally found its purpose thirty years later, Arata thought, a cold shiver of realization running down his spine. The things the Second Hokage did to that sample... joining his cells with his rival's... it was more than just research. It was Frankenstein-tier madness.
Hiruzen also understood why Orochimaru was so nervous.
In the current medical landscape, if you wanted a new body, you had to steal one. And since the "Will of Fire" was built on the concept of Succession—of the old passing the torch to the young—a jutsu that involved an elder "eating" the young to stay alive was the ultimate heresy.
If Orochimaru were to target a young genius of the village to extend his own life, it would be an act of war against Konoha's soul.
Hiruzen slowly rolled the scroll back up. His gaze turned icy.
Suddenly, Hiruzen's chakra flared. He didn't move a muscle, but a wave of invisible pressure erupted from his body, turning the air thick and heavy. The grass around their feet flattened as if crushed by a giant's hand.
Orochimaru gasped, his knees nearly buckling.
He had expected a reaction, maybe even a fight. But he hadn't expected this. The pressure Hiruzen was outputting now was an entire tier above what he had shown in their earlier duel.
He's even stronger than before? Orochimaru realized, his sixth sense screaming at him to flee. Is he going to kill me here?
With the village's internal and external defenses now under Hiruzen's absolute control, Orochimaru knew that if the Hokage wanted him dead, there was nowhere to hide. He'd have to play the "pity card" just to survive the night.
"Sensei, you..." Orochimaru whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of dread and sorrow.
He had gambled everything on the hope that his surrogate father would understand him. Now, looking at that cold, majestic gaze, he felt the weight of his mistake.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.
Orochimaru watched his master's hands, sweat dripping from his palms.
"Why are you so tense, brat?"
Hiruzen suddenly withdrew his chakra, letting out a boisterous, grandfatherly laugh. "I was just messing with you!"
Orochimaru froze. He stared at Hiruzen, his brain failing to process the 180-degree shift in tone.
Once he realized the Hokage wasn't reaching for a kunai, Orochimaru's shoulders slumped. "Sensei... don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"A teacher has to show off his authority every now and then," Hiruzen smirked, ruffling Orochimaru's hair. "Did I scare you?"
Orochimaru gave a dry, annoyed chuckle. "Hmph. I believe 'terrified' is the professional term."
"I told you before: you are the student I am most proud of."
Hiruzen looked at the scroll in his hand. "You were worried I'd hate you for this, weren't you?"
Orochimaru hesitated, then nodded. "I wasn't sure if you would see it as... a violation of our creed."
"As long as my students don't commit an unforgivable atrocity against the innocent, why would I turn my back on them?"
"I flared my chakra to show you that you should trust me. I am your Sensei. I am your shield."
Hiruzen patted Orochimaru's shoulder. "That look you gave me... the look that said you expected me to kill you... that actually hurt my feelings a little bit, Orochimaru."
"Come. Let's leave this place. Let the dead sleep. We have much to discuss regarding the 'logistics' of this technique."
Orochimaru stood still for a moment, watching his teacher's back as he walked away from the graves. Then, a genuine, boyish grin spread across his face—the first one since he was a child.
He jogged to catch up.
There was no better answer in the world.
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