Orochimaru's arrival, and the way he phrased his request, stirred something in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.
The Hokage rose and stretched his shoulders. "All right. A walk sounds good. Work and rest should be balanced."
Orochimaru smiled faintly.
That alone was a promising start.
The master and disciple walked side by side beneath Konoha's starlit sky, chatting about trivial things as they went.
Gradually, under Orochimaru's subtle guidance, their path led them to a quiet cemetery within the village.
"War has taken so many lives, Sensei…"
There was a trace of emotion in Orochimaru's voice. "Nawaki, Dan… and there will be more wars in the future."
Hiruzen nodded silently.
They continued forward until they stopped before a particular gravestone.
Moonlight washed over it, the engraved names faint but clear enough to read.
It was the grave of Orochimaru's parents.
Both had died as shinobi of Konoha during the war.
"So… it's them."
Hiruzen let out a soft sigh. He took out a pack of cigarettes, placed three sticks into the incense burner before the grave, and ignited them with a small flame at his fingertip.
Orochimaru wiped the surface of the stone, warmth stirring in his chest. "Sensei, may I have one?"
"Smoking's bad for your health, but with our bodies…" Hiruzen held a cigarette between his lips and shook his head lightly. "That hardly matters."
Orochimaru accepted one and lit it for his teacher. The two of them stood quietly before the grave.
A gentle breeze drifted past.
For a while, neither spoke.
Only the faint glow of two embers flickered in the darkness, like the memories of the departed rising and fading in their minds.
Orochimaru's thoughts drifted back.
He still remembered the first time Hiruzen had brought him here after accepting him as a disciple.
That day, he had picked up a white snake's shed skin near the grave. Hiruzen had told him it symbolized luck and rebirth.
"So much time has passed…"
"So many important people have drifted away. But not all of them."
He crushed the cigarette beneath his fingers.
"Sensei, I've developed a Forbidden Jutsu. It's called Immortality Jutsu."
"It allows the soul to migrate into another person's body."
Orochimaru spoke plainly, without evasion. "I like this technique. I believe it can fulfill my dream."
As he spoke, he handed a scroll to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow, a quiet chuckle echoing in his heart.
In this shinobi world, true prodigies often arrived at similar conclusions.
Tobirama Senju had studied Summoning Jutsu: Reanimation and techniques involving the confinement of the soul.
Once the soul became visible, once life and death turned blurred and tangible, how could one not begin to wonder what lay beyond?
The problem was the word "immortality."
It was dangerous. Tempting. Capable of driving men mad.
Before eternity, order and ethics were fragile things.
Hiruzen studied Orochimaru for a long moment, then unrolled the scroll.
Orochimaru's pulse quickened.
Still, he understood the moment and conjured a small flame at his fingertips to give his teacher more light.
Hiruzen read carefully.
After a while, he grasped the fundamental mechanism.
It was a complex technique.
First, the caster needed a powerful perception of the soul itself, enough to mobilize and guide their own spirit. That alone placed it beyond the reach of most ninja.
It was similar to Flying Raijin. Those capable of mastering space-time ninjutsu already possessed an innate affinity for the concept of space.
To a Flying Raijin User, invisible space seemed almost tangible. It could be sensed, mapped, touched in the mind.
But driving the soul from its body was only the beginning.
The new vessel had to be suitable.
Just as cells reject incompatible tissue, the soul and body could reject each other. If their compatibility was poor, the backlash would be severe.
Inside an unsuitable host, the soul would feel as though it were trapped in a steamer, constantly weakened and eroded.
Even so, the technique was not limitless.
Unlike the Ghost Transformation Jutsu, which allowed the spirit to leave the body temporarily, Immortality Jutsu intertwined the original soul with its new vessel.
Each transfer, according to Orochimaru's estimation, required at least three years before another could be attempted.
Under special circumstances, even three years might not be enough.
In short, it was unfinished.
And yet, by coincidence, many of the compatibility issues that plagued Immortality Jutsu…
Between Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha, or more precisely Tobirama's clone derived from Izuna's cells, were not insurmountable.
The path was viable.
One could only say that Tobirama Senju's lingering obsession with Izuna Uchiha had echoed thirty years later.
Sometimes Hiruzen wondered what mindset his teacher had been in.
Tobirama had conducted extensive research on Izuna's cells. Failure after failure, yet he persisted.
He had even introduced his own cells into the experiment.
Ordinary cloning did not work for shinobi cells influenced by Chakra. Without the proper growth environment, without careful adjustments and constant nurturing, they would not stabilize.
The effort required bordered on creating life by hand.
Even Hiruzen was shaken by the strange, fated rivalry between the Senju and the Uchiha.
It was unsettling when examined too closely.
As for why Orochimaru was so cautious…
Hiruzen understood.
With the current level of technology in the shinobi world, cloning a chosen ninja's body was nearly impossible. That meant possession was the only viable path.
And the Will of Fire emphasized inheritance, passing on the torch.
Eternal life achieved through seizing another's body inevitably led to dark questions.
If a once-in-a-generation prodigy emerged in the village, would Orochimaru choose that child as his next vessel?
It was not an impossible scenario.
Hiruzen slowly rolled up the scroll, his expression grave.
Chakra gathered silently around him. He did not move, yet an invisible pressure thickened the air, turning it heavy and oppressive.
Orochimaru's heart skipped.
He had prepared for the worst. He knew confrontation was possible.
But he had not expected Hiruzen to feel even stronger than during their previous sparring session.
He could not measure his teacher's strength precisely. It was instinct, the sharpened intuition born from life-and-death combat.
Every nerve in his body sounded the alarm.
If Hiruzen attacked without restraint…
Even with multiple escape techniques prepared, could he truly get away?
Especially now, when Konoha's defenses had grown far tighter than before.
If it came to that, he might have to resort to sentiment.
"Sensei, you…" A bitter taste filled Orochimaru's mouth.
He had resolved to lay everything bare, to accept whatever outcome followed.
Yet standing at the brink of it, he could not help but feel the weight.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.
Orochimaru watched every subtle movement, his palms damp.
"Why so tense?"
Suddenly, Hiruzen dispersed his Chakra and burst into laughter. "I was teasing you, you brat!"
Orochimaru blinked.
Seeing no trace of deception in his teacher's expression, he slowly relaxed.
"Sensei, don't gather Chakra like that without warning," he complained.
"Sometimes a teacher wants to show a little authority," Hiruzen replied, raising an eyebrow.
Orochimaru let out a dry chuckle, silent protest in his eyes.
"I've said it before. You are the disciple I am most proud of."
"You struggled over whether to tell me about this Forbidden Jutsu, didn't you?"
Orochimaru hesitated, then nodded. "I wasn't sure what your stance would be."
"As a teacher, unless a disciple commits something truly unforgivable, something that enrages heaven and humanity, why would I raise a hand against him?"
"What I did just now was to tell you that you should trust your teacher."
Hiruzen placed a hand on Orochimaru's shoulder. "The look on your face, thinking I might attack you, did sting a little."
"Come. Let's talk somewhere else. Let the departed rest in peace."
Orochimaru stood there for a moment, then smiled from the bottom of his heart.
He hurried after his teacher.
There could not have been a better answer.