Jin never expected to run into Orochimaru there, so suddenly.
The truth was that in Konoha, the person he wanted to meet the most was Orochimaru. Just not the Orochimaru of this era. Right now, Orochimaru was still fully devoted to the village, and he had not yet shaken off the "Will of Fire" indoctrination. His gradual change would only come later, and his final personality would only crystallize the moment he lost the position of Fourth Hokage to Namikaze Minato.
If Jin handed over Basic Internal Energy now, Orochimaru would immediately submit it to the village. That would ruin all of Jin's plans.
Handing the technique to the village could spread it far faster than hunting down people one by one. It could even let elite shinobi train it. But there was one crucial problem. His name was Uchiha. Jin had no idea what attitude the village would take toward him, but the chances of it being kind were low. Konoha's upper ranks were the ones who least wanted to see talent rise among the Uchiha.
While Jin stayed silent, his mind spinning at full speed, Orochimaru's vertical, snake like pupils fixed on him. The killing intent pouring off him was a clear warning. Any abnormal reaction would be met with a lethal strike. Even if Orochimaru had not reached his peak yet, he was already an elite Jōnin. Jin, with strength on the level of a Tokubetsu Jōnin, was an ant in front of him.
Orochimaru asked in a slow, casual tone, as if he did not truly care about the answer. "Can you tell me why you, who are known for being unable to release ninjutsu, can use Kage Bunshin and Katon so freely?"
Damn it. This man had not only seen Jin use ninjutsu, he already knew who he was. Jin's bad reputation was widespread, but few people recognized his face. How did Orochimaru know?
His heart pounding, Jin answered calmly and respectfully, "I didn't expect Jōnin Orochimaru to know an insignificant person like me."
Being singled out by Orochimaru like this was playing with death. It was practically shouting to the whole village that he had something to hide.
"It's Danzo's work. To damage the Uchiha's prestige." Orochimaru's tone stayed flat.
That explained why Uchiha Jin's disgrace had spread so far. That man lurking in the shadows never hesitated when it came to dragging the Uchiha's name through the mud.
"Damn Danzo." Jin clenched his teeth inwardly. Without that filthy instigator, his name would not be smeared all over the village. He would remember this debt.
Orochimaru looked at Jin with a mix of curiosity and doubt. Even though the boy kept his expression under control, Orochimaru caught the subtle microexpressions. "It seems you know Danzo exists."
Danzo might have been a high ranking official of Konoha, but he was the village's shadow. Aside from Jōnin, other shinobi were not qualified to even know he existed. Otherwise, it would not be called "Root" (Ne). It was buried deep under the great tree. He was the kind of presence whose death would cause no ripples on Konoha's surface.
Of course Jin knew who Danzo was. The future "fifth and a half Hokage," the first Pot Shadow who carried the blame. But because of that, Orochimaru's killing intent grew even heavier.
Jin's body stiffened. Living so many years in peace had kept him from developing the toughness needed to endure such dense killing intent. He could only explain it, word by word.
"In my parents' diary, it was recorded."
Orochimaru's face showed nothing. Hiding facial expressions was a basic shinobi skill. Still, Jin could tell that Orochimaru did not believe a single word. The killing intent only intensified.
"I hope Lord Orochimaru doesn't think an Uchiha would be a spy!" Jin practically shouted, feeling like that one sentence drained all his strength.
The effect was immediate. The killing intent eased. Orochimaru reflected for a moment and reached a conclusion.
Indeed. If there was anyone in Konoha who was incapable of betraying the village, it was the Uchiha. In Orochimaru's eyes, any clan in the village could betray it if the benefits were great enough. After all, not all of the old monsters from the Warring States Era were dead yet. But the Uchiha were different. From the elders of the old era to the youngest generation, they all treated Konoha as something that belonged to them. To the Uchiha's radical faction, Konoha was originally the Uchiha's. They would never hand what was theirs to someone else.
To Orochimaru, those Uchiha might have been mentally unwell, but they were the teammates you worried about the least when it came to a knife in the back. Even if they betrayed you, they would do it openly, straight to your face. And yet those were the allies Konoha's upper ranks watched like prisoners. He could not understand it.
"So you're hiding because you fear the war?" Orochimaru lowered his gaze, concealing any change in his eyes. If only Nawaki had run away from war too, it would have been better.
"That's not it!" With the killing intent gone, Jin suddenly sat down on the ground and hurried to fabricate excuses, cough, to explain.
"In the last two shinobi exams, the test was ninjutsu. Back then, I truly couldn't release ninjutsu. I only succeeded recently."
Orochimaru did not seem interested in Jin's justifications and turned to leave.
"Lord Orochimaru, have you ever considered that shinobi could live forever?"
Jin's words made Orochimaru stop. He turned his head, his gaze profound. The dream of immortality had only just begun to sprout in his heart. At this moment, he was still more focused on pursuing knowledge of every ninjutsu. No one should have known about that newborn thought.
Jin did not care what Orochimaru would do next. He continued, "I developed a ninjutsu that allows longevity. Without damaging the body, it lets you keep accumulating chakra endlessly. In theory, as long as you have enough chakra, you can reach eternal life." He paused, then added, "And it has to be your own chakra. Using external chakra, like the chakra of Tailed Beasts inside Jinchūriki, can even put your life at risk."
Orochimaru considered it seriously. The line of reasoning was theoretically viable. Shinobi did not live long mainly because they died in battle. On top of that, excessive chakra extraction consumed vitality. Even so, many shinobi still lived into their sixties and seventies.
"Can you let me see your jutsu?" Orochimaru stepped closer, using a tone that sounded like a request. When faced with unknown knowledge, he showed respect.
"I just so happen to have a notebook with me." Jin smiled, white teeth flashing, and pulled a small notebook from his weapon pouch. "But in exchange, could you accept me as your disciple?"
After a quick calculation, Jin realized he could not let the label "coward afraid of war" stick to him. It would affect his future actions. And meeting Orochimaru was too rare an opportunity to waste. Orochimaru might have a different understanding of Basic Internal Energy, and he might even improve it. So Jin decided to build a persona as a "genius ninjutsu researcher." As for the malice of the upper ranks, becoming Orochimaru's disciple would ease a lot of pressure.
Jin thought the plan was perfect, but it did not go the way he expected. Orochimaru's hand paused while holding the notebook. As he flipped through it, he said, "I have no intention of taking disciples right now."
The shadow of Nawaki's death still hung over him. He did not plan to accept more students for the time being.
As he read the contents, which consisted entirely of three phases of Fūinjutsu, he only needed two glances to see that the seals were actually a deconstruction and re fusion of a single complex seal. The moment he saw the first seal broken down, he immediately understood why Uchiha Jin had been unable to use ninjutsu before. No explanation was needed. That level of complexity did not look like something an underage child could create.
His deep eyes looked at the disappointed Jin, who now wore the expression of someone about to cry. Inside, Jin was digging up Orochimaru's ancestors through the eighteenth generation just to curse them. You cannot do someone like this!
"A genius in ninjutsu research. Indeed, worthy of an Uchiha," Orochimaru murmured to himself. The Uchiha had produced someone like the Second Hokage. Whether that would be good or bad for the village remained to be seen.
"I'll help you hide your secret." Orochimaru closed the notebook and looked at Jin with a deeper meaning. "I can't be your teacher, but I will find you a teacher."
POOF! Orochimaru turned to smoke and vanished.
Jin sat there, completely dumbfounded. The outcome was nothing like he had predicted. Orochimaru chose to help him hide the secret, and he was even going to find him a teacher?
"Who is it? At least say the name clearly!"
Please let it be Tsunade. Beautiful, great figure, and a medical master. Please do not stick me with Jiraiya, that destiny chasing pervert!! I don't get along with frauds!
Ninja Academy.
Namikaze Minato looked at Jin, whose dark circles made him look like a panda, with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong with you? You look like you have no energy at all." It had only been one day. How did he end up like that? It looked like he had gone too far with something.
"Don't even start," Jin sighed. He was so exhausted he did not even notice Minato's strange gaze.
Yesterday had been exhausting. After he got home, he stayed up all night. At first, he was happy about trading the ninjutsu for Hachimon Tonkō. Then he ran into Orochimaru. If you are going to set me up with a teacher, at least tell me who it is. In the end, the man vanished without a trace, and Jin did not even know where to find him.
When Jin got home, he absorbed his clone's ninjutsu training memories and continued his research to complete the "Steps of the Small Waves" (Lingbo Weibu), a movement technique. But in the end, he found the flaw. It was a problem of scale. His body had a fixed size, and applying the Eight Trigrams (Bagua) formation on a large scale to dodge was impossible. He could not even create the visual confusion effect the original technique was supposed to have.
He had no choice but to give up on Lingbo Weibu and switch to a different line of thought. He spent the entire night on it, but he finally developed something. He was not going to make another technique like Basic Internal Energy, one that required step by step progression. This time, Jin deduced a skill that, at the very first stage, relied only on the physical body to release its full power.
"I didn't sleep at all." Jin yawned. "I'm going to sleep a bit. Wake me up when class ends."
With that, Jin dropped his head onto the desk and sank into the world of dreams. Up front on the platform, Inoue Satoru's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
This repeating student has not the slightest respect for me.