No matter how amazing his teacher was—one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, a veteran of countless missions, once funded by Root—research burned money like crazy.
Equipment cost money.
Assistants cost money.
Food cost money.
Reagents, rare materials, samples… all cost money.
If not for using ninjutsu to handle corpses, even disposal fees would've been a line in the budget.
So in truth, Orochimaru wasn't exactly swimming in cash either. Whatever savings he had usually disappeared into new instruments, experimental toys, or personal interests.
Kenichi couldn't help sighing.
Doing science in this world is really not easy…
Hopefully, when Nagato went to squeeze Konoha for war funds, he could tack on a "research subsidy" and "thermobaric bomb development costs."
Otherwise, every shot of that thing was basically Kenichi lighting his own wallet on fire.
Use it once, lose money once.
"Sensei, are you planning to found a hidden village in the Land of Rice Fields?" Kenichi asked curiously as they made their way toward their new base.
"For now, I have no such intention," Orochimaru replied with a small shake of his head.
He was far too interested in Nagato's Rinnegan.
Just thinking about dissecting that secret made him excited. Leaving now would be a waste.
Besides, Akatsuki itself was an intriguing organization.
It was obviously hiding something, and Orochimaru loved uncovering secrets. The process of discovery was more intoxicating than the final result.
If the result was good too, then all the better.
Kenichi walked a half-step behind his teacher, watching the way Orochimaru moved.
His expression slowly turned a bit… amused.
He'd noticed something: when his teacher walked, there were moments when his gait became subtly feminine—tiny shifts in hip and shoulder motion that didn't match his current "male" appearance.
And then, almost immediately, Orochimaru's posture would correct itself.
If you weren't paying close attention, you'd never spot it.
Kenichi only caught it because he'd once carefully observed Yūki's habits—the original owner of this body—and recorded her unconscious movements, including how she walked.
People's gaits were oddly revealing.
They could be used, just like micro-expressions, to identify someone. In criminal cases back in his previous life, investigators would sometimes match suspects by their walk.
Old leg injuries, for instance, often showed up in subtle shoulder tilts: one side slightly higher, the other slightly lower.
The really scary experts could read a footprint and infer build, weight, and old wounds.
"Looks like even if the soul changes, the body's muscle memory is still there, huh…" Kenichi rubbed his chin. It was fascinating.
"Have you heard about what happened in Kumogakure?" Orochimaru asked suddenly, cutting into his train of thought.
"I have, Sensei," Kenichi replied.
Of course he had.
He'd been there in person. He'd watched that mushroom cloud rising into the sky with his own eyes.
It was beautiful.
A pity it hadn't been nuclear, or it would've been even more spectacular.
"You did it?" Orochimaru asked bluntly.
Kenichi nodded just as bluntly.
His teacher had been there for some of his earlier explosives tests—it wasn't surprising he'd make the connection.
Seeing his student own up so openly, Orochimaru's expression didn't change much, but his mood clearly improved.
At least this disciple wasn't trying to hide anything from him.
"Hm. Your little project turned out quite well," he said. "But don't neglect your personal strength. I hear Kumogakure has already put out a bounty on 'Heaven's Punishment'. Even I felt a bit tempted when I saw it."
Orochimaru gave him a meaningful look.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Kumo moved fast.
"How much is the bounty?" he couldn't help asking.
"Three hundred million," Orochimaru said casually.
Kenichi drew in a sharp breath.
Good grief.
They'd actually slapped a three hundred million ryō price tag on his head?
In the ninja world, the bounty exchange network was something of a semi-underground system. Kenichi had only learned about it by chance through Orochimaru.
He'd seen the lists.
The prices were usually… modest.
A standard jōnin's head might only be worth thirty-five million ryō.
There were even Kage-level targets listed, but those existed mostly as decoration—no one could realistically complete those contracts.
Three hundred million, though?
That wasn't a normal number anymore.
That was beyond typical jōnin or even elite jōnin, already brushing up against Kage-tier pricing.
"These guys really are loaded…" Kenichi muttered.
He couldn't afford a bounty like that, that was for sure.
And he still didn't know how things were going on Cardo's side.
If that operation went smoothly, it might cover his research funding for a while—but there were so many projects waiting to eat those funds alive.
Orochimaru watched him for a moment and then said:
"Spend some time focusing on your training. If there's a specific ninjutsu you want to learn, tell me."
Kenichi's eyes lit up.
"Any ninjutsu?" he asked, a little too eagerly.
His teacher had his hands on plenty of jutsu. During the Nine-Tails' Night alone, Orochimaru had likely rifled through the entire forbidden techniques scroll at least once.
"Surely you know that's impossible," Orochimaru said dryly.
If this brat asked to learn Living Corpse Reincarnation, he wasn't teaching it.
Some things stayed off-limits.
"Then… what about the Flying Thunder God Technique?" Kenichi asked carefully.
He'd always eyed that jutsu with quite a bit of envy—mainly for its mobility. Imagine having stable markers everywhere and being able to teleport instantly between them.
It would make commuting so much faster.
"…That technique has extremely high talent requirements," Orochimaru said after a pause.
He didn't refuse outright.
He'd studied it himself.
And concluded he simply couldn't pull it off.
Flying Thunder God demanded absurd levels of natural aptitude: nerve reaction speed, chakra volume, and—Orochimaru's own research had added one more criterion—very high sensory capability.
So learning it was hard.
As far as Orochimaru knew, the only two people who had truly mastered it to the point of using it in live combat were the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and the Fourth, Namikaze Minato.
Which meant Minato absolutely had the chops to be Hokage.
His strength was real.
"I still want to try," Kenichi said.
His primary goal wasn't just to use Flying Thunder God, but to study it.
He wanted to understand how this space–time ninjutsu worked under the hood, then see if he could develop something of his own—teleportation gates, for example.
If he succeeded, he could build his lab in some extremely remote, safe location and still get there in seconds.
Now that would be scientific progress.
Note: Want more? Read up to Chapter 130+ early on patreon.com/nakai01. A single Power Stone from you = more bonus chapters from me.