At some point in life, almost everyone hits the same weird wall.
It might be after finishing a game, lying in bed after a long shift, zoning out in the shower, or poking at food with chopsticks… and then the thought just appears:
If I die… doesn't everything become meaningless for me?
No more future.
No more dramas, no more scandals, no more "next episode."
Your friends, your family, everyone keeps living, their stories go on—but you're gone. Your awareness drops into permanent darkness. You'll never know what happened next.
Once that thought lands, fear usually follows.
Fear of death.
Sometimes even fear of sleep.
Right now, in the Land of Fire, there was a very important man trapped in that exact spiral.
The Daimyō.
"Sensei, I honestly don't get it," Amemiya Kenichi muttered, walking alongside Orochimaru. "There's a Pure Land, souls are real… so why are people still so scared of dying?"
Only after leaving the lab did he learn what their "mission" actually was.
The Daimyō of the Land of Fire had secretly contacted Orochimaru.
His request?
An anti-aging injection.
Kenichi only then realized just how many side businesses his teacher had.
Not just living corpse reincarnation, genetic modification, forbidden jutsu, and weapons… Orochimaru had also invented a so-called "anti-aging serum."
In reality, it was a cellular nutrition formula, extracted while studying Hashirama's cells:
Stimulates cell activity
Smooths wrinkles
Makes old nobles feel like they "look younger"
And that alone was enough to make rich non-shinobi lose their minds.
"The higher someone climbs, the more they fear the fall," Orochimaru answered calmly. "People who've tasted power and wealth don't like letting go."
He himself had feared death too—
But what he was afraid of losing wasn't gold or titles.
It was time to learn more jutsu.
Time to chase more knowledge.
So he created Living Corpse Reincarnation and walked step by step toward "immortality."
There were side effects, of course.
Some bodies rejected him.
Some muscles remembered habits he didn't.
But overall, the vessel he was using now had the highest compatibility so far.
"The daimyo is different," Kenichi said. "For his type, Edo Tensei would sell like crazy. Same soul, new body, still alive. He'd probably pay anything."
"Not the same thing," Orochimaru shook his head.
So far, every soul he'd summoned with Edo Tensei shared one trait:
As long as their loose ends were tied up, they all wanted to return to the Pure Land.
None of them wanted to stay.
"And I suspect," Orochimaru added, "if the sacrifice body decays too far, the jutsu will cancel itself."
Which meant Edo Tensei was a poor choice for aristocrats obsessed with their own face, status, and "dignity."
The status of a Daimyō was a lot like an emperor back in Kenichi's previous world—
Just… a small-scale, regional version.
The ninja villages weren't unified under one empire; each country had its own little royal family.
So what came with that?
Power struggles
Succession wars
Poisoned tea
And sons who couldn't wait for their father to drop dead.
Honestly, the person happiest about the Daimyō's death would probably be his heir.
If this Daimyō lived as long as that queen who stayed on the throne for seventy years… the Land of Fire would be drowning in bloody conspiracies.
After all—who wants to be Crown Prince for seven decades?
That's not an heir. That's a hostage.
So the Daimyō couldn't afford to "just die" and then come back whenever. If he died, he had to:
Either not die at all
Or die and revive fast enough that his power never visibly slipped.
Edo Tensei was too ugly for that.
No matter how clean the binding, the cracks of earth over the skin are obvious. Anyone with eyes could tell something is wrong.
"In any case, this Daimyō is a rather… interesting man," Orochimaru said, looking ahead at the Fire Capital, a faint smile on his face.
"I heard he's the type who refuses to stay ordinary," Kenichi added.
He'd heard stories.
Konoha was the most powerful force in the Land of Fire. The Hokage's prestige overshadowed the Daimyō more often than not. The village even needed the Daimyō's signature to formally appoint a new Hokage… but that was mostly symbolic.
The Daimyō knew it.
And he was not thrilled.
Rumor said he'd secretly formed his own ninja corps—not from Konoha, but loyal to him personally.
The Guardian Twelve.
Kenichi remembered this group very clearly for one reason:
On the night of the Nine-Tails attack, he'd run into a guy who looked suspiciously like someone from that squad—busy trying to harvest Nine-Tails chakra.
Kenichi, of course, hijacked the plan.
He'd even wondered at one point:
Can I inject Nine-Tails chakra into a thermobaric bomb?
Theoretically, sure.
Practically, the difficulty level was hell mode.
So he shelved the idea—for now.
He also remembered a rumor:
Someone in the Guardian Twelve possessed a secret technique said to be able to destroy Konoha.
Konoha really was pathetic in that sense.
Everyone and their grandma wanted to destroy it.
Villains in this world almost seemed to have a ranking system:
Can you beat a Kage?
Can you blow up a village?
Most importantly: Can you destroy Konoha?
If there were an Arkham Asylum in the ninja world, the entry requirement would probably be:
"Must have attempted to destroy Konoha at least once."
Of course, every "Konoha destroyer" eventually got taught manners by Naruto or other Konoha shinobi.
"The Daimyō's personal ninja do have some talent," Orochimaru confirmed. "Stronger than average, at least."
"Then, Sensei…" Kenichi eyed him. "For something like this, do you really need me to come along?"
He could understand needing Orochimaru.
Immortality, anti-aging, secret medicine—fine.
But him?
"You," Orochimaru said, very seriously, "are going to act as if this treatment is extremely draining for you. That way, we can charge more."
Kenichi: "…"
So that was it.
He wasn't an assistant.
He was a prop.
A walking "extra fee" justification.
All those years studying medicine, chemistry, explosives and chakra, only to become:
"Research surcharge (live performance included)."
He let out a slow breath.
"…Understood," he said finally.
If playing along meant more funds for research, he could live with it.
He looked ahead.
The Fire Capital spread out in front of them—
A huge, bustling city, even larger than Konoha, roofs rising and falling like waves.
"Well… I've never been to the capital before anyway," Kenichi thought. "Might as well treat this like a field trip. Maybe I'll pick up a few interesting samples while I'm here."
Side job or not, more money meant more experiments.
And more experiments meant one step closer to turning science into the most terrifying weapon in the ninja world.
Together, he and Orochimaru walked through the gates of the Fire Capital.
Note: If you're interested, you can read up to chapter 99+ at patreon.com/nakai01. Don't forget to give a power stone for more bonus chapters.