"Where'd you get this?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi rolled the Eight-Tails, Gyuki's severed tentacle between his fingers, studying it like it was some odd trinket. "Not bad. Brought back a little Hidden Cloud Village souvenir. Looks like an octopus leg to me. Hard to tell the difference."
Orochimaru's chest loosened.
Sensei hadn't asked him, right away, why he hadn't reported it.
That alone meant he was already halfway safe.
"When the Eight-Tails was caught in Genma Kurama's genjutsu, I used the Kusanagi Sword to cut a piece off from a distance," Orochimaru said softly, then added, "It isn't only this. There's another piece."
He measured the length with his hands.
"You little brat…" Hiruzen laughed under his breath. "If you kept it quiet, no one would've ever known."
Orochimaru smiled too. "It's a tailed beast. How could I not tell you?"
"I just didn't know how you'd take it. This kind of thing is dangerous. I thought I'd keep a bit for experiment data, just to get a taste, but overall I'm listening to you."
Hiruzen was honestly a little surprised.
No wonder Orochimaru was his best student. He'd gotten very good at taking a step back to get his way.
And it did sound nice, it really did.
But tricks and phrasing couldn't conjure something out of nothing. At best, they made words smoother, cut down on friction.
The real core was always the same.
Their bottom lines didn't clash. Their interests could align.
Hiruzen understood that for a shinobi like Orochimaru, total obedience was a fantasy. It was never going to happen.
That strong sense of self was, in a lot of ways, exactly why people like him could create value.
So long as he didn't touch the line, some freedom had to be given.
"That's your old impression of me," Hiruzen said with a sigh, pulling out his pipe. "The war history of the shinobi world is, in some ways, the history of ninjutsu evolving. I've never been disgusted by research."
"It's just that development often comes with blood. Before, what I feared was that the cost would crush the village before the results ever landed."
He took a slow draw, eyes half-lidded.
"But I've thought it through. We can find ways to shift the cost elsewhere. The village can support you."
Smoke drifted from his mouth.
"But things like tricking and coaxing the Iburi and Tsuchigumo Clan people away, then using their physical traits to research First Hokage cells… don't do that again."
"They may not be Konoha shinobi, but they've lived in the Land of Fire for a long time. Once our finances loosen up, you and I will draft a set of rules and clean up the loose end properly."
Orochimaru's eyes lit.
"I understand, Sensei."
Shift the cost. Village support.
How could he not understand what that meant?
And Hiruzen's line was clear. Without permission, Orochimaru was not to lay hands on people of the village, or even the Land of Fire.
That wasn't unreasonable.
"We're both Konoha shinobi," Hiruzen said, voice turning quieter, almost reflective. "I grew up under Lord Hashirama and Lord Tobirama's shadow."
"And you… you were raised by me, with Konoha's ninjutsu texts in your hands and the village's resources behind you, step by step."
"When you grow up and become strong, you should think about giving back. If you have that heart, then what does researching tailed beasts matter?"
He spoke with the kind of seriousness that didn't need volume.
"Sensei, with you saying that… if something like this happens again, I'll report immediately," Orochimaru said, his grin spreading.
Hiruzen shook his head like he was helpless, but he was smiling as he scolded, "Brat."
"Here," he said, sliding a list across. "Take a look at this."
Orochimaru accepted it and lifted a brow.
It was the candidate list for "Konoha Commissioner," with several names marked in red.
At the top was Orochimaru himself, then Jiraiya, Tsunade, and the heads of Ino-Shika-Cho.
After that came the heads of the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Kurama clans, plus Sakumo Hatake and Shinku Yuhi.
"These eleven names overlap across the lists Koharu, Homura, and Danzo submitted," Hiruzen said. "They're also the ones I approve."
Orochimaru nodded, but his attention snagged on two pairs.
Hizashi Hyuga and Tenzo Hyuga.
Fugaku Uchiha and Isshin Uchiha.
He skimmed the rest. Mostly non-clan shinobi like Kosan Shirakumo.
Then a name he didn't recognize at all.
Kosuke Maruboshi.
"This one…" Orochimaru murmured, brow slightly raised. "He's probably not a Jonin, is he?"
He noticed two slots still unfilled.
"Do you have any candidates?" Hiruzen asked with a smile. "I want to hear your opinion."
Orochimaru's heart jumped.
Oh?
What was Sensei doing here?
He was only a Jonin. Just one of the "Konoha Commissioner" members. And yet he was being asked about something this big?
That wasn't right.
It really wasn't.
And still, his mouth betrayed him with a pleased grin, like some inner voice was whispering, This is crown prince treatment.
"Hm…" Orochimaru considered, then spoke slowly. "I have a friend. He's also a Jonin. His name is Hiruko."
"He isn't exceptional in combat among Jonin, but his understanding of jutsu is sharp. He also has a better grasp of research than most shinobi."
Hiruzen searched his memory and found… not much. A shinobi who felt balanced in every way, nothing that screamed for attention.
But that made sense. Not every research-minded shinobi had Orochimaru's identity as the Hokage's student and the resources that came with it.
Gold buried in sand didn't shine, and long-game researchers were the easiest kind to miss.
"Alright," Hiruzen said. "Bring him to see me tomorrow."
He picked up his pen and wrote Hiruko's name onto the paper.
Orochimaru felt absurdly satisfied.
Whether Hiruko made it in the end didn't even matter.
Having Sensei write his name by hand onto the candidate list was recognition all by itself.
"This piece of the Eight-Tails stays with me," Hiruzen said, setting the tentacle down.
"As for the rest of the Eight-Tails tissue, be careful with safety when you study it. If you have ideas, come talk to me. I'm interested in what tailed beasts are, too."
Tailed beasts were something Hiruzen still couldn't fully make sense of.
Sometimes they were pure Chakra given shape.
Sometimes they were undeniably living flesh.
Sometimes they felt like condensed hatred, a grudge that had learned to breathe.
Some old texts even claimed that after a tailed beast died, it would return years later, as if it were a creation of heaven and earth, running on rules separate from ordinary life.
There was a secret there. A big one.
"I understand, Sensei," Orochimaru said with an easy smile. "And I do need your wisdom."
Hiruzen tapped his shoulder lightly.
"You looked at Isshin and Fugaku, at Hizashi and Tenzo, and you were wondering why I put them on the list, weren't you?"
"I put Hizashi into Anbu, not to suppress the main branch, but to make sure the Hyuga can be used for the village."
"Give the main branch a seat, and you give them face. You don't push them into a corner. And you keep the fight contained between branch and main, so the village doesn't become the Hyuga's enemy on the front line."
He paused, then continued.
"As for Isshin Uchiha and Fugaku, that's a different situation."
He broke it down for Orochimaru, piece by piece.
"Isshin is… a lot like who I used to be. Or like Homura and Koharu. At his core, he's an extreme conservative."
"Making him a commissioner won't change his mindset. The point is balance. Let the Uchiha and Hyuga match each other in numbers."
"And from Sakumo's report, Fugaku's been openly positive about letting his clan participate in the Patrol Unit from the beginning. That's the difference between him and Isshin. He's someone we can pull toward us."
"Setting a bridge in advance helps the relationship between the village and the Uchiha."
Hiruzen looked at Orochimaru, voice softening.
"You already had a vague sense of all this, didn't you? I'm just helping you put it in order. It'll help you later."
Then he patted Orochimaru's shoulder again, and sighed like a man who could feel time on his bones.
"I'm not young anymore. The future… that's going to be on you all."
The Hokage is fading, so you must strive?
"Sensei, don't say that," Orochimaru said. His pupils tightened, and he forced his voice steady as he offered the luckiest words he could find. "You'll lead Konoha for another hundred years."
Hiruzen waved a hand, half-amused. "Now you're just talking. Only a sage could work for a hundred years without getting tired."
In his heart, though, the Hokage had a different thought.
He might not be completely without a path to longevity.
If that ever happened…
Would Orochimaru start shouting about how the world couldn't possibly have a "crown prince" for fifty years?
The image almost made Hiruzen laugh.
But that "maybe" still had to become reality through the work right in front of him, through letting the village grow alongside his own talent.
So he let the thought pass, so it wouldn't distract him.
"How's Lord Tobirama's notebook research coming?" Hiruzen asked, like he was casually cutting the topic.
"I found a lot of interesting things," Orochimaru said. "I'm close to finishing a forbidden jutsu."
"When it's truly complete, I'll give you a surprise. Or maybe a scare…" He made it sound like a joke, dangling it like bait.
In the past, Orochimaru had hesitated. A technique that could achieve a body-stealing effect was… too shocking. Better if Sensei never knew.
But after reading Tobirama Senju's research and those wild, fearless concepts, Orochimaru had relaxed.
Honestly, he was only average compared to that man.
If you wanted truly unrestrained, you looked at the Second.
And Sensei was Tobirama's student. His tolerance should be high.
"Alright," Hiruzen said. "Then I'll look forward to it."
"There's no such thing as a wrong technique," he added, like he'd seen right through Orochimaru's thoughts. "Only the wrong way to use it."
"Don't burden yourself. Worst case, we put it in the Scroll of Sealing."
Orochimaru listened, and for once, it felt… comfortable. Safe.
After Orochimaru took his leave, Hiruzen sat back and considered his next steps.
After Kushina and Tsunade visited Mito Uzumaki, it would be his turn to go.
The Administrative Department had already started blowing the right winds through the Land of Fire. The daimyo had shown intense interest in "miracle medicine" and had asked repeatedly to see Hiruzen in person.
That steady river of cash needed to be built.
Then Hiruzen's eyes flashed.
"Time to check Sensei's hidden storeroom again."
If Orochimaru's thinking was close to his…
Then it was time to start preparing a new identity, and a new body, for his teacher.
.....
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