Inside the house, Orochimaru — left with only three hours to live — was anything but calm.
He had to find a new body immediately and perform Living Corpse Reincarnation. Otherwise, once the three hours were up, he would die again.
Death itself wasn't frightening. He could revive, but the wait was uncertain — maybe it would be quick, maybe it would take decades. It was better to seize a fresh body now.
He tried to walk out the door… and immediately met tragedy. He took too big a step and moved too forcefully — and his leg bone snapped.
"I…"
Even someone as "elegant" as him wanted to curse. How could he have imagined his body had aged to this extent? His bones were completely brittle, and he couldn't even make large movements. With that fracture, moving became even harder.
"Forget it. I'll move in snake form!"
He opened his mouth. Another Orochimaru crawled out — still white-haired, still wrinkled, and now dry and shriveled, no longer slimy like before.
Old and dried out!
The difference was that this new body had no legs — its lower half was a snake tail. Orochimaru set his tail on the ground and slithered forward… but after only two movements, the scales on the underside of his tail began falling off in sheets.
"Damn it…"
He couldn't hold it in anymore and cursed outright.
Snakes move by stretching and contracting their belly scales — those scales are basically a snake's "feet". With the scales falling off, it was like his legs had been broken too.
He still refused to give up. If his lower body wouldn't move properly, he would use his hands to prop himself up and inch forward.
Crack!
His wrist snapped…
Still not giving up, he pressed his arms and chest to the ground and used his forearms to drag himself forward.
Crack!
His elbow snapped…
"For fuck's sake…"
He lay flat on the floor and finally gave up. The terror of aging was on full display at this moment.
Orochimaru's craving for eternity surged without limit.
"What now? Whether in human form or snake form, I've lost the ability to move. If no one comes within three hours… am I done for? If I die, Danzō will definitely seize the chance to become the next Hokage. If he really becomes Hokage, Konoha is finished."
He was filled with worry, but no matter how much he thought, there was nothing he could do now except wait patiently.
Wait for a "fated person"…
Seconds passed. In the blink of an eye, ten minutes went by — yet to Orochimaru, it felt like ten years.
Waiting was always long!
Finally, footsteps sounded outside. Orochimaru was overjoyed, thinking his chance had come. But the footsteps only passed by and quickly faded away.
Half an hour, one hour, two hours, two and a half hours… No one came.
The reason was simple: when Mizuki left with Karin, he didn't hide anything. He flew off openly through the sky.
That meant Kusagakure had seen Karin leave. So even if someone was injured, they wouldn't come here to look for her anymore.
As the three-hour mark drew near, Orochimaru felt the Shinigami waving at him.
"Damn you all!"
Just then, slow footsteps approached, and an aged voice sounded.
"I saw that red-haired little girl get taken away through the window. There must still be food and money left in her house. What a waste not to take it. The enemies are fighting at the village entrance. It's safe here."
The next moment, an eighty-year-old granny with a cane pushed open the door — and met Orochimaru's eyes head-on.
Two sounds of swallowing echoed at the same time.
❊❊❊❊❊
Mizuki returned to Fushigakure and found everything peaceful.
The village's construction was already taking shape. Centered around the Fushikage Tower, they had built a hospital, school, commercial street, plaza, park, a residential district, and more. The construction radius had already exceeded three hundred meters.
The village's layout was also arranged in a trigram pattern, like the yin ang symbol. He planned to turn Fushigakure into a literal copy of the Eight Trigrams symbol brought to life.
Most of the ninjas were training, but there were a few exceptions.
Tsunade was addicted to gambling and couldn't pull herself away. If she didn't lose hundreds of thousands of ryō in a day, she wouldn't stop.
Zabuza was searching everywhere for orphans to bring back to Fushigakure. He paid people to look after them and even planned to build an orphanage in the village.
Naruto had already mastered the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique. With nothing else to do, he helped carry lumber and pitched in with the village's construction.
Seeing Naruto improve so quickly, Sasuke kept his expression blank. But when he trained alone, he often muttered things like, "I'm actually worse than that dead-last."
Sometimes he even knelt down and pounded the ground, throwing his head back with a furious roar.
Sai — who liked to hide in the woods to draw — saw it all, sketched it into his notebook, and even showed it to his "Brother Shin".
"Sigh… poor kid. He got played that badly."
When Mizuki flew back to Fushigakure with Karin, he happened to see Sai and Shin on the roof of the Fushikage Tower, pointing at the drawings and talking…
With Karin added, Fushigakure's population grew again.
After gathering everyone together and introducing her, Mizuki kept Sasuke behind.
"Sasuke, I know you want to get strong quickly, but I need to remind you: haste makes waste."
Sasuke frowned. "Haste makes waste?"
Mizuki explained, "A person's efficiency is closely tied to mindset. The more you want to achieve something, the more urgent you feel. You become anxious, uneasy — sometimes even irritable. And once that happens, your efficiency drops sharply."
He paused to let the words sink in, then spoke earnestly.
"Sasuke, you're too impatient. Your talent is better than Naruto's. Your comprehension, learning ability, and thinking ability all exceed his. But your training speed is slower than his. That's why."
That only made Sasuke more anxious.
He shouted, "I can't be like Naruto — carefree, smiling all day! When I think about the Uchiha clan's slaughter, I can't calm down!"
His face twisted. His eyes turned red on their own, and the two-tomoe Sharingan appeared.
"I want to get strong fast. I want revenge. I want to kill Danzō right now. I want to destroy Konoha immediately!"
Sasuke's hatred for Danzō and Konoha had already far surpassed his earlier hatred for Itachi.
Mizuki sighed. "It's not like there's no way to get stronger. In a while, I'll extract Shukaku — the One-Tail inside Gaara — and seal it into you. Once you become a Jinchūriki, your chakra will increase drastically, and your strength will grow. And as an Uchiha, you can use Sharingan genjutsu to control Shukaku. You won't fear backlash."
Sasuke was overjoyed. "Thank you, Master!"
Mizuki clicked his tongue to himself.
This brat… after the first time he acknowledged Mizuki as his master, he hadn't called him "Master" again. Today was a first.
Then Mizuki took out a small vial of Hero Water — about one mouthful.
"Take this. It may be useful to you in the future."
Sasuke asked, "What is it? A potion to drink?"
Mizuki said, "This stuff is poison. Don't drink it. Even if it's meant to be drunk, wait until you become the One-Tail Jinchūriki. If you meet an enemy you can't defeat, give it to Shukaku to drink."
At that moment, Gaara — who had just left the Fushikage Tower and was talking to Naruto — felt Shukaku inside him shudder for no apparent reason.
Sasuke took the Hero Water and stored it in his storage ring.
"Alright. Go train. Remember what I said — haste makes waste."
As he watched the boy leave, Mizuki's eyes filled with anticipation.
[ Ding! ]
Sure enough, the system's voice rang out.
[ You have granted your disciple Sasuke Uchiha one sip of Hero Water, triggering a 3,037× Return! **]
[ Congratulations, you have obtained Overlord Water! **]
"Overlord Water?" Mizuki froze for a moment.
What kind of name was that?!
〖 Overlord Water: Drink one sip and your chakra capacity will increase permanently. Minimum increase: 10x. Maximum increase: 50x. The more chakra you originally have, the smaller the increase. No side effects whatsoever. 〗
The permanent increase made Mizuki overjoyed. And that last sentence — no side effects whatsoever — made him throw his head back and laugh wildly.
"Hahahahaha!"
This was exactly what he'd been waiting to hear. It absolutely deserved the title "Overlord".
The original was called Hero Water because drinking it consumed life force. Less life force meant a higher chance of dying. Those who sacrifice their lives without regard for themselves are called heroes.
But the system's returned version had no side effects and wouldn't kill you, so naming it Overlord Water wasn't wrong. The one who becomes the final winner is the overlord.
A vial appeared in Mizuki's hand, filled with blue liquid. He didn't hesitate. He pulled the stopper and downed it in one gulp, not wasting a single drop.
Boom!
Chakra surged violently inside him, even spilling out to form a blue chakra cloak over his body. The air around him churned into a whirlwind. His hair and the edges of his clothes lifted, as if freed from gravity itself.
That powerful presence spread outward. Everyone felt it — even ordinary people working construction felt the oppressive pressure.
"So strong!"
Sasuke had just walked out of the Fushikage Tower and was the closest.
He felt it most clearly. It was like a mountain was pressing down on his back, leaving him unable to breathe.
Naruto and Gaara also looked toward the tower. Inside them, the Nine-Tails and the One-Tail both opened their eyes.
"Such enormous chakra… even more than mine. What kind of monster is that Mizuki?" Shukaku screamed inside Gaara.
Kurama snorted, exhaled through his nose, and closed his eyes again. In the dark sealing space, a scornful voice echoed: "That's all? He's still far below me."
Inside the Fushikage Tower, Mizuki's chakra capacity stopped increasing.
The uncontrolled chakra overflowing from his body returned under control and was drawn back inside him. His aura reined in, and he seemed like an ordinary person again.
He opened the status panel to check. His chakra capacity had increased from 55 Ka to 550 Ka. If Kakashi ever found out, he'd probably be jealous enough to cry himself unconscious in the bathroom.
"Only a tenfold increase? But… it's enough."
❊❊❊❊❊
T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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Take a look at the new books I'm translating on my profile, Cyberpunk 2077: A God-Level Skill Every Day and Infinite Worlds: Building the Strongest Harem! They are also on my website for $5 and $1.5, respectively!
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