"Lord Second..."
Ryou was somewhat dazed.
Tobirama looked at Ryou's appearance and snorted. "I used to think you looked like Izuna. Sure enough, now that you've grown up, you're a carbon copy of Izuna, with the same evil eyes as him."
The Uchiha youth instinctively stood at attention.
This was because Tobirama was not only the Hokage of the Village, but also the principal of the Shinobi Academy when Ryou attended.
During his tenure as principal, he had taught several classes to Ryou, Tsunade, and the others.
Back then, Tobirama particularly liked to target Ryou, who possessed the Uchiha bloodline.
Every time he attended his class, Ryou would be required to sit at the very front, and Tobirama would frequently call on Ryou to answer questions.
The time Ryou remembered most vividly was when his answer dissatisfied Tobirama, and he was ordered to transcribe the Will of Fire several hundred times.
It had made him feel sick from all the writing.
So, seeing Tobirama, Ryou felt like he was seeing his homeroom teacher from his school days.
Tobirama snorted again. "Brat, why did you become a rogue Shinobi?"
Ryou scratched his head and said, "Lord Second, wasn't I forced into it? My research into Forbidden Jutsu was exposed. If I hadn't run, I would have ended up in the big house!"
"What Forbidden Jutsu were you researching?"
Tobirama actually already knew from Orochimaru what Forbidden Jutsu Ryou was researching.
But to prevent an information cocoon from Orochimaru, Tobirama needed to verify from Ryou whether Orochimaru was just making things up.
Ryou said, "It was just a Forbidden Jutsu to solve my physical defects. It's just that a few bandits and takes advantage of were sacrificed during the research."
"I think it's an honor for them. Their deaths contributed to the development of Ninjutsu."
Orochimaru nodded understandingly, and Tobirama also nodded.
No problem there. Orochimaru even felt that Ryou was a bit indecisive.
Where are there so many bad people in this world? Aren't they all defined by one's own subjective view?
Since it's a personal subjective matter, I, Orochimaru, say that everyone except me is a bad person.
Then everyone is my experimental subject.
"It's just that the researched Forbidden Jutsu has some minor flaws. It requires taking other people's cells to repair one's own defects, while also obtaining more cells and achieving more cell division."
"Theoretically speaking, this is an Immortality Technique, so it attracted the greed of many people. Naturally, I became a hot commodity."
Tobirama nodded.
The key wasn't that Ryou researched a Forbidden Jutsu, but that Ryou researched a Forbidden Jutsu for immortality.
This was a Forbidden Jutsu that violated ethics. Such a technique would break the balance of Yin and Yang, life and death.
If taking one person's life could grant immortality, then in the future, all ordinary people would become cattle raised by the powerful and influential to let them live longer.
Loneliness and death are the two most fair things in the world.
Ryou spread his hands and said, "Originally, I intended to use this Forbidden Jutsu only for myself and tell no one."
"But I didn't expect Madara to discover it. He wrote a letter to the Hokage Office to report me, making it known to everyone."
"So I had no choice but to run!"
Tobirama was puzzled. "Didn't you know Madara from the beginning?"
Ryou shook his head. "I don't know that old monster at all, okay? I didn't want to stay in Konoha, but I wanted to be controlled by that old devil even less."
"I came to Ryūchi Cave to learn Senjutsu to break free from Madara's control!"
"Is that so!"
Tobirama realized this, and his hostility towards Ryou lessened slightly.
In Tobirama's understanding, Ryou and Madara should have known each other long ago, with Ryou being a mole planted by Madara in Konoha.
He stole the Senju Clan's medical data to develop a life-related Forbidden Jutsu to resurrect Madara.
But in Ryou's words, his meeting with Madara was just an accident.
Ryou had been acting according to his own subjective will for the first half of his life and was not under Madara's control.
His research into Forbidden Jutsu and human experimentation was taboo to others, but to Tobirama, it was nothing.
Tobirama himself had done things even more ruthless than Ryou.
Moreover, developing a Forbidden Jutsu to save oneself—the essence of life is to do everything possible to survive.
Ryou was not wrong!
Before meeting Madara, he was a normal person. The turning point was after meeting Madara.
Tobirama said, "Why did you resurrect Madara?"
Ryou answered, "Because at that time I was controlled by Madara's cursed seal, I had to resurrect him. Furthermore, I knew I would definitely die if I returned to Konoha."
"Everyone else would either seal my jutsu or want to take my head to extract my jutsu."
"Only by siding with Madara could I survive. Without Madara, I would face endless pursuit in the Shinobi World."
Tobirama crossed his arms and said, "For you, resurrecting Madara was an inevitability!"
Ryou nodded. "It was both a coincidence and an inevitability! If there were no Madara, I might have found a place to hide away until I was strong enough..."
Ryou was a bit embarrassed to say it.
Tobirama pressed, "What would you do after becoming strong enough?"
Ryou answered, "Naturally, I'd come out to snatch money and women. Didn't I work so hard researching Forbidden Jutsu just to enjoy life?"
"If I can't enjoy life, why would I work so hard?"
"Intense desire inevitably gives a person terrifying execution power! Desire drove me, so naturally, I must respond to my desires!"
"..."
Both Orochimaru and Tobirama were dumbfounded. They thought Ryou might have some grand achievements, like conquering the world or establishing a dynastic foundation.
They didn't expect this kid's head to be filled only with women and money.
"Vulgar, truly vulgar!"
Tobirama evaluated coldly.
Orochimaru said with disdain, "Ryou, you actually use the Immortality Technique for this kind of thing? Isn't it better to use it to pursue the truth of Ninjutsu?"
"Better my ass!"
Ryou spat and retorted to Orochimaru, "Orochimaru, you guy whose head only has Ninjutsu probably haven't tasted the goodness of women, right?"
"Let me ask you, have you ever visited a brothel?"
"..."
Orochimaru fell silent.
Orochimaru couldn't even be considered frigid; his soul had already been transformed into something alien.
Even if the most beautiful woman in the world stood naked before him, all Orochimaru would see was a pile of meat.
Stripping away the skin, there are but two hundred and six bones.
Ryou mocked Orochimaru, "Orochimaru, you haven't become an adult yet. The adult world is too complicated for you."
Orochimaru sneered. "For a woman, being subservient when she has a slight temper, clearly having no common topics yet insisting on seeking a resonance of souls."
"Ridiculous. In my view, you are merely a puppet controlled by genetic coding!"
"With so much time and energy, you should use it to do what you love and pursue a grander world!"
"Ah?!"
Ryou was stunned. He had to admit that Orochimaru was quite right.