Chapter 101: The Ideological Clash Between Orochimaru and Hiruko
"Hiruko…"
Standing in place, Kei fell into thought.
"Is this the Hiruko I'm thinking of?"
If it really was the Hiruko who would go on to create the Chimera Technique, then like Orochimaru, he was also a first rate piece of talent worth training.
For Kei, research oriented talents like this were far more useful than people like Jiraiya, who were only good at fighting.
With that thought in mind, his interest was immediately piqued, and he prepared to meet the boy in person.
Of course, he did not make it too obvious.
He started with Tsunade, the top ranked student, and worked his way down one by one until the very last.
That way, it would not seem suspicious.
Otherwise, if he summoned Hiruko alone, it would look far too strange.
Besides, as the headmaster, it was only natural for him to encourage the newly admitted students.
The individual meetings did not take long. Before long, most of the students ahead had already left, and soon it was Hiruko's turn.
Kei quickly met him.
Compared to the future, Hiruko looked very young now, roughly the same age as Jiraiya and the others.
He had pale skin, white hair, a somewhat nervous expression, and a quiet, introverted personality.
"H Hokage sama…"
Hiruko stepped into the office and looked nervously at Kei in front of him.
"There's no need to be so nervous."
Kei smiled, his attitude as gentle as ever.
"In this promotion exam, your results were the exact opposite of Jiraiya's."
"His practical combat and taijutsu scores were nearly perfect, but his theory results were close to zero."
"Your theory score was nearly perfect, but your practical combat and taijutsu were close to zero."
"In a way, you two are quite similar."
He smiled as he spoke.
"Do you know Jiraiya?"
"Yes."
Hiruko nodded. "You could say we're friends."
He was acquainted with Tsunade and the other two. They were all classmates.
However, compared to Tsunade and Orochimaru, he was more familiar with Jiraiya.
Those two were too much of a genius. No matter how hard Hiruko tried, it was difficult for him to keep up with them, and simply being around them every day put tremendous pressure on him.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, was different.
At least at the current stage, Hiruko felt that he was not much worse than Jiraiya.
"Your talent is quite good. It would be a shame not to cultivate it properly."
Kei looked at him and spoke calmly.
"Would you be interested in becoming my assistant?"
"Huh?"
Hearing those words, Hiruko froze, then reacted a moment later.
"Me?"
Kei smiled and nodded.
Only then did Hiruko fully understand what he had just heard.
"Yes! I'm willing! Very willing!"
At that moment, an intense surge of joy rose in his heart.
For Hiruko, who had always longed to keep up with Tsunade and Jiraiya, being acknowledged by Kei, the Hokage, was of tremendous importance.
At the very least, it proved that he truly possessed talent of his own, enough to stand alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru.
"Besides you, the other selected assistants this time are Tsunade and Orochimaru."
As if he could see Hiruko's obsession clearly, Kei continued.
"I hope the three of you can get along well in the days ahead."
"If nothing unexpected happens, the three of you will form a small team in the future, and I will lead you personally."
As those words fell, Hiruko's heart became even more excited.
"Only the three of us will become Hokage sama's assistants?"
All kinds of thoughts surged through his mind.
"Tsunade, Orochimaru… I've finally caught up to the two of you…"
Filled with that thought, he left in visible excitement, leaving Kei alone in the office.
The moment he stepped out, Hiruko could not wait to share the good news with his friends.
Especially Tsunade and Orochimaru.
"Is that so?"
When they heard the news, both Tsunade and Orochimaru were a little surprised.
"So he chose you, Hiruko."
Following the usual tradition of three person ninja teams, they had already guessed there would likely be one final spot in Kei's assistant team.
Before this, they had assumed it would go to someone else and had even secretly speculated about who it might be.
Unexpectedly, that last person turned out to be Hiruko.
"Why him?!"
When he heard the news, Jiraiya let out a miserable cry.
"I wanted to team up with Orochimaru and Tsunade too!"
"Selecting assistants for Hokage sama isn't something done casually."
Orochimaru glanced at Jiraiya and shook his head.
"If this were an ordinary ninja squad, you might still have had a chance. But since he's choosing assistants, you definitely had no hope."
As Jiraiya's friend, Orochimaru knew Jiraiya's strengths well.
If it had been an ordinary three person team, then with Jiraiya's outstanding taijutsu and practical combat ability, he might really have been chosen.
But Kei's team was different. It would also serve as experimental assistants.
From that perspective, Jiraiya had no chance at all.
"My theory score was perfect. Tsunade's was a little worse, but her level in Medical Ninjutsu is top class and she can assist with experiments."
Orochimaru continued, "If I'm not mistaken, your score on that special exam paper was probably very good too, Hiruko. Otherwise, Hokage sama wouldn't have noticed you."
Hiruko nodded, feeling a trace of pride rise within him.
"That's right."
Tsunade also spoke up.
"Don't be so discouraged, Jiraiya."
"After graduating from the Intermediate Academy, I heard there will be a mentorship system afterward. As long as you pass that exam and get decent scores, you'll be able to choose a mentor and study under them."
"All of those mentors are outstanding shinobi from the Village. As long as you pass that exam, your future won't turn out badly."
Compared to the others, Tsunade's relationship with Kei was much closer, so she naturally had a better understanding of his ideas.
The so called mentor training system was essentially the equivalent of a graduate advisor system from Kei's previous life.
In Kei's view, such a system was very suitable for Konoha's current situation.
Coincidentally, Konoha also had quite a few older shinobi who were now relatively idle.
Those veteran shinobi, limited by age and status, could no longer take part in frontline combat as they once had.
But their experience and abilities were beyond doubt, making them perfectly suited to become mentors.
For example, Uzumaki Mito. Kei planned to invite her to help oversee the Academy.
With a figure of her stature holding the line, many matters would proceed much more smoothly.
"Is that true? Then I still have a chance!"
After hearing Tsunade's words, Jiraiya quickly perked up again.
"Then all of you better work hard! Don't let me catch up too easily!"
He burst into a loud, arrogant laugh, already looking forward to life in the Intermediate Academy.
Soon, this group of students who had passed the exam officially began their studies.
Because they were the very first batch to go through this new system, the standards had been relatively strict. As a result, the overall quality and ability of these students were very high.
To put it bluntly, anyone who could enter the Intermediate Academy basically had the potential to become a Jonin.
Outstanding individuals like Jiraiya even had the talent to become Kage in the future.
Once they entered the Intermediate Academy, they would receive the very best resources and instruction.
The mentors responsible for teaching the various courses were already in place. They were all specialists invited from the different ninja clans, each with deep experience in their respective techniques and, in many cases, experience instructing members of their own clans.
Even the Uzumaki side was no exception. Kei had personally asked Mito to invite several retired senior Jonin to help teach Sealing Techniques.
Everything progressed relatively smoothly and gradually settled into place.
Once these matters were handled, Kei turned his attention back to his own experiments.
He looked toward the laboratory, where a number of results had already begun to take shape.
More than a year passed in the blink of an eye.
"A genius concept!"
After learning the true identity of the little Nine Tails by Kei's side, Orochimaru would often stare at it with burning excitement in his eyes.
"First, use cloning technology to create a body capable of bearing consciousness, then transfer your own consciousness into that body."
"If this were used properly, wouldn't that directly allow someone to achieve immortality?"
That thought flashed through his mind, and a wild look of joy appeared on his face.
"One could even use this method to occupy other people's bodies and forcibly obtain the Bloodline Limits within them!"
"Brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant!"
Compared to the future, the still young Orochimaru was not yet so extreme.
But the obsession with immortality had already taken root inside him.
Once the idea surfaced, it immediately began to grow uncontrollably.
"Immortality is a boring pursuit."
Hiruko retorted from the side.
"What's the point of immortality if you have to keep changing bodies?"
"If you really want to pursue something, you should achieve it with your own body."
"I have an idea. With the technique I'm envisioning, one could take the Bloodline Limits from others and forcibly fuse them into one's own body."
"That way, one could continuously gather the Bloodline Limits of the entire ninja world and converge them all into a single body."
"Just imagine it. The Senju body and chakra, the Uchiha's Sharingan, the Hyuga's Byakugan, and Bloodline Limits like Dark Release and Transparent Release, all gathered into a single person. What kind of overwhelmingly powerful shinobi would that create?"
"Orochimaru, the immortality you long for is insignificant compared to that kind of power."
His face was feverish, as if he could already see that future.
Unlike Orochimaru, whose core obsession was immortality, Hiruko desired absolute power.
Because of that, the direction of his research inside the laboratory was fundamentally different from Orochimaru's.
The Chimera Technique he was developing could forcibly extract Bloodline Limits from other people's bodies and fuse them into his own.
With such a method, even someone born without a Bloodline Limit could seize the Bloodline Limits of others by devouring them, forcibly becoming a Bloodline Limit shinobi and gaining overwhelming power.
When he heard Hiruko's words, Orochimaru only sneered.
"The thoughts of a mediocre talent."
"Power that is only temporary will always remain temporary. Even someone as powerful as the First Hokage still met his end one day."
"Only immortality is the truth."
.....
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