Chapter 1
"Orochimaru, what is the meaning of this? Are you making a fool of me?" a deep voice demanded, thick with suppressed anger.
"Hehehe... Hokage Advisor, there’s no need to be so quick to lose your temper," another voice answered, hoarse and lazy, as though the other man’s fury meant nothing to him at all.
"Hmph! Do you even have any respect for me as Hokage Advisor? An exceptional test subject, you said? This is nothing but a useless brat with pitifully little chakra! Orochimaru, there will be a price to pay if you are playing games with me."
"No, no. When it comes to research, I never lie. That child... is special."
"Do not take this old man for a fool."
Amid the fierce argument, Kiriya slowly opened his eyes.
’My head... hurts.’
’My body... why can’t I move at all?’
’Where... am I?’
What entered his vision was a dim room, lit only by a few faint lamps that offered him the tiniest bit of comfort.
But that fragile reassurance vanished almost immediately.
Because under those weak lights, what appeared before him were glass containers filled with unknown liquid, one after another.
Inside each of them floated a boy who looked around sixteen years old.
They were completely naked.
Aside from the breathing masks strapped over their mouths and noses, and the tubes inserted into their bodies, there was nothing else on them.
Then Kiriya looked down at himself.
His situation was exactly the same.
His heart began pounding wildly.
’What the hell? Did I get dragged into a laboratory to be dissected?’
For a moment, it felt as though ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind, and his anger nearly exploded on the spot.
Sure, Kiriya had never been some outstanding model youth, but he had still been a hardworking, honest university student.
He helped old ladies cross the road, helped old men with their chores, and was absolutely a qualified successor of the new era.
How had he ended up in a place like this?
Was it just because he had stayed up late last night studying certain "learning materials"?
’Where are the authorities? Someone is illegally experimenting on living people here. Are you seriously not going to do anything?’
The thought that he might be sliced apart and turned into a room full of specimens left Kiriya’s mind in complete chaos.
"Hehehe... our little one is awake already. What impressive recovery. As expected of someone with Senju blood."
That hoarse, lazy voice rang out again, and goosebumps rose all over Kiriya’s body.
The sensation was like a cold, slippery snake crawling back and forth across his skin.
"Hmph! Orochimaru, words alone will not change anything. The First Hokage’s cells are a matter of great importance, and this old man has placed high hopes on them. If you fail to produce results this time, I will not let the matter rest."
As he finished speaking, there came the sound of a wooden cane striking the floor.
’Orochimaru? The First Hokage’s cells?’
Those two terms struck Kiriya like thunder.
Subconsciously, he turned toward the source of the voices and saw two figures.
The one on the left had a slender build, deathly pale skin, and golden vertical pupils like a snake’s.
The one on the right had a dark complexion, a bandage wrapped over his right eye, and an X-shaped scar on his chin.
At that moment, both of them were staring at him in silence.
’Orochimaru!’
’Danzo!’
The instant Kiriya saw those two highly recognizable faces, it was as if some switch had been flipped inside his mind.
Memories hidden deep within his consciousness surged out all at once, turning his brain into a complete mess.
"Ahhh—!"
It felt like countless steel needles were repeatedly stabbing through his brain.
The pain was so intense that Kiriya could not stop himself from screaming.
Kiriya was now certain that he had transmigrated.
The good news was that he had transmigrated into the body of a descendant of the Senju clan, whose given name was also Kiriya.
The bad news was that this Senju descendant was a genuine dead last.
Unlike Uzumaki Naruto, who was called a dead last but was practically a walking cheat code, this Senju descendant had absolutely earned the title.
There was not a single drop of exaggeration in it.
Forget recreating the invincible might of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, who swept across the shinobi world.
For this body, even sensing and training chakra was extremely difficult.
He had been training since the age of six, yet even now, he had only barely crossed the minimum standard for a Genin.
Some of that was because his parents had died when he was young, leaving him without proper guidance from his elders.
But there was no denying that his bloodline was mixed and diluted, and his talent was simply terrible.
Had he lived quietly in obscurity, no one would have cared.
Unfortunately, his predecessor’s pride had been absurdly high.
He constantly carried himself as a descendant of the Senju clan, which made the ninja in the village dislike him more and more.
"You think you deserve the name Senju?"
Every time this guy used the Senju name to boost his own image, someone nearby would jump out and tear him down.
His predecessor would then stammer out weak excuses about how "his bloodline simply had not awakened yet" or how "no one should look down on a young man just because he was weak now."
In the end, aside from the predecessor sinking into gloom alone, everyone else treated the whole thing as a joke.
And just when he thought his stagnant life would continue forever, Orochimaru found him.
"You carry the blood of the Senju clan. That means you possess limitless possibilities. You simply need the proper method to draw out that potential. And I happen to have such a method."
Orochimaru had spread his arms beneath the sunlight, and in the predecessor’s eyes, he looked no different from a god descending to earth.
"Boy, do you desire power?"
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"
The predecessor had trembled with excitement and agreed without the slightest hesitation.
After all, in his mind, one of the legendary Sannin would never say such things to a lowly Genin like him without reason.
There could only be one truth.
He truly was an unmatched genius, one in ten thousand.
All he needed was an opportunity, and he would break out of his cocoon and soar.
’When that time comes, not even the sky will be able to blind me. Not even the earth will be able to bury my will. I’ll make the entire shinobi world crawl beneath my feet!’
At that moment, the boy had truly been filled with spirit and ambition.
However, after he was brought into the laboratory and saw those "seniors" reduced one by one to human plants after failed experiments, he was almost scared out of his wits.
Orochimaru did not even get the chance to offer him a few comforting words before the boy followed his ancestors into the afterlife.
If Kiriya’s soul had not entered this body in time and restarted it, the previous owner might have set the record for the shortest-lived human experiment in history.
But even after creating what could be called a medical miracle, Kiriya could not feel happy at all.
The experiment involving the implantation of the First Hokage’s cells was infamous for its near-certain fatality.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of living people had been sacrificed, yet Yamato was the only successful case.
If it were only death, then fine. He could grit his teeth and say he would be a good man again after eighteen years.
The problem was that after receiving the First Hokage’s cells, there was a very high chance he would turn into a half-human, half-wood monster while suffering unimaginable pain.
That was a way of dying Kiriya could never accept.
But in front of these two men, did he have the right to refuse?
"Hehehe... Kiriya-kun, don’t worry. The experiment will begin soon. Very soon, you will gain endless power. Perhaps you may even achieve greatness comparable to the First Hokage himself."
Orochimaru leaned close, his face and eyes full of encouragement.
Of course, it was not because he felt any affection for Kiriya.
The boy was nothing but a pitiful insect he had met by chance. Orochimaru only cared about himself.
The reason his words sounded so warm was because he needed to awaken the ambition buried deep within Kiriya’s heart.
Only sufficiently powerful ambition could ignite a sufficiently powerful will to live.
That firm will would be the key to whether Kiriya could survive the experiment and succeed.
’A Senju descendant who inherits the power of the First Hokage...’
The thought made Orochimaru unable to resist licking his lips.
His recent research into Living Corpse Reincarnation had already made significant progress.
All he lacked was an excellent vessel. If this boy succeeded, he would be a first-rate choice.
When Danzo heard Orochimaru pouring such encouraging words into the boy, his face remained expressionless, but he sneered inwardly.
In his eyes, Orochimaru was simply indulging in fantasy. He could hardly wait to see the man make a fool of himself.
’Perhaps I’ll be able to gain some advantage when I negotiate with him later,’ Danzo thought.
...
’Don’t worry? Don’t worry, my ass!’
Hearing Orochimaru’s words only made Kiriya angrier.
He wanted nothing more than to drive his fist into that snake-like face.
But before he could move, a syringe that had already been prepared pierced into his blood vessel.
Hashirama cells, injected.
Pain.
It was as though countless steel needles were stabbing through him again and again, while billions of ants gnawed at every inch of his flesh and every single cell in his body.
The Hashirama cells, filled with terrifying vitality, were like an army of brutal, unstoppable orcs. His own cells, by comparison, were as weak as children.
In the first collision alone, they were smashed apart and routed completely.
In only a few breaths, half of his body’s cells had already been invaded by the Hashirama cells.
The side of his body where the injection had entered was beginning to show signs of turning from flesh into wood.
The unimaginable agony stirred up a storm inside Kiriya’s mind.
He hated them.
He hated Danzo and Orochimaru for their cold-blooded cruelty. He hated his predecessor for being so stupid.
But what he hated most of all was his own weakness.
If he had enough strength, if he possessed the power of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, then what were the so-called Darkness of the Shinobi World and one of the Sannin supposed to be?
They would be nothing more than dogs on the roadside.
’Power. I need power!’
Kiriya let out a crazed roar like a wild beast.
But even that could not stop the woodification spreading through his body.
"Hmph. A failure, then?" Danzo snorted, unsurprised.
He looked at Orochimaru with great interest, waiting to see what kind of excuse the man would come up with.
Orochimaru ignored him.
His eyes were wide open, fixed tightly on Kiriya’s body, refusing to miss even the slightest change.
Even though Kiriya’s current condition was as precarious as an egg balanced on a tower, Orochimaru did not look discouraged at all.
Instead, the fanaticism in his eyes burned even brighter.
"Come on. Hurry up and awaken," he murmured softly.
As though responding to his call, the situation truly began to change.
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
After a muffled scream that sounded like a beast crying blood, Kiriya’s eyes snapped open.
His pitch-black pupils had transformed into a bloody crimson, with two tomoe swimming like fish within each eye.
"This is..."
"The Sharingan!"
Danzo and Orochimaru cried out at the same time, their voices filled with indescribable joy.
What was the Sharingan?
It was one of the most famous Kekkei Genkai in the shinobi world.
Calling it one of the strongest was no exaggeration.
As long as an Uchiha awakened it, they could naturally grow into strength worthy of an elite Jonin.
The truly outstanding among them could even stand on equal footing with a Hokage.
And that madman of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara, had relied on those eyes to sweep aside countless powerful enemies and become the Shinobi World’s Asura, a figure who stood shoulder to shoulder with the First Hokage.
His achievements had pushed the legend of the Sharingan to its peak.
Insight, copying, genjutsu... and even the miraculous power that lay beyond. Every one of these abilities made the people of the shinobi world crave it desperately.
They simply did not dare reach out carelessly because of the Uchiha clan’s terrifying reputation and their notoriously obsessive temperament.
But now, a pair of Sharingan had awakened right before their eyes.
How could they not be delighted?
However, after that delight came a question that appeared in both men’s minds at the same time.
Wasn’t this boy supposed to be a descendant of the Senju clan?
How could he awaken the Sharingan?
"This boy... could he be of mixed Senju and Uchiha blood?" Orochimaru naturally arrived at that possibility, and his confidence in Kiriya’s future grew even stronger.
That was right. Kiriya was indeed of mixed Senju and Uchiha blood.
However, both his father and mother had been insignificant members of their respective clans, with bloodlines so thin they barely seemed worth mentioning.
That was why his strength had been so poor, weak enough for anyone to step on.
But now, everything was different.
The implanted cells of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, had awakened the Senju blood within him.
More importantly, they had greatly amplified his negative emotions.
His overwhelming hatred toward these two old schemers, his fear of death, and his loathing of his own weakness had magnified his negative emotions to the extreme.
In the end, that triggered the awakening of the Uchiha bloodline inside him and opened his Sharingan.
But awakening those eyes was both fortune and misfortune.
The awakening of the Uchiha’s power violently stimulated the Hashirama cells in his body, causing them to retaliate even more fiercely.
Inside Kiriya, a brutal tug-of-war began. Every inch of flesh, every single cell, was fought over again and again.
That pain was ten times, a hundred times worse than when the Hashirama cells had been rampaging one-sidedly through his body.
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
Kiriya’s screams became even more shrill. Even with the nutrient solution and cultivation chamber between them, the sound was sharp enough to feel as if it could pierce the eardrums.
Yet Orochimaru and Danzo paid no attention to his suffering.
Pain was normal. What experiment did not involve hardship?
What they truly cared about was something else.
The woodification spreading across Kiriya’s body had stopped.
And that meant...
Kiriya’s body was adapting to the Hashirama cells.
’It can work! This boy really can do it!’
Orochimaru was ecstatic. In his heart, he had already marked Kiriya as his own possession.
Such an excellent material had to be obtained.
He would become the most important stepping stone on Orochimaru’s path toward the highest level of ninjutsu.
Danzo’s urgency was no less intense than Orochimaru’s.
He had to bring such a promising seedling under his command and turn him into his sharpest blade.
With a genius like this assisting him, the title of Hokage Advisor...
The last word could simply be removed.
’When that time comes... Hiruzen, what will you use to fight me?’
As Danzo imagined that future, the corners of his mouth nearly curled upward beyond his control.