At Orochimaru’s level, he rarely accepted disciples anymore.
Aside from occasionally doing it as a favor and accepting the children of some loyal subordinates who supported him, he simply wouldn’t take anyone else as a disciple.
After all, Orochimaru was currently the strongest candidate for the position of Hokage!
It could practically be said that he was already certain to become the Fourth Hokage.
At this point, he was a Konoha hero who had experienced the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, served as a frontline commander, led armies into battle, and personally confronted powerful shinobi from enemy nations!
And his competitors?
There were none!
Aside from the Root, no one supported Danzo.
As for Minato…
With the Third Shinobi World War yet to begin, although Namikaze Minato had built up some reputation through ordinary missions and made quite a name for himself, his reputation was simply insignificant compared to Orochimaru’s!
At Orochimaru’s position, even accepting a single disciple could cause people to analyze his intentions and potentially affect Konoha’s political landscape.
Yet he had still accepted one!
And he had accepted three at once!
Two of them were girls who had barely demonstrated anything at all!
The fundamental reason was…
“I didn’t lie to you.” Chen Fan chuckled.
“I really do possess the Kekkei Genkai ‘Eating Release.'”
“Any living creature I eat will increase my physical constitution to a certain extent and strengthen my power!”
“Of course, there are some restrictions.
I need to…”
The so-called ‘Eating Release’ was actually the Mythical Skill: Feast!
Chen Fan had merely given it a different explanation suited to the shinobi world.
At this point, he introduced Feast without holding anything back.
Eating an entire living creature could strengthen his power.
The stronger the creature, the greater the increase, while the time required to digest it…
Orochimaru listened, his eyes flashing with brilliance.
This was the reason he had accepted Chen Fan as his disciple!
He had witnessed Chen Fan’s battle, and he knew about his absurd physical abilities.
At first, he had assumed Chen Fan simply possessed an exceptionally strong body from birth, which was probably what everyone else thought as well.
After all, there were people with bodies even stronger than Chen Fan’s at this point, such as the Third Raikage, who could fight Tailed Beasts head-on…
But if that strength wasn’t innate and had instead developed later…
That would be outrageous!
This was what had truly moved him enough to accept Chen Fan as his disciple on the spot!
In fact, he had later investigated Chen Fan as well.
Chen Fan had grown up as an orphan.
Although he had skipped grades at the Ninja Academy, his early academic performance had indeed been mediocre, and he had never displayed such an extraordinary physique.
In other words, what Chen Fan had said was very likely true!
However, as a ninja, Orochimaru would never blindly trust mere records.
“Wait here.
Let’s conduct a test.”
With that, his figure instantly disappeared.
Chen Fan smiled.
In reality, he had given Orochimaru information about himself only after carefully considering it.
Orochimaru was absolutely an excellent teacher.
Resources, Ninjutsu, status, knowledge…
He lacked nothing!
His only potential flaw was probably the matter of taking over other people’s bodies.
But was that really a flaw?
“Orochimaru won’t defect until after the Third Shinobi World War.
That’s still several years away!”
“And in reality, when he defects, he still won’t have developed the Impure World Reincarnation…
No one knows how many years it’ll take before he truly develops it.”
Forget waiting until Orochimaru develops the Impure World Reincarnation.
Even if Chen Fan couldn’t kill him with one punch by the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Chen Fan would consider that his own loss!
As for revealing information about one of his abilities…
Feast had tremendous potential, but ultimately, it was only one skill.
It was merely one part of his system cheat!
There were plenty of Mythical-level skills in the system that were equal to it!
In exchange for paying such an insignificant price, Chen Fan could obtain…
Whoosh!
Orochimaru suddenly appeared.
In his hand was a snake about one meter long and weighing roughly twenty kilograms.
Its body was thick and muscular, its eyes lively, and its body possessed a vitality completely different from that of ordinary snakes!
It carried the aura of nature…
“Come.
Let’s measure your physical abilities.” Orochimaru’s voice was hoarse, but it carried a hint of excitement.
“Record the data first…
then eat it!”
Chen Fan immediately smiled upon hearing this.
See?
The benefits were coming!
About thirty minutes later.
Orochimaru held two sets of data sheets, his eyes filled with shock.
“The increase is actually this enormous…”
The data showed a comparison.
Chen Fan’s physical measurements had increased by nearly ten percent!
One had to understand that Chen Fan’s body was already far superior to that of all his classmates.
He could even rely on his physical strength to contend with Jonin!
And now it had surged again!
All because he had eaten a snake rich in natural energy!
“Orochimaru-sama, what should we do next?” Chen Fan asked with a smile.
Orochimaru snapped out of his reverie.
“First, I need to examine your body.
I want to investigate exactly what this ‘Eating Release’ of yours is.”
“Oh, right.
Remember to give me some blood.”
“You said fighting can accelerate your digestion, right?
I’ll arrange some missions for you…
No, first I’ll teach you the Summoning Technique.
Then you can come with me to Ryuchi Cave.
There are plenty of opponents there for you to fight!”
“And I suspect your digestion speed isn’t only related to combat.
There must be other factors affecting it as well.
If we continue researching this, we can definitely accelerate the process…”
Orochimaru, who had always been cold and composed, had actually become somewhat long-winded.
He had always possessed an extraordinary passion for research.
Now that he had encountered something that fascinated him, his eyes were already filled with brilliance, and his entire body radiated barely contained excitement.
It was the curiosity of a scientist faced with an unsolved mystery!
Chen Fan smiled.
The more excited you are, the better.
After all, I’m the one who ultimately benefits!