Uchiha Sasuke stepped into the gloomy and dim tunnel. Along the two sides of the rock walls, at certain intervals, were embedded wall torches flickering with flames. The surroundings were so quiet that the only sounds were the dripping of water and the rustling of snakes, insects, and rodents crawling around.
From far to near, an increasingly clear conversation entered his ears—
“Lord Orochimaru, I have a doubt I’d like you to clear up.” The voice was clear, soft, and pure, resembling jade soaked in water.
Judging solely by the unhurried tone, the speaker was a gentle and cultured youth.
“Please go ahead, Amanozako-kun.”
The gloomy and husky voice followed closely after; it was the unique vocal cadence and tone belonging to that man, Orochimaru.
“You favor geniuses and also have a penchant for collecting various children possessing bloodline limits. You believe that bloodlines can bring you more perfect vessels, while geniuses can save the time needed for cultivation. If someone only has a special bloodline limit, yet is extremely foolish and dull when it comes to learning ninjutsu, how much value does such a person hold to you?”
“Heh, an interesting question. Talent and bloodline are fundamentally two different things; I have never lumped them together. What does it matter if they are slow in learning ninjutsu? A one-of-a-kind bloodline itself is an irreplaceable research sample. Flesh and blood, meridians, innate secret techniques… These mysteries hidden within the bloodline are a hundred times more precious than mediocre aptitude.”
“As for the other person’s utility value? If they cannot master ninjutsu, I will simply modify them with my own hands. Eliminate the shortcomings, strengthen the bloodline, and forge this body into a pure vessel for carrying the bloodline. Even if the other person is born dull, as long as the bloodline is special enough, it holds infinite value for deep excavation. After all, what I have always wanted is never a ready-made ninja, but a shell brimming with unknown possibilities.”
“However… Amanozako-kun, are you talking about…”
The view ahead suddenly opened up, and Uchiha Sasuke came to a standstill in the laboratory, cutting Orochimaru’s words short.
What met his eyes was still the four walls shrouded in dim light, with culture dishes and tubes arranged in a crisscross pattern. The air was filled with the pungent smell of chemicals and disinfectants.
The descendant of the Uchiha didn’t care about such boring and eccentric conversations, and his eyes had no room for anyone else.
He only stared at the man in front of him with a truly bizarre appearance—his face wrapped in a circle of white bandages, revealing short white hair, while the single visible eye was a vertical slit pupil as cold and sinister as a snake.
“Orochimaru, accompany me in training,” he stated bluntly.
Even with a white figure lingering in the corner of his eye, he didn’t spare a shred of mental focus to pay attention to it.
The aloof youth stood tall and straight, his raven-black ink-like hair pressed against his neck. That pair of eyes from the renowned dojutsu clan was particularly exceptional: slender and sharp, with the corners of his eyes slightly upturned, and his pupils pitch-black and bottomless.
A plain white kimono draped loosely over his body, with a shimekazari (straw rope) casually tied around his slender waist, preventing that large expanse of snowy spring scenery from leaking out.
Truly a stunning and peerless beauty, unique in all the world.
Not only did Orochimaru not get annoyed by the cold and haughty attitude, but he instead held a kind of meaningful gratification.
Even with a different body, his phrasing and speech were just like a snake spitting its tongue: “Of course, I will satisfy your request, Sasuke-kun.”
Sasuke Uchiha received the affirmative reply, turned around, and left without looking back.
“Then I will take my leave first, Amanozako-kun.”
Orochimaru was an eccentric and eerie person, yet his etiquette was performed more properly than anyone else’s.
Amanozako smiled and nodded.
This was his first time seeing Uchiha Sasuke.
Studying ninjutsu did not mean shutting oneself away to build a cart behind closed doors. After polishing his skills for a period of time, Uchiha Sasuke would engage in combat with the people arranged by Orochimaru.
Jagged rocks stood everywhere, and the chill bit into the bones.
Mist drifted and lingered, making this place appear even more gloomy and obscure.
Uchiha Sasuke, dressed entirely in white, stood among the gloomy stone forest, which instead made him look like a ray of untainted dustless light.
His opponent, well aware of his strength, made the first move, kicking off the ground and rushing straight at him, executing his full strength right from the start—rapidly forming hand seals to cast a ninjutsu.
Wind Style: Wind Cutter!
Several extremely thin, disc-shaped wind blades whizzed through the air, heading straight for Sasuke’s vital points.
However, an offensive that looked swift and terrifying to others seemed to be slowed down several times in Sasuke’s eyes.
He tapped the ground lightly with his toes, his figure suddenly soaring upward. The whole person rose like riding the wind, his white clothes spreading and lifting in the air, his posture extremely graceful, dodging this wave of offensive unhurriedly.
Before the wind blades could land, the opponent stimulated chakra once again—
Earth Style: Earth Rising Spear!
The ground violently churned, and several hard stone spikes successively burst from the ground, blocking and closing in from all directions.
Faced with the dense encirclement, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals with one hand, light blue chakra flowing in his palm, and blue lightning concentrated in his hand, making a piercing sound resembling the chirping of a thousand birds.
Lightning Style: Chidori!
The stone spikes crashed into the Chidori and shattered abruptly, gravel splashing everywhere, yet they were never able to get close to him by even a fraction.
Taking advantage of the moment when the opponent’s old strength had just faded and the new strength had yet to be generated, Sasuke exerted force through his feet and sprinted forward instantly, his speed so fast that only a white afterimage remained.
He pulled his sword out at some unknown moment, counterattacking with the hilt the instant he landed.
With only a muffled thud, the opponent’s center of gravity instantly lost balance, staggering backward and getting knocked out cold in an instant.
Following that were different opponents but similar sparring sessions. Uchiha Sasuke did not take the initiative to launch a fierce attack; instead, he continuously disassembled the opponent’s endless stream of ninjutsu. Water style, earth style, fire style, lightning style, wind style—various ninjutsu traps were resolved by him one after another. His movements were smooth and sharp, and his white clothes fluttered, displaying utmost elegance.
Amidst the eerie and boundless thick fog, that patch of white clothing remained consistently calm, upright, and unyielding, never being touched by the opponent in the slightest.
Such unfathomable strength was enough to make him stand out with a transcendent and refined temperament solely amidst the crossfire of countless techniques.
Even the enemies defeated by him had no choice but to concede defeat, able only to look up in dismay at this peerless and powerful opponent.
“Hyuga?”
Uchiha Sasuke had just sheathed his sword when he noticed that, besides himself, there was another figure standing there.
He tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword, without relaxing in the slightest, maintaining vigilance at all times.
The youth, who was around his same age, had a head of white, curly bangs, with the lock of hair on his right temple being longer than the one on the left, and a tied-up small braid hanging from his shoulder.
His skin was as pale as paper, and that pair of slender yet bright Byakugan eyes was the most eye-catching feature of all.
“I am not from the Hyuga family.” This person’s voice was very clear, and his tone remained consistently smooth and gentle, like a spring breeze brushing against the ear.
Uchiha Sasuke had an exceptionally good memory. In his dim, unchanging cultivation career, even the slightest special circumstance stood out like a black dot on a white wall. He recalled that he had once heard this person and Orochimaru conversing.
But…
Byakugan, yet not from the Hyuga family?
The Uchiha and the Hyuga were both the two major dojutsu clans of Konoha, and even Sasuke occasionally heard fragmented rumors about the Hyuga family.
Just like the Uchiha clan, the Hyuga clan also practiced intra-clan marriage and regarded their pair of eyeballs as dearly as life itself. If their bloodline leaked outward, it would cause them more agony than if the sky were to fall.
The person in front of him said very sincerely: “I lost my memory and don’t remember my past. Meanwhile, for the pursuit of scientific research and truth, Lord Orochimaru also tested my bloodline, and the connection with the Hyuga family is so faint that it’s just like how monkeys and humans originate from the same root.”
Sasuke didn’t know how to respond to this remark, so he could only remain silent.
“However, I still remember my surname, Otsutsuki.”
“My name is Otsutsuki Amanozako, Lord Sasuke.”
Upon hearing this trivial explanation, Sasuke nodded and asked him bluntly: “Are you also my opponent?”
“……No, I am not yet qualified to be your opponent,” Amanozako said with a smile, “I have only just learned how to extract chakra.”
Otsutsuki Amanozako was specially dispatched by Orochimaru to take care of Uchiha Sasuke.
Though the latter wasn’t particularly thrilled about it.
Amanozako offered a sincere suggestion: “Lord Sasuke would also prefer to spend time on cultivation rather than dealing with trivial chores, wouldn’t you? In that case, my appearance is quite necessary.”
Uchiha Sasuke did not refute. His dense and upturned long eyelashes cast light shadows, and his eyes were as pitch-black as night. He stared straight at Amanozako and asked, “Then what about you?”
“What?”
“Are you truly willing to do those trivial and boring chores? Since you can extract chakra and also possess the Byakugan, you could be a ninja. What you’re doing right now is something ordinary people can do.”
Amanozako curved his eyes: “Lord Sasuke speaks so bluntly. Is this meant to warn me that if I rest on my laurels, I could be replaced at any time? That is a very dangerous thing here with Lord Orochimaru. Truly… completely different from those fellows who like to hide things. You are a rare good person.”
Sasuke frowned slightly and said calmly, “Think whatever you like.”
Mm, yet when he is shy, he instantly becomes proud and untruthful.
Amanozako straightened his posture and said warmly, “My aptitude is truly very average, but my strength lies in the fact that my mind is fairly decent. That is one of the reasons why Lord Orochimaru kept me specifically. After displaying my abilities in this aspect, I can barely be considered a management-type talent.”
Hearing him say this, Sasuke found it even harder to understand.
“And now, Lord Sasuke is the most important. All resources and connections must prioritize you first and foremost. That is all.”
Sasuke’s sharp and stunning eyes looked at him, staring steadily for two whole seconds before speaking no more, neither saying whether he believed this rhetoric or not.
Otsutsuki Amanozako actually didn’t care much for interacting extensively with others. In Orochimaru’s Sound Village and major bases, his conversations with others rarely exceeded ten sentences, and he cared little about what impressions others held of him.
Yet, he inexplicably spawned the impulse to utter a few more words, attempting to let those ink-soaked black pupils capture and leave traces of Amanozako more and more, to see just what kind of person Amanozako looked like inside Uchiha Sasuke’s eyes.
“I lack the drive and desire to grow strong; neither life nor death enters my sight.” The pair of Byakugan eyes belonging to Amanozako reflected voidness, and cold, arrogant disdain was the picky essence hidden beneath his gentle exterior.
Not fearing death and not greedy for life—even a freakish scientific madman like Orochimaru found him tricky to deal with.
“I need to recognize myself, and recognize this world. Only when I see the most intense colors and desires can a hollow and incomplete soul be patched up. Perhaps seeing your desire to become strong can inspire me.”
Sasuke took those words in. Everyone has their own path and method, and he would not attempt to make any unwarranted judgments regarding the paths of others.
“—Is that so? I hope you can succeed.”
“Thank you for your blessing.”
Amanozako gracefully bowed and said sincerely, “Then, please inform me of your daily habits and preferences from now on. In the days to come, I will take care of you as properly as possible.”