"You went to such lengths to get the summoning scroll. Is it to train Sage Mode?" Orochimaru asked, a thin ribbon of amusement curling through his voice as he tucked the scroll away.
"You guessed it." Senmei Asahi chuckled, the corners of his mouth lifting just enough to show he wasn't denying anything.
"After all, you could sense Sage Art chakra when you were very young," Orochimaru continued, golden pupils keen with interest. "But I'm curious—how did you know that you could train Sage Art in Ryūchi Cave? This is not something a child should know."
"Of course—through years of investigation and research." Asahi answered evenly. "And Jiraiya-sama has already learned enough to use Sage Mode. Doesn't Orochimaru-sama know?"
"Jiraiya…" Orochimaru's pupils narrowed, a flicker of irritation—no, surprise—passing through them. The so-called dead-last surpassing him first was an irony that never failed to rankle.
"Orochimaru-sama must also be very interested in Sage Art." Asahi said with certainty.
"Of course." Orochimaru replied without hesitation. "At first, I intended to take you as my disciple. You sensed Sage Art chakra when you were very young—an exceedingly rare talent." He paused, then shook his head with a soft, disappointed sigh. "It's a pity you have your own ambitions. That makes you… difficult to trust."
"That's truly a shame." Asahi said, voice lightly regretful. "If I could have become your disciple, Orochimaru-sama, perhaps I would have defected with you today."
Orochimaru said nothing more. He regarded Asahi for a long moment—evaluation, calculation, the gleam of a collector who had found a priceless specimen he couldn't yet acquire—then turned, body blurring as he flashed away into the darkening trees.
Uchiha Chizuru landed beside Asahi a breath later, brow furrowed. "You just let him go?"
"What? Do you want to keep him?" Asahi glanced sideways, amusement threading his tone.
"We already suppressed him. If we could capture Orochimaru…" Chizuru trailed off, eyes hard.
"Don't think too much." Asahi snorted softly. "Orochimaru didn't even use his full strength, and we were already struggling. If it weren't for him not understanding my characteristics, do you really think we could have won today?"
"Uh…"
"If we pushed him too hard." Asahi added, gaze sweeping the charred ground and broken trunks, "it might have been the two of us fleeing tonight."
"Is Orochimaru that powerful even after being injured?" Chizuru still sounded unconvinced, though the tension in his shoulders betrayed doubt.
"Of course." Asahi said. He formed a quick sequence of hand seals, bit his thumb, and slammed his palm to the ground.
Summoning Jutsu!
*Bang!*
A billowing cloud of smoke erupted, then thinned to reveal a giant serpent coiled before them, scales glittering with a pale sheen. The snake lifted its head and hissed softly, tasting the evening air.
"Very good." Asahi nodded, eyes briefly reflecting satisfaction at the solid response to the newly signed contract.
But even as the giant snake's presence affirmed his path forward, his mind moved to the next step. Training Sage Mode was needed, yes—but not the most urgent task. What he needed first was to integrate the Hashirama cells more thoroughly. Only when those cells stabilized in his body would he brave Ryūchi Cave for Sage Mode training.
Although there was the example of Jiraiya, who had mastered a stabilized but imperfect Sage Mode, Orochimaru himself had never used Sage Mode, and Namikaze Minato had openly admitted his own lack of proficiency. In the original chronicles of shinobi history that Asahi had read, the few who wielded Sage Mode flawlessly were either descendants of the Sage of Six Paths or had Senju Hashirama cells integrated into their bodies.
To be safe—and to ensure perfection—integrating the First Hokage's cells first and learn Sage Mode after was a plan Asahi had set in stone long ago.
"Oh, right! What was that Sage Mode and Sage Art chakra you just mentioned to Orochimaru?" Uchiha Chizuru asked suddenly, curiosity pricking through his earlier skepticism.
"Do you really want to know?" Asahi asked with a smile, turning his head to study Chizuru's expression.
"…" Chizuru didn't answer, expression going slightly awkward, a faint flush rising to his cheeks.
"Actually, there's no harm in telling you," Asahi said after a beat, "but it will have to wait until we cooperate again."
"Hmph! I'm not interested at all." Chizuru scoffed, gaze cutting away to hide the spark of interest in his eyes.
"Don't forget our previous agreement." Chizuru added a moment later, tone returning to its usual coolness.
"Of course, I won't forget. You should trust my integrity." Asahi replied. "I already have some ideas, but you'll have to wait a bit. After all, it's the Mangekyō Sharingan we're talking about—and I still need to verify a few more details."
"Hmph! That's good then," Chizuru said, the edge in his voice easing.
"Never mind." Asahi rolled his neck, muscles crackling softly as tension relieved. "Let's go back. But before we do—we still need to deal with two rats."
*Puff! Puff!*
Two silhouettes crumpled from the underbrush almost simultaneously. Under the combined, decisive strikes of Asahi and Chizuru, the pair of Root operatives fell without a cry, necks twisted at lethal angles.
Asahi had already anticipated it. He'd arranged for Root to impersonate him at Konoha Hospital—bait on a hook—and knowing Shimura Danzo's nature, there was no world in which Danzo wouldn't send watchers to trace Asahi's movements. Asahi had been wary from the start; he'd marked the two shadows as soon as they appeared.
If he hadn't been concerned about alarming Orochimaru mid-negotiation, he would have disposed of them earlier.
With the field cleared and their tracks managed, Asahi waved the massive serpent away. The giant snake dipped its head, then vanished in a pop of smoke, returning to Ryūchi Cave. After a final sweep of the area to erase residual chakra signatures, Asahi and Chizuru departed in quick, quiet strides.
*Zzzt!*
A crisp arc of teleportation light whispered through a shuttered window as Asahi used Flying Thunder God Technique to jump into a quiet office at Konoha Hospital. The air smelled faintly of disinfectant and ink. Without missing a beat, he formed a short sequence of seals.
Transformation Jutsu!
His form warped and tightened into the likeness of a Root operative—faceless, forgettable, functionally invisible.
He cracked the office door and slipped into the corridor, moving with the unhurried certainty of someone who belonged there. He approached the operating room's anteroom, stopping just short of the door curtain.
"Is Asahi-sama inside?" the disguised Asahi asked in a low, steady voice.
"Asahi-sama is performing surgery on a child." a medical-nin replied dutifully, not looking up from a tray of instruments.
"Understood. Asahi-sama asked me to do something for him; I need to report to him now."
"Asahi-sama has already instructed—you may enter." the medic said, stepping aside.
Asahi pushed into the operating room. The room was quiet, the overhead lights stark and clinical. Only one figure stood within—another Root ninja, mask tilted slightly as if listening for footsteps.
*Bang!*
Releasing his transformation in a whispered ripple of chakra, Asahi stood revealed. "Transform back." he said calmly to the Root agent. "How is this child?"
"He's dying." the Root ninja replied flatly, dispelling his own disguise. His tone was expressionless, as if reciting the weather.
Asahi moved to the table. The child lay small and still beneath the white sheets, skin clammy and pale. Traceries of dark, root-like patterns crept beneath the skin across limbs and chest—evidence of First Hokage's cells gone rampant. Even some internal organs showed signs of corrosive infiltration. The child's life force simply wasn't strong enough to contain or harmonize with the Hashirama cells.
If left alone, death was certain.
If the cells were surgically removed… the boy would lose most of his body's viability, and without the power of those cells, he wouldn't survive anyway.
A cruel paradox—one Danzo liked to manufacture.
Asahi glanced at the clipboard the Root ninja offered. He read the medical record carefully, committing each observation to memory, then pulled a fresh sheet and recopied the chart by hand—changing certain key points.
In the Third Hokage's mind, suspicion had already begun to take root: Senmei Asahi, who knew too much about the forbidden research tied to Orochimaru. If Asahi's notes betrayed an intimate familiarity with the most esoteric properties of the First Hokage's cells, it would only deepen Sarutobi Hiruzen's doubts.
Perhaps the Third Hokage had sent these children precisely to test him. A test of knowledge. A test of ethics. A test of loyalty.
'If this is a probe, I'll return a controlled answer.' Asahi thought, pen moving with neat, clinical strokes. 'Enough to appear competent. Not enough to betray the depths.'
"Has that child been sent away?" Asahi asked without looking up.
"He has been sent away." the Root ninja replied, voice still hollow.
'Kinoe…Tenzo… Yamato.'
Asahi did not ask which name they'd used. If Danzo did not want light shone on the boy, it would be done quietly—papers burned, histories altered, corridors emptied.
"Good. You go out. Leave the rest to me." Asahi said.
The Root operative inclined his head, then slipped from the room soundlessly.
Silence stretched, broken only by the monitor's faint, arrhythmic beep… beep… Asahi set the altered record aside and placed both palms above the child's sternum, letting his chakra sensitize and spread—soft, feathering tendrils of perception that touched organ, vessel, nerve, and cell. Diagnostic Palm Technique—a healer's reading, but also a researcher's map.
What he felt confirmed his earlier assessment: the Hashirama cells had invaded like ivy through mortar, lacing into tissues, coaxing them toward uncontrolled growth while devouring the life force that should have governed them. The boy's body was losing the conversation at every junction.
Pull back the cells, and the void would kill him. Leave them, and their hunger would. The only survivable path was synchronization—a harmonization method that balanced the regenerative engine with the host's life energy. Orochimaru's notes had hinted; Asahi's own work would complete it.
Perhaps the Third Hokage had indeed sent these children to test Asahi.
But for Asahi, it was also an opportunity.
An opportunity to touch Orochimaru's results directly. To study, dissect, correct. To take what was broken and make it stable. To build the bridge he'd need for his own integration.
Being able to study these experimental subjects without restraint, under the open cover of a hospital theater, with Konoha's own procedures papering the trail—this was rare.
*****
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I am working on the following projects:
✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]
✓ The Academy's Saint Is Too Popular, But He's Not the Protagonist [R-18]