Hiruko glanced around the room, let out a soft sigh, and finally spoke.
"My technique... it can turn me into the perfect shinobi. If Lord Hokage desires it, I can even…"
"Enough, Hiruko! The Will of Fire within you has long been overtaken by your own ambition. Reflect on your actions in the Konoha prison!"
During the subsequent interrogation, Hiruko never showed a shred of remorse. Instead, he kept boasting about his experiments.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, watching Hiruko's stubborn, arrogant demeanor, couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed.
Orochimaru felt the same. He remembered how, just a few months ago, he had shared a meal with Hiruko. Back then, Hiruko still resembled the man he used to know.
But now… he had gone completely mad.
"Hiruko, you've gone too far."
Orochimaru let out a sigh as well. His own experiments had always stayed within certain boundaries. There was simply too much on his plate to even consider human experimentation.
He had ancient texts to study, countless jutsu to learn, the mysteries of Sage Mode to explore, disciples to train, and he still had to observe whether the children of his fallen allies had inherited any worthy potential.
His schedule was already packed to the brim, and he still had to go on missions—like tonight's capture of Hiruko.
Where would he even find the time to kidnap people for live experiments?
Orochimaru often found himself wishing he could create more shadow clones just to keep up with all the research he wanted to conduct.
Sometimes, being too busy was its own kind of burden.
With the interrogation going nowhere, Hiruzen finally ordered Orochimaru to escort Hiruko to Konoha's prison, hoping that some time in isolation would restore a sliver of sanity to the man.
...
Konoha's prison was located in a hidden location, protected by layers of barriers. Without a special clearance pass, even a jōnin would be turned away.
After all, the facility housed the worst of the worst—shinobi who had abandoned their faith, the fallen who had become true monsters.
And now, Hiruko was about to become one of them.
"We're here, Hiruko. I hope you take this time to reflect. Sensei Sarutobi still holds a trace of hope for you."
Leaving those parting words, Orochimaru walked away without a second glance, leaving Hiruko alone.
As the heavy iron door shut behind him, the faint sunlight that had managed to slip in vanished. The prison was once again cloaked in pitch darkness.
All around, other inmates stared at Orochimaru with eyes full of hatred and fear.
He was the Third Hokage's student, a renowned force within the shinobi world. With their chakra sealed, the inmates knew that if Orochimaru wanted to kill them, Konoha wouldn't even blink.
They'd been imprisoned for years, their value to the village reduced to nothing. Disposables.
Even in a place as proud as Konoha, there existed those who had seen through the illusion of the Will of Fire—those who had touched the village's hidden darkness and paid the price.
Jōnin-level criminals were typically held in solitary cells, and their treatment was at least somewhat humane. For now, Hiruko's chakra was entirely sealed, and the shackles on his wrists and ankles merely restricted movement.
Some of the older inmates had even been personally imprisoned by Tobirama Senju himself.
And for a man capable of creating something like the Reanimation Jutsu—a forbidden technique that threw away morality and ethics—how could Tobirama truly be all light?
Those who had witnessed that hidden darkness and lost their faith were personally locked away by him.
They had no idea how many years had passed. They didn't know Tobirama's fate. All they knew was that the guards had changed again and again over the decades.
"You've grown arrogant, Orochimaru. Is it simply because of the power gap between us now?"
"Even in this state… I'll find a way to complete the Chimera Technique."
Hiruko's resentful voice echoed in the hallway, causing Orochimaru's footsteps to briefly pause in the shadows.
Arrogant, huh? Maybe.
To the strong, arrogance was called confidence. To the weak, naïveté and delusion.
Orochimaru didn't think of himself as arrogant—he merely saw through Hiruko's limitations.
He left Konoha's prison for good, planning to report back to Hiruzen before returning to his lab. There was still so much work to do, and Hiruko's arrest had just been another mission.
...
"Hiruko has been locked away in Konoha Prison, Sensei."
Orochimaru pushed open the door to the Hokage's office. Inside, Sarutobi Hiruzen was puffing on his familiar smoking pipe, his face etched with sorrow.
A talented jōnin of Konoha had fallen to the wrong path. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
"Orochimaru…"
Hiruzen's voice was filled with melancholy as he looked at his student. Yet even in that gloom, there was a faint glimmer of relief.
At least Orochimaru had stayed true to his path—unlike that unreliable fool, Jiraiya.
The moment Hiruzen thought of Jiraiya, his mood darkened further. The number of Kage-level shinobi currently available to the village was painfully low.
Tsunade was still in mourning, and it looked like she was only going to spiral further.
Hiruzen had considered summoning Jiraiya back, but he hadn't been able to reach him.
The next jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails would need to be chosen within a year.
If Konoha didn't have the strength to contain the beast, the consequences could be catastrophic.
That was why Hiruzen was doing everything in his power to recall all available assets—preparing for the worst.
...
"You're still worried about something else, aren't you, Sensei?"
Orochimaru was sharp. He could tell that Hiruko's fall from grace wasn't the only thing weighing on Hiruzen's mind. One jōnin alone didn't carry this much weight.
"Mito-sama's time… is nearly up."
After a moment's hesitation, Hiruzen chose to confide in Orochimaru.
He was his most promising student—someone who would be critical to ensuring the success of the jinchūriki transition. There was no reason to hide the truth from him.
"I see…"
The Nine-Tails.
The most powerful of the tailed beasts, a being of pure hatred and overwhelming chakra. Once sealed by none other than Senju Hashirama himself.
Its current jinchūriki, Uzumaki Mito, was nearing the end of her life. Soon, a new host would need to be chosen. Fortunately, Konoha had a suitable candidate ready.
Uzumaki Kushina—a fellow member of the Uzumaki clan with a pure, untainted bloodline.
"Is the Nine-Tails really that different from the other tailed beasts, Sensei?"
Orochimaru had never witnessed a full-scale rampage. He didn't understand the true scope of the Nine-Tails' power.
"Surely, with Konoha's current strength, we'd be able to handle it, wouldn't we?"
He listed off their active forces: himself, Hiruzen, Uchiha Kagami, Uchiha Kaien, the village elders, and Hatake Sakumo. Would that still not be enough?
Even Tsunade could be counted as a potential combatant.
"That may be true. But if you, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were to all use summoning techniques together… I'd be much more at ease."
There weren't many super-sized summoning beasts in the shinobi world, but Konoha had ties to all three major summoning sanctuaries. Even so, only Orochimaru was currently available for deployment.
"To prevent the worst-case scenario… I need to call back every ounce of strength we can muster."
Hiruzen still chose to err on the side of caution.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
Fanfic is finished on Patreon (156 chapters in total.)
Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)