Year 51 of Konohagakure, spring.
The Night of the Nine-Tails is drawing near… Hyūga Yuzuru thought.
He raised his head to look at the overcast sky. That heavy, oppressive darkness always stirred an inexplicable weight in one's chest.
In the distance, on the Hokage Rock, the fourth stone face was gradually taking shape. Below it, within the Hokage Tower, a new leader had already taken office.
I have to hurry. Orochimaru should also hand over that technique to me soon.
After several swift leaps, Hyūga Yuzuru arrived at the entrance of an underground base hidden deep within the forest.
Two ninja dressed like members of ANBU stood guard, their faces concealed behind painted masks.
After a routine inspection, he was granted passage.
Yuzuru walked familiarly into the depths of the base, toward a laboratory where corpses hung suspended from the walls.
The stench of blood drifted through the air, mingled with distant screams of agony.
This was the deepest darkness beneath the Hidden Leaf—Root.
A year earlier, Orochimaru had been stripped of his position as a frontline commander and reassigned to Root.
Now, he served as the right-hand man of Shimura Danzō, the leader of Root, conducting a series of secret and brutal human experiments under Danzō's tacit approval.
The most important of them all was the research on the cells of the First Hokage.
Hyūga Yuzuru was one of the core members of that research group and one of Orochimaru's most trusted assistants.
Yuzuru was a ninja of the Hyūga branch family, born in the spring of Year 37 of Konohagakure. He had recently turned fourteen.
As a transmigrator, it was hardly surprising that his parents were long dead, leaving him utterly alone.
Within the Hyūga clan, Yuzuru was an anomaly.
While most Hyūga devoted their entire lives to the Gentle Fist, never allowing themselves to be distracted by anything else, Yuzuru studied taijutsu from many different schools.
Moreover, he spent an extraordinary amount of time researching the nature and transformation of chakra—something other Hyūga rarely bothered with.
Less than a year after entering the Ninja Academy, when Kakashi arrogantly declared that everything taught there was worthless, Yuzuru quietly enrolled in a special medical-ninja training program.
His goals had long been set: Yang Release and medical ninjutsu.
Only two girls joined the program alongside him—Nohara Rin and Katō Shizune.
Time passed, and everything changed.
Rin had recently died in the ninja war, along with a young man whose death was reported alongside hers.
Shizune left the Hidden Leaf with the jōnin Tsunade, embarking on a journey that would delay her happiness for much of her life.
Kakashi had long since lost his pride, becoming like a lone, wounded pup, howling quietly within ANBU.
Yuzuru accepted Orochimaru's invitation and sank into the deepest darkness, beginning research that would never again see the light of day.
They had all once possessed bright futures…
Perhaps.
"Yuzuru-kun, you're here."
A hoarse yet magnetic voice echoed through the laboratory.
Orochimaru lifted his head from the experimental table, revealing a pale, eerie face.
"Orochimaru-senpai." Yuzuru nodded, grabbed a white lab coat near the entrance, put it on, and skillfully began manipulating the instruments.
"Your hypothesis has been confirmed," Orochimaru said. His tone carried an unusual, burning excitement.
"Is it about the reversibility of the First Hokage's cells?" Yuzuru asked after a brief pause.
"Exactly. Just as you predicted—when I injected a certain amount of Yang Release chakra and natural energy into those cells, the highly differentiated skin cells reverted into stem cells."
As he spoke, a strange light gleamed in Orochimaru's eyes—the joy of a serpent gazing upon its prey.
No one understood the implications better than a man obsessed with immortality.
Yuzuru, however, remained calm.
"That was to be expected," he said evenly. "The First Hokage was rumored to possess instantaneous regenerative abilities."
"According to the records, this recovery was caused by a rapid increase in bodily cells. But how could highly differentiated cells divide into entirely different types?"
"The only explanation is that the cells at the wound site instantly reverted into stem cells, which then rapidly divided and differentiated, producing the effect of instant healing."
Orochimaru watched Yuzuru's composed explanation, admiration—and a trace of wariness—flickering in his eyes.
"Yuzuru-kun, your thinking always provokes deep reflection," Orochimaru praised. "You are the most suitable genius for scientific research I have ever met."
Yuzuru smiled faintly and turned his gaze to the pale mass soaking in the glass container—the cells of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
"It's worth noting that this kind of cellular trait is commonly found in plants," Yuzuru continued. "Could this be related to the First Hokage's kekkei genkai—Wood Release?"
Plants possess astonishing regenerative abilities. A single leaf can take root; a broken branch can grow into a towering tree.
The core of this ability lies in the fact that plant cells, even after differentiation, can revert into undifferentiated stem cells—something animal cells cannot normally do.
Yet now, under specific conditions, the First Hokage's highly differentiated cells displayed the same reversal.
This inevitably raised a disturbing question: was the First Hokage, in essence, something akin to a plant?
"You're right," Orochimaru said hoarsely. "There must be some connection between Wood Release and the First Hokage's constitution. Perhaps that is why none of his descendants were able to inherit Wood Release."
His long, serpentine tongue slipped out as he licked his lips, desire blazing in his slit pupils.
"If we can unravel this secret, then immortality—"
"Immortality?" Yuzuru interrupted calmly. "There's something I don't understand."
"We all know that animals have limited lifespans because ordinary cells can only divide a finite number of times, whereas stem cells can divide far more extensively."
"If the First Hokage's cells could revert into stem cells at will, then he should have enjoyed a lifespan comparable to millennia-old trees."
"So why did he die so suddenly after the Battle of the Valley of the End?"
Yuzuru's words were like a bucket of ice water poured over Orochimaru's fervor.
Silence fell.
Indeed.
How could someone with such cellular properties simply die?
Orochimaru stared at the sample for a long while.
"It seems we still require far more research," he finally said.
Yuzuru nodded. "But before that, Orochimaru-sama… shouldn't you give me what you promised?"
The atmosphere in the laboratory instantly froze.
Orochimaru raised his head and stared into Yuzuru's pure white eyes.
That was what made the Hyūga so irritating—one could not read their emotions through their gaze.
After a long silence, Orochimaru sighed.
"Impure World Reincarnation… It seems the bird in the cage has finally decided to break free."
This was the deal between them: Yuzuru would assist in the research on the First Hokage's cells, and Orochimaru would give him the forbidden reanimation technique.
Orochimaru retrieved a scroll and tossed it over. "This technique still has many flaws. If you refine it, remember to give me a copy of your research."
Yuzuru caught the scroll, glanced through it calmly, and nodded.
"Understood. Thank you, senpai. I still have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."
"Yuzuru-kun," Orochimaru's hoarse voice called from behind him, "we'll probably hear news of you leaving Konoha soon, won't we?"
"Perhaps," Yuzuru replied lightly. "Who knows—maybe one day, you'll walk that path as well."
Though phrased as a question, his tone carried absolute certainty.
The Hyūga clan compound lay at the heart of Konoha, occupying vast grounds filled with ancient, elegant architecture.
Rules, tradition, and prestige were carved into the clan's very bones. Even table etiquette alone comprised hundreds of rigid regulations.
Nobility is upheld by strength, not by rules, Yuzuru thought, entering the quiet streets with a gentle smile and warm expression.
He looked harmless—every inch the faithful inheritor of the Will of Fire.
/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Read more chapters on my Patreon: https://patreon.com/SailorTranslations?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink