"Asana, who is this 'adult' you're talking about?" Uchiha Yuan asked.
Hyuga Asana hesitated for a moment, then replied, "It's Lord Orochimaru, one of the Sannin."
"Orochimaru?! How could it be him?"
"Yuan, isn't it a bit disrespectful to call Lord Orochimaru by name so directly?" Hyuga Asana said with a frown.
Uchiha Yuan was momentarily stunned by her words. He hadn't expected Asana to correct him just for how he referred to Orochimaru.
This alone showed just how much respect she had for Orochimaru.
No wonder they called him a master of brainwashing in the world of the Hokage!
Fortunately, Yuan could tell that in Asana's heart, he still held a slightly higher place than Orochimaru.
Because if her admiration for Orochimaru had already reached the level of obsession, she would never have told him about her encounters with Orochimaru at all.
And when she corrected him earlier, her tone wasn't severe—it wasn't a scolding but more like a gentle reminder.
Thinking about this, Yuan casually asked, "Asana, when did you meet Lord Orochimaru?"
"It was probably about two years ago. That day happened to be an exam day. My scores were much better than Hyuga Chika's, so she was very upset with me and kept scolding me all the way home for various reasons.
I didn't dare talk back, so I just kept my head down and walked toward the Hyuga compound... Then I accidentally bumped into Lord Orochimaru.
But he didn't get angry. Instead, he helped me up with a smile and asked if I was hurt. That was the first time I felt kindness from a stranger."
Hearing this, Uchiha Yuan's mouth twitched. The mighty Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, got bumped into by a little girl? That's just too far-fetched. He must have noticed Asana for some reason and deliberately staged that encounter.
"And then? You must've met him again later, right?"
Asana nodded and continued, "Yes, I did meet Lord Orochimaru several more times. It was him who told me that learning medical ninjutsu would help me survive the war.
Both my healing technique and Body Flicker Technique were learned from Orochimaru."
Now Yuan understood. Orochimaru was clearly grooming Asana as a future tool.
This upcoming ninja world war was probably just a trial run for her. If she could survive it, Orochimaru would pull her completely to his side.
Byakugan must be quite useful for some of Orochimaru's research.
Given Asana's current admiration for him, the success rate of pulling her in was nearly 100%.
All it took was a few kind words and teaching her two basic jutsu to recruit a Hyuga branch member with strong potential—what a bargain!
Yuan hadn't known about any of this before, but now that he did, he wouldn't let Asana be brainwashed by Orochimaru.
So, feigning envy, he said, "Asana, you're really lucky! To have run into Lord Orochimaru like that.
I guess he must've been deep in thought at the time, or else you would never have bumped into him.
After all, Lord Orochimaru is one of the legendary Sannin. With his skill level, not even a regular jonin could sneak up on him, let alone a kid, right?"
Hearing this, Asana was stunned at first, then a thought popped into her mind. Right... why had she been able to bump into Lord Orochimaru?
She had only been 8 at the time, and incredibly weak. How could she possibly run into someone like Orochimaru?
Even now, she wouldn't get bumped into by a child on the street.
Asana wasn't stupid—she just hadn't thought about it this way before. But after Yuan said that, a trace of doubt began to creep into her heart.
However, she didn't show any of it outwardly. Instead, she focused on teaching Uchiha Yuan the Body Flicker Technique.
The tricky part of Body Flicker lies in nerve response speed and chakra control.
When Asana learned it, she had already mastered healing techniques. Medical ninjutsu requires very refined chakra control, so she learned quickly.
But Yuan's chakra control wasn't great. If he wanted to learn the Body Flicker, he first needed to improve his chakra control.
Asana passed along the methods Orochimaru taught her for improving chakra control.
They sounded simple—mostly just traditional exercises like tree-climbing and water-walking, plus one extra: controlling chakra output while casting jutsu.
Over the next few days, Uchiha Yuan made chakra control his primary training focus.
What he didn't know, however, was that during those days, the Third Hokage had secretly observed him multiple times.
The Uchiha clan is full of geniuses, and awakening the Sharingan at age 10 does show talent—but not enough to draw the Third Hokage's personal attention.
What truly piqued the Hokage's interest was the report submitted by the ninja school teacher.
It detailed some of Yuan's behaviors and interactions—particularly his friendships with Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Teruzuki. These didn't escape the teacher's eyes.
Most Uchiha clan members act aloof and detached. It's rare for them to befriend kids from other clans—especially those like the Hyuga and Yamanaka, who are closely aligned with the Hokage faction.
A slightly talented Uchiha isn't worth much political attention. But an Uchiha who gets along well with members of the Hokage faction? That meant there might be a chance to draw this genius into the Hokage's camp.
That was the real reason the Third Hokage paid attention to Uchiha Yuan.
And through a few days of observation, the Hokage noticed that Yuan's talent might not be as high as he'd hoped—at least in terms of chakra control, he seemed fairly average.
But for a child of this age to train for two to three hours daily after school without fail—that level of determination was certainly commendable.
"If only Asuma had that kind of drive," the Third Hokage sighed.
Back to Yuan—he had just finished his daily training and earned another chance to spin the wheel.
Of the past five days, two had been awful—he died shortly after entering the text-based game world and only got the minimum reward of one stat point.
The remaining three days, he managed to survive a while and earned two points each.
Yuan had noticed that now, at level 10, he wasn't a total pushover in the game world anymore.
Back in the One Piece world, five regular navy soldiers could wipe out his "pirate crew." But now, it would take at least a branch officer to beat him.
That was progress.
(To Be Continued...)