"You seem to enjoy collecting strange little things."
Orochimaru was sitting casually in Kenichi's tiny living room, golden eyes drifting across the shelves while Kenichi packed. They were about to leave the village for a while, so he'd swung by to "wait" — which in Orochimaru's case meant quietly inspecting everything.
"Ahaha… well, Sensei, there's not much entertainment in the village," Kenichi scratched his cheek awkwardly. "So I just started collecting random curios."
In reality, they were all potential research materials.
Orochimaru gave a noncommittal nod and continued his slow circuit of the room. Some of the trinkets were rare, some bizarre, but nothing truly shocked him.
Until his fingers closed around a piece of amber.
Inside, frozen mid-crawl, was a strange insect.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Kenichi didn't notice. He was in the bedroom changing clothes. Ninjas didn't need much luggage—kunai, ration pills, a spare outfit and you were set—but Orochimaru had specifically told him to bring a different set of clothes this time, so he obeyed.
"Where did you get this?" Orochimaru asked when Kenichi stepped out.
He was holding the amber up to the light, pale fingers and golden eyes both focused on the bug inside.
"Oh, that. I bought it at the market," Kenichi replied honestly. "Some merchant from Sunagakure was selling it. He said it was an ancient insect trapped in desert amber."
Orochimaru nodded, thoughtful.
He was sure he'd seen an illustration of a similar insect somewhere before, along with a brief note. But where…?
If it were directly related to ninjutsu or a bloodline limit, he wouldn't have forgotten. That alone made it more interesting.
After a quick check that everything was in order, the two of them left Konoha and moved through the forests of the Fire Country. Orochimaru barely spoke the entire way.
Only two days after they'd left the village did he finally stop.
"Kenichi," he said, hands busy with some kind of sealing formula on the ground, "why do you think the Third Hokage 'happened' to run into you yesterday?"
Kenichi didn't even bother pretending not to understand what he meant.
"Well…" he thought for a moment, then answered, "I think he might have some suspicions about you, Sensei. So he used me to verify something, or maybe to send a message."
Of course, it could have been a genuine coincidence. Maybe the Third had really just gone to the hospital for a checkup and accidentally bumped into him.
But Kenichi doubted it.
"Not bad." Orochimaru smiled faintly. "Compared to Anko, your thinking is far more… satisfying."
As he spoke, the markings on the ground glowed faintly — and then the earth itself shifted.
A circular section sank down, revealing a dark passage beneath.
Orochimaru stepped in without hesitation.
Kenichi followed, not even surprised anymore.
His teacher embodied the saying "a cunning rabbit has three burrows." At this point, Kenichi suspected there were hidden Orochimaru bases scattered all over the Fire Country.
Seriously… where does he get the money for all this?
The tunnel opened into a familiar layout: sterile stone, dim lighting, the faint smell of chemicals.
A laboratory.
And in the middle of it, suspended in a large glass tank filled with pale fluid—
Was a man.
A man with Byakugan in his eye sockets.
Kenichi's pupils shrank.
So that was why Orochimaru hadn't been talkative on the way here.
"Surprised?" Orochimaru asked, amused. Even without Kenichi speaking, he could read the shock on his disciple's face. "After all… this is a genuine Hyūga Byakugan."
"But Sensei," Kenichi couldn't help asking, "doesn't the Hyūga clan put a Caged Bird Seal on their branch family? I thought it was supposed to destroy the Byakugan and brain if tampered with."
The Caged Bird Seal.
A ruthless curse mark branded on branch family members—
Officially to "protect the Byakugan."
In reality… in Kenichi's eyes, it was nothing but a leash. A nice, dressed-up form of slavery.
Just like the so-called "Will of Fire".
If the Third Hokage really cherished it so much, then why did the Fourth die while he lived? Why did Naruto, the Fourth's own son, grow up treated like garbage by the village?
"Indeed, the Caged Bird Seal is very… special," Orochimaru said, lightly resting his hand against the glass. "Even now, I have yet to find a way to fully解除 it."
Yet being the key word.
"So this one is… from the main family?" Kenichi guessed. "Like Ao from the Mist—no Caged Bird, so the eyes stayed intact?"
Orochimaru chuckled and shook his head.
"He's an illegitimate child. A Hyūga who was never officially recorded in the clan registry. Naturally, there was no Caged Bird to begin with."
Kenichi blinked, then understood.
The seal wasn't branded at birth. It was carved onto the branch family at a certain age.
If someone was born outside the clan's control, or never properly acknowledged, there was a tiny—almost nonexistent—chance they could slip through the net.
The odds were extremely low.
The Hyūga guarded their bloodline obsessively, and the Byakugan was far too recognizable to hide.
But apparently, Orochimaru had managed to find one such crack.
"As expected of you, Sensei," Kenichi said sincerely. "That must've been… quite the catch."
The Byakugan itself, though, didn't excite him that much.
If he really wanted it, all he needed was a hair sample from a Hyūga and enough time to research their genetic traits.
Right now, his main focus was on the Sharingan. One path at a time.
What puzzled him more was why Orochimaru hadn't implanted the Byakugan into himself—or into one of his subordinates.
Even after he defected from the village in the "original timeline", there had never been any rumors of a Byakugan-user connected to him.
Which could only mean something must have gone wrong, somewhere between now and then.
"This test subject carries something very peculiar in his body," Orochimaru murmured, gaze intent. "Something that feels… similar to the First Hokage's cells."
Kenichi froze.
The First Hokage's cells were unique—insanely aggressive, overwhelming everything around them, devouring normal cells like a plague.
Just like…
Cancer cells.
He had just come back from the hospital, investigating that exact kind of condition.
And now his teacher casually mentioned a "strange growth" inside a test subject that reminded him of Hashirama cells?
Don't tell me… is this guy actually suffering from cancer?
If so—
Then Kenichi might have just stumbled onto a brand-new, terrifying field of research.
One that could turn a real-world incurable disease… into a weaponized jutsu.
(End of Chapter)