"Summoning beasts… need medical checkups too?"
Kenichi Amemiya was genuinely stunned.
This was the first time he'd ever heard of a summon needing a physical.
And when you said his teacher's teacher… that was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, right?
His summon should be Enma, the Monkey King—able to transform into a staff, a very practical partner in battle.
Though to be fair, that monkey didn't show up very often.
In the later years, the truly famous ones were still the three great summoning realms.
"Why wouldn't they?" Orochimaru snorted. "Sarutobi-sensei's summon enjoys jōnin benefits. Two full physical examinations a year."
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
A summoning beast… with official jōnin-level benefits?
In his previous world, that was straight-up an iron-clad government job with rank.
So that saying really was true—
the final form of the universe… is a permanent position on the payroll.
Maybe he should go take the civil service exam while he still could?
"But if we're talking about the former Hokage's summon," Kenichi muttered, rubbing his chin, "the chance of it getting lung cancer is actually pretty high."
"Oh?" Orochimaru raised a brow. "Didn't you say smoking itself was what increased the risk of lung cancer?"
He sounded intrigued.
In front of this new disease, his knowledge wasn't as detailed as his disciple's.
Honestly, Orochimaru suspected that even Tsunade might not understand it as deeply.
"Yes," Kenichi said, "but if the former Hokage smokes all the time, and the people around him stay near him for long stretches… then they're even more likely to get lung cancer."
He shrugged.
Second-hand smoke was nastier than the first-hand stuff.
That was why, in his previous life, some families had kids who got lung cancer even though they'd never touched a cigarette.
The real culprit had always been the adults who smoked around them and claimed they were "being careful."
"Is there really such a thing?"
Orochimaru's eyes lit up a little.
If what his disciple said was true, then the old fossils in the Konoha council—plus Danzō, and all the other elders who clustered around his chain-smoking teacher during long meetings—
Wouldn't they all be at high risk?
That was… delightful.
"Yeah. The filter on a cigarette blocks some harmful substances," Kenichi explained. "Some of what passes into the smoker's lungs gets absorbed by the body. The rest exits as smoke."
He mimed a little gesture in the air.
"And all that smoke—carrying those substances—is inhaled by everyone nearby. That's what triggers cancer."
In his original world, this had already been proven again and again.
It was the main reason so many public places had banned smoking. Sure, it was inconvenient for smokers.
But other people's lungs mattered too.
"I figured it out during my experiments," he added smoothly.
Second-hand smoke's danger was old news back home.
But in this world, he needed a proper explanation, so he just tied it back to his research.
If Orochimaru wanted to verify it with more experiments, Kenichi wouldn't complain.
He'd already done something similar before anyway—purely as "preparation." He just hadn't expected it to be useful this soon.
Orochimaru didn't press it further.
He vaguely remembered seeing that conclusion written in one of Kenichi's earlier reports.
What he really cared about wasn't the theory. It was the application.
If those stuffy old coots were constantly crammed into meeting rooms with his heavy-smoking teacher for hours on end, breathing in second-hand smoke…
Then lung cancer in that group would be anything but surprising.
And although they had regular physicals, there were still gaps between them.
As long as Orochimaru could continuously feed threads of yang chakra into their bodies…
Even if it didn't work, it was fine.
All he wanted to do was plant a seed and walk away.
If it sprouted, bloomed, and bore fruit one day—perfect.
If it didn't? No loss on his end.
That was how Orochimaru had always moved.
He scattered seeds everywhere.
Some became disasters, some became tools, some never became anything at all.
This time, he was simply preparing another seed.
If it succeeded, then when he wanted to make a move in the future, things would be much easier.
If it failed… he could just try something else.
"Come on," he said suddenly. "We're not going to the usual place today. I'll be training you. Your strength is still far too low."
Orochimaru's mood had clearly improved.
Kenichi's scalp tingled.
When Orochimaru said he was going to "train" you, that usually meant going home covered in bruises.
His teacher never went easy on him. Flesh wounds were the daily standard.
In Orochimaru's own words:
"If you don't learn the lesson now, the next time you feel pain it'll be because you've been fatally wounded."
"Got it, sensei," Kenichi said.
He didn't complain.
He knew his teacher was right—right now, his overall strength really was too weak.
You weren't truly on the board as a ninja until you hit jōnin level.
During their sparring that day, Kenichi also took the opportunity to test the practical side of his new cancer-based technique on Orochimaru.
He hadn't planned to—
If something really went wrong and Orochimaru took serious damage, the one who'd be tied to a stake and beaten wouldn't be anyone else.
But Orochimaru had waved it off, saying there was no need to worry. He had his own ways of dealing with the side effects.
With that reassurance, Kenichi relaxed enough to test it.
"Sensei's Living Corpse Reincarnation must be nearly complete by now…" Kenichi thought, watching Orochimaru move. "I wonder whose body he's prepared this time. If it's a cute girl…"
His mind wandered for half a second.
He remembered, in the original story, Orochimaru did take over a girl's body at one point—and she'd actually been pretty.
If that happened here and now…
Would his feelings as a disciple… shift in a strange direction?
Kenichi violently shook his head.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
He looked at his teacher again. No matter what body Orochimaru took, he would still be Orochimaru. That soul wasn't changing.
"Still spacing out during battle?"
A cold voice snapped him back to reality.
A moment later, white-hot pain exploded in his side.
Kenichi sucked in a sharp breath. His ribs screamed.
"Sorry, sensei!"
He forced himself to focus. If he zoned out again, he'd just eat more pain.
"Then come at me properly," Orochimaru said.
Kenichi dropped into stance.
This time, he moved first.
"Sensei, please give me your guidance!" he shouted, then called up a sliver of wind-natured chakra, mixing it into the carefully prepared nicotine mist device he'd brought.
He triggered it, sending a fine, invisible cloud of nicotine-laced fog blowing straight toward Orochimaru's position.
Orochimaru didn't bother answering.
He simply leapt back lightly and inhaled deeply—
Then unleashed a roaring Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique straight at Kenichi.
Heat slammed toward him like an incoming meteor.
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
"As expected… this technique still needs work," he thought.
The fireball evaporated the nicotine mist almost instantly.
If the opponent refused to close in, the efficiency plummeted.
"Long-range opponents are still a pain," he thought grimly, dodging to the side. "This cancer thing really shines in close or prolonged engagements. I'll have to refine it again…"
He sucked in another breath of hot air, lungs burning.
But his eyes were bright.
There was a long way to go—but he could feel it.
Step by step, his ideas were becoming real.
And that, more than anything, was addicting.
(End of Chapter 27)