Naruto: The Senju After the Age of Gods

Chapter 233: Nagato

A resurrection technique held enormous appeal for Orochimaru.

In truth, it would be the same for almost anyone.

After all, shinobi lived with their lives balanced on a blade’s edge. Dying the next moment was simply part of the profession.

If there were some kind of safeguard—some last resort that could save you at a critical moment—then no one would willingly turn it down.

Still, Orochimaru remained cautious.

That caution came from one simple fact: he did not trust Hikaru in the slightest.

The pressure Hikaru exerted on him was simply too great.

"Minister Hikaru," Orochimaru said in an even tone, looking at him calmly, "this is no simple matter. Resurrection techniques have never been easy to realize. Even if I’m interested, that does not mean I can actually accomplish it."

"And what if a complete framework already exists," Hikaru asked with a smile, "and all you need to do is verify whether it can truly work?"

As he spoke, he pulled out a scroll and handed it over.

What Hikaru gave Orochimaru was a copied version of the Living Rebirth Technique.

He did intend to have related work carried out in Konoha eventually.

But the problem was obvious—there were too many constraints inside the village.

More importantly, the Medical Corps was not under Hikaru’s control.

Which meant he had no real research talent available to him there.

He could build that up little by little over time, of course, but that would still take time.

And though Hikaru did have patience, even with patience, he still wanted concrete results.

Konoha would certainly carry out its own research eventually.

But Orochimaru’s side would do the same.

Only by having both sides work independently and comparing the results could Hikaru be completely at ease.

After taking the scroll, Orochimaru first gave Hikaru a suspicious glance before slowly unsealing it.

Yet the moment his eyes fell upon the contents, his expression subtly changed.

His face turned serious. Focused.

Without another word, he found a place to sit.

He no longer cared about the Uchiha floating in the experimental tank. His full attention had been seized by the scroll.

Seeing that reaction, Hikaru chuckled softly and did not disturb him. Instead, he turned and began examining Orochimaru’s experimental materials.

The Uchiha in front of him did not look to be in very good condition.

His body was terribly pale, and now and then it trembled involuntarily.

It was obvious that he was suffering unimaginable pain.

The sight was grim enough to unsettle most people.

Hikaru, however, observed it with perfect calm.

"Looks like the rejection is pretty severe. I wonder if my eyes can see more."

With that thought, Hikaru slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, they were already glowing with that brilliant blue.

Under the sweep of his gaze, he clearly saw a strange power spreading through the Uchiha’s body.

That power felt very familiar to Hikaru.

It belonged to the Senju line.

On the other side, there was another force—more unfamiliar, yet unmistakably originating from the Uchiha himself.

The two powers were clashing, resisting one another, neither side yielding.

But Hikaru could already tell that the Uchiha side would not be able to hold out much longer.

"Is the Senju power simply too strong?"

Rubbing his chin, Hikaru pondered for a long moment before shaking his head.

"No. It’s not Senju power in general that’s too strong. It’s Hashirama’s power. The pressure of Wood Release itself is too overwhelming."

Through his eyes, he had already found the answer he wanted.

There was no doubt about it—this subject possessed a two-tomoe Sharingan.

And most of the force resisting the implanted Wood Release was actually coming from the power naturally leaking out of those eyes.

That was the true balancing force against Wood Release.

That was the power capable of keeping it in check.

Unfortunately, the gap between a two-tomoe Sharingan and a three-tomoe one was simply too great.

Even if the amount of Wood Release power Orochimaru had introduced was not especially high, it was still more than a two-tomoe eye could properly suppress.

Hikaru remembered very clearly that, in the future, Danzō had embedded an entire arm full of Sharingan into his body just to restrain the explosive growth of Hashirama’s cells.

Only that many eyes had kept him from turning from Shimura Danzō into some grotesque tree-man monstrosity.

And in the end, once Danzō lost that arm and those eyes, the Wood Release power erupted almost instantly when he tried to seal Sasuke and Obito, swallowing an entire bridge along with him.

"If the ratio is adjusted properly, the result can absolutely be far better. Balancing the proportions will take repeated trial and error, but..."

But in Hikaru’s eyes, he could already clearly see whether those ratios were stable or not.

Which meant that if he ever wanted to conduct this kind of experiment himself—one requiring two separate forces to remain in equilibrium—then with the help of his eyes, he could complete it with shocking ease.

"That’s actually absurdly useful."

Touching his chin again, Hikaru found himself increasingly convinced that his eyes were helping him far more than he had initially realized.

From battle, to daily life, to experimentation and research—

these eyes seemed capable of covering all of it.

Calling them outrageous was not an exaggeration.

"And the more outrageous part is that I’ve kept calling them a fake Jōgan. Honestly, that may not be appropriate anymore."

He really did need to think seriously about that now.

Yes, the name had originally been borrowed.

But Hikaru also remembered hearing somewhere that even Boruto’s eye had been named by Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki.

Whether that was true, he could not say for certain—after all, he had never really kept up with that so-called Naruto sequel manga.

Still, one thing he did know was that his own eye seemed, in terms of capability, to surpass the one Naruto’s son possessed.

If that was the case, then which one was truly the real Jōgan became rather debatable.

Hikaru could define that himself.

He did not need others to define it for him.

"In the end, the difference between the original and the imitation may not be as great as it seems. Since I obtained it first, then mine is the genuine article."

As that thought settled in his mind, the brilliant blue in Hikaru’s eyes seemed to shine all the more intensely.

"Interesting. Truly interesting!"

Orochimaru’s eyes were gleaming now as he stared at the scroll in his hands.

A genius concept.

A genius design.

A genius of a technique.

Everything about it was astonishing.

And the deeper Orochimaru immersed himself in the logic and structure behind the technique, the more convinced he became that it truly had a chance of succeeding.

For someone like Orochimaru, it did not take much to determine whether a technique was feasible.

A close examination, a careful series of deductions—those alone could usually bring him to a rough conclusion.

Of course, there was still a long road between that conclusion and actual implementation.

Orochimaru understood that better than anyone.

But he could not deny it.

He was thoroughly captivated by the technique Hikaru had handed him.

A man like him had long since developed an obsession with forbidden arts beyond all common sense.

And when faced with a technique that could bring back the dead, how could he not be thrilled?

Still, he also understood one thing clearly.

He had to keep his head.

Because the owner of that technique was Senju Hikaru.

Turning his head slightly, Orochimaru’s gaze landed on Hikaru.

At that moment, he noticed something strange.

Hikaru was observing the experiment he had just been conducting.

And those bright blue eyes seemed to be looking straight through it.

For some reason, Orochimaru had the distinct feeling that everything about his experiment had been laid bare.

As though Hikaru could not only see the trajectory of his work, but also details Orochimaru himself had not yet fully grasped.

It was an odd feeling.

But Orochimaru trusted that instinct.

His instincts in such matters were usually accurate.

"Minister Hikaru," Orochimaru asked, licking his lips lightly, "do you have any thoughts on my experiment? I would be very interested in hearing your guidance."

"Are you really hoping a Senju will tell you what you want to hear about this experiment?"

Hikaru tilted his head slightly, and those blue eyes locked directly onto Orochimaru.

In that instant, Orochimaru felt suffocated.

It was not the first time he had faced those eyes.

But every time he did, they made his heart seize.

It was an awful sensation.

Still, he endured it.

Even so, the slight flicker in his gaze already betrayed far too much.

Hikaru saw that and chose not to press him any further.

There was no need.

He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they had returned to normal.

A faint smile still rested on his face, making him look as harmless as ever.

But Orochimaru would never believe that appearance now.

He knew exactly what kind of man stood before him.

"Enough about that," Hikaru said with a small twist of his shoulders. "Let’s discuss something more valuable.

I assume you’ve finished reading the technique. So tell me, what do you think?"

"A brilliant concept. A brilliant design. It’s an extraordinary technique."

Orochimaru’s composure returned almost instantly once the pressure from those eyes vanished.

He knew his value still remained.

And so long as he retained that value, Hikaru would not move against him recklessly.

Of course, he also understood the flip side—if he failed to prove that value, Hikaru would not hesitate to cast him aside.

"That technique," Orochimaru continued, "was devised by you, Minister? It’s a mad design. But it also has an extremely high probability of success."

"No. I didn’t create it. I’m not particularly gifted at inventing jutsu."

Hikaru shook his head lightly.

He was good at what he was good at. Bad at what he was bad at. There was no shame in admitting that.

"It came from Chiyo of Sunagakure. I assume you know I went to Sunagakure, yes?"

Orochimaru nodded.

He did know.

After all, it was during that incident that the name Konoha Nightingale had first truly shaken the shinobi world.

That was the time Hikaru had gone to Sunagakure.

And there, he had allegedly crushed more than a hundred Suna ninja by himself—nearly half of their ANBU, and according to rumor, even most of an entire sealing squad.

It was the kind of feat that ordinary people would never believe.

Even Orochimaru had been deeply shocked when he first heard the reports.

But after witnessing Hikaru’s Wood Release later on, he had come to feel that perhaps it was not so impossible after all.

A man who had already reached that level of power could accomplish extraordinary things by extraordinary means.

"So Minister Hikaru hid quite a bit about what happened in Sunagakure."

Orochimaru sighed softly.

He had thought Hikaru’s deeds were already outrageous enough, but now it seemed there had still been much left hidden.

"Is it really strange to hide some things?"

Hikaru chuckled and casually glanced toward the experimental tank again.

"Don’t you hide plenty yourself, Orochimaru? If I hadn’t gotten lucky and stumbled onto this opportunity, I might never have learned so much."

Orochimaru licked his lips.

That was not a question he intended to answer.

Nor did he wish to.

His attention shifted back to the technique, and after a moment of thought, he already knew what kind of answer he ought to give.

"Understood, Minister Hikaru."

Orochimaru’s tone had turned serious now.

"The reason you brought this technique to me is clear. You want me to verify whether it is real, and to continue developing it.

I will raise the priority of this research. And I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

"Will you?"

Hikaru nodded in approval, then smiled with faint curiosity.

"In that case, I’ll have to thank you. Though I wonder... won’t that affect the progress of your own research?"

"Sacrifice is necessary if one wishes to gain."

Orochimaru’s smile mirrored Hikaru’s own now.

"With your protection, Minister, I should remain relatively safe for the time being.

Besides, I’m genuinely curious to see whether this technique can truly succeed.

No one would willingly give up such an opportunity."

"In that case, I suppose we have an understanding. Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation."

This time, the smiles on both their faces looked strikingly similar.

And then, in the very next moment, both smiles froze in exactly the same way.

Because both of them had just realized something at once.

"Are you certain it’s here?"

On a narrow forest path somewhere in the Land of Fire, two figures in black cloaks patterned with red clouds walked slowly through the trees.

At that moment, the one in front suddenly spoke.

Sunlight filtered down through the leaves overhead, revealing their features clearly.

The man at the front had short orange hair and pale purple eyes with concentric ripple patterns, as though they were endless circles.

The other, walking beside him, was a red-haired youth with an icy, expressionless face.

If Hikaru had been there to see them from the start, he would have recognized them instantly.

These two were none other than the Deva Path of Pain and Sasori.

And as soon as the question was asked, a white figure suddenly rose from the earth below them.

He glanced ahead before answering lazily.

"That’s right. Five hundred meters ahead, underground."

"A rat in a gutter," Sasori said coldly, his tone dripping with contempt. "Hiding underground." freewёbnoνel.com

His dislike for Orochimaru was obvious.

Orochimaru had defected, yes—but he had once belonged to Konoha.

More importantly, he had fought in the Second Shinobi War.

That alone was enough for Sasori to despise him.

Pain did not rebuke him.

He merely gave Sasori a brief glance before looking back at the white figure that had emerged from the ground.

It was, of course, White Zetsu.

After Orochimaru’s defection, Nagato had begun searching for his whereabouts.

Nagato was not especially good at locating people.

So he thought of the man who had once contacted him and called himself Uchiha Madara. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Obito and Black Zetsu had remained in the Land of Water, which made meeting them directly inconvenient.

But after contacting Nagato that first time, Obito had left a White Zetsu behind.

Its role was to serve as messenger—and to keep watch on Nagato and the others, judging how they behaved.

Now, naturally, that same White Zetsu had become Nagato’s best tool for locating Orochimaru.

Nagato was not so naive as to miss why it had been left there.

He simply did not care.

So long as it still had value, it could remain.

Now it was time for it to prove that value.

And Obito’s side had not disappointed him.

White Zetsu had been sent to handle the matter.

After all, its ability to track and search was obvious to anyone who had seen it at work.

It had not taken long for it to pinpoint one of Orochimaru’s hidden underground laboratories.

And that had led directly to this moment.

"So it’s here."

Pain nodded once.

"You may leave."

"One little warning," White Zetsu said carelessly. "There seems to be a very troublesome person with Orochimaru. I didn’t dare get too close, so I couldn’t tell who it was."

"Hmph. It makes no difference who it is."

Pain turned his head, his Rinnegan fixed on White Zetsu.

"Because I am a god."

Or rather, Nagato believed it with absolute certainty.

Because he had the Rinnegan.

This was only the second time he had personally moved.

The first had been when he dealt with Kakuzu—a test of the Rinnegan’s power after he had fully awakened it.

This would be the second.

And in his mind, it was also a gesture of respect to Orochimaru.

After all, Orochimaru was one of the Three Sannin, just like his teacher Jiraiya.

A man of that stature deserved to be approached with proper gravity.

Even if Nagato understood perfectly well that he and Jiraiya now walked different roads—ever since Yahiko’s death, that divergence had become inevitable—

it did not change the fact that Nagato still respected Jiraiya deeply.

Without that man, he and the others would never have entered the path of shinobi. They would never have gained even the chance to dream of changing the world.

So he had chosen to come in person.

Even though his real body was crippled.

Even though moving it was inconvenient.

He had still made that choice.

His true body currently lay hidden in the forest some distance away with Konan.

And to show proper respect, he had even chosen to deploy his strongest Path—

the Deva Path.

That body carried the authority of heaven itself.

Nagato did not believe anyone could stand against such power.

It did not take them long to reach the location White Zetsu had indicated.

Neither of them specialized in sensing, but both were sharp enough to notice the irregularities.

"This is the place," Pain said flatly. "The disguise is done well enough, but in the end, it’s only a trick."

"Right," Sasori said calmly. "The soil has been tampered with. It would fool ordinary shinobi, but unfortunately for him, we’re not ordinary shinobi. So—do you want to do it, or should I? If we’re dragging a rat out of its hole, either one works."

"After they come out, we’ll decide. For now, I’ll do it."

Pain gave Sasori a glance.

He understood very well that Sasori had wanted to act.

But that did not bother him.

He had never expected all members of the organization to live in harmony.

To gather strong people, he naturally had to recruit those who had already proven themselves.

And if he could not easily target the strong within villages, then the easiest people to recruit were always missing-nin.

And missing-nin, by their nature, were almost never easy to tame.

As long as they did not betray him, Nagato had no intention of bothering with such things.

Slowly, he raised one hand.

A vast wave of chakra surged through his body, linking to the Rinnegan and producing a pressure too immense to ignore.

As that chakra reached its peak, an overwhelming repulsive force burst from his palm.

The earth shook.

Everything before him—rock, tree, soil—was blasted backward in an instant.

"Heavenly Path: Almighty Push."

Inside the underground laboratory, the earth was shaking violently.

The smile had already vanished from Hikaru’s face, and he was now staring straight at Orochimaru.

At the same time, Orochimaru’s expression had grown severe.

His smile was gone as well.

He truly had not expected his current base to be attacked.

Yes—attacked.

He could tell that much immediately.

But why?

Why had this place been found?

He had chosen this location carefully.

It was far from any town. No hunters lived nearby. Under normal circumstances, no one should have found it at all.

He had been here for some time now.

He had already scouted and understood the surrounding terrain thoroughly.

And yet, the very moment Hikaru arrived, his position had somehow been exposed.

For an instant, Orochimaru could not help wondering whether Hikaru had decided to abandon him.

But if that were true, then why had Hikaru shown him that scroll?

Was it arrogance?

Or had even the Minister himself failed to predict what was happening?

Orochimaru could not make sense of it.

And Hikaru was equally puzzled.

He truly could not understand what was going on either.

His first instinct had been to assume Orochimaru had grown tired of living and decided to attack him.

But thinking it through, Hikaru no longer believed that.

Orochimaru could be bold, yes.

He had pursued Sharingan. He had even coveted the Rinnegan.

But every time he overreached, he paid for it.

Hikaru did not believe Orochimaru was so blind to reality.

Which meant this probably had nothing to do with him after all.

"This is getting irritating."

Hikaru sighed inwardly.

This trip really had become a string of alternating good fortune and bad.

Ever since receiving such a pile of rewards, it felt as though his luck had abruptly soured.

From Kimimaro’s useless bone, to now being attacked for no obvious reason—

the whole thing was mildly infuriating.

He only hoped that once he returned and planted Uchiha Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan, that run of bad luck would not interfere with the result.

"Looks like you’ve made quite a few enemies, Orochimaru."

Hikaru raised a brow, the faint mockery in his tone impossible to miss.

"So it would seem," Orochimaru replied, licking his lips lightly. "Life has a way of producing enemies in the most inconvenient of places."

"Don’t test me. If anything, I should be the one questioning you."

Hikaru immediately understood the implication in Orochimaru’s words and could not help laughing.

"I think we should head outside. This place is probably about to collapse."

"Agreed."

A cold glint flashed through Orochimaru’s eyes.

"I’d like to see exactly who destroyed my laboratory. I only just settled here."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Hikaru blurred and appeared beside Kabuto.

For someone untrained like Kabuto, this kind of violent shaking was little short of a nightmare.

Hikaru had never intended to raise him the way Danzō had used Root resources to raise children.

There was no need.

Kabuto already had a teacher more than qualified to shape him—Orochimaru.

So there was no reason for ANBU to spend effort on that.

For now, Kabuto was still an ordinary child.

If Hikaru did not look after him here, he might very well die from the collapse before ever becoming useful.

Flying Thunder God activated in an instant.

One moment, they were inside the trembling laboratory.

The next, Hikaru had already appeared outside with Kabuto in tow.

But the moment he landed and saw the two figures standing there, his expression turned distinctly strange.

"Why is it them?"

For all the possibilities he had considered, he truly had not expected members of Akatsuki.

Even before seeing their faces clearly, those black cloaks with red clouds were unmistakable.

Recognizing them required no effort at all.

Hikaru was far too familiar with Akatsuki by now.

Not merely through the story he knew, but through his own encounters with them.

First Kakuzu.

Then later Sasori.

Then Sasori and Konan in Sunagakure.

At this point, if Obito was included, the hatred between them had already become rather deep.

"A damned bunch of ghosts."

He muttered it under his breath just as Orochimaru emerged from the earth.

Orochimaru looked from the two figures ahead to Hikaru beside him, then asked with obvious interest,

"You know them, Minister?"

"In a way. It isn’t the first time I’ve met them."

Hikaru’s gaze swept across the pair.

Then, suddenly, his eyes sharpened.

"Oh. This is interesting. It’s actually him."

"What do you mean?" Orochimaru’s curiosity deepened immediately.

"A troublesome man," Hikaru said with a faint smile, though his expression had already grown grave. "The sort of man who would be troublesome even for me."

Nagato.

Or more precisely—

the Deva Path of Pain.

Now that the smoke and dust had thinned enough, Hikaru could finally see who had come.

He truly had not expected it to be Nagato himself.

Then again, after noticing Sasori standing beside him, he could roughly guess what had happened.

In the original timeline, Orochimaru had joined Akatsuki after being approached by Pain and Sasori.

Could it be that his own visit to discuss experimental research had collided directly with that recruitment attempt?

That explanation certainly fit.

With that thought, Hikaru let out a quiet sigh.

He had always known he would clash with Akatsuki sooner or later.

And Nagato, especially, had never been someone he could avoid forever.

Of course, that did not mean Hikaru had intended to avoid him.

He simply had not known when their paths would cross.

Now it seemed the timing had come earlier than expected.

"Still, maybe earlier isn’t entirely bad," Hikaru thought. "At least Nagato isn’t yet as strong as he was in the original timeline."

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he passed Kabuto over to Orochimaru and stepped forward alone.

In the original story, Orochimaru had been defeated by Pain and Sasori almost immediately, then forced into Akatsuki.

Admittedly, that also had something to do with Orochimaru becoming greedy for the Rinnegan.

Hikaru would not deny that he himself had similar thoughts.

But what interested him more right now was testing the waters.

He had gained far too many new powers recently, yet had never truly gone all out with his true identity.

This time, facing Nagato, he intended to let Senju Hikaru’s strength erupt fully—

just to see what it could really do.

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