Chapter 8: Learning with Uncle Snake.

Orochimaru retracted his previous statement. Naruto wasn't suitable to be his vessel. If possible, he really wanted to cut open his head to see if it was filled with ramen.

"Oh, oh, Chakra leaked!"

"You idiot, didn't you notice you made a mistake in the hand seals just now?"

Naruto had been training with Orochimaru for several months, but he couldn't even perform basic hand seals correctly. Orochimaru had no intention of teaching him forbidden jutsu. Who knows what would happen if he made a mistake with such powerful jutsu? Orochimaru definitely didn't want to die alongside Naruto.

"Is that so? When can I learn the Impure World Reincarnation...?"

Naruto scratched his head, dispersing the chakra and continuing to practice the hand seals, his mood low as he muttered to himself.

"Stop practicing. The Impure World Reincarnation jutsu isn't complete yet. It's useless to practice it so early. Actually, there aren't many useful techniques recorded in the Scroll of Seals of Konoha."

Orochimaru scoffed at the Scroll of Seals of Konoha. It did indeed contain many powerful techniques, but they were useless for humans to learn. For example, the Flying Thunder God technique. Apart from the Fourth Hokage, no one else in the village could learn it, and the Fourth Hokage died before he could write down his insights in the Scroll of Seals.

"What do you mean by 'not complete'?"

"What is summoned is a puppet, unable to think for itself. Although it retains some of its habits from when it was alive, it still requires the user's orders. It's no different from being a puppeteer."

"So even if I meet my parents, I won't be able to have a normal conversation...?"

"That's why I need to perfect it. I will drag the souls of the dead back from the Netherworld and achieve true reincarnation."

"Is that even possible? That's amazing!"

Without a doubt, Orochimaru ascended to the position of the person Naruto admired the most. Orochimaru looked at Naruto's eyes sparkling with admiration and felt satisfied.

"Orochimaru-sama, the specimens have arrived."

A man wearing an animal mask suddenly appeared in the room. Naruto only knew him as "Kabuto" and that he had white hair, nothing more.

"Kabuto, there are snakes!"

Naruto keenly noticed two snakes moving on the wall behind Kabuto and immediately took out two shurikens and threw them accurately, hitting the heads of the two snakes.

"You brat!"

Kabuto was extremely shocked. He didn't expect someone to dare to kill snakes in front of Orochimaru. He could almost see Naruto being submerged in formalin.

"These two snakes can be eaten. Just grill them, Snake Uncle. Do you want to eat?"

Naruto continued to act recklessly, waving the corpses of the two snakes in front of Orochimaru.

"Hehehe, I don't need them, Kabuto, take him downstairs."

Orochimaru let out a strange laugh, surprising Kabuto with his lack of anger.

"Kabuto, I'm just interested in studying the behavior of snakes. I didn't turn into a snake myself, you know."

"I'm sorry! I misunderstood, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru's calm words made Kabuto's back drenched in sweat. He had indeed always seen Orochimaru as a snake...

...

"Is this the sealing space?"

Orochimaru looked at the orange-yellow space before him and licked his lips in excitement.

After using medication to make Naruto fall asleep, Orochimaru had spent a long time researching before finally opening the pathway to enter the sealing. As a precaution, he had taken various measures.

"I thought it was something else, but it turns out a little snake snuck in."

Not long after walking, Orochimaru saw the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within. It lay on the ground, looking down on Orochimaru with disdain in its tone.

"Well, you're... friendlier than I imagined."

Orochimaru said strangely. He had prepared himself for the possibility of the Nine-Tails attacking wildly. Now that he saw the Nine-Tails looking somewhat disinterested, he felt a bit foolish.

"Speaking of which, what have you been doing to my host lately? I'm quite displeased. And now you dare to enter my territory by yourself. Aren't you afraid of death?"

Judging from your tone, are you very concerned about that brat?"

"Hmph, I just find him slightly more agreeable than those hypocritical jinchuriki."

"I never expected that the Nine-Tailed Fox would be so concerned about a child. But even if I do something to him, what can you do while you're sealed away...?"

Orochimaru glanced around, wondering why he hadn't seen the seal. He roughly calculated Minato's sealing technique, and there should have been some kind of cage. Why hadn't it appeared in his field of vision yet?

"Your seal has been released?"

Orochimaru finally realized that something was wrong. He had overlooked such an important detail because, in his subconscious, it was impossible for the Nine-Tails to break free from the seal, at least not now. If it did, it would be a repeat of the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha.

"You got it right."

In an instant, the Nine-Tails appeared before Orochimaru and raised its paw, smashing him into pieces.

"Tch, just a clone."

"Kurama, what happened?"

At that moment, Minato, whose senses had been cut off by the Nine-Tails, was released from its tail and asked with curiosity.

"Nothing much, just squashed a little snake."

"It's really a time bomb."

Orochimaru removed his hand from Naruto's abdomen. Even with his disposition, he could only smile bitterly. He finally understood. The seal on Naruto's abdomen was just a cover-up. The Nine-Tails probably didn't want people to know.

"Snake Uncle, what's wrong? Your face looks pale."

Naruto gradually regained consciousness and looked at Orochimaru, whose face, already pale, turned even whiter. He said curiously.

"It's nothing. You can go home now."

Orochimaru shook his head. Even if Naruto was a time bomb, he wouldn't let go at this point. The more dangerous something was to him, the more valuable it became. Even if he were shattered into pieces, he had no fear. That's what made a great scientist.

However, the idea of using Naruto as a vessel had to be put aside. The Nine-Tails wasn't someone to be trifled with. At this stage, his techniques were nowhere near capable of extracting a tailed beast, let alone an unsealed one.

...

Time flies, and several months have passed.

"You made the seal wrong again!"

Orochimaru's shout came from the basement. Naruto had finally learned the basic seals for the Impure World Reincarnation, but he accidentally made a mistake again. Orochimaru truly had no words to express his frustration. Why were there such foolish people in the world? And why did he stupidly take him as his disciple? Wait a minute, disciple? Something felt off. At first, keeping him by his side didn't seem to be the purpose. It was something a bit more sinister...

"Huh, but I think it's correct."

Naruto's voice interrupted Orochimaru's contemplation of life. There was no leakage or rampage of chakra from him.

"What nonsense are you talking about? This kind... hmm?"

Orochimaru looked at the flow of chakra in Naruto's body and replicated the hand seals he made. He found that the chakra flow wasn't blocked but rather became smoother.

"Kid, how did you manage that?"

"???"

"No, never mind. Inspiration is an important thing."

Seeing Naruto's clueless expression, Orochimaru gave up on further questioning. He treated it as a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead rat.

"Snake Uncle, when will I be able to revive my parents?"

"It's still too early. Your chakra isn't enough to control such a powerful ninjutsu. You'll have to wait for another seven or eight years, at least."

"Huh? That long?"

"The body is the vessel of the soul. Without a physical body, the Impure World Reincarnation cannot be used. If you want to revive them, do you know where your parents' bodies are?"

"I don't know."

"Then focus on training. Everything will fall into place in due time. I will find a solution for you."

Of course, Orochimaru knew who Naruto's parents were and that his father's revival was not as simple as it seemed. He shifted his gaze to a Shinigami mask on the table.

"Thank you, Snake Uncle. It's great to meet you. See you tomorrow."

Naruto flashed his trademark silly smile, waved his hand, and left the basement.

"Tomorrow, huh..."

Orochimaru revealed a chilling smile. He didn't know why he was helping Naruto. Perhaps he saw a reflection of himself in him, or maybe he had grown accustomed to his silly smile. In the months since he had met Naruto, his life had gained some flavor compared to the monotonous research before, although he couldn't say it was a pleasant flavor.

"Orochimaru-sama, this place has been discovered."

Kabuto silently emerged from the shadows and spoke softly.

"Then let's go. It's time to leave Konoha."