The next morning, Yusuke's family dressed in black clothes for the memorial service and left early to head to the location.
At this time, the weather was very clear, and many people were already on their way to the memorial service site, including ordinary villagers and many ninjas.
Everyone looked very sorrowful, and there was little conversation among the people on the road. Even when acquaintances met, they only nodded at each other as a form of greeting.
It was clear that although the war had ended, the sacrifice of so many fellow villagers still hung heavily in people's hearts like a dark cloud.
On Yusuke's right was his mother, Uchiha Ye Yue, and with his left hand, he was holding Izumi's hand. The three had arrived in front of the Martyrs' Monument, where the memorial service was to be held.
They did not wait long before the area in front of the monument was filled with people, all dressed in black clothing.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Third Hokage slowly walked up to the monument and began to pay tribute to the martyrs who had died in the Third Ninja War.
Many of those attending the service had lost friends or family members in the war, and upon hearing the Third Hokage's emotional speech, many could not hold back their tears. The entire service was filled with the sounds of crying.
At this moment, the Third Hokage did not appear as frail as he did in the original story. While not particularly tall, his posture was still straight and dignified.
However, Yusuke could tell that the Third Hokage was gradually entering the twilight of his years, and with his growing age, his strength was beginning to decline.
The memorial service did not last long. After the ceremony to honor the fallen, the Third Hokage made an announcement that shocked everyone.
The Third Hokage believed that the village had suffered too much in this war, and that much of it was his own responsibility. He decided to step down and select the Fourth Hokage to lead the village.
Although many people in the village opposed the decision, the Third Hokage insisted on his choice and announced the two candidates for the Fourth Hokage: Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, and Minato Namikaze, the "Yellow Flash."
Among the two candidates, Orochimaru was nominated by the Elder Council, while Minato was nominated by the Third Hokage himself. There had been thoughts of nominating Uchiha Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan, to run for the position, but Uchiha Fugaku had refused.
As a person who had crossed over from another world, Yusuke knew that the eventual winner of the election would be Minato Namikaze, but that was to be expected.
Orochimaru, with his terrifying and sinister appearance, was simply not suitable for the position. He looked so ominous that he could easily scare people with his mere presence—no one would choose someone so frightening to be Hokage.
On the other hand, Minato, a disciple of Jiraiya, not only had great strength and many accomplishments, but he was also humble, came from a common background, and was very inspiring. He had already become the most popular person in the village.
If Minato did not win, people in the village might suspect there was something wrong with the election process.
In a remote corner of the Konoha Village cemetery, in front of an unknown tombstone, a pale-skinned boy with long black hair was lamenting to himself, "Lamenting for the dead has no meaning. If death has meaning, it only exists when it can be used."
The person lamenting was none other than Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin.
"What is the meaning of life?" A boy, about six or seven years old with delicate features, suddenly approached Orochimaru and asked curiously.
Orochimaru glanced at the boy with admiration. Due to his eerie appearance and the subtle killing intent he exuded, even high-ranking ninjas would typically avoid him, and few would speak to him unless necessary.
However, this little boy did not show any fear. Instead, he looked at him with a calm, respectful demeanor.
"It has no meaning," Orochimaru slowly replied, then added, "If there is meaning, it only exists when life is eternal."
"Orochimaru-sama, I still have a mission tomorrow, and I don't have much time. Let's get started today," a voice suddenly interrupted their discussion on the eternal mystery of life.
Both Orochimaru and the boy turned to see a teenager in a ninja vest walking toward them. It was Yusuke.
Having made an appointment to meet with Orochimaru, Yusuke had asked Uchiha Ye Yue and Izumi to return home first, and he stayed behind for a while to wait for Orochimaru.
After hearing Yusuke's words, Orochimaru nodded to the boy and then said to Yusuke, "Yusuke-kun, I'm terribly sorry. As I get older, I tend to make these useless lamentations. Let's meet at the usual place." With that, Orochimaru quickly disappeared from the cemetery in a series of body flickers.
Yusuke glanced at the boy's delicate features and immediately recognized him. It was none other than Uchiha Itachi, the tragic genius of the Uchiha clan.
At this time, Itachi was still a very cute little boy, but his eyes seemed to contain countless hidden thoughts.
Yusuke wasn't very familiar with Itachi. After finding Orochimaru, he said nothing further and formed a hand seal with his left hand at his chest. In a burst of flames, he disappeared, heading toward the agreed meeting location with Orochimaru.
"Was that big brother just now the 'Flame Tai Dao' Yusuke-senpai?" Itachi murmured to himself.
Since arriving in the world of Naruto, Orochimaru had become somewhat of a friend to Yusuke, though their interactions were mostly related to ninjutsu.
Yusuke, having been a scientist before crossing over, was deeply fascinated by the development of ninjutsu, and Orochimaru, being a "scientist" of sorts in the world of ninjas, shared many common interests with him.
Because of this, although Yusuke addressed Orochimaru as "Orochimaru-sama," he spoke to him very casually, like a friend.
While Yusuke didn't specialize in Orochimaru's expertise in "biological science," he focused on researching energy and how it functions. In the world of Naruto, this meant studying chakra and ninjutsu.
In one of Orochimaru's secret bases, Yusuke and Orochimaru were discussing the development of new ninjutsu.
"Yusuke-kun, your ideas on cell gene inheritance have given me great inspiration. Combining it with the first Hokage's cells has greatly improved the curse marks. Don't you want to try it yourself?" Orochimaru coaxed.
"I'm not interested. Rather than conducting all sorts of experiments on my own body, I'd prefer to develop my own power," Yusuke declined.
He had no interest in letting Orochimaru place his untested curse marks on him. Besides, Yusuke knew that these curse marks were one of the methods Orochimaru used in his "Forbidden Rebirth" technique.
"Is that so? What a shame," Orochimaru said regretfully, then suddenly formed hand seals. His body transformed into hundreds of white snakes that charged toward Yusuke.
Seeing this, Yusuke swiftly retreated, and a katana appeared in his right hand—his Zanpakuto, Ryōjin Jakka.
At this moment, Yusuke had not yet released his Shikai, so Ryōjin Jakka was in its normal katana form, without flames.
Yusuke swung his sword rapidly, cutting through the approaching white snakes. However, to his surprise, the snakes seemed to have no physical form, and his sword passed straight through them.
Hundreds of white snakes took this opportunity to overwhelm Yusuke, sinking their fangs into him. Where they bit, the flesh began to petrify. Soon, Yusuke's entire body was petrified and submerged by the snakes.
With a "poof," a fire burst from among the snakes, and in a flash of flame, Yusuke had disappeared from their grasp.
"Did you succeed with that technique? Your speed is beyond what I expected," Yusuke's voice suddenly came from another direction. It turned out that he had used a Fire Clone Technique.
The hundreds of white snakes quickly gathered together, eventually reforming into Orochimaru.
Orochimaru pulled out a scroll from his robes and threw it to Yusuke, saying, "Originally, I was just helping you develop new ninjutsu, but this gave me some inspiration as well. I made some modifications to the Thousand Snakes Substitute Technique. With the addition of genjutsu and elemental chakra, it's even more unpredictable now."
Yusuke caught the scroll, opened it, and began to examine it closely. After a moment, he closed the scroll and tucked it into his chest, then quickly began forming hand seals.
"Fire Genjutsu: Raven Technique!"
Yusuke's body suddenly began to split apart, and the pieces transformed into flaming crows.
These crows twisted and warped in the air, clearly not solid, or rather, not completely solid. Yusuke called them "Fire Genjutsu Ravens."
Once Yusuke's body was entirely split into dozens of these fire crows, they flew in a circle in the air for a moment before merging back into Yusuke.
The "Fire Genjutsu Raven Technique" was based on
the principles of summoning ninjutsu. By using the fire element chakra and the principles of genjutsu, Yusuke managed to create an unpredictable, fast-acting elemental ninjutsu that worked perfectly in combat.
At that moment, Orochimaru couldn't help but applaud. "Not bad. You've made such progress in such a short time. But this technique is not yet complete."
"I know." Yusuke nodded. "But I'm still working on it. After all, it's only been a few days."
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