Anko was fast asleep at her desk, a small trail of drool at the er of her mouth. Dango... more dango... yes, stack them higher...

  Being a purebred student aligned with the Hokage fa, as long as she didn't disrupt the css, no one really said much. The other students had learo ignore her soft snores, some envious of her privileged position.

  As Orochimaru's disciple, her path had already bee. Graduating was no issue whatsoever, and the school's graduation exams were far too simple for her.

  As for the geniios, Orochimaru most likely wouldn't make her repeat any csses either.

  What could she possibly learn here? She had already sighe tract with Ryūchi Cave.

  Although she had never visited Ryūchi Cave, she was curious about it and once mentio to Orochimaru. In response, he simply smiled at her, that curve of his lips that could mean anything or nothing.

  Uo figure it out, she decided not to think about it and tinued enjoying her sleep.

  It wasn't like she was sg iraining. The school's curriculum was mandatory, but the lessons paled in parison to what she learned from Orochimaru. Sleeping through css became her only option.

  Besides, who o know about proper kunai grip when you could summon snakes?

  In her dream, she was in a sweets shop, where they were hosting a special event: everything you could eat in-store was free. Mountains of colorful dango stretched toward the ceiling, each more tempting tha.

  She feasted to her heart's tent.

  "Anko."

  It seemed like someone was calling her. Go away... just five more dango...

  Unless it was Orochimaru's voice, she ig entirely.

  "Anko, wake up!" The voice grew more impatient.

  Huh? Someorying to take my sweets?

  Smack!

  Her head was lightly tapped.

  Ankily opened her eyes and saw the stern face of her teacher. Great timing, right when I was about to try the special fvor.

  "e with me," the schoolteacher said helplessly. In truth, Anko sleeping didn't disrupt the css, and he didn't want to wake her.

  Even though he was a in, the questions this kid asked were pletely beyond him.

  The writtes in the Ninja Academy were already brutal, but the kind of questions she came up with were entirely in the realm of Orochimaru's research.

  As his disciple, she was naturally on a different pne pared to ordinary ninja.

  Currently, Orochimaru was at the height of his prowess, having pleted 108 S-rank missions—a true gold-standard operative for Konoha.

  Although he had lost the Fourth Hokage ele, his reputation remained untarnished.

  Everyone knew Orochimaru didn't care about being Hokage anyway, right?

  "Sensei, is Orochimaru-sama here?" Anko asked excitedly, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

  e to think of it, it had been a while since Orochimaru st visited her at school.

  "No, it's Masashi-sama."

  "Masashi-sama?" Anko thought for a moment.

  She lived in the northern distrid hadn't been aware of the ails attack when it happened. However, the name sounded familiar.

  Was he one of Orochimaru's subordinates?

  Having someone else fetch her was typical of him—he was always too busy. So, she followed her him out of the , down the hall, and up the stairs.

  As they climbed higher and higher, her excitement started to wane. Somethi different about this summons.

  What was going on? Where were they going?

  The answer became clear soon enough. Her teacher brought her to the rooftop.

  There was only one person there, standihe edge with his back to them. The wily rustled his dark hair.

  He wore a Konoha ninja uniform with an armband embzoned with a fan symbol—he was an Uchiha.

  The Legendary Sannihe most iija trio in the world, sidered paragons of Kage-level power.

  Among the trio, both Orochimaru and Jiraiya had tless fans, particurly among oners. To them, the Sannin were proof that ordinary people could achieve greatness without relying on ied lineage.

  Orochimaru and Jiraiya weren't born into noble s or destined by bloodlihrough a mix of talent, opportunity, and sheer effort, they reached the pinnacle of what ordinary people could hope to achieve.

  Their stories were inspiring because they represehe path most people could aspire to follow.

  The Uchiha , by trast, symbolized the opposite. Known for their superieics, they were often seen as the embodiment of hereditary privilege.

  With geniuses aplenty and their infamous Sharingan, the Uchiha were undeniably formidable.

  No one in the ninja world uimated their visual jutsu, which is why the saying "Run if you fae-on-one bat" exists.

  The Uchiha's unpopurity stemmed rgely from this gulf between them and ordinary people—no other embodied the advantages of bloodline quite like they did.

  Even though many Uchiha weren't exceptionally strong or didn't possess Sharingan, their 's image remaihe same.

  "Masashi-sama," the teacher respectfully addressed the Uchiha. "This is Anko."

  "Uh…" Anko scratched her head, adopting an i expression. "Are you one of Orochimaru-sama's subordinates?"

  Outwardly carefree, Anko erceptive enough tnize from her teacher's demeanor that this Uchiha shouldn't be judged by his young age.

  She decided to py dumb for now, albeit clumsily.

  The teacher sighed. Ah, to be young and free of tact. Though she's sharper thas on.

  "No, I'm not," Masashi replied, unfazed. "I'm a teacher hired by the school, here to give you a lesson. Have you sighe Ryūchi Cave tract yet?"

  "Huh? How do you know?" Anko asked, genuinely curious, her act dropping for a moment.

  The Ryūchi Cave tract was supposed to be a secret.

  "Because I'm also a Ryūchi Cave summoner," Masashi said, lifting his hand.

  A small bake slithered out from his sleeve, coiling around his wrist and flig its to Anko.

  The teacher instinctively stepped back slightly, unfortable around snakes.

  Notig his unease, Masashi retracted the snake.

  "Thank you. I pn to take her outside for this lesson. What's the procedure for rep that?"

  "It's fine. Outdoor private lessons are on, and the paperwork was already handled when you were scheduled."

  "Good. I'll return her before the end of the day."

  With that, Masashi approached Anko, pced a hand on her shoulder, and in the blink of ahe two vanished from the rooftop.

  Left behind, the teacher simply marveled, "jonin are amazing," before returning to his work.

  This was the Ninja Academy, after all—a pce where extraordinary individuals were a daily occurrence.

  ---

  From Anko's perspective, the sery blurred, and she found herself in a forest.

  Looking around, she reized the western woods outside of Konoha. She had explored these woods before with Orochimaru, so they were familiar.

  "Amazing!" Anko excimed excitedly. "Is this space-time ninjutsu?"

  One of the bes of being Orochimaru's pupil was her broad perspective.

  For a student her age, this was an invaluable asset. Having such a wide frame of reference allowed her to uand herself better and chart her future path.

  "Orochimaru has taught you quite a bit," Masashi remarked.

  The Snake Sannin was a unique person. He was highly selective but extremely generous with those he favored.

  While most people guarded their knowledge of ninjutsu as their most precious resource, he feared his protégés knowing too little.

  Anko blinked, notig something peculiar in how Masashi referred to Orochimaru—without honorifics or defere also without aling tone. He speaks of Orochimaru-sama as an equal... but that's impossible, right?

  In her mind, only the other two Sannin could rival Orochimaru.

  Anko didn't overthink it. Instead, she became excited, eager to see what this eacher would teach her.

  "This is my first time giving a private lesson, so let's start by getting familiar with each other," Masashi said to her in the forest. "Attack me with everything you've got. Don't hold back—we're outside the vilge."

  "Got it," Anko replied seriously, pulling out a kunai.

  bat simution was the most popur css among students at the Ninja Academy.

  At the Application Stage, the school no longer set bat simution as a separate course, as students at this stage would engage in bat simutions almost daily, either in squads or solo.

  Anko was the campus bully.

  Ially, Itachi had also joihe Ninja Academy, but he graduated after just one year, in the same batch as Anko.

  Watg the aggressive Anko charge at him, Masashi couldn't help but pare the two of them.

  Ultimately, there was no real parison to be made.

  Among the Sannin, Jiraiya was clearly the best at teag and choosing disciples.

  Orochimaru, meanwhile, had an even worse track record than Tsunade; apart from Sasuke, none of his disciples had been particurly impressive.

  Anko attacked Masashi with taijutsu. Her movements flowed like water—quick jabs followed by sweeping kicks, each strike aimed at vital points.

  For her age, her movements were det, aamina was notably strong.

  She fought for a long time but couldn't even touch the hem of his clothing. Each time she came close, he would shift just slightly, makitacks miss by mere timeters.

  "Why 't I touch you?"

  "Your form is good, but you're too predictable. Think about why you're attag, not just how," Masashi responded, sidestepping a kick.

  Students at this age often have simple thoughts when teachers ask them to "try hitting me."

  If I nded a hit, the teacher would teach me something good.

  If I couldn't hit them, the teacher would be disappointed and wouldn't teach me anything good.

  It was… a bit naive.

  Anko began f hand seals. Her speed wasn't fast but was above the passing mark.

  After finishing the seals, she extended her hand, summoning multiple snakes from her arm.

  Uhe Orochimaru-style Substitution, the Striking Shadow Snakes wasn't something Orochimaru had devoted much researto.

  Essentially, it was just summoning snakes from the Ryūchi Cave. The strohe ninja, the more shey could summon, and the rger the snakes.

  He gave this move the air of a serious jutsu because he had ied summoning with his body-enhaeiques.

  The small snakes summoned by Anko barely approached Masashi before being swatted away by a tail.

  The tail beloo a massive snake nearly teers long, coiled around and surrounding Masashi.

  Anko g the dazed little snakes lying on the ground, then at the giant snake in front of her, and pouted.

  She didn't know many ninjutsu teiques yet. Orochimaru had mainly been fog on filling her head with knowledge. Her primary efforts had been directed tohysical training, as per his instrus.

  To be fair, Orochimaru-style ninjutsu relied heavily on physical ditioning.

  "All right, I have a pretty good idea of your level now," Masashi said, dispelling the summoned creature.

  Walking back to Anko, he reached out to pat her shoulder and said, "Let's head back. I'll treat you to some food."

  Just as his hand was about to touch her shoulder, he suddenly stopped and pulled it back.

  Anko looked at him in fusion.

  "I just remembered something," Masashi said. "Do you know your way back?"

  "Huh? Oh, yes, I do."

  "Hmm. I was thinking of letting you head ba your own, but it seems someone disagrees with that idea," Masashi said, turning to look at the figure standing in the shadow of the trees behind him.

  "So, this is how protective you are of your students?"

  "Oh, it's Masashi."

  A pale-skinned man stepped out of the shadows. His iic outfit and unmistakable face made it clear: Orochimaru.

  "I thought someone had taken Anko away."

  When he spoke, his tone was always unhurried, never overly forceful, but full of fidence.

  However, Masashi thought his demeanor was even more unpleasant tha time they met.

  "Lately, you've been making quite a name for yourself. No, wait…" Orochimaru's snake-like eyes gleamed with something akin to i. "It seems you've stopped hiding your strength as much as you used to?"

  "You make it sound like I have ulterior motives," Masashi replied. "Isn't it only natural to keep certain things under s?"

  "You're the 'intelligence expert' among the Sannin, so you uand this better than anyone."

  "Indeed," Orochimaru admitted readily.

  The title of Sannin had a slightly embarrassing in. It was bestowed ohree of them after they were beaten by Hanzō in the Land of Rain. Over time, as Hanzō remained silent about the battle, the embarrassiails of the Sannin's in faded from memory.

  Orochimaru, who excelled ih and intelligehering, had made intelligence sed nature.

  In the Sannin's usual setup, he was the frontliacker, drawing enemy attention while using his highly resilient jutsu to gather and analyze enemy intelligen the spot.

  Jiraiya would then deliver the finishing blow.

  Orochimaru was very ied in Masashi's intelligence. He hadn't paid much attention before, but once he did, it wasn't easy to find an opportunity to act.

  When he learned Masashi had taken Anko, he thought it was the perfect ce.

  Of course, he couldn't shoenly and instead brought up Anko as the reason. After all, cealing your true iions was a basija skill.

  Fights between ninjas were battles of the mind.

  "While you may be the man of the hour, taking my disciple without a word makes me unfortable," he said with a slight smile.

  "Failing to unicate with the 'guardian' was indeed my ht. After all, this is my first time teag," Masashi said, pretending to sigh deeply.

  Like I'd believe that nonsense.

  But this suited him just fine. His real goal was to lure Orochimaru out and gauge his current state.

  The killing i and bloodlust were unmistakable, rolling off him in waves that made the air feel thick.

  For most ninjas, such emotio they were genuinely about to kill someone. For Orochimaru, though, they didn't mean much. Killing and fighting were one and the same to him.

  Truly a vilin motivated by curiosity.