"Partner? You still need to find a partner?"
"Now you're the famous Hokage and the Chief Advisor of the Empire, the mastermind behind the scenes controlling the entire ninja world!"
"Who else do you need to cooperate with?"
Since it wasn't an enemy, Tsunade felt more relaxed, but her curiosity was still unbearable.
"Indeed, this is a very important partner, and this person is extraordinary, far more impressive than me. You don't need to know the details, it's not a bad thing."
"Take a rest first, I'll come see you later."
Orochimaru smiled faintly, his mood clearly very good.
"So mysterious, what exactly are you two planning?"
"What plan? If everything goes well, your younger brother might be revived sooner!"
"You... Fine, whatever. I'll leave first..."
Hearing her brother Nawaki's name, Tsunade immediately became more serious. She suppressed her curiosity and decided to respect Orochimaru's agreement.
Even if it was a dirty deal, as long as it could revive her brother, she could pretend not to see it.
After all, after so many years in Konoha, she had already seen plenty of dark and dirty transactions.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Tsunade left, and Orochimaru welcomed Lux.
However, as soon as he approached, Orochimaru's pupils suddenly narrowed, his body trembled, and he felt an intense sense of vigilance, as if the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up.
The source of this fear and threat was, of course, Lux himself.
Yet, he didn't sense the slightest bit of malice, and only then realized that this might just be a natural instinct.
When facing a predator far stronger than oneself, living beings naturally feel a great sense of threat.
And a reptile's sense of danger is always very sharp. Even though Lux had tried his best to suppress his chakra, Orochimaru still felt a natural fear and anxiety.
"Sir! You..."
Orochimaru broke out in a cold sweat and asked cautiously, almost thinking that Lux was going to kill him after using him!
"Sorry. I'm not very good at controlling the pressure, I accidentally scared you..."
Lux smiled cheerfully, further suppressing the aura of his chakra and the soaring life-level pressure emanating from him.
Orochimaru was silent: "..."
Why did his words sound so arrogant?
"First of all, congratulations to the Fifth Hokage! You've successfully unified the ninja world, becoming the greatest Hokage in history!"
Lux offered his congratulations with a good mood.
"Haha, it's just a title. This isn't what I'm after, it's just a process."
Orochimaru responded humbly, but the smile on his lips couldn't be hidden.
Although he most desired scientific truth, he didn't mind becoming the Hokage, the ruler of the entire ninja world.
First, it could give him more valuable research materials, and he could conduct experiments freely.
Second, who wouldn't want to surpass their teacher and peers, and occasionally show off in front of them?
Otherwise, someone as strong as Orochimaru wouldn't have launched the plan to destroy Konoha.
He also wouldn't have fought one-on-one with his teacher, Hiruzen, as if showing off his skills.
However, now that he thought about it, Orochimaru felt deeply moved.
Remember, half a year ago, he was still a notorious Konoha rogue ninja infamous throughout the ninja world.
Yet in such a short time, he became the Hokage, destroyed the five villages, built an empire, and unified the ninja world...
It was like a grand dream.
Even before, Orochimaru wouldn't have dared to dream of such a thing.
But now it had become reality, making him feel deeply moved...
"You're indeed very humble and cautious. But that's good, if you really became arrogant, I'd have to find a way to bring you back to your senses."
Orochimaru immediately said seriously:
"No, no. Thanks to you, sir, I could reach this position. How could I possibly become arrogant!"
This was the truth.
He could summon several top-tier Kage-level fighters with a wave of his hand, and Orochimaru didn't think his snake skin could withstand attacks from Hashirama and Madara.
Not to mention Lux himself, who was extremely mysterious.
Just the life-level pressure he felt a moment ago had made Orochimaru break out in a cold sweat. How could he dare to have any hostile thoughts?
Orochimaru was very interested in gods and wanted to uncover the truth.
But he wasn't so arrogant as to think he could now match the Sage of Six Paths from a thousand years ago, or Lux, who might be on par with him.
If he didn't have this level of judgment and caution, Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to survive until the Boruto era.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"Alright, let's talk seriously."
"Please, sir."
"First: Although the ninja world has been unified, the road to peace is still long and difficult."
"I'm sure you're aware of this too. How you govern the empire, reform Konoha, develop the ninja system... I won't interfere."
"But before implementing any policies or experiments, you must ensure that they won't affect the stability and governance of the empire!"
"This is my only request, or more bluntly, my only warning. If the empire falls apart, if the ninja world descends into chaos..."
"I will step in, kill everyone in Konoha, and stop everything!"
"Remember, this is not a joke!"
Lux changed his tone, delivering a cold warning.
He directly stated his request and boundary: after unification, Orochimaru could do anything in the ninja world, but the boundary was that he must not disrupt the unity, causing the ninja world to split again.
Especially in the next twenty years, if the empire falls apart, not only will the years of peace be reset, the progress of unification will also be forcibly reset.
This means all of Lux's early efforts would be in vain.
This is unacceptable!
If it really came to that, Lux might not hesitate to step in, killing Orochimaru and everyone!
Or perhaps directly ask the Ōtsutsuki to rule through enslavement.
Orochimaru was momentarily stunned, feeling for the first time such a clear and strict request from Lux, or more accurately, an overt threat.
However, he quickly calmed down:
"Sir, is this your only request?"
"Yes, this is my only request!"
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Just ensuring the ninja world doesn't split and descend into chaos again, that's not too difficult."
Orochimaru nodded in agreement, not too worried.
The hardest part of unifying the ninja world was already done. Maintaining unity shouldn't be harder.
Without Lux's intervention and help, he might have already died at the hands of his teacher, Hiruzen; or if not, he might still be a rogue ninja.
How could he have become the Hokage? How could he have obtained so many rare research materials!
Lux had helped him so much. If he really had no demands at all, Orochimaru might have found it even harder to sleep.
And with Orochimaru's abilities and skills, maintaining unity wasn't difficult.
Lux deliberately gave this warning because he was worried Orochimaru might lose sight of priorities in the future, becoming too obsessed with forbidden experiments and causing chaos in the ninja world.
This was entirely possible for Orochimaru, who was obsessed with science!
Therefore, he needed to give an early warning.
After all, Orochimaru was a smart person.
At this stage, rather than being vague with hidden hints, it was better to speak frankly.
This was clearly safer and more reliable.
Of course, this was also because Lux had fully reached the Six Paths level. Absolute power gave him enough confidence and assurance.