Faced with what could be described as a multiple-choice question, the original Orochimaru might have hesitated for a moment, but these were different times.
Having lived through the information explosion of the previous life's digital age, Orochimaru had very little aversion to an act as simple as a light peck. He had seen plenty of simps waste ten years for nothing, only to watch someone walk into a bar and call another man husband overnight.
Besides, the reward was Hawkeye's dynamic vision. In his past life, Orochimaru had worked in biological research and had a fair understanding of various animals.
Eagles could spot moving prey from a distance of ten kilometers. Flying at an altitude of thousands of meters while moving at high speeds, they could still easily detect prey hiding beneath the grass—truly mind-boggling.
An eagle's cone cell density was six to seven times that of a human, and its optic nerves were far more agile. For a human, spotting a bug twenty meters away was quite difficult, but for an eagle, it was effortless. They could easily observe small insects a hundred meters away and constantly adjust their focal length while moving at high speeds to take in more details.
From this alone, it was clear that this reward was no ordinary thing, entirely capable of rivaling the Sharingan and the Byakugan.
These thoughts flashed rapidly through Orochimaru's mind, and he immediately said, "If I don't care about you, who will?"
Dreading sudden affection, Tsunade was utterly shocked to hear those words spoken by Orochimaru's icy lips. Was this still the Orochimaru she knew? Could it be that his body had been possessed by someone else?
It could be said that Tsunade's guess at that moment was remarkably close to the truth, but Orochimaru ignored her shock and continued, "I wonder if you've ever heard a saying?"
Without waiting for her to respond, Orochimaru slowly leaned close to Tsunade's ear and whispered, "The good die young, while scourges live for a thousand years!"
Without caring what Tsunade's reaction might be, Orochimaru snatched the pendant from her hand and, with lightning speed, gently pecked her on the cheek.
Having done that, Orochimaru hurriedly activated the Body Flicker Technique and vanished in an instant.
This series of actions was performed in one smooth motion. Orochimaru poured every ounce of strength he had into it, completely disregarding chakra consumption, and arrived outside the cemetery in a flash.
Five or six seconds later, Tsunade finally snapped back to her senses, realizing what had just happened, and a surge of furious embarrassment flooded her heart.
"O-ro-chi-ma-ru!"
Hearing the explosion echoing from the depths of the cemetery, Orochimaru involuntarily shivered, and his feet moved even faster.
He wondered whose poor grave was about to suffer; even in death, they couldn't rest in peace. They probably hadn't checked the geomancy when burying him, and Tsunade's Monstrous Strength was truly chilling to contemplate.
Kissing a dead lover's girlfriend right in front of his grave—such a thrilling stunt would probably make Kato Dan leap out of his coffin to fight Orochimaru to the death if he knew.
The system prompt had already sounded the moment he fled the cemetery, and he hurriedly checked it now.
"Congratulations to the host for making a wise choice and acquiring 'Hawkeye'. Would you like to merge now?"
As soon as he returned home, Orochimaru impatiently chose to merge.
Unlike the painful physical fusion of yesterday, this time the reaction was confined to his eyes, feeling cool and immensely comfortable. Orochimaru quickly closed his eyes to protect them from external irritation.
Barely a few minutes passed before the system prompt rang out again:
"Congratulations to the host on a successful fusion, acquiring the ability of Hawkeye. (Note: Any Ninjutsu of yours is utterly meaningless in front of these eyes of mine! What kind of research can you hope to do without good eyes?)"
Quite a bold tone—aren't these Itachi's lines? Who would have thought the system had such a high-and-mighty ego!
Orochimaru slowly opened his eyes, and a brand-new vista came into view.
Every single object in the room was captured at a glance; even the tiny specs of dust on the floor could be seen, and the ornaments in the dark corners were equally crystal clear.
Orochimaru walked out of the room, leaped up onto the roof, and intended to test the capabilities of these eyes more comprehensively.
Just as he had guessed, the scenery a hundred meters away floated clearly before his eyes.
The eaves, still dripping from the recent rain, were magnified in his focused gaze. The next moment, the falling raindrops moved in agonizingly slow motion, and the splashing water droplets could be seen with absolute clarity.
When he looked at pedestrians on the street, he could observe the pimples, moles, and even pores on their faces. Their movements were like slow-motion playback, every action clearly visible and even predictable.
Did this not mean that in future battles, he would be able to see through enemy attacks entirely while predicting them and spotting their flaws?
Orochimaru continuously adjusted the focal length of his eyeballs, and his orange-yellow lenses kept shifting.
Just as a dry sensation began to well up in his eyes, a burst of spiritual energy automatically flowed into them, causing the scene before him to transform once more.
"Holy shit, infrared thermal imaging!"
Orochimaru was once again shocked by the sight before him. No wonder eagles could spot hidden prey from thousands of meters in the sky; the legendary infrared thermal imaging function was indeed true.
An ultra-long range, extremely powerful dynamic visual capture capability, and infrared thermal imaging vision—he wouldn't trade this even for the Sharingan and the Byakugan!
"It seems my choice just now was a wise one. Even if I get beaten to a pulp by Tsunade, it was worth it. I didn't take such a huge risk for nothing."
At this thought, the corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled up slightly, and his tongue involuntarily slipped out to lick his lips.
"Hmm? No, this disgusting habit has to go. It wouldn't do to scare the little kids."
Orochimaru quickly pulled his tongue back, then spread his palm to reveal the crystal pendant he had just snatched from Tsunade.
Everyone who had kissed Tsunade, and everyone Tsunade had ever kissed, had died. Add to that this legendary cursed necklace.
A normal person probably wouldn't dare court death like this, but Sister Snake—bah... what did Uncle Snake have to fear?
If he went out and claimed Orochimaru was the hardest person in the Shinobi World to kill, who would dare refute it? His whole schtick was having extra lives.
Of course, that was only after he developed Living Corpse Reincarnation, Snake Body Substitution, and the Heaven and Earth Cursed Seals.
The current Orochimaru still had a long way to go.
With this thought, Orochimaru returned to the courtyard in front of his house and slowly spat a long sword out from his mouth.
This sword somewhat resembled the Daoist long swords from Orochimaru's memories of his past life, though the hilt wrapped in snake scales suited Orochimaru even better.
There were three Kusanagi Swords in this world: one was the Heavenly-Gathering Sword before him, another was the Sword of Nunoboko that Sasuke would use in the future—which also had the best appearance, though its current whereabouts were unknown—and the last was the Totsuka Blade, also known as the Sake-Cutter Sword, whose location was likewise a mystery at present.
Looking at the Heavenly-Gathering Sword covered in saliva, Orochimaru wore a look of mild disgust.
"It seems my previous self really liked this sword, or he wouldn't have hidden it in his belly. It's just that this behavior is a bit gross."
Orochimaru decided to make a scabbard for this sword and hang it at his waist in the future, rather than putting everything into his mouth.
Scrolls were one thing, but keeping a long sword in his belly too? Did he think he was some magistrate in an ancient imperial court?
Dwelling on it no longer, Orochimaru picked up the long sword and began to practice. He needed to adapt to his newly acquired Hawkeye ability as quickly as possible to avoid any awkward scenarios in the future where his eyes could keep up, but his physical movements couldn't.