Chapter – 605 Release of Hostages

Just when Konan was troubled and helpless in regards to Hiruko, in another room of the base of the Akatsuki Organization, Jozetsu, who has just returned to the base after his meeting with Hyuga Kuroto and Uchiha Itachi near Konoha Village was reporting the conditions proposed by the two of them.

"It seems I underestimated the two of them…" muttered the masked man after having listened to Jozetsu's narration, but his expression under the mask clearly told that he wasn't so surprised by the sudden conditions posed by Hyuga Kuroto and Uchiha Itachi.

White Zetsu on the side asked, "What are you going to do? Are you going to agree to their terms?"

After crossing both his arms over his chest, the masked man thought about it for a while, and then said, "Since Uchiha Itachi claims to have collected some useful information, then we can return his younger brother to him to get that information… and since we are going to return Itachi's younger brother, then it should be fine to return Hyuga Kuroto's disciple too… otherwise, he won't rest easy while collecting the intelligence…"

It is a well-known fact that both Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji were together kidnapped by the Akatsuki Organization, so, what Akatsuki should do is either keep them together as hostages or release them together, otherwise, it would be impossible to reassure both Uchiha Itachi and Hyuga Kuroto at the same time…

Zetsu asked again, "Are you sure you want to let go of the two of them?"

The masked man nodded, "Let them go together… these two kids are of no use to us anyway… they are too young to do anything for us…"

Obviously, the masked man doesn't give any importance to the two kids no matter how talented they are, in fact, in his opinion, they are of no value to him… so if they can be used to reassure the two spies, and make them feel credible to work together with and for the Akatsuki Organization, then that is more than enough…

Moreover, there is also the fact that the deal with Orochimaru failed, as the cunning snake did not take the bait…

In fact, it was quite strange to not find Orochimaru in any of his bases… The Kiri squad of the Akatsuki Organization spent a lot of effort to raid all of the bases of Orochimaru, but no matter how much effort they put in, they were unable to locate Orochimaru… And not just Orochimaru, they were unable to locate any of Orochimaru's subordinates either…

Although this is quite baffling, regardless, the deal with Orochimaru cannot be done is already confirmed, the hostages cannot be exchanged and thus obtaining the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki cannot be done for some time… so there is no point in keeping these children here… As such, it is better to just let them go back to their homes… to Konoha.

White Zetsu nodded, "All right…" then questioned, "Do you want me to implant something in their body? Using that implant we will be able to control the two boys whenever we want…"

The Masked man thought about it, then shook his head, "We can but it would be useless… After being rescued, both of them will be thoroughly examined, so whatever we implant in them will not go unnoticed… so just leave them as it is…"

"If that's the case, then I will make the necessary arrangements…" After speaking so, Zetsu and Jozetsu sunk into the ground and left the base of the Akatsuki Organization…

…

Orochimaru's Base.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Kabuto respectfully greeted Orochimaru who had just returned from Konoha, "Orochimaru-sama welcome back…"

Orochimaru nodded lightly, then while walking inside the base, he questioned in a casual tone, "Did something happen while I was away?"

After wiping the sweat off his forehead, Kabuto thought how to answer, and then said, "A few days after you left, the Kiri squad of Akatsuki was able to somehow locate this base and launched a surprise attack here… In order to prevent the capture of the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi I had no choice but to take the two kids with me and hide in the Ryuchi Cave."

As soon as he heard that Kabuto took the two of them into the Ryuchi cave, Orochimaru came to a sudden stop and while staring at Kabuto, he asked again, "Did I hear that correctly? You went to the Ryuchi Cave, and took the two kids with you?"

Under the sharp gaze of Orochimaru, Kabuto lowered his head, and then nodded nervously, "Y… yes… Orochimaru-sama!"

"Interesting…" Orochimaru muttered and retracted his gaze, then while continuing to walk inside, he questioned, "So, what did the three of you do in the Ryuchi Cave?"

Kabuto followed behind Orochimaru while narrating his experience of visiting the Ryuchi cave from the very beginning to the very end… of course, because he was not aware of the exact details of Naruto's Senjutsu training under Ichikishima-hime's guidance so he could only say that Naruto is suspected of having learned the Senjutsu, not how he learned, or the exact process.

Orochimaru was taken aback when he heard that Naruto is suspected of having learned Senjutsu, and muttered with a thoughtful expression, "If this is true, and if Naruto really did learn Senjutsu and mastered it at such a young age, then his skills and abilities have to be reevaluated…"

Out of curiosity, Orochimaru decided to first check out Naruto's situation, and his overall progress, and as such, he together with Kabuto came to the area where Naruto was training…

From a distance, Orochimaru was able to see Naruto sitting in the lotus position on the ground, scratching his head and muttering in confusion, "How could it be? Why is it not working? Obviously, I was able to do it every time when I was there!"

Kabuto looked and Orochimaru said with a helpless expression, "This is the situation Orochimaru-sama… although, they say that he has mastered Senjutsu, when I asked Naruto to show it to me, he was unable to use it… So, I am not sure…"

The reason why Kabuto told that Naruto is 'suspected' of having learned Senjutsu, and not managed to learn Senjutsu is that when they were at the Ryuchi Cave, Naruto claimed to have learned it, and it was not only Naruto, even Ichikishima hime, who was in charge of training Naruto also stated that Naruto has successfully learned Sennin Mode, and what he needs now is just practice to increase his proficiency in it… But after they left the Ryuchi Cave, and when Naruto tried to enter Sennin Mode, he was unable to do so… As such, Kabuto was not sure what to think about this situation…

Such a situation gave Kabuto a completely new understanding of Naruto's 'unreliable' nature, and Kabuto even developed an 'unreliable' impression of Ichikishima hime, wondering whether she really taught Naruto or not…

Orochimaru who is more experienced than Kabuto didn't judge that Naruto is unable to enter Sennin Mode, instead, he took a step forward and carefully observed Naruto's state while Naruto sat motionlessly… Orochimaru also asked several questions from Naruto, and after completing this set of steps, Orochimaru nodded with a smile… "So, that's the reason… it makes sense…"

Kabuto with frowned eyebrows also observed Naruto's state, but unlike Orochimaru, he was unable to judge anything, and therefore, questioned Orochimaru, "Orochimaru-sama, have you found the crux of the problem?"

Orochimaru looked at the surroundings and explained, "The foundation of Senjutsu, Sage Art, and Sennin Mode is the Natural Energy present in the heaven and earth… The reason why Jugo is able to partially control Sage Arts, and also talk with birds and animals is that his body is capable of absorbing Natural Energy… So, communicating with Natural Energy, and being able to feel it and absorb are the fundamentals of Sage Arts, which Naruto-kun has indeed learned… The main reason why Naruto-kun is unable to enter the Sennin Mode here but was able to enter it at the Ryuchi Cave is that the density and concentration of Natural Energy present here are not as high as compared to the three unexplored Sage regions…

Of course, with enough practice, he should be able to enter Sennin Mode even here without much difficulty, but it will take a lot of time and effort… especially for him when the Kyuubi sealed inside him is towing him down."

After hearing Orochimaru's reasoning, and understanding the crux of the problem, Kabuto realized the answer… and realizing so, Kabuto couldn't help but mutter, "So, it means that Naruto has indeed learned Sage Arts?"

Orochimaru nodded with a solemn expression, and said in a deep tone of voice, "Yes, I didn't expect this little guy who is not even capable of learning a basic Clone Jutsu can manage to learn something so difficult as Senjutsu… Perhaps this is fate… He is the child of those two, and similar to them, there is indeed a field of expertise where their child is as talented as them, or perhaps even more talented than them…"

Kabuto was overjoyed after hearing Orochimaru's words, and said, "This is great… Since Naruto-kun has managed to learn Senjutsu, then with him in our hands, we should be able to explore Senjutsu with relative ease… and figure out a safe method of learning it…"

But unfortunately for Kabuto, he had to be disappointed because Orochimaru shook his head, "I am afraid this is no longer possible for now as the two children have to be handed over to Konoha immediately…"

Kabuto was taken aback, and asked, "W-what?! Surely you are joking Orochimaru-sama…"

Orochimaru shook his head, "I am extremely serious… well its part of the deal I made with Shimura Danzo… but you don't have to worry, we are only handing over the two kids to Danzo, if we are careful enough, we can always remain in contact with Naruto-kun… especially with his simplistic mind…"

Kabuto nodded with a sigh, "I see… it can't be helped then…"

Orochimaru nodded, and while patting Kabuto on the shoulder, he instructed, "Make all the arrangements… and the performance of the rescue of the two kids must look extremely realistic as if the two of them were indeed rescued by Danzo…" After speaking until here Orochimaru paused slightly, and as if he suddenly remembered something, he added, "Also, make sure to instruct Naruto-kun to not disclose the fact that he has learned Senjutsu…"

Understanding the agreement between Orochimaru and Danzo, Kabuto didn't ask anything else, and went straight to complete the instructions he was given by Orochimaru…

…

Half a day later.

Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom Boom

In a certain valley, continuous explosions reverberated and could be heard from miles away, as the war between Shinobi commenced…

With Shimura Danzo in the lead, a group of Shinobi quickly raided an underground base that was hidden somewhere in this valley and started to eliminate all the enemy Shinobis.

In the midst of the battle, some of Danzo's men who were disposing of enemy shinobi managed to find Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata locked up in a 'secure' prison cell.

And as soon as the two hostages were found, both of them were quickly transferred to Danzo's side.

Looking at all the fierce Shinobi around him with each one of them wearing a strange mask, Naruto, despite how ignorant and dull, and despite not understanding the situation he was in, didn't dare to act recklessly or out of line… He remained silent and on guard against those around him, and he was just trying to protect Hinata who was shivering in fright and hiding behind him.

Danzo didn't care about the thoughts of the two children, and he was only looking at them as the key to becoming Hokage, so as soon as he knew that the plan has succeeded, he ordered, "The targets have been rescued, now quickly eliminate all the enemy Shinobi and take over their base…"

With Danzo's order, his men speeded up their offensive, and not long after all the enemy shinobi were eliminated and the entire base was taken over.

Of course, several of Danzo's men also died in the process, but without paying any mind to them, the rest quickly returned to Konoha in order to announce the successful rescue of the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi and their victory over the rogue Shinobi Orochimaru.

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