Chapter 111: Leeching Off Orochimaru
After assigning the task, the two Takigakure shinobi quickly lured Naruto and Sakura away. But since your order was only to delay them, it shouldn't trigger an outbreak of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Soon, you appeared in front of Sasuke.
Originally, because of Indra's will, you didn't dare absorb the bloodline in Sasuke's body. Naturally, you had no intention of killing the goose before it laid golden eggs before he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. But Uchiha Itachi's actions had enraged you.
Rather than risk adding variables to your future, you decided to sacrifice a bit of profit and eliminate him entirely!
Barely one exchange in, Sasuke's amateur moves were already laid bare before your eyes.
The kunai you threw pierced through his limbs, pinning him to the tree. To avoid a berserk backlash from Indra's will, you kept your distance. A spinning shuriken twirled at your fingertips, generating a slicing wind.
Wind Style: Shuriken!
But just then, you heard a sharp gust behind you. Instinctively, you flicked the spinning shuriken backward.
Turning your head, you saw a severed serpent arm lying on the ground.
"Orochimaru!"
You called his name aloud—but there was no response.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted behind you. You turned to see Orochimaru attempting to ambush and snatch Sasuke, only to be intercepted by your pre-buried Lava Style shadow clone underground.
After taking a Punch to the face and crashing through several tree trunks as thick as two men's embrace, Orochimaru's body turned into a puddle of sludge.
Yet that sludge quickly split, swirled, and reformed into countless small snakes. The snakes slithered together, taking on a humanoid shape—until Orochimaru stood fully reformed before you once again.
"Lava Style... heh, I think I know who you are now."
Looking at you slowly approaching, Orochimaru took two steps back and spoke.
Since Orochimaru clearly wanted to talk, you decided to use Sasuke as a bargaining chip—might as well leech off Orochimaru this once.
But before that, you instructed your Lava Style shadow clone to knock Sasuke out cold.
...
In a brief exchange of words, you found that Orochimaru's obsession with Sasuke had reached the point of complete fixation. He wouldn't settle for anyone else.
So, you asked him: why not pick you instead? You'd killed Uchiha Itachi, and could use Fire Style to bombard Konoha since the age of three—weren't you the better candidate?
Orochimaru, however, only looked at you with admiration and flattered you.
"If reincarnation really exists in this world," he said, "then I'm convinced—you must be the reincarnation of Uchiha Madara."
While the two of you were speaking, a small snake silently slithered to your leg and bit down!
Orochimaru really had no shame—he was trying every trick in the book.
Too bad you were already prepared. You'd cloaked yourself in a thin layer of Lava Style chakra disguised as skin. The snake bite didn't do a thing.
You flung a handful of shuriken at him, then formed a one-handed seal. The spinning blades transformed mid-air into slicing wind projectiles:
Wind Style: Shuriken!
Orochimaru was torn apart on the spot.
But attacks like this couldn't kill him. They couldn't even deal real damage. All they did was drain chakra.
Unfortunately, as a Kage-level shinobi, Orochimaru's chakra reserves were immense. If this dragged on for three days and nights, it still wouldn't be clear whose chakra would run out first.
You tried using your Three Tomoe Sharingan, and unleashed a genjutsu you developed based on Genjutsu: Time-Space, striking directly at his spiritual weak points.
It worked—somewhat. It did hurt him. But having already been hit by Itachi's Tsukuyomi once, Orochimaru had long since researched countermeasures.
He could split his consciousness into countless fragments in an instant.
On top of that, your Ocular Power and genjutsu were inferior to the real Tsukuyomi. No matter what you did, you couldn't fully suppress someone as slippery as Orochimaru.
As for using Soul Slash to directly target his soul—you could do it. But deep down, you didn't want to kill him.
So despite being beaten senseless with no room to retaliate, Orochimaru remained uncontrollable by normal means. On the other hand, unless he used Eight-Headed Serpent Technique, he couldn't threaten you either...
The standoff dragged on again.
Since this was still inside the Chūnin Exam arena, neither of you went all out to avoid being discovered.
Eventually, when both sides realized combat wouldn't resolve anything, you resumed peaceful negotiations.
You reached a preliminary agreement to jointly sabotage Konoha, with terms for profit sharing:
① You'd leave Sasuke completely in Orochimaru's hands, allowing him to plant the Cursed Seal.
② In return, Orochimaru—alongside the Fourth Kazekage—would create the perfect opportunity for you to seize the Nine-Tails' chakra.
③ After the Konoha operation, you'd offer a small sample of White Zetsu cell extract in exchange for Orochimaru granting you access to Ryūchi Cave.
④ Finally, since Jiraiya and Tsunade were still in the village, you'd both avoid each other and act separately until the final phase. The night before the tournament finals, you'd meet with the Kazekage's side for a three-way strategy session on Konoha's destruction.
...
With this arrangement, you'd gain the support of both Orochimaru and the Kazekage—at virtually no cost to yourself. All it took was handing over Sasuke, someone you'd picked up for free anyway.
As for the White Zetsu extract exchange—it was a net win. It was only a verbal promise to strengthen your ties.
If Orochimaru broke the deal, you simply wouldn't give him the cells.
If he kept his word, you'd gain access to his scientific research on White Zetsu afterward. It was a win-win either way.
After handing the unconscious Sasuke over to Orochimaru, you quickly located the two Takigakure shinobi responsible for keeping Naruto and Sakura busy.
These two were absolutely useless!
The one meant to lure Naruto had already been beaten unconscious, overwhelmed by a swarm of shadow clones.
The one tasked with stalling Sakura had tripped into a hole, twisted his ankle during the fight, and then got knocked out with a single punch.
Luckily, your fight with Orochimaru hadn't taken long.
You casually took out a few anesthesia-coated poison needles and from a distance, knocked out both members of Team 7 to clean up after your worthless allies.
There was no choice. After this exam, anyone who failed would be expelled from Konoha. As an outsider, your only way to remain in the village was to qualify for the finals.
And to qualify, your team couldn't have any deaths. So you had to carry these two dead weights along!
It was getting late. After dragging the two of them out of Team 7's activity range, you woke them up, assigned them to stand watch, and went to sleep.
...
By the next day, you'd collected both Heaven and Earth scrolls. With this phase of your plan essentially complete, you headed straight toward the central tower.
On the way, you ran into Gaara's team.
Given that your current operation involved far more moving parts than the original Konoha Crush plan—not just Orochimaru but also the Fourth Kazekage—you decided to postpone your plan to steal Shukaku.
Unfortunately, the bloodthirsty Gaara… had no intention of letting you go.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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