Son Goku's Disciple Naruto

Chapter 207 - 207

The ninja who had been shadowing Monga stepped fully into the light. It was Asuma Sarutobi, son of the late Third Hokage. He was a former Konoha elite who had narrowly survived the Konoha Crush.

During the invasion, he had been pursuing Oto nin far from the village center, placing him safely outside the blast radius of the Wind Release: Revenge Ultimate Demon Flash Death Destruction Cannon Zero (Naruto's Malice Ball). That sheer physical distance had saved him from turning to ash along with the rest of his home.

As for why he was a former Jonin: after returning to the crater, he learned his clan had been completely wiped out and Danzo Shimura had been instated as the Fifth Hokage. Disgusted, Asuma had defected that exact same day. Danzo immediately branded him an S-Rank missing-nin without hesitation.

"Now, why don't you invite Lord Orochimaru out to meet us?" the old voice pressed.

"Do not be rough with him. We cannot afford to slight our honored guest."

They had been the ones to supply the paralyzing poison in the first place, and now they preached about manners. They were entirely hypocritical. Monga thought this bitterly but kept his rugged face perfectly neutral. He nodded to the Otsutsuki Puppet, signaling it to unwrap their captive.

The bundle fell open. Everyone froze.

There was no Orochimaru. Only a puddle of congealed slime shaped vaguely like a human.

'When did he swap out?'

The panicked question hit Monga and Asuma at the exact same instant.

"Is this the person you invited?"

A dignified, booming voice rang out from the seats. The speaker sat shrouded in shadow, but his raw fury bled through every single syllable as he tore into the failed retrieval team.

"You call yourself an Iwa elite? A former Guardian Ninja? You can't even handle a simple extraction. You are nothing more than a pair of useless fools riding on completely undeserved reputations. This operation should have been handed to my men from the very beginning."

A flash of hot anger crossed Monga and Asuma's faces, but they strictly kept their heads lowered and swallowed their pride. The man berating them was someone they simply could not afford to offend. This was the true political power in the Land of Lightning, the nation's Great General.

"Pfft. Hahaha, did you idiots honestly think it would be that simple to catch Orochimaru? Just two average Jonin? Are you even worthy of his time?"

A highly mocking voice chimed in from the corner of the room.

"Even armed with those special puppets, catching him was utterly impossible."

"The puppet's structural strength is indeed formidable. It's just that the ninja commanding it was too pitifully weak."

"If Orochimaru doesn't want to be poisoned, your little toxin could never touch him. What absolute bullshit about Yin-Yang Release? Orochimaru has researched those concepts far deeper than you both idiots."

"You both fell for his substitution trap from the very first second."

The speaker seemed incredibly familiar with the Sannin. His arrogant tone carried high praise, discussing Orochimaru's forbidden research as if he had memorized the data himself.

Asuma and Monga stood frozen in place, their faces flushed red with deep humiliation.

"Alright, even if you represent our contact from the Shipping Company, we can stop the useless scolding here," another figure interrupted. He shifted in his seat, his gaze suddenly locking onto an empty patch of stone. "There's no need to hide anymore, Orochimaru. I have already locked onto your chakra. You may have great expertise in Earth Release, but I am the true master of the earth."

"Hahaha."

Accompanied by that chilling, serpentine laughter, a slender silhouette gradually melted out of the solid floorboards. Who else could it be but the real Orochimaru?

"As expected of the Third Tsuchikage. To see through my jutsu at a single glance is impressive."

The grizzled old man was indeed Onoki of Both Scales.

Onoki glared down at the intruder and spoke slowly. "I really don't know if I should praise your bravery or pity your foolishness. Your sheer gall is truly something. Knowing full well we sent a capture squad, you actually tracked them all the way here alone."

Orochimaru didn't bother defending himself. Instead, his golden eyes swept the vast room. "Iwa, Kiri, Kumo, Suna, and even former Konoha elites. You are all gathered here."

"Hehehe, you don't actually plan on forming an Allied Shinobi Force, do you? Let me guess. The only village missing from this little summit is Konoha. Is that because your target is Konoha?"

"Konoha? The rotting village controlled by that old bastard Danzo isn't worth us making such a grand fuss over." The one-eyed man sitting on the far left sneered, his tone dripping with absolute disdain.

Orochimaru neither confirmed nor denied the insult. He merely smiled indifferently. "Is that so? I heard you Kiri fools were brutally beaten down by just three Konoha genin at the previous Five Kage Summit."

'I can speak ill of my old home, but other nations badmouthing it? They simply weren't worthy.'

"Are you the infamous Orochimaru?" A young man sitting directly in the center finally spoke. Although his facial features were gentle, the absolute, overbearing confidence burning in his eyes was impossible to hide.

The moment his voice echoed out, the surrounding leaders quickly fell dead silent. Even the Great General and Onoki kept their mouths firmly shut.

"Truly an excellent young specimen."

Even though the youth looked barely twenty, his ancient tone casually addressed Orochimaru as if he were a mere child.

"I might as well tell you the truth. Isn't there someone out there who, with a fragile mortal body, presumes to call himself a god? He is simply standing in our way."

Orochimaru's eyes widened. His tongue flicked across his lips as he spoke, an undeniable excitement creeping into his voice. "Your target is Akatsuki?"

"Tch. A mere commoner is so arrogant, completely disregarding our Five Great Nations and the Daimyo. He deserves to die," the Great General of the Land of Lightning scoffed, his voice dripping with contempt.

A single ninja, trying to suppress the entire Ninja Continent?

What did he think the Daimyo was? What did he think of the nobles of each nation?

This was true insubordination, the absolute height of disrespect.

His words faltered. The young man merely glanced at him indifferently. Under that single, cold stare, the Great General wilted.

"So you came to me hoping to extract information about Akatsuki?" Orochimaru spoke again, his gaze fixed on the young man. He felt he had seen that face somewhere before, but couldn't recall where.

The young man shook his head. "We don't need that. They're just a few S-Rank Missing-Nin kids."

"If they want to play, we'll just play along."

To him, the entire Akatsuki was nothing but a group of fresh graduates, no, not even graduated yet. Just kids.

"If you don't need information, why go to all this trouble to 'invite' me here?" Orochimaru asked, slightly puzzled. If it wasn't for the intel on Akatsuki he possessed... surely it couldn't be for him personally?

Hearing this, the young man offered a sinister smile, one that stirred an inexplicable warmth in Orochimaru's otherwise cold heart.

"What we need is your talent. I've heard of you, Orochimaru. The most talented ninja in this world. But it's a pity. You have no Kekkei Genkai. You can't even learn Senjutsu."

"Yet even so, you carved out your own path. Cursed Seals... Forbidden Jutsu, Secret Techniques, there's no jutsu you can't learn, only jutsu you haven't seen."

"Isn't that right?"

"Kukuku." With a thoughtful look Orochimaru, and he said in a tone that carried a rare hint of respect, a courtesy once reserved only for his teacher, the Third Hokage. "My Lord, you seem to know me quite well."

The young man didn't answer. Instead, he continued. "Don't you want to conduct human experimentation?"

"Don't you want to explore the mysteries of the human body? Don't you want to analyze the depths of chakra? Don't you want to reach the very root of this world? Cooperate with us, and you'll have an endless supply of 'consumables' to use. You'll never have to hide or do things in the shadows again. You can walk openly in the light."

"Here, you'll have the sharpest minds from every nation, the finest ninjas to assist you. You can do anything you want. So, what do you say? Join us."

At the mention of human experimentation, Orochimaru's smile widened. Those words were taboo in the shinobi world. Even mentioning them required great caution.

Let alone talking about assisting with such experiments. Yet the young man not only said it openly, but the assembled higher-ups of the various nations remained completely silent.

The young man fell silent after speaking, simply waiting for Orochimaru's answer.

And Orochimaru was equally quiet. After hearing the conditions laid out, he was undeniably tempted.

It was then that a white-haired ninja with a scar across his face spoke up. "Orochimaru, this isn't just the ninja of the Four Great Ninja Villages. If needed, we can mobilize the armies of the Great Nations at any time."

Perhaps sensing that wasn't convincing enough, he added, "Even the Land of Iron has joined us."

"The Land of Iron, huh?" Orochimaru murmured. So it seemed that all the most powerful nations on the entire Ninja Continent were gathered here.

To go against them was to go against the entire Ninja Continent.

Having thought it through, Orochimaru smiled. "I'll join you."

"Welcome aboard. You won't regret it."

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