Chapter 12: The Presence of the First Generation?

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Hearing these words, Orochimaru’s heart skipped a beat. Although somewhat unbelievable, he felt that Uzumaki Shika was not a ninja who acted without purpose.

“Purpose? What purpose do I have?” Though shocked inwardly, Orochimaru forced himself to remain calm and spoke.

After he spoke, Uzumaki Shika replied with an extremely casual tone, “Lord Orochimaru, isn’t your reason for joining the Akatsuki to obtain Uchiha Itachi’s Sharingan?”

Strictly speaking, Orochimaru coveted the Rinnegan. But the difficulty of seizing the Rinnegan had already cast a shadow over his mind. He could only settle for the Sharingan instead.

Not long ago, Orochimaru had already found Uzumaki Shika’s intelligence remarkably accurate. Now that Shika openly spoke about this matter, Orochimaru was naturally even more astonished.

What he did not expect was that Uzumaki Shika would not rest until his words shocked others.

At this moment, he continued, “Actually, I know the approximate whereabouts of many extremely powerful Sharingan with very unique abilities.”

“Lord Orochimaru would surely be interested in these Sharingan.”

Shika’s words struck Orochimaru like a bolt of lightning.

The Sharingan is a very special and mystical bloodline limit.

Even the ninja who possess the Sharingan cannot know what abilities their Sharingan will manifest before awakening it.

If anyone else claimed to know the locations of some powerful Sharingan, Orochimaru would likely scoff.

But this was different. Even the Akatsuki, such a secretive organization, seemed to have no defenses against him.

Though he could not fully comprehend it, Uzumaki Shika seemed to possess extremely unique and formidable intelligence-gathering abilities, allowing him to know information that other ninjas could not.

Orochimaru valued this exceptional intelligence capability greatly.

After a moment’s thought, Orochimaru posed a question.

“Where is Uchiha Shisui’s eye?”

He wanted to test whether Uzumaki Shika truly possessed terrifying intelligence capabilities.

Shika pondered briefly, then said, “One of Uchiha Shisui’s eyes is in the hands of Shimura Danzo.”

More precisely, it was in Danzo’s possession.

The other Uchiha clan members’ eyes were also with Danzo.

Danzo’s arm was Orochimaru’s own creation.

Therefore, Orochimaru was naturally aware that one of Shisui’s eyes was with Danzo.

But this was a closely guarded secret known to very few.

Orochimaru scrutinized Uzumaki Shika once again.

“What kind of person is this?”

“He was able to join the Akatsuki smoothly, so his identity must have passed their scrutiny.”

“But this person even knows secrets at the level of Shisui’s eye being with Danzo.”

“Who exactly is he, and how does he know these things?”

Orochimaru grew more wary of Uzumaki Shika.

In his view, dealing with Shika might prove quite troublesome.

However, Orochimaru soon thought of a solution: he could hire Uzumaki Shika long-term to study this enigmatic ninja.

By employing Shika, not only would he gain assistance with intelligence, but he could also carefully analyze and study Shika himself. Once he knew Shika well enough, it would become much easier to deal with him.

With this in mind, Orochimaru smiled and spoke.

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“I agree!”

“I will pay you 500,000 ryō per month to hire you long-term, assisting me in the development and research of ninjutsu and technology!”

[Congratulations, host has gained Orochimaru’s recognition!]

[Orochimaru is ready to hire you long-term to assist in ninjutsu and technology research, with a monthly salary of 500,000 ryō!]

[Upon successfully accepting the long-term employment task, you receive one super lottery draw!]

[When settling the long-term employment task, the employment points earned from the salary will be doubled!]

Seeing this series of system notifications, Uzumaki Shika was overjoyed.

The rewards for long-term employment tasks were worlds apart from those of temporary tasks.

After receiving this reward, his physical strength and total chakra had already reached a level comparable to the Nine-Tails.

This meant that for his next tasks, he would receive SSSS-level chakra rewards and officially enter the realm of the Ten-Tails.

Given time, he might truly become a human Ten-Tails.

“Follow me.”

After confirming the employment of Uzumaki Shika, Orochimaru casually said.

He obviously did not carry one million ryō on him at all times.

He planned to first pay Shika 500,000 ryō, then take him to a nearby base to conduct some research.

“Where are we going?” Shika asked casually.

Having not yet received a task completion notification, it seemed they needed to go sign some agreement with Orochimaru before the task would be considered complete.

Orochimaru led the way, speaking as he went.

“First, to the bank to withdraw your 500,000 ryō commission.”

“Then to my nearby base—I need your assistance with some research.”

Shika nodded. Once he received the commission, his mission would be done.

Afterward, Shika and Karin followed Orochimaru weaving through the village for a while.

Eventually, they arrived at a bank.

Inside, Orochimaru signed some paperwork and received a box containing one million ryō.

With a swift motion, Orochimaru pushed the box toward Uzumaki Shika and said,

“Here is one million ryō; our employment relationship is officially in effect.”

“Now come with me to my place to assist with some research.”

[You have successfully accepted the long-term employment task: Assist Orochimaru’s scientific research!]

[System Reward One: One super lottery draw!]

At the moment the system notification sounded, a smile broke across Shika’s lips, impossible to suppress.

Long-term employment tasks were rare and difficult to accept.

Moreover, if the task issuer’s identity did not meet the system’s criteria, the task would not trigger.

The Akatsuki was the pinnacle of mercenaries in the ninja world; therefore, it qualified to issue long-term employment tasks in the system’s eyes.

Although Orochimaru was part of Akatsuki, he was no ordinary member.

He already had his own faction and was the leader of a powerful ninja force, thus qualifying him to issue long-term employment contracts.

Uzumaki Shika eagerly opened the system panel.

“Draw for me!”

[Super reward drawing in progress...]

[Congratulations, host has drawn an S-rank reward and unlocked a random rare attribute.]

[Host has unlocked the rare attribute: World Affinity. Future employment point draws will have a chance to gain World Affinity rewards.]

[New attribute added to the panel: World Affinity]

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[Current Ninja World Affinity: C]

The new attribute left Shika somewhat perplexed.

What kind of thing was World Affinity?

And it was only an S-rank reward.

“Snake brother, are you for real?”

Shika did not feel any immediate changes.

But Orochimaru across from him had a very different reaction.

The sudden surge of chakra around Shika moments ago caused Orochimaru’s pupils to constrict sharply; he was deeply shocked.

“What did you just do?”

Orochimaru’s face was full of astonishment as he stared at Uzumaki Shika.

In that instant, he sensed a very familiar aura radiating from Shika.

“First Hokage’s aura? No! Though very similar, there are subtle differences.”

Others might not be able to distinguish it, but since he had conducted numerous experiments using those cells, he was intimately familiar with that aura.

Orochimaru had been interested in Shika from the start.

After Shika suddenly unleashed such a familiar and sharp aura, Orochimaru’s interest only deepened.

But Orochimaru was soon shocked again.

The box of money in Shika’s hand suddenly vanished!

“Space-time ninjutsu?”

With his wicked eyes, Orochimaru looked toward the direction where the money box disappeared and could not help but ask.

Summoning jutsu was also a type of space-time ninjutsu, so such techniques were not rare to Orochimaru.

But a space-time ninjutsu that required no hand seals, no chakra fluctuations, and no visible signs—now that was terrifying!

What Uzumaki Shika used was a system space!

The money box had been stored inside the system space.

Seeing Orochimaru’s dumbfounded expression, Shika found it quite amusing but nodded calmly, giving the impression that this was a trivial trick not worth mentioning.

Beside Shika, Karin’s small head was adorned with a big question mark.

Though she possessed a sensory constitution and impressive perception, she had not noticed Shika using any ninjutsu just now.

Shika had never been intimidated by Orochimaru before. Now, with his power surging dramatically, he was even more eager to see Orochimaru’s base.

Orochimaru’s initial plan was to trap Shika in his base.

But now he decided to cooperate normally with Shika.

This abstract and eccentric ninja was not easy to deal with, and held tremendous research value. Orochimaru had to study him carefully.

Led by Orochimaru, the three soon arrived at his nearby base.

Upon entering, Shika felt somewhat disappointed.

This place was a fully equipped laboratory, but it lacked Orochimaru’s usual genius or mad creations.

With a rustle, Orochimaru casually unfurled a scroll on the floor, and a strange black-patterned jutsu immediately appeared.

After completing this, Orochimaru said to Shika, “Sit in the center of this jutsu.”

“I want to observe and study your chakra and cellular traits.”