Chapter 52: The Great Serpent District

Orochimaru’s words were laced with a heavy, bewitching temptation.

The lure of this matter was simply too great for Danzo; it was like a certain famous football star catching sight of a goat—he simply couldn't tear his eyes away.

Even so, Danzo kept his face dark and expressionless.

After deliberating for quite a while, he finally spoke again, "Three days from now, I will give you my answer!"

Elsewhere, deep in the forest.

Driven by pure curiosity, Sijia had used his Mind's Eye to secretly eavesdrop on the situation over at Orochimaru's end.

He hadn't caught the whole conversation, tuning in just in time to hear Orochimaru and Danzo bargaining over research funding.

"Good grief, Orochimaru is truly vicious; he opened his mouth and demanded one billion ryo!"

Sijia clicked his tongue repeatedly.

Orochimaru’s clearly stated price for hiring him this time was one hundred million ryo.

He had previously thought that charging one hundred million ryo per commission was already an exorbitant fee.

Little did he know that Orochimaru was far more outrageous than he was.

When he took money, he would fulfill the employment contract for Orochimaru one hundred percent.

Yet Orochimaru had clearly been hoodwinking Danzo just now.

And Danzo had actually believed it?

Sijia shook his head. He had a rough understanding of Orochimaru’s research progress!

Orochimaru’s research on Wood Release, even if it had made some progress, was extremely limited.

At most, he could pull off some cutting techniques and conjure up a tiny two-bedroom apartment.

How on earth had Danzo been tricked?

One billion, no less?

Orochimaru’s heart was dark enough; he was actually planning to fleece Danzo of a billion ryo!

After a brief sigh of awe, Sijia couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself.

"The more money Orochimaru has, the better, because Orochimaru’s money is essentially equivalent to my commission."

"There are many things Orochimaru wants to do that ordinary shinobi are simply incapable of helping him accomplish."

"After coming full circle, he'll still have no choice but to hire me."

Sijia’s reasoning was fundamentally correct.

When Orochimaru bled Danzo for such a massive sum in one go this time, it truly was to hire him to get things done.

He had already discovered that employing Sijia to handle matters, though expensive, was exceedingly reliable. A one-percent failure rate was completely out of the question.

Leave professional matters to professionals, while he himself could simply stay behind closed doors and focus on research.

Shortly after, Sijia couldn't help but inwardly marvel that Danzo was also quite the prodigy at raking in cash.

"This guy Danzo is seriously loaded!"

"A billion ryo, and he actually has the wiggle room to scrape it together!"

"If Danzo were to use that billion ryo to issue an ultra-massive commission to me, wouldn't I skyrocket on the spot?"

At this thought, Sijia stroked his chin.

He began to ponder whether he could manage to net a commission or two from Danzo.

If Danzo and trashy little water-snake traitors of Konoha like Orochimaru could cooperate, then there was simply no reason for Danzo to reject him—the strongest mercenary in the shinobi world!

...

At the edge of the forest, every single move Orochimaru made fell completely within Sijia's control.

Yet Orochimaru remained utterly oblivious, departing in satisfaction and leaving behind a smug shadow of his back.

Danzo stood there in solitude, his gaze piercing through the forest to lock onto the luxurious villa conjured by Wood Release jutsu.

While a billion ryo was an astronomical figure to ordinary people, even for Danzo—someone driven less by greed for wealth than by lust for power—it was an immense fortune that could not be easily produced.

However, as a high-ranking official of Konoha, he had the authority to mobilize a portion of the treasury.

Right now, he was like a desperate gambler staking everything on a single throw, facing the ultimate choice.

Should he wager all his chips to back Orochimaru's experiments?

Danzo's inner turmoil rose and fell like a roller coaster, every breath making his entire body tremble.

"If I back down now, everything I've invested until now will vanish into thin air!"

"Take one last gamble, and perhaps..."

Danzo breathed heavily, his chest heaving.

The research funds he had poured into Orochimaru were like flesh carved straight from his own heart.

How could he ever be reconciled to walking away empty-handed?

Yet if he invested just one more sum, perhaps it could change everything, granting him mastery over that coveted Wood Release!

This thought acted like a shot of adrenaline, gradually flooding Danzo's eyes with bloodshot veins while the hand gripping his cane shook violently.

He could already vividly picture himself returning with the perfection of Wood Release, single-handedly raising a dedicated Wood Release battalion for Konoha, and restoring the village to its former glory!

By that time, a mere billion ryo would be nothing more than pocket change to Konoha.

And he, too, would consequently become a hero of Konoha—surpassing even Hiruzen and being universally pushed forward to become the Hokage!

Amidst this fanatical fervor, Danzo's state of mind had quietly shifted.

He yearned for the perfect fusion of Hashirama's cells; he yearned to possess power capable of shattering mountains and splitting the earth, just like the First Hokage.

This craving grew wilder and more untamed in his heart like overgrown weeds, completely unstoppable!

His reason had already been washed away by the torrent of desire, leaving barely any shreds behind.

An idealized scene he had dreamed of day and night slowly surfaced in his mind.

"Danzo, you will regret this!"

"Hiruzen, I am the Hokage!"

"Bang!"

...

The sunlight was bright and the warm breeze was gentle.

Sijia walked alongside Karin through the lush, densely layered greenery of the forest.

Having mastered the Wood Release: Luxurious Villa Technique, camping in the wild felt no different from staying at home.

Coupled with the exceptionally crisp air of the forest, residing in the woodland villa actually granted them a higher quality of sleep than almost anywhere else.

Sijia didn't share Karin's sense of wonder regarding the legendary village of Konoha.

That was simply because his familiarity with Konoha vastly surpassed that of most other shinobi villages.

During this particular timeframe, Konoha didn't seem to be experiencing any major events worthy of special attention.

Karin, on the other hand, was in exceptionally high spirits. She had heard tales of Konoha's prosperity since long ago.

Konoha was an ally to her hometown of Uzushio Village; in fact, the flak jackets worn by Konoha shinobi still bore the Uzumaki clan's spiral crest.

She had been told that when Uzushio Village met its catastrophic demise, Konoha had been too overwhelmed with its own troubles to intervene.

Otherwise, had Konoha's support arrived, she and her mother wouldn't have been forced to drift away in exile and wander into Grass Village!

Even though Grass Village had undergone a complete, miraculous metamorphosis under the governance of Lord Mumyo—

To Karin, the Grass Village of the past had undoubtedly been an absolute living hell.

Lost in thought as she walked forward, the two of them unconsciously arrived at a mountain path.

Not far from where Sijia and Karin stood—

A young boy was undergoing arduous training.

The youth wore a deep blue top adorned with the red Uchiha fan emblem on the back.

He was desperately attempting to scale a perilous, sheer cliff face.

Shinobi of his age generally did not engage in such grueling and dangerous training.

Yet this boy, with his fierce and unyielding gaze, was different; he carried the heavy, bloody burden of a clan massacre upon his shoulders.

Therefore, he had to put forth peerless effort to train and grow, constantly pushing himself to become stronger until he finally killed that man!

That man was none other than his own elder brother, Uchiha Itachi!

"Hoo—"

Sasuke let out a long, slow breath of foul air.

Even though every single day he pushed his training intensity to the absolute limit—

At merely nine years of age, he still had no idea when he would finally be able to avenge his clan.

His body was covered in over a dozen scars of varying sizes.

Every single one of these wounds had been left behind by his relentless training.

"Push through to the top in one breath, and then I can rest for a little while."

Sasuke glanced up at the remaining stretch of sheer rock face, thinking to himself.

Dangerous training of this caliber was something he put himself through every single day.

The constant threat of death squeezed every ounce of potential from his body, allowing him to grow stronger at an accelerated pace.

His inner resolve was also tempered and forged into something unbreakable through these repeated brushes with mortality.

"Crack!"

Just as Sasuke raised a hand to grip a protruding rock outcropping, his expression abruptly shifted.

Due to years of weathering from wind, sun, and rain, the rock had long since eroded.

The moment he grabbed it, the stone crumbled easily in his hand, causing him to lose his balance and plummet straight down the cliff.

"Ah—"

Sijia and Karin had been strolling casually along the mountain trail.

Upon hearing a sudden cry of alarm, Sijia looked up just in time to see a young boy tumbling headfirst down the cliff.

"Are the kids in Konoha all this reckless?"

"Instead of jumping around and defacing the Hokage Rock—"

"They're doing extreme survival training on sheer, vertical cliffs like this?"

While inwardly complaining, blue lightning flashed around Sijia's body, and in the next instant, he vanished and reappeared right beside the falling youth.

Under the boy's astonished gaze, he and Sijia slammed together into a dark red spatial vortex.

When they emerged from the dark red vortex a moment later—

The two of them were already standing firmly on solid ground.

Sasuke was left completely dumbfounded.

While he stared wide-eyed at Sijia in utter shock, Sijia returned a look of mild bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Karin poked her little head out from behind, pushing up her glasses.

"Eh???"

"Did a cute little bishounen just drop out of the sky?"

Surprised, Karin gave Sasuke a thorough, assessing look.

Sasuke's features were exceptionally handsome.

Furthermore, as the younger son of the Uchiha clan head, before the downfall of the clan, he had been the quintessential young master of high birth.

"Hmm? What's this? Taken a fancy to him already?"

Noticing Karin's reaction, Sijia's eyes narrowed slightly.

He couldn't let his little assistant get stolen away by Sasuke again!

In the original timeline of the Naruto world, Karin eventually became one of Sasuke's devoted little followers.

Sijia quickly reached out and pressed Karin's head back down.

Karin immediately shook her head in a flattering manner and fawned, "Compared to Sijia, he's still lacking quite a bit!"

Hearing this, Sijia beamed with delight. "Today's lunch will be your favorite pork cutlet bowl!"

Upon hearing what was for lunch, Karin was overjoyed, instantly wrapping her arms around Sijia's leg.

"Sijia, you're the absolute best!"

Sasuke was still reeling from the shock of Sijia's incredible speed while utilizing Lightning Release, as well as the space-time ninjutsu that followed.

Even so, he managed to pull himself together.

Gazing at the red-haired young man and the red-haired beauty before him, his emotions were somewhat complicated.

Had that tragedy never occurred, he too would have had an older brother whom he deeply respected and adored.

The thought flickered through his mind for a split second before his gaze hardened into ice once more.

However, when looking back at Sijia, he managed to rein in the coldness in his eyes and offered a deeply grateful bow.

"Thank you for saving my life just now."

True to his upbringing as the young lord of a prominent clan, despite having faced mortal peril only moments before, he had already composed himself and expressed his thanks with impeccable courtesy.

Sijia waved a hand dismissively, not minding it in the least.

"Don't mention it. Your older brother Itachi and I are old friends, after all."

At those words, Sasuke's pupils contracted violently.

"You know Itachi!?"

Before Sijia could say anything more, a familiar figure stepped out from behind a tree.

The newcomer was none other than Orochimaru, the pioneer of shinobi science.

Seeing Orochimaru, Sijia felt a mild wave of surprise—this guy still hadn't left yet?

Upon catching sight of Sijia, Orochimaru broke into his customary, chilling smirk.

"When I saw that scale of Wood Release from afar, I guessed it had to be you."

"Coming to Konoha this time... is it to execute that particular commission?"

Sijia had originally assumed that this fellow Orochimaru would have taken the money he scammed from Danzo and made tracks immediately.

To his surprise, not only had he not left, but he had actively sought him out here.

Sijia shrugged. "What else?"

Even if he hadn't received a commission, that would be one thing; but since he *did* have a job, naturally he would execute it with maximum efficiency from the get-go.

At this, Orochimaru let out a succession of hearty laughs (or what Orochimaru believed to be hearty).

"Hahahaha..."

"Your efficiency is as high as ever."

"Not bad, not bad at all. Hiring you to handle things for me is truly a wise choice."

"No matter the task, you're always completely reliable."

Sijia's prompt efficiency left Orochimaru immensely satisfied.

He could now understand why so many people made special trips to the black market in Amegakure to hire Sijia for missions.

Sijia gave a faint smile at Orochimaru's praise.

"Well, obviously!"

"So, what brings you here? Looking for me because you've got a new commission?"

With that, Sijia offered a playful, knowing grin.

"Don't forget, I happen to know that you just scored a massive payout from Danzo."

"Judging by that, are you already itching to hire me for a new job?"

Sijia's confident and certain words left Orochimaru utterly shocked!

Because the distance between their current location and Sijia's Wood Release villa hadn't actually been particularly close.

To call it a villa was an understatement; it was practically a sprawling mega-estate.

At that distance, he hadn't sensed Sijia's chakra signature at all.

He had merely guessed that the person appearing in the distance was most likely Sijia based purely on the scale of the Wood Release technique!

He simply couldn't fathom how Sijia could have known the contents of his private conversation with Danzo from so far away.

Orochimaru's estimation of Sijia's strength and abilities instantly rose by yet another notch.

The shinobi world possessed all sorts of unfathomable and miraculous jutsus, but he had genuinely never heard of a technique that allowed one to eavesdrop on conversations from such a distance.

Furthermore, if Sijia could listen in on his chat with Danzo from afar—

That meant, should Sijia so choose, he could eavesdrop on anyone's conversation from a safe distance without ever being detected.

Even if the Five Kage were holding a secret summit, Sijia could easily monitor them completely outside their range of perception.

As long as Sijia wished to know, it seemed there were no secrets in the shinobi world whatsoever.

Naturally, this flurry of thoughts flashed through Orochimaru's mind in a mere fraction of a second.

After all, he hadn't actually collected the funds from Danzo yet.

And he couldn't guarantee whether Danzo would actually fork over that full amount.

What if he asked for a billion ryo, but Danzo stubbornly refused to cough up more than half a billion—would he just refuse to take it?

Secondly, once Sijia learned that he was flush with cash—

There was a very high probability that he would arbitrarily jack up his prices or find some other way to transfer all of Orochimaru's money directly into his own pockets.

Exposing one's wealth in front of Sijia was a perilous endeavor indeed.

Yet he happened to have a slew of high-difficulty missions that required Sijia to execute them.

If he didn't pivot away from this topic quickly, the money he had managed to secure with such difficulty would genuinely end up lining this bloodsucker's pockets.

Orochimaru forced a laugh and equivocated, "I haven't even received those funds yet, you know."

Noticing that Sijia seemed on the verge of pressing the issue further,

He swiftly cut Sijia off.

Pointing toward Sasuke, Orochimaru piped up,

"Who's this brat? When did you start taking in strays?"

At this point in time, Orochimaru had not yet met a nine-year-old Sasuke.

Sijia had originally thought about tossing out a casual excuse, but a sudden flash of inspiration made him chuckle inwardly.

An amusing idea struck him.

He glanced at Sasuke and let out a chuckle.

The eerie sound sent a cold shiver straight down Sasuke's spine.

Sijia turned to Orochimaru and remarked, "Orochimaru, isn't this the living Uchiha clan member you've been dreaming of?"

"You're staring right at him, yet you don't even recognize him?"

At these words, Orochimaru's pupils constricted sharply as he blurted out, "He is...?"

Sijia shrugged.

"Isn't he the last surviving member of Konoha's Uchiha clan, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Well? Do you want this living Uchiha or not?"

Both Karin and Sasuke were left completely dumbfounded upon hearing Sijia's declaration.

Karin shot Sijia a look, utterly dumbstruck as she thought,

"Eh?! Lord Sijia must be joking, right?!"

As for Sasuke, he was scared out of his wits.

He ran into a human trafficker?!

And this guy could even use space-time ninjutsu!

Damn it!!

There was no running away now!!