Haruto looked at Kakashi's words with a frown.
'Hasten the project… is that even possible with the timeline I've set up?'
'If he hadn't asked it of me… the research is due to end in about four weeks…'
'Two weeks for the group to ready up all the data and two more weeks to train the new model on the data.'
'But why three weeks?'
Haruto pondered for a solid minute in silence before an idea struck him, 'Grindelwald… could this have something to do with Danzo? Perhaps Kakashi-san wants me to hasten the outcome of the result to distract Danzo at the end of the month?'
Grindelwald, who had been silently observing until then nodded in agreement, 'I think so too.'
'Can I ask Kakashi-san about what they're planning to do against Danzo then?'
Grindelwald frowned but then spoke up with slight certainty in his voice, 'I doubt he'll reveal it all to you, but it's worth a shot.'
Finally finding a faster way to figure out exactly what Danzo was planning and finishing Grindelwald's mission Haruto let a smile grace his face. But he hid it just as quickly as it had appeared, making sure it didn't expose his true feelings.
'I'll ask Kakashi-san about it tomorrow then.'
***
Orochimaru looked at the being in front of him with a frown on his face.
"Does the leader want something from me?"
Black Zetsu smiled but something about his blank yellow eyes made the smile look rather evil and smirky. "No. This isn't about the leader Orochimaru-sama… this is about me and you."
"Oh?" Smelling a good deal, Orochimaru licked his lips and leaned forward. "And what would that be about?"
Black Zetsu paused softly, as if giving Orochimaru some room to breathe before he spoke calmly, "I heard that you're looking for a vessel, Orochimaru-sama."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed instantly.
This was a high tier secret.
No one other than his right hand man Kabuto knew about this secret of his. Not even Danzo knew about this.
Orochimaru evaluated Black Zetsu in front of him carefully, carefully reviewing everything that he had gathered on this comrade of his before today.
But all he could remember was that this supposed teammate of his was good at gathering information. But he didn't know how it was possible for Black Zetsu to remain undetected.
'Is he good enough to escape my perception and the barriers that I've set up in my labs?'
'Or did Kabuto betray me?'
As if reading Orochimaru's thoughts Black Zetsu spoke calmly, "Kabuto has not betrayed you, Orochimaru-sama. My intelligence gathering skills are just that good. I even know the true nature of your Cursed Seal technique."
Orochimaru's eyes finally widened in shock and surprise.
But he quickly let it go.
There were many strange jutsus in the world that he still didn't know about. It was his aim to gather all of them and figure out how the human body, the pinnacle of evolution on this planet, worked to perform them.
So after calming down from the storm of thoughts that had risen up in his mind Orochimaru smiled calmly, "Tell me… if you know so much, do you have a perfect vessel for me?"
Black Zetsu's smile stretched wider when he heard those words, making him appear even more eerie than before.
"I know that your Living Corpse Reincarnation technique is weak to people with strong spiritual energy concentration in their bodies because you split your soul into the cursed seal to mark your targets."
"Ho… and?" Orochimaru licked his lips, he felt like he was getting excited after a long while.
But Black Zetsu didn't say anything after that.
Orochimaru who had been led on by the tip of his tongue frowned in displeasure before understanding what Black Zetsu wanted and asking about it on his own, "What do you want in exchange?"
Black Zetus's smile turned even creepier, "I want you to enhance the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to reincarnate someone I wish. Once you do so, I will lead you to the opportunity to find the perfect vessel that will help you greatly."
Orochimaru who felt like he'd been tempted without a release frowned in great displeasure. "And what prevents me from interrogating you about it right now?"
"Are you sure you're not afraid of the leader's eyes, Orochimaru-sama?"
Orochimaru paused to weigh the risk and rewards before nodding, albeit reluctantly.
"Hmpf. Have it your way… but if the reward I am expected to obtain is even a little bit disappointing, not even the leader will be able to stop me from ridding you of your head. After all, even the dead can talk."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama… I promise you that the reward will be exciting. I only ask that you resurrect the person I need by the end of the month. I have their physical remains with me if you need them."
"By the end of the month? Three weeks is it, you're asking for the impossible… and are you not even going to tell me who it is that we're resurrecting?"
"Three weeks is a long time for you, Orochimaru-sama… I'm sure you'll be able to develop the jutsu to a satisfactory extent by the time we're done."
"...alright… I agree." Orochimaru said with a sigh… he didn't really want to agree, but in the end because it seemed only beneficial to him he agreed anyway. After all… he could just develop the jutsu to some extent with the help of his shadow clones and call it a day by the end of the month.
Black Zetsu finally smiled politely and vanished into the shadows like he'd never existed.
Orochimaru tried sensing Black Zetsu with his chakra but failed to find anything of note, so he quietly began work.
He didn't work on Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu directly, instead he began work on enhancing his seals to make sure that not even an ant could go in or out of it without his explicit permission.
***
Haruto looked at Kakashi with a rather strange expression the next day. He picked up his textbook and went up to him and directly asked him a question, "Kakashi-san, I'm a little confused about this section in the textbook here… about how one can control their chakra to walk on trees."
Kakashi closed his book and looked at Haruto with a dead pan gaze since Haruto was currently holding the book open on a page on which blatantly written was the question, 'What is going on?'
Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes or burn the paper using fire and took the pen while speaking, "What you've written here isn't wrong… you are on the right track… you just need a little bit of patience." while writing down on the paper, 'Patience.'
Haruto frowned and then quickly took the pen from Kakashi and wrote down another question while speaking, "But what if I do this? Wouldn't this help me control the chakra flux in my feet a bit better?"
Kakashi looked back at the paper, on it were now the words, 'I want to know what you're doing so that I can contribute better.'
Kakashi finally sighed and took the pen from Haruto once again while speaking, "Controlling the chakra flux in your feet is something you do on instinct, at least on your level with the poor chakra control you currently have. So don't try to do things you can't even attempt, do this instead."
Meanwhile he wrote down something else in the book, 'We need to distract Hokage-sama by the end of the month.'
***
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