Chapter 423: The Embrace of the Viper
"You have all seen the notice from Konoha, haven't you?"
In Iwagakure, Ōnoki, the Tsuchikage, sat in his seat and placed a paper document on the table. His stern gaze swept across the high-ranking officials seated around him.
"Hmph. So what if Hiruzen Sarutobi died?" one of Iwagakure's senior officials scoffed in dissatisfaction. "Did Iwagakure suffer any less? Kitsuchi is still lying in the hospital recovering from his injuries."
In his opinion, whatever Konoha said was meaningless.
What was the point of an apology without actual compensation?
"But the current situation in the ninja world is not suitable for us to take the initiative and provoke a conflict," another elder said, shaking her head. "Furthermore, it is true that a large number of Uchiha clan members defected from Konoha. If we use that as a reason to hold Konoha responsible, then would we also have to take responsibility for the actions of our own rogue shinobi?"
She was not optimistic about starting a war now.
The attack on the Allied Shinobi Forces could indeed be partly blamed on Konoha, but their greatest enemy was still the person who attacked the Allied Shinobi Forces. According to the intelligence they had received, that person had already been confirmed to be Heavenly Demon.
That made Iwagakure's excuse for attacking Konoha rather weak.
If they brought up the recent attacks against Iwagakure's merchant caravans and shinobi squads by Konoha ninja, Konoha had already explained that those attackers were rogue shinobi and had provided sufficient evidence. It would not be proper to keep clinging to that point.
Information about rogue shinobi was usually reported to every ninja village. The purpose was to make it clear that the person had defected and that their actions had nothing to do with their original village, thereby avoiding greater disputes.
Every ninja village had rogue shinobi. The only difference was whether they had more or fewer.
If Iwagakure used this as a pretext to attack Konoha, it would set a terrible precedent. In the future, other ninja villages could also use rogue shinobi from rival villages as a reason to attack one another.
At that point, everything would truly descend into chaos.
After all, every village had missing-nin, and some rogue shinobi had even posed serious threats to other villages.
Did Iwagakure not have rogue shinobi of its own?
Deidara, that young boy who played with explosions and had once been highly valued by Ōnoki, had also defected, hadn't he?
"Then what about the shinobi we sacrificed?!"
"You want to sacrifice even more people for the sake of those who already died? I think you have lost your mind!"
The two senior officials immediately clashed. Ōnoki felt a headache coming on.
Internally, Iwagakure was basically divided into two factions over this matter.
One was the hawkish faction, which supported demanding compensation from Konoha. If Konoha refused, they wanted to declare war and carve up the Land of Fire.
The other was the dovish faction, which did not advocate declaring war on Konoha over this incident and instead supported resolving the matter peacefully.
As for the moderates?
He, Ōnoki, was the greatest moderate in the room.
This entire incident, from beginning to end, carried a strong sense of unease.
In Ōnoki's view, the dispute with the Land of Fire was only a minor issue. The truly important questions were elsewhere.
Who exactly had occupied the Land of Water?
What level of strength had that opponent reached?
And why had Heavenly Demon appeared at the Allied Shinobi Forces' encampment and launched such a brazen attack?
According to Kitsuchi, Heavenly Demon's attack had only caused that level of damage because they received an early warning. If there had been no warning, would the casualties have been even worse?
Kitsuchi had said that the power of that explosion felt as if it had even surpassed Ōnoki's strongest Ninjutsu.
That was simply absurd.
The last people whose strength had been that despair-inducing were those two monsters, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Fortunately, they had died early. Otherwise, Konoha's territory might not have remained so limited, and even the surrounding great nations might have been largely annexed by the Land of Fire.
"Enough."
Ōnoki tapped the table.
The entire conference room instantly fell silent.
However, the hawkish elder still looked indignant. Clearly, he considered this an excellent opportunity.
Even so, everyone present knew that all major matters in Iwagakure had to be decided by Ōnoki. Once Ōnoki made a decision, the others basically could not oppose him.
This was the authority Ōnoki had built in Iwagakure over many years.
"For this matter, we will first observe the attitudes of Kumogakure and Sunagakure," Ōnoki said. "If they intend to divide the Land of Fire, then..."
Ōnoki's eyes flickered.
He had previously informed Sunagakure that his village had been attacked, and he had added an extra detail to the intelligence he passed to Kumogakure.
That detail was simple.
The shinobi who attacked Iwagakure had all been wearing Kumogakure forehead protectors.
If Sunagakure and Kumogakure intended to take this opportunity to divide the Land of Fire, then Iwagakure would naturally join the war.
A bargain like that could not be missed.
But if Kumogakure and Sunagakure did not make a move, then Iwagakure naturally would not act either.
"If they have no intention of dividing it, then our main objective this time remains the Land of Water. Do not forget that the reward given by the daimyo this time is three times the previous amount," Ōnoki said with a serious expression.
The fact that the Allied Shinobi Forces had nearly been wiped out before they even made a move had shaken the daimyo of the four great ninja villages. The terrifying power of that explosion had also deeply intimidated those cowards.
In order to save their own lives and completely eliminate this threat, the daimyo had increased the mission reward by three times on top of the original amount.
Three times.
That was an extremely exaggerated figure.
Even Ōnoki could not help feeling tempted. With such a large sum of money, many of Iwagakure's projects that had been delayed due to insufficient funds could finally be resolved.
Ōnoki even felt that those daimyo had probably emptied their family fortunes by now. If they had not, it would not be easy to produce such an enormous sum.
Those scoundrels.
Whenever he had asked them for money before, they spoke of financial difficulties, poor harvests, and how the daimyo's household had no surplus grain.
If he believed that again, he would be a dog.
"Increase contact with Sunagakure and Kumogakure. I want to know their intentions immediately."
Following Ōnoki's order, team after team of shinobi left Iwagakure.
Across the ninja world, many similar small teams were moving as well. With tacit understanding, they bypassed the Land of Fire and traveled through various smaller nations.
A vast net slowly spread open.
No one knew who would be caught in it.
"Kenichi, come quickly and take a look. Is this what you called a thermal imager?"
The moment Amamiya Kenichi arrived on Seabreeze Island, his excited teacher pulled him straight into the laboratory.
Kenichi looked at the object in his teacher's hand with some surprise. It looked like a telescope, but the lenses were extremely large. If worn on the head, it had the strange visual effect of covering nearly the entire face.
He had only just settled Deidara and Sasori. He had not expected that the moment he arrived at his teacher's place, Orochimaru would mention a thermal imager.
This was indeed a small device Kenichi had once described to Orochimaru. However, he had not been very optimistic about his teacher successfully researching it.
Unexpectedly, Orochimaru had actually made one.
"Let me try it." Kenichi picked up the goggles and put them on.
They were indeed large. They covered his head down to his nose, leaving only his mouth exposed.
At that moment, Orochimaru turned off the lights.
In the dim laboratory, Kenichi could barely see anything. But when he turned his head, he saw his teacher's thermal image.
The exposed skin gave off the clearest heat signature and appeared very distinct. Areas covered by clothing also appeared, but overall, he could only see a standing silhouette and could not make out finer details.
But that was already enough.
Kenichi scanned the laboratory again. The alcohol lamps looked rather peculiar through the thermal image. Then he took off the goggles.
"Teacher, this..." Kenichi was genuinely surprised.
To be honest, he really had not expected Orochimaru to successfully research something he had only mentioned before. Yet not only had his teacher produced it, the effect was also quite good.
Although the device was large and rather heavy to wear, for a shinobi, that amount of weight was not a major problem. He could wear it all day without issue.
The only trouble was that wearing it would affect normal vision.
Even so, it was a very practical tool for monitoring enemy movements at night.
Before Kenichi could finish speaking, a gust of wind brushed past him.
In the next instant, a pair of hands wrapped around his neck from behind and locked across his chest like a cold restraint.
"Kenichi."
It was his teacher's voice.
Kenichi could feel Orochimaru standing right behind him. That borrowed body seemed light and ordinary on the surface, but Kenichi had experimented on it before and knew exactly how dangerous it was beneath that appearance.
The scene looked ambiguous at first glance, but Kenichi felt no such feeling at all. His entire body broke out in goosebumps.
He would never believe his teacher had approached him like this for anything beyond intimidation and testing.
This was Orochimaru, after all.
At that moment, Kenichi felt as if he had been caught in the coils of a venomous snake, with its tongue slowly brushing across the side of his neck.
"I heard that you killed Lord Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi?" his teacher said softly.
Orochimaru's voice was warm and pleasant, and Kenichi could even feel his breath near his neck. But the pressure on Kenichi only grew heavier.
Sure enough, his teacher knew about it.
Kenichi even suspected that Konoha might have deliberately leaked the information.
However, Konoha could not hide it even if they wanted to. Shinobi from the other villages should have already known as well. In that case, it was better for Konoha to announce first that Heavenly Demon had killed Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Naturally, Orochimaru would also learn of it.
"Yes, Teacher. When I used the nuclear weapon, Lord Third Hokage was at the Allied Shinobi Forces' encampment below. He should be dead," Kenichi said calmly, his breathing steady.
At the same time, intricate lightning patterns appeared around his eyes.
If his teacher dared to make a move, Kenichi would immediately counterattack.
Although Orochimaru had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, Kenichi also possessed one. He had also mastered Sage Mode.
If he truly had to fight his teacher, Kenichi was not worried about being at a disadvantage.
In the darkness, Orochimaru did not speak.
But Kenichi could feel his teacher's arms tightening around him, and his breathing gradually became unstable.
It seemed Orochimaru still held some feelings toward his former teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Could Kenichi's appearance and guidance have pushed his teacher onto a different path?
A path where Orochimaru had not come to hate the village and Hiruzen?
Was this considered lifting a stone only to drop it on his own foot?
Kenichi did not know.
But at that moment, all of his chakra was quietly gathering.
After an unknown amount of time, Orochimaru released him.
"How terrifying, my disciple. I did not expect you to grow to this extent." Orochimaru's voice had returned to normal, but there was a faint chill within it.
Kenichi waved his hand, and the lights came back on.
Orochimaru stood in front of him with a smile, looking at him. However, there was still a hint of coldness in his eyes.
"Teacher, I also did not expect Hiruzen Sarutobi to be down there at the time." Kenichi scratched his head helplessly. "At my core, I am still someone who respects his teachers and values the path they taught him."
He was telling the truth.
He knew that after he transmigrated, he had been a war orphan. If Orochimaru had not appeared and taken him away, it would have been much more troublesome for Kenichi to grow up.
Moreover, Root had the excellent habit of recruiting members from orphanages.
If Root had targeted him, things would have become even more troublesome.
Furthermore, although Orochimaru had been somewhat strict with him at first, after Kenichi became his disciple, Orochimaru had also taught him through both words and example. In that sense, he truly was a very good teacher.
Orochimaru looked at his disciple indifferently.
After learning that his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had died at Heavenly Demon's hands, his usually calm heart had stirred slightly. At that moment, his feelings had been truly complex. It was difficult to say what kind of mindset he had held.
However, when he thought about the fact that Hiruzen had already been implanted with cancer cells by him and likely would not have lived long anyway, Orochimaru's heart gradually calmed again.
This time, his probing of Kenichi was mainly to see whether his student was a truly ruthless person.
If he was, then Orochimaru would have to be on guard.
"You killed Hiruzen Sarutobi. Konoha definitely will not let it go. They may even deduce that Heavenly Demon is the one who occupied the Land of Water. You should make preparations in advance," Orochimaru said with a wave of his hand, his tone somewhat complicated.
Kenichi shrugged.
He had already made those preparations.
After all, as he did more and more things, maintaining his disguise would only become increasingly difficult. Sooner or later, it was bound to be exposed.
Just as Kenichi was about to say something, he felt his ring grow hot.
He instinctively lowered his head and looked at it.
It was the Akatsuki communication ring.
"It seems the Akatsuki also knows the news," Orochimaru said, glancing at his student.
Then he noticed that Kenichi's expression was not panicked. Instead, he looked slightly amused.
Could it be...
Orochimaru fell into thought.
.....
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