"Wait a second."
After Hii Kōri settled on the name "Technical Coordination Alliance," Orochimaru suddenly realized he had overlooked something.
He turned to look at Hii Kōri—still wearing the square-faced disguise of "Akai Jun" but with an expression completely mismatched to that stern face, looking as relaxed as if he'd just decided on a dinner plan—and asked: "You went to all the trouble of gathering these scholars. Is there something in those ruins that even you find important?"
"Oh, no. According to my preliminary survey, it's just an old ruin. Anything valuable was looted during the Warring States period."
Hii Kōri waved a hand, giving the answer Orochimaru least wanted to hear. "There might be some archaeological value, but I picked that spot purely because it's in the Land of Fire and close to the caravan's destination. Convenient for getting you out here."
"You dragged me all this way… for this?"
Orochimaru's mouth twitched into an "I knew it" expression. Then, waving his hand as if shooing a fly, he turned and started walking back toward the camp. "I'm done. Quitting this escort mission. Going back to Konoha tomorrow."
"Have some professional pride, Orochimaru-san."
Hii Kōri rolled his eyes and grabbed Orochimaru's sleeve, lowering his voice. "You're famous in the industry—mission quantity and completion rate among the best. You've already made a killing on this trip. Your appearance fee is higher than your teacher's. Give me a little face, alright?"
"You're insane. You just said there's nothing worthwhile there. Why waste time? If you like digging so much, go be a miner in Sunagakure."
Orochimaru flicked his arm, shaking off Hii Kōri's hand, only to have it grabbed again. After a few repetitions, he was nearly sputtering. "What's the rush? You have to commit to the act. We came here under this pretext, so we should at least let the scholars earn their pay, right?"
Seeing that Orochimaru wasn't enjoying their sleeve-grabbing game, Hii Kōri let go and spread his hands. "I have plenty of other interesting places I want to visit later."
"? What do you mean? You're planning to keep wandering around the Land of Fire?"
Remembering how Hii Kōri's earlier months in the Land of Fire had thrown Konoha into chaos—and that Jiraiya had nearly been killed—Orochimaru felt a headache coming on. "The Jiraiya incident isn't over yet. Are you really that bold?"
"Hey. That white-haired toad came looking for trouble. I didn't even attack first."
Mentioning Jiraiya soured Hii Kōri's mood. The man had been helpful, unintentionally, but that didn't excuse his terrible timing.
"Besides, aren't you here to 'supervise'? The toad aside, you don't think I'd waste precious excavation time causing trouble in the Land of Fire instead of digging up ruins and finding ancient things to study, do you?"
"True. Digging ruins is more enjoyable."
Orochimaru nodded, unable to argue.
"So there we are."
Hii Kōri shrugged, tapped his heel, and a heavily sealed wooden box rose from his shadow, carried up by shadowy hands.
After removing the sealing tags and undoing the formulas, Hii Kōri opened the box, revealing its contents.
"Here. Consider it a welcome gift for joining the 'TCA.'"
Three vials of faintly shimmering pale red liquid. Even without direct contact, Orochimaru could feel the refined life force within.
His eyes locked onto the vials. Reaching out, he touched one, feeling the slight warmth through the glass. "What is this?"
"A byproduct of research using Tsunade's blood and muscle samples. Let's call it 'marrow fluid.'"
Hii Kōri picked up a vial, swirled it gently in the moonlight, watching bubbles rise in the red liquid. "It's the result of analyzing, breaking down, and sealing genetic data. Injected into the spine, it temporarily grants the recipient some of the Senju clan's physical abilities."
"In theory, anyway."
He added after a moment's thought.
"So it's an unfinished product—not clinically tested."
"Can't help it. It's just a byproduct."
Hii Kōri spread his hands. "I only made three of these. Using them on random test subjects would be a waste, and the theoretical effect isn't significant enough for me. My research focus is still reincarnation techniques and the connection between body and soul. I wasn't planning to touch the Senju ability project anytime soon. So they've just been sitting here."
"Perfect for you, since you're researching Hashirama's cells. Though this comes from Tsunade, I've removed most of the Uzumaki elements based on my own genes. You can treat it as pure Senju genetic data. Consider it making the best use of everything."
"Heh. This is a huge help, Hii-kun… or rather, 'President.'"
Orochimaru carefully returned the vials to the box, then stowed it in his storage scroll. His snake eyes gleamed with undisguised delight. His tone and address toward Hii Kōri had become remarkably warm and sincere.
From arrogant to obsequious. So pragmatic, Orochimaru!
"If I get the chance, I'll help you gather materials related to souls and reincarnation techniques as thanks…"
But before finishing, Orochimaru laughed at himself, shaking his head. "Though I'd like to say that, you probably don't need my scattered information anymore."
As a researcher, he was sure Hii Kōri's database was no smaller than his own. Since Hii Kōri had decided to research this field during the war, he must have collected the relevant materials long ago.
And…
"You've already mastered 'that technique' through Tsunade, haven't you?"
"Ah~ Sharp as always, Orochimaru-san."
Hii Kōri's reaction was as good as an admission.
The technique Orochimaru referred to could only be the infamous forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage—Impure World Reincarnation.
It was no secret that Tsunade had frantically searched through the Senju library after returning to Konoha. Given her experiences, she would naturally have sought out Impure World Reincarnation.
"You wouldn't have placed that genjutsu on Tsunade just to torment her."
Remembering Tsunade's behavior in Amegakure, Orochimaru had his suspicions about Hii Kōri's "Demonic Descent." "It's a technique to synchronize or record her consciousness, memories, or actions. So those two chūnin you hired—you've already taken care of them too?"
"Hmm~ Who knows?"
Hii Kōri neither confirmed nor denied, just hummed ambiguously, shrugged, and turned toward his tent to continue his "meditation."
He wasn't ready to discard the "Akai Jun" disguise yet—he might need it again.
"...Fine."
Orochimaru watched him go, a flicker of thought in his eyes, finally settling into an indifferent smile.
What did Hii Kōri's schemes have to do with him? Research. As long as Hii Kōri presented interesting enough projects, he wouldn't mind following him even if it meant blowing up Konoha.
Thus, on the rest of the journey, "Akai Jun" and Orochimaru's discussions grew deeper and more direct. Their debates often left other scholars stunned, never imagining the historian could be so emotional.
But they had to admit—both Akai Jun and Orochimaru were first-rate in knowledge and talent. Occasionally, they even picked up something new.
Don't ask if it's useful—it's learned. jpg
The scholar team traveled without incident, reaching the target ruins in northwestern Land of Fire.
The guild had already set up camp, waiting for the experts to direct and record.
As Hii Kōri had predicted, preliminary surveys showed little value for him or Orochimaru. There had once been a treasure, but it was long gone, along with most of the protective barriers and seals. Decades of weathering had left the remaining techniques unrecognizable.
For the other scholars, however, the moderately sized ruins did have some research value.
After confirming there were no threatening ninja traps or anomalous energy fields inside or around the ruins, Orochimaru bid a simple farewell to the guild team leader, claiming he was no longer needed, and left first.
Hii Kōri also recorded some data before departing with the architectural scholar, who also had little to contribute. Not that he was complaining—they'd been paid well just for showing up.
They met at a prearranged location.
Hii Kōri changed into a new disguise and helped Orochimaru with some light masking. They looked at each other—completely unrecognizable faces—and smiled.
"So, where to next?"
Orochimaru licked his lips, slightly irritated by the disguise. His mood was clearly lifted, the earlier boredom gone.
Hii Kōri rubbed his hands together and pulled out a meticulously drawn map of the Land of Fire and its surrounding regions, marked with numerous red dots. He pinned it to a rock wall.
"Start here, then dig along this line…"
He pointed to the red dot closest to their current position, then traced his finger across the map, connecting several locations.
"The final destination is here."
His finger stopped at a dot in the southeastern Land of Fire, not far from Konoha.
"I read about this in a Senju clan scroll from Tsunade's memories. During the Warring States period, the Senju and Sarutobi clans joined forces here to defeat the Uchiha. But the battle wasn't just over resources."
"After the victory, the Senju and Sarutobi apparently sealed something there. The records are very vague about what it was."
"I see… that is unusual. It's not that they didn't record it—more like they deliberately erased the details, but still needed to warn future generations that something sealed there must never be released."
Orochimaru rested his chin on his hand, nodding thoughtfully.
"But… isn't this a bit close to Konoha? Aren't you afraid of getting caught? Even if Konoha's intelligence network hasn't recovered, it's not that slow."
"And my teacher is a Sarutobi."
"What do I have to fear? In this ninja world, one-on-one, I'm not afraid of anyone. Even if they surround me, I can run."
Hii Kōri scribbled on the map with a pen, unconcerned. "Besides, being close to Konoha makes me more willing to take risks. If we accidentally dig up something terrible, Konoha gets blown up. Nothing to do with me."
"…Who the fuck asked you? I'm talking about myself!"
Orochimaru's expression nearly cracked. "I'm not planning to defect! If my teacher catches me, I don't know how I'd deal with it!"
"Then I'll go half-tailed beast and launch a few Tailed Beast Balls at Konoha. You can hide in my Rashōmon, and I'll run."
"Calm down! If you blow up the village, my lab gets less funding!"
"Alright, alright. Kidding. I'll try to control myself."
Hii Kōri raised his hands in surrender.
And so, two mentally questionable individuals set off—arguing over research details by day, setting up camp and conducting practical experiments by night.
***
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