The sky was so clear it was almost offensive—not a single cloud in sight. The grass by the roadside drooped, wilted by the sun. Even the cicadas buzzing in the thick foliage sounded half-hearted.
Late summer heat could be more oppressive than mid-summer. That was "lingering summer heat" for you.
"Nice weather. A good omen, wouldn't you say?"
"Ha. Lucky you've already mastered Ice Release. Otherwise, I can't imagine how you'd say something so insincere."
"Don't whine at me. Just tell me—does it work or not?"
"Fine, fine. Works great, Mr. Cooling Device."
On a road leading toward Konoha, two figures walked at a leisurely pace, chatting as they went.
They were the disguised Orochimaru and Hii Kōri.
Hii Kōri's makeup-style disguise relied on physically altering his appearance—layering thick materials on his face. The downside was that in hot weather, the wearer suffered, sweating profusely.
Nearly four months had passed since they set out from the ruins in northwestern Land of Fire. Late spring had turned to early autumn.
Even knowing the weather would cool in a few days, the lingering heat was getting on everyone's nerves.
Fortunately, Hii Kōri had a little Ice Release trick for cooling down.
As for the fact that this man—having already mastered Magnet Release and Scorch Release—had now also learned Ice Release from the Yuki clan of Kirigakure… Orochimaru was no longer surprised.
Trivial.
During this time, they had successfully followed their original plan, exploring seven or eight remote ruins within the Land of Fire.
The discoveries weren't earth-shattering, but they had unearthed some genuinely interesting things: fragmentary inscriptions recording legends from the Sage of Six Paths' era, and a Kusanagi sword.
Yes. A Kusanagi.
When Hii Kōri saw it, his face scrunched up as if recalling something unpleasant.
When Orochimaru asked, he just vaguely said he wasn't interested in swords and let Orochimaru have it, claiming he'd take the next good find.
Orochimaru had no objection. Though he hadn't used swords much before, this Kusanagi felt remarkably comfortable in his hand.
More surprising than that was Hii Kōri's intelligence.
Every ruin they visited had been absurdly well-hidden—buried in mountains, sunk underground, even one located in a minor noble's family cemetery.
Orochimaru, who had lived in the Land of Fire for over twenty years as a Konoha ninja, doubted he would have noticed any of them even if he'd passed right by.
When asked, Hii Kōri's answer was simple.
"Orochimaru-san, do you know that most problems in this world have two general solutions?"
"Do tell."
"First: power."
Hii Kōri traced a line in the air, as if cutting something. "With enough power, most problems solve themselves. At the very least, you can eliminate the source of the problem."
"Simple and crude, but effective."
Orochimaru nodded noncommittally, then pressed with interest: "And the second?"
"Second… money, of course~"
Hii Kōri tilted his head, wearing a calm, self-assured smile. "Things you don't want to do, things you can't handle, things you're bad at, things too tedious to bother with… you'll always run into problems like that."
"So just spend money to hire people to deal with them. Hire people, use channels, analyze, gather, verify. Professional experts or street thugs—as long as you pay enough, there's always someone suited for the job."
"That's what money is for."
Of course, Hii Kōri had actually used the first method this time. Who could say that his future self's power wasn't still his power?
Once proven, forever proven… oh, that's not a thing here?
"…Profound words."
Orochimaru snorted, his tone complex.
During this trip, Hii Kōri had made similar remarks—blatantly showing off his wealth, tempting him with "money ability"—at least ten times. The frequency was second only to his temptations with interesting technology and novel concepts.
Even in the lingering heat of early autumn, those casual "just throw money at it" remarks chilled Orochimaru to the bone.
How come I don't have money? jpg
So what if you have money?
Sorry—having money really makes you the boss. jpg
But honestly, from a personal perspective, Orochimaru still didn't want to leave Konoha.
He had grown up there. Despite his cold nature, he had felt the warmth of home there. His teacher, who had taught him everything, and the few people he could call friends—they were all in Konoha.
These casual recruitment attempts wouldn't sway him.
Even if he was very tempted by Hii Kōri's money.
To shake off this subtle frustration, Orochimaru changed the subject to their two-person "Nine-Person Society": "Speaking of which, I do know someone. Odd personality, but skilled. After I get back, I'll see if I can bring him in."
"Ugh. If even you—gloomy as you are—call him odd, he must be fucking weird."
Hii Kōri instinctively quipped, then raised his hands in surrender when he felt the sharp glare beside him. "But personality doesn't matter. As long as he has some skill or unique technique. Our alliance isn't that strict."
"Make the best use of what's convenient. Simplify what's troublesome. Integrate technologies and create new ones. That's enough."
"Ah—speaking of which, the guild recently found traces of the Land of Sky remnants. If we can get their technology, or absorb them directly, that would be good too."
Mentioning "new members," Hii Kōri recalled intelligence he'd picked up during a supply stop at a guild branch.
"Ah, air transport. So nice. So much faster than plodding on the ground. Could even open a tourism route—milk those nobles with more money than sense."
"Anyone overhearing you talk about the Land of Sky remnants would think you were planning to rebuild that so-called 'invincible' aerial fortress and restore the Land of Sky."
Orochimaru couldn't help a sly smile.
"Ha? Why would I remake that?"
Hii Kōri curled his lip dismissively. "If I just wanted to fly and bomb, our methods during the war were more flexible. If I wanted, Rasa and I could take off from two opposite corners and cross-bombard. Same effect."
"Such a big target is just a sitting duck. Not to mention the energy required to power it—during the war, you were fighting on two fronts against us and Amegakure, watching your back against Iwa. Under that pressure, you still found time to scrap their fortress. Pure pushover."
"If we tried to reinforce it to withstand standard ninjutsu, the cost would equip how many troops? Those remnants can either hand over the technology, take the money, and live quietly somewhere—or work for me. Restore the Land of Sky? Not happening."
As Hii Kōri said, the Land of Sky had tried an attack during the war and got stomped by Konoha. The "remnants" now active in the ninja world were a revenge-driven group hoping to rebuild their ultimate weapon. Hence the label.
So when Hii Kōri mentioned the Land of Sky, Orochimaru's association was natural.
"Technology's greatest advantage is reproducibility and accessibility. Obsessing over 'ultimate weapons' that drain your entire treasury—no future in it."
"Not entirely. For a small nation without your resources, going all-in on an ultimate weapon might be their only gamble."
Orochimaru largely agreed with Hii Kōri's point. But as he said, when resources were scarce, gambling on a superweapon could seem more appealing than fielding a force that still couldn't compete with the great nations.
"That's another factor…"
Hii Kōri didn't want to dwell on it. As they walked, he turned to Orochimaru. "By the way, when you get back, can you find a way to get me a genetic sample of Tobirama Senju?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Didn't you say Impure World Reincarnation's precision was too low—that summoned souls were a fraction of their strength, just Mutual Explosive Tag launchers? Got an optimization plan already?"
Knowing Orochimaru would become a master in this field, Hii Kōri didn't mind sharing some of his research, hoping Orochimaru's insight might spark new ideas.
"I'm not asking him to fight. Does his strength matter?"
Hii Kōri rolled his eyes. "As long as the summoned Second Hokage's brain works."
"Heh. Fair point. But why give it to you? I could just summon him myself. Don't forget, I've got that First Hokage cell project waiting. Since the Second left behind usable samples, I'm sure he'd be happy to continue it."
"Oh, you mother—"
Hii Kōri frozen, then started frantically pointing and gesturing like a certain meme.
Bickering all the way, they walked shoulder to shoulder toward their journey's end—an unremarkable stretch of dense forest.
As the records suggested—deliberately stripped of detail—the site of this "seal" had no distinguishing features.
No stone tablets. No shrines. No caves. No trace of human construction. Just ordinary trees. As if whoever left it hoped no one would ever find it.
But since the seal was a joint effort of the Senju and Sarutobi clans, the method was obvious.
While the Sarutobi specialized in the five elemental releases, the seal's executors were the Senju. And Senju sealing techniques, even adapted, originated from the Uzumaki clan.
For Hii Kōri—who had mastered most of the Uzumaki clan's secret arts, and after contracting with the Dragon Veins had gained a far broader "natural perception range"—a seal over a century old wasn't that well-hidden.
"Here."
Eyes closed, sensing the area, Hii Kōri walked to an ordinary patch of ground and casually formed Earth Release seals.
Earth Release was, simply put, the manipulation of soil, rock, and similar substances. Sunagakure's sand manipulation might seem similar, but the difference was fundamental.
The core of Earth Release was manipulating the form and properties of matter—changing shape, hardening, turning to mud, even altering mass. Sand manipulation, in contrast, was essentially an extension of Wind Release: replacing air with sand grains, the core principle remained "flow."
For Hii Kōri, Earth had become his third specialty, after Wind and Water.
He pressed his hands to the ground. The earth before him softened, parting like water to reveal a sloping passage descending into darkness.
"Let's go."
Hii Kōri stepped in first. Orochimaru followed.
The passage continued downward. Hii Kōri used Wind Release to keep air circulating. After what felt like a hundred meters deep, the tunnel opened into a spacious underground cavern.
At its center, the remnants of a sealing formula still glowed faintly. After a century, it still performed its function.
But what floated within the seal was not the expected monster or dark entity.
It was a girl.
She appeared eleven or twelve, wearing an old, dark blue robe with a torn hem. Her bare feet were wrapped in bandages up to her calves, and shackles circled her ankles.
Her long black hair reached past her waist. She lay curled within the seal, her delicate, pale face lacking any sign of life—save for her tightly furrowed brow, the only indication she was not a corpse.
"?" "?"
At the tunnel's end, Hii Kōri and Orochimaru exchanged glances, identical expressions of confusion on their faces.
***
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