Chapter 38: Hiiro's New Home, Dead God Hall Update, and Mikoto's Melancholy
Returning to the Uchiha compound with Uchiha Hiiro in tow, Naraku immediately spotted old man Uchiha Min wearing an expression like he was constipated. Unable to resist, Naraku teased: "Should I leave then?"
Uchiha Min shot Naraku a glare, then gave Uchiha Hiiro a meaningful look, signaling her to step aside. Little Hiiro obediently left, leaving space for the two.
Once Uchiha Hiiro was gone, Uchiha Min finally responded: "Do you think I'm angry just because I didn't get a ninja blade and lost face in front of Danzō? Let me tell you—I'm angry because you clearly had everything prepared from the beginning. If you'd told me earlier, we wouldn't have been so passive! But you did very well this time. Not only did you successfully balance the relationship between the clan and the Hokage faction, you also cleverly planted a seed of discord between Danzō and Hiruzen."
Naraku scratched his head with an innocent look: "Honestly, I really didn't plan to plant any seeds between those two…"
In his heart he muttered: I just wanted the Uchiha clan to get the blades. Whether Danzō ended up with Yatsufusa didn't matter to me. Moreover, even if Danzō did get Yatsufusa, it would still provide Naraku with assistance. If Danzō were willing to personally go out and kill ten or eight Kage-level powerhouses, Naraku would practically worship him!
But would Danzō honestly go to the front lines himself?
If Danzō targeted strong people in the village—especially those he normally couldn't control—would he make a move?
Now Naraku was curious: if Danzō used Yatsufusa to kill enemies, and then Naraku summoned them with his Dead God Hall? That would mean the souls belonged to him, and the bodies to Danzō—perfect combo.
But then Naraku thought of something and said to Uchiha Min: "I really didn't expect Danzō to be compatible with that blade. Danzō has always had a huge bias against the Uchiha. In the future, our Uchiha jōnin need to be careful."
Uchiha Min said meaningfully: "I know what you're thinking. If Danzō dares to target our Uchiha, we'll gather a group from the ninja clans and force a confrontation at Hiruzen's door—demand he remove Danzō! Even if Danzō doesn't target Uchiha, as long as he acts against any clan or ninja in the village, we can do the same! I never expected someone as young as you to have such political insight!"
Hearing this, Uchiha Naraku felt quite helpless. Great Elder, please stop reading too much into things! If you keep projecting like this, the ninja world's "Pot Shadow" will soon be me!
Uchiha Naraku hurriedly waved his hands to deny having such thoughts, then left.
Uchiha Min watched Naraku's departing back with a meaningful gaze, as if saying: Kid, I've seen through you.
...
Back in his room, Naraku opened the Dead God Hall.
He saw the hall densely packed with figures—almost all wearing Iwa headbands. It seemed Orochimaru had been fiercely clashing with Iwa recently!
Hatake Sakumo probably hadn't gone to the border yet, so he was only killing small fry. Those oddly shaped headbands were likely from Sakumo's kills. If Naraku remembered correctly, Sakumo would continue doing routine missions in the village until Sunagakure's invasion.
Naraku looked at the two jōnin and thirty chūnin inside and decided: from now on, jōnin would be named Jō1, Jō2, etc. Chūnin wouldn't be named. As for genin, Naraku was afraid they might negatively affect others—after all, not every genin was on the level of Konoha's 12 rookies. Genin from small villages might even be weaker than academy students.
Naraku checked the skill lists of the two jōnin—mostly standard Iwa ninjutsu, but very suitable for control.
From now on, he had two jōnin-level Iwa ninja guards.
Looking at the people in the Dead God Hall, Naraku suddenly worried: normally when people die, their souls go to the Pure Land, which is the Sage of Six Paths' territory. Would constantly collecting souls attract that old man's attention?
But right now Naraku had no means to deal with the Sage of Six Paths. And judging from the original story—where the Sage only appeared in absolute desperation—he probably wouldn't notice.
Besides, his two sons' souls hadn't reincarnated yet.
Just as he thought this, Naraku saw two unread notifications on the system interface and casually opened them.
Ding...
[Orochimaru has reached Intermediate utilization of Kirikabe Ichimonji. Talent Replication activated: Eight Branches Technique (Incomplete) mastered] [Eight Branches Technique: S-rank forbidden technique. Through biological modification and ninjutsu, transform oneself into a white serpent with eight heads and tails. This technique has not yet been fully optimized by Orochimaru, so it remains at an initial stage.]
Ding...
[Orochimaru has reached Advanced utilization of Kirikabe Ichimonji. Talent Replication activated: Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation (Incomplete)] [Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation (Incomplete): A forbidden summoning technique developed by Second Hokage Senju Tobirama. It extracts a certain amount of the deceased's physical remains, uses a living person's body as a vessel for the soul, then summons the soul from the Pure Land of the afterlife into the present world. The deceased's soul attaches to the vessel and is covered with dust to take on their living appearance. The reincarnated have immortality and infinite chakra! They can only be sealed or released by the original caster! Orochimaru has further optimized this technique, but the summoned deceased still suffer significant power reduction.]
Naraku chose to accept both notifications!
A massive amount of forbidden technique knowledge flooded into Naraku's mind. Although both were forbidden techniques, he definitely wouldn't use Eight Branches Technique.
Now Naraku understood why Orochimaru in the original story loved licking with his long tongue.
The second one—Impure World Reincarnation (Incomplete)—was somewhat useful if he could get White Zetsu later. But free knowledge was free knowledge, and both forbidden techniques contained vast amounts of ordinary ninjutsu and sealing technique knowledge.
When someone reached a high level with broad knowledge, mastering basic ninjutsu became very easy. That was exactly why Hiruzen could become the "Professor of Ninjutsu." It was impossible to master Great Fire Annihilation yet fail to learn Great Fireball Technique.
Only then did Naraku remember Uchiha Hiiro outside. He didn't know where she had gone.
Stepping out, Naraku saw Uchiha Hiiro waiting at the door, chatting with Uchiha Mikoto—mostly Mikoto asking questions and Hiiro answering.
Seeing Naraku arrive, Uchiha Mikoto pulled him aside and said: "Naraku, I feel like I'm falling further and further behind you. Before, you were still a little boy I had to take care of. Now you've grown taller than me…"
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