"So, Orochimaru-sensei, why exactly did we come to the border? Just to clean up trash like these guys?"
Uchiha Kamito flicked his blade, shaking all the blood off onto the nearby wild grass.
He sheathed the sword and said speechlessly.
In front of him lay several burly men whose heads had been separated from their bodies. Judging by the clubs in their hands and the lingering smell of alcohol and smoke on them, they were clearly no good people.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
A swarm of insects flew past—some black, some white.
In an instant, the scene was clean again. Only a pool of blood remained, which couldn't be removed.
But that wasn't a problem. One Water Release and everything would disappear without a trace.
Naturally, such an important task had to be handed to Uchiha Kamito.
"I'm seriously speechless. I do the work, you guys get the benefits, and afterward I still have to clean up the mess. Isn't this bullying an honest man?"
"Water Release: Clear Wave."
A surge of clear water washed over the entire area.
When it settled, everything looked as if nothing had ever happened.
As usual, Uchiha Kamito voiced his dissatisfaction with Orochimaru's job assignments.
Orochimaru, however, said nothing.
In his eyes, Uchiha Kamito was simply too useful.
He could use Fire Release, Water Release, Lightning Release, Wind Release, and Earth Release.
He also knew genjutsu and swordsmanship.
When he acted, he was ruthless and never dragged things out.
And his chakra reserves seemed quite large.
At least during the past few days Orochimaru had been traveling with him, he had never seen Kamito run out of chakra.
Was it replenishing unusually fast, or just so subtly that Orochimaru hadn't noticed?
But there was one obvious flaw.
He was extremely weak against large targets—especially those with thick skin and tough defenses.
He lacked effective ways to break through their defenses.
That weakness was the exact opposite of the two boys from the Aburame clan.
Just thinking about how his giant snake had disappeared that day made Orochimaru's teeth ache.
That snake had been one of his best—second only to Manda.
And unlike Manda, it didn't make endless demands.
Yet it was simply… gone.
Insects that ate fire oil and carried explosives—seriously, how did you even come up with that?
The Aburame clan truly deserved its reputation as the most deeply hidden clan in the village.
Aburame Clan: "Waaah… how did our reputation suddenly become so high? If we'd known, we wouldn't have spent every day wearing sunglasses and pretending to be mysterious. It's exhausting, and people still barely notice us."
Aburame Shiken walked up to Orochimaru and placed a bloodstained scroll in front of him.
"The village's mission is complete."
"Not bad. Very efficient."
Orochimaru praised him.
This squad was truly the most worry-free team he had ever led.
The previous one…
Thinking of Nawaki—
Forget it. Bad luck.
Senju Nawaki: "Teacher, am I not your favorite disciple anymore?"
Orochimaru: "Let me clarify. You were my only disciple—and Tsunade forced me to accept you. I never intended to take a disciple in the first place."
Still…
Orochimaru looked at Uchiha Kamito and Aburame Shiken in front of him, and Aburame Shibi who was standing guard outside.
If he took these three as disciples, that actually wouldn't be bad.
They wouldn't require much effort and could even help him deal with certain troubles—like making money, for example.
But it was unlikely.
Sarutobi-sensei would never allow someone from the Uchiha clan to join the Hokage faction.
Still, I really do think highly of that kid.
Just as Orochimaru was considering the possibility of taking Uchiha Kamito as his disciple, Aburame Shiken took out a familiar blue, crystal-clear insect.
"Secret Technique: Aburame Style Projection Technique."
The projection insect burst apart as usual.
A blue screen appeared.
At that moment, however, Orochimaru looked at Aburame Shiken with a strange expression.
Your secret technique is just shouting the name? You don't even form hand seals. Even if you didn't shout it, this weird insect exploding would probably produce the same effect.
"Completely unnecessary. Bad habit. Fix it."
Aburame Shiken: "Don't worry about it. Life needs a sense of ceremony. If I don't say it out loud, how will anyone know I invented this technique?"
Senju Tobirama: "Agreed. Protecting ninja-world copyrights starts with you and me."
Orochimaru turned his attention to the screen.
He saw a group of ninja wearing straw hats and purple outfits quietly sneaking into the border of the Land of Fire.
There were seven of them in total.
Some had their ninja headbands tied around their waists, others wore them on their arms.
"Uh… Orochimaru-sensei, when you infiltrate other countries, do you usually do it like this? You don't even take off your headbands?"
Aburame Shiken asked sincerely.
Don't ask me. Those missing-nin don't take theirs off either. They just carve a scratch through them and wear them openly. How would I know why?
Orochimaru removed his own headband and silently swore that unless absolutely necessary, he would never wear it again.
It suddenly looked incredibly stupid.
Then he looked at Uchiha Kamito and Aburame Shiken. Their headbands seemed to be put away as soon as they left the village.
Aburame Shibi was probably the same.
The least experienced person in Orochimaru's squad was… Orochimaru himself.
"They've entered another country's territory without reason. Killing them wouldn't be excessive. Leave the leader alive and hand him over to the Intelligence Division. Keep the other heads as well. The Yamanaka clan might like them."
Yamanaka Clan: "??? Don't slander us like that. Who likes those heads? The village needs that information, alright? We're just enduring humiliation and carrying heavy burdens for the village's development."
...
Inside the dense forest, seven Rain ninja were advancing cautiously.
This time, they would definitely complete Hanzo-sama's mission.
Hanzo-sama was the true god of the Land of Rain.
He would surely bring a better future to the Land of Rain.
Offer your hearts to Hanzo-sama.
A group of ninja driven by faith stepped onto foreign soil.
A kunai with an explosive tag suddenly flew into the center of the group.
Boom.
Fortunately, the Rain ninja sent this time were all elites.
Naturally, a mere explosive tag wouldn't cause casualties.
Though honestly—would anyone really be killed by an explosive tag?
Even sixty billion of them probably couldn't kill anyone.
Senju Nawaki: "Who are you talking about? Who died from an explosive tag? And besides, that wasn't just one!"
Whoosh, whoosh.
The Rain ninja spotted a black figure darting through the forest.
As expected of Konoha's ninja—so perceptive.
But today, we can't let you escape.
"Umoto, Anten, Kayiki—you three go deal with him. Then regroup in the small town ahead."
Three figures immediately turned and chased after the shadow.
Three against one. The advantage is ours.
The leading Rain ninja thought.
"Continue forward."
After the remaining four moved a little farther ahead, countless black insects suddenly emerged, surrounding them from all directions.
"Damn it! Why would there be members of the Aburame clan at the border? Use ninjutsu! Don't let them get close!"
"Yes!"
Just as the four began gathering chakra—
Some of the black insects exploded.
White smoke instantly enveloped them.
"What—"
The leader's consciousness began to blur.
"It's a sedative… be careful."
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The other three had already collapsed to the ground.
"The Land of Fire… is really dangerous…"
Then he too fell heavily.
The black insects continued swarming forward.
This time, instead of devouring flesh, they absorbed all the chakra from the bodies.
Aburame Clan: "We've finally seen the most orthodox Aburame parasitic insects again. It really hasn't been easy for us. Ever since Aburame Shiken entered the ninja academy, Aburame insects have been constantly undergoing updates and upgrades. Seeing the original parasitic insects again suddenly feels strangely touching."