Chapter 38: Orochimaru, Let Me Explain!
Uchiha Itachi, carrying Kitahara and leading a string of little turnip heads, circled the entire base again. Kitahara had to admit, getting lost here was a normal occurrence.
Even though Itachi had marked the path with kunai along the way and had traversed many different places, he still couldn't find the exit... This base was too large; it must have been very important in Orochimaru's defection plan.
Additionally, it was also because the exit was too well hidden, so hidden that Uchiha Itachi couldn't find it even with his Sharingan active... If the little boy had been willing to look up, he wouldn't have struggled with the exit problem.
"Caw!"
Kitahara halted the little boy's steps, looking up. There was an external ventilation shaft... Under the crimson eyes' signal, Uchiha Itachi helplessly nodded!
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A dragon-head-shaped flame burst through the ventilation shaft, tearing a large hole through the entire base from the inside out. The crow flew out through the opening, and in the distance, the lights of the small town could be faintly seen.
"Caw!"
After the crow confirmed it was safe, Uchiha Itachi picked up a child and leaped up, bringing the group of little turnip heads out one by one... He would probably need to take them home individually later.
The genius Uchiha had pretty much transformed into a kindergarten class monitor...
After carrying out the last child, Uchiha Itachi looked down at the base below through the hole, "Kitahara, let's blow up this base..."
"Caw?"
Has Orochimaru provoked you now?
The base below was so large; even digging it up with Earth Style ninjutsu wouldn't be easy. Besides, when they were circling around just now, Kitahara had also observed a pile of large, uninstalled equipment.
"His experiments are too evil. If we don't destroy it..." Uchiha Itachi glanced at the rescued little turnip heads, lightly tossed dozens of paper bombs into the underground opening, and then raised his hand to form seals:
"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Boom!
Rumble rumble!
BOOM!
After the Uchiha series of three consecutive fire techniques detonated, a series of deafening collapses echoed from the underground base, and the earth trembled...
The intense force of the fiery explosions even burst out of the opening, illuminating a fiery red in the darkness...
"Caw?"
Kitahara looked at the little boy with envy. After personally conducting an artistic baptism, does your body feel much more refreshed? Unfortunately, it still hasn't been able to learn Fire Style...
Can only drool...
Uchiha Itachi awkwardly fiddled with his fingers, saw the children gathered in the distance, and his smile surprisingly looked a bit dotingly sweet, "Let's go..."
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Hiss hiss hiss hiss...
Just as they were about to leave, dozens of ferocious pythons suddenly lunged at Itachi's nape! Saliva dripped from their sharp fangs...
In the same instant, Kitahara tightly gripped Uchiha Itachi's collar, narrowly dodging the snake attack. Their forked tongues were even clearly visible...
"Caw!"
The crow almost broke out in a cold sweat, unsure if it was disgust or fear. As a bird, being afraid of snakes was... a perfectly normal instinct... After all, it was just a little crow!
After escaping the danger, Kitahara followed the direction of the snakes and saw someone it didn't particularly want to see... The standard Konoha Jonin uniform suited Orochimaru very well.
But only this uniform represented that he was once a Konoha ninja... Because he wore no headband, Orochimaru actually looked sinisterly... handsome...
Describing Orochimaru, it seemed impossible to ever escape words like sinister, treacherous, and cunning. He was like a real snake, possessing all the characteristics of a snake.
And this guy, like the snakes in mythology, had the audacity to steal from the heavens. Basically, every famous person in the ninja world had some connection with him. Even an indescribable deity like the Shinigami had been toyed with by him...
Clearly a scientist who had mastered core technology, even if placed in modern times, he would surely win awards in biology, medicine, and the like until his hands went soft... Yet, he was still a powerful ninja.
Perhaps it was because Orochimaru was too capable of stirring things up that the Sage of Six Paths was a bit afraid of getting involved with him... Thus, he didn't possess any Kekkei Genkai; all his skills were self-taught through his own efforts.
If not for the heart-stopping snakes just now, Kitahara actually had a rather good impression of Orochimaru. After all, it too was once...
Better not to dwell on it. After thinking carefully, Kitahara found it couldn't compare. Orochimaru was an outstanding genius proficient in all skills; it was just an ordinary model student. The distance between them was probably as vast as that between a Nobel Prize and an end-of-term scholarship...
Every scientist possesses extremely high character and self-cultivation, and Orochimaru was naturally no exception. Upon seeing Uchiha Itachi, the smile on his face was somewhat amicable, "Hehe hahahahaha... It's Itachi!"
"Caw?"
The crow looked curiously at Orochimaru, then at Uchiha Itachi... Still my cub! Is their relationship that good?
"It really is Orochimaru..."
Uchiha Itachi came back to his senses, gazing at the person whom Konoha villagers once unanimously respected, a person even he himself had trusted in his ignorant youth.
Kitahara: "..."
You've already blown up his base, so don't think about those other things... It couldn't quite understand the feelings of Konoha ninjas; Orochimaru's achievements were too distant for it.
But Uchiha Itachi had followed his father and witnessed the cruelty of the Shinobi World War, and had also seen Orochimaru masterfully command Konoha ninjas to victory...
"Hahaha... Itachi, what a coincidence! Want to join me?" A bizarrely long tongue darted out, and Orochimaru licked his lips. Seeing the Uchiha's foremost genius excited him greatly.
He pointed to the still-flaming opening, magnanimously saying, "If you're willing to join me, I can overlook the matter of destroying this base, let bygones be bygones..."
The destruction of such a large-scale base was indeed a heavy blow to the current Orochimaru. Due to Danzo's leak, he had to hastily defect from Konoha and was currently almost penniless...
This experimental base was what he had painstakingly accumulated these past few days... Working odd jobs during the day to earn some money, and then renovating the base himself at night.
Because he hadn't planned his defection from Konoha for these past few years, he didn't even have many capable subordinates now... He had even resorted to using those clumsy kidnappers; his desolation was evident...
If he could entice Uchiha Itachi, he would immediately gain a subordinate with exceptional talent. Some Kekkei Genkai experiments and even certain unspeakable experiments would have a chance to be launched...
"Sorry, I don't..." Uchiha Itachi had a happy and harmonious family, and his future also seemed bright. His days training with Jiraiya were also very leisurely...
"Now, don't be in such a hurry to refuse..." Orochimaru wagged a finger lightly, "I can reveal to you..."
"Itachi! Don't listen to his nonsense!"
A tall figure suddenly leaped out from the shadows. The moment Jiraiya saw his disciple, he finally couldn't resist jumping out.
These days, anyone with children had to be wary of Orochimaru. His talent for abducting children and raising them was almost on par with Mr. Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu... In comparison, Jiraiya was clearly much inferior.
His Talk-no-Jutsu had never succeeded... Besides writing books and being deeply analyzed by people impersonating Hokage he could barely make a living.
Jiraiya and Orochimaru had actually just met a moment ago. Unfortunately, he hadn't persuaded his former friend to return to the village to face punishment... That indeed didn't sound like something a friend would do...
And to be able to listen to such outrageous words for a while showed that Orochimaru was truly... really good to Jiraiya.
But when it was time to get physical, they still had to...
After two Shinobi World Wars, both sides knew each other's methods clearly and could only retreat... Until Jiraiya saw the firelight and couldn't resist chasing after it, only to see someone trying to fool his disciple...
Facing Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi, who was truly unsure of himself, said with pleasant surprise, "Teacher Jiraiya!"
"...Jiraiya... Teacher..." Orochimaru heard Itachi's address, felt he understood everything that had happened tonight, and his lips curled into an ugly angle, "Heh heh heh heh..."
His face was so gloomy it looked like water was about to drip from it. Because he hadn't received the latest intelligence from Konoha, he didn't know about Uchiha Itachi and Jiraiya's relationship...
But... now he knew.
"Jiraiya..." A pair of snake-like eyes stared intently at the white-haired old man. Orochimaru's tone was indescribably a mixture of anger and weariness, "You're really not the person you used to be..."
"Using words to stall me, sending your disciple to destroy my base, are you planning to try and take my life together, master and disciple..."
"Heh heh heh... Really... This is too interesting!"
Orochimaru's current psychological state was exactly like that of an ignorant young man who had been cheated emotionally and... cheated out of money.
Jiraiya: "..."
Uchiha Itachi: "..."
Kitahara: "...Caw..."
I wonder if he'll believe the explanation of two people and one crow?
o(︶︿︶)o …
(End of this chapter)