Orochimaru’s heart skipped a beat when he heard that. As baffling as it was, he knew Uzumaki Senshi wasn’t the type to make groundless cims.
“My reason? What reason would that be?”
Though inwardly shocked, Orochimaru forced himself to sound posed.
In response, Senshi spoke in a casual tone:
“Lord Orochimaru, didn’t you join the Akatsuki because you want Uchiha Itachi’s Sharingan?”
Strictly speaking, Orochimaru wahe Rinnegan most of all. But obtaining the Rinnegan was too difficult—he’d already suffered a setbad now harbored lingering fears. He could only lower his sights and go after the Sharingan.
Not long ago, Orochimaru had already felt that Uzumaki Senshi’s intelligence was shogly accurate. Hearing him state this so bluntly now, Orochimaru found himself even more astounded.
To his surprise, Senshi went on, seemingly unwilling to stop with just that bombshell:
“Actually, I happen to know where to find several extraordinarily powerful Sharingan with very special abilities. You’d be ied in those, right?”
That statement hit Orochimaru like a surge of electricity. The Sharingan was aremely special and mysterious kekkei genkai—nobody, not even its own wielder, could know in advaly which powers a newly awakened Sharingan might hold.
If anyone else cimed to know the whereabouts of “extremely powerful Sharingan,” Orochimaru would have scoffed. But Uzumaki Senshi was different; even the behind-the-ses Akatsuki seemed like an open book to him. Orochimaru didn’t uand why, but it appeared that Senshi possessed some unusually potent intelligehering capability—one Orochimaru greatly valued.
After thinking for a moment, Orochimaru posed a question to test whether Senshi truly had such remarkable intel:
“Where is Uchiha Shisui’s eye?”
He wao see if Senshi really did know top-secret information.
Senshi paused briefly, then answered:
“One of Shisui’s eyes is in Shimura Danzo’s possession.”
To be precise, it was in Danzo’s own eye socket, while the rest of the Uchiha’s eyes were grafted to Danzo’s arm—an arm Orochimaru himself had engineered. So one of Shisui’s eyes was indeed with Danzo, something Orochimaru already knew. But that was aremely high-level secret, known only to a handful of people.
This made Orochimaru scrutinize Senshi once again.
“Just who is this guy? He was allowed to join Akatsuki, so their vetting must have found nothing amiss. Yet he knows about Shisui’s eye being with Danzo—information of that caliber is practically top secret. Who in the world is he, and how does he know all this?”
Orochimaru now felt a deeper warioward Uzumaki Senshi. Dealing with him might prove plicated. Still, he quickly thought of something else: he might hire Senshi loo study this “mystery” ninja. If Orochimaru hired him, he could get Senshi’s help with intel and gradually analyze him iail. Once he thhly uood Uzumaki Senshi, capturing him or taking him down would be easier.
With that in mind, Orochimaru broke into a faint smile and said:
“I accept! I’ll hire you long-term for 500,000 ryō per month to assist me in the development and research of ninjutsu aed teologies!”
[gratutions! You have gained Orochimaru’s approval!]
[He pns to hire you long-term with a sary of 500,000 ryō per month to aid in his ninjutsu & tech research!]
[Upon successful acceptance of this long-term ission, you will receive one Super Draw!]
[Wheling this long-term ission, your ission Points will be doubled!]
Reading that wave of system notifications, Senshi was overjoyed. There was a world of differeween rewards for a oime job and a long-term job. Once he received this wave of rewards, his physical strength and chakra capacity would rival that of the ails. Meaning in uping missions he could gain SSSS-level chakra rewards, fully stepping into the realm of the Ten-Tails. In time, he could genuinely bee a humaails.”
“e with me.”
Now that he had firmed hiring Uzumaki Senshi, Orochimaru spoke offhandedly. Of course, Orochimaru wouldn’t carry around a million ryō on him. He po pay Senshi 500,000 ryō first, then take him to one of his nearby hideouts to do some research.
“Where are we going?” Senshi asked casually, not seeming bothered. He hadn’t yet heard the system’s “mission plete” prompt, which suggested he had to do something like formalizing the deal with Orochimaru to finish.
Leading the way, Orochimaru answered, “First the money exge, so I withdraw your 500,000 ryō. After that, we’ll go to one of my hideouts—I need you to help me with some experiments.”
Senshi nodded. Once he had the mohe mission would be sidered plete. Along with Karin, he followed Orochimaru through town until they reached a moneylender’s establishment. Orochimaru signed a dot there, receiving a case taining 1,000,000 ryō.
Swish—
Orochimaru pushed the case over to Uzumaki Senshi and said:
“Here’s a million. Our employmeionship is now official. Now you’ll e with me to my pd assist in some experiments.”
[You have successfully taken on a new long-term ission: assisting Orochimaru’s stific research!]
[System Reward #1: 1x Super Draw]
The moment the system prompt appeared, Senshi’s grin grew impossible to tain. Long-term issions were no easy feat, and if the t’s status didn’t meet certain criteria, the system wouldn’t even reize the job. Akatsuki was the top merary for the shinobi world, so it certainly qualified. Though Orochimaru was currently with Akatsuki, he was no mere minion—he had his own faaking him eligible to issue a long-term ission.
Senshi opened his system meedly.
“Gimme a draw!”
[Drawing Super Reward…]
[gratutions! You have obtained an S-rank reward: unlog a new rare Attribute.]
[You have unlocked “World Affinity.” Future draws may yield additional World Affinity bonuses.]
[ry oatus Panel: World Affinity]
[Current Affinity with this Shinobi World: C]
Senshi was a bit perplexed by what he drew. “World Affinity? What even is that? And it’s only S-rank? Ugh, Snake Bro, ’t you do better?”
He himself didn’t feel any immediate ge, but Orochimaru definitely noticed something. In that instant, Senshi had emitted a wave of energy that made Orochimaru’s pupils shrink in shock.
“What did you just do?!”
Orochimaru stared at Senshi in arm. He had sensed aremely familiar presene remi of “the First Hokage.” Yet ly. Most people wouldn’t pick up on that distin, but Orochimaru had done tless experiments with certain cells, so he reized the aura all too well.
Orochimaru was already very ied in Senshi; after that sudden burst of a “familiar, intense aura,” he was even more fixated on him. And then the case of money vanished from Senshi’s hand.
“Space–Time Ninjutsu?”
Orochimaru’s eerie snake-like eyes flicked to the spot where the money had disappeared. He couldn’t help asking. Summoning Jutsu was also a space–time type, so the cept itself wasn’t rare to Orochimaru. But using it with no hand seals, no visible formu, and not even a noticeable chakra fluctuation? That was bizarre.
What Senshi had used was, in fact, the “System Space.” He had simply pced the case i. Seeing Orochimaru’s dumbfounded face, Senshi found it amusing. Outwardly, though, he remained calm, as if this was just a trivial teique.
Karin, too, was left blinking in fusion. With her sensory abilities, she normally picked up on the subtlest chakra ges—yet she hadn’t noticed any teique at all.
Senshi had felt o fear Orochimaru earlier, and now that his power had surged again, he was even more ied in seeing Orochimaru’s hideout. Orochimaru’s inal pn was to trap Senshi there, but now he decided to pursue normal cooperation first. This peculiar, outndish shinobi was tough to handle, and he also had immense research value. Orochimaru wao study him thhly.
Under Orochimaru’s lead, the three arrived at his local hideout. Upon stepping inside, Senshi felt mildly disappoihough it was a well-equipped b, none of Orochimaru’s more bizarre enius” creations were here.
Rustle-rustle—
Orochimaru unrolled a scroll onto the floor, revealing a strange bked formu. After that, he said to Senshi:
“Sit in the middle of the seal. I want to examine your chakra and cellur traits iail.”
Bleam
