Chapter 136: Hiruko

Chapter 136: Chapter 136: Hiruko

"Hiruko!"

The moment he saw that name, Hyuga Kagami’s expression turned grave.

Hiruko had an irreplaceably important role in the massive plan Kagami intended to carry out next. Because of that, Kagami had been trying to track down Hiruko’s whereabouts for quite some time now.

The problem was that Hiruko was a rogue ninja with a bounty issued by Konoha, and his movements were extremely secretive. Even after Kagami made use of Konoha’s intelligence network, he still hadn’t managed to uncover a single clue.

He hadn’t expected Akatsuki to find Hiruko’s trail before he did.

That truly caught Kagami by surprise.

"Haah... Who would’ve thought that a single encounter at the Root base would cause the situation to change in such an unpredictable way? Fate really is a strange thing. There’s simply no telling where it’ll lead."

When he considered that Akatsuki’s current actions had, in a roundabout way, been caused by something he himself had done unintentionally, Kagami couldn’t help but marvel at the unpredictable chain of cause and effect in this world.

But he quickly put those thoughts aside and began considering his next move.

Hiruko and Orochimaru had been members of the same generation, so the two naturally had some degree of acquaintance with each other. Akatsuki’s decision to send Orochimaru and Sasori’s team to find Hiruko was probably made with two considerations in mind.

First, Obito wanted to confirm whether Hiruko was the mysterious person he had encountered at the Root base.

Second, by taking advantage of Orochimaru’s personal connection with Hiruko, Akatsuki could recruit Hiruko, a Konoha rogue ninja, into the organization.

"It’s probably already too late to stop them."

Resting his chin on one hand, Kagami continued to ponder.

"If Hiruko gets recruited into Akatsuki... what kind of impact will that have on me?"

Within Akatsuki, there was no superior-subordinate relationship between the individual teams.

Orochimaru and Sasori might casually mention to Uchiha Shinichi who their team had been assigned to find, but they would never report any specific details of their mission to him.

And Shinichi had no reasonable excuse to press them for detailed information about Hiruko either.

At this point, it would already be extremely difficult for Kagami to prevent Akatsuki from making contact with Hiruko.

Fortunately, what Kagami needed was only Hiruko’s technology.

Even if Hiruko joined Akatsuki, Kagami still had ways to get his hands on the technology he wanted.

After putting away all the storage scrolls, Kagami bid farewell to Mishima Yutaro and quietly returned to the village.

As soon as he arrived back in Konoha, he immediately buried himself in his secret laboratory.

Every piece of equipment he had purchased this time had been carefully selected. They were precisely the instruments he was most desperately lacking for the plan he intended to carry out.

Now that this batch of equipment had filled those gaps, he could finally begin carrying out certain parts of his plan.

But before that...

He still needed to meet with Orochimaru.

When it came to biological engineering, Orochimaru could undoubtedly be considered one of the foremost experts in the entire shinobi world.

Although Kagami had obtained the Tenseigan by activating a special genetic sequence, that did not mean his expertise in biological engineering surpassed Orochimaru’s.

It simply meant that Kagami possessed knowledge of a secret that Orochimaru did not.

Therefore, if Kagami wanted to set his grand plan in motion, Orochimaru’s support was indispensable.

He also needed Orochimaru to confirm Hiruko’s current situation.

What worried Kagami most wasn’t Hiruko joining Akatsuki.

It was Hiruko refusing to join Akatsuki—and being silenced as a result.

If Hiruko were to die just like that, without Kagami even knowing what had happened, then his entire plan would encounter a great many unexpected complications.

Through his summon, the one-eyed viper, Kagami sent Orochimaru a request for a meeting.

Poof...

Before long, the one-eyed viper appeared again and opened its mouth, spitting out a scroll.

Kagami opened it and took a look.

"The Land of Rice Fields, huh..."

There wasn’t much written on the scroll, only a few short sentences.

Orochimaru had arranged to meet Kagami two weeks later at one of his secret bases within the Land of Rice Fields.

In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.

Kagami strolled leisurely through a forest in the Land of Rice Fields, looking for all the world like nothing more than a traveler out enjoying the countryside.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a kunai shot through the air and embedded itself in the open ground directly in front of Kagami.

Kagami stopped.

"I’m here to see Orochimaru."

A figure dropped down from above.

After looking Kagami up and down for a moment, he said, "Please follow me."

But the instant Kagami saw the man’s face, he froze where he stood.

The person before him was none other than Yamato—the lucky survivor who had successfully adapted to the First Hokage’s cells!

Why had Orochimaru defected earlier than expected?

Why had Orochimaru and Danzo become bitter enemies?

Why had Danzo gone to such lengths to take revenge on Orochimaru, even carrying out a large-scale purge of Orochimaru’s former subordinates?

The questions that had puzzled Kagami for so long...

The instant he saw Yamato, everything clicked into place.

Yamato—the sole success of the First Hokage Cell Transplantation Project—had been the fuse that set everything off.

Orochimaru and Danzo had turned against each other while fighting over possession of him, ultimately leading Orochimaru to choose defection.

Yamato turned back and looked at Kagami.

"What’s wrong?"

Kagami shook his head, quickly concealing the strange look on his face.

Following behind Yamato, Kagami walked onward while thinking to himself,

"In the original timeline, Orochimaru thought Yamato was another failed experiment, only for Danzo to stumble upon him afterward and reap the benefits. I didn’t expect Orochimaru to actually notice Yamato in this world."

Of the sixty test subjects involved in the experiment, Yamato was the only one who had successfully fused with the First Hokage’s cells.

His research value was beyond question.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine what had happened.

The moment Orochimaru and Danzo both discovered that Yamato had successfully fused with the First Hokage’s cells...

a fierce struggle over him must have erupted between the two.

And the outcome was obvious.

Orochimaru got Yamato...

but was also forced to defect from the village because of it.

Following Yamato, Kagami eventually arrived at the entrance to an underground facility.

Yamato turned around and warned him,

"There’ll be some snakes around the entrance. You don’t need to worry. As long as you stay close to me, they won’t attack you."

Kagami smiled and nodded.

Before long, the two passed through the dark, damp underground passage and officially entered Orochimaru’s secret base.

After passing through several underground corridors, Yamato led Kagami to a sealed room.

Stepping aside, Yamato said,

"Lord Orochimaru is inside. You can go in and meet him yourself."

Kagami casually swept his gaze across his surroundings before smiling and nodding once more.

Along the way, Kagami had detected at least ten traps, five sealing formations, and more than twenty ninja concealed in the shadows.

Such stringent security arrangements were clearly not the way one treated a guest.

There was no doubt about it.

Orochimaru had something unpleasant in mind for him.

But as far as Kagami was concerned, this was only to be expected.

If he wanted to go from being Orochimaru’s subordinate to becoming an equal collaborator, there were inevitably going to be a few hurdles along the way.

Besides, Orochimaru had never been someone who was easy to negotiate with.

So this confrontation was bound to happen sooner or later.

Kagami reached out, turned the handle of the sealed room’s door...

and walked inside with a completely unruffled expression.