Chapter 538: Is He Really Minato’s Son?

Chapter 538: Chapter 538: Is He Really Minato’s Son?

Orochimaru had always been quite confident in his ability to teach. Over the years, he had trained many outstanding shinobi. Even Hyuga Kagami, whom he had once considered rather mediocre in terms of talent, had eventually grown into someone who could not be underestimated.

However, after meeting Naruto, he began to doubt his own teaching abilities.

An entire day!

Under his guidance, Naruto had spent an entire day learning a mere Clone Technique, yet still hadn’t fully mastered it. This was simply unbelievable to Orochimaru.

After all, back when Kimimaro first learned the Three Basic Techniques, he had mastered the entire set—including the Transformation Technique and Substitution Technique—on his very first attempt, simply by learning the sequence of hand seals.

Even Haku, who was slightly less talented, had mastered all three techniques in just an hour.

"Is this child really that guy Minato’s son?"

Suddenly, this thought flashed through Orochimaru’s mind.

Although Minato had once been his rival for the position of Hokage, even someone as proud as Orochimaru had to admit that Namikaze Minato was the most talented shinobi he had ever encountered.

Thus, he found it difficult to imagine that Naruto, whose father was Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage renowned as the ’Yellow Flash,’ and whose mother was Uzumaki Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, could actually be an idiot!

Just then, Naruto approached Orochimaru and said, "Orochimaru-sensei, I’ve learned the Clone Technique!"

Ever since Orochimaru had agreed to teach Naruto ninjutsu, Naruto had changed the way he addressed him to ’Orochimaru-sensei.’ His attitude toward Orochimaru had also undergone a complete 180-degree transformation.

Orochimaru’s expression darkened as he said in his hoarse voice, "At your current level, you’re still a long way from mastering it."

Naruto scratched his head. "But I’ve already created a clone, haven’t I?"

Orochimaru glanced at the sickly, emaciated clone Naruto had produced, which looked almost like a mummy, and thought to himself, "Perhaps he simply doesn’t have the talent to become a shinobi..."

In Orochimaru’s eyes, anyone who couldn’t learn the Clone Technique within half a day could basically be considered useless, let alone someone like Naruto, who had wasted an entire day without mastering it.

Although he could also see that the Nine-Tails was interfering with the chakra inside Naruto’s body whenever he performed ninjutsu, to Orochimaru, that was no excuse for failing to learn even the most basic Clone Technique.

Shaking his head, Orochimaru turned and headed back toward the cave.

Seeing Orochimaru leave without saying a word, Naruto called out in confusion, "Orochimaru-sensei? Orochimaru-sensei?"

Orochimaru ignored Naruto’s calls from behind.

He had never had much patience for fools, and Naruto’s careless, scatterbrained personality always reminded him of that idiot Jiraiya.

Inside the cave, Kabuto approached him and asked, "Lord Orochimaru, how is Naruto’s training going?"

Orochimaru replied with a gloomy expression, "From now on, you’ll be responsible for training Naruto. Understood?"

Kabuto froze. "Huh!?"

Orochimaru shot Kabuto a sinister glare. "That’s an order!"

"Yes, understood!"

Kabuto hurriedly nodded.

Orochimaru swept his gaze around the cave before saying in a deep voice, "I’ll be making a trip to Konoha in the next few days. I’ll leave this place in your hands for the time being. Make sure those two children remain safe."

Kabuto replied, "Please rest assured."

Orochimaru said nothing more. With a flicker, his figure vanished from the cave.

...

Inside Danzo’s Root base.

"Lord Homura, the confidential meeting is scheduled to begin in half an hour. Please make the necessary preparations."

While controlling his Fire Release clone, Kagami listened to the report from the Root researcher beside him as he organized the documents at hand.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Kagami, Orochimaru, and the numerous Root researchers over the past few days, the improvements to the Chimera Technique had finally entered their final stages.

At this point, experiments alone could no longer advance the improvements to the Chimera Technique. What was needed now was to formulate a concrete devouring plan and the corresponding fusion ritual.

This was an unavoidable issue, so Danzo had no choice but to convene a confidential meeting.

Before long, Kagami arrived at the secret conference room with his documents.

There were only four seats in the conference room. This meant that apart from Danzo and Root’s chief researcher, the only participants in this confidential meeting would be Kagami and Orochimaru.

Seeing Kagami enter the conference room wearing his flame-patterned mask, Danzo subconsciously frowned.

He had been doing everything in his power to prevent Kamigami’s Homura and Orochimaru from encountering each other inside his base.

After all, he was worried that Homura, who was hostile toward him, might leak the news of his collusion with Orochimaru to the Third Hokage during this sensitive period.

However, today’s meeting concerned the success or failure of the improvements to the Chimera Technique. Danzo had no choice but to allow the two of them to meet.

At the same time, Danzo was also extremely frustrated. He had been trying to contact Kamigami’s Furin throughout this period, but his efforts had yielded nothing.

As a result, he could only suppress his temper and tolerate Homura’s interference in his core plan.

A short while later, Orochimaru also arrived at the secret conference room.

He glanced at Kagami, who was controlling his Fire Release clone, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Have we met somewhere before? The aura emanating from you feels very familiar."

Orochimaru had his own suspicions regarding the identities of Kamigami’s two Homura.

After all, he was one of the few people in the shinobi world who knew that Uchiha Itachi had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. At the same time, he was also one of the few people who had fought Uchiha En and lived to tell the tale.

Kagami understood the implication behind Orochimaru’s words, so he replied coldly, "A word of advice. You’d better watch your mouth!"

Orochimaru snorted softly and did not pursue the subject any further. Instead, he walked straight to his seat and sat down.

Kamigami had more than just its two Homura. It also had the formidable Furin, as well as Yama, who was currently recognized as the strongest shinobi in the world.

Therefore, Orochimaru had no intention of using the intelligence he possessed to threaten Kagami.

After all, he understood better than anyone that if he offended both Akatsuki and Kamigami at the same time, even he would undoubtedly meet a miserable end.

At this moment, Danzo spoke up. "Enough. Save the idle chatter for another time. You two strongly insisted on convening this meeting. I want to know why!"

As Kagami spread out the documents in his hands, he asked Danzo, "I need to know which Kekkei Genkai you intend to fuse."

Danzo’s brows furrowed. "I haven’t decided yet!"

Since this concerned his most closely guarded secrets, Danzo naturally had no intention of revealing them so easily to Kagami and Orochimaru.

Kagami refused to yield an inch.

"Then decide right now!"

Orochimaru also chimed in. "This concerns the final improvements to the Chimera Technique, as well as the design of the fusion ritual. We must clarify this beforehand. Otherwise, we won’t be able to proceed with the next stage of the plan."