Chapter 106: I Am Kumogakure's Daddy!
At the same time in Konoha, the night was already deep.
Lanterns lit up one by one along the streets, casting mottled shadows of orange light on the bluestone slabs. Pedestrians were sparse. Occasionally, a patrol squad of ninja would walk by with brisk steps, quickly disappearing into the night.
Orochimaru finished his day's work and walked out of the Hokage building, heading down a secluded path toward his residence.
His home was not in the center of the village, but rather a relatively remote courtyard. There were no neighbors around, only a few old trees and a bamboo grove.
He liked the quiet and disliked being disturbed.
As he reached the door and prepared to push it open, his movements paused.
The corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled up. Without turning his head, he spoke calmly, "You all can head back."
The ANBU guards behind him froze for a moment. One of them asked in a low voice, "Lord Hokage?"
"I said, go back."
"Yes."
Several ANBU responded simultaneously, their figures vanishing from the spot as they used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.
Orochimaru opened the door, stepped into the house, and casually closed it behind him. Standing in the entryway, he didn't turn on the lights. His golden, slit-like pupils glowed faintly in the darkness.
His gaze bypassed the dim hallway and landed in the direction of the living room.
Someone was standing there.
The person wore a black robe and an orange, single-eyed mask. The mask had only one circular hole, revealing a crimson Sharingan inside. He stood by the window, the moonlight stretching his shadow long across the floor, motionless like a statue.
Looking at him, Orochimaru licked his lips and let out a low chuckle.
"Uchiha Obito, as a rogue ninja, you actually have the nerve to show up in Konoha at a time like this. Aren't you afraid I'll capture you?"
Uchiha Obito didn't move. The voice beneath the mask was calm and deep.
"You won't."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. He walked into the living room, sat down in a chair, crossed his legs, and folded his hands over his knee.
"Oh? Why are you so certain?"
Uchiha Obito stepped away from the window and walked up to Orochimaru. He took a scroll from his robes, unrolled it, and placed it on the floor. Forming hand signs, the sealing formula on the scroll lit up. After a puff of white smoke, a corpse appeared on the ground.
The corpse was completely white with short, dark green hair. It looked like a flayed human mannequin.
A White Zetsu corpse.
Orochimaru's eyelids lifted slightly, a gleam flashing through his golden, slit-like pupils.
He stood up, walked over to the corpse, and crouched down. Reaching out, he pressed his fingers against the corpse's skin.
The skin was quite elastic, not feeling like it had been dead for long, but paired with its ghastly pallor, it gave off a uniquely eerie vibe.
"What is this?"
Orochimaru's voice carried an irrepressible excitement. He naturally knew what it was; after all, the arm-grafting surgery he had performed on Shimura Danzo utilized something similar.
Except, back then, it had been the arm of the very Uchiha Obito standing before him. However, Orochimaru could tell at a glance that there was no difference between the two.
Uchiha Obito stood to the side, his arms crossed over his chest.
"White Zetsu. A special artificial organism that possesses the traits and abilities of Hashirama cells. It can merge with the ground, disguise itself as anyone, and sense chakra fluctuations over a massive range."
He paused.
"I know you are researching Hashirama cells, and I know you've hit a bottleneck. This thing should be able to help you."
Orochimaru looked up at Uchiha Obito, his golden eyes full of amusement.
"What do you want?"
Uchiha Obito remained silent for a moment.
"I don't want anything."
Orochimaru's smile widened.
"You don't want anything? That doesn't sound like you."
Uchiha Obito turned and walked toward the door. As he reached it, he stopped without looking back.
"I just think that Konoha needs to become stronger."
He pulled the door open and walked out. The door closed behind him with a soft click.
Orochimaru stood beside the White Zetsu corpse, looking down at it, his mouth splitting into a wide grin.
"Interesting."
A rogue ninja of the village, and the very culprit who caused the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, was now actually thinking about helping Konoha grow stronger.
Orochimaru didn't even need to guess to know that Uchiha Obito definitely had other plans.
But he didn't care, because right now, he was far more interested in the corpse on the floor.
...
Kumogakure.
Uchiha Taiga's words carried a lot of weight in Kumogakure. Although Raikage A was reluctant, he had no choice but to agree in order to avoid giving Uchiha Taiga an excuse to attack.
After all, Uchiha Taiga only wanted a portion of the chakra, not all of it. For a Tailed Beast, this was merely a temporary loss that would recover over time, so it naturally wasn't considered too serious.
Killer Bee made a trip to the training ground, and Uchiha Taiga extracted some of the Eight-Tails Gyuki's chakra from him.
The process went smoothly. Killer Bee didn't resist, and Uchiha Taiga didn't make things difficult for him.
It just hurt a bit. Killer Bee howled during the extraction process, but other than that, nothing else happened.
After the chakra was extracted, Killer Bee left. Before leaving, he even said, "Come again next time!" but was promptly slapped on the back of the head by Raikage A and dragged away.
Since that day, Uchiha Taiga had locked down the newly cleared training ground. Aside from Yugito Nii, no one else was allowed to enter.
Yugito Nii was solely responsible for his daily needs, delivering food and water every day.
Uchiha Taiga, on the other hand, spent every day immersed in the training ground. No one knew exactly what he was tinkering with.
In the blink of an eye, over four months passed.
During these four months, the situation in the ninja world remained stable. The border skirmishes between Kumogakure and Konoha had long since ceased, with both sides licking their wounds and recovering their strength.
The other major nations made no moves either, and the entire ninja world settled into a rare state of peace.
In Kumogakure, aside from a select few, the ordinary villagers had almost forgotten that someone like Uchiha Taiga even existed. The young man no longer appeared on the streets, no longer went fishing by the river, and no longer strolled through the village.
It was as if he had vanished from the face of the earth. Only the occasional booming sounds coming from the direction of the training ground reminded people that he was still there.
Raikage A once again summoned Yugito Nii to his office.
He sat behind his desk. His complexion was much better than it had been a few months ago, and he was in good spirits, but his eyes still carried a lingering sense of anxiety.
"What has he been doing lately?"
Yugito Nii stood in front of the desk. Instead of looking at him, she kept her gaze fixed on the desk itself.
"He is still in the training ground, still developing new jutsu."
Raikage A frowned.
"Four months, and he's still developing new jutsu?"
Yugito Nii nodded.
"Yes."
Raikage A looked at her, a hint of scrutiny in his gaze.
He couldn't shake the feeling that Yugito Nii was hiding something from him, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
There was nothing wrong with her answers, her expression was normal, and her attitude was the same as before. Everything was normal—so normal that it felt somewhat abnormal.
"That shouldn't be. With his talent, what kind of new ninjutsu could stump him for this long? Aside from developing new jutsu, has he done anything else?"
Yugito Nii remained silent for a moment before shaking her head.
"No."
Raikage A stared at her for a few seconds, then withdrew his gaze and waved his hand.
"Alright, you may go back."
Yugito Nii bowed slightly, turned around, and walked out of the office.
Raikage A leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed softly.
He had a nagging feeling that something was going to happen, but he couldn't say for sure what it was. He could only wait.
Sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed.
Two days later, Raikage A received news that struck like a bolt from the blue.
An ANBU rushed in from outside, dropping to one knee, his voice urgent.
"Lord Raikage! Uchiha Taiga and Lady Yugito Nii have left!"
Raikage A shot up from his seat.
"What?!"
The ANBU hurriedly continued, "Their residence is completely empty. We searched the area and only found this in their room."
The ANBU presented a diary with both hands.
Raikage A took the diary and flipped to the first page.
The very first sentence on the first page read: *I am Kumogakure's daddy.*
Raikage A's face darkened. He gripped the diary in his right hand so tightly that his knuckles turned white and the veins on the back of his hand bulged.
"That bastard..."
His voice squeezed out through gritted teeth.
Even if certain things were true, he didn't have to write it out so blatantly!
The ANBU remained kneeling on one knee, not daring to look up or speak.
Raikage A took a deep breath, suppressing the fury in his heart. He sat back down in his chair, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long time.
"Go call Killer Bee."
"Yes!"
The ANBU felt as if he had been granted amnesty. He quickly got up and retreated from the office.
Raikage A sat in his chair, staring at the diary in his hand, his expression complicated to the extreme.
Anger, helplessness, unwillingness, and exhaustion—all sorts of emotions intertwined, leaving him at a loss for what to do.
Gritting his teeth, he opened the diary again and began to read with a dark expression.