Chapter 51:
Early the next morning, Orochimaru, fully equipped and prepared, made his way to the Hokage's office. As the newly appointed leader of his team, he was now responsible for taking on missions on behalf of his squad.
Being disciples of Hiruzen, the three of them Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya had a lot of leeway when it came to missions.
Their missions weren't mandatory. Orochimaru and his team would first be asked if they were available. If they wanted to take the mission, they could. If not, there was no pressure. In essence, their participation in missions was dependent on their own mood and availability.
The reasons were clear. First, they were the Hokage's disciples, so naturally, they were given preferential treatment. But secondly, and more importantly, Orochimaru wasn't just any ninja he was also one of the key researchers in Konoha's scientific development efforts. Konoha had many skilled ninja, but not many could contribute to scientific research like Orochimaru. So, the village gave him freedom in mission choices to allow him to focus on more important projects.
Because of this, Jiraiya and Tsunade also benefitted from this leniency, following Orochimaru's lead in choosing tasks.
When Orochimaru entered the office, Hiruzen looked a bit surprised to see him.
"You've just been appointed captain, and already you're eager to get started on missions?" Sarutobi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm tired of staying in the village and want to go out for a bit," Orochimaru replied casually.
Although Orochimaru had a clear training plan, progress was slow. He knew that he was still too young to fully execute his long-term goals. If he wanted to win Danzo's trust and delve deeper into more controversial experiments, he needed to first master advanced techniques like cell transplantation. However, his research on cultivating cells was still in the early stages, and it would take time before any real progress was made. In the meantime, Orochimaru figured it would be good to familiarize himself with the world outside Konoha.