Convincing Karin to help him find a way to get Orochimaru out of his body goes much easier than Zoro thought. Maybe it's because she feels indebted to Orochimaru for helping her in the past, or because she's afraid of Zoro, or maybe the combination of both.
The other people that Zoro senses in this base are mostly experimental subjects with some researchers. As before, Torao releases all the test subjects while Zoro talks to Karin.
Everyone thought that Torao just released every prisoner. But he actually kills those who are known to have bad criminal records and he considers evil. He kills them sneakily even without Hiyori's knowledge even though she is there with him.
Zoro has told Torao to do this, so Torao checks the list of the prisoners first to know who they are. Then Torao will use his shadow ninjutsu to kill them without Hiyori's knowledge.
They only make Hiyori help with releasing the prisoners to teach her kindness. But they aren't ready to teach her to be cruel yet. So they only show her how they release the poor test subjects.
Still, they can't just release everyone because they know that even Orochimaru mostly uses criminals for his experiments. After all, criminals won't have anyone looking for them, so it's safer to catch them.
As for Orochimaru's subordinates in this facility, Zoro just lets them go because Karin asks for them to be released as a requirement for her joining the team. Getting Orochimaru out of his body is more important, so Zoro agrees with it, but not before ordering them to give him every data they have in this facility.
"Do you know where Kabuto is?" Zoro asks Karin.
"D-do you need to recruit him too?"
"He's Orochimaru's assistant, after all. So he should know more things than you. But I can't find him at all."
Zoro actually wants to make Kabuto help him take Orochimaru out of his body first before killing that guy. As Orochimaru's personal assistant, Kabuto must've known more things than any of Orochimaru's subordinates, after all.
The fact that Kabuto could be a Snake Sage and even modify his body using Orochimaru's data is proof that he knows even what Orochimaru hides from others. His appearance in the final war looks disgusting, but he really gets much stronger.
Zoro can't find him anywhere though, so he must've found out about Orochimaru's defeat and run away. He can't find any info from the brokers in the black market too, so Zoro can't find that guy at all.
Well, these kids should be enough to help him find a way to get Orochimaru out of his body. Karin can help him find the method from Orochimaru's data, it might need Jugo's senjutsu to do it, and Suigetsu can do tasks for him.
As for Kimimaro, Zoro doesn't know what to do with him. Even Orochimaru couldn't find a way to cure his illness and maybe even Tsunade won't be of much help too because Kimimaro's clan has a unique body structure.
Though maybe Tsunade can also find something Orochimaru and Kabuto can't find with her great medical knowledge. The problem is, he doesn't know if Tsunade is willing to help Orochimaru's subordinate.
Zoro can find a way to help actually, but Kimimaro himself says he doesn't want it. He has made himself Orochimaru's tool and will do anything for Orochimaru. If he leaves to get a treatment now, then he won't be able to help Orochimaru's soul leaving Zoro's body.
So truthfully, Kimimaro will only spend time with them until his body succumbs to his illness. Though to prevent his condition from getting worse, Zoro tells Kimimaro to stop using his jutsu and not fight.
His presence here is important to keep Jugo's mental state stable. Kimimaro is also the biggest reason why Jugo is willing to follow Zoro without any complaints. So Zoro needs to keep Kimimaro in good condition now.
They go to other bases to collect data again, but they don't recruit anyone else. Without the kids' knowledge, Torao actually gathers every data from the bases while releasing the prisoners. He can move in the shadow, so he can enter any hidden room without any problem.
After they finish checking every base, Zoro brings them all to the Land of Iron. They go to a mountain near the sea where Zoro made a hideout a long time ago. It was actually a bandit hideout, but he took it over after defeating them.
The bandits are still there though because Zoro didn't hand them over to the authority. They didn't have any bounty on them because they haven't really done anything notorious, so Zoro won't get any profit because they were actually more of thugs than bandits.
Though they stupidly attacked him on their first day as bandits. He forgave them, but made them into his henchmen and now they are working as mercenaries, following his teaching because he has trained them in the past for fun.
When Zoro's group arrives, the ex-bandits look very happy. They call him big brother even though they are obviously older than him. Their job as mercenaries also seem to be going well seeing from their good clothes, weapons, and hideout.
"All of them are swordsmen? Truly living up to their statuses as people from the Land of Iron." Suigetsu seems intrigued.
"Hehehe, that's not really the case, blue-hair shinobi. All of us use swords because we look up to Big Brother Zoro. He showed us the true way of sword." A bearded-mercenary smiles proudly.
"The true way of sword?" Suigetsu raises an eyebrow.
"Yes! The Strong Swordsmanship! The strongest and the coolest type of swordsmanship in the world."
Zoro sighs seeing the mercenaries' behavior that doesn't change at all. They were very attracted to his skills after he defeated them very easily. When they begged him to teach them, he agreed after making them promise to stop doing crime and it also looked fun.
"Do all of you use 3 swords like Boss?" Suigetsu is really curious because he is also a swordsman.
"No, they only use 2 swords. They just think carrying 3 swords like me is cooler."
He taught them his 2 sword-style because it's not like they can learn his 3-sword style, after all. That's why now all of them are using 2 swords even though they carry 3 swords. As Zoro says, they want to imitate him, although the 3rd sword can also be used as a reserve.
The mercenaries finally see Hiyori in Zoro's group after a while and it really shocks them. As usual, Zoro's acquaintances immediately think that Hiyori is his daughter. So he needs to explain the situation and it makes the mercenaries cry like babies.
They end up playing with Hiyori and show her around the hideout like they are her uncles. Thanks to them making Hiyori busy, Zoro can start working with the young shinobi. But first, he needs to introduce them to someone.
He brings them to a small house. It was his house when he was here. This hideout almost looks like a small village with some buildings here actually. They also have more people because many of those mercenaries also have started their families here.
Anyway, Zoro takes the team to his old house. It has been taken care of by the mercenaries and the person he wants to introduce. Zoro knocks on the door and soon someone opens the door. The one coming out is a beautiful young "woman" that makes Karin and Suigetsu blush.
"You seem good, Haku." Zoro calls the beautiful young "woman" who actually is a man, Haku.
"Ah, it's been a while, Boss." Haku smiles, making Karin and Suigetsu fall for him even harder.
Zoro knows what they feel now, but he doesn't tell them that Haku is a man because it seems interesting to see how this will play out. So he just tells them all to enter the house and tells Haku to assign rooms for them to rest tonight.
The next day, Zoro gives the young shinobi all the documents that Torao has taken from all of Orochimaru's bases. They might find clues from these documents, but Zoro has very little knowledge about this kind of thing, so he needs them to investigate it.
Haku is joining them to find the clues, of course, because he is also a shinobi. At least he will have more knowledge about this kind of thing than Zoro. Besides, Haku's presence makes Suigetsu and Karin more enthusiastic, so it's a good thing.
"You sure it's okay?" Torao asks while looking at Suigetsu who is charmed by Haku.
"Of course, it's interesting, after all." Zoro smirks and Torao can't disagree. It looks very interesting, after all.
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Chapter: 186. 10 Tails Jinchuriki
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