Haseo felt something was off.
From what he remembered, Orochimaru had come into contact with Ryuchi Cave much later than Jiraiya did in terms of both age and timing of the encounter. Also, back then, it didn't seem like Ryuchi Cave was shyly pursuing him—it was more like Orochimaru, the scientist and researcher, had discovered clues about Ryuchi Cave only after gathering a significant amount of information and spent even more time searching before finally locating the hidden realm.
Comparing those two scenarios to the current situation, this was clearly the difference between a girl chasing a boy versus a boy chasing a girl—there was quite a big gap.
So either Haseo's memory was flawed or the world itself was quietly changing… Of course, regardless of which was true, everything was normal and acceptable.
Regardless of Haseo's own abilities, within this ninja world—and the world as a whole—there was a place reserved for him. Many events had already happened or were currently unfolding around him, so such changes were inevitable… After all, who could have imagined the Frostfield Battle ever occurring in the original Great Ninja War? Would the Two-Tails Jinchuriki have died?
Therefore, it was perfectly understandable that Ryuchi Cave would suddenly feel inspired too.
Among the Three Secret Regions, both the Great Toad Sage and the White Snake Sage had grown somewhat eccentric due to their extreme longevity. Compared to Katsuyu's contract with the Senju clan, Mount Myoboku and Ryuchi Cave were famous for allowing foreign ninja to undergo trials. Mount Myoboku housed countless petrified toads who failed in learning Sage Arts techniques, while as for Ryuchi Cave…who knows how many people those snakes had eaten.
Moreover, compared to Shikkotsu Forest and Mount Myoboku, Ryuchi Cave leaned toward darker, grayer tones. The natures of the former two should probably be considered neutral lawful or neutral good, but the latter tended toward neutral chaotic—or even neutral evil.
The symbolic meaning behind snakes has always been pretty consistent across cultures. Whether ninja snakes or magical snakes, they represented intelligence, trickery, self-serving cunning, extremism, and other similar imagery.
So yeah, Haseo hadn't been killing off Ryuchi Cave's "messengers" simply out of a craving for serpent sashimi—he was just considering whether it was a good or bad thing for Orochimaru at this stage to make early contact with Ryuchi Cave.
And he mulled it over for nearly two weeks.
Eventually, Haseo understood: Orochimaru's personality inherently contained a strong, independent resilience. Normally, most people's values and personalities wouldn't solidify until around twenty years old, but ninja were different—and someone like Orochimaru, or even Jiraiya, was different still.
Anyway, Tsunade didn't even need to be considered here—she was always a special case.
Therefore, Orochimaru wouldn't become a snake because of Ryuchi Cave's influence—he already was one by nature.
Compared to how thousands of owls once descended just to convince one kid to attend a certain wizarding school, although only fifteen giant snakes had appeared over these past two weeks, Ryuchi Cave's sincerity had definitely been expressed sufficiently enough.
During this time, construction on the statue project at the Valley of the End kicked off on schedule and was moving right along. Right now, the craftsmen of Konoha were frantically working on polishing the feet of the First Hokage's statue.
On the sixteenth day, Haseo refrained from killing the giant snake that appeared at noon—not because he suddenly figured out the entire situation, and absolutely nothing to do with the fact that as time passed, the snakes appearing were growing larger in size while their meat quality continuously declined, becoming tougher and less palatable.
Now that Haseo had held off on slaughtering it, Orochimaru finally had a chance to see what these daily-appearing snakes were up to once they raised their heads. The snake halted a few steps away from Orochimaru, coiled its body upward, raised its head high, flicked its tongue constantly in and out, and fixed its eyes steadily onto Orochimaru's gaze.
"This is… an invitation for me to follow it, I suppose."
Though phrased as a question, Orochimaru spoke with absolute certainty—he had already made up his mind.
Yet, when living under another's roof, one must lower their head; until Haseo's vigilance and appetite calmed down, he could only wait patiently… although Orochimaru himself thought snake meat tasted pretty good, eating it every day could get old real quick.
Haseo cast a glance toward this guy, thinking to himself, "So you really are a serpent speaker. How come I didn't notice anything at all?"
"There's no need to rush things now. Let's talk after we've eaten."
As Haseo said this, Orochimaru nodded along. There really wasn't any rush anymore—whatever was meant to be his wouldn't slip away now. As for this large snake serving as a messenger, it certainly wouldn't raise objections over a little waiting; after all, it had already been spared from becoming snake soup.
Fate was such a complicated thing—the luck of this particular snake was countless times better than its predecessors'.
Although he said it was time to eat, Haseo calculated the timing before activating the Summoning Jutsu, calling forth Katsuyu. Alongside Katsuyu appeared a sealed lunchbox containing medicinal delicacies.
This meal wasn't just for taste—it was also meant to help treat Haseo's wounds.
Even a dignified summon like Katsuyu had been reduced to running countless food deliveries to scrape by after the war.
Then the little slug crawled onto Haseo's shoulder, gradually channeling Healing Chakra stored within its body into him. According to the pattern, today marked the beginning of the monthly period when Haseo's body suffered the most severe corruption. Though the little girl was genuinely kind-hearted, she was unavoidably tsundere about it.
Though she had no eyes, Katsuyu's antennae kept turning toward the serpent coiled next to Orochimaru—over and over again. Soon enough, the big snake, whose size dwarfed the tiny slug, lowered its head repeatedly, finally even ceasing to flick its tongue.
Snakes eat frogs, frogs eat slugs… so then—what exactly eats slugs?
"Let's go, Orochimaru. I'll come with you and have a look. After all, there's no need for constant surveillance here. I wouldn't feel quite at ease if you acted alone—it'd be like one of those superhero flicks where the villain gets taken down before he even starts monologuing. Right now, you couldn't even beat someone like Ishibe Ritsuka."
Haseo finished every last bite Katsuyu had brought, adjusted the sword slung across his back, then stood up to speak.
At this moment, Haseo's injuries had yet to heal, and his chakra reserves were only at sixty percent of normal. However, no ninja ever walked away from a major battle empty-handed. Experience was never wasted, nor was blood ever shed in vain—especially not for someone like Haseo.
So he didn't worry much about his own safety.
Orochimaru nodded his head. At the moment, he even seemed somewhat obedient… The Third Hokage had reminded him, after all, not to run off with strange little serpents when his guardians weren't around.
So the snake stretched out its coiled body, undulated its spine, and began moving in a certain direction. Orochimaru immediately followed closely behind.
Haseo first walked over to the Head Artisan and said a few words before leaving too.
The Head Artisan pressed his lips together and looked toward the disappearing figures of Orochimaru and the large snake. He didn't understand exactly what these two ninjas were up to, but his gaze couldn't help but carry a sense of melancholy, as though he had lost something precious.
Wasn't that exactly what had happened then?
He wouldn't get to taste the delicacies from the Ryuchi Cave gourmet center ever again.
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