When the two returned to the Konoha base camp, the sky was already completely bright.
The noise of their return attracted many early rising ninjas.
"Orochimaru-sama!"
Many ninjas bowed respectfully when they saw Orochimaru, their eyes filled with obvious admiration.
But Orochimaru did not stop or look at them as he passed by. He merely nodded slightly.
"You two..."
Tsunade also saw them outside the tent at this time.
Orochimaru's clothes were dirty, clearly indicating he had been in an intense battle. Otherwise, someone as clean as him would not have ended up like this.
Ryun was even more exaggerated. The front of his beige soft armor was stained dark red with blood, clearly the result of bloody slaughter. Even last night's heavy rain could not wash away the smell!
The front part of the soft armor was covered in blood, while the back part remained clean. This scene made people's imaginations run wild, and many looked at him with a bit of awe.
Orochimaru used the Summoning Technique to summon a giant snake. The snake opened its mouth and spat out a corpse, then turned into smoke and returned to Ryūchi Cave.
"This is a minor executive from Amegakure. Arrange for someone from the Yamanaka clan to extract intelligence..." Orochimaru casually ordered a jonin.
"Yes! I will arrange it immediately!" The jonin bowed and quickly took the corpse away.
"Are you injured?"
Tsunade walked up to Ryun and grabbed his shoulders to check his condition. Aside from a noticeable kunai slash mark on the soft armor, there were no other obvious injuries.
"I'm fine!"
Ryun gave her a sunny smile, already feeling Tsunade's concern.
But just as he was thinking this, Tsunade suddenly slapped the back of his head, making him stagger.
"Running around with Orochimaru like this, you're going to get yourself killed sooner or later!"
Tsunade glared fiercely at him and Orochimaru.
"!!!!!!"
Ryun was dazed by the slap. The violent big-breasted woman's strength was immense, and his head was spinning...
"This kid knows medical ninjutsu. No need for you to worry," Orochimaru glanced at her and said flatly.
"Fine, fine, I won't bother with you two anymore!" Tsunade angrily turned and walked away.
"?????"
Ryun finally snapped out of it but was left utterly confused.
"Go change into dry clothes and rest... No need to participate in other missions during the day," Orochimaru patted his shoulder and smiled.
"Okay!" Ryun nodded.
He carefully scrubbed his soft armor, wrung it dry, and hung it in a ventilated area.
After changing into clean clothes, he ate some food with Orochimaru, warmed himself by the charcoal fire for a while, and then found a relatively dry spot to sleep.
Lying on the moisture-proof cloth, Ryun was not very sleepy. His mind was filled with many scattered thoughts.
The most frequent image in his mind was that of a red-haired figure. However, this figure was not his little tomato Kushina Uzumaki but another orphan of the Uzumaki clan...
"Nagato Uzumaki... At this point in time, he should still be an ordinary kid. Are Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu already guarding him?"
Based on the timeline, Madara Uchiha should have already transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato.
"But... The trio of Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan met the powerful and dangerous Sannin while still being ordinary kids. Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu didn't seem to be around at the time..."
"How could they be so at ease? Did they know the Sannin wouldn't harm Nagato? But how could they be sure the Sannin wouldn't covet the Rinnegan?"
This point left Ryun puzzled. Later, Nagato's trio even stayed with Jiraiya for three years to learn ninjutsu.
During such a long time, Jiraiya never seemed to notice Madara Uchiha or Black Zetsu's presence...
"Maybe the Sannin were still too weak to detect Black Zetsu's presence. After all, that thing even escaped the Sage of Six Paths' sensing. Not only did it avoid being sealed, but it also manipulated the Sage's sons into turning against each other, fighting and loving each other..."
Black Zetsu's combat strength in the original work was unclear, but based on his move that immobilized Madara Uchiha with dual Rinnegan, Ryun knew he stood no chance against him.
Even if the current Sannin joined forces, they probably couldn't keep that shady guy around.
Black Zetsu seemed incredibly hard to kill. In the original, he was split in half by a sword but acted like nothing happened. For such beings, the only options were to destroy them with Yin-Yang Release or seal them. There were no other methods.
At this moment, while Ryun was deeply wary of that shady guy, he was also extremely greedy for Madara Uchiha's Six Paths Rinnegan.
After all, if he secretly stole the Rinnegan, Madara Uchiha's entire plan would collapse, and Auntie Zetsu's mother-saving scheme would fail.
The power of those eyes was too immense. Ryun could use the Rinnegan's power to accomplish many things. Even if he couldn't fully control both eyes, with the current ninja world's strength, awakening one Rinnegan would probably be enough!
"Since we're already in the Land of Rain, no matter what, we have to find Nagato first..." Ryun muttered to himself.
If given the chance to get close, if given the chance to make contact, he would not hesitate to gouge out Nagato's eyes!
Of course, Ryun wouldn't risk doing this with his real body. There were a hundred ways to deal with an ordinary kid. The question was whether he could find Nagato and whether there were guards around him...
If, as in the original, Nagato could interact with outsiders normally, then Ryun wouldn't mind trying to steal the eyes.
Kindness and softness wouldn't accomplish great things. This world was a cruel one that devoured people without spitting out bones. The weak would always be at the mercy of others.
Ryun was stronger than Nagato now, so the thought of killing him naturally arose.
If he didn't try to kill him now, he might not be able to defeat him later...
"Backwardness invites beatings"—Ryun fully agreed with this statement.
Letting Nagato develop quietly and then watching him fly above his home to make him suffer... That was absolutely unacceptable.
"First, disperse the shadow clones and find him. Then we'll see!"