Chapter 284: Hiruzen's Hidden Thoughts
"Hiruzen."
Danzo's expression was dark as he spoke. "Think carefully. A temporary loss means nothing. As long as Orochimaru returns, you and I will both have access to Wood Release—and so will others."
"At that point, what would Sasori of the Red Sand even matter? Even if all Five Kage joined forces, they wouldn't be a match for the two of us using Wood Release together."
As someone who had witnessed the First Hokage use Wood Release to pacify the world, Danzo had great faith in its power. Even though the report stated Orochimaru's Wood Release had been defeated, Danzo simply assumed Orochimaru wasn't good enough.
If it were him, that red-haired brat wouldn't stand a chance against his Wood Release.
And if three or more people in Konoha could use Wood Release? Unifying the Five Great Shinobi Villages wouldn't be a dream.
"Enough. That's enough."
Hiruzen ignored Danzo's complaints and stood by his decision. "I'll write to Orochimaru directly about the Wood Release transplant. You focus on your own responsibilities. We're under heavy pressure from Kirigakure and Kumogakure—Root needs to step up."
"I…" Danzo protested reluctantly.
"Don't give me that. Go do your job." Hiruzen furrowed his brows and asserted his authority. "That's an order from the Hokage."
"Hmph! You'll regret this, Hiruzen." Danzo shot him a hateful glare and stormed off.
"Don't forget, I'm the Hokage!" Hiruzen muttered coldly to Danzo's retreating figure.
After Danzo left, Hiruzen returned to his study and immediately penned a letter to Orochimaru, asking directly about the Wood Release cell transplant.
Now that Orochimaru's Wood Release was exposed, Hiruzen believed that, as his teacher, Orochimaru would no longer keep secrets from him.
"Ha'i, go investigate Orochimaru's activity over the past few years and locate his secret labs outside the village."
After finishing the letter, Hiruzen gave instructions to an ANBU agent standing nearby.
Even if he trusted Orochimaru not to hide anything now, precautions were still necessary.
Finding the external lab where Orochimaru carried out the transplant might reveal the secrets behind the Wood Release procedure.
At the same time, Danzo was doing the exact same thing—sending people to search for Orochimaru's secret labs outside of Root.
Both believed that the transplant must have happened outside Root's base—otherwise, Danzo would've known about it.
Besides that, Danzo went a step further—he secretly sent Root agents to summon Orochimaru back.
If Orochimaru refused, then he must write down the method to safely transplant Wood Release cells and seal it in a scroll for Root to retrieve.
Two days later, Hiruzen's letter reached Orochimaru first.
In a hidden base in the Land of Rivers, Orochimaru read the letter from his teacher and smiled faintly.
"Sensei, oh sensei…"
"You asked me not to reveal the transplant method to Danzo, but… I don't even have a truly safe method in the first place!"
Orochimaru shook his head. That was the exact reason he hadn't told Hiruzen about the success of the transplant from the beginning.
Because his method was unrepeatable.
Unless he could find that test subject again, the procedure would need to be researched all over from scratch.
"Sensei… will you believe me?"
Orochimaru chuckled bitterly and shook his head again. Just as he no longer fully trusted his beloved teacher, he knew Hiruzen no longer fully trusted him.
And there was nothing he could do about it—that was the reality.
He took out a letter he had already prepared and had a communication operative send it back via messenger hawk.
Whether his teacher believed him or not didn't matter—this was simply the truth.
At least Hiruzen was still his teacher. No matter what, he wouldn't strike him directly.
But Danzo—that old rat—was another story.
Orochimaru's brow furrowed. Without a replicable method, Danzo would definitely set his sights on the only successful subject—Orochimaru himself.
And knowing Danzo's madness, if given the chance, he really would try to capture him and throw him into a nutrient tank as an experimental subject.
"Forget it, I'll take it step by step."
After pondering for a while and finding no good way to deal with Danzo, Orochimaru decided not to dwell on it.
He'd just stay cautious. With his current strength, as long as he was careful, Danzo couldn't touch him.
As for the future—he'd deal with it when it came.
For now, he turned his thoughts to how to deal with that brat named Sasori of the Red Sand.
"That kid's supposed to be a puppet master genius?"
Recalling the intel about the red-haired boy, Orochimaru rubbed his temples in frustration.
Puppet master, huh?
But during their battle, the kid hadn't used a single puppet—only elemental ninjutsu.
"Could that thing that absorbs natural energy… be his puppet?"
Orochimaru suddenly recalled the iron-sand-wrapped sphere from their fight—natural chakra had been flowing straight into it.
Now that he thought about it, maybe it was a special puppet that could absorb natural energy and convert it into chakra.
If so, that would explain how the kid had such a massive chakra reserve.
Aside from Jinchūriki and himself with his Wood Release, Orochimaru couldn't think of anyone else in the ninja world with that much chakra.
Clearly, that puppet was allowing Sasori to absorb natural energy and convert it into usable chakra.
"If I could…"
Orochimaru's eyes lit up with desire, his mind racing through ways to defeat him.
"That red-haired brat is strong, but clearly lacks combat experience."
"This period is the best chance to take him down."
"Once he gains more experience, he'll be far harder to deal with."
"I need to act fast."
So he resolved.
Over the next month, Orochimaru fought Sasori six more times.
In one encounter, he exploited Sasori's weak sensory abilities and successfully got in close, severing both of Sasori's arms, intending to capture him alive.
But unfortunately, Sasori wasn't a real human—losing his arms didn't stop him from using ninjutsu.
He didn't need hand seals to cast jutsu anymore. After fusing his soul with chakra, he could activate techniques with just a thought.
So instead of capturing Sasori, Orochimaru ended up getting severely wounded in the chest. If it hadn't been for the regenerative powers from the Wood Release cells, he would've died.
In the end, neither could defeat the other.
Sasori's Magnet Release and Lightning Release combo jutsu was powerful, but against someone who had already seen it, landing a killing blow on Orochimaru was difficult.
Orochimaru, aside from mastering Wood Release, had also mastered all five basic chakra nature transformations (excluding Yin-Yang Release) and possessed an enormous array of jutsu.
Except for their first fight—where Orochimaru had been unfamiliar with his opponent and chose to retreat—he had the upper hand in all the rest.
After the battle in which he was gravely wounded, Orochimaru discovered the secret behind Sasori's puppet body. From then on, both understood it would be nearly impossible to take each other down.
Yet each of them was powerful enough to crush nearly any other opponent.
Thus, they were locked in mutual stalemate.
Over the course of the month, word of their battles spread across the ninja world.
Sasori, leveraging Orochimaru's fame as one of the Sannin, rose to prominence and was now recognized throughout the world as a Kage-level powerhouse.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, became known as the strongest of the Sannin thanks to his mastery of Wood Release.
This left Jiraiya—fighting in the Land of Earth—feeling deeply frustrated. But since he hadn't yet mastered Sage Mode, he could only hold in his frustration.
With Wood Release, Orochimaru was already stronger than him—and now, he was even stronger.
(END CHAPTER)
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