Chapter 225: The Meticulously Rigorous Orochimaru
"Don't speak."
Upon arriving at the door, Tsunade made a silencing gesture to the nearby medical ninjas. She waved her hand, signaling them to leave. Then, she, Shiromo, and Senju Tobirama tiptoed toward the entrance.
Yes, that's right. Since Jiraiya and Orochimaru were "conspiring" inside, Tsunade, Shiromo, and the Second Hokage had been cast in the roles of "eavesdroppers." It was perfectly logical.
The conversation inside continued.
After hearing Orochimaru's explanation, Jiraiya fell into a long silence. He seemed to be contemplating whether his usually frivolous self truly needed to learn a bit of Orochimaru's focus.
Especially after witnessing the Otsutsuki clan's attempt to seize the Nine-Tails from Naruto, he realized his old personality really had to change. If he didn't help Naruto become strong enough, then even if someone could protect the boy for a while, they couldn't protect him for a lifetime.
"Orochimaru, you're right. I really should teach Naruto properly and put more effort into my own training."
"Without power, I have no right to protect anything I care about."
Jiraiya's expression suddenly became resolute.
Orochimaru was slightly stunned, then smiled with satisfaction. That was the spirit.
"However, the 'Icha Icha' series absolutely cannot end like this!" Jiraiya's tone suddenly shifted as he spoke with a deadly serious face.
"Orochimaru, there are things you don't know. My novels are bestsellers in the Five Great Nations; my fans are spread across the entire shinobi world, and many of them are high-ranking, powerful individuals."
"Did you know? Once before, the Land of Claws and the Land of Fangs were on the brink of war. It turned out both their Daimyos were fans of mine. My novel literally stopped a war. And Orochimaru, you know as well as I do that a famous figure like me has no shortage of fanatic fans."
"If they find out I've stopped writing, I'm afraid they'll do something terrible. Those two Daimyos who stopped a war for me might very well start a war 'because' of me!"
Jiraiya spoke earnestly for a long time, but his true goal was simply to get Orochimaru to remove the "Cinnabar Mark." With that mark there, forget daily "research", he couldn't even "get started."
"That's easy. I'll just go kill those two Daimyos, and then they won't be able to start a war."
"Land of Claws and Land of Fangs, right?"
Orochimaru pulled out a small notebook and began writing. He even looked up to confirm with Jiraiya, appearing quite kind and amiable, as if he were simply trying to ensure he didn't kill the wrong people.
"Wait!"
Jiraiya raised a hand to interrupt Orochimaru and sighed: "Orochimaru, tell me the truth. What exactly will it take for you to undo the seal?"
"Oh, so you want me to undo the seal? Why didn't you just say so?" Orochimaru put away his notebook.
"Huh? What do you mean? If I ask, you'll just help me undo it?"
"Exactly."
Orochimaru tucked the notebook away and spread his hands, "The method to undo this seal is very simple. There are two ways."
"The first way is for you and another person, someone who can perfectly use Sage Chakra but has a different chakra nature, to use a Sage Art: Rasengan. You must precisely control the chakra to strike both sides of the surface layer simultaneously. That will break the restriction of the Cinnabar Mark."
"?"
Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru in a daze.
"Rasengan?"
"Precisely, the Rasengan," Orochimaru nodded, "I specifically set a simple unlocking method for you. Easy, right?"
"Easy my foot! That's a Rasengan!"
Jiraiya was on the verge of a breakdown. A Rasengan, and as an 'attack'! If his hand slipped even slightly, he'd lose something precious forever!
Even more terrifying, he couldn't do it alone; it required the cooperation of two people. This was basically forcing him to bring Naruto up to speed, wasn't it? It even required different chakra natures to prevent him from using Shadow Clones!
The defenses were simply airtight. Jiraiya really felt like giving Orochimaru a Rasengan right now.
Orochimaru could tell Jiraiya was itching to smash a Rasengan into his face, but he wasn't afraid at all. Against a Rasengan, Orochimaru felt the advantage was his. No matter how much damage a physical attack dealt, it was meaningless to him.
"The second method is for me to undo it for you directly," Orochimaru said slowly.
"Tch, then why even mention the first method? To scare me? Just help me undo it."
After being in despair for so long, Jiraiya was stunned for a moment, then gave a relieved smile.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm su..."
Jiraiya was about to agree, but as he watched Orochimaru slowly walk toward him, something clicked in his mind. He suddenly grabbed his blanket in terror and scrambled backward.
"No! Don't come over here! Orochimaru, stay away from me!"
His posture was exactly like that of a young girl encountering a pervert. But Jiraiya wasn't acting; these were his genuine feelings.
At this moment, Jiraiya was like a man in another world watching someone approach a roast duck, screaming, "Don't you dare touch it!"
The Cinnabar Mark only sealed him physically, but if he let Orochimaru touch him again, he might develop a psychological trauma so deep that even if the seal were undone, he'd never be able to "rise" again.
"Let's go with the first method. Teaching Naruto and protecting the shinobi world, I, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, will not shrink from my responsibility!" Jiraiya declared with a righteous face, clenching his fist.
Just then, Naruto ran over. He found it odd to see the three people standing at the door, but he didn't say anything and pushed the door open.
"Pervy Sage, I misunderstood you. Here are the painkillers I st…uh, 'got' for you."
Naruto dumped several boxes of medicine from his shirt onto the bed. Jiraiya's lip twitched, 'With this much medicine, am I supposed to eat it as a meal?'
"Naruto, I'm fine now. Also, don't call me Pervy Sage anymore. Please call me a 'Man of Virtue'."
Jiraiya patted Naruto's head, smiling kindly.
'What does 'Man of Virtue' even mean?' Naruto was baffled.
"Jiraiya-sama, I heard you were hospitalized too?"
At that moment, Kakashi appeared from the neighboring room.
"Yo, Kakashi," Jiraiya greeted him calmly.
"Jiraiya-sama, these are some get-well gifts. Please hurry and write a new book."
Kakashi placed a stack of books with covers featuring Red-Light District girls on Jiraiya's bedside table.
Kakashi was still a fan of Jiraiya's novels. After all, while he enjoyed the "heavy flavors" of the 'Buff Man' series written by Shiro... uh, himself, he still needed to read something "light" occasionally to balance things out.
"Hmm?"
Jiraiya's eyes instinctively drifted toward the books.
"AAAGHH!"
Jiraiya let out a blood-curdling scream and fainted dead away.
Seeing this, Naruto became frantic. He rushed to the door and looked at the trio, "What do we do? Pervy Sage... I mean, the 'Man of Virtue' fainted again!"
"To hell with 'Man of Virtue'," Tsunade muttered, facepalming.
Kakashi followed behind Naruto, looking confused: "Hokage-sama, what's wrong with Jiraiya-sama?"
Before Tsunade or Shiromo could answer, Orochimaru's voice drifted from the room, muttering to himself.
"Wait a moment, I overlooked a problem. The Cinnabar Mark can only guard the front line. My mistake."
"..."
"There. Now it's perfect."
While everyone stood frozen in place, Orochimaru walked out of the room, casually wiping his mouth.
(End of this chapter)