Chapter 275: Orochimaru's "Wolfish Ambitions"
Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame finally left the Land of Waves and began their mission.
As the current big star, Kisame naturally had to operate in the open.
Logically speaking, if choosing someone for an individual feature film, Deidara or Sasori would have been more suitable.
But both of them had issues.
Deidara pursued art and was fond of acting on sudden inspiration.
Sasori, on the other hand, had originally been calm to the point of cold rationality. However, after hearing what Shiromo had told him, he came to understand that retaining emotions was necessary.
At present, he was still experimenting with modifications to his human puppet body.
And such experiments required various forms of stimulation.
If Sasori were chosen as the star, unpredictable incidents might easily occur.
Only Kisame, the honest man of Akatsuki, had displayed his talent for performance when he first accompanied Shiromo to the Land of Waves.
So he was the most suitable.
Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, one in the light and one in the shadows, continuously traveled to various small nations.
As previously mentioned, the daimyō of these small countries had wrecked their national economies. The common people below them had long heard of Akatsuki due to Amegakure's propaganda.
Thus they requested Akatsuki to take over.
Whether openly or secretly, it made little difference. The daimyō of small countries already had pitifully low control over their nations and had no means of retaliation.
Moreover, at this point, they were certainly not thinking about managing the "lowly masses," but rather about how to cut their losses in time or recover their money. Otherwise, how would they sustain their luxurious lifestyles in the future?
They passed through minor·minor nations like the Land of Claws and the Land of Fangs, which were not even marked on the ninja world map, as well as major·minor nations like the Land of Rivers and the Land of Birds, which at least had names on it.
Kisame handled matters on the surface.
He selected a capable and respected individual locally, established a new system and order, and brought them into the alliance.
This combination of steps had already been used in the Land of Waves, and Kisame was thoroughly familiar with it.
And what about Uchiha Itachi?
He did what he was best at.
He exterminated the daimyō and certain diehard ministers entirely.
With his extensive experience in wiping out his own clan, Itachi could easily locate any stragglers hiding in any region.
As for whether Itachi would do such a thing, there was no need to question it.
All Shiromo needed were phrases like "they all bear original sin," "this is a necessary sacrifice," and "someone must shoulder this hatred," and Itachi would carry out these deeds without complaint, even willingly.
When Shiromo once told Nagato and Konan not to worry about Itachi as a Konoha spy, one major reason was that even in the original story, this so-called "spy" had done nothing at all.
If Uchiha Itachi had truly acted as a spy and transmitted any information about Akatsuki back to Konoha, Konoha would not have been left completely in the dark.
Yet when it came to capturing tailed beasts and carrying out missions, he never missed a single one.
The "spy·Uchiha Itachi" in the original story had been that dedicated to his work. Let alone now, after he had met the future Sasuke and been entrusted with the future Sasuke's convictions.
For this reason, Itachi even forged a blade and once again took on the identity of the [Blade of the Crimson Night].
After all, Tsunade had not healed Itachi's body. He still existed as a rogue ninja and had no way to return to Konoha.
He was waiting. Waiting for Sasuke to grow. Waiting until he had done enough to atone for his sins. Only then would he be qualified to gain new life and use what remained of it to fight the Ōtsutsuki clan.
And now?
With his body still in a miserable state, Uchiha Itachi did not even wish to use Fire Release, let alone the Sharingan.
To deal with these ordinary people, a blade was enough.
Speaking of Sasuke, in the Land of Rice Fields, at Orochimaru's former base, Uchiha Sasuke was training according to the goals Orochimaru had set.
Today was the day a new training instruction scroll would arrive.
"Summoning Jutsu."
Sasuke bit his finger and summoned a green snake, which spat out a scroll from its mouth.
Sasuke opened the scroll and began reading.
Sasuke's intelligence was not actually very high. The reason he seemed smarter than Naruto was mainly because when he did not understand something, he remained silent, rather than shouting it out like Naruto.
"What?!"
Upon reading the very first line of text, Sasuke broke into a cold sweat. Even his three-tomoe Sharingan activated from shock.
He had only possessed two tomoe until now. Through Orochimaru's systematic training, he had already met the conditions to awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan.
He had only been lacking a trigger.
Well, now the trigger had arrived. It activated instantly.
And what had Sasuke seen?
It was actually something Orochimaru had once promised to the future Sasuke.
The scroll read: [Sasuke-kun, I promised a friend that I must give you a daughter. When I have time in a few days, I'll come.]
How could Sasuke not be terrified upon seeing that sentence?
It should be known that the first half of the Chunin Exams had not been affected by Shiromo and had barely changed.
Sasuke had been bitten on the neck by Orochimaru and branded with the Cursed Seal.
He had learned that beneath Orochimaru's skin was a woman, and from Orochimaru himself he had learned that Orochimaru had tempted him with power, coveted his body, and desired the power of the Sharingan.
But Sasuke had never imagined that this was how Orochimaru "coveted his body," and this was how Orochimaru "desired the power of the Sharingan"!!!
The Uchiha clan had only two survivors left: himself and Uchiha Itachi.
If Orochimaru succeeded, then no matter what, the future Uchiha clan would carry Orochimaru's bloodline.
Sasuke instinctively wanted to flee.
But the moment he stood up, he stopped.
If Orochimaru had not changed after the Konoha Crush plan, if Orochimaru truly intended to take over his body as he had originally believed, would he run? Would he remain in Konoha?
No.
He would still choose this path.
In that case, he would be wagering his life.
And now, it was merely his body.
Even if he failed, he could endure humiliation and continue training.
So why should he run?
Where could he even run to now?
Back to Konoha to become a mascot?
Sasuke calmed down and continued reading.
The next section further confirmed Orochimaru's wolfish ambitions.
It described how Orochimaru, in exchange for assisting Naruto and helping him partially lift certain seals in advance, had Jiraiya arrange for a toad to go to Mount Myoboku to monitor Naruto's progress and report back at any time.
This spy toad was clearly far more reliable than Uchiha Itachi.
The spy toad had witnessed Naruto creating a thousand shadow clones and "taking off," and reported it to Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
Both were astonished that Naruto, truly the Number One Unpredictable Ninja, had managed to devise such a method to rapidly train Sage Mode.
At the same time, Orochimaru suddenly realized a problem.
If Naruto could figure it out on his own, Sasuke might as well.
So he had to warn Sasuke.
[Sasuke-kun, take a photo with a camera and have the green snake bring it to me so I can see whether your development is normal.
Also, Sasuke-kun, absolutely do not "take off."
The ocular power consumption of the tomoe Sharingan replenishes automatically.
No matter how much you expend, your vision will recover after rest.
But if you frequently "take off," your vision will become blurry. If that happens, you might go blind without even activating the Mangekyō, and that would not be good.]
(End of this chapter)