Chapter 34: The Ryuchi Cave Contract

When Uchiha Feiyu walked into the command post, he saw Orochimaru looking quite serious as he processed a small mountain of scroll documents.

The entire ninja frontline force of several thousand people was mostly dispersed into small squads of four to over a dozen members to carry out various infiltration operations; the actual work was far more cumbersome than that of a regular army.

Compared to Jiraiya and Tsunade, setting aside personality factors, Orochimaru was definitely far more serious and responsible on the frontline than those two; it was no wonder that even though this guy's image was poor, he had always been considered the only candidate for Hokage.

Hearing the sound of Uchiha Feiyu walking in, Orochimaru raised his head; his pale complexion, long hair, purple eyeshadow, and snake-like pupils instantly made one think of some cold-blooded animal staring at them.

Fortunately, ninjas in the Ninja World were well-informed, and this kind of cold, eerie aura was nothing strange; if it were an ordinary person, they would likely have already been scared weak in the knees.

"Lord Orochimaru, I have come to report!"

Uchiha Feiyu naturally did not care about Orochimaru's stare and spoke quite naturally; Orochimaru nodded slightly, his voice hoarse:

"I am very welcoming of an expert like Feiyu-kun coming to support the frontline; it just so happens that the frontline is currently most lacking in ninja like you who act as a sharp blade."

Uchiha Feiyu blinked, feeling a sense of foreboding in his heart:

"Lord Orochimaru, you flatter me too much; I am merely a young Chunin, at most having a little bit of a specialty..."

"Feiyu-kun, there is no need to be humble; the teacher has already written to me saying that even among elite Jonin, Feiyu-kun can be considered a standout. Aside from myself, Feiyu-kun might be the strongest person on the frontline right now!"

The old Third really sold me out completely; listening to the meaning of these words, is he asking me to take a Chunin's salary and go fight the battles of an elite Jonin?

Uchiha Feiyu cursed inwardly, but he had long been prepared; his relationship with the Konoha High Command was not close, yet his strength was very high, so coming to the frontline meant he would definitely be worked to death.

He figured he wouldn't be assigned those high-difficulty, obviously dangerous, and important missions—they were afraid he would just run away—but he was definitely going to be a firefighter.

"Lord Orochimaru, you hold me in too high regard; I am only a 14-year-old ninja, and I still lack a lot of experience..."

"It doesn't matter; experience is not something that can bind a genius. I believe you will adapt to the battlefield very quickly."

"Uh... the key is that as a Chunin, it shouldn't be very good for me to always be carrying out missions that exceed my rank!"

"If you want to become a Special Jonin, I can promote you right now; as the theater commander, I still have that little bit of authority!"

Orochimaru said this with a smile on his lips, looked at Uchiha Feiyu's speechless expression, and continued:

"Rest assured, the strength of the Sand Ninja is not considered strong; the only one who can threaten a ninja of your level is likely only the Fourth Kazekage."

"The Fourth Kazekage has to sit in the camp and will find it difficult to take action personally, so your safety is absolutely guaranteed."

"Lord Orochimaru certainly understands me well."

"The letter the teacher gave me mentioned your characteristics; cherishing life is not an act that is hard to understand."

When Orochimaru spoke of cherishing life, the expression on his face was slightly serious; if one were to talk about being afraid of death, Orochimaru, who crazily pursued eternal life, was no better than Uchiha Feiyu.

"I have looked at your file and know that you have studied the White Fang Sword Technique. Since that is the case, your mission will be the same as the White Fang of the Leaf: act as a sharp blade to harass and kill the combat squads of Sunagakure. This mission should be very much to your liking, right?"

"Assign me another reconnaissance-type ninja, preferably one with large-scale detection abilities."

"No problem; I can send a ninja from the Yamanaka Clan to act in a squad with you. Not only can they make up for your weaknesses in reconnaissance, but Mind Ninjutsu can also help you interrogate for intelligence and contact the main base."

"Then many thanks, Lord Orochimaru. By the way, Lord Orochimaru, I have a method for cultivating a type of poisonous snake; I wonder if you might be interested?!"

Uchiha Feiyu reached out and took out a scroll; it was the method for cultivating the Silver-Scaled Poisonous Snake that he had obtained from the Book of Demonic Inheritance.

"A method for cultivating a poisonous snake?"

The corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled slightly; as a contractor of Ryuchi Cave, he did not think there was any poisonous snake cultivation method that could exceed his own scope of knowledge, but for the sake of politeness, he still reached out and took this gift handed over by Uchiha Feiyu.

Just by opening the scroll and taking a few glances, Orochimaru was suddenly slightly startled and quickly became engrossed; compared to the giant chakra pythons he had cultivated, the Silver-Scaled Poisonous Snake followed an entirely different path.

More poisonous, faster, more agile, and more lethal!

Not only that, this snake—the King of Poisons, which required many highly toxic things to devour each other to finally be achieved—did not involve chakra interference at all and followed an entirely different path. Just by looking at it for a few moments, Orochimaru felt many inspirations popping up in his brain.

However, Uchiha Feiyu was of course not giving Orochimaru a free gift; the entire scroll was only one-third of the cultivation method for the Silver-Scaled Snake. After reading the scroll, Orochimaru only felt unsatisfied and looked up at Uchiha Feiyu:

"Alright, this gift is indeed very good. What does Feiyu-kun intend to exchange this gift for?"

"I want a contract with Ryuchi Cave!"

Uchiha Feiyu spoke with a slightly excited expression. Orochimaru frowned slightly, and after pondering for a moment, he still nodded:

"I can help you make a contract with Ryuchi Cave, but your contract level cannot be equal to mine."

"Oh!? If the contract level is low, will there be any consequences? Is it possible that the contract could be sealed off?"

"That won't happen; as long as you satisfy the desires of those poisonous snakes, it wouldn't be a problem even if you summoned those snakes to deal with me."

"However, a regular contract level has no way to summon the contract scroll of Ryuchi Cave. In other words, aside from yourself, you cannot let other people make a contract with Ryuchi Cave."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded; this restriction was optional for him. He had no intention of spreading the Ryuchi Cave contract, and even he himself only treated Ryuchi Cave as a buffet restaurant.

The deal was reached, and Uchiha Feiyu handed over the second half of the Silver-Scaled Snake cultivation method without hesitation; he believed Orochimaru would not do something as low as reneging on a debt.

The facts were indeed so; after Orochimaru received Uchiha Feiyu's scroll, he didn't even look at it and directly summoned a white poisonous snake. The poisonous snake opened its mouth and spat out a huge scroll; it was exactly the contract scroll of Ryuchi Cave.

Right there in the command post, Uchiha Feiyu signed the contract with Ryuchi Cave.

(End of chapter)