Chapter 40: Orochimaru: You Go Deal with the Fourth Raikage!

Orochimaru put down his scalpel, turned around, and looked at Yamanaka Chujiu earnestly.

"Chujiu, do you know how many students I have taken on?"

Yamanaka Chujiu said, "I know: Nawaki, my senior brother; myself; and Mitarashi Anko."

Orochimaru nodded, "The three of you are my official students, just as Namikaze Minato is Jiraiya's student."

"Besides the three of you, I have taught a few other children, but I did not take them on as students..."

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled, "Is one of them Yakushi Kabuto?"

Orochimaru: "Tsk, your mysterious intelligence channels... are eerily accurate."

"In any case, I have taught many students, but not one of them is satisfactory."

"Nawaki is reckless and impulsive; he's just a miniature version of Jiraiya."

"Anko has a head full of sweets; she counts as a miniature version of Tsunade."

"Kabuto is still too young, his personality hasn't set, and his talent is hard to gauge."

"Only you, Yamanaka Chujiu, are the most intelligent—no, 'intelligent' doesn't quite cover it; you possess enough wisdom that even I must hold you in high regard."

"You must believe in the importance I, Orochimaru, place upon you."

Yamanaka Chujiu feigned a trembling appearance: "Teacher Orochimaru, the gentler your voice and the more sincere your display of emotion, the more terrified I become."

"Please, stop scaring me and just tell me: what kind of life-threatening task am I actually going to do?"

Orochimaru smiled with satisfaction: "Good, you are worthy of being my wisest student!"

"Yamanaka Chujiu, I want you to deal with the Fourth Raikage Ai!"

Yamanaka Chujiu: "Me?"

Orochimaru: "Yes!"

Yamanaka Chujiu: "..."

"I'm only fourteen years old and just a Special Jonin; you want me to deal with the Fourth Raikage Ai?"

"Can't do it, absolutely can't do it."

Orochimaru's neck stretched out at some point; his body stood in front of Yamanaka Chujiu, but his head rested on his shoulder from behind.

"Don't be so afraid; Teacher isn't asking you to go and fight that brute one-on-one."

"You don't need to put on an act in front of me either; I discovered long ago that you are skilled at command, capable of organizing even a ninja army of ten thousand into perfect order."

"Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to give me the most appropriate advice at every critical moment."

Yamanaka Chujiu stammered: "I, I..."

Orochimaru hissed a laugh: "Did you think I didn't know it was you?"

"I am Orochimaru, after all!"

Yamanaka Chujiu wiped his face, clicked his tongue, and said, "I knew I couldn't keep it from you forever, Teacher."

"Since Teacher Orochimaru insists, I will reluctantly help you hold off the Fourth Raikage and his Cloud Hidden Army."

"And you will look after the children of the Rising Sun Organization for me."

Orochimaru flicked his tongue to lick his eye, tilted his head, and asked, "You even guessed that?"

Yamanaka Chujiu said nothing; what reader out there doesn't know that you, Orochimaru, are the greatest child-snatcher in all the heavens and worlds!

There is no one else!

When Yamanaka Chujiu was naming the Rising Sun Organization, he had already muttered this to himself.

With so many children gathered together to form an organization, not only had he developed several exceptional talents in them, but he had also educated them to be exceptionally outstanding.

Orochimaru could smell the scent of the Rising Sun by instinct alone; it was impossible for him not to be interested in this organization.

Among the children of the Rising Sun Organization, there were definitely already Orochimaru's people, just listening with their ears and watching with their eyes.

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head: "I accept this mission, but the Fourth Raikage is no pushover; the time I can hold him off won't be very long."

"No matter what plan you have, Teacher Orochimaru, you must hurry and come to support me as soon as possible."

Orochimaru smiled and promised: "Rest assured, I won't actually let you encounter danger."

He had absolute confidence in Yamanaka Chujiu, even though Chujiu felt he was only a Special Jonin and wasn't even sure he could kill Shimura Danzo.

But in Orochimaru's perception, Yamanaka Chujiu was a terrifying monster!

The boy's surface strength was only Chunin, but whether encountering Sand Hidden Ninja or Rock Hidden Ninja, whether facing Chunin or Jonin, whether it was a Puppet Master or an Explosion Ninja, he could always withdraw from the battlefield completely unscathed.

What made Orochimaru feel even more terrified was that Yamanaka Chujiu could lock onto his position at any time!

In ninja combat, intelligence is king!

Orochimaru's greatest strength was not Orochimaru-style Ninjutsu, not the Ryuchi Cave Summoning Technique, and not even his endless array of life-saving techniques, but his mysterious movements—the ability to retreat whenever he wanted and appear whenever he chose.

Even the Byakugan, which could see through things, would have its vision disrupted by the Orochimaru-style Substitution Technique, unable to lock onto Orochimaru's movements.

Coming without a shadow and leaving without a trace was the strongest aspect of Orochimaru that gave everyone the biggest headache.

Yet in front of Yamanaka Chujiu, Orochimaru had never been able to hide himself.

No matter what kind of Substitution Technique Orochimaru used, no matter how many Clones he split into, Yamanaka Chujiu could always discover and lock onto him in advance.

Even when the two were over a thousand meters apart, Orochimaru would be discovered as a matter of course.

Orochimaru's confidence had suffered a heavy blow because of this; his mood had been low for a long time, and he felt insecure at every moment.

Orochimaru was no good person; after confirming that only Yamanaka Chujiu could lock onto him, he had wanted to kill Yamanaka Chujiu more than once to eliminate the future threat.

But he never acted each time, suffering shameful failure precisely because he could not lock onto Yamanaka Chujiu.

Because he couldn't resolve Yamanaka Chujiu through violence, Orochimaru had gone to great lengths to take him as a student; one's own student wouldn't threaten one's own life...

Right?

(Uchiha Obito quietly gave a like!)

Yamanaka Chujiu did not know he was so terrifying in Orochimaru's heart.

If he knew, not only would his tail shoot up to the sky, but he could also solve the great mystery in his heart.

Yamanaka Chujiu knew that Orochimaru liked to abduct children and was skilled at training disciples, capable of making geniuses soar and allowing ordinary people to grow to their limits.

But he knew even better that Orochimaru did not like taking on students.

The first student, Nawaki, was the eldest grandson of the First Hokage and the younger brother of his classmate Tsunade; the second student, Mitarashi Anko, was entrusted to his care by a comrade; both of these students were unavoidable debts of gratitude.

Only the third student, Sasuke Uchiha, was the one who gained Orochimaru's favor through talent and was taken on as a student in the proper, formal sense.

As for why Orochimaru favored Sasuke's talent, and why his purpose in teaching Sasuke was not simple...

That is none of your concern!

Just ask yourself, did Orochimaru formally take on a student?

Did he put his heart and soul into teaching?

Yamanaka Chujiu felt he did not have Sasuke's talent, nor did he have the Bloodline Limit that Orochimaru craved; he could not imagine why Orochimaru would want to take him as a student.

But as a Konoha Ninja, he still had requests for Orochimaru, so he had no room to refuse Orochimaru's good intentions.

He could only pretend to be joyful as he accepted, then remain trembling and on guard.

The thoughts of Orochimaru & Yamanaka Chujiu were highly consistent:

If I get along well with this monster, he won't kill me.