Chapter 422: Malice Hidden in the Shadows

"I just have a few doubts I'd like to ask of Lord Muyue." Orochimaru stood up, a slight curve at the corner of his mouth, and spoke with a faint smile.

In public, Orochimaru naturally wouldn't directly bring up Root's matters with Muyue, and besides, he did have some questions he wanted to ask her.

Muyue nodded and followed Orochimaru, walking with him to a secluded spot near the camp.

"Danzo should have told you what you need to do here." After walking to a large tree, Orochimaru stopped and turned to look at Muyue.

Orochimaru's relationship with Shimura Danzo was somewhat complicated.

Nominally, Orochimaru could even be considered one of Shimura Danzo's subordinates, since he held a position in Root.

But in reality, Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo were equals; they could be called collaborators.

They had multiple collaborations, including human experiments to study Hashirama's cells and research into forbidden techniques.

However, their most important collaboration at the moment concerned the position of the Fourth Hokage.

Although Shimura Danzo very much wanted to become the Fourth Hokage himself, he wasn't foolish; given the current situation, it was almost impossible for him to become the Fourth Hokage.

Shimura Danzo had a Wood Release user under his control, but that user was too young and hadn't grown yet, and he hadn't obtained the Rinnegan or the legacy of the Sage of Six Paths either.

For Shimura Danzo, becoming Hokage himself would have been the best path forward, but if that route was impassable, then he had only one remaining choice: his partner, Orochimaru.

The other two candidates for Hokage had average relationships with Shimura Danzo; if either of them became Hokage, it might affect the power Danzo currently held in Konoha.

But Orochimaru was different. Orochimaru had a deep cooperative relationship with Shimura Danzo. If what they had done were to be exposed, it would be enough to ruin both of their reputations in Konoha.

In other words, they were tied together like grasshoppers on the same rope; neither dared to betray the other easily, because each held too much evidence against the other.

So Shimura Danzo could confidently and fully support Orochimaru becoming the Fourth Hokage.

Once Orochimaru took office, given their relationship, Shimura Danzo would definitely gain even greater power than he had now.

After all, if Orochimaru ever dared to say "I am the Hokage," then Shimura Danzo really had the ability to make him regret it.

"I will do my utmost to assist Lord Orochimaru in gaining military achievements." Muyue replied calmly.

"To have the help of an outstanding ninja like you, Muyue, this mission should yield quite a harvest." Orochimaru praised without stint.

"But I have to say, it's quite surprising. I didn't expect Root to have a genius like you, Muyue." Orochimaru swept his gaze over Muyue with curious eyes.

It wasn't that Orochimaru looked down on Root; it was simply a fact that Root had talented people, but no geniuses.

Because Sarutobi Hiruzen would never let real geniuses go to Root. Orochimaru could tell that Hiruzen had been consciously controlling Root's overall strength.

"Lord Orochimaru flatters me. When it comes to genius, one of the Sannin—you—are the real genius." Muyue returned the compliment.

Muyue had always been self-aware: apart from the sealing techniques she had mostly trained on her own, nearly all of her other abilities came from cheating.

She had been able to develop an ultimate fire-style technique like "Fire Dragon Wild Dance" not because her talent in fire release was outstanding, but because she had obtained a perfect-grade fire nature transformation and a large number of master-grade fire techniques from the system; the memories of fire-style training in her mind were countless.

The same went for breathing techniques. She could develop new breathing methods precisely because she had already become extremely proficient in them; as long as she was willing to put in the time and effort, developing similar breathing techniques wasn't very difficult.

"I don't think so. At least in developing a Kekkei Genkai, you've surpassed me—after all, I've never successfully trained a Kekkei Genkai." Orochimaru shook his head slightly.

Orochimaru was willing to spend so much time researching various ninjutsu and forbidden techniques; of course, he had researched Kekkei Genkai, especially Wood Release, on which he had spent a great deal of time.

However, rather than saying Orochimaru was researching Wood Release, it would be more accurate to say he was researching the vitality of Hashirama's cells.

More than the power of Wood Release, Orochimaru hoped to obtain the immense vitality within Hashirama's cells, because ninja were far too fragile.

"Muyue, may I have a look at your Ice Release?" Orochimaru said after a moment's thought.

Orochimaru wasn't very interested in Ice Release, but he was quite interested in Muyue, who had trained in Ice Release.

Muyue nodded in agreement, gathered chakra in her palm, converted it entirely into ice-natured chakra, and released it.

"Freeze Ray!"

A blue-white beam shot out, instantly freezing a small area beside Orochimaru.

Clap, clap.

Orochimaru lightly clapped his hands twice. "I look forward to seeing your performance on the battlefield, Muyue."

Orochimaru remembered that the intelligence on Muyue indicated she was skilled in the five basic nature transformations, able to combine various techniques to increase their power. Even the Ice Release she had just learned not long ago was already at this level; Orochimaru was curious about the power of the ninjutsu she specialized in.

…………

To help the disciples get used to days without a teacher leading them, Mu Yue quickly arranged a B-rank war mission for them: to investigate a village where a three-man Mist Hidden squad was suspected to have appeared.

Since his main body was free, Mu Yue did not send a Shadow Clone to follow; instead, his main body followed behind directly, leaving the Shadow Clone at the camp.

Of course, to prevent accidents, Mu Yue left a Flying Thunder God kunai with the Shadow Clone, so even if an emergency occurred, he could be informed in time and quickly return.

"There are six villages in total. Should we split up? Two per group, that would be faster." Obito proposed after hearing Kakashi explain the mission.

Splitting into four would be faster, but even Obito didn't dare to be that reckless on the battlefield. It was fine for him, Kakashi, and Shisui, but if Rin Nohara ran into enemies, it would be bad.

"That's not safe. If you want to finish the mission faster, just move faster." Kakashi rejected Obito's suggestion.

If Mu Yue were there, Kakashi would agree, because Mu Yue's Flying Thunder God could provide quick support, but they didn't have such good conditions now.

They didn't even have a sensory ninja now. If a comrade encountered an enemy, it would be hard to know immediately.

Although the Transparent World has some similarities to the Byakugan in certain aspects, its range is far inferior to the Byakugan, so it cannot serve as a sensory ninjutsu.

Moreover, Kakashi's stamina did not support him using the Transparent World as a sensory ninjutsu; this was his trump card in battle.

"On the battlefield, safety is the most important." Rin Nohara agreed.

"We can use Shadow Clones. I'll and Obito each send a Shadow Clone to investigate villages other than the one our main bodies are at. That can improve efficiency." Shisui said after thinking it over.

Maintaining one's condition on the battlefield was also very important, so Shisui proactively suggested that he and Obito use Shadow Clones, because their chakra reserves were considerably ahead of Kakashi's and Rin Nohara's.

"That works." Kakashi agreed to Shisui's proposal after a moment's thought.

Since it was a B-rank war mission, encountering enemies was almost certain, so using Shadow Clones to gather intelligence was a good choice.

Feeling that Shisui had helped him save face, Obito put his hand on Shisui's shoulder with a big smile, thinking it was necessary to form a united front with Shisui against Kakashi. Shisui indeed had something that he lacked.

Next, Shisui and Obito each sent a Shadow Clone to investigate other villages, while their main bodies investigated together with Kakashi and Rin Nohara.

Facing ninja from their own country's official major ninja village, the villagers naturally told everything they knew, reporting all the suspicious people they had seen these past few days.

Just as Kakashi and the others were investigating the second village, a memory of fighting Mist Hidden ninja appeared in Shisui's mind.

"They're in Tianxia Village. Probably one leading jonin plus two chunin. Obito's Shadow Clone is still buying time." Shisui quickly organized his words and said.

His Shadow Clone had canceled itself, with the purpose of letting the main body know the intelligence from there.

Although they were quite strong, thinking two Shadow Clones could defeat a jonin squad was wishful thinking. The main bodies had to join the battle.

"Full speed ahead." Kakashi immediately gave the order, and then charged out ahead.

However, a squad of this level was a piece of cake for them now.

Except for Rin Nohara, anyone in their squad had the ability to take down an ordinary jonin head-on.

And although Rin Nohara couldn't defeat a jonin in combat, she could protect herself well, and she had strong support abilities.

That meant the actual combat strength of their four-person squad was three jonin plus one medical special jonin.

When the Mist Hidden ninja discovered that the Leaf ninja they had killed was actually a Shadow Clone, they immediately wanted to retreat, but Kakashi, pushing Lightning Breathing to its limit, was extremely fast and directly turned into a bolt of lightning, blocking the three Mist Hidden ninja.

Although Kakashi looked like a rookie ninja who had just graduated, his entrance was too flashy, so the Mist jonin did not dare underestimate him.

Hearing the sound of rapid movement from behind, the Mist jonin frowned deeply and, disregarding Kakashi's earlier running performance, immediately launched an attack on Kakashi.

"Take him out quickly! There are more Leaf ninja behind." The Mist jonin flung out shuriken and ordered his two subordinates to attack Kakashi.

Although he was anxious, the Mist jonin's own rich experience told him that now was not the time to panic. If he rushed in himself and was killed by Kakashi due to misjudging his strength, then his two subordinates would definitely not escape death.

Conversely, if his two subordinates could extract some information about Kakashi, then he still had hope of counter-killing or escaping.

The two Mist ninja charged out together. One used Water Release ninjutsu to spit a water stream at Kakashi, while the other drew a long sword from his back and swung it at Kakashi.

"Flash!"

Kakashi concentrated his breathing to enhance his power, converted all the chakra gathered in his legs into Lightning Release chakra and released it in one burst, then drew the White Fang Short Blade and swung it forward.

Whoosh!

Kakashi's figure vanished from the spot. The Mist ninja who had charged at him swinging his sword burst with blood. The shuriken and ninjutsu from the Mist ninja all struck the empty ground where Kakashi had been standing.

"Such speed and slash!" The Mist jonin's pupils sharply contracted. He hadn't expected Kakashi to dodge the attack and kill a man in the same move.

"Wait, that face—it's the strongest genius of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi!"

Looking at Kakashi's white hair and the lightning around him, the Kirigakure jōnin finally remembered Kakashi's name.

Before the battle began, Kirigakure Village had distributed intelligence about the Konoha geniuses from the Chūnin Exams to the Kirigakure shinobi, raising their priority order: if encountered, prioritize killing those young geniuses.

And Hatake Kakashi was the most dazzling genius among them, after all, he had defeated everyone and stood until the end.

"This guy who was still participating in the Chūnin Exams last year now has this kind of strength?" The Kirigakure jōnin was full of shock.

At first he thought Kakashi might be like Yagura Karatachi, looking young but actually just short and baby-faced, but now it was clear that this was a genuine young genius.

The Kirigakure jōnin ran to the side without hesitation.

Although it wasn't that there was no hope of winning, he didn't want to engage in a battle where death was highly probable; Kakashi's teammates were still on their way.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Nail Crimson!"

Several kunai covered in flames flew swiftly toward the direction the Kirigakure jōnin was retreating, forcing him to stop in his tracks.

The Kirigakure jōnin turned his head to look; a boy who appeared even younger than Kakashi stood not far away, slightly out of breath, still maintaining the posture of throwing a kunai.

"A ninja I just encountered." Then thinking of Obito's face, the Kirigakure jōnin was speechless; had he run into a Konoha genius squad? The team was full of geniuses.

"Phantom Shadow Teleportation Technique!"

Facing an enemy, Shisui had no intention of showing mercy; he directly activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and used the Illusion Teleportation Technique to engage the enemy.

Just then, Kakashi again instantly killed another Kirigakure chūnin with an extremely fierce slash, and quickly rushed to Shisui's side to help.

By the time Obito and Rin Nohara arrived, the Kirigakure jōnin was already seriously injured; before Obito could act and show off, Kakashi directly finished off the Kirigakure jōnin with one slash.

"So close!" Obito scratched his hair in reluctance; if he had been a bit faster, he could have made it.

Actually, Obito could have gone faster, but he was worried that Rin Nohara might encounter danger traveling alone, so he didn't put too much distance between himself and Rin Nohara.

"Mission complete. Let's go back." Kakashi said briskly and decisively.

Kakashi had both traveled at full speed and fought with full effort, his chakra and stamina were mostly depleted, so he wanted to return as soon as possible; otherwise, if they encountered enemies, they would be missing one combatant.

Obito could only walk toward the camp with a bitter face; he had originally wanted to outshine Kakashi, but ended up without even a chance to perform.

This mission made Obito realize one thing: sometimes speed really is important.

His disciples were safe and sound, so Muyue also went back.

Seeing Muyue leave, the hidden Zetsu revealed himself.

"This guy's protective instinct is really too much; he even secretly protects them during a B-rank mission." Zetsu was a bit troubled; this would not be convenient for their plan.