Precisely because the villagers took the security protocols so seriously, the outside world believed they were genuinely effective.
For this routine inquiry, Shisui Abura did not dispatch Naoto. He allowed the regular guard corps to conduct a simple questioning, and he strictly forbade the use of pheromones.
In his eyes, caution was paramount—especially when dealing with Orochimaru. Despite Shisui's confidence in his swarm, the man before him was a titan of "core technology."
Even if Orochimaru hadn't yet reached his absolute peak, he was already a world-class authority on biological research.
Unsurprisingly, Orochimaru passed the inspection with ease.
He believed his disguise was flawless and his presence undetected. Shisui, for his part, played along with the charade, hoping the "snake" would satisfy his curiosity and depart without upending the quiet life Shisui had built.
But Orochimaru was not a man to simply browse and leave.
Under the pseudonym "Seki," a traveling dicinal herb rchant, Orochimaru remained in Takigakure for a full week.
During those seven days, he walked every street, sampled every new eatery, and conversed with dozens of villagers. He even used "market research" as an excuse to sit in on several cultural classes at the Ninja Academy.
What he saw was a village thrumming with life. The streets were clean, the shops organized, and the villagers possessed a rare look of optimism.
The ninjas were disciplined and efficient, showing a level of coordination that, to Orochimaru's trained eye, rivaled the professionalism of Konoha.
The sparrow is small, but its organs are complete, he evaluated internally.
A village like this, if left unchecked, would eventually challenge Konoha's influence in the region. For a fleeting mont, the thought occurred to him: I should tell the village. I should tell Sensei.
But in the next second, he scoffed at himself. Konoha, for all its virtues, was a cage for the mundane.
He was chasing the essence of life, the secrets of forbidden jutsu, and power that transcended death. This tiny Takigakure clearly held sothing... interesting.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. From the mont he entered, he had felt a nagging sensation—a feeling of being watched.
It wasn't the gaze of a person, but sothing more pervasive, more hidden. It was an irritant to his hypersensitive perception, but he had spent the week enduring it, testing its boundaries.
Missing spies, undetectable zones... Hehe, Orochimaru laughed silently.
His intelligence gathering suggested a narrative: The young leader, Shibuki Kogan, was a reformist prodigy.
The Jonin Naoto had mastered the "Earth Grudge Fear," a technique dormant for a century. The rchant Ryuji Ida was a genius of urban planning.
Orochimaru took these facts and discarded seventy percent of them.
"A person's vision is shaped by their environnt as much as their intellect," he mused.
He didn't believe a village of fewer than ten thousand people could simultaneously produce two geniuses in administration and a master of a legendary forbidden jutsu—especially since his records indicated that both Naoto and Shibuki had been remarkably diocre just years prior.
Orochimaru licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with predatory excitent. There is soone behind them. Soone watching everyone in this village. I want to know who.
He did not strike imdiately, and Shisui did not intervene. Both were patient, watching each other like two beasts across a void, waiting for the first crack in the other's resolve.
After a week, Orochimaru had exhausted the public information. His patience, already frayed by the psychological changes following the last Great War and bolstered by his recent breakthroughs in power, finally snapped. He decided to break the stalemate.
"I wonder what kind of beast you are, to outlast a snake in a contest of patience," Orochimaru whispered, tilting the brim of his hat as he looked around.
His target: an Elite Chunin in his thirties. This man's position ensured he had access to secrets the average villager did not.
Late that night, in the shadows of a quiet alleyway, Orochimaru intercepted his prey.
"My deepest apologies," he said, his voice devoid of any real regret. "I must borrow the information in your mind."
His pupils shifted into golden vertical slits.
Genjutsu: Sly Mind Affect Technique.
As the Chunin's eyes glazed over, Orochimaru prepared to delve deeper. Suddenly, a black shadow plumted from the sky. An exquisite kunai whistled past his face; only his preternatural reflexes saved him, though a few strands of his pale hair were severed.
Naoto landed with clinical precision. With a blur of three hand signs, he unleashed a Gale Palm, the shockwave targeting Orochimaru's chest and forcing him to release his hostage. Naoto caught the unconscious Chunin and tossed him to safety.
His hands blurred into a second set of signs as four thick, white tendrils erupted from his back.
Earth Release: Hardening Technique.
A simple C-rank jutsu, but in Naoto's hands, it transford the soft, vulnerable threads of his "Earth Grudge Fear" into rigid, spear-like appendages. The inherent elasticity of the threads, combined with the stone-like hardening, made them lethal and unbreakable.
With these four "spears," Naoto effectively beca a six-ard combatant, lunging into close-quarters combat before Orochimaru could fully reset his stance.
Though he had lost the initiative, Orochimaru was a veteran of a thousand battles. He twisted his body like a serpent, dodging four successive thrusts before sliding backward several ters.
"So this is the Earth Grudge Fear?" Orochimaru hissed. "Symbiosis with a mysterious organism... truly a subject worth studying."
"Who are you?" Naoto demanded. He gripped two of the hardened spears in his hands while the two erging from his back hovered like cobras. It wasn't that he couldn't produce more; it was that his current ntal focus capped his precise control at four.
"Just a curious traveler," Orochimaru's voice was raspy and playful. "But it seems I've been exposed. Did the person behind you tell you I was here?"
The question was a casual probe, but Naoto's expression flickered for a split second. He nearly took the bait. Rembering Shisui's warning to never engage in conversation with a master, Naoto tightened his grip and lunged forward again.
"Ah, you didn't fall for it," Orochimaru sighed with mock disappointnt. "Very well. Let see the caliber of Takigakure's 'Number One' expert."
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