Visiting Orochimaru's Base

Gato searched through a bookshelf piled high with scrolls for a moment, then pulled out several yellowed maps and respectfully spread them across the table before Menma.

"My lord, these are maps of several western countries. Please inspect them." Gato bowed slightly.

Menma picked up the maps from the table and unfolded them, studying them with an eagle-eyed gaze.

As a world-class corporation, the Gato Company operated throughout many countries. Its simplest business method was buying local specialties cheaply in one country, transporting them to another, and selling them at a high price.

For instance, tea from the Land of Tea could fetch a high price when transported to the capitals of other countries.

This kind of trade naturally required familiarity with the terrain. Major trade associations, companies, and fleets all had maps or nautical charts they had drawn or purchased themselves, and these too counted as a rare resource.

However, highly accurate maps were difficult to produce. Most were like ancient maps and needed to be used alongside professional guides or experienced merchants.

"Prepare some supplies for transport to the Land of Bears. The organization plans to establish a base there." Menma tapped a map of the Land of Bears with his finger.

Kakuzu also walked over and looked down at the map on the table.

The Land of Bears lay between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind, while also bordering several small and medium-sized countries such as the Land of Demons, the Land of Nether, and the Land of Birds.

The entire country was long and narrow. Its western regions, which bordered the Land of Nether and the Land of Demons, contained vast plains suitable for agricultural development.

Its central and eastern regions were covered in vast forests and towering mountains. In the east, there was even the impassable Hell Valley, perpetually shrouded in poisonous gas.

"Understood, my lord." Gato bent even lower.

"Do you need me to clear out Hoshigakure?" Kakuzu licked his lips.

"No." Menma shook his head. "You will act together with Gato and be responsible for escorting the supplies. As for clearing the Land of Bears, another team will handle it."

Although he had brought Kakuzu and Gato into the organization, he could not have the two of them handle every task. That would expose the organization's lack of manpower.

Hearing that another team from the organization would move out ahead of them, Kakuzu's blue-green pupils narrowed slightly in anticipation.

Ever since joining the organization, he had only worked with Gato. He had yet to meet any of its other members, but now he would finally have a chance to see them.

What powerful ninja did such a mysterious organization possess?

After giving Gato and Kakuzu their new orders, Menma left the capital of the Land of Fire.

The organization was desperately short on manpower, so Menma planned to recruit some rogue ninja.

"However, at this point in time, Pakura is already dead. Zabuza and Kisame Hoshigaki probably haven't defected yet, Deidara is still in Iwagakure, and Sasori knows where he's hiding..." After counting them over, Menma realized there were truly very few capable rogue ninja he could seek out.

After all, he had no intention of recruiting a murderous maniac like Hidan.

"Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru should be in the Land of Rivers right now. At the very least, Raiga has the combat power of a Jonin, and it seems the entire Kurosuki Clan defected from Kirigakure with him."

Although the Kurosuki Clan did not possess any Kekkei Genkai, it was still a ninja clan with a certain foundation.

"Right, there are also members of the Uzumaki Clan scattered outside." Menma thought of Uzumaki Karin and her mother in Kusagakure, as well as Uzumaki Honoka in the Land of the Sea.

"But for now, I can go to the Land of Rice Fields and look for Orochimaru first."

In the forest beneath the night sky, Menma, wearing a Fox Mask, raced swiftly through the trees.

"If I remember correctly, Otogakure should be a little north of the central region of the Land of Rice Fields." Menma activated the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, sensing the chakra within a radius of over a hundred kilometers.

Menma had also learned this secret technique unique to the Uzumaki Clan from Kushina during the Limited Tsukuyomi World.

The sensing range of the Mind's Eye of the Kagura varied according to the user's chakra reserves. Even Karin could cover a range of thirty to forty kilometers, while Menma could extend it to nearly a hundred kilometers!

Within that range, he could detect every fluctuation of chakra.

The last time he fought Orochimaru, Menma had marked the distinctive nature of Orochimaru's chakra.

Not long after entering the Land of Rice Fields, Menma's Mind's Eye of the Kagura detected several traces of chakra carrying Orochimaru's signature. However, they were faint, and there was little other chakra nearby. They were likely merely backup hideouts or warehouses.

As he traveled north, Menma sensed a large number of chakra signatures north of the capital as he approached it. They were very similar to Orochimaru's chakra, yet somewhat different.

"So impatient already, Orochimaru?" Menma guessed that Orochimaru had already performed Living Corpse Reincarnation.

After all, Orochimaru's body was already over forty years old and had been heavily injured by the Third Hokage. While it could be repaired, its physical capabilities and reaction speed would certainly decline year by year.

Using this opportunity to perform Living Corpse Reincarnation was perfectly reasonable.

"Found it!" Menma burst out of the forest, and the view before him suddenly opened up.

It was a small village on the edge of the forest. On the surface, it was an ordinary rural settlement, but underground, Orochimaru had hollowed it out and built a secret base.

Under the night sky, Menma wore a white Three-Eyed Fox Mask and made no effort to hide himself as he walked straight into the village.

Cold moonlight glinted across his mask, while his black coat fluttered lightly in the wind. The appearance of such a mysterious figure immediately drew out Orochimaru's subordinates.

Several ninja leaped out from different places and stood atop the village rooftops, staring solemnly at the ill-intentioned stranger.

Menma used the Mind's Eye of the Kagura to sense the chakra of the three ninja and found that they were merely at Genin level.

That made sense. Each country's ninja resources were monopolized by their ninja villages, so after establishing his own faction, Orochimaru could only begin cultivating children from scratch.

In the nine years from Orochimaru's defection to the Konoha Crush Plan, he had only raised the Sound Four. Aside from Kimimaro, who possessed the strength of an Elite Jonin, the others were only at Chunin level. After activating their Cursed Seals, they could at most reach the level of Special Jonin.

There was also the unstable Jugo, as well as Hozuki Suigetsu, whom Orochimaru had captured.

"Kid, this isn't a place you should be." A ninja with his right eye wrapped in bandages seemed to be their captain. Standing on a rooftop, he issued a warning.

"Did Orochimaru send a bunch of small fry like you to your deaths?" Menma frowned slightly, unable to understand what Orochimaru was planning.

"You bastard! So you really came to hunt down Lord Orochimaru?!" As though some switch had been flipped, the ninja captain ordered the other two, "Kill him!"

The two ninja threw kunai and attacked Menma from both sides.

The ninja captain also tore away the bandages covering his right eye, revealing a scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan as he glared fiercely at the mysterious figure on the ground.

"I see." Seeing that Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Menma understood Orochimaru's intention.

Orochimaru was delivering him a gift.