After confirming Orochimaru's research direction and preliminary results, and leaving the instruction "Looking forward to seeing actual output", Naruto made an additional request to Orochimaru before leaving.
"I need a Kusanagi Sword."
Orochimaru Now that his temperament has changed drastically, he readily agreed.
Fortunately, this time he took out the long sword from Storage Scroll on his waist, instead of vomiting it out from his throat.
A Kusanagi Sword with a slender blade and a cold light was respectfully presented. The faint flowing cold light on the blade showed that it was extraordinary and a truly top-notch ninja tool.
The reason why Naruto wants this sword is very simple. Uchiha Satsuki's birthday is coming soon. In the past few years, Satsuki has been practicing Swordplay inherited by the Uchiha Clan. A Kusanagi Sword that suits her current strength is undoubtedly a gift that is both practical and thoughtful.
As for the research results of Orochimaru that may benefit countless people and solve food problems, Naruto decided to wait for its results and wait for the actual output before further evaluation and promotion.
Returning to Konoha, Naruto resumed his daily identity, but he did not relax. Based on his memory of the "original" timeline and cross-reference of recent intelligence, he could basically confirm that the "Akatsuki" organization's operation to capture Tailed Beast had already begun, and might even be nearing completion.
At this time of the original work, in addition to One-Tails Shukaku, Eight-Tails Gyuki, and Kurama Kurama in his own body In addition to, the rest of Two-Tails to Seven-Tails seemed to have been captured one after another before the senior officials of Five Great Nations were fully alert or unable to react in time.
However, when Naruto asked Jiraiya about the current situation of the "Akatsuki" organization, the answer he received was somewhat unexpected.
"Xiao? Ah, that mercenary organization."
Jiraiya recalled his previous intelligence network. Jiraiya had indeed heard of it and had conducted some preliminary investigations. Judging from the current situation, Xiao seemed to be mainly undertaking military support from various countries and forces that were not convenient to display openly, in order to earn commissions.
Their acting style is low-key but very efficient. For the time being... there is no obvious sign that they have shown any signs of provoking a major power.
This answer made Naruto fall into deep thought for a short time, but he soon came to his senses.
First of all, the composition of the "Akatsuki" organization in today's world is quite different from that in the original work. Powerful members such as Kakuzu, Kisame Hoshigaki, Deidara, etc. have already been cut off by themselves.
Although "Akatsuki" itself does not seem to have strict requirements for its members, Kakuzu had many partners in the original work.
So, what is the reason why the overall performance of "Akatsuki" is so low-key even though the Tailed Beast collection progress seems to be ahead of schedule?
The answer probably points to the shadow that has been manipulating it for thousands of years - Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu has extremely strong reconnaissance and concealment capabilities. It is very likely that it has already passed through the White Zetsu network and witnessed the entire attack on Konoha by Otsutsuki Urashiki a few years ago. At, the "Otsutsuki level" battle between himself and Uchiha Sasuke from the future was far beyond the scope of conventional Ninja.
That kind of destructive power is enough to scare any rational conspirator.
Perhaps it was this fear that prompted Black Zetsu to convince the actual controller Uchiha Obito, temporarily delaying the high-profile arrest of Tailed Beast by the "Akatsuki" organization.
However... Naruto's right eye [Star Eye] contains a mysterious power that has not yet been fully developed. When this power can be fully used...
Passive waiting has never been his style. Now that the threat has been confirmed and the opponent may delay action due to fear, then... it's time to consider taking the initiative.
Slowly, time passed smoothly for a long period of time with almost no waves.
There are no rumors of the "Akatsuki" organization causing trouble, no sudden crisis of annihilation, and no mysterious power popping up from nowhere claiming to rule the world.
Life has returned to the simplest and most practical rhythm. I practice with Satsuki every day, improve each other's strength and tacit understanding, handle some regular Ninja tasks, maintain the daily operation of Konoha, and participate in some small activities in my spare time, Temple Fair or parties, autumn festivals and the like.
The same is true today. The sky is clear and cloudless, and the sunshine shines warmly on the streets of Konoha. The whole village looks peaceful and prosperous.
However, within the [Jin] organization, there was a moderate "turmoil" not long ago.
The reason is that the research project of Orochimaru has achieved a milestone success. The new staple food crop that uses the improved gene of Hashirama Cells, is cheap, highly nutritious, has an ultra-fast maturity cycle, and has excellent environmental adaptability. It has finally completed large-scale trial planting verification, and its yield and stability have met expectations.
Regarding the naming, Orochimaru finally decided it as --[Wood Hand Ear].
Naruto did not interfere with the naming rights. After all, he only issued the research direction, and the specific results should be named by the researchers, although Orochimaru himself was not interested in naming such things.
The birth process of this name is probably as random as "Kiryu Sento".
Because the core material comes from "Senju Clan" Hashirama Cells who is good at Wood Release, the words "wood" and "hand" were taken, and the shape of the ear of grain was added to form "Wood Hand Ear".
This almost "god-sent" food was quickly transported through the secret and efficient channels of the [Jin] organization to those marginalized areas in Ninja World where poverty is intertwined and even displaced.
They are distributed at nearly cost price or even free of charge, saving countless lives struggling with hunger.
But this act of kindness made Kakuzu, the financial director of the organization, feel heartbroken, as if he saw countless gold and silver mountains slipping through his fingers.
Because Kakuzu immediately realized the terrifying commercial potential contained in it, he hurriedly found Orochimaru and tried to persuade this scientific genius who had "returned from evil to righteousness".
With his mind, not to develop projects that can be directly converted into astronomical profits, such as high-efficiency material conversion devices, rare mineral synthesis technology, etc., is simply a waste of resources! It is a huge waste!
However, today's Orochimaru's moral principles and behavioral logic have undergone earth-shaking changes.
He simply rejected Kakuzu's "money-making proposal" with sufficient and irrefutable reasons.
"The order given to me by the leader is: use your scientific research ability to 'atone for your sins.' This means that my research project must have a clear public welfare attribute of 'benefitting the world.'"
"Want to study something that makes money?... It's not impossible, but you need to get the leader's approval first."
Orochimaru Today's morality makes Kakuzu feel suffocating and powerless.
And Naruto did feel a little awkward after learning about Kakuzu's proposal. Although he was very happy about Orochimaru's change, when he thought of Orochimaru's past... At this stage, it is more appropriate for Orochimaru to focus on those "good inventions" that can actually improve people's livelihood and make up for past sins.
As a result, Kakuzu's request for "commercialization" was rejected. After trying to persuade Orochimaru for an unknown number of times to turn to "profit-making projects" and being rejected, Kakuzu finally couldn't hold it back anymore, and a fierce quarrel broke out with Orochimaru.
Of course, the content of the quarrel was limited to disputes over research directions and economic benefits, and did not involve personal attacks or armed conflicts - after all, no matter how much Kakuzu cared about money, he would not dare to openly defy the tone set by the leader.
And Orochimaru is no longer the mad scientist who conducts dangerous experiments on living people.