My Good Brother

"Ahhhhhh!!!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the Konoha forest, enough to make the heartbroken weep and the listeners shed tears!

Nawaki lay on the ground, his right hand tightly clutching his right buttock, a palm-sized chunk of flesh missing and bleeding profusely. His left hand frantically pounded the ground, tears streaming from his eyes from the pain:

"Zhou Duan, you beast! You cut your own people, have you no conscience? What crap about being poisoned, that's just an excuse you made up to cut me!"

"Nawaki, you and I have been on the same team for more than a day or two. Don't you know what kind of person I am? When have you ever been in danger and I didn't save you first?"

Zhou Duan looked at Nawaki with a heartbroken expression, but then, Zhou Duan's expression softened:

"Nawaki, although you misunderstand me, I know you're just lashing out because of the immense pain. I'll forgive you this time, alas..."

Zhou Duan pulled out a packet of powder from his embrace and sprinkled it onto Nawaki's wound:

"This is a hemostatic and muscle-regenerating powder. It might not be able to cure the poison, but it will help with your recovery. Oh, right, I privately added a little something here. It'll hurt more, but the recovery speed will definitely be faster!"

"Holy crap! This is bad!"

Seeing the powder being sprinkled on him by Zhou Duan, Nawaki instinctively wanted to dodge the pile of powder. However, the huge wound on his buttock made him almost lose the ability to move, and he could only watch helplessly as almost every grain of the powder landed squarely on his butt!

"Ahhh... Ugh!"

Another scream, not weaker than the previous one, rang out again. However, the scream only lasted for half of its duration before Nawaki, severely tormented by Zhou Duan's powder, directly fainted!

"Lord Orochimaru..."

Zhou Duan looked at Orochimaru with grief:

"My teammate, my comrade, and more importantly, my good brother—Senju Nawaki—is suffering greatly from the poison. And I, the perpetrator of all this, am so tormented that I can barely contain myself. Lord Orochimaru, I know my skills are insufficient to cure the toxins within Nawaki, so I implore you to accept this tissue sample from Nawaki, hoping you can develop an antidote as soon as possible to save my good brother!"

Seeing the "grief-stricken" Zhou Duan walking towards Orochimaru with a palm-sized piece of buttock flesh, Orochimaru and the remaining two companions were stunned. Orochimaru felt as if his entire worldview, values, and perception of reality had been completely shattered!

Orochimaru even felt that the cruel and inhumane evil experiments he had performed on his subordinate experimental ninjas in the past had become trivial!

When he conducted experiments, he at least targeted other villages or rogue ninjas. But this guy Zhou Duan, for his own benefit, casually cut his teammate with a knife without batting an eye!

"Uh, um, okay... Okay!"

Orochimaru responded somewhat awkwardly to Zhou Duan's words. Zhou Duan had, at some point, stuffed the piece of Nawaki's buttock into his hand. If his estimation was correct, this piece of flesh would be enough for him to conduct research for a period of time. Orochimaru carefully put away the flesh sample in his hand, and seeing Zhou Duan's expectant gaze, Orochimaru, not being foolish, opened his mouth with a hoarse voice:

"Zhou Duan, since you are a lower-rank medical ninja and also a user of medicinal agents, let me test you. What are your thoughts on the poisoned Nawaki?"

"Alas!"

Zhou Duan let out a long sigh, wiped away the non-existent tears from the corners of his eyes, and spoke with a heavy tone:

"Since Lord Orochimaru has said so, I will share my thoughts. Firstly, Nawaki has inevitably lost a piece of flesh, which will require at least a hundred-year-old ninja snake shedding to recover. Secondly, Nawaki's toxins originate from his blood and must be neutralized with a Purple Cart. As for other auxiliary medicinal ingredients, based on my many years of medical experience, the more precious, the better!"

"Looking at you, you don't even need to disguise yourself to infiltrate other ninja villages. You're just too damn good at pretending!"

Orochimaru felt a strong urge to vent, but as an arrogant, cold-blooded, and stoic individual, Orochimaru maintained his composure. He took out a scroll, unsealed several precious medicinal ingredients, and handed them to Zhou Duan:

"Here are the Purple Cart and snake shedding you need, along with a few other precious medicinal ingredients. The snake shedding is one hundred and fifty years old, so take a look for yourself. I have other matters to attend to, so I'm leaving!"

Before Zhou Duan could say anything else, Orochimaru flashed and disappeared from the spot. Only a wooden sign and a message were left in the air:

"You don't need to return to the village. The invading Sand Ninja have been dealt with by the combat units, and the battle will end soon. Report directly to Steel Rock Valley. The password is 'Fire Snake.' Take care of yourselves!"

"Hoo, as expected of Orochimaru. The resources in his hands are amazing. He just pulls out a pile of precious medicinal ingredients with a casual gesture. I was running around searching everywhere. This is a huge mobile resource. In the future, I'll only need trivial things to get what I need!"

Zhou Duan looked in the direction of the unconscious Nawaki, feeling as if Nawaki had been completely replaced by a treasure trove of medicinal ingredients, full of value. As if sensing something, Nawaki shivered involuntarily in his unconscious state when Zhou Duan's gaze swept over him!

"Zhou Duan, isn't this a bit too ruthless?"

Hyakuho pointed at the terrifying wound on Nawaki's buttock, which, despite being covered in powder, was still lightly bleeding, and asked Zhou Duan:

"Rapid physical recovery requires snake shedding? Don't get me wrong, I'm an outsider, but snake shedding has nothing to do with recovery agents, right? There's a limit to your lies. By the way, you're not going to pull a knife on me and Minato sometime, are you?"

Minato stood beside Hyakuho, nodding in agreement. Clearly, even the steady Minato was a bit bewildered at this moment!

"Hyakuho, Minato, why do you look at me like that? Am I the kind of person who would unhesitatingly sell off my companions for precious medicine?"

Zhou Duan deliberately ignored Nawaki, who was lying unconscious nearby, and looked at Hyakuho and Minato with genuine sincerity:

"Besides, one of you is from the Hyuga clan's branch family, and the other is a genin with no family background or special ninjutsu. Who would pay attention to you? You're not valuable at all!"

"After hearing your assurance..."

Hyakuho glanced at Minato, who also looked helpless:

"I'm truly touched!"

"You're too kind..."

Zhou Duan showed a humble smile, but his thoughts were far from simple. As the saying goes, it's better to be feared than loved. Zhou Duan had seen firsthand how strong Orochimaru's interest in Nawaki was. After all, this guy was capable of killing his own teacher!

Although Orochimaru wouldn't do anything too outrageous to Nawaki out of respect for Tsunade, if someone with ulterior motives in the village stirred things up, unforeseen problems might arise.

Zhou Duan was a firm believer in conspiracy theories. In his opinion, it was better to give Orochimaru enough benefits from the start, thereby completely eliminating the possibility of crises.

Hyakuho didn't think that far, but Minato... He believed Minato had seen some of the underlying issues. Otherwise, Minato, who was meticulous, wouldn't be so passive.

Although he used to bully Nawaki quite a bit, it was genuinely for his own good. But today's actions were entirely self-serving. It would be strange if Minato didn't voice his opinion.

"Since there's no danger, we'll rest here for a day. Nawaki's wound looks scary, but with my medicine, it will fully recover in a day!"

Zhou Duan put his thoughts aside and looked in the direction of Steel Cliff, where the main battle was about to begin:

"After a day, we should report there too!"

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