"These can all be handed over to you, but I have conditions as well."
At that, Orochimaru slightly raised his head to look at Naruto, confusion in his eyes—but even more than that, a near-greedy fervor.
He gripped the scroll tightly in his hand, as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.
"Conditions?" Orochimaru's voice was hoarser than before, his wariness obvious. "Tell me, Naruto-kun. What do you want me to do for you?"
"Or rather... what do you think someone like me can still do for you now?"
Orochimaru glanced at his abdomen, which was still bleeding continuously. The implication was obvious. "I am already the defeated party. My life is entirely in your hands. Even if you refuse to give me the knowledge in that scroll, I have no bargaining chips left to negotiate with you."
Naruto looked calmly at Orochimaru, who was half-reclining against the ground in a somewhat disheveled state. His tone did not fluctuate in the slightest. "I want you to become my subordinate. And I want everything you possess—your knowledge, wisdom, subordinates, shinobi village, bases, laboratories, and so on. Of course, you'll still be the one managing them."
Without Orochimaru, the people of Otogakure would not be easy to subdue or manage.
Orochimaru's eyes widened at once.
This demand was far beyond his expectations. It was practically uprooting the work of his entire life.
Orochimaru instinctively wanted to refuse, to mock the other's arrogance.
But the weight of the scroll in his hand, along with the vast array of knowledge recorded within it, made him unable to let it go.
More importantly, the boy before him had the ability to kill him completely.
If he died here, all his ambitions and explorations would turn to dust.
But if he agreed, Naruto