Arriving at Orochimaru's Camp

"Me? I'm already twenty-six this year, and I'm still just Genin at that age!" The Genin shook his head with a wry smile. He was just a commoner ninja with no particular talent, and he figured he'd be a Genin.

"You've reached the strength of Elite Genin, haven't you? You still have a chance to become a Chunin in the future. A person should have ideals, otherwise what's the difference between them and a salted fish, right?" Tianqi didn't mock him but instead encouraged him.

The Hokage world is one where birth and bloodline matter. Without a good background and bloodline, it's really hard for a commoner ninja to rise to prominence.

"Thank you. I really hope I can still make it to Chunin, otherwise I'll really be a couch potato!" The Genin smile, he truly had no confidence in making it.

Tianqi also looked helpless. In his eyes, there was no difference between Genin and Chunin; they were all cannon fodder on the battlefield. Jonin only had a certain ability to protect themselves. However, it was already quite good that these ordinary ninjas could make it Chunin the chunin level.

Just as Tianqi and the Genin lively conversation, Sen'u finally caught up with the carriage procession.

"Phew, I finally caught up with you guys. If I hadn't found you, I would have been thinking of finding a place to sleep!" Sen'u breathed a long sigh of relief.

"No way, you got injured while clearing out a bandit? Sen'u, you're so disappointing!" Tianqi frowned as he looked at the wounds all over Sen'u's body.

With Sen'u's strength, clearing out a bandit shouldn't have caused this much trouble, but now he's covered in wounds. Could it be that the person behind him is really powerful?

"Bandits? Father, you must be joking. That's no bandit. He's clearly a powerful Jonin, and he even has Kekkei Genkai!" Sen'u rolled her eyes at her father and said slowly.

"Jonin? A Jonin with Kekkei Genkai! No way, what's going on?" Tianqi was also curious when he heard that the other party was Jonin with Kekkei Genkai.

"It's like this, he was a Kirigakure missing-nin from Kirigakure who possessed Ice Release bloodline, I..." Sen'u recounted the whole story.

Naruhodo, is he from the Kirigakure clan of Yuki? It seems he escaped because of the Bloody Mist incident. I never expected him to end up in Konoha. Listening to Sen'u's account, Tianqi immediately guessed his origins. There's no way he could not guess; only the Yuki clan in Kirigakure knows Kirigakure Ice Release.

"You've been made to look so pathetic by just an Ice Release ninja, Sen'u, you're really too weak!" Tianqi looked at Sen'u with great dissatisfaction.

"It's not that I'm bad, it's just that the ninja's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals were too troublesome. I wanted to try to break them without using Ninjutsu, but I failed in the end. Otherwise, I would have taken down that ninja long ago!" Sen'u argued indignantly.

"Hmph! Stop making excuses. I've said it before: even a lion needs to go all out to hunt a rabbit. If you continue like this, I think you're not far from death!" Tianqi frowned and stepped forward to check Sen'u's wounds.

"How could that be? We're not ready to die yet. This time, I just wanted to try and see if I could break through that Ice Release with Taijutsu. I just didn't expect that my strength wasn't up to par yet!" Sen'u scratched his head sheepishly. He had indeed been a bit careless this time.

"It's good that you know your strength hasn't been cultivated yet. Next time, just go all out. You're not a Taijutsu specialist, so why are you so fixated on that? Luckily, they're all just superficial injuries!" Tianqi said as he activated green healing Ninjutsu with both hands, and in no time, Sen'u's superficial injuries were all healed.

"Yes, yes, I'll definitely be more careful next time!" Seeing her superficial wounds heal instantly, Sen'u didn't argue anymore.

Tianqi didn't say anything more. Sen'u already had enough strength and mindset. He didn't need to say anything more about what she should and shouldn't do. She still had to walk her own path. Only when a fledgling eagle leaves its parents' embrace can it truly spread its wings and soar.

After resting for a night, the group continued their journey. This time, they encountered no bandits or obstacles, and ten days later they finally arrived at Orochimaru's camp.

"Hey, Brother Tianqi, what brings you along this time? You're quite a rare guest!" Orochimaru stuck out his long tongue and licked his lips, looking like he wanted to devour someone.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Orochimaru, something about you just doesn't seem right to me." Tianqi found Orochimaru rather disgusting; sticking out that long tongue like that, was he even a normal person?

"What's strange about it? I've always been like this, haven't I?" Orochimaru asked, spreading his hands in confusion.

"That's scary. Alright, stop talking nonsense and lead me into the camp. I haven't had a proper rest on this journey!" Tianqi at Orochimaru and walked into the camp. It has to be said that the current Orochimaru is becoming more and more like the Orochimaru in the original work. It seems that his fate is inescapable. The warnings he received before were all for naught.

Upon hearing this, Sen'u was speechless. "You didn't get any rest along the way, but it seems like you were the one who slept the best. You're really talking nonsense."

Soon the caravan entered Orochimaru's camp, Sen'u and the others entered a tent filled with various maps, clearly indicating that this was the command post of the border troops.

"Oh my, this is actually a tactical command post? Orochimaru, how many people are in your unit? Is it really necessary to set up a command post?" Although the camp was large, there were only a dozen or so people. In Tianqi's opinion, setting up a command post was completely unnecessary.

"Hehe, there's no need to set up a command post if there are few people, but I have a hundred-man team of seven hundred, so having a command post is quite reasonable, isn't it?" Orochimaru smiled helplessly. It seems that Tianqi has no idea how many people are on the border.

"Seven hundred people? No way, I only saw a few dozen people moving around in your camp. Did you send the others to other places?" Tianqi asked with some doubt.

"That's natural. Staying cooped up in the camp Tenten won't be enough to defend the border. The others have naturally been sent out, but some have gone out to relieve shifts. We should have about three hundred ninjas back soon!" Orochimaru explained to Tianqi.

"Is that so? I really don't understand your deployments. These probing attacks don't seem like Ai's style at all. It seems his personality has changed since he became the Raikage!" Tianqi sighed as he thought about the situation at the border.

In the past Raikage A was always straightforward and never bothered with such probing moves. If he was going to attack, he would attack with all his might, and if he wasn't going to attack, he really wouldn't. But now, it seems that people can change.

"Hehe, of course, no one who can become the Kage is simple. Although the Raikage is a bit rough around the edges, he is the kind of person who is bold but meticulous. This opponent is still very difficult to deal with!" Orochimaru did not dare to be the slightest bit careless when facing the enemy country's ninja he was going to deal with.