Orochimaru

Uchiha Sou had no reason to refuse a summons from Orochimaru.

Although it was painful that a minor chunin like him had been remembered by a big shot like Orochimaru, he knew there was no way around it.

At the end of the day, who told him to possess the Sharingan?

He knew clearly that he would likely be deployed on another mission.

After all, the war was approaching its historical conclusion, and the current behavior of Kirigakure could not be described as merely insane.

Moreover, as a wartime ninja, he naturally had to be prepared to go to the battlefield and risk his life against the enemy at any moment.

And as an Uchiha ninja who possessed the Sharingan and had displayed astonishing combat proficiency, no commander would likely overlook him.

In truth, Uchiha Sou had considered whether he should just lay low and refuse to expose his Sharingan.

But after thinking it over, he felt that while doing so might have some benefits—like not easily ending up on Konoha's "blacklist"—the cost would be quite high.

For instance, the clan would likely not invest in training him, let alone protect him.

In that case, he might not even last until he was ten to go to the battlefield; he would probably have become a glorious piece of cannon fodder by the age of six or seven.

After all, not everyone was the chosen one, Uchiha Obito, who could manage to reach the rank of chunin before hitting the battlefield, even as a dead last, and then end up following Namikaze Minato.

Konoha was fighting a war against four nations at once; even if Sunagakure was a bit weak and surrendered quickly, the other fronts were teeming with monsters.

Konoha's ninja were already stretched thin, and on top of that, they had sabotaged themselves by driving the White Fang of the Leaf, Hatake Sakumo, to his death, leaving them with no choice but to try and balance the numbers as best they could.

"You're late, So-kun."

Lost in thought, Uchiha Sou had already arrived at Orochimaru's office, but before he could even speak, a hoarse and low voice rang out.

Following the sound, he saw Orochimaru sitting at his desk.

He had long hair draped over his shoulders, and his sickly pale face wore a faint, elusive smile, while his snake-like eyes emitted an unconcealable, chilling light.

This gaze made Uchiha Sou feel exceptionally uncomfortable, and he didn't feel he was late at all.

However, considering the gap in strength and status between himself and the man before him, he could only bow slightly and say, "My apologies, Lord Orochimaru."

"Be more careful next time; the environment here is far more complex than you imagine."

Orochimaru licked his tongue slightly, then revealed a meaningful smile.

"Especially since you are an Uchiha genius; this is your advantage, but at times, it will also be your disadvantage."

Orochimaru's words left Uchiha Sou not knowing what to say; this guy had a way of speaking where he left half unsaid, leaving the rest for you to figure out on your own.

Although Uchiha Sou could roughly guess that this guy was either talking about the current battle with Kirigakure or the precarious position of the Uchiha in Konoha.

But regardless of which it was, it didn't count as good news for Uchiha Sou.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Uchiha Sou nodded helplessly; there was nothing he could do about Orochimaru speaking in riddles.

"I hope you truly understand, rather than pretending to know when you don't." Orochimaru tapped the desk lightly, his voice hoarse and his gaze fixed on Uchiha Sou, as if confirming something.

This scene made Uchiha Sou even more bewildered; he had been in the Land of Whirlpools for three years and had interacted with Orochimaru many times.

Although every time Orochimaru gave him the feeling of being cryptic and possessed an indescribable, chilling aura, this specific behavior was something he had never seen before.

"Alright, the nonsense is over; let's get down to business." Before he could overthink it, Orochimaru withdrew his gaze and returned to his usual self.

He licked his tongue, casually took out a scroll, and handed it toward Uchiha Sou.

"This is your next mission. It won't be easy, and I certainly don't want a child as excellent as you to not make it back."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru." Uchiha Sou pulled himself together and obediently took the scroll.

He would have to ponder the things he couldn't figure out later, and Uchiha Sou also kept his guard up; after all, such abnormal behavior from Orochimaru surely meant something was afoot.

"This time, you are being integrated into Team 6. They have injured members, and you will be the captain."

After Orochimaru finished giving his orders, he waved his hand directly at Uchiha Sou, signaling that he could leave.

"Go on down and prepare yourself well before you set out."

"Team 6, I understand." Seeing this, Uchiha Sou nodded immediately. "Then I shall take my leave, Lord Orochimaru."

After saying this, he turned and left the office directly, and after he had gone, Orochimaru suddenly raised his head slowly.

"Is this the pride of the Uchiha? Not even willing to ask a single question."

Watching Uchiha Sou's departing figure outside the window, he licked his tongue lightly once more, while on his desk lay a document—a document sent to him by Danzo.

"I hope you truly understand what I mean."

Withdrawing his gaze, Orochimaru looked at the document again. It contained only two points, the most important of which was that his teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was considering candidates for the new Hokage—

"How strange, what was that look on Orochimaru's face?"

After leaving the office, Uchiha Sou headed straight toward the Konoha camp, but as he walked, he pondered Orochimaru's situation.

Although he knew well that the days ahead for Orochimaru would not be easy—for instance, after the war with Kirigakure ended and he returned to Konoha, his experiments would be exposed.

As for who did it, that was a matter of opinion; there was always someone to take the fall, anyway.

And based on the issue of these experiments, the Third Hokage would make the righteous decision to sacrifice his own student, deciding not to let Orochimaru become the Fourth Hokage, thereby allowing Namikaze Minato to ascend to the throne.

This incident also led to a famous quote from Orochimaru in the anime: The Third's original intention was to use Minato as a puppet to control Konoha together.

Then came the passing of Namikaze Minato, the Third Hokage resuming his old post, and Orochimaru, who while pulling off a 6, incidentally exposed himself completely and eventually fled Konoha in disgrace.

However, none of these events had occurred yet, and he had not yet broken ties with Sarutobi Hiruzen, which was precisely why Uchiha Sou could not fathom what exactly this member of the Sannin, Orochimaru, was thinking.

"Forget it, I should go check on the situation with Team 6."

Although Uchiha Sou was preoccupied with his thoughts, he had already arrived within the encampment; what he needed to do now was find Team 6 and issue the orders to prepare for departure.

Come to think of it, Uchiha Sou had never really had any fixed teammates.

The reason was simple: if one were to calculate the time, his first batch of teammates might already be nearly three years old.

This had left him drifting between various squads ever since, filling in wherever someone was needed, and the situation this time was clearly no different.

"But as a mere chunin, what right do I have to be the captain?"

With such thoughts in mind, Uchiha Sou quickly found the camp supervisor and together they located Team 6.

And the moment he saw the members of Team 6, his expression changed instantly, and at the same time, he understood why this captaincy had fallen to him.