"What do you know?"
Jingxin's words had stirred Orochimaru's excitement.
First, there was his theory about the Uchiha Clan's bodies, and the cells of Madara Uchiha.
The key was that he had an uncanny grasp of the information about Orochimaru.
Orochimaru hadn't paid much attention to Kintsuchi before.
He'd only had Kabuto Yakushi gather information on him, but they'd gotten very little in return.
Jingxin stood high in the air, deliberately keeping his distance from Orochimaru. "I understand how you feel right now, but please believe me when I say I mean no harm."
"If you're interested, come find me in Iwagakure. Of course... you don't need to bring any 'gifts' that might scare people."
Heh heh heh~
There was no need to make things so complicated.
Orochimaru's expression barely changed, but a sense of danger rose within Jingxin.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
Giant snakes, each as thick as a barrel, suddenly surged out from all directions. Using rocks and trees as footholds, they swarmed toward Jingxin in a flood.
Jingxin's eyes narrowed slightly.
He'd kept a low profile for years and had few accomplishments worth mentioning, so his reputation in the Ninja World was unremarkable.
He hadn't even had much impact on the original story.
That had led Orochimaru to misjudge his strength. In the end, despite being utterly outmatched in intelligence and tempted by the offer, Orochimaru had still decided to attack.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in Jingxin's eye sockets spun rapidly, gradually converging into a simple circular pattern. The Mangekyō Sharingan appeared.
Jingxin drew upon his vast chakra. It gathered outside his body under the power of his Mangekyō, quickly forming a visible white chakra skeleton.
Susanoo, initial form.
The giant snakes snapped their jaws wide and sank their sharp fangs into Susanoo, but they couldn't move it in the slightest.
One second before Jingxin came under attack, Orochimaru had already drawn the Kusanagi Sword, waiting for a chance to strike.
But the next second—
Orochimaru's body suddenly froze. Countless holes appeared across it, and blood poured out.
"What?!" Orochimaru furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth as he glanced toward the harbor, shock flashing in his eyes.
He knew those wounds all too well. They were caused by the snakes from his Summoning Technique.
Orochimaru's body began to soften and collapse. His mouth slowly opened to a bizarre extent, and a pair of hands emerged from within, peeling off the entire "shell."
After using Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique to evade the damage, Orochimaru looked at Jingxin with a hint of wariness.
Those eyes again.
He had to get them!
But now...
His presence had already been sensed by one of his useless disciples.
If a Konoha expert showed up, it wouldn't be easy to leave.
He hadn't expected this guy to be so troublesome. He was clearly no older than Sasuke.
"I'll pay you a visit." Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and sinister, and he sounded somewhat weak.
He'd just wasted some chakra playing house with Team 7, and he'd used Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique twice in quick succession.
After being put in his place first by Itachi Uchiha and now by Kyoshin Uchiha, Orochimaru's desire for Uchiha blood had reached its peak.
He now had two plans in mind.
First: Sasuke Uchiha.
Train him, then take over his body.
Second: Kyoshin Uchiha.
His abilities were strange, and his chakra was every bit as impressive as Orochimaru's.
Orochimaru could only cooperate with him and see if he could use the method Jingxin had mentioned.
A clone...
Madara Uchiha's cells?
That should be a good choice.
But now that the show had begun, it had to go on.
Orochimaru usually trusted only the conclusions he reached in his laboratory. He didn't have much time left, and if he could get Sasuke's body, then of course it would be better to seek out Jingxin afterward.
Kids were the only ones who had to choose~
Orochimaru's body transformed into countless little white snakes, which slipped away into the surroundings in the blink of an eye.
Jingxin dismissed Susanoo and the Mangekyō, put on his mask, and turned to look behind him.
Kankuro instinctively took a step back. Sweat covered his body as he asked Gaara with a tremble, "Do we really not need to run? If he decides to kill us..."
They'd seen everything that had just happened.
Of the three Genin in Konoha's Team 7, Sasuke and Naruto had been remarkably strong. Only the girl had seemed like dead weight.
That strange Grass Ninja's strength was even more unfathomable.
If they went up against Orochimaru, Gaara and the others would be in for a rough time.
And now there was a terrifying man above them who'd easily driven Orochimaru away.
Was this damn thing really the Chunin Ninja Exams?
Temari watched Jingxin warily. She agreed with Kankuro, but Gaara was the one leading their team.
Gaara was in an excellent mood. After Shukaku's voice disappeared from his ears, he'd found that he could control his temper a little better, too.
For instance, he hadn't told his brother and sister to shut up just now.
Gaara stared straight at Jingxin and asked, "Should I call you Kyoshin Uchiha or Kintsuchi?"
Kankuro immediately sensed a faint trace of killing intent. After hiding his identity for so many years, Jingxin had instinctively reacted to a stranger calling him by his real name.
"Of... of course..." Kankuro stammered. "Of course he's Kintsuchi, unless we want to die."
He looked up at Jingxin. "Believe me, we didn't see a thing."
Believe you?
I wasn't sure I could.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan slowly turned beneath the mask. A genjutsu took effect.
Kankuro and Temari's expressions went blank as their "memories" of recent events were altered.
Jingxin knew these people would all be redeemed later on, but for now, he was only willing to show sincerity to those worth recruiting.
"This is because of the scroll." Jingxin slowly descended from the sky, chakra glowing at his fingertips.
Gaara could clearly sense the sealing power there.
Jingxin reinforced the seal on Shukaku, and Gaara asked in a daze, "Why help me?"
"You'll find out soon enough. In three or four years at most." Jingxin's voice was calm. He didn't seem so difficult to get along with, after all.
"Though Iwagakure and Sunagakure have had conflicts in the past, we've also worked together."
"Still, given that we're both in similarly difficult positions, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to each other."
Gaara would become the Kazekage in the future. Helping him was as good as securing a friendlier, more conciliatory attitude from Sunagakure toward Iwagakure.
Besides, Sunagakure would ally with Konoha, and they'd eventually find an effective way to control Shukaku, even if Konoha took the opportunity to squeeze them for concessions...
As for Jingxin, reinforcing Gaara's seal was just a small favor.
It wouldn't stop Gaara from losing control during the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams, nor interfere with Iwagakure's plans. It could also earn him some goodwill.
Why not?
"Th... thank you," Gaara said, clearly unaccustomed to it. "Kintsuchi, believe me. I won't reveal anything about you."
Perhaps he wasn't used to interacting with people like this. Gaara's expression even seemed a little "shy," and his dark circles drifted about uncertainly.
Hahaha~
What an adorable little tanuki.
Jingxin patted him on the shoulder. "The future relationship between our two sides will depend on you. Goodbye."
Then Jingxin flew toward the Central Tower.
Meanwhile,
inside Gaara's sealed space,
a tanuki, so overwhelmed by the weight of the chakra that it could barely breathe, said, "..."
Before you continue