Simple Means

"Are we going to kill Nawaki Senju?"

Kawadera Uchiha wanted to urge Shiro Uchiha to stay calm and not rush to his death.

On second thought, that didn't fit his persona, so he quickly said:

"That's great! Senior, just make the arrangements! I've been wanting to pull off something big for a long time!

My death will surely make the Uchiha Clan even greater!"

"Well said!" Shiro Uchiha replied. "As expected of the junior Ishiya had his eye on!

The difficulty of this mission is far beyond what you can imagine. Your strength is too weak; the true experts of the clan will kill Nawaki Senju themselves.

You don't need to worry about anything else. Aren't you protecting Nawaki Senju in Seigetsu Senju's squad? You just need to confirm Nawaki Senju's final location and direction of travel."

Hearing that he wasn't being asked to do the deed himself, Kawadera Uchiha felt a sense of loss of control.

"No problem, I will definitely complete the mission perfectly!"

After sending Shiro Uchiha away, Kawadera Uchiha frowned; he had underestimated the lunatics of the Uchiha Clan.

Nawaki Senju died by explosive tags, so having him scout the route meant they were likely preparing to set an explosive tag trap.

The Uchiha Clan excelled at Fire Release, and many Uchiha ninja proficient in sealing techniques could craft their own explosive tags.

Explosive tags were one of the Uchiha Clan's trademarks.

The quality of the Uchiha Clan's explosive tags was far superior to those of the Sarutobi Clan, and they were renowned throughout Konoha.

Kawadera Uchiha also knew how to make explosive tags; he was quite skilled with Fire Release chakra and the Fire Sealing Method, and at this moment, he had over a dozen explosive tags in his ninja tool pouch.

Shiro Uchiha was a formidable jonin, but could he really handle Orochimaru?

Both Shiro Uchiha and Orochimaru were jonin, simply because the highest rank in Konoha's ninja rating system was jonin.

The gap between one jonin and another was sometimes greater than the gap between a jonin and a genin.

He wondered what other cards Shiro Uchiha had up his sleeve.

The next day, Seigetsu Senju found the rest of the squad.

"Nawaki is leaving the main camp tomorrow to carry out a reconnaissance mission, so let's stay sharp.

Our long period of reconnaissance might finally yield a result during this operation."

Kawadera Uchiha thought to himself that Shiro Uchiha's intelligence was even more up-to-date than Seigetsu Senju's. It seemed Shiro Uchiha really had something going for him.

Another day passed, and the Orochimaru Squad stood at the camp gate.

Nawaki Senju was in high spirits: "Teacher is too busy as deputy commander to have time to take us on combat missions! Training hard every day is too comfortable; where is the urgency of the battlefield?"

Orochimaru glanced at the wall to the right of the gate, sensing the Seigetsu Senju squad behind it, a look of disdain flashing in his eyes.

Unnecessary.

Orochimaru lowered his head and said to Nawaki with a smile: "Nawaki, after you turn 15, I will teach you how to use your brain to contribute to the village.

A Konoha ninja doesn't just execute combat missions for the village; they must also know how to handle complex affairs and deal with the intricacies of the human heart."

Behind the wall, Kawadera Uchiha stared at Orochimaru's lip movements, trying to guess what he was saying.

He hadn't expected Orochimaru to have such a tender side at this time.

At this point, Orochimaru had not yet turned to darkness and was patiently teaching Nawaki Senju.

Kawadera Uchiha stared into Orochimaru's eyes; Orochimaru possessed vertical pupils just like a snake.

Snakes were nearsighted, and the special structure of those vertical pupils determined that their vision was quite average.

When Orochimaru destroyed Konoha, he said he liked things that moved and found stationary things boring. Perhaps this preference was determined by his snake-like vertical pupils.

In the original story, Orochimaru was obsessed with the Sharingan; perhaps it was because his vision was like a snake's, and after witnessing the power of the Sharingan, he desperately wanted a pair of special eyes.

Besides his eyes, what did Orochimaru rely on to sense things?

As a successor of Ryūchi Cave within Konoha, Orochimaru had long since undergone body modifications. According to Seigetsu Senju, Orochimaru had displayed the ability to soften his body.

In other words, Orochimaru at this time was somewhat like a snake.

Snakes had three ways of sensing.

One was olfactory sensing, using a forked tongue to detect scent molecules to judge the direction and distance of prey.

One was infrared thermal sensing; some snakes had pit organs that could sense minute temperature differences and receive infrared radiation.

And there was vibration sensing, using a highly developed inner ear to detect vibrations transmitted by moving prey.

He couldn't get his hands on Orochimaru's intelligence, so he could only guess blindly that Orochimaru might have combined chakra and scent sensing, infrared thermal sensing, and vibration sensing into a unique sensory ability.

Orochimaru protected his intelligence very well; no one knew what his sensory technique was.

Following this line of thought, if an enemy hid near a trap early on and remained perfectly still, the vibration sensing would be ineffective.

If... if the enemy could hide their own scent and block their infrared heat?

Kawadera Uchiha glanced at Kureya Inuzuka; with her and the ninja dog Akamaru around, it would be very difficult for an assassin to evade both the snake-like scent sensing and the ninja dog's sense of smell simultaneously.

According to Kawadera Uchiha's wild guess, only infrared thermal sensing remained.

The Orochimaru Squad set out, departing from the main camp.

Kawadera Uchiha left behind a special secret code, marking the direction of Nawaki Senju to help Shiro Uchiha finalize his schemes and plans.

Nawaki Senju possessed the same traits as other Senju ninja, preferring to charge at the very front.

The squad's formation was a strange diamond shape; Nawaki Senju was the sharp arrowhead, two teammates were on the flanks, and Orochimaru brought up the rear.

During their first encounter, Kawadera Uchiha became instantly tense.

However, relying on his formidable strength, Nawaki Senju defeated the Cloud Ninja squad.

Orochimaru remained silent throughout, observing Nawaki's judgment and responses.

Vigorous energy, an astonishing amount of chakra, solid taijutsu, and Earth Release ninjutsu with precise timing allowed Nawaki Senju to handle the battle with ease.

This level of strength should absolutely not have been easily killed by an explosive tag.

Several hours later, Nawaki Senju encountered a second battle.

This time the enemy was somewhat tricky, led by a jonin.

Orochimaru used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of Nawaki.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Kawadera Uchiha was suddenly shocked; he seemed to have seen this scene in the original work!

He hurriedly activated his Sharingan and looked ahead.

In the forest ahead, there was a cliff face; the rock wall was ordinary, looking just like any other scenery in the forest.

The Hidden Shadow Snake Hands killed the Cloud Ninja jonin, and Nawaki Senju, leading his two teammates, quickly passed Orochimaru and rushed toward that cliff.

Orochimaru was still feeling pleased, his face full of admiration as he discovered that Nawaki's Body Flicker Technique had become even faster.

In the sea of consciousness, Kawadera Uchiha blurted out:

"It's here! Lord Second! In the future I saw, this is exactly where Nawaki Senju dies!"

Unable to care about hiding his presence anymore, Kawadera Uchiha leaped down from the tree canopy.

Orochimaru turned his head, looking extremely displeased.

He had already said not to reveal their identities in front of Nawaki, so why wouldn't this person listen?

You pieces of trash will only become a burden to Nawaki.

Nawaki Senju arrived at the base of the cliff, pursuing a Cloud Ninja chunin.

The Cloud Ninja chunin dodged to the side, revealing a strange stone behind him.

No!

It wasn't a stone; it was a person wearing a mask, draped in a strange cloak.

Kawadera Uchiha was still in mid-air, seeing far, and he also saw the cloak disguised as a stone.

An infrared-blocking aluminum foil cloak!

No chakra-concealing method could evade Orochimaru's perception.

The assassin had specifically designed a countermeasure for Orochimaru: a simple aluminum foil cloak that could insulate against infrared rays!

Nawaki Senju, not knowing what technique he had been hit with, froze in place, allowing six explosive tags to detonate at his feet.

If he had possessed basic reaction skills, he would have already leaped away the moment those six explosive tags began to burn.

In the sea of consciousness, Tobirama Senju, just like Kawadera Uchiha high in the air, witnessed this scene.

Orochimaru was completely unaware, and Nawaki had no reaction!

Half a second later, the moment the explosive tags detonated, Nawaki would surely die!