The Fool!!!?
When he heard the codename The Fool from Orochimaru, Hyuga Lan's heart skipped a beat. He thought he'd been exposed and nearly used the Tenseigan's power to launch a surprise attack on Orochimaru.
But after thinking it over, something didn't add up. When he'd been posing as The Fool, he'd never met Orochimaru—not even once. No matter how resourceful the man was, there was no way he could have guessed Lan's identity outright.
So Orochimaru had probably heard the name The Fool somewhere else. And the people Lan had mainly crossed paths with while disguised as The Fool were members of the Akatsuki. It seemed Orochimaru had joined them.
The Akatsuki were currently searching the world for him, which was why Orochimaru had come looking for him.
Once he'd figured it out, Lan breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he'd been through enough lately to gradually develop a calm, unflappable attitude. Otherwise, he might have let something slip in front of Orochimaru.
Still, the fact that he'd been lost in thought for so long aroused Orochimaru's suspicion.
"What is it? Have you heard that name before?"
Lan knew he had to explain himself, or the suspicious Orochimaru would surely start to suspect something.
"No, not at all. I just don't understand why you want me to investigate someone.
Right now, I'm just an ordinary member of the Hyuga Branch Family, with no forces of my own. I'm hardly the right person to help you track someone down."
Hearing Lan's explanation, Orochimaru realized he'd misunderstood him, so he explained,
"I'm not asking you to investigate him right away. You can first find a way to get into Konoha's Anbu. Then you can use its resources to help me look for him."
Join Anbu?
So that was what he was after.
When it came to the most well-informed forces in the Ninja World, the Anbu of the Five Great Shinobi Villages were undoubtedly at the top.
As the five great villages that controlled the Ninja World, they had the Anbu investigate every disturbance, no matter how small.
Finding someone in the vast sea of humanity was next to impossible. But with help from the Anbu of the strongest shinobi village in the Ninja World, there might be a chance of uncovering The Fool's identity.
After joining the Akatsuki, Orochimaru had received an assignment from its leader: find The Fool.
For Pain, who possessed the Rinnegan and called himself a god, to take The Fool so seriously, the person behind that codename had to be extraordinary.
Orochimaru's reasons for joining the Akatsuki were far from sincere. When Pain had tried to recruit him, Orochimaru had dared to attack him outright, attempting to seize his Rinnegan.
But after Pain struck back and Orochimaru witnessed the Rinnegan's terrifying power, he realized he had no chance of defeating Pain and taking the Sage's Eye anytime soon. So he immediately declared that he wanted to join the Akatsuki.
And because Pain was confident that the Rinnegan's power would let him subdue Orochimaru with ease, he really did let him join.
After joining the Akatsuki, however, Orochimaru realized the organization's true ambitions were astonishing. Its members were all powerful missing-nin, and its leader possessed the legendary Sage's Eye, the Rinnegan.
But none of that mattered to him. He only wanted to obtain the Rinnegan, said to have belonged to the legendary Sage of Six Paths, and use it to glimpse the ultimate secrets of the Ninja World.
Pain, the Rinnegan's owner, was simply too powerful. Orochimaru had no chance against him on his own. So when he learned Pain was searching desperately for someone called The Fool, he realized his opportunity had come.
If he could find The Fool before the rest of the organization and join forces with him against Pain, he might have a chance to obtain the Sage's Eye, the Rinnegan.
But finding The Fool on his own was unrealistic, so he set his sights on Konoha's Anbu. When he'd been part of Konoha's High Command, he'd been able to use Anbu to look up any information he wanted. He sorely missed that convenience.
But with the High Command led by the Third Hokage having purged the village, hardly any of Orochimaru's forces remained. As for Anbu, he had virtually none left.
Just as Orochimaru was at a loss, one of his spies in the village informed him that Hyuga Lan had returned safely. So he decided to make Lan part of his plan.
He hoped to get Lan into Anbu and quickly promote him to a leadership position, then use its resources to uncover The Fool's identity.
Strictly speaking, the plan had no flaws. The only problem was that The Fool himself was standing right in front of Orochimaru, listening to his plans.
Orochimaru had picked the right person. In the entire Ninja World, Hyuga Lan could proudly say that no one understood The Fool better than he did.
Now that he knew the whole story, Lan couldn't help but marvel at what a small world the Ninja World was. Somehow, he'd stumbled right into the middle of something like this.
Still, Orochimaru's arrival had served as a warning. The Akatsuki probably weren't the only ones investigating his identity as The Fool. The Anbu of other villages might have caught wind of him as well. Perhaps even his own village had noticed something by now.
Lan hadn't been interested in joining Konoha's Anbu before. But Orochimaru's suggestion made him realize how useful it would be if he could gain control of its forces.
At the very least, he could get advance warning about certain information and take precautions, preventing himself from revealing his identity through carelessness.
After thinking it over, Lan decided that following Orochimaru's advice and finding a way into Anbu was a viable option.
But he wasn't the same as before. With the Tenseigan, his strength had undergone a complete transformation.
And now that Orochimaru had defected, they were no longer in a superior-subordinate relationship. If Orochimaru wanted his help, he'd have to pay something in return, wouldn't he?
After watching Lan ponder for a while, Orochimaru realized that since he hadn't refused outright, he was tempted by the offer. He was just weighing his options and hoping to ask for a few benefits in advance.
The brat was getting more and more annoying by the minute. He was no longer as likable as before, now that he wouldn't lift a finger without getting something in return.
If Orochimaru hadn't been short on other suitable candidates, he wouldn't have let Lan get away with treating him this way.
But for now, he had to placate Lan and get him to work for him.
"Tell me, what do you want from me..."
Lan coveted the few forbidden ninjutsu Orochimaru possessed, but he knew that even if he asked, Orochimaru wouldn't really agree to hand them over. So instead, he asked Orochimaru for technical materials on genetic modification, artificial embryos, and cultivation.
Hearing what Lan wanted, Orochimaru was taken aback. He wondered what Lan wanted to do with all that.
Was he planning to create his own summoning beast?