Women Fighting Is So Exciting-Maki

The 108 heroes in Water Margin might have looked like righteous men fighting for justice, but from another angle, many of them were scum.

Toji bore no special fondness for Ryūchi Cave just because of Orochimaru.

Ryūchi Cave had long served as part of the Shinobi World's backdrop under the name of a sacred land. But from a human perspective, it was a den of man-eating monsters.

Even setting aside ninja beasts like Manda, who looked like bad news, the beautiful Snake Princesses who had cultivated human forms ate people too.

They literally ate people. Not just men.

That meant they cared nothing for human conflicts and had no fixed moral allegiance.

If Mount Myōboku represented good and Shikkotsu Forest represented neutrality, then Ryūchi Cave represented chaotic evil.

For Toji, chaotic evil was a good thing.

It meant he could negotiate with the Snake Princesses and gain their support without worrying about what he might reveal.

If necessary, he could be more direct and send Ryūchi Cave sacrifices.

What kind of sacrifices? Whatever they liked to eat, Toji would send them.

The Four Great Ninja Villages had grown a little too urbanized, with too many people. Toji could help them solve that problem.

Orochimaru, meanwhile, knew he could not travel frequently between Konoha and the sacred land without triggering the village's barrier. So he had reported his ties to Ryūchi Cave to Toji himself.

At the time, Toji had been remarkably generous about it—so generous that he had not pressed for details at all.

He had saved that for later.

And later was now!

With that in mind, Toji left the Hokage Building early.

Drawing on experience, he waited along Orochimaru's usual route.

Orochimaru had intercepted Minato on his way home from school; Toji intercepted Orochimaru on his way home.