Driving Danzo to Rage

"In these eyes, you have no secrets at all," Jin said flatly.

Danzo pointed at Orochimaru with a trembling finger. "Orochimaru, what exactly is the meaning of this?!"

"First, I don't know why Jin is doing this. Second, I mainly brought Jin here so he could learn the way." Orochimaru looked utterly unconcerned. "But it seems you two aren't getting along very pleasantly."

"Uncle Snake, if there's nothing else, let's go back." Jin calmly rose, and facing the furious Danzo, he continued twisting the knife. "Be angry. No matter how angry you get, you still won't obtain these eyes."

"You Uchiha brat!" When had Danzo ever suffered such humiliation? His hands rapidly formed seals as he unleashed a ninjutsu. "Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

Jin stood where he was without the slightest retreat. He drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist and unhurriedly slashed at the vacuum wave. "Lightning Release: Thunder Blade."

Lightning flashed, clinging to the Kusanagi Sword as it met the Wind Release head-on, forcibly cutting Danzo's vacuum wave apart. "Tsk, Lord Danzo, why would you say that?"

"You..." Danzo still wanted to unleash another ninjutsu, but Orochimaru stopped him. "Jin, from now on, we'll still have to rely on Lord Danzo's care quite a bit."

"Oh." Jin flourished the sword and sheathed it. "I'll wait for you outside. This place is too gloomy. It's only fit for rats." After saying that, he smiled at Danzo, then used Flying Thunder God to leave.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Danzo was still furiously questioning Orochimaru.

Orochimaru smiled calmly. "He's the assistant the old man assigned to me. You should go ask the old man."

"Don't forget! The things we do can't be seen by anyone!" Danzo said viciously. "That naturally evil Uchiha brat! He never should have appeared in this world!"

"I know what you want to do." Orochimaru's pupils stared straight at him. "But let me remind you of one thing. Don't let an eagle peck out your eyes."

"Hmph!"

After Orochimaru left, Danzo's mind was filled entirely with Jin... those magnificent Sharingan...

"Someone."

A masked Root member flickered to Danzo's front and knelt on one knee. "Lord Danzo."

"Send someone to watch Uchiha Jin. If he gets a chance to be alone..." Danzo ordered, "then make him disappear from this world."

"Yes!"

"Jin, do you have a grudge against Danzo?" Orochimaru asked curiously.

"I just can't stand the sight of him." Jin gripped the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword (the same model as Uchiha Sasuke's). "As for whether he'll make a move against the Uchiha, I personally think it's only a matter of time."

"Be careful yourself. After all, in Konoha, offending the old man isn't much, but those who offend Danzo haven't lived to tell of it so far," Orochimaru kindly reminded him.

"Let him do as he likes..."

In the blink of an eye, three months passed, and Jin welcomed his seventh winter in Konoha. Jin still studied swordsmanship with Sakumo in the morning and followed Orochimaru for experiments in the afternoon. When he had nothing else to do, he got together with Minato and Fugaku to hang out.

The Anbu side seemed to have gradually forgotten Jin. Aside from clocking in once a week, he had no other missions, and Anbu Squad One seemed to have been out on missions the entire time...

That day, Jin went to Sakumo's home as usual to train his sword forms. In the courtyard, Kakashi, Rin, Obito, Kurenai, and Asuma were all there.

The three boys were sparring off to the side, while the two girls were preparing vegetables nearby. It looked as if they were going to have a meal together in the courtyard.

"Oh? What day is it today? Why are you all gathered together?" Jin hid on the wall and looked curiously at the little ones.

"You came at just the right time, Brother Jin! Let's have a real man's duel!" Guy gave Jin a thumbs-up and grinned.

"Brother Jin!" "Big Brother Jin!"

The others looked at Jin on the wall and greeted him one after another... except Asuma...

"Uh... a duel, huh..." Jin answered while his gaze drifted, seemingly intentionally and unintentionally, toward Kakashi.

Kakashi cursed inwardly: That bastard! Every time he duels me, he uses "One Thousand Years of Death"!!!

"Forget it, next time." Jin shook his head. It seemed there was no time to practice swordsmanship today. He might as well go to Orochimaru's place. "You guys have fun. I'm leaving first."

"Big Brother Jin, aren't you joining our meal?" Rin tried to keep him, and Kurenai also looked at Jin with eager eyes.

With his back to them, Jin raised his hand and waved lightly. "I still have things to do. Definitely next time." After saying that, he vanished in a flash.

"Sigh, Big Brother Jin is getting busier and busier." Rin sighed. "It's hard enough to see him once over these past three months."

"Maybe he has something really important to do," Kurenai said with her head lowered, her two little hands unconsciously plucking at the vegetables... Dad was busy, and Big Brother Jin was busy too... neither of them kept her company...

"Kurenai, why did you even pluck off the vegetable heads..."

Konoha's rear mountain.

For the convenience of research, Orochimaru had simply set up another laboratory base. This time, at Jin's suggestion... the laboratory was finally not so gloomy.

"Summoning Technique!"

Jin swiftly formed seals and pressed one hand to the ground. In an instant, a stone statue of a huge snake head with its mouth open drilled up from underground, and Jin calmly walked into the snake's mouth.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

"Uncle Snake, when will you be done with this human experiment?" Jin leaned beside the experiment table and asked curiously.

Orochimaru held a scalpel, and the mask over his mouth made his voice muffled. "If you don't want to wash your clothes, then I suggest you change into something else."

Jin lowered his head and looked at the white robe he was wearing. Ever since Orochimaru gave him that white robe, he seemed to have suddenly fallen in love with this type of clothing... his wardrobe was almost entirely this style.

It was truly handsome, and truly easy to get dirty...

After digging a new outfit out of Orochimaru's wardrobe, he changed into it with great satisfaction... As for Uncle Snake? He was so rich, couldn't he just buy another one?

Jin idly flipped through all sorts of scrolls off to the side again. There was no other reason... after one experiment, Orochimaru had solemnly said, "If you and Tsunade studied medical ninjutsu, she definitely wouldn't be able to resist beating you to death..."

After that, aside from recording experimental data, Jin's main role was just keeping him company...

"Perhaps we are about to receive a mission," Orochimaru suddenly said. "In a few days, you may have to go out with me."

"Uh..." Jin had no objection to this. It was just that when he thought about how he had gone three months without a mission, he felt somewhat confused. "Uncle Snake, can I ask you something?"

"Mm?" Orochimaru responded while carefully stitching up the body of the corpse on the operating table.

"I haven't received a single mission from the Anbu in these three months. If they didn't still have me clock in every week, I'd have thought I'd been removed from the Anbu." Jin looked helpless.

Only after Orochimaru stitched up the last part did he raise his head and say, "This time, you'll be supporting your teammates, while also taking care of some personal business of mine. As for why they haven't been sending you on missions, first, they were afraid your body hadn't recovered fully. Second, when a squad isn't complete, the person left alone generally won't receive missions."

"Oh~ so that's how it is." Jin suddenly understood. "Then isn't this pretty good? I don't have to do anything all month and can still receive the Anbu's base salary."

"Heh heh," Orochimaru laughed, though his voice sounded somewhat sinister...