Just Got the Contract, and Already Being Treated as a Sacrifice?

Qian Ye dragged his leaden legs up to the top floor of the command tower, one step at a time.

He pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Orochimaru stood with his back to him before a massive sand table.

He held several small red flags representing Sunagakure's forces, pulling them from the sand table one by one and tossing them into the wastebasket beside him.

Hearing the door open, Orochimaru turned around, undisguised delight glinting in his golden slit pupils.

"Good work."

Qian Ye collapsed into a nearby chair, not even bothering to stand and salute.

The weakness from chakra exhaustion left him unwilling to move even a finger.

"Sensei, before you praise me, can we settle a score first?"

Qian Ye panted heavily, his tone full of grievance.

Orochimaru casually tossed away the last red flag and brushed the sand from his hands.

"What score?"

Qian Ye slapped the chair's armrest.

"You had me act as bait and lure Pakura to the mouth of the canyon. Fine."

"You had the Barrier Team set up the Four Violet Flame Formation and cut off Sunagakure's assault force's retreat. That tactic was perfect too."

"But!"

Qian Ye emphasized the word, glaring at Orochimaru.

"You didn't tell me that I'd be inside when the barrier went up too!"

"The Four Violet Flame Formation! That thing turns people to ash if they touch it. I didn't even have anywhere to run!"

"You locked the bait and the prey in the same cage. Were you planning to wipe us all out in one go?!"

Orochimaru walked behind his desk and sat down, clasping his hands beneath his chin.

"Didn't I tell you?"

Orochimaru's tone was extremely casual, even carrying a hint of innocence.

Qian Ye nearly spat blood.

"You absolutely did not!"

Orochimaru chuckled softly.

"Perhaps I forgot."

Qian Ye leaned against the back of the chair and rolled his eyes hard.

Forgot?

Who was he trying to fool?

This black-hearted Snake Uncle had definitely done it on purpose.

Watching Qian Ye get stumped put Orochimaru in an excellent mood.

"Aren't you sitting here alive and well now?"

"That was luck!" Qian Ye snapped back irritably. "If that crazy woman Pakura hadn't suffered chakra backlash and collapsed first, I'd be ashes by now!"

Orochimaru shook his head.

"Luck is also part of one's strength."

"Besides, the ANBU have already reported everything that happened inside the barrier to me."

Orochimaru leaned forward, his gaze settling on Qian Ye.

"You used water-nature chakra in conjunction with wind nature to forcibly help her establish an internal cooling cycle and suppress the backlash from Scorch Release."

"That level of precise chakra control completely exceeded the limits of a newly graduated Genin."

"Qian Ye, you are even more outstanding than I imagined."

The praise made Qian Ye a little uncomfortable, and he quickly waved his hands.

"A blind cat catching a dead mouse, that's all."

"If I hadn't saved her then, once the fire nature inside her completely ran wild, everyone in that barrier would have been buried with her."

Orochimaru leaned back in his chair.

"A Bloodline Limit like Scorch Release, a combination of wind and fire, is inherently extremely unstable."

"In her pursuit of you, Pakura forcibly overextended her chakra and disrupted the balance within her body. The backlash was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Not only did you survive, you also turned Sunagakure's trump card into Hidden Leaf's prisoner."

Orochimaru paused, his tone gaining a touch of teasing.

"And, incidentally, you gained the entire army's admiration."

"Out in the wounded soldiers' camp, they've been telling your story with Pakura in vivid detail."

Qian Ye's face turned green.

"Sensei, please stop using this to tease me."

"When I came up just now, the way those people looked at me was already weird!"

"My life is ruined by rumors!"

Orochimaru smiled noncommittally and pulled open a drawer.

"All right, I'll stop teasing you."

"Since you completed the mission, I will naturally fulfill my promise."

Orochimaru took a massive scroll from the drawer.

The scroll was nearly as tall as half a person, its edges wrapped in dark golden metal, with a large character for "Snake" written across its surface.

Orochimaru lifted the scroll one-handed and tossed it directly at Qian Ye.

Qian Ye hurriedly stretched out both hands to catch it.

It landed with a muffled thud.

The scroll crashed into his arms, absurdly heavy, nearly toppling him and his chair over.

"This is..." Qian Ye steadied himself, his eyes lighting up.

"The Summoning Contract of Dragon's Lair."

Orochimaru rose to his feet, walked around the desk, and stopped in front of Qian Ye.

"Open it."

Qian Ye eagerly untied the scroll's binding and spread it out across the floor.

The scroll was densely covered in intricate black curse marks.

At the very end of the markings, several names had been written in blood.

Qian Ye spotted the name "Orochimaru" at a glance. The handwriting was wild and arrogant, carrying a cold, sinister air.

Qian Ye pulled a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and, without hesitation, sliced open his thumb.

Just as he was about to press his blood onto the scroll, Orochimaru grabbed his wrist.

"What's the rush?"

Orochimaru was incredibly strong, and Qian Ye could not break free at all.

"Sensei, are you going back on your word?" Qian Ye looked up at him.

Orochimaru released his hand.

"Signing your name is easy."

"But Dragon's Lair's rules are not so simple. Leaving your name on the scroll does not mean you can casually order around the snakes there."

Orochimaru pointed at the names on the scroll.

"Among the Three Great Sage Regions, the toads of Mount Myōboku value fate, while the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest are mild-tempered."

"Only Dragon's Lair..."

Orochimaru lowered his voice.

"The snakes there recognize only strength and sacrifices."

"With your current chakra reserves, even if you sign the contract, at most you can summon a few little green snakes for scouting."

"If your luck is bad and you summon a large one with a foul temper, your meager chakra will not even be enough to fill the gaps between its teeth. It will swallow you whole."

Qian Ye swallowed.

Of course he knew how difficult those lords of Dragon's Lair were to please.

In the original story, Manda demanded a hundred living people as sacrifices every time it appeared, and even Orochimaru found it troublesome.

"Then what do you mean?" Qian Ye drew back his bleeding thumb.

"No time like the present."

Orochimaru swiftly formed hand seals.

"I'll personally take you to Dragon's Lair."

"To meet the White Snake Sage."

Qian Ye froze.

"Now?"

"Shouldn't we report to the front lines first?"

After completing the final seal, Orochimaru slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Sunagakure's assault force has already been crippled. Pakura is in our hands, and Rasa has led his people back to the outskirts of Kikyo Pass."

"For the time being, they cannot even reorganize their formation, much less launch another attack."

"With Chōza and the others holding the front line, nothing will go wrong."

A ring of dense black curse marks lit up across the ground beneath Orochimaru's feet.

The markings rapidly spread, enveloping Qian Ye along with the chair he was sitting on.

"Are you ready?"

Orochimaru looked at Qian Ye.

Qian Ye hurriedly rolled up the scroll and hugged it to his chest, taking a deep breath.

"I'm ready."

Bang!

A massive cloud of white smoke erupted across the top floor of the command tower.

Qian Ye felt an intense sensation of weightlessness as the scene before his eyes instantly distorted.

The surrounding air became extremely damp and cold, filling his nostrils with a heavy earthy stench and the peculiar reek of some reptile.

The feeling of weightlessness vanished quickly.

Qian Ye, chair and all, slammed heavily onto hard ground.

Everything around him was pitch-black.

He could not see his hand in front of his face.

Qian Ye quickly rose from the chair, his hand instinctively reaching for the revolver at his waist.

"Sensei?"

Qian Ye called out tentatively.

There was no response.

Orochimaru was not beside him.

The Reverse Summoning Technique had actually separated the two of them?

Qian Ye warily turned his head, trying to find a source of light in the darkness.

Suddenly.

An extremely faint scraping sound came from above him.

It was like something enormous was slowly sliding along a rock wall.

Every hair on Qian Ye's body stood on end.

He abruptly looked up.

In the darkness, two scarlet lights, each as large as lanterns, lit up without warning.

They were not lanterns at all.

They were two enormous slit pupils.

The pupils were less than five meters above Qian Ye's head, their icy gaze locked tightly onto him.

A suffocating pressure descended upon him.

Qian Ye could even feel the damp, cold air exhaled by the creature striking his face.

Then.

A huge, blood-filled mouth slowly opened in the darkness, revealing two rows of ghastly white fangs.

A forked scarlet tongue slid out between those fangs, nearly licking the tip of Qian Ye's nose.

An incredibly hoarse voice, like two rough stones grinding together, exploded beside Qian Ye's ear.

"That brat Orochimaru..."

"Why is the snack he sent this time so skinny?"