"?"
Beneath his mask, Zou Hyuga gave a soft murmur of surprise.
Orochimaru's behavior had overturned his established impression of the man.
In his mind, Orochimaru had always been a cold-faced boss. Aside from sinister chuckles, most of what came out of his mouth was philosophical wisdom, the kind that saw through worldly attachments and illusions.
Otherwise, he could never have talked so many people into becoming his utterly devoted subordinates.
Even after Orochimaru's death, someone like Kabuto had carried on his will.
More importantly, Orochimaru, who could establish bases all across the shinobi world and even found a shinobi village single-handedly, had actually asked him to put this on credit.
After a long silence, Zou Hyuga finally said, "If you don't have cash on you, ninjutsu manuals, tools, or puppets will do. But no credit."
Those words instantly eased the tense atmosphere.
Orochimaru's gaze wandered between Hiruko and Sasori. He couldn't be the one paying for this. At least, he shouldn't be. He was merely an innocent bystander.
After Orochimaru had stared at him for a long while, Hiruko finally said to Zou Hyuga, "I have a secret technique for modifying summoning beasts. It qualifies as a forbidden technique, though I don't know how much it's worth..."
Orochimaru's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly signaled Hiruko to stop talking.
He had been coveting Hiruko's techniques for merging and modifying summoning beasts himself. They could offer him new ideas.
Biting his finger, Orochimaru retrieved a Storage Scroll from inside a viper and tossed it forward. "There's chakra metal in here. It conducts chakra exceptionally well and is worth around seven million..."
Zou Hyuga caught the scroll and opened it immediately. After examining its contents, he confirmed that it was indeed chakra metal.
This kind of metal counted as a strategic