It had to be said that when Orochimaru acted normal, he was quite charismatic.
Yuzuru did not know how to judge him.
Calling him a bad person would be premature at this point. He was just a mad scientist bent on immortality.
Besides, the future Orochimaru would contribute to technological progress throughout the Shinobi World.
At that thought, Yuzuru had some new ideas.
"Hmm? Yuzuru, Orochimaru? Why are you two together?"
Just then, Tsunade arrived at the barbecue restaurant and looked at the two of them in surprise.
"We're eating. I just happened to run into Lord Orochimaru."
Yuzuru waved the grilled meat in his hand.
Beside him, Kurenai had already stood up, her eyes full of admiration as she looked at Tsunade.
"Hello, Lady Tsunade! My name is Kurenai Yuhi!"
"Yuhi? Oh, you're Senior Shinku's daughter."
"Yes."
"Since we happened to run into each other, let's eat together."
Tsunade made herself right at home, sitting down beside Orochimaru, snatching the grilled meat from in front of Yuzuru, and digging in.
"Two bottles of sake, too. How can we eat meat without anything to drink?"
"Heh, looks like you've moved on."
Orochimaru looked at her as he spoke.
At those words, Tsunade paused, then continued putting the grilled meat into her mouth.
"Orochimaru, don't make me beat you up while we're eating!"
Orochimaru could only shrug helplessly at that.
"That guy isn't here yet?"
"Isn't that normal for that idiot? He probably didn't go home last night, either."
Orochimaru was not surprised at all.
"By the way, Yuzuru just asked me about Ryūchi Cave. Tsunade, haven't you had him sign the Summoning Contract with Shikkotsu Forest?"
"Not yet. I'd honestly have forgotten if you hadn't mentioned it. I'll take him to sign the contract when we get back later."
Tsunade glanced at Yuzuru before speaking slowly.
"Actually, I wanted to ask whether there are any other sage lands."
Yuzuru voiced his question.
Orochimaru froze for a moment at that, then grew curious himself.
"I really haven't considered that. Yuzuru, you've given me a new direction for my research."
"As far as I know, there probably aren't. Neither my eldest grandfather nor my second grandfather discovered any other sage lands, and even Katsuyu herself has never heard of any others."
Tsunade swallowed the grilled meat in her mouth, took the sake the server brought over, and gulped some down.
"Ah, that hit the spot!"
"But you never know. After all, these sage lands are all in very unusual locations. Although they're all in the Shinobi World, none are native to it. They're a different kind of space. So there might really be some unknown sage lands still hidden away. After all, not every sage land is willing to form contracts with shinobi."
After a few drinks, Tsunade spoke again.
"That's certainly possible."
Orochimaru agreed wholeheartedly with that view. In such a vast Shinobi World, with so many unusual summoning beasts, how could there possibly be only three sage lands?
"What? You want to form a contract with a summoning beast?"
Tsunade glanced at him.
"I've been thinking about it. After all, fights against enemies aren't always fair one-on-one battles. A powerful summoning beast can always be a big help."
Yuzuru nodded.
"Come to my house tonight."
Tsunade wasted no words.
"Okay."
A while later, after eating another six whole plates of grilled meat, Yuzuru was finally satisfied and ready to leave.
Even Tsunade could not help being shocked by his appetite.
"How much did you eat altogether?"
"About fourteen plates of grilled meat."
"Wrong! Sixteen!"
Kurenai immediately crossed her arms to correct him.
At that, Orochimaru looked at Yuzuru with even greater anticipation. Even Tsunade could not resist reaching out, taking Yuzuru's wrist, and examining him for a while.
Just then, Jiraiya arrived at the barbecue restaurant, yawning, and saw the scene as soon as he entered.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on here?"
"What's all the fuss about? I'm examining my student's body."
"Yuzuru's body is quite interesting."
Orochimaru nodded as well.
"If I'm not mistaken, you've already learned those two ninjutsu I gave you, haven't you? You have even more chakra than I did at your age."
Tsunade looked utterly certain.
"Yes."
"Hey, hey, hey, have you come up with another new ninjutsu?"
Jiraiya was now very curious about Yuzuru's ninjutsu, too.
"Do you think I can just create a new ninjutsu whenever I want?"
Yuzuru rolled his eyes.
"Hehe, speaking of which, could you let Minato teach me that Rasengan of yours, too?"
Jiraiya sidled up to Yuzuru and rubbed his hands together with a fawning expression.
"Jiraiya!"
Tsunade immediately slapped the table, frightening Jiraiya into hurriedly sitting down beside Orochimaru. Still, he refused to give up and looked at Yuzuru.
"How about this? I can pay for it. What do you say? Or if there's any ninjutsu you want to learn, I'll definitely teach you, as long as I know it. I could even arrange a contract with Mount Myōboku."
At that, Tsunade's beautiful eyes darted about. "Pay for it? Then..."
"Hey, hey, hey, Sensei, that's my ninjutsu!"
Speechless, Yuzuru rolled his eyes at Tsunade.
"Oh, come on, what's yours is your teacher's, isn't it? Besides, I already gave you two ninjutsu."
Tsunade moved beside Yuzuru and hooked an arm around his neck.
Faced with Tsunade's wickedness, Yuzuru held firm. "That's different. The ninjutsu you gave me are far too ordinary compared with the Rasengan. Besides..."
"The Rasengan can be upgraded. Once upgraded, it'll be at least an S-rank ninjutsu. It has a few flaws, but it's just right for Lord Jiraiya's Sage Mode, and it can unleash even more terrifying power."
Yuzuru whispered the latter half into Tsunade's ear.
At that, Tsunade could no longer sit still. "Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course."
Seeing that Yuzuru's eyes showed no sign of joking, Tsunade was once again shocked by his talent. Then she turned toward Jiraiya and began considering it.
"How much should I ask for? We can't just give him such a powerful ninjutsu for free."
"Jiraiya, to tell you the truth, Yuzuru just told me that the Rasengan has an upgraded version, and it requires Sage Mode. In other words, for you, this is a genuine S-rank ninjutsu."
Tsunade held nothing back and told him the truth outright.
"Not ordinary S-rank. Beyond S-rank."
Yuzuru corrected her.
"Are you telling the truth?"
At that, Jiraiya instantly stood up and looked at Yuzuru solemnly.
"It's still just a theory for now. But I created the Rasengan, so while I can't say my theory is one hundred percent sound, it has at least a ninety-nine percent chance of success."
Yuzuru nodded firmly.
Orochimaru grew interested, too, and looked at Yuzuru. "What a genius you are, Yuzuru. I wonder if you could let me learn about it as well."
"It requires wind-nature chakra, an extremely high degree of nature transformation, and absolutely outstanding control.
"Also, according to my theory, the biggest problem with the upgraded Rasengan is how easily it can hurt the user. Its power is simply too terrifying, with wind's ultimate cutting properties. The solution is to throw it, but ordinary chakra won't work for that, because it rapidly dissipates once it leaves the body. So that's a very troublesome problem."
As he listened, Jiraiya's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
Because he had a way to solve what Yuzuru described as the biggest problem.
Ordinary chakra could not leave the user's body, but senjutsu chakra was different, because natural energy was everywhere.