Lying in a three-hundred-square-meter wooden villa that had taken only three minutes to build, Naoki Senju suffered a rare bout of insomnia. It was hard to imagine that, in an age without phones, games, or Wi-Fi, he had stayed up all night without feeling the slightest bit sleepy.
If Tsunade had actually agreed to Naoki Senju's request, a sleepless night would have been perfectly normal. But right now, Tsunade was sleeping next door with Shizune. What a loss.
The more Naoki Senju thought about how much he was missing out, the harder it became to sleep. As he tossed and turned, a knock sounded at the door.
Knock, knock, knock~
The dull knocking sounded particularly jarring in the silent night. After the hurried knocks, silence fell outside.
Sister Tsunade? No, she usually wouldn't knock. Shizune? No, Shizune wouldn't just knock without saying anything.
Naoki Senju immediately grew alert. He approached Tsunade and Shizune's room with light, slow steps, his hands beginning to form hand seals.
"Lord Naoki, Lord Orochimaru requests your presence."
A low male voice came from outside the room. At the same time, the wooden sliding door slowly opened. Round glasses identical to those worn by that death-bringing elementary schooler reflected a dazzling white gleam in the moonlight.
Kabuto Yakushi!
Naoki Senju's gaze sharpened as he took a long look at this veteran schemer, who had lain low all the way through the Fourth Shinobi World War, single-handedly changed the course of the war, and ultimately gotten away unscathed.
Though at present, he was merely one of Orochimaru's more capable assistants.
Naoki Senju's gaze seemed to see straight into his heart. Kabuto Yakushi involuntarily took a step back, then moved aside and gestured. "Lord Naoki, please."
Naoki Senju ignored Kabuto Yakushi completely and headed straight for Tsunade's room next door.
Kabuto Yakushi could not help reminding him, "Lord Naoki, Lord Orochimaru instructed that you come alone this time."
Naoki Senju turned and gave Kabuto Yakushi an indifferent glance. A chilling killing intent, still somewhat immature but already showing its edge, rose from him, forcing Kabuto Yakushi several steps back.
"Are you telling me what to do?"
Kabuto Yakushi steadied himself again, but this time he had learned his lesson and chose to keep his mouth shut.
"Hmph!" Naoki Senju snorted coldly, then slid open the door to Tsunade's room, stepped inside, and closed it behind him.
Inside, Tsunade and Shizune were both awake, though their clothes were still slightly disheveled. Naoki Senju's earlier burst of killing intent had been meant both to put Kabuto Yakushi in his place and to alert Tsunade and Shizune in their room. It seemed to have worked quite well on both counts.
"Sister Tsunade, what's Orochimaru trying to do this time? Test our relationship? Surely he wouldn't test us so blatantly."
Tsunade sat cross-legged, propping her chin on her right hand. After considering the matter quite seriously for a moment, she answered with certainty:
"Knowing Orochimaru, probably not. Outsiders may see him as ruthless and heartless, a Cold-Blooded executioner who's killed countless people, but his actual personality isn't that different from Jiraiya's. He's not as sinister as you think. Still, that was all many years ago. We'd better be careful."
Naoki Senju nodded thoughtfully. Although Orochimaru leaned somewhat toward lawful evil, he was still fundamentally in the lawful camp. His attitude toward his student Anko offered some indication of that. Orochimaru had not fallen completely.
"I'll be going, then. Go back to sleep, Sister Tsunade."
Naoki Senju pulled the door shut and gave Kabuto Yakushi, who was waiting outside, an icy glance. Kabuto Yakushi immediately took the hint and led the way.
After Naoki Senju left, how could Tsunade and Shizune possibly sleep easy? Once they had settled Tonton, the two followed at a moderate distance so they could respond to any sudden developments.
After Kabuto Yakushi led Naoki Senju over a barren mountain, the view ahead suddenly opened up. In this valley surrounded by mountains on all sides, Orochimaru had already transformed the level ground in the middle into a sizable ninjutsu training ground. Traces of Earth Release ninjutsu still remained around it.
Orochimaru stood in the center of the training ground, his back turned impressively toward Naoki Senju as he awaited his arrival.
"Lord Naoki, please."
His task complete, Kabuto Yakushi bounded swiftly out of the training ground, as though afraid to stay even a second longer.
Naoki Senju also walked to the center of the training ground, and Orochimaru slowly turned to face him. His deathly white skin looked even paler in the moonlight, while the purple eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes seemed to come alive, twisting and roaming eerily.
"Naoki Senju. Your name reminds me of someone else."
Reminiscence appeared in Orochimaru's eyes, along with a trace of regret. It went without saying who could have left such a deep impression on him.
At the same time, Naoki Senju understood why Orochimaru had instructed Kabuto Yakushi to bring him alone.
"Senju Nawaki."
"You know?" This time, it was Orochimaru's turn to be surprised. Then something occurred to him, and he murmured, "To think Tsunade even told you about Nawaki..."
After carefully examining Naoki Senju once more, Orochimaru nodded in satisfaction. His mouth suddenly opened to a horrifying angle, and he spat out a scroll over a meter tall.
When Orochimaru looked at Naoki Senju again, he discovered that Naoki Senju had moved several meters away at some point.
"These are the Wood Release ninjutsu and secret techniques I once compiled and researched. Now, I suppose they're returning to their rightful owner. But I have one condition."
"What condition?" Naoki Senju pressed. Although Orochimaru had made the Wood Release scroll utterly disgusting, it would still be usable after a wash. There was no shame in learning ninjutsu.
Orochimaru swallowed the Wood Release scroll back into his belly, little by little. Who knew how such a slender throat could swallow such a thick ninjutsu scroll? As his thoughts wandered, Naoki Senju abruptly crushed the bold idea in his mind.
"Each time you manage to kill me, you can learn one Wood Release ninjutsu. Only by defeating me completely can you claim the ninjutsu scroll. What do you say?" Orochimaru regarded Naoki Senju playfully, anticipating his reaction.
But in the next instant, a kunai coated in deadly poison pierced Orochimaru's heart without warning. Having landed the blow, Naoki Senju did not linger over his success in the slightest and swiftly withdrew far away.
Struck by the poisoned kunai, Orochimaru crashed heavily to the ground, all signs of life gone. Then the "Orochimaru" lying on the ground split down the middle. Like a snake shedding its skin, a new Orochimaru crawled out of the old shell, unidentified white slime still clinging to his body.
The Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique required no hand seals. It was that slippery snake Orochimaru's signature ninjutsu, capable of evading most ninjutsu, even the never-extinguishing black flames-Amaterasu. Its drawback was the enormous amount of chakra it consumed, but the technique's creator, Orochimaru, was exempt from that.
Orochimaru's long, scarlet tongue writhed freely in the air, his eyes filled with excitement and appreciation. He praised him without reservation:
"That was very good. That counts as one ninjutsu. Still, I hope you can keep performing this well."