"Root again! Damn that Danzo!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, her little fists creaking as she clenched them. At first, she had even spoken up for Konoha, thinking this was a misunderstanding. After all, it was the other four great shinobi villages that had direct conflicts with the Senju Clan. How could Konoha, founded by the Senju Clan, turn against them?
But Tsunade had still underestimated how power corrupted people's hearts. There was nothing they would not do to secure their own power and interests. Konoha was now rotten through and through...
Orochimaru's snake eyes shifted, but he found none of the anger he had expected on Naoki Senju's face. Instead, Naoki was unusually calm.
"How interesting~"
"Have you examined his memories?" Naoki Senju's expression was calm, like the calm before a storm.
Orochimaru extended his long, crimson tongue, licked around his lips, and answered:
"Unfortunately, only the Yamanaka Clan can directly probe memories and minds at present. If we use genjutsu, the Cursed Seal of the Tongue will restrict him."
"What about writing it down?"
"That won't work either. The Cursed Seal of the Tongue is merely placed on the tongue; its restrictions on the subject operate on the level of thought."
Naoki Senju said nothing after hearing this. He simply formed several hand seals, then pressed his palm onto the Root ninja's head.
"Joining Root wasn't your choice, but since you helped Danzo, your fate was already sealed."
The Root ninja's black hair gradually turned dark brown, and the color continued spreading downward...
"Aaargh!!!"
An extremely suppressed scream squeezed out of the Root ninja's throat. Surprise appeared in Orochimaru's eyes. This Root ninja, who had not screamed once under torture or even genjutsu, was actually screaming this miserably.
But Orochimaru and Tsunade soon understood why. The dark brown spread faster and faster, and the Root ninja's screams abruptly stopped, because his head had already become a lifelike "wooden carving."
"Naoki, is this a ninjutsu you developed?" Tsunade asked worriedly. She had never seen or heard of her grandfather having such a terrifying ninjutsu, one that could actually turn a living person into a wooden carving!
If Naoki had developed it himself, that was fine. But if Orochimaru had guided him, then Orochimaru's intentions would be open to question.
"Don't worry, Sister Tsunade. This doesn't really count as ninjutsu. It's just a deeper development of Wood Release chakra. I might be able to develop a ninjutsu from it in the future."
During his training over the past few days, Naoki Senju had already sensed the natural energy present everywhere, but he had not dared draw it into his body. The stone statues on Mount Myōboku were a warning against practicing blindly.
But based on natural energy's corrosive and assimilating properties, he had gradually developed the nature transformation of Wood Release chakra.
Once nature transformation was added to Lightning Release ninjutsu, it could activate cells. Stimulating one's own cells while using Lightning Release ninjutsu increased the user's speed and strength. Examples included Chidori and Lightning Blade, as well as Lightning Release Armor, which took nature transformation to its utmost limit.
Adding nature transformation to Wind Release ninjutsu produced extreme sharpness. Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was a reference example, and it could even place an immense burden on the caster.
As for the nature transformation of Wood Release chakra, it possessed an overwhelmingly domineering corrosive power. Naoki Senju did not know whether the First Hokage's was the same as his, but he was very satisfied with this powerful property.
"You truly are a genius, Naoki-kun. However, we need to leave as soon as possible. Danzo and Root seem determined to get their hands on you."
Naoki Senju gave Orochimaru a long, searching look. To say Orochimaru had not known there was a Root spy beside him would truly be underestimating him. The Root ninja could only have passed the intelligence along with Orochimaru's tacit approval.
Such behavior was undoubtedly a slap in Danzo's face, perhaps even a break with him. But Naoki Senju remembered that this old bastard Orochimaru seemed to have always worked with Danzo, and quite closely at that. What did Orochimaru stand to gain from doing this?
Though he could not figure it out no matter how much he thought, Orochimaru always did unexpected things. He could practically be called an escaped mental patient-for example, raising Sasuke into his own daddy. It was hardly strange for him to do something like this.
Naoki Senju's confidence in ignoring Orochimaru's strange behavior still came from his own strength. Even if Orochimaru planned to collude with Danzo, he was confident he could break through their encirclement with Tsunade and Shizune. All he could say was that Orochimaru truly deserved his title as a daddy-raiser.
After watching the Root ninja turn completely into a "wooden carving," Naoki Senju clapped his hands in satisfaction and asked:
"Which base are we heading to next?"
Orochimaru smiled modestly, speaking lightly in an extremely pretentious tone:
"A base Danzo will never find. The base in the Land of Wind."
Although the Land of Wind ranked among the Five Great Nations, its environment left much to be desired. Desert covered most of its territory, making it the poorest of the Five Great Nations. Sunagakure was consequently the weakest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Even the Kazekage had to develop a few side businesses, digging up gold dust to subsidize the village.
But however weak the Land of Wind and Sunagakure were, they were still one of the Five Great Nations and one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Orochimaru's ability to establish a base in the Land of Wind showed that he had some skill. No wonder he was confident Danzo would never find it.
Because the moment Danzo's Root infiltrated the Land of Wind, they would first end up fighting Sunagakure's Anbu. It might even escalate into a small-scale war. How would they have any capacity left to search for the base?
But safe as it was, the Land of Wind's environment was truly harsh. After getting another mouthful of sand, Tsunade could not help complaining.
"Orochimaru, how much farther is your base? I've been walking through this desert for three days! Wait, don't tell me you're lost?" Tsunade shouted from the very back of the group, swallowing quite a bit more sand.
Orochimaru led the way at the front, with Kabuto Yakushi right behind him, followed in order by Guren, Naoki, Shizune, and Tsunade bringing up the rear. The others from the Land of Rice Fields base had split up and relocated to several bases to avoid exposing their movements.
Orochimaru, who was leading at the very front, also looked rather bedraggled by now. In this environment, he could not even summon a summoning beast to ride. As cold-blooded animals, snake summons liked warmth and sunlight, but hated high temperatures and dryness. If he summoned an ill-tempered beast like Manda, it might even turn on him.
Fierce winds howled through the desert. The temperature was extremely high, and it was very dry. Had Naoki Senju not possessed enough chakra to use Water Release even in the desert, they might have faced the risk of dying from dehydration, especially Orochimaru, who possessed some snake traits.
"We should... be almost there," Orochimaru said somewhat uncertainly.
"What do you mean, 'should'? How many times have you said that already? Orochimaru, when did you become as unreliable as Jiraiya?"
"Heh heh..."
Orochimaru responded weakly. He adapted extremely poorly to such a hot environment.
In his daze, Orochimaru felt someone tugging his sleeve. He turned and saw Kabuto Yakushi, whom he had nearly sent to infiltrate the Akatsuki. Unfortunately, Naoki Senju had asked to take him instead.
"Lord Orochimaru, look over there."
Kabuto Yakushi pointed discreetly in a direction. Orochimaru followed his finger and saw a vast expanse of ruined buildings looming through the windblown sand, with faint traces of their former prosperity still visible.