Parting Gifts

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

During this time, Uchiha Yuan had thoroughly allowed himself to relax.

After returning from Sea Country, the partial petrification in his left hand had yet to heal.

What was more, there had been very few newly assigned research tasks lately, and even Orochimaru Squad rarely went to the laboratory.

Uchiha Yuan simply asked Orochimaru for leave and began living a leisurely vacation life.

What Obito's grandmother had said about adopting a girl had not merely been talk.

Over half a month ago, the old woman had brought home a little girl named Uchiha Izumi.

And so, Uchiha Yuan's standing in the family dropped by one.

But none of that interested Uchiha Yuan.

The Third Shinobi World War was nearing its end, yet the situation in the shinobi world remained turbulent.

As an old-established shinobi clan, the Uchiha Clan's intelligence network was naturally far from poor.

Uchiha Yuan had also learned some crucial recent intelligence regarding the Five Great Ninja Villages from Shisui.

In Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had reclaimed the Hokage's seat, encountered an assassination attempt outside the village.

Though the assassin had failed, their identity had yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, the peace talks between Hidden Leaf Village and Hidden Stone Village, which he had previously overseen, were temporarily shelved due to dissenting voices on Hidden Stone Village's side.

As a result, Hidden Leaf Village dispatched many more intelligence operatives to Hidden Stone Village. With the war against Hidden Cloud Village still unfinished, this was undoubtedly a cloud of war hanging over the heads of Hidden Leaf Village's shinobi.

As for Hidden Sand, it had behaved itself after the Kikyo Mountain Battle. Taking advantage of the brief peace, Hidden Sand completed the sealing of the One-Tail Shukaku, and the Jinchuriki was said to be an infant as well.

Who knew whether the Fourth Hokage or the Kazekage had copied whose idea, or whether such inhumane practices had existed since ancient times.

Hidden Mist Village, on the other hand, had spent the past month fighting internal strife so fiercely they were practically beating each other's brains out. However, voices opposing the infighting within the village were growing louder and louder.

When Shisui relayed this intelligence, he was clear and methodical, occasionally adding his own thoughts.

Uchiha Yuan had always encouraged that.

Of course, Uchiha Yuan had not slackened in his training during this time either.

His daily physical training, Great Fireball Technique practice, and Three Body Technique drills were all routine.

Whether it was the ANBU monitoring the Uchiha Clan or the Third Hokage's direct ANBU keeping tabs on Uchiha Yuan, all they saw was an ordinary, normal Chunin.

The Third Hokage was naturally pleased to see this.

But deep in the quiet of night, Uchiha Yuan used the rapid learning ability he had gained by fusing with the demon statue's genes to master all the ninjutsu and Forbidden Jutsu he had intercepted.

Naturally, this was only preliminary learning. There was still practical testing of the ninjutsu's effects, as well as specialized training for real combat.

Under his current circumstances, Uchiha Yuan could not carry those out.

Besides that, there were ninjutsu such as Wood Release, Izanagi, Izanami, Mutual Multiplying Exploding Tags, and Transcription Seal, which required either a Kekkei Genkai or additional preparations and summoning materials.

Even if Uchiha Yuan understood their formulas, he could not use them in the short term.

Of all these techniques, the one he valued most was Multiple Shadow Clone.

In Uchiha Yuan's view, having clones use different ninjutsu and Forbidden Jutsu to fight one another and rapidly accumulate real combat experience was a method worth trying.

But because he was under surveillance, he did not rush to test it.

Thus, Uchiha Yuan could only spend a great deal of time reviewing the details of his ninjutsu studies.

One day, Uchiha Yuan, who was meditating with his eyes closed, was suddenly startled awake by a cold, sharp voice.

"Yuan, Lord Orochimaru summons you all."

"Understood. Thank you, Scale Pill."

After tossing some jerky to his teacher Orochimaru's messenger summon, Uchiha Yuan quietly watched it eat.

In Scale Pill's eyes, among the members of Orochimaru Squad, this young man before him was the most pleasing to look at.

Not only did he always have jerky to eat, he was especially polite.

Therefore, Scale Pill did not mind telling Uchiha Yuan some "insignificant" news.

"Lord Orochimaru has been in a good mood lately. I heard he plans to travel to Sea Country."

Uchiha Yuan nodded silently and watched Scale Pill vanish with a pop.

Teacher Orochimaru is going to Sea Country...

Uchiha Yuan knew that, if the timeline had not changed, Kimimaro, a Kekkei Genkai shinobi who originally lived in Hidden Mist Village, would become Orochimaru's subordinate a few years later. Hozuki Suigetsu, who had mastered the Water Transformation Secret Technique, would also be imprisoned by him.

It seemed Teacher Orochimaru was no longer satisfied with Hidden Leaf Village's research conditions.

But why was he gathering the members of Orochimaru Squad now?

After failing to become the Fifth Hokage, so-called political investments had lost their meaning in Orochimaru's eyes.

That was also why the members of Orochimaru Squad, including Uchiha Yuan, had rarely gone to the laboratory lately.

As his students, they understood their teacher's coldness, and Orochimaru likewise knew his students' value.

Such a unique teacher-student relationship was likely rare in the shinobi world.

Uchiha Yuan felt that Orochimaru would not have any dangerous ideas at present.

His teacher might be cold, but he had not yet fallen so far as to casually toy with his subordinates' lives.

But Teacher Orochimaru had already developed a strong interest in him. The Mad Snake might very well stir up some trouble.

Uchiha Yuan informed Fugaku through Shisui, and the latter even arranged for an elite patrol unit to patrol nearby in case of emergencies.

After making his preparations, Uchiha Yuan was indeed the last to arrive.

On Hokage Rock, the cold wind howled and dark clouds churned overhead. It was the depths of winter.

"Yuan-kun, what was the reason for your lateness this time?"

This time, Hyuga Ryo had not received any strange instructions from Orochimaru. She smiled and took the initiative to speak.

"Hmph, Yuan is late every single time. He can't even be bothered to come up with an excuse. That's awful!"

Anko would never pass up an opportunity to "mock" her senior brother.

"Perhaps he really had something urgent to deal with!"

Their substitute teacher, Kurama Shion, said with a smile.

"Teacher, did you summon us this time because there's a new mission?"

Uchiha Yuan changed the subject.

"No. I'll be stationed in Sea Country long-term, responsible for monitoring Hidden Mist Village's movements. Though as commander, the village has already assigned dedicated personnel."

"What about you? Are you interested in carrying out missions in Sea Country?"

As he spoke, Orochimaru's expression was somewhat strange. Gentleness and madness flickered within his vertical pupils.

Those two opposing emotions should have clashed and resisted one another, merging into a chaotic storm of emotion.

Yet the four members of Orochimaru Squad understood clearly.

In truth, they did not dislike their teacher-student relationship with Orochimaru.

But from the details of the experimental assignments, they had ultimately formed some guesses about what their teacher was doing.

It was taboo, an unknown terror.

And it was precisely that taboo and fear that made them wary now.

The cold wind howled, and the first snow arrived as promised.

Orochimaru held out a hand to catch it, lowering his head to watch the ice crystal glimmer in his palm.

"Very well. It is safer to remain in the village, after all. It is rare to encounter students with personalities similar to mine."

"Take these. They are for you."

Orochimaru handed four exquisite wooden boxes to his students, then used the Body Flicker Technique to leave.

Anko opened her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out in the end.

Orochimaru had always raised her as though she were his daughter, but she was already twelve and understood much of the right and wrong of the shinobi world and the village.

The group fell silent.

Until Hyuga Ryo activated her Byakugan and looked toward the village's eastern gate.

Amid the snowstorm, carriages laden with supplies rolled onward.

This time, Orochimaru was taking many people with him. Apart from his four students, he had quite a few followers in the village.

Those people were just as progressive and insane as he was.

"Teacher really took all the experimental materials with him. The village truly can't accommodate him anymore!"