Jiraiya hiccupped slightly, cheeks flushed from drink. "Who are you talking about again?" he asked, turning his lazy eyes toward Neji.
"Orochimaru, of course."
Just like in the original timeline, Orochimaru's arms had been rendered unusable by the Shinigami's seal, leaving him unable to perform ninjutsu. For someone as obsessed with researching jutsu as he was, the loss was unbearable. Naturally, he would seek out Tsunade—the one person in the entire shinobi world capable of healing injuries the Shinigami had inflicted. And since Tsunade had recently appeared in the Land of Lightning, it made perfect sense that Orochimaru would come searching for her here as well.
Neji calmly took a sip of his sake. "Jiraiya-senpai, how do you plan to deal with Orochimaru?"
There was no answer.
Neji slowly turned his head—and found Jiraiya fast asleep on the table, snoring lightly.
"…Honestly."
After helping Jiraiya lie down comfortably, Neji left the tavern and walked home alone. The house he returned to wasn't Samui's; instead, it was a large official residence near the Raikage Building. Given his current status and responsibilities, staying at Samui's place was far too inappropriate. The rumors alone would kill him—never mind the "dates" he had no mental energy to handle.
But the moment he unlocked the front door, he froze.
A small white snake was coiled around a decorative branch near the entrance. It flicked its tongue, unbothered by his presence.
Neji walked over and extended his hand. The snake obediently raised its head, offering him a small folded note. Neji read it, burned it with a flick of chakra, and sighed.
A short while later, he was walking into a quiet barbecue restaurant tucked into one of Kumogakure's upper streets. On the second floor, outside a private room, Guren stood guard with her arms folded. Her icy blue eyes swept over Neji—evaluating, measuring.
"Orochimaru-sama is waiting inside," she said coolly.
Neji thanked her and opened the door.
Inside, Orochimaru sat cross-legged at a low table, casually grilling meat as though he were an ordinary traveler enjoying a peaceful meal.
"Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Neji asked as he sat down. "If anyone sees you wandering into the Hidden Cloud Village, there will be trouble."
Orochimaru smirked. "Trouble? I am a rogue ninja of Konoha, not of Kumogakure. I have done nothing to harm this village's interests. Why should they care about my presence? Think of me as… a tourist."
Annoyingly enough, he was right.
Even Konoha hadn't actively pursued him for years. Other villages had even less reason to do so.
Neji picked up a freshly grilled piece of meat and began chewing. "Fine. Then tell me what you want."
Orochimaru watched him with strangely contemplative eyes. "How is it?" he asked after a moment. "The experience of being Raikage's Second-in-Command."
"It's… manageable," Neji said truthfully. "The work is exhausting, though."
Orochimaru chuckled. "I once dreamed of becoming Hokage, you know."
Neji paused. Orochimaru rarely spoke of this.
Orochimaru's voice lowered. "But Hiruzen chose Minato… abandoning me, Jiraiya, and Tsunade in the process."
His tone was light, but the bitterness underneath was unmistakable.
"In truth," Orochimaru continued, "even if he had offered it to me, I would have refused. After Nawaki's death… that dream died as well. I no longer cared about the position. But being rejected…" Orochimaru's golden eyes narrowed. "That, I could not accept."
Even after everything, his wounds ran deep.
He shook off his thoughts with a small sigh and got to the point. "Neji-kun, if I hadn't carried out my Konoha Crush Plan, Konoha wouldn't have been so desperate to make peace with Kumogakure. The war would have dragged on much longer."
Neji blinked.
So he came here to brag?!
"What do you want, Orochimaru?"
Orochimaru laughed twice, low and amused. "Money. I need an enormous amount of money."
"Ah. So you've begun researching the Tenseigan?" Neji asked bluntly.
Orochimaru nodded. "I also have the Hyuga Clan's main house heiress in my possession. I—"
Clatter.
Neji's chopsticks fell onto the table. His expression stiffened.
"Hinata Hyuga?" he asked.
Orochimaru raised a brow, amused. "Hehehe… you left Konoha when you were four years old. I'm surprised you still remember that girl."
Neji didn't respond. He simply continued eating, though his expression had turned cold.
"Anyway," he said, "if you're short on funds, I can't help. Even as Raikage's deputy, I can't touch the village treasury."
Orochimaru's expression cooled. "So you're refusing to cooperate?"
"Of course not."
Neji calmly reached into his sleeve and tossed a note onto the table.
Orochimaru opened it—and his eyes narrowed.
It was a list of Lightning Country aristocrats, industrial magnates, and financial oligarchs.
"What is this supposed to mean?" Orochimaru asked, licking his lips curiously.
Neji leaned back in his seat. "You and I are both poor. But these people… they're overflowing with wealth."
Orochimaru's snake-like pupils contracted. "Neji-kun… are you suggesting we target the noble class?"
"Why not?" Neji said. "Shinobi wield extraordinary power, yet when it comes to politics, to resources, to influence, we still kneel to nobles. Does that not strike you as absurd?"
Orochimaru fell silent.
Neji continued, "I had no choice before. But now, I have the strength to reshape the shinobi world. So the rules must change."
A slow smile spread across Orochimaru's lips. He lifted the note. "Profits split fifty-fifty."
"No," Neji said instantly. "I'm taking a far greater risk than you. That's unacceptable."
"Sixty-forty?" Orochimaru countered.
"Seventy-thirty," Neji said.
Orochimaru nodded immediately. "Deal."
After the agreement, Neji spoke again. "Still, Orochimaru… you wouldn't have personally come to Kumogakure just for money. There is something else, isn't there?"
Orochimaru laughed softly. "Hiruzen crippled my arms with the Reaper Death Seal. The only one in this world capable of healing me is Tsunade. And since she's recently come to the Land of Lightning, I came to find her."
Neji feigned surprise. "What a coincidence. Jiraiya-senpai is also searching for Tsunade. He's in the village right now."
"Hmm?"
Orochimaru blinked, amused. "That idiot wants her to return to Konoha and become Hokage, doesn't he? How foolish. What's so wonderful about being Hokage—"
He kept talking. Clearly, mentioning Jiraiya loosened his tongue.
Neji chuckled. "Orochimaru, Jiraiya asked me to help find Tsunade. Since both of you are after the same person, why not meet?"
"I have no desire to see that fool," Orochimaru said coldly.
"But the meeting is inevitable," Neji replied. "And when it happens, you may end up fighting. In your current state, do you really believe Tsunade would side with you? Can you defeat both of them?"
Orochimaru fell silent for a long moment.
Eventually, Neji placed a fresh piece of meat into Orochimaru's dish. "Don't worry. I'll mediate. For now, let's focus on finding Tsunade."
True to his word, Neji arranged a meeting the next day.
To his surprise, Orochimaru and Jiraiya didn't fight. They only traded insults—though passionately. Perhaps because Hiruzen's death had changed many things. Orochimaru was now an outcast, and Jiraiya knew forcing him back to Konoha would only lead to public hostility. As long as Orochimaru didn't cause trouble, Jiraiya saw no point in trying to capture him.
Old teammates, even after everything, were still old teammates.
After catching up for the first time in years, the three—Neji, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru—set out to search for Tsunade.
The Land of Lightning had changed dramatically in recent days. Kumogakure's new security measures had largely cleared out bandits and thieves. Travelers no longer feared being robbed.
Along the roads, they passed large construction crews. Shinobi were using Earth Release techniques to build new highways. Both Sannin stared in shock.
"Ninja focus too much on destruction," Neji said calmly. "If chakra were used for creation instead of war… imagine how peaceful the world could become."
Jiraiya fell silent, recalling the Great Toad Sage's prophecy. Something about this Land of Lightning, about Neji himself, resonated deeply with it.
"Neji-kun," he finally said, "your insight at such a young age is astonishing."
"Kredit isn't mine alone," Neji replied humbly. "Changing the world isn't the work of one individual. I believe in the strength of everyone, not in prophecies."
Jiraiya stared at him—long, thoughtful, conflicted.
If the prophecy had not shifted, he truly might have believed Neji was the Child of Destiny.
They continued searching, mobilizing Kumogakure's intelligence networks and even borrowing the Uchiha Clan's contracted ninja cats. Jiraiya summoned toads; Orochimaru summoned snakes. For ten days, they searched every town and border village.
But Tsunade was always one step ahead of them.
One evening, morale low, the three sat around the dinner table.
"This is strange…" Jiraiya muttered, dropping his chopsticks.
"Nothing strange," Orochimaru said smugly. "We detected her traces several times, only for her to vanish before we arrived. She's obviously avoiding us."
Neji quietly ate, saying nothing.
Among the three Sannin, Tsunade was undoubtedly the one who suffered the most. She lost her brother, her lover, and her family. The emotional devastation had driven her away from the shinobi world. Orochimaru and Jiraiya had always been orphans. They had nothing to lose.
Tsunade had everything—and then lost it all.
Jiraiya glanced at Neji, clearly hoping for an idea. Orochimaru noticed immediately.
"Well?" Orochimaru prodded. "Neji-kun, do you have a plan?"
Neji wiped his mouth, took out a folded paper, and handed it to Orochimaru.
"A pinball machine?" Orochimaru asked, confused.
"Pachinko," Neji clarified. "A type of gambling machine I invented. If we place these in various casinos, Tsunade will definitely show up."
"Is it reliable?" Orochimaru asked.
"Absolutely," Neji said. "She won't be able to resist."
Even Jiraiya nodded confidently. "Trust me, Orochimaru. I know gambling culture better than you."
Orochimaru squinted at him. "Since when do you know anything besides peeping?"
"I help club hostesses sometimes!" Jiraiya protested. "They complain about gambler fathers, so I ended up… learning a few things."
As expected, Tsunade had sensed the trio's pursuit early on and had been intentionally avoiding them. She wasn't afraid—she simply didn't want to face memories she had buried long ago. Gambling numbed her pain better than anything else.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said gently, holding her small pig, "maybe you should meet them at least once—"
"I don't want to," Tsunade groaned, rolling across the bed and hugging her pillow tightly. "I don't want anything to do with ninja anymore… not them, not anyone."
But fate, aided by a line of shiny gambling machines, was already closing in on her.
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