"That brat..."
Orochimaru's mood worsened.
That bastard Akihara Kagura just sent Shimura Danzo to his Hidden Sound Village, acting as if they were now allies, yet secretly scheming to harm this ally!
Although Orochimaru himself also wanted to plot against Akihara Kagura...
"Forget it."
Orochimaru couldn't continue to pursue Akihara Kagura's faults, and even had to reassure Yao Shidou: "Kabuto, although I received the information a bit late, I still have to thank you for the intelligence you provided. At least I know that Kagura harbors malicious intentions in our alliance..."
The battle in the Hidden Sound Village ended quickly.
The reanimated Senju Hashirama couldn't use power beyond the capacity of his reanimated body, and combined with the poor quality of the sacrificial offering, his reanimated body soon completely dissipated.
The members of the Akatsuki Organization fought a great battle, yet still couldn't find Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo. However, they also didn't give up and instead intensified their pursuit of Shimura Danzo.
Clearly.
They would have to struggle for a long time.
In the future, Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo would have to constantly evade the Akatsuki Organization's pursuit, often facing squads of Akatsuki members.
For this reason.
Orochimaru had to ask Akihara Kagura for help, requesting through Yao Shidou to deploy personnel from Konoha to encircle the Akatsuki Organization, providing them with some breathing space.
[System Notice]: [New Task (Orochimaru), help Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo evade the Akatsuki Organization's pursuit.]
This task was the easiest to resolve.
The White Zetsu Awei sent by Akihara Kagura to find Nagato soon brought back good news. Hearing Akihara Kagura's plan, Nagato straightforwardly issued a new task.
[System Notice]: [New Task (Nagato), let Shimura Danzo feel the pain of this world.]
True to his style...
He really would issue such a peculiar task.
The Akatsuki Organization hadn't given up the idea of hunting down Orochimaru.
It's just that the Akatsuki Organization wouldn't spend all their time pursuing Orochimaru. They still needed to gather funds and recruit more people.
If the Akatsuki members found traces of Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo again, they would naturally act to pursue them, but it was no longer their top priority.
Although Nagato also hoped the Akatsuki Organization would pursue Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo frequently as a training activity, the War Weapon Plan was their first priority...
As for Orochimaru over there...
Akihara Kagura was straightforward.
Akihara Kagura just needed to order his Asura Path Puppet, the Red Sand Sasori, to hunt down Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo. With the Red Sand Sasori holding them back, Deidara alone couldn't do much, allowing Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo to escape.
This was a repetitive mining task.
If Akihara Kagura's character wasn't decent and if it weren't for White Zetsu Awei needing time to travel back and forth, Akihara Kagura would have turned these into daily tasks.
After helping Orochimaru escape the Akatsuki Organization's pursuit for the first time, Akihara Kagura unearthed a large mineral deposit, obtaining Orochimaru's latest research result.
[Curse Seal Technique (A curse seal formed using natural energy, can be used to freely restrain the target's actions, control the target's body, or grant the target power. Even if the target's Chakra is depleted, the curse seal can provide Chakra to the target)]
This jutsu was extremely useful for Akihara Kagura!
Because the Deva Path: Shisui, Asura Path: Sasori, and Animal Path: Hanzo under Akihara Kagura needed him to provide Chakra to use jutsu.
Conveniently.
The Curse Seal Technique can convert natural energy to the technique user's Chakra, allowing them to have abundant Chakra by applying the curse seal to their Chakra receivers.
Akihara Kagura was very interested in this jutsu, and upon acquiring the Curse Seal Technique, he quickly applied curse seal enhancements to everyone under his command.
Little Karin was the first to receive a curse seal.
The little girl had two marks on both of her wrists, one mark in the shape of small leaves that appeared somewhat darkened was the curse seal Akihara Kagura applied;
The color of one mark was slightly lighter, which was Akihara Kagura's Flying Thunder God mark, allowing him to save her at any time when she was in danger.
"This curse seal..."
Little Karin curiously examined the curse seal on her wrist.
This mass of curse seal was Akihara Kagura's tamed natural energy. When it erupted, it didn't burn like Orochimaru's curse seal but instead flowed down her arm like water, instantly making her feel strengthened!
"Vajra Seal!"
Four chains exploded from behind Karin!
At her age, she could normally release at most one chain, and the curse seal enhancement at least quadrupled her strength!
"Not bad."
Akihara Kagura watched Karin with satisfaction, patting her little head: "Keep training well, see if you can learn Sage Mode on your own. In a few years, when your Vajra Seal can seal Tailed Beasts, you can take the Chunin Exams."
"I heard Lord Kagura took the Chunin Exams alone, should I take them alone like Lord Kagura?"
"Do you want to make friends, Karin?"
"..."
Little Karin quickly shook her head.
"We'll see."
Akihara Kagura thought for a moment, then said: "If it fits, I can have a Genin from the village take you to the Chunin Exams. I heard that Genin is good at cooking and quite powerful, and Kabuto also needs to keep participating in the Chunin Exams. We'll find a time to eliminate Orochimaru's two spies and let him join your team to help..."
Akihara Kagura felt like raising the little girl he once saved was like having a daughter, but Karin's personality was quite nice.
Although...
Little Karin only seemed nice on the surface.
This little girl was gentle in front of Akihara Kagura but secretly began to live like Akihara Kagura once did in Root, and the Uchihas in Root listened to her a lot.
Akihara Kagura waved towards little Karin, sitting at the desk like his predecessor, flipping through the intelligence from Konoha Village: "Alright, Karin, go to the training ground and train well. Call Jia, Yi, Bing, the rest of those guys in here for me!"
"Yes."
Little Karin walked out and saw twelve Uchihas. She was particularly annoyed by a guy named Jia among them.
Because the name Jia...
Was reportedly Akihara Kagura's name when he joined Root.
"Don't think that just because you have Double Bloodline you can win over Lord Kagura's favor. I'm the best suited to be Lord Kagura's assistant..."
"One day, if Lord Kagura is gravely wounded, I can save his life with my own blood, but you can only watch him get hurt with your Sharingan..."
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Uchiha bystander Jia nodded with a headache.
Although he didn't know who could gravely wound Akihara Kagura, arguing with a little kid at this moment would just embarrass him in front of his clansmen.
Life in Root was quite peaceful.
Compared to Shimura Danzo's time, Root had clearly become more humane, and the frequency of mission operations had drastically decreased, mainly because the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen often didn't dare let Akihara Kagura and Root carry out missions, afraid of one day hearing news of war breaking out in the Ninja World.
The Ninja World gradually entered a period of peace.
Aside from Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo occasionally making some news, there wasn't any sign of war, and it seemed as if the world would remain peaceful indefinitely.
The villagers in Konoha Village gradually became accustomed to peaceful living, and Akihara Kagura and Karin slowly grew up. The twelve Uchihas in Root were already adults, and not many people recognized them outside of their masks, though they were used to living with them.
Time continued to pass.
April 4th.
This was a magical day.
Akihara Kagura's seventeenth birthday, and once again, the first one to bring greetings was no surprise. Root caught a small white snake sneaking in.
The little white snake had a scroll in its mouth. On the scroll was Orochimaru's handwritten symbol for a birthday gift, his usual way of giving gifts.
But this time, what Orochimaru sent wasn't a gift like Shuriken or Kunai but a detailed plan.
The Konoha Destruction Plan.
This is what Orochimaru planned to give Akihara Kagura as a seventeenth birthday gift.
Because this year's Chunin Exams in Konoha during the latter half of the year would be a grand event, with Konoha's two allies, the Hidden Sand Village and The Hidden Mist Village, participating.