Chapter 37: An Unexpected Joy
"Teacher, I want to collect the Nine Tails' chakra."
Kenichi Amamiya scratched his head, but still stated his intention honestly.
To be precise, he also wanted to take the opportunity to collect some experimental materials.
On the night the Nine Tailed Fox attacked, countless people died, even with the entire Anbu mobilized.
Adding Root into the mix might improve things slightly, but up to now Kenichi had only seen Anbu operatives. He had yet to see a single Root ninja.
He figured they were probably heading for the Uchiha clan compound.
After all, the Mangekyou Sharingan glowing in the eyes of that colossal Nine Tails was far too conspicuous.
Everyone knew that only the Uchiha possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan, so it was hardly surprising that the clan would be heavily monitored.
Since those people would die whether he collected them or not, he might as well take the opportunity to gather more resources.
If he could scrape together some extra experimental funds on top of that, all the better.
"Nine Tails' chakra? Your idea is a bit dangerous."
Orochimaru glanced at the rampaging monster and the waves of ninja being swatted aside like flies, then smiled.
The Nine Tails, the strongest of the tailed beasts, was currently tearing through their precious Hidden Leaf Village.
So where was the Third Hokage who loved to proclaim that everything he did was for Konoha?
Orochimaru's eyes suddenly turned cold.
He had spotted Hiruzen Sarutobi at the front of a squad of Anbu, leading them in an assault on the Nine Tails, trying to lure the beast out of the village.
It irritated him.
In Orochimaru's mind, the Third Hokage should have been standing off to the side watching and waiting for the Fourth Hokage to resolve everything. He had not expected Hiruzen to jump out and put on a performance.
"How hypocritical, teacher," Orochimaru muttered inwardly.
You alone would be enough, would you not?
And all those chunin charging forward were just marching to their deaths.
How could a so called Professor of Ninjutsu not be able to attract the Nine Tails' attention?
Was this not just a show to prove how much he "cared" for Konoha?
"Teacher, should we take this chance to collect some supplies? And experimental funds as well? Right now no one has time to worry about such things."
Kenichi could not help asking.
Orochimaru had been staring toward the Nine Tails the whole time, and Kenichi had no idea what he was planning.
He remembered that on the night of the Nine Tails' rampage, his teacher had not left much of a mark in the original story.
He certainly had not joined the battle against the Nine Tails, otherwise his presence would have been mentioned at least a little.
"Alright."
Orochimaru stopped paying attention to the battlefield in the distance.
The appearance of the Nine Tails was dangerous, of course, but it also presented a rare opportunity.
He could use the chaos to collect all sorts of things, such as the forbidden scrolls stored in the Hokage Building.
As for the Nine Tails itself?
Orochimaru did not care.
With both the Third and Fourth Hokage in the village, one Nine Tails was not going to overturn the entire situation.
So he assigned Kenichi to gather supplies and loot funds. Orochimaru himself, as he put it, would be going after something more important.
At first Kenichi was confused, but he quickly realized what his teacher intended.
After following Orochimaru for so long, Kenichi knew very well that his teacher's wish was to explore all the ninjutsu in the world.
Right now, the Hokage Building's defenses were extremely lax, nearly nonexistent.
If his teacher moved personally, they would almost certainly be able to steal the forbidden scroll and then learn even more formidable techniques from it.
That was also a huge boon for Kenichi.
So he headed off to collect funds.
Compared to those living, thrashing, screaming experimental "consumables," money was utterly ideal: it did not talk, did not resist, and was very easy to store.
As Kenichi was happily sweeping valuables into storage, something nearby caught his eye.
An unknown mass was writhing faintly on the ground.
The moment he focused on it, a chill ran down his spine, as if he were looking at the most evil existence in the world.
"Chakra residue?"
Kenichi frowned, then his expression shifted to delight.
This thing was almost certainly chakra from the Nine Tails.
Only tailed beast chakra could linger for a period of time after being separated from its source.
Without hesitating, he pulled out a sealing scroll and sealed the chakra into it.
Staring at the scroll in his hand, Kenichi felt fully satisfied.
This trip had already paid off.
He had actually managed to obtain the Nine Tails' chakra.
Just as his mood reached its peak, Kenichi suddenly sensed the surge of a forming ninjutsu.
He reacted instantly, body flickering to the right as a roaring Water Dragon Bullet smashed down where he had stood.
At the same time, his hands flew into a hand seal.
"Fire Style, Dragon Fire Technique!"
With a large amount of chakra flooding his system, flames surged from his mouth and roared toward the direction the water dragon had been launched from.
However, as the blaze engulfed the houses ahead, Kenichi failed to spot any enemy.
Even the sounds of movement had disappeared.
All that remained were raging flames and collapsing buildings.
Kenichi's wariness spiked.
His opponent had launched a silent sneak attack, clearly intending to kill him in one strike.
But he soon had no choice but to withdraw.
The spreading fire was too bright in the night and was quickly drawing Anbu attention.
If he did not leave now, he would not be able to slip away.
"The one who ambushed me could be from Root, but it is more likely that guy who collected the Nine Tails' chakra in the original story," Kenichi thought as he ran.
He leaned toward the latter, because Root operatives were ruthless and would not stop until the mission was complete.
If it had been Root, they would have pressed the attack immediately instead of disappearing.
The fact that no follow up attack came could only mean that the enemy was afraid of attracting Anbu.
The most likely suspect was the person who had collected Nine Tails' chakra on this night.
Kenichi could not remember his name.
The man had not been a major character, so the memory had not stuck.
He had not expected the other side to be so bold, though.
To launch an attack in the middle of Konoha, regardless of the trouble that might follow, took a certain sort of reckless decisiveness.
"Looks like I will need to have a proper talk with you later."
Kenichi's expression had turned dark.
If he had not reacted quickly, this could have gone very badly.
Although he did not know the man's name, he did know one thing:
That person was one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja who served the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
If necessary, he would simply kill all of them except Asuma.
No, even Asuma might not be off limits.
He would see how things went.
Just then Kenichi sensed a massive surge of energy building in the distance.
He turned his head sharply and saw that, in the direction of the Nine Tails, the giant beast had thrown its head back and opened its jaws.
Within its maw, an ominous sphere of energy was rapidly condensing.
It was a Tailed Beast Ball.
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