Chapter 97: Jiraiya: Orochimaru Is a Woman? Is He Very Voluptuous?
The war between Kumogakure and Konoha was forced into a temporary halt because of an outside force. The reason was simple: the Fourth Raikage, A, and his brother, the A B duo, had been attacked by Heavenly Punishment.
Except, Heavenly Punishment had been renamed now.
Heavenly Demon.
Too many shinobi who lived through that strike spat out curses afterward, calling the attacker a demon, a ruthless demon, something as disgusting as the devil itself. So Punishment was renamed Demon.
That unknown technique caused enormous damage to Kumogakure's forces. Thousands were killed or injured, and Killer B, the Eight Tails Jinchuriki, was severely wounded.
Rumor said that if Killer B had not blocked most of the power head on, the casualty count would have doubled. That only made even more people in the Hidden Cloud respect him.
The hospital where Killer B was being treated was surrounded by crowds of shinobi and civilians alike, all praying for his recovery.
Konoha gained no real advantage either.
They had planned to pursue after the explosion, but the enraged Raikage displayed power no weaker than his father's, crushing an entire unit by himself. The Cloud shinobi, furious over the deaths and heavy injuries of their comrades, also erupted with frightening fighting spirit. In the end, Konoha abandoned the chase and withdrew.
A desperate army really was the most dangerous one.
Even so, the aftermath only pushed the bounty higher.
The cleanup of the battlefield spread the name Heavenly Demon even further, and the price on his head rose again. Heavenly Demon's bounty had now reached seven hundred million ryo. Kumogakure's payment was announced across the entire ninja world, and the Gold Exchange truly posted a seven hundred million ryo reward for Heavenly Demon.
According to an unnamed source, the battlefield's center reeked of roasted meat. Severed limbs and scattered remains were everywhere. Some shinobi had simply vanished and were listed as missing.
Missing in name only.
Kumogakure had already treated them as dead. After all, A had personally seen a genin hide behind an Earth wall formation, only to be vaporized together with the wall itself.
That battle made the name Heavenly Demon thunder through the ninja world. At the very least, he was no longer a nobody.
The only pity was that no one had ever seen what the Heavenly Demon looked like.
And yet, a second rumor slipped through the chaos.
People whispered that Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, was actually a beautiful blonde girl.
It was so outrageous that almost no one believed it.
"Huh? Orochimaru is a woman?"
Hearing that in a tavern, a drunk Jiraiya lifted his head with a strange look. He was out gathering material, half listening to the shinobi at the next table, and he nearly lost control and wanted to smash his sake bottle over someone's skull.
What a joke.
He had grown up with Orochimaru. He knew Orochimaru better than most people alive.
And with Jiraiya's many years of experience, Orochimaru did not have a single trace of anything he would call feminine. He did not believe it for even a second.
"If Orochimaru were a woman, then I'd be Miss Konoha!" Jiraiya declared bluntly.
Miss Konoha was a title he had invented himself, a contest dedicated to selecting the most attractive girl in the village.
After each selection, he would even give a copy of the results to the old Third. The old man always scolded him for not doing his job properly, yet he still accepted the so called beauty pageant manual in silence every time.
Jiraiya took a swig of sake, slapped down his money, and staggered out.
He had once believed Minato was the Child of Prophecy. But Minato was dead now, so Jiraiya had to set out again and keep searching.
Not long ago, the Great Toad Sage had summoned him and spoken of a new dream. The ninja world might face a crisis of destruction in the future. A beam of light would fall from the sky and instantly sink the continent.
That dream left Jiraiya restless.
Maybe only the Child of Prophecy could stop something like that. So this time, he forced himself to be serious.
Meanwhile, within Akatsuki, Kenichi received his payment.
"Jade, this is the mission reward from Konoha," Nagato said, handing over the money. "By the organization's rules, we take half. But since you invested heavily, we will only take one third."
Kenichi could not hide his excitement.
Konoha had been unbelievably generous this time. Even after the portion handed over to the organization, he still received six hundred million ryo. It was an absurd amount.
An ordinary jonin would have to grind missions for ages without spending a single coin to reach that kind of money.
"Wow. Impressive, Heavenly Demon," Zetsu said from the side, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Kenichi was momentarily confused.
Since joining Akatsuki, the people he had barely interacted with were Zetsu and Obito. Kenichi had no interest in getting tangled in their mess, at least not now. But for some reason, Zetsu seemed to hold a lot of opinions about him.
What Kenichi did not know was why.
That day, Zetsu had been there collecting data. He had been hiding in a cave beneath the battlefield when the thermobaric bomb detonated. Part of the heat wave rushed into the cave and burned one of the White Zetsu to death, forcing him to switch to another body.
"Senior Zetsu, want to have a drink sometime?" Kenichi asked with a smile, testing the waters. Zetsu's hostility had come out of nowhere, and Kenichi wanted to know what he had done to provoke it.
"No need," Zetsu waved him off.
He did have complaints about what happened before, but Kenichi was undeniably capable. That capability would be useful for Zetsu's plans, so he had no intention of doing anything more than sneer.
Kenichi still did not understand, but he also did not press. If he focused too much, it would only invite Zetsu's suspicion, and that would be far more troublesome.
"By the way, Senior Zetsu," Kenichi said, remembering something, "I heard from the Leader that you handle intelligence for Akatsuki?"
Zetsu nodded. His official role within the organization was exactly that.
"What do you want to know?"
"Do you know anything about the Land of the Sky?" Kenichi rubbed his hands together.
On his way back from the battlefield, he had heard Sasori mention it. Supposedly, those people had the ability to fly, not through ninjutsu, but through some unique method of their own.
"The Land of the Sky?" Zetsu looked at him with amusement. "I know it. How much are you willing to pay?"
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