Chapter 51: The Person Peeking in Secret
[...]
If Kakashi Hatake had been here alone, encountering Orochimaru, he would definitely have tried to get involved, regardless of any 'treasure'.
However, now Hanare, who had saved him, was beside him.
After Uehara Naraka told them to leave, he put on an act of desperately concealing his village's treasure, looking determined not to let the Konoha ninja covet it.
Kakashi Hatake frowned, picked up Hanare from the ground, and left the place step by step, seemingly having no interest whatsoever in the treasure Uehara Naraka mentioned.
Undoubtedly, once Kakashi settled Hanare somewhere safe, he wouldn't easily give up on investigating Uehara and Orochimaru.
Uehara Naraka also thought of this. When he saw Kakashi Hatake's figure disappear, he immediately wanted to deal with Orochimaru.
"What's going on?"
Uehara Naraka flew over and stopped beside the nearest person, Mangetsu Hōzuki, asking gravely, "The strength of you three, is it still not enough to defeat Orochimaru?"
"..."
Mangetsu Hōzuki couldn't help but glance at Uehara Naraka. Wasn't this new superior's standard too high? How much did he look down on Konoha's Sannin!
Orochimaru wasn't someone who could be dealt with so easily!
At the end of the Third Great Ninja War back then, Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze led Konoha ninjas driving their Mist ninjas back to the Land of Water like chasing ducks...
Couldn't this superior just ask Kisame Hoshigaki next to him?
That guy was a direct participant back then.
Even if the three of them were Seven Ninja Swordsmen currently in their prime growth period, wanting to defeat Orochimaru couldn't possibly be done in such a short time, right?
Speaking rationally, they actually weren't too sure they could win...
Mangetsu Hōzuki sighed at Uehara Naraka's lack of worldly experience but could only explain, "Milord, the power of Konoha's Sannin exceeds our expectations. Orochimaru's ninjutsu are quite bizarre, and the three of us haven't tried coordinating in battle before..."
Kirigakure's first generation Seven Ninja Swordsmen all fought as a group, and later they were wiped out in one fell swoop. Mangetsu Hōzuki and these second-generation Seven Swordsmen basically fought individually, having never coordinated to strike down an enemy.
Honestly, their combat power not only didn't achieve a 1+1+1=3 effect, but it might even be less effective than fighting alone!
Especially since Mangetsu Hōzuki vaguely felt Kisame Hoshigaki was slacking off. The other one, Zabuza Momochi, was fighting very hard, but his strength was just so-so...
Uehara Naraka looked at Mangetsu Hōzuki with utter confusion, "He's Orochimaru! You guys actually can't even deal with him?"
This guy Orochimaru had always performed strongly in the internal conflicts of Konoha's Sannin, yet when fighting outsiders, he always ended up being a stepping stone to make others look strong...
Mangetsu Hōzuki's expression was even more baffled than his, even somewhat incredulous, "Milord believes we should be able to easily defeat Orochimaru?"
Mangetsu Hōzuki had indeed personally witnessed Uehara Naraka's strength; he killed the Fourth Mizukage Yagura with a snap of his fingers. But Orochimaru wasn't as easy to deal with as Yagura!
To be honest, Mangetsu Hōzuki didn't think Yagura could defeat Orochimaru...
And compared to the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, Orochimaru was truly long-admired by ninjas like them.
"Lord Uehara..."
Seeing them conferring, Kisame Hoshigaki roughly guessed some things. He took the opportunity to withdraw and said in a low voice beside Uehara, "There's another enemy hiding nearby... It might be him."
Relying on sensory ninjutsu, Kisame Hoshigaki sensed the presence of other enemies near this battlefield. The most likely one was Uchiha Obito...
Uehara Naraka's face instantly darkened.
No wonder Kisame Hoshigaki had been slacking off!
However, in the few seconds Kisame Hoshigaki withdrew from the battlefield, Orochimaru seized the opportunity to release a swarm of snakes holding Kusanagi swords in their mouths!
"Ten Thousand Snakes Formation!"
Zabuza Momochi, still fighting, was pierced through the shoulder by a Kusanagi sword... This guy really was utterly useless trash!
Seeing the situation turn bad, Kisame Hoshigaki hastily rushed back in to intercept the Ten Thousand Snakes Formation. However, because of the outsider spying, he still obediently slacked off.
The person spying was very likely Uchiha Obito.
Moreover, Kisame Hoshigaki knew clearly in his heart that planting a spy by Uchiha Obito's side was the most important thing.
Hearing Kisame's words, Uehara Naraka subconsciously frowned, scanning everything around. He wasn't very confident he could defeat Obito right now.
Of course, Uehara himself could easily escape. Just by activating Intervention, he could use the Mayfly Technique to hide underground and evade Obito's pursuit.
However, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen he had painstakingly recruited in the Land of Water, plus picking up Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku—how could Uehara easily abandon them?
Uehara Naraka's eyes darted around. He looked towards Orochimaru in the center of the battlefield, a smile appearing on his face, "Tch, Orochimaru, consider yourself lucky this time..."
Center of the battlefield.
Orochimaru was dealing with this group of Seven Ninja Swordsmen out of boredom. His ninjutsu and genjutsu might not be effective against Uchiha Itachi, but he felt dealing with three Seven Swordsmen was more than enough.
Just as Orochimaru planned to defeat Kisame Hoshigaki and the others one by one, he suddenly felt a sense of unease. Immediately after, he heard a shout, "Orochimaru-senpai! As long as you give me intel on Afei-senpai and the Ring of Void, I don't mind letting you go..."
"Just based on you lot?"
Orochimaru gave a sinister laugh, glanced sideways at Uehara Naraka, then looked at Kisame and the others holding strangely shaped ninja swords. A Kusanagi sword, over a hundred meters long, suddenly shot out from his mouth, sweeping across everything around!
Although Orochimaru didn't know what danger Uehara Naraka and the others might bring, the feeling of palpitations just now made him decide to immediately eliminate Uehara and the others and leave this place, the Land of Water, to avoid encountering any danger.
Snakes are always very sensitive to crises.
"You few, fall back!"
Uehara Naraka walked forward, grabbed the hundred-meter-long Kusanagi sword with one hand, and said coldly, "Let me have a good chat with Orochimaru-senpai."
"Yes, Milord."
Mangetsu Hōzuki and Kisame Hoshigaki glanced at each other. Zabuza Momochi clutched the wound on his body. The three of them withdrew from the battle group.
"..."
Orochimaru's snake pupils froze for a second. Looking at the approaching Uehara Naraka, even the sharpness of the Kusanagi sword couldn't do anything to the kid before him!
As expected, no ordinary ninja could join Akatsuki!
Even if Uehara Naraka was just one of the interns.
"Orochimaru-senpai, don't be so impulsive..."
Uehara Naraka walked closer to Orochimaru, looked up at those cold snake eyes, and spoke with a light chuckle, "Don't underestimate me just because I'm an Akatsuki intern... As long as you tell me information about Uchiha Obito and hand over the Ring of Void, I don't mind sparing your life!"
Orochimaru glanced contemptuously at Uehara and snorted coldly, "Hmph, if you want to threaten me, better call Pain!"
Every single member of the Akatsuki organization.
Apart from Pain and Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru didn't regard any other member highly, because he had suffered great losses at their hands.
"Then let's follow Orochimaru-senpai's suggestion!"
Uehara Naraka chuckled lightly; Orochimaru's words suited his intentions perfectly.
A black rod suddenly appeared at Uehara's fingertips. He fiercely stabbed the black rod into his own arm, forming hand seals with a pained expression, "Ninja Art: Summoning Technique!"
A summoning formula formed beneath his palm!
After the chakra black rod entered his body, Uehara instantly felt another person's chakra enter his system, probing his location!
The chakra receivers used to make the Six Paths were extremely domineering!
As the abnormal chakra within Uehara gradually dissipated, the smoke from the Summoning Technique rose, and a figure appeared before everyone from the summoning formation!
It was precisely the Deva Path Pain!
Pain's Rinnegan eyes slowly lifted, his cold voice falling upon everyone's ears, "Uehara, have you encountered some trouble?"
(End of Chapter)
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