Chapter 58: The Kakashi Incident

In front of Orochimaru, Shita Genichi kept a very low profile.

Within the ecosystem of Konoha Village, the status of the Legendary Sannin was exceptionally high.

Orochimaru himself possessed a terrifying level of strength.

Just because Orochimaru would later be defeated instantly by Uchiha Itachi using a genjutsu did not mean that Orochimaru was weak.

Kakashi was a true genius—a jounin at age thirteen, renowned in the ANBU with the moniker of Konoha's Copy Ninja.

Yet when Orochimaru defected, even while injured, a single glance from him froze Kakashi in place, leaving him too terrified to move.

Even during the Konoha Crush arc, Kakashi held extreme wariness when facing Orochimaru.

To Shita Genichi, Orochimaru did not seem terrifying at all; on the contrary, he gave off a rather gentle impression.

However, Shita Genichi could sense the cold-blooded ruthlessness and sheer terror hidden beneath Orochimaru's gentle exterior.

This was the intuition of a shinobi.

Despite maintaining a low posture, Shita Genichi was by no means servile.

Walking one behind the other, the two left the core area of Konoha and entered the surrounding mountainous forest.

This was Konoha's back mountain.

Half-concealed by trees, an underground entrance appeared—not particularly clandestine.

Shita Genichi guessed this was one of Orochimaru's superficial experimental bases.

Following him into the facility, Shita Genichi soon beheld numerous glass jars of various sizes, displayed before his eyes like museum exhibits, leaving him dazzled.

Some contained complete bodies, others specific limbs, and some held specimens so bizarre their biological origin was unrecognizable.

Naturally, the most numerous were snakes, especially white-phosphorus snakes.

"I wonder if the Eight-Branched Giant Serpent has been successfully cultivated yet..."

Shita Genichi speculated inwardly.

Although Orochimaru had not transplanted various kekkei genkai cells, and outwardly seemed not to have even utilized the Eight-Tails chakra he had acquired—since Orochimaru bore no Eight-Tails chakra within him—both the Yamata no Orochi and Orochimaru himself, transformed into a white-phosphorus giant snake, nevertheless possessed the traits of the Eight-Tails.

Compared to Yakushi Kabuto's crude transplantation of various cells, Orochimaru's methods were astonishing and fascinating, truly mastering the power and mysteries hidden within various bloodline limits.

"This is..."

Suddenly, Shita Genichi stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on a massive glass jar.

Immersed inside was unmistakably a gigantic bull's horn.

The horn of the Eight-Tails!

Shita Genichi subconsciously swallowed hard.

I want it so badly!

Orochimaru stood to the side, smiling faintly. "Genichi-kun recognizes it?"

Shita Genichi replied, "Not entirely certain."

"We encountered the Cloud Village's tailed beast jinchuriki during a mission."

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Oh... Heh, to complete a mission while encountering a tailed beast jinchuriki, you truly live up to the name of Konoha's White Fang."

Shita Genichi smiled. "My teacher is extraordinary; even the son of the Third Raikage was no match for him."

Yet inwardly, he couldn't help muttering: Compared to how you secretly murdered the previous Eight-Tails jinchuriki, that was merely a minor affair.

"Does Genichi-kun desire this horn of the Eight-Tails?"

Orochimaru asked.

How acute his insight was.

Shita Genichi feigned a brief hesitation before nodding. "Senior, I have previously witnessed the power of a tailed beast. The Eight-Tails jinchuriki was heavily wounded by my teacher. For an ordinary shinobi, such injuries would prove fatal unless Lady Tsunade was present, yet as a jinchuriki, he was able to recover rapidly."

The recovery ability of a jinchuriki was indeed monstrous.

And the Eight-Tails possessed formidable survival skills.

Plotting against a tailed beast was exceedingly difficult, but after encountering Killer Bee, Shita Genichi had recalled that Orochimaru had once cultured an Eight-Tails horn.

This might be a viable path; even a single horn was superior to the Zero-Tails.

"Heh, the power of a tailed beast is naturally extraordinary."

Having researched and cultured a horn from cells, Orochimaru understood the power of the Eight-Tails better than anyone.

He chuckled softly, "However, the power of a tailed beast is not something an ordinary person can withstand."

"Genichi-kun, what do you plan to trade for it?"

Shita Genichi fell into deep thought.

Naturally, he possessed certain items of intelligence that could be used for trade.

However, producing such intelligence at this moment did not align with his current identity.

Though, in truth, it wouldn't matter much since Orochimaru would hardly share it with others.

Yet doing so might excessively draw Orochimaru's attention.

Was there any need to do that right now?

Not at all.

Wouldn't it be far better to wait until the future and acquire it effortlessly by leveraging future knowledge?

Therefore, Shita Genichi shook his head and answered honestly, "Senior, I'm afraid I don't have anything suitable to trade at the moment."

"Although I have developed a few ninjutsu, they are likely insufficient to trade for this, and I doubt senior would find them interesting."

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru smiled indifferently. "Then we shall wait until you have sufficient chips. I believe in you!"

With that, the tour continued.

...

Emerging from the experimental facility, Shita Genichi held a scroll in his hand—it was the data on human experimentation traded from Orochimaru.

By now, he had met all three members of the Sannin.

And Orochimaru was by far the hardest to get along with, even though Tsunade seemed to have a worse temper.

Under Orochimaru's gaze, Shita Genichi always involuntarily felt like he had become a hunted prey.

Orochimaru was a profoundly dangerous individual!

"Good thing I have cheats..."

Shita Genichi leaped away.

Konoha Hospital.

Watching Shita Genichi return with a scroll in hand, Tsunade asked directly, "You collaborated with him?"

Shita Genichi shook his head. "How could I possibly have the qualifications?"

"I traded for this data using the cells of a shinobi with the Boil Release kekkei genkai."

Tsunade looked surprised. "Cells of a Boil Release kekkei genkai user?"

Shita Genichi retrieved a small sealing scroll from his ninja tool pouch, opened it, and took out its contents.

Blood, bone marrow, and several corpses.

Shita Genichi smiled. "They are all from Cloud Village."

"This is the blood and bone marrow of the Boil Release shinobi."

Tsunade nodded, then remarked, "The probability of a successful tissue match is very low."

Shita Genichi replied with an unconcerned smile, "I know."

"Even so, perhaps we can still extract some information regarding the kekkei genkai from his cells, can we not?"

"If we can research a method to practice this bloodline limit through such means, it might be even better."

Tsunade nodded, and the two set to work.

A shinobi's corpse and cellular tissue could harbor a wealth of information and intelligence.

Had he not brought back a captive, these Cloud Village corpses would likely have had to pass through Konoha's torture and intelligence division first.

Shita Genichi began by conducting tissue matching and comparisons.

Naturally, luck wasn't favorable enough for a direct match.

Another failure.

This time, Shita Genichi took it completely in stride, following Tsunade's routine to conduct research.

He even used Orochimaru's snakes to transmit letters for exchanges regarding their research.

He had to admit, Snake Auntie was simply wonderful—answering every question asked.

After a while, Shita Genichi felt a strong impulse to simply defect and join Snake Auntie instead.

When it came to research, Tsunade truly lagged far behind Orochimaru.

Or perhaps, everyone had their own specialized field.

...

Time flew by as autumn yielded to winter.

Missions grew increasingly busy, to the point that Shita Genichi's time for training and research constantly shrank.

Moreover, Shita Genichi sensed that the geopolitical situation in the ninja world was shifting step by step.

It seemed that the great war had concluded long enough ago that, with their strengths recovering, various ninja villages were beginning to grow restless once more.

On this day.

Just as Shita Genichi finished a mission, he hurried through the falling snow to Konoha Hospital.

Upon seeing Shizune, however, he received alarming news from her: Kakashi had been injured and hospitalized.

"What happened?"

"Is Kakashi badly hurt?"

Shita Genichi asked in quick succession.

Shizune replied hurriedly, "Kakashi's physical injuries aren't severe, but... but his mental state is not very good."

"Because his entire squad—everyone except him—died in battle."

What?

Shita Genichi's face froze in utter shock.