"Ah?" Even with Orochimaru's intelligence, he was baffled by Danzo's reaction.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Danzo was furious. In his view, if Orochimaru hadn't actively leaked the information, how could that bastard have arrived so coincidentally?
Moreover, he had never heard of any interaction between Orochimaru and Setsuna before. Now the other party was visiting late at night, it's clearly premeditated.
"You won't catch me that easily." Danzo threw down a threatening remark and quickly threw a smoke bomb to escape.
"What's wrong with that old bastard?" Orochimaru was speechless as he blew away the smoke, but he knew Danzo's stress response was likely related to the person outside the door.
'To be able to scare Elder Danzo like that is truly remarkable.' Orochimaru licked his dry lips. Hearing the voice outside the door again, he said, "Please come in."
Setsuna pushed the door open, looked around, and sighed quite regretfully: "I thought I heard Elder Danzo's voice just now. Was it an illusion?"
Orochimaru neither confirmed nor denied it, simply asking: "Aren't you going to introduce yourself first?"
"Oh, how rude of me." Setsuna said, 'realizing belatedly'. "My name is Chiaki Setsuna. I am a Genin who admires you, Orochimaru-sama. I came here to recommend myself to become your assistant."
"Assistant?" Orochimaru's expression turned odd. "I heard that you seem to have no talent for Ninjutsu, Setsuna-kun?"
Setsuna nodded: "I indeed have no talent for Ninjutsu. But what I want to learn from you, Orochimaru-sama, isn't Ninjutsu, but science."
"Science?" Orochimaru's expression grew even stranger. Although technological products like televisions and refrigerators were not uncommon in Konoha, for Ninjas, science was still a rather niche term.
Setsuna continued: "I heard from Elder Danzo that you seem to have conducted many experiments on human cell transplantation, Orochimaru-sama. I would very much like to participate."
Orochimaru frowned: "He told you that?"
Setsuna spouted nonsense with a straight face: "I heard him mention it when I was beating him up."
"Beating him up?" The corner of Orochimaru's mouth twitched slightly. He asked again: "Then what can I gain? An assistant who can't use Ninjutsu doesn't seem very valuable to me."
Setsuna said sincerely: "I can give you, Orochimaru-sama, an opportunity to research me."
"Research you?" Orochimaru was very surprised. This was the first time he had seen someone actively invite another to research themselves.
"I consider myself to have some research value." Setsuna extended his right hand. "Could you cut my palm, Orochimaru-sama?"
Orochimaru did not refuse Setsuna's self-harming request. A small snake suddenly shot out from his sleeve, lunging at the web between Setsuna's thumb and index finger.
With a crisp snap, the snake's fangs broke, and the snake twisted in pain.
Orochimaru's expression turned serious. This was a specially bred venomous snake with a bite force comparable to a leopard. But it actually couldn't even bite through Setsuna's palm.
After a moment's thought, the Kusanagi Sword slid out from his sleeve. Holding the long sword, he stabbed at Setsuna's palm. It took considerable effort to finally make a shallow cut on Setsuna's palm.
Then, the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"This kind of life force..." Orochimaru's eyes blazed with passion. He finally understood why Danzo was so obsessed with obtaining Setsuna.
It wasn't just the life force, Setsuna's defense was also comparable to Steel Release.
Such a body could indeed become the perfect vessel for bearing Wood Release.
Most crucially, this level of cell activity might aid his immortality experiments. Eternal life was his highest pursuit.
Orochimaru scanned Setsuna's body with a greedy gaze and asked with ill intent: "What if I'm not satisfied with just research and want to perform some experiments on your body, Setsuna-kun?"
"Then you would have to be careful, Orochimaru-sama." Setsuna smiled 'simply' and said very sincerely, "Because before that happens, I would beat you to death, Orochimaru-sama."
Hearing this, Orochimaru didn't get angry. Instead, he laughed: "It seems both of us will have to be careful in the future."
Setsuna smiled: "It is truly my honor to become your assistant, Orochimaru-sama."
Orochimaru took out a scroll: "It seems you don't have a summoning contract yet, Setsuna-kun? Would you like to make a contract with Ryuchi Cave?"
Setsuna hesitated slightly: "The Summoning Technique should be more difficult than the Three Basic Techniques, right?"
Orochimaru smiled: "Of course, there is no Ninjutsu simpler than the Three Basic Techniques. But the key to the Summoning Technique lies in the response. If you can negotiate the offering with a summoned creature in advance, even if the summoning signal is very weak, it will answer your call."
"Is that really possible?" Setsuna became interested. He didn't care what summoned creature he could call, unless it was the White Snake Sage. After all, other summoned creatures wouldn't be stronger than himself.
What he truly cared about was the Reverse Summoning Technique. Although the Reverse Summoning Technique had significant limitations, as without prior preparation, one needed to first summon the animal to inform it of the intent, then end the summoning for it to return, and finally perform the reverse summoning, so using this move to evade Ninjutsu was mostly impossible… But that was for ordinary Ninjas.
Ordinary Ninjas had too weak physiques and couldn't hold out until the Reverse Summoning Technique took effect. But with his physical strength, enduring a few rounds of ultimate techniques wouldn't be a problem, not to mention he still had Senzu Beans.
He could definitely hold out until the Reverse Summoning worked.
Orochimaru smiled: "Of course it's possible. But the prerequisite is that you have sufficient offerings. Snake summons are very cold-blooded."
Setsuna certainly understood what Orochimaru meant by offerings. It was probably like Manda, demanding live humans as offerings when summoned.
He would never agree to such demands. Moreover, not all snake summons were as ferocious as Manda, as there were also snakes like Aoda who admired strength.
"In any case, you can try first. Perhaps a weak summoned creature will actively respond to the contract." Orochimaru smiled, somewhat looking forward to the spectacle.
If only snake summons had a tadpole stage like the toads, he would have loved to see Setsuna's embarrassment summoning a tadpole.
Setsuna signed his name on the scroll, then bit his finger and began forming hand seals to summon.
The next moment, a giant purple snake appeared before the two, bursting through the wooden hut.
"Sss, such delicious blood!" The giant venomous serpent let out a pleased moan, its dripping saliva corroding the ground.
'Oh, it's actually Manda...' Setsuna was not unfamiliar with the giant snake before him and guessed inwardly, 'Is it because my blood carries the aura of the Shenron?'
Manda said in a greedy tone: "So it's just a brat who summoned me? Your blood is quite good. If it's you summoning me, providing fifty offerings will be enough."
The corner of Orochimaru's eye twitched wildly, 'This guy Manda actually actively responded to Setsuna's summons, and the required offerings are only half of what he demands from me?'
Orochimaru felt as if he was being cuckolded right in front of his face.
Meanwhile, Danzo, who had been running frantically for over ten kilometers, finally stopped. He looked back, frowning and muttering to himself: "He didn't chase after me? Could it be that brat really wasn't setting me up?"
Recalling Orochimaru's reaction at the time, Danzo felt increasingly that something was wrong: "Was it really just a coincidence? But regardless, seeking out Orochimaru late at night... that brat is definitely not the pure and kind person Hiruzen claims. Everyone has been deceived by him."
Danzo judged others by himself. How could someone who acted like him possibly be a good person?
But the more this was the case, the more wary he became of Setsuna. After all, he knew very well how frightening people like him could be when they had no bottom line, especially when the other party also possessed such powerful strength.
With this in mind, Danzo sighed: "Forget it. Orochimaru can't be trusted now either. I can only give up for the time being. When the war starts and Konoha suffers defeats, Hiruzen will naturally understand my suggestion."