Chapter 440: The Guidance of Destiny
"Witnessed and slightly altered the Naruto world side plot: Death of the Fourth Kazekage, obtained 10 (*2) Witness Points."
"Foolish mortal, couldn't you have called the Great Ancestor a bit earlier?" Masahiko shook his head helplessly. The man's heart had been crushed into complete paste; no matter how high his medical skills were, he couldn't save him now.
Seeing Orochimaru here was both a surprise and somehow perfectly logical to Masahiko. Ever since the man had acquired that 'power of destiny' from his blood, Orochimaru had become completely mystical and enigmatic. Nothing he did would be surprising anymore.
However, Masahiko absolutely had not expected to see another 'familiar stranger' here: Hidan!
"Lord Orochimaru, pull it out already! It stabs so hard it hurts! That guy is completely dead now!" Since the cursed target had perished, Hidan deactivated his Death Controlling Blood state.
Masahiko raised an eyebrow. Hidan addresses Orochimaru as 'Lord'? He stopped believing in Jashin and switched his faith to Orochimaru instead? Now that was quite interesting.
"Orochimaru, seeing me in a place like this, are you surprised or what?"
Orochimaru licked his lips: "You always do things that completely defy expectations, so of course it is a surprise."
Masahiko let out a chuckle and shook his head: "Then don't you plan on explaining the current situation to me? Did you manage to replicate the curse ritual of the Jashin Cult?"
Orochimaru shook his head: "It is merely setting up the formation according to the pattern. To this day, Hidan remains the only one who has successfully acquired the immortal body. It's still unclear where the issue lies. After all, there are far too few reference materials available regarding things like curses. He is just an isolated case!"
"Lord Orochimaru, you know him? Why is this guy turning cyan... Eh?"
Hidan was startled. The cyan figure in his line of sight suddenly blurred and vanished. In the very next second, a pair of hands firmly clamped onto his shoulders.
"Orochimaru, I will be over in a moment. You wait for me right here and don't wander off."
"You...!" Hidan reached back to grab at him.
The Masahiko behind him instantly collapsed, transforming into specks of blue radiance that imprinted themselves onto Hidan's right arm, manifesting in the shape of a cyan birthmark.
Hidan frowned and raised his arm: "What on earth is this piece of junk!" With those words, he pulled out a kunai to stab at the birthmark, but Orochimaru grabbed his hand.
"Keep it on your body."
"Keep it? Why, Lord Orochimaru? The color of this mark is so ugly, and the pattern doesn't look good either..." Hidan began to chatter endlessly again.
Orochimaru was well-accustomed to this and simply ignored him. He roughly understood the circumstances of the battle between Masahiko and Hitomi years ago; the sacrifice used to Reanimate Hitomi had been an immortal body from the Jashin Cult.
This time, Masahiko sealing his own chakra onto Hidan's arm was likely a precautionary measure to be safe. This was fine too; there were still many experiments left to be completed on Hidan's body... and aside from being excessively long-winded, Hidan was very 'useful'.
...
Konoha Village.
Masahiko's real body slowly opened his eyes, and a 'monkey's butt' appeared right in front of his face.
It took him a moment of daze to remember that he had been spanking Naruto's butt just a moment ago...
"It's already been several minutes. Naruto, why are you still slouching on my lap? Do you want to be spanked some more?"
"Ah!" Naruto gasped and raised his head: "Great Ancestor, you're finally moving! Why do you space out even while spanking my butt?"
Masahiko chuckled: "After doing it so many times, your little butt doesn't really hold much attraction for me anymore. Why, have you become addicted to me spanking you?"
Jiraiya shook his head with a smile: "Your subconscious was holding onto Naruto just now, and he couldn't break free. I was afraid of hurting him, so I didn't dare to help out either. Speaking of which, what was that just now?"
"Have you ever heard of the Magic Lantern Body Jutsu? It's a similar self-created Sealing Jutsu of mine, a 'Thought Body'.
If you want to learn it, I can teach you. Leave your chakra in any location, and once activated, your consciousness can transfer over. It's a very convenient jutsu... Forget it, I won't teach you after all."
Masahiko worried that once Jiraiya learned it, he would leave some chakra in the women's bathhouse... He would absolutely do something like that!
Jiraiya, however, hadn't thought of that particular application: "Then what exactly happened just now?"
"Hey! Pervy Sage, Great Ancestor, how did you two just strike up a conversation like this! Let me down first!" Naruto shouted in dissatisfaction, swaying back and forth on Masahiko's lap.
Masahiko spread his hands: "I loosened my grip ages ago. You just find lying there quite comfortable, don't you?"
Hearing this, Naruto hurriedly leapt down, pulled up his pants, and extended his hand to point toward the cliffside: "I'm going over there to take a leak."
Masahiko was startled. To think the spanking actually managed to draw out some urine; he hoped the kid didn't pee onto his lap... Fortunately, Naruto hadn't reached that level of being a brat yet.
"Go ahead." Masahiko turned to Jiraiya: "A massive incident indeed occurred, but there's no need for you to worry. It's enough for me to make a trip.
You carry on teaching Naruto the Summoning Jutsu. Bringing a tadpole to reinforce him in the Chunin Exams is a loss of face I simply cannot afford."
Jiraiya knit his brows slightly: "Senior, does it have something to do with Orochimaru?"
Masahiko paused. He actually managed to guess it? Jiraiya truly grew more steady and wiser the older he got. Having this kind of 'attribute' was truly excellent...
"It does have to do with him. This time, I will clearly figure out exactly what he is trying to do, so don't you go. Stay in Konoha. You're already fifty years old; don't stay unmarried for a lifetime because of Orochimaru... After a short while, I will call Tsunade back."
Jiraiya gave a bitter smile: "Tsunade, huh... Fifty years old... As for Orochimaru's side, I hope you can tell me the outcome—exactly why did he defect!"
Masahiko nodded and agreed. Seeing Naruto return, he waved his hand and vanished from the spot.
...
At the border of the Land of Wind, Masahiko met Orochimaru once more. As expected, he was still standing in the exact same spot without moving. However, Hidan had already left; Masahiko could sense him traveling toward the Hidden Sound Village.
"Hidan is far too noisy, Senior," Orochimaru offered an explanation on his own initiative.
Masahiko nodded. Since he had already left a precautionary countermeasure on Hidan's body, it didn't matter whether he stayed or left. What mattered more right now was...
"Orochimaru, killing the Fourth Kazekage—was that also the so-called guidance of destiny?"
Orochimaru shook his head: "No."
Masahiko was taken aback: "No?!"
Orochimaru licked his lips: "Destiny guided me to disguise myself as the Fourth Kazekage and head to Konoha to kill Teacher Hiruzen! Killing the Fourth Kazekage was merely to make the disguise more convenient..."
Masahiko knit his brows inwardly: "Then how exactly did you acquire this guidance?"
Orochimaru pondered for a brief moment: "You should have guessed it; it is the power within your blood. Back then, I acquired twenty milliliters of your blood. Fifteen milliliters were used for experiments, yielding absolutely nothing! Because I refused to accept it, I injected the remaining five milliliters of blood into my own body!"
"Taking Anko Mitarashi as a disciple, defecting, establishing the Hidden Sound Village, going to the Hidden Mist Village to find Kimimaro, and this current instance—it has given me a total of five guidances!"
"My blood actually produces this kind of effect?" Masahiko's expression turned blank and bewildered.
Orochimaru licked his lips: "It might not necessarily be guidance; perhaps it could also be called manipulation! Back when I took Anko Mitarashi as a disciple, it was entirely a subconscious behavior. As for the time I defected, it was half-subconscious and half-experimental. This time is the same. Your blood is truly far too interesting."
Masahiko's countenance grew heavy and grim. He didn't find this interesting in the slightest.
Exactly what... is the situation here?
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