Chapter 319: Orochimaru: You Ask Me for That During a Battle?
"I remember telling you not to keep writing, didn't I?"
Orochimaru's voice was gentle.
He had always been like this, seemingly refined and mild on the surface. But anyone who truly knew him understood that beneath that exterior, he was like a venomous snake: cold, ruthless, and dangerous.
Jiraiya's Adam's apple bobbed.
Without a word, he pushed the two hostesses beside him away. What was about to happen was clearly no longer suitable for ordinary people to witness. When ninja fought, they did not care whether innocent bystanders got caught in the crossfire.
"If I said I had my reasons for doing all this, would you believe me?" Jiraiya tried to defend himself, but even he could not convince himself with that excuse, let alone Orochimaru.
As expected, the smile on Orochimaru's face grew even colder.
The moment he saw Jiraiya, rage had surged up once more, and he could not help recalling what had happened near the Hidden Cloud Village that day.
When he thought about the idiot from the Hidden Mist Village he had encountered there, the lecherous fool who had told him he was a fan and even shamelessly asked him to sign a pair of worn black stockings, the killing intent in Orochimaru's heart became harder and harder to suppress.
Although he knew that might have simply been the other party's way of trying to shake his state of mind, Orochimaru had still given that man an extremely ugly death by using the cruelest means possible.
"Jiraiya! You really deserve to die!" Orochimaru let out a crazed laugh.
Jiraiya, who knew his old friend's temperament all too well, sucked in a sharp breath.
No, what exactly happened?
Why did Orochimaru look like he truly wanted to fight him to the death?
"Amamiya-sama."
In the Land of Snow, Uchiha Shiori quickly walked into the laboratory and handed a document to Amamiya Kenichi.
Amamiya raised a brow, then took it and glanced through it.
"At Yumiro Town in the Land of Grass, two of the Sannin, Jiraiya and Orochimaru, engaged in a fierce battle that destroyed the entire town."
Amamiya Kenichi was stunned.
He scratched his head. Why had his teacher gone to the Land of Grass? But the moment he saw Jiraiya's name, he immediately understood what must have happened.
His teacher must have found one of Jiraiya's novels.
But hadn't this matter already been dealt with before? Why had a conflict broken out again now?
Then, thinking of the books Jiraiya had published recently, Amamiya Kenichi felt like everything suddenly made perfect sense.
With the sort of books Jiraiya had been releasing lately, it would have been stranger if his teacher had not exploded in anger after seeing them.
"But Teacher is really furious this time. So what exactly did Jiraiya write?" Amamiya Kenichi was a little curious.
He thought for a moment. He had also been buying Jiraiya's novel, [The Story of Me and Princess Orochi That Had to Be Told].
It had to be said, even though Jiraiya was a total pervert, his skill as a novelist was genuinely exceptional. If placed in his previous world, he would undoubtedly have been a god-tier author on Webnovel.
His ability to write suggestive scenes was especially superb. Sometimes, from the very first line, you could tell he was hinting at something, yet you could not quite pin down any direct evidence. But the more you thought about it, the more tantalizing it became. On top of that, his character writing and pacing were excellent.
Still, compared to the earliest installments, the biggest difference now was not the structure or writing style.
It was that Jiraiya had developed Princess Orochi far too well.
Even though he never explicitly wrote what had happened to Princess Orochi, that alluring, seductive atmosphere around her was enough to make her the most popular character in the entire novel.
Yes, the serialized novels here also had character popularity polls, and Princess Orochi had crushed second place by more than fifty times, becoming the undisputed number one in every sense.
"I don't get it, but at least now I know where Teacher is." Amamiya Kenichi shook his head and put away the intelligence report.
He was not especially worried about his teacher's safety. After all, with his teacher's strength, few people in the Ninja World could truly stand against him.
"All the ninja in the capital of the Land of Snow have already been inoculated with the parasite eggs, right?" Amamiya Kenichi glanced at Uchiha Shiori beside him.
She stood there quietly, her presence so faint that if he had not seen her with his own eyes, he might have almost overlooked her.
"Yes, Amamiya-sama. All the ninja within the capital of the Land of Snow have now been inoculated with the pasasite eggs. However, one group of clan ninja refused the inoculation, and Kazahana-sama is currently dealing with them," Uchiha Shiori replied promptly.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded. That was also within his expectations.
Human beings were naturally full of all kinds of thoughts. It was incredibly difficult, almost impossible, to make everyone wholeheartedly follow the same path. So he had long anticipated that not everyone would willingly accept being inoculated with pasasite eggs.
That was precisely why he had arranged for a Shadow Clone to assist Kazahana Koyuki in suppressing those who refused to cooperate.
"Once the pasasite eggs finish developing, I can also use them to observe the degree of control they have over these ninja and gather experimental data at the same time. That really is killing two birds with one stone." Amamiya Kenichi stretched lazily.
Once all the ninja in the Land of Snow had been transformed, he would temporarily leave this place.
He was not especially skilled when it came to training ninja in the Land of Snow, but there were already instructors here, so it should not be a major problem.
Besides, if he truly wanted to start causing trouble on a larger scale, he still needed to make enough preparations first. Otherwise, things would become troublesome, and that would not fit Amamiya Kenichi's overall plan.
—--
"Snow Weasel Clan, have you decided to resist?"
Kazahana Koyuki folded her arms and looked coldly at the man before her.
The head of the Snow Weasel Clan looked at her with a grim expression, then glanced at the rows of ninja behind her. Yet the oppressive pressure those men gave off was nowhere near as terrifying as the person standing beside Kazahana Koyuki.
Dressed in a black robe, with a white mask covering his face and hiding all his features, that man was the same person who had single-handedly suppressed the entire Land of Snow, sending all those who had attempted to seize power when Kazahana Koyuki first ascended the throne straight to the Pure Land.
And now, that same man stood quietly beside Kazahana Koyuki.
"We only want to know what exactly is being injected into our veins. Is that really too much to ask?" the Snow Weasel Clan head tried to reason with her.
He truly did not want his clansmen to be inoculated with that unknown liquid.
"Do you think I came here to reason with you?" Kazahana Koyuki gave a faint smile, then subtly turned and looked at Amamiya Kenichi's Shadow Clone beside her.
"I'll leave it to you, then."
Kazahana Koyuki suppressed the agitation in her heart. She truly wanted to throw herself at Amamiya Kenichi, but she could not. She still had to maintain the image of the Queen of the Land of Snow.
"Mm."
Amamiya Kenichi's Shadow Clone did not say much. His entire purpose in coming this time was to display force. Otherwise, why would all those ninja of the Land of Snow have been made to stand behind them and watch?
The point was to use this as an example and make those people submit more sincerely to the main body. Winning hearts and minds worked much the same way.
Kazahana Koyuki watched the wailing ninja before her with an indifferent face. From the moment she accepted her master's grace, she had already, on a fundamental level, ceased to be the same kind of being as these people.
She was a more perfect ninja.
"The Snow Weasel Clan cannot be allowed to remain. Someone has to be killed to scare the rest, and the Snow Weasel Clan is that someone. Once the others see what happens to them, the rest who refuse to cooperate will obediently fall in line." Kazahana Koyuki looked at the bloody scene before her without the slightest discomfort.
On the contrary, she felt a little excited. Her body even trembled faintly.
"But what about that little girl? Hmph. She even calls Master 'Big Brother Amamiya.' How annoying. Master is supposed to be mine…"
Kazahana Koyuki cupped her flushed cheeks with both hands, and her thoughts gradually began to drift.
"Shiori-neechan, is Big Brother Amamiya still busy today too?"
At that moment, the very girl Kazahana Koyuki had been thinking about was tugging eagerly at Uchiha Shiori's sleeve.
Their names were somewhat similar, and they were clansmen as well. At first, Uchiha Hikari had not really wanted much to do with Uchiha Shiori, but because Amamiya Kenichi had said that Uchiha Shiori was one of his subordinates, Hikari had gradually tried to get closer to her.
"Miss Hikari, Amamiya-sama is also busy today. But he said he would eat with you later," Uchiha Shiori replied.
As she looked at this mysterious little girl from the clan, she could not help but feel somewhat curious inside.
She had rarely seen Amamiya Kenichi show so much concern for a single person.
Of course, Uchiha Hikari was indeed extraordinary. Even the inadvertent glimpse of the Mangekyo Sharingan in her eyes was enough to tell Uchiha Shiori what kind of genius she was.
Even within the Uchiha Clan, she would undoubtedly have been regarded as a prodigy.
And yet, Uchiha Shiori had no impression of this girl at all. Although there had been others with the same name, none of them had been a genius of this level.
"Ehh..." Uchiha Hikari pouted, but then quickly ran off.
Uchiha Shiori could only follow after her.
Even though her clansman had been very well-behaved and had never once done anything that would trouble Amamiya-sama, it was still her responsibility to stay close.
Amamiya-sama had specifically said that Uchiha Hikari was not allowed into the laboratory.
And at that moment, inside the laboratory, Amamiya Kenichi was conducting an examination.
An examination on Yayoi.
"How do your eyes usually feel when you activate the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Amamiya Kenichi asked as he looked at the man sitting before him.
Yayoi sat obediently in place, but his eyes had grown rather dead.
It was the look of someone who had already given up struggling.
"Very tired. Very uncomfortable. It feels like there are thorns stabbing into my eyes," Yayoi Yuuken answered honestly.
After being taken away, he had indeed thought about resisting. He had thought about finding some way to solve his problem.
But he had quickly discovered that he could not.
He could not even commit suicide.
The moment he had tried to use Amaterasu on himself, Yayoi suddenly realized that his body no longer seemed to belong to him.
It was a bizarre feeling. Clearly it was his own body, yet he could not control his hands, his feet, or even his eyelids.
Most terrifying of all was that he obviously did not want to speak, and yet he still opened his mouth and said something he had never intended to say.
"Yayoi, your life belongs to the King."
Yayoi could swear that he had absolutely never intended to say that line.
But he said it anyway.
And afterward, he had even slapped himself in the face.
That was when he truly realized that his body no longer seemed to belong to him.
Amamiya Kenichi glanced at the dispirited Yayoi.
This guy had clearly realized something, which was why he had become so thoroughly broken.
That would not do.
Although Amamiya Kenichi could use the parasites to influence him and make him do whatever was required, there was no way he could keep personally watching Yayoi at all times.
And right now, it was only Yayoi.
What about once there were more like him in the future?
Would Amamiya Kenichi have to spend every day acting as a human remote controller for these fools?
If that was the case, then what would be the point of building this army at all?
Indeed, soldiers without ideals or goals could not truly fight.
An army that only knew how to bully the weak and commit atrocities would have no real combat power.
Even if such people were handed the strongest ninjutsu in the world, they would still be crushed by ordinary people and end up kneeling on the ground begging for mercy.
"Yayoi, what do you think of the Ninja World?" Amamiya Kenichi asked at last.
He had already made up his mind.
What he needed were subordinates who would willingly act for a shared ideal. But he could not possibly go around giving speeches every day.
If he could properly guide Yayoi, then he could turn him into a kind of propaganda officer.
"I... I don't know..." Yayoi Yuuken looked confused.
What did the Ninja World have to do with a lowly genin like him? What he cared about every day was how to survive, how to learn stronger ninjutsu, and how to earn enough for three meals.
Maybe someday in the future, he would find a cute girl, get married, and have a child.
And after that...
There was nothing.
"The Ninja World cannot be peaceful. Genin like you are destined to become cannon fodder. You'll be sent to the battlefield, complete a few missions, and then die. If you're lucky, you may survive. But do you know how many people Konoha lost during the Third Great Ninja War?" Amamiya Kenichi set down his experimental log and spoke earnestly.
He was not making casual conversation now. He intended to teach Yayoi properly.
"…I don't know," Yayoi replied truthfully.
He truly did not know.
"Yes. You don't know." Amamiya Kenichi sneered.
Whenever people talked about the Third Great Ninja War, what came to mind were always the genius ninja and the powerful figures who had shone brilliantly across the battlefield.
As for the lives of ordinary ninja and innocent civilians?
Who cared?
At most, they became nothing more than a string of numbers.
"What I can tell you is this. Konoha alone lost many, many genin. They even sent students who were still in school straight to the battlefield back then." Amamiya Kenichi's voice remained calm.
"And you... in the end, you would only become one more of those dead ninja."
The exact figures had never been clearly recorded, but the casualties must have been enormous.
Otherwise, Kakashi would never have ended up on the battlefield at that age.
.....
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