CH 567

Orochimaru muttered with a playful smile, “Oh…! From the rumours of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox…?”

Because in this verse he defected earlier than in the canon, so Orochimaru personally doesn’t know anything about Naruto’s upbringing in Konoha, all his knowledge and understanding about the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi comes from the intelligence transmitted to him by the spies lurking inside the village.

And after this conversation with Naruto, Orochimaru found out that the kid is simpler than he had initially thought, rather it should be said that Naruto is much more stupid than Orochimaru had initially assumed, aside from his physical appearance, this kid doesn’t really look like that man’s son.

Seeing Orochimaru looking at him silently, Naruto shouted, “It doesn’t matter what everyone thinks of me, it doesn’t matter that you look down upon me… I will prove that I am as good as just about anyone… No, I am going to prove that I am even better, and then nobody will be able to ignore me anymore, and everyone will acknowledge me…  everyone will respect me… ya’know!”

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and questioned, “And how do you plan on doing that?”

Naruto declared loudly, “Since Hokage is the most respected person in the village, then I am going to become the greatest Hokage there is! When I become the greatest Hokage, everyone will respect me!”

Orochimaru’s snake-like eyes stared at Naruto, and his thoughts gradually drifted past.

True, Orochimaru has never been interested in the position of Konoha’s Hokage, and honestly speaking, Orochimaru’s interest mainly lies in exploring the mysteries of Ninjutsu as well as pursuing eternal life and immortality, but this does not mean that he is indifferent to the partiality Sandaime Hokage showed towards Konoha’s Yellow Flash which resulted in Orochimaru’s loss against Namikaze Minato in the Yondaime Hokage’s election.

Therefore, the reason for Orochimaru’s resentment towards Konoha and Hokage is not the fact that he didn’t become the Yondaime Hokage, but the disapproval of Sarutobi Hiruzen who was his Sensei, and the humiliation of losing to the disciple of his former friend; who is supposed to be a junior.

In Orochimaru’s heart, he may not have wanted to become the Hokage, but you still have to give the position to him, even if just for satisfying his ego!

But Sandaime Hokage didn’t do this, he directly ignored Orochimaru and chose Namikaze Minato as his successor, causing Orochimaru’s feelings to become distorted towards his Sensei and the Konoha village, and prompting him to finally let go of almost all the factors that were stopping him from treading the path of no return.

With these distorted feelings of his, Orochimaru planned out the Konoha Crush in the Cannon…

And truthfully speaking, his objective behind the Konoha Crush wasn’t actually the destruction of Konoha, rather, it was his unique attempt of venting out his dissatisfaction against his Sensei.

But in the end, Orochimaru didn’t really care whether his Konoha Crush plan succeeds or not, and Konoha is destroyed or not, because if he did, he wouldn’t have secretly killed off the Yondaime Kazekage just a few days prior to the launch of the plan as Yondaime Kazekage could have been a great ally in the plan.

By secretly killing the Kazekage, and posing as him, Orochimaru forcibly created a one-on-one fighting situation against his sensei and stopped others from interfering, then used the Forbidden Jutsu to resurrect the Hokages of the previous generation which forced Sandaime Hokage to fight against both of his former Sensei’s, Shodaime Hokage, and Nidaime Hokage and also helplessly watch the destruction of the Village…

This kind of ritualistic behaviour is nothing but venting out his dissatisfaction towards his Sensei…

‘You didn’t give it to me, right? Then I will destroy it right before your helpless eyes using the very people you respected the most!’

This is his entire thought process behind the Konoha Crush.

But on the night a few days ago, when he saw the village getting flattened by Tendo Pain’s Shinra Tensei, Orochimaru suddenly felt lost.

When he realized that what he was seriously planning for turned out to be nothing more than a momentary thought for someone on the level of Nagato, he suddenly lost interest in destroying Konoha and venting out his dissatisfaction against his Sensei, or it can even be said that his dissatisfaction against his Sensei was vented out on that night together with the destruction of the Village…

And all that Orochimaru cares about now is uncovering the mysteries of Ninjutsu and pursuing eternal life.

While Orochimaru was busy in his thoughts, Naruto called out, “Orochimaru, why did you bring the two of us here?”

Naruto’s yell pulled Orochimaru out him of his train of thought. He glanced at Naruto for a moment, then the corner of his mouth perked up unconsciously…

As a former member of the Akatsuki, Orochimaru was quite clear about Akatsuki’s intentions of capturing all the nine Bijuu, although, he didn’t know what they were going to do to control them, he can more or less guess.

And in the past few months, his doubts have become more and more clear, especially after the news of Nagato being able to absorb Bijuu Chakra inside the Gedo Statue has been made public.

Orochimaru doesn’t know what exactly will that Wooden Statue become after absorbing all the Nine Bijuu, no matter what it is, it is definitely not something that he wants the Akatsuki Organization to bring to life. As such, Orochimaru really wants the Akatsuki Organization to fail in its goal of collecting the Nine Bijuu.

At this time, Kabuto walked into the dark and damp cave, he came by Orochimaru’s side, and whispered lightly, “Orochimaru-sama, the Akatsuki Organization has leaked news through the Black Market, they seem to be interested in a Hostage exchange with us…”

Orochimaru became curious, and questioned, “What is your opinion about their intentions?”

Kabuto thought a little, then replied while pushing his glasses on the bridge of his nose, “I think they are not sincere enough… their so-called interest in hostage exchange is probably just a ruse… And what’s awaiting us at the site of hostage exchange will most likely be a deathly trap.”

Orochimaru nodded, “I feel the same…”

Kabuto asked tentatively, “So, how should we respond Orochimaru-sama… should I just ignore them… or…”

With a bit of hesitation, Orochimaru instructed, “Promise them…”

Kabuto wasn’t very surprised for he knew full well how much Orochimaru wants to obtain Uchiha Sasuke from the Akatsuki Organization before the Uchiha clan, so after a little consideration, he said, “Orochimaru-sama, let me take care of the Hostage exchange… you don’t need to personally take such a risk… Anyway, with Sasori on their side, perhaps, I can still act as a double agent…?”

“You are misunderstanding something Kabuto-kun…” said Orochimaru with a grin, as he muttered, “How can I give them the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi?”

Kabuto was taken aback for a moment, and questioned, “Does that mean you are giving up on Uchiha Sasuke?”, but immediately shook his head, and as if the thought of something, he reacted, “No, that’s not the case… you want to use this opportunity of hostage exchange to secretly snatch Uchiha Sasuke from their hands while not letting go the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi?”

Orochimaru didn’t have the opportunity to respond to Kabuto, because when Naruto heard Kabuto mentioning the name Uchiha Sasuke, he immediately said, “Hey, what do you want to do to Sasuke? Don’t you know? His brother Itachi, is a very powerful Shinobi! If you dare to bully him, he will definitely not let you go so easily!”

‘Uchiha Itachi… huh?’ at the mention of Itachi’s name, some bad memories clicked in his mind, but Orochimaru snorted coldly, and asked in his magnetic hoarse voice, “Boy… do you want power? Do you want to become stronger?”

Naruto gave Orochimaru an ‘are you an idiot? look’ and replied in an obvious tone, “Of course, I do…! Is there even a need to ask such an obvious question?”

Orochimaru’s forehead twitched upon receiving the ‘are you an idiot?’ look, but he ignored that annoyance, and spoke after turning around, “Then follow me… from now on, I will guide you in Ninjutsu.”

Although Orochimaru wants to obtain Uchiha Sasuke, he doesn’t want to give Uzumaki Naruto to the Akatsuki… but at the same time, Orochimaru knows that this is not easy, considering Akatsuki’s strong lineup…

So, Orochimaru thought about it, and finally reached the conclusion that as long as the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi is strong enough, capturing him will become difficult for the Akatsuki.

This means, training Uzumaki Naruto and making him capable of protecting himself is the best way to hinder Akatsuki’s plan.

As for the question of whether Uzumaki Naruto will become strong enough to protect himself from the Akatsuki?

Uzumaki Naruto is the son of Konoha’s Yellow Flash and Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, both of whom were incredibly talented people in their own rights. Therefore, as their son, he has to have inherited their talent.

And Orochimaru himself is also very confident in his ability to train disciples.

There are very few people whom Orochimaru has taught earnestly, and without exception, each one of them has become excellent shinobi without exception, whether it is Hyuga Kuroto, Yakushi Kabuto, or Kaguya Kimimaro.

Therefore, Orochimaru believes that if Uzumaki Naruto; being the son of those two, and the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi receives his earnest teachings, the kid wouldn’t fall behind any of those three.

Naruto was surprised at Orochimaru’s sudden words, he even believed that he had heard it wrong, and couldn’t help but ask again, “Orochimaru… did you really say what I heard you say? Do you really have no problem teaching me Ninjutsu?”

In Konoha, there are only a handful of people who are willing to talk to Naruto and treat him normally, not to mention someone who is willing to teach him… This is why, when he heard Orochimaru was willing to teach him, he was deeply moved in his heart.

Although he never said it, Naruto has always been very envious of Sasuke who has a family caring about him and many people willing to teach him.

“Yes.” Orochimaru nodded slightly and immediately walked out of the cave without giving Naruto any more chance to speak.

Receiving a positive reply, then watching Orochimaru’s back disappear, Naruto instinctively wanted to follow, but considering Hinata whom he was protecting until a while ago, he hesitated…

Hinata noticed Naruto’s desire, and also his hesitation out of her consideration, so she slowly let go of Naruto’s sleeve she was holding up to now, and said lightly, “it’s okay, Naruto-kun… go ahead… I… I will be fine…”

Although she was scared, she could see in Naruto’s eyes that he really wanted to follow Orochimaru…

Naruto still hesitated slightly, “I… uh…” he didn’t even know what to say… leaving her alone here didn’t feel right to him…

At this time Kabuto said with a smile, “Don’t worry Naruto-kun, Hinata-sama will be alright, I will take care of her. And more importantly, you have gotten a chance of being personally taught by Orochimaru-sama… don’t miss it. There are many who hope to be taught by Orochimaru-sama, but, not everyone can get such a chance even in their lifetime…”

Hinata also added lightly, “Yes Naruto-kun, I have heard that Orochimaru-sama is one of the Legendary Sannin… A shinobi who was once a candidate for the Yondaime Hokage-sama… I don’t know why he left the village, but he should be a very strong person… So, if you want to become Hokage, then he can definitely teach you something.”

Under the persuasion of Kabuto and Hinata, Naruto finally nodded, “Alright… but don’t be afraid, your family… will definitely come to rescue you…”

Hinata nodded lightly, “Yes.”

With Hinata’s nod, Naruto no longer hesitated and chased after Orochimaru’s back.

With Naruto gone, Kabuto said to Hinata, “Hinata-sama, you don’t have to worry… The Hyuga Clan has contacted us… Once the conditions are negotiated, we will let you go back…”

Hinata nodded absentmindedly because, at this time, she didn’t seem to care about her situation. She lightly glanced at Naruto from time to time and asked, “Kabuto-san… Naruto-kun… he will be fine, right?”

Kabuto pushed his glasses, and replied, “That is, of course.”

‘Even Orochimaru-sama will try to mess around with the Kyuubi…’