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"Sasuke seems to be even more popular at school than you were, Kazuki-san."
"....."
If you don't speak, no one will mistake you for a mute.
As if you were all that popular with girls yourself!
If it were anyone else, Kazuki could have retorted.
But there was no way to clap back at Orochimaru. Don't be fooled by his current persona as a venomous snake, a sinister viper.
You have to understand, when this guy was little, he was an incredibly popular pretty boy.
Top grades, powerful skills, plus good looks... he had hordes of little girls in school crushing on him.
Otherwise, Jiraiya wouldn't have targeted Orochimaru since childhood—it was entirely driven by envy and jealousy.
A little analysis makes the reason clear.
Aside from his poor grades, which made him an easy counterexample to Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Orochimaru had no other conflicts.
Jiraiya had liked Tsunade since they were kids, while Orochimaru had zero interest in women.
With no competition between them, there was no inherent grudge. It was purely because Orochimaru was too popular as a child, fueling Jiraiya's deep-seated resentment.
And it wasn't just in their childhood. Even after the three grew up, among the Sannin, aside from Tsunade's natural status advantage, Orochimaru's reputation was better than Jiraiya's, and his prestige was higher.
Moreover, the Orochimaru of the past would smile and nod in response to others. Combined with his innate qualities, it was nearly impossible for him not to be popular.
Clapping back at others was one thing, but clapping back at Orochimaru? That was just asking for trouble.
However, that didn't mean it was entirely impossible to counter.
Just like that, Kazuki glanced at Orochimaru and delivered a flat, offhand remark:
"Just like you. What's the damn use of being popular?"
The smile on Orochimaru's face froze inexplicably.
He had a feeling Kazuki was thinking something very rude and offensive, but he had no proof.
"By the way, don't you have a few Kusanagi Swords? Give one to Sasuke to use. As for compensation, go directly to the Clan Head to negotiate."
He wasn't about to pay out of his own pocket for a weapon for Sasuke. Otherwise, Orochimaru would definitely be harboring some nasty scheme, waiting to spring it.
If he wanted compensation, he should go find Uchiha Fugaku!
Sasuke was his son. For his son to acquire a divine weapon, was it too much to ask the father to cough up some money or pay a small price?
"Agreed."
It was just one Kusanagi Sword. Orochimaru didn't care much.
He had several of these things in his possession. Giving one to Sasuke wouldn't make a difference.
Hell, if Kazuki liked them, he could take them all. Orochimaru wasn't particularly keen on weapon usage anyway.
So he agreed without hesitation.
As for seeking benefits from Fugaku?
Forget it. Fugaku didn't have anything he wanted. Asking for money seemed too vulgar. It was better to just gift it to Sasuke, earning a favor from both his disciple Sasuke and Fugaku.
"Alright then, Sasuke is in your hands. Also, that Karin... train her well. And stop biting people all the time."
There were plenty of ways to perform healing. Why did it always have to involve biting others and sucking their life force to heal herself?
Simply perverted.
Such behavior was downright abnormal/perverted in Kazuki's eyes.
Orochimaru nodded with a faint, ambiguous smile. He had thought Kazuki intended to train Karin up to become a good spare blood pack for the future.
Turns out that wasn't it. Instead, he was strictly prohibiting any action against Karin. No, specifically, prohibiting biting.
However, he quite agreed with Kazuki's point. A perfectly good girl, covered in bite scar marks, really wasn't aesthetically pleasing.
Having made his decision, Jiraiya began teaching Naruto the Rasengan.
Given Naruto's talent and learning pace, there was no hope of him forming the sphere anytime soon. By Kazuki's estimate, the kid would probably need at least half a year to learn it.
Like Jiraiya, Naruto was also a late bloomer. His talent would become increasingly exaggerated as he grew older, the type who became more monstrous with age.
Not like Sasuke, who had displayed astonishing talent since childhood.
What surprised Kazuki was that Naruto had actually managed to harness Sage chakra!
This was just fucking absurd. Naruto hadn't even entered Mount Myōboku for training yet, so where did this Sage chakra come from?
Could it be from Mount Myōboku?
Or was the influence of Asura's chakra on Naruto increasing again?
Kazuki wasn't overly concerned about this. For him, the greater the influence of Indra and Asura's chakra on Naruto and Sasuke, the better.
Firstly, the personal benefit: the amount of chakra he could obtain by copying them increased.
Secondly, Sasuke and Naruto growing stronger was only good for Konoha, with no downsides.
In the original story, Sasuke was overly rebellious. But the current Sasuke had a harmonious family, and the Uchiha were fine; no disaster had occurred.
With people watching over him, managing him, plus the care and concern of his family, Sasuke just liked to act cool. His personality wasn't like the original—both arrogant and rebellious, and fucking cold-blooded on top of that!
Of course, Sasuke's cold-blooded personality in the original was entirely thanks to Itachi.
Without Itachi's various forms of stimulation, without the baptism of various dark experiences, Sasuke's original personality wouldn't have deviated. Otherwise, even without Kazuki's intervention, his family—Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi—would have corrected him immediately.
"Elder, Sasuke has already awakened the Two Tomoe Sharingan."
On the road to the Hidden Stone Village, Itachi, who was accompanying Kazuki as a guard, delivered this news.
"Really? It seems Sasuke's talent is being developed. Orochimaru truly lives up to being one of the Sannin," said Shisui, who was also serving as a guard, feeling happy about this.
"Is that so? It seems the training equipment Orochimaru configured is indeed very suitable for our Uchiha clansmen. Plus, Orochimaru is a qualified teacher. He is very adept at guiding and realizing the potential of a disciple like Sasuke. In comparison, even personal instruction by our Uchiha clansmen might not have yielded progress this fast."
Awakening the Two Tomoe Sharingan before the age of ten was quite good.
It was clear Orochimaru had put his heart into it, and Sasuke had been put through the wringer for it.
Kazuki hadn't originally planned to bring Shisui and Itachi, but he couldn't withstand the persuasions of Tsunade and Fugaku, so he ended up bringing them along.
As the Hokage's Advisor, representing the village on a visit to another shinobi village to handle important matters, he needed to present the proper prestige expected of a high-ranking village official.
Thus, in Kazuki's entourage, there were three full squads of ANBU following him.
Besides that, there were also two shinobi squads dispatched by the Uchiha clan.
As Fugaku put it: "Kazuki is a high-ranking official of the village, the person with the greatest authority and influence after the Hokage. His every word and action represents both the clan and the village. Therefore, his travel safety and prestige must be guaranteed."
Fugaku looked down on the security team arranged by the village, so he dispatched personnel from the clan instead.
With Itachi and Shisui as his left and right guards, plus two elite jōnin squads, the grandeur was more than sufficient.
Those in the know understood they were heading to the Hidden Stone Village on important business. Those unaware might even mistake them for heading out to wage a small-scale war.