Chapter 290: Orochimaru: I Am Justice—The Evil Konoha Ninjas!
This public duel between top-tier players had poured boiling oil on an already bubbling pot for countless players.
Some, terrified by the overwhelming power on display, gave up on combat altogether and began planning to switch to support professions to "retire in peace."
But most were inspired instead, their fighting spirit ignited like wildfire. They began scouring the Grand Forest, the Eternal Snow Mountains, and the Dark Elf Tombs, frantically hunting monsters and searching for lord-tier bosses.
As for Sky City, post-battle—
Despite knowing that Orochimaru was the mastermind behind the ambushes, both the Navy and the ninja forces continued to fall victim to surprise attacks.
With eerie necromantic spells and immense power,
even when cornered, Orochimaru could still slip away without engaging in direct combat.
Two days later,
The furious Navy and Konoha forces agreed to join hands—to drive Orochimaru out of the Sea of Sky.
"Orochimaru, are you still planning to run?"
Tsunade, her face flushed with rage, glared at him.
His necromancer's robe could mask both presence and status, rendering Byakugan tracking useless.
It took an enormous deployment of Navy forces and the sacrifice of a rare magic teleportation device just to corner him.
"Oh, Tsunade. Long time no see," Orochimaru said with a twisted smile, gripping his staff as shadows converged around him.
Before him stood—
The Navy's three Admirals, Konoha's elites Naruto and Sasuke, and Tsunade herself.
Six top-tier players—this kind of lineup really might be enough to pin him down.
Tsunade looked at him with utter disgust.
"You betrayed and destroyed your village… tortured your own master. You've fallen completely into evil, Orochimaru."
They were once comrades-in-arms—The Legendary Sannin. Now, they stood on opposite sides, irreconcilable enemies.
Orochimaru licked his lips, voice mocking.
"And you talk about betrayal? You are the traitors. You colluded with the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans to break into the prison and free Sarutobi Hiruzen—a convicted criminal, lawfully sentenced by the daimyo. Is that not a betrayal of the village?"
Tsunade was momentarily speechless.
By strict logic, Orochimaru wasn't wrong.
Konoha, after all, was under the authority of the Land of Fire. Orochimaru was appointed acting Hokage in accordance with the daimyo's will—fully legal.
They were the ones who attacked a government facility and freed a prisoner. They were the traitors to Konoha.
Jiraiya stepped forward, eyes filled with grief.
"The daimyo was manipulated by you. You bathed your hands in the blood of your comrades. You've crossed a line."
His relationship with Orochimaru…
Was like that of Naruto and Sasuke—childhood bonds, battlefield brothers.
The difference was that Sasuke hadn't fallen as far. The Reincarnation Game had given him hope to grow stronger, and Naruto had the will to bring him back.
But Jiraiya…
His eyes dimmed. He hadn't brought his friend back.
He had let Orochimaru commit unforgivable sins.
And now, he would have to bury his old friend with his own hands.
Off to the side,
Akainu, who already held a low opinion of ninjas, watched the scene coldly and sneered in his heart.
"Ninjas... rats in the gutter. Traitors and butchers. One day I'll purge them all from the deck of my warship."
"Blood?" Orochimaru raised a brow and opened his hands in mock confusion.
Jiraiya replied coldly,
"You experimented on civilians to harvest Reward Points. Your dark arts have led to widespread death across the Land of Fire. You even teach forbidden techniques to anyone, setting yourself against every ninja clan. You dare deny it?"
Information traveled quickly in the ninja world—
Especially with both Konoha in the Land of Hot Water and the Fire Empire possessing Byakugan clans. Intelligence was precise.
"Jiraiya, you're still just as naive as ever," Orochimaru sneered.
"Every single one of those civilians volunteered. I never forced anyone."
"That's impossible!"
"There's no such thing as impossible. Konoha's destruction… eternal life… and you still don't get it?"
Orochimaru's voice was calm, even soft—but it carried an unnerving charm.
"Volunteering for human experimentation—how ridiculous. You think I'm that easy to fool?" Jiraiya's voice trembled with fury.
He had traveled the world and knew well the suffering of ordinary civilians.
Crushed by taxes from daimyo, exploited by nobles, preyed upon by bandits, caught in the crossfire of ninja wars—and still they clung to survival. How could anyone like that willingly choose death?
Orochimaru laughed—and said something truly cruel.
"They volunteered… because of you."
"The ninja villages?"
"A pitiful joke. You're no different from the nobles—leeching off the people like parasites."
"Just because you don't see it doesn't make it clean. All the grain and riches given to you by the daimyo—where do you think they come from?"
"I simply offered them—those crawling in the dark depths—a way to climb upward."
Like the Game Merchant did for people like him.
This, to Orochimaru, was salvation.
His laughter grew colder—like a venomous snake bewitching its prey.
Jiraiya said nothing.
He couldn't argue. Orochimaru wasn't wrong.
Even the lowest-ranking genin, unfit for the front lines, required support from several civilians.
Jiraiya had seen it with his own eyes.
"And when I wiped out the ninja clans of the Land of Fire and taught the people ninjutsu, giving everyone the chance to become strong… was that wrong?"
"You're insane!" Jiraiya snapped. "The more ninjas exist, the more resources are needed. You'll collapse society!"
Even Tsunade's expression darkened.
She'd long known of Orochimaru's radical actions, but hearing it spoken aloud hit harder than any report.
"You're the foolish ones."
Orochimaru turned toward the Navy, smiling eerily.
"I actually envy your world. So rich in resources. You don't need to build. Just take."
Two days ago,
He had captured a Navy soldier and used necromancy to torture information out of him while keeping him alive.
Vast oceans. Endless islands. Countless nations.
If given the chance, he would absolutely extend the Fire Empire's reach to that world.
"In the Land of Rain."
Orochimaru casually revealed a secret.
"It's where your former student abandoned the ninja system. Just like me—he now teaches ninjutsu to the people. Or maybe… I learned from him."
"Those with talent are conscripted into the army."
"The rest—those barely genin-level—are used for agriculture, construction, land development."
"Those once-useless genin? With just a bit of chakra extraction, they're now farming machines—producing more than regular people ever could."
"If I didn't control the most fertile lands of the Fire Country, they might've already surpassed me in value."
Yahiko and Konan had led the Akatsuki to fully transform into a nation.
Quietly developing from the shadows.
But now Orochimaru had exposed them—deliberately.
If the Fire Empire was becoming the world's main target, he needed someone else to share the heat.
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