After the Guard Squad moved into the institute, the Creation Scroll was delivered there for safekeeping, just as agreed.
The institute would follow the same rules as the Creation Scroll itself.
If you wanted to get something, you had to pay a price.
Pay with your mind.
Pay with your knowledge.
Free lunch was not on the menu.
Inuzuka Tsume had agreed to contribute her clan's secret techniques. Even if it was only partial knowledge, the value was considerable. But Souma's original promise hadn't changed—
The technique he'd given her really was just a gift.
As for the knowledge she owed?
He had her put it on the tab for now. Later, when there was a technique she wanted, then they'd use that to trade.
Fairness.
That was the institute's core principle—especially for its own shinobi.
Tsume skimmed the contents of the Creation Scroll, and the more she read, the more shaken she became. The number of techniques Souma had researched was absurd, and the quality of each…
Every single one was worth a fortune.
Exchanging them for the Inuzuka's knowledge was more than fair. In some cases, they were even getting the better end of the deal.
That left her feeling a little ashamed.
Of course—
She wasn't so ashamed she'd turn down a good thing.
"I heard the day after tomorrow is your opening ceremony," Tsume said as she prepared to leave. "Need any help? You know we Inuzuka have a knack for reconnaissance."
"It's already all arranged. No help needed for now," Souma said. "But that day… you should come watch. It'll be quite the show."
"I'm looking forward to it," Tsume grinned, then left.
Once he'd seen her off, Souma returned to the institute.
All that was left now was to wait for the ceremony.
The event wouldn't be open to the general public.
This was a place for shinobi, and nearly everyone attending was a shinobi as well—mostly jōnin and Special Jōnin.
In any village, those people were the upper ranks.
Even so, not every jōnin or Special Jōnin could make it. Missions came first.
Souma had gone over the attendance list.
Most of those coming were free jōnin—and none of the heavy ANBU hitters like Ibiki would be there. More were shinobi Souma knew personally.
For example—
Gekkō Hayate's team of three.
And then a bunch of other scattered names. Some he didn't recognize at all.
Those were the easiest ones to replace.
On the surface, everything about the next two days looked normal for Souma.
But that was just the surface.
In reality, he hardly had a moment to spare.
Would Orochimaru show up?
Souma didn't know.
But his gut said he would—or at least, Kabuto wouldn't miss this kind of opportunity.
If there was a seventy to eighty percent chance the enemy would move, then…
He had to move first.
On the second day, Souma quietly sought out Yamanaka Inoichi and arranged a special Intelligence Division operation.
"Inoichi-san, what's this about?" someone asked in the briefing room.
"The Intelligence Division has been preparing for this for a while," Inoichi said, looking over the assembled shinobi. "We've been waiting for the right opportunity. Now, I can finally tell you—"
He turned, pointing in the direction of the Forest of Death.
"Today is a joint exercise between ANBU and the institute's Guard Squad. Objective—capture an intruder."
Forest of Death, inside the institute.
"Souma, it's about to start," someone called.
"On my way."
Souma stepped out of his room and joined the others heading to a training ground deeper in the forest—
That was where the ceremony would be held.
From a distance, he could see a number of shinobi already gathered.
There were familiar faces and unfamiliar ones.
He spread his senses, and amid the crowd, he could feel one or two signatures that were both familiar and strange.
He didn't expose them.
Not yet.
The Third Hokage was on stage, giving a speech. It was the same old formalities, the same old necessary lines. Souma stood below, listening quietly.
Eventually, the Third stepped down.
Hiruzen glanced at him and gave a small, encouraging gesture.
Souma dipped his head in response.
Thirteen years old and changeable, not very tall, he stepped onto the platform.
"Good afternoon, everyone—sensei, senpai," he began. "I'm Yagyū Souma, lead of the Konoha Research Institute. A lot of the techniques in the Creation Scroll are mine. But what I want to talk about today isn't that."
"What I want to talk about is my dream."
"I hope there will be a day when this shinobi world no longer has war."
"I hope one day, people will be free to choose whether or not they become shinobi."
"I hope everyone can learn the ninjutsu that truly suits them—
Instead of paying with their lives for a single jutsu…"
He spoke slowly, sentence by sentence.
Those weren't lines he'd prepared for effect.
They were words from his heart.
If not for the looming danger of the future, he wouldn't be driving himself this hard, forcing himself to learn and push forward.
At last, he paused.
"The reason I created this institute was to research more secret techniques—so that the really difficult jutsu can one day become jutsu that ordinary people can master."
"This isn't something one or two people can accomplish. It requires everyone's effort. So…"
"I hope all of you will join in."
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa—
Thunderous applause rolled through the clearing.
The Third Hokage clapped, a faint excitement showing on his lined face.
Among the crowd, two uninvited guests were also clapping.
Souma was up there, talking about dreams and ideals.
But once upon a time—
Hadn't they all said similar things?
"Danzo," someone murmured.
"I don't think he's putting on a show," Danzo said quietly. "He's actually doing it."
He let out a long sigh.
"How can someone be so foolish and yet so clever at the same time?"
"…"
Aburame Torune stood beside him in silence.
If it had been earlier, he would've agreed with Danzo.
Now?
He no longer felt Souma was foolish.
That child just chose to meet people with sincerity.
On another side of the crowd—
A pale man licked his lips and spoke under his breath.
"What an astonishing child."
"Hmm?" Kabuto glanced sideways.
"Don't you think so?" Orochimaru said softly. "His talent and his ideals are both so… dazzling."
At least, more than he could muster.
Orochimaru had always thought he and Souma shared some common ground—
They both loved ninjutsu.
They both sought its mysteries.
They both hungered for all knowledge.
But as for throwing his own techniques into a public pot and sharing them freely?
He knew he couldn't do it.
Souma finished speaking and bowed deeply.
The next moment—
"First of all, thank you all for coming and listening to a junior like me ramble. In particular, there's someone here who came from far away," Souma said, still on stage. "Your presence… I'm truly grateful."
"But I'm sorry—"
"I'm a Konoha shinobi."
"…?"
Orochimaru's gaze sharpened.
Something was wrong with that line.
It was referring to someone.
He swept his eyes over the crowd.
There wouldn't be many people who snuck into Konoha like he had.
Surely he wasn't talking about him…
"Orochimaru," Souma said mildly. "Don't you want to come up and say a few words?"
Orochimaru's eyes widened a fraction.
He recognized me again?!
Impossible.
And yet here they were.
He frowned slightly, but remained where he was.
On stage, the Third and Danzo turned in unison, looking toward the back.
And there—
They saw a cloud of black insects completely engulfing a "Special Jōnin's" head.
"Parasitic Rot Bugs?" Orochimaru murmured, glancing up. "Interesting. They look… different."
He narrowed his eyes.
Those bugs were not like the traditional strain.
They had chakra of their own.
So the Aburame had made another breakthrough?
No—
More likely, it was Souma's influence.
Orochimaru looked back up at the boy on stage, lips curling.
"Souma-kun, you really are a genius," he said. "But I must say, the Third and Danzo make poor partners. In this village, you will never have a truly free environment for research."
"Orochimaru, and even now you dare spout such nonsense!" the Third snapped.
Around Orochimaru, the crowd had suddenly pulled back, creating a ring around him.
A moment later, a barrier closed over his head.
A sealing barrier.
"Why wouldn't I?" Orochimaru replied lazily. "What did I say? I only stated the truth. This village has people who want to research certain things, but they don't dare. I do. This village also has people who are incompetent, yet sit in high positions…"
He let out a long sigh.
"So often, if someone had just been a little more decisive, many lives wouldn't have had to be lost."
"…"
The Third fell silent.
Orochimaru's words stabbed into his heart like a knife.
Because he wasn't lying.
If the Third had been more decisive, there had been many times Konoha could have avoided heavy losses.
But again and again, he hesitated.
And again and again, he had missed his chance.
Even now, he was still like that.
He clenched his hands, eyes hardening.
"Orochimaru. You dared set foot in Konoha—I will not allow you to leave a second time."
"Catch me first," Orochimaru smiled.
His body was distorted and shattered.
And vanished.
Nearby, the monk Chiriku frowned.
"Abbot, don't act rashly," he said. "This is Konoha's affair."
"But Souma…" the abbot began. "Huh? Where'd he go?"
Chiriku glanced toward the stage—
And realized that while everyone had been focused on Orochimaru, Souma had slipped away without a sound.
He blinked.
Could it be…?
"Everyone, don't panic," Yamanaka Inoichi said, stepping up onto the stage.
"We prepared ahead of time. This was all within expectations."
The Third suddenly remembered something.
Inoichi had indeed submitted an Intelligence Division operation plan a few days ago.
At the top it had read: Intelligence Division Practical Training Program.
So that was it.
He stepped forward.
"The ceremony is effectively over," he announced. "Return to your posts. Don't give Orochimaru any openings."
"Yes, sir!"
Voices echoed in unison.
Then—
Whoosh.
People scattered and disappeared, returning to their duties.
Danzo included.
Orochimaru's words had cut a little too close to the bone.
Right now, Danzo's heart was full of a vague, uneasy guilt, worried Hiruzen might snap and decide to take his head off.
Better to stay away for a while.
As for what Souma and the others were doing… he didn't care at the moment.
Danzo had only one thought in his mind:
Kill Orochimaru.
Right then, Souma was sprinting through the forest side by side with one of Inoichi's shadow clones.
"Got him locked?" Souma asked.
"Already locked," the clone answered. "But… can we really capture Orochimaru with just our people?"
"If he truly wants to run, even the whole of Konoha couldn't catch him."
Souma snorted. "This time, it's more like a live-fire training exercise."
"How did you know Orochimaru would show up?" the clone asked.
That was what had shocked Inoichi the most.
Souma had been so sure Orochimaru would take the bait that he'd come to him one day in advance with the entire plan.
If Inoichi hadn't trusted the boy, he'd never have agreed.
If no enemy had shown up, all their "deployment" would have turned into a massive joke.
But reality proved Souma right.
Orochimaru had indeed come.
And thanks to the information Souma provided, they had identified one of Orochimaru's shadow clones hidden among the guests.
Not only that—
When that shadow clone dispersed, the chakra feedback had given them Orochimaru's real location.
"How's mental synchronization working?" Souma asked.
"Beautifully," the clone said. "We're using it to link up and expand our sensory range, which is how we managed to keep a lock on him."
"Keep the link steady."
"Got it."
The clone dispelled.
Souma grabbed his radio and kept moving, racing forward—
Orochimaru was just ahead.
He pulled out a tag.
A Flying Thunder Formula.
With this tag in place, the Flying Thunder Formation could lock onto his location and send support.
And during the ceremony, the three Special Jōnin had all been present.
That was no coincidence.
Souma had invited them there on purpose.
Unfortunately—
Kakashi and Might Guy had been saddled with D-rank missions and couldn't attend, or Souma would've had even more backup.
He quickly closed the distance.
Ahead, the Aburame clan was already pursuing, their Parasitic Rot Bugs scattered like a net over the terrain.
Before long, on a rocky ridge—
Orochimaru continued to chain Earth Release techniques, shifting in and out of the ground.
He had already realized—
He was being tracked.
And not just followed—
But locked onto by some persistent tracking method.
"Is this that old man's technique?" he murmured. "No… probably not. His jutsu are powerful, but not this precise."
"A barrier, then?"
He turned the problem over, one possibility at a time.
But that didn't make sense either.
If it was a barrier technique—
How had Souma done it in Sunagakure?
Even he couldn't figure out how Souma was managing to perfectly, precisely track his location.
What kind of technique could do that?
"Could I really have some fatal weakness?" Orochimaru wondered.
A single time being tracked could be "carelessness."
Twice…
That was no accident.
The other side had definitely found a signature unique to him.
"Is it on a soul level?"
"So the tracking method is tied to the Yamanaka clan?"
"But I didn't see any Yamanaka around me earlier."
Bit by bit, he picked apart the clues.
The Yamanaka clan.
And with that realization came relief.
Kabuto was a reliable tool, and Orochimaru had no intention of replacing him anytime soon.
Thank goodness Kabuto had argued him into changing their infiltration plan.
If they'd gone with Orochimaru's first idea, Kabuto would probably be in chains by now—
Well, plus the part where Orochimaru used his shadow clone instead of his original body to infiltrate the ceremony.
"Yagyū Souma… really can't underestimate him at all," Orochimaru thought.
He'd nearly crashed and burned.
The corner of his mouth curled as he prepared to accelerate and leave the Land of Fire entirely.
But just then—
Tiny shapes flickered on the edge of his perception.
Parasitic Rot Bugs.
Lots of them.
And moments later, a figure closed in fast.
Yagyū Souma.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/pikachu614