"Should I go too?" Sasuke asked.
The condition Orochimaru gave for returning Naruto's scroll was that Sasuke become his disciple.
Sasuke himself was somewhat tempted by the idea. However, Itachi had privately approached Minato Namikaze and told him the truth: Orochimaru's real intention in taking Sasuke as a student was to use him as a vessel for Living Corpse Reincarnation, or more precisely, as a spare body chosen for the Sharingan.
To put it bluntly, it wasn't about mentorship at all. Orochimaru was eyeing Sasuke's body.
Naturally, neither Itachi nor Minato would ever say something like that out loud.
Naruto didn't know any of this, but he instinctively disliked the idea of Sasuke getting involved with that vile snake. He immediately objected.
"You're not going! That stinking snake definitely isn't up to anything good!!"
Sasuke ignored him and looked straight at Minato Namikaze.
Minato glanced at Itachi.
The older brother calmly sipped his tea, wearing an expression that clearly said, "I don't care whether that foolish little brother lives or dies." But a seasoned ninja like Minato could read what lay beneath the surface.
"Please take care of it, Minato-sama. Don't let Sasuke do something this dangerous."
Honestly…
It was exhausting.
"Or let me go in his place, Minato-sensei," young Kakashi suddenly spoke up.
"I've also signed a contract with Ryūchi Cave. I can become Orochimaru's disciple and stay by his side as a spy. And compared to Sasuke, I shouldn't be that easy to manipulate. He wouldn't be able to take over my body."
"Who are you calling easy to manipulate?" Sasuke shot back.
Young Kakashi responded matter-of-factly. "You and Obito have very different personalities, but when something happens, both of you tend to think in extremes. That makes you especially easy targets for people with ulterior motives."
"For your sake, and for the safety of this world," he added sharply, "it's better if you're both properly protected."
"What?!" Sasuke hadn't even reacted yet when Obito jumped in, pretending to be furious and ready to argue things out with Kakashi.
Minato stepped between them and calmed everyone down.
In the end, Minato Namikaze could only temporarily placate Sasuke by saying that for the time being, he would personally lead their training and do his best to find suitable mentors to teach them properly.
He then took Naruto with him to Konoha's special sealing chamber to meet Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
Despite the name, the "special sealing chamber" was essentially an ultra-high-security prison used for extremely dangerous Missing-nin and criminals. Layer upon layer of seals were in place, and it was personally overseen by Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin. This was treatment reserved for Orochimaru alone.
Orochimaru didn't possess dōjutsu, so the seals weren't also applied to his eyes.
He knew Jiraiya far too well. With a small trick, he managed to lure him away from his monitoring range, then retrieved the scroll Kabuto Yakushi had given him from one of his small white snakes.
It was the contents of that scroll that made Orochimaru even more curious about this unknown variable.
Aside from the earlier SSS-rank mission and the list of completed targets, several newly added lines stood out and greatly piqued his interest.
Because Naruto's two new missions…were both related to him, Orochimaru?!
"This is quite interesting~"
Orochimaru closed the scroll and let out a sinister chuckle.
Originally, discovering something new and intriguing had already caused a slight shift in his plans, and he no longer intended to continue with the original Konoha Crush plan.
But he had a flaw.
The more people told him not to do something, the more it gnawed at him, making him desperate to do it anyway.
Besides, wasn't this the perfect chance to obtain firsthand test data from the mission scrolls?
Not only did he decide to carry out both missions, he even boldly summoned Minato Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki over. He didn't have to return the scrolls, but he could at least tell them what the missions were about.
He enjoyed chaos. Unlike Jiraiya and Tsunade, who were straightforward by nature, Orochimaru preferred to stir muddy waters until they became even murkier, then wait patiently for them to settle on their own.
It was a kind of exquisite anticipation.
When Minato and his son arrived, the one who came to receive them was naturally Jiraiya, whom they hadn't seen in quite some time.
"Long time no see, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Ah! That pervy old man who's always flirting with girls! Then getting chased down and dragged in front of people, only to be chewed out by Tobirama big bro in the end!!!" Naruto shouted, jabbing a finger right at Jiraiya's nose.
He was talking about what happened when they traveled back to the era when Konoha was first founded. Back then, he, Sasuke, Obito, young Kakashi-sensei, Rin, and Sakura had been training nonstop, squeezing every second they could. His dad and Tobirama were busy researching some kind of space-time technique. Whatever it was, it sounded insanely powerful.
Except for that lecherous old man.
He was never around. Minato had originally said Jiraiya would teach them, but the few times he actually showed up, it was because someone had reported him to the clan head and deputy for sneaking peeks at the Konoha women's bathhouse and causing a commotion.
Tobirama's expression back then had been something else…
Apparently, for someone as upright as him, no one aside from his own older brother had ever embarrassed him that badly.
Sigh. It was a long story.
Hearing his son immediately air his teacher's dirty laundry, Minato felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment. He rubbed Naruto's head and apologized to Jiraiya, explaining that Jiraiya was a powerful sage from Mount Myōboku and a teacher he deeply respected.
Naruto nodded, looking like he half understood.
Minato Namikaze then asked whether Orochimaru was willing to return the scroll right away.
"But I need to make this clear first," Minato added calmly. "I cannot agree to the second condition he proposed last time, regarding making Sasuke his disciple."
Naruto pumped his fist in agreement. "That's right! He's not following anyone, let alone that stinking snake! That guy is obviously bad news!!"
Jiraiya's expression dimmed slightly as he muttered under his breath, "When he was your age, he wasn't like this…"
When had things started to change? Even Jiraiya couldn't say.
Was it after he went to Mount Myōboku and mastered Senjutsu, when his strength skyrocketed?
Or was it when Sarutobi-sensei arranged for him to infiltrate Danzō's Root organization as a spy?
Leading his disciple and his disciple's son to the place where Orochimaru was imprisoned, Jiraiya removed layer after layer of seals. Only then were the two allowed to see Orochimaru inside the confinement chamber.
"A guy?" Naruto tugged on Jiraiya's sleeve. "Hey, Pervy Sage, did you catch the wrong person? I thought Orochimaru was a woman!"
The long black-haired man sitting inside slowly opened his eyes. A pair of golden, snake-like pupils locked onto Naruto.
"Naruto Uzumaki. If I weren't generally uninterested in your type, your multiple identities might actually be more worth studying than Sasuke-kun~"
That sinister, sticky feeling washed over him. It was like being a frog frozen under a giant snake's gaze.
This guy was Orochimaru, no doubt about it!!
Realizing that, Naruto immediately shouted at him, "I'll never hand Sasuke over to someone like you! Give it up already, Orochimaru!!"
As one of the Sannin and the ruthless leader of Otogakure, Orochimaru was naturally not about to be intimidated by a bristling, fox-like brat right in front of him.
Minato Namikaze fixed him with a cold stare.
"Then let's skip the small talk, Orochimaru. Did you call us here this time because you're willing to return the scroll to Naruto?"
Orochimaru let out a strange, hoarse chuckle. His voice sounded harsh and unsettling, as if his throat had once been badly damaged.
Then he suddenly tilted his head back. His mouth stretched wider and wider, his neck bulging grotesquely, as though something were being forced up from his stomach, inch by inch, pushed back toward his throat and out of his mouth.
When Naruto saw his precious scroll, coated in disgusting slime, slowly emerging from Orochimaru's mouth, his face turned green. He nearly threw up on the spot.
"That's disgusting!! It's covered in your stomach acid! It's even worse than last time when my scroll got pee on it, dattebayo!!"
Pee…?
Orochimaru's laughter came to an abrupt stop.
Minato stared at his son with a stunned, unmistakable what-are-you-saying look.
Naruto deliberately left out the part where he had already washed the scroll in a ditch during the Forest of Death. Instead, he told his dad, and Orochimaru, about how he had accidentally dropped the scroll into urine during the second stage of the Chūnin Exams.
Orochimaru, who had never been on the receiving end of a prank before, was now completely stuck. Swallowing the scroll back down felt wrong, but spitting it out felt just as wrong. He froze in place, listening as Jiraiya slapped his thigh and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"Hahahaha! Minato!" Jiraiya laughed. "Who would've thought someone as serious and boring as you, hahaha, could give birth to such a hilarious kid!"
Minato looked awkward, and more than a little helpless toward his own teacher.
"Strictly speaking, that's biologically impossible," he said dryly. "Because I'm a man, Jiraiya-sensei."
"Hahaha, fair point." The white-haired Toad Sage glanced at Orochimaru, who finally decided to spit the scroll out. "The kid's hair takes after you, but his face and personality are all Kushina. Not bad, not bad!"
Jiraiya suddenly remembered something Minato had mentioned before.
"I heard you also signed a contract with Mount Myōboku. How about it? Want to study under me?"
"Nope." Naruto rejected him without hesitation. "Mom said…"
"Hm?" What did Kushina say?
Naruto answered seriously, "Mom said to stay away from gambling, drugs, and prostitution."
"..."
This time, it was Jiraiya who froze in place. Beside him, Orochimaru couldn't help feeling that he and Tsunade had also been indirectly included in that statement.
Orochimaru glanced at Naruto and thought to himself: Is this kid really not some comedian Sarutobi-sensei sent specifically to mess with us?
"Enough," Orochimaru said in his raspy voice. "I didn't summon you here to watch you recruit disciples. Stop these pointless antics."
He continued calmly, "I called you here to inform you that there are two very interesting missions on the scroll. Both are related to me, so I decided to tell you about them personally."
"Only two?!" Naruto looked dissatisfied. "I thought I'd have three or four by now. Any S-rank ones? Don't tell me they're all D-rank missions, 'cause I'm not doing those!"
Orochimaru stared straight at him, making Naruto feel a chill crawl up his spine.
"One is an SS-rank mission," Orochimaru said slowly, "and the other is an A-rank mission~"
"SS-rank?! Really?!!" Naruto blurted out, half convinced that this creepy, slimy man was messing with him.
Minato was also visibly surprised. If that was true, it would be the first time an SS-rank mission had appeared in either Naruto's or Obito's scrolls.
He silently watched Orochimaru.
If Orochimaru was willing to reveal the missions, there was no need to ask. If he wasn't, then asking would be pointless.
Jiraiya, however, clearly lacked that kind of patience.
"Then hurry up and say it! What are these two missions? And what do they have to do with you?"
"Would you even believe me if I told you?" Orochimaru chuckled, his tone practically grinding Jiraiya's intelligence into the floor.
"Why don't I just open the scroll and let you see for yourselves?"
With that, he unfurled the scroll that belonged to Naruto…