Chapter 101: Oh, darling, you're all solid muscle! (Patreon)

"I need an address, Zetsu."

After the meeting ended, Orochimaru said this to Zetsu while still maintaining his Astral Projection Technique.

Akatsuki didn't require its members to stay in one place, and most of them had no idea which obscure corner the others were holed up in — so Orochimaru needed an address in order to exchange intelligence with Zetsu.

"I'll just stay at the organization's temporary base for now. Let me know once you've found Raiga Kurosuki." Kisame wasn't picky about his lodgings. As a rogue ninja, simply having a safe place to sleep — without worrying about waking up to find his own head cut off — was already more than satisfying enough.

"Same here," Juzo Biwa said flatly.

Three days later, at the agreed-upon location, Zetsu placed the intelligence scroll on Shennong into the mouth of a snake. With a puff of smoke, the small white serpent vanished on the spot.

The ever-cautious Orochimaru never revealed his own location — even when receiving intelligence, he relied on a Summoning Animal to do it for him.

Zetsu didn't care about that, though. As long as the mission got done and its goals were met, Orochimaru's little quirk was harmless enough.

An underground laboratory in the Hidden Sound Village.

Orochimaru glanced at the white snake on the floor with the scroll still in its mouth, his hands never pausing. As the scalpel bit into flesh, the man strapped to the operating table let out a low, muffled moan.

"So the operation's about to begin, hm..."

Dawn, at the ruins of the old Hidden Sky Village.

The terrain here resembled a tropical rainforest. Towering ancient trees layered over one another into a dense, heavy canopy, and sunlight only managed to filter down in scattered, star-like specks. The air hung hot, humid, and oppressive. Vines coiled around the trunks like serpents, and great slab-like roots arched up out of the soft, spongy humus. Streams wound their way through the trees, and a faint mist lingered perpetually beneath the branches.

"I hate waiting on people more than anything, Orochimaru. Do you want to die?"

Sasori stared coldly at the half-emerged figure of Orochimaru rising out of the ground.

"Heh heh... talk to me once you're actually capable of it, Sasori." Orochimaru paid the threat little mind, rising out of the earth at an unhurried pace. "Let's just finish the mission first. According to Zetsu's intel, Shennong should be right around here, shouldn't he?"

"Hmph..." Sasori gave a cold snort, tacitly accepting the suggestion.

The members of this organization really were nothing to trifle with. He himself had only joined Akatsuki after losing to that blue-haired woman — never mind their unfathomable leader, Pain. If he didn't want to die, he'd better carry out whatever tasks Pain assigned without complaint. And honestly, if he was being fair about it... staying in this organization was pretty relaxed. Good for easing into retirement.

The whole rainforest looked desolate on the surface, but underground it was riddled with interconnecting passages, hiding ancient ruins left behind by the Land of the Sky.

According to the intel Zetsu had provided, Shennong should be holed up in an underground base somewhere beneath this stretch of forest.

Sasori's fingertips twitched slightly, sending fine puppet strings snaking out across the vines and soil, instantly dismantling the hidden traps and the faint Sensing barrier laid across the surface.

Then he yanked his arm sharply upward! A huge swath of ground, roots and all, was torn open by the Chakra strings, exposing the entrance to the base beneath.

They'd come to drag someone into the organization by force, after all — there was no way they were going to politely knock and ask.

Sure enough, the moment the entrance was torn open, a figure leapt out from within and landed squarely before the two of them. It was an old man about the same age as the Third Hokage, tousled white hair spilling over his shoulders, his face deeply lined with wrinkles. This old man was none other than Shennong, ruler of the Land of the Sky — the very nation said to have been wiped out during the Second Shinobi World War.

"You're... Orochimaru, Konoha's rogue ninja? And it looks like you've brought along an interesting guest." Shennong's tone sounded mild enough, but his eyes were pure ice.

"Is this him? He looks just as weak as you, Orochimaru." Sasori's Hiruko tilted its head, sizing Shennong up, taking the chance to needle Orochimaru along the way.

"We're from Akatsuki, Shennong. Our leader has taken an interest in your abilities and would like to invite you to join us." Orochimaru ignored Sasori and laid out their purpose plainly.

Hearing of this organization for the first time, Shennong wasn't buying any of it. "Akatsuki? Never heard of it. Get going, and don't come bothering me again." Having his roof torn off had irritated him plenty, but their very stances told him both of these men were terrifyingly strong. Unless it became necessary, he had no wish to start a fight — especially not now, while the Zero-Tails still wasn't fully cultivated.

"Heh heh... looks like we'll have to fight after all, Sasori. Since you think he's weak, why don't you handle him." Orochimaru chuckled lightly, taking two steps back, looking every bit like a man with no intention of lifting a finger.

"A pointless provocation." Even as he said it, Sasori had no intention of refusing — his mood was genuinely sour right now, and taking it out on Shennong seemed as good a way as any to vent.

"Then there's nothing to discuss—" Before Shennong could finish, Sasori had already Body Flickered right in front of him.

So fast!

The thought had barely crossed Shennong's mind when Hiruko's scorpion tail punched clean through his body. The tail whipped around and slammed him hard into the ground nearby, kicking up a cloud of dust in an instant.

"Weak indeed. Your judgment is every bit as poor as your Ninjutsu, Orochimaru."

"No need to rush, Sasori." Orochimaru licked his lips.

Just then, the dust cloud burst apart, and a burly man of solid, corded muscle shot out from within it at tremendous speed. He swung a backhanded punch at Sasori; caught off guard, Sasori could only block it with his scorpion tail — yet the blow still sent him flying all the same.

The burly man was none other than Shennong. The decrepit old physician of moments ago had shed every trace of his age in an instant. The massive puncture wound in his chest was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His wild black hair whipped loose in every direction, his bare body knotted with muscle, radiating an overwhelming presence.

This was the form Shennong took after using the Zero-Tails' dark Chakra to activate the Body Activation Technique. The technique worked by activating every cell in the user's body, drastically boosting speed, strength, endurance and other bodily functions — capable of instant rejuvenation and enhanced injury regeneration, even sustaining a state equivalent to the Eight Gates fully opened.

Troublesome. The Zero-Tails' dark Chakra can't sustain this form for long right now — I'll have to end this fast... Shennong thought silently, his gaze fixed on Orochimaru off to the side.

The Body Activation Technique — a technique with abilities similar to that Uzumaki Clan child's bloodline. Orochimaru licked his lips again, his thoughts drifting once more to Genshin's body, the one that haunted his every dream.

Six years had passed now — that fruit should be nearly ripe, shouldn't it? Ah... he really couldn't wait to pluck it.

Whoosh! Shennong squared his stance and appeared instantly before Orochimaru, driving another heavy, crushing punch into his face — hard enough to cave the whole thing into a U-shape.

A movie-tier boss and an early-arc boss had just traded blows in the blink of an eye.

The tremendous force sent Orochimaru slamming into the ground, splitting the earth open with several massive cracks in an instant. The surrounding trees toppled one after another under the shockwave.

But Orochimaru was every bit the Shinobi World's Survival King his reputation claimed. A punch that would've splattered an ordinary ninja across the ground left him with nothing worse than slightly soiled clothes — because his real body had already been spat out beforehand via his Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique. The 'soil' was just the not-yet-dried mucus still clinging to him.

"This ominous Chakra... seems like you've been hiding something interesting, Shennong." Orochimaru eyed him with a touch of greed. He'd taken that punch on purpose, and he'd already sensed something.

"Get lost, Orochimaru. He's my prey." A cold voice rang out from behind him, and in the next instant, Hiruko's scorpion tail pierced clean through Orochimaru's chest from behind. The tail whipped, and Orochimaru went flying.