Orochimaru should pay attentions

"Who are you?" Several Ninjas appeared in front of Naruto's team and asked in a gloomy tone.

"Konoha's Root, come to trade." Naruto handed Oto Ninja the token.

After a while, Ninja nodded and led Naruto into Otogakure.

The residents were used to it and did not affect their lives because of the arrival of Naruto and others.

Otogakure had his system and did not need to trade with outsiders. The internal agriculture was enough for the villagers to digest.

Compared to the villagers of Konoha, Otogakure's villagers were more desireless.

After all, they had been through days of wandering and starving, and their requirements for life were already so low that it made one's hair stand on end.

"Eh" In the crowd, a cry of surprise quickly attracted the attention of Naruto's team.

They saw a boy holding a stall looking at Naruto with a stunned expression on his face.

He wanted to greet them, but when he noticed the teammates next to Naruto, he immediately changed his expression and exclaimed with surprised admiration, "Wow, so cool! They're ninjas from other villages!"

The boy's innocent words made the suspicious Neri withdraw her gaze.

She just treated it as a kid who had not seen the dead.

This boy was the child who lived with Haku.

He rolled his eyes a few times, then ignored the stall and ran home.

"Naruto-sama is here? And with ninja from the village?" In their home, while preparing lunch together with Karin, Haku chuckled and covered his mouth. "It seems this time he's come representing Konoha to carry out a mission."

"Isn't Konoha just a bunch of bad guys?" The boy said indignantly.

His family and his sister's family were torn apart because of Konoha's war.

When Konoha fought against the other villages, some of them were also forced to fight.

Compared to major ninja villages, small ninja villages lack sufficient resources and strength. Even a small-scale conflict could potentially push a small ninja village to the brink of collapse.

The boy's parents died in the war, and from then on, they had a bad impression of the major village.

But he doesn't dislike Naruto. He admires him.

It's because he learned about Naruto's ambitions from Haku.

He also regarded Naruto as a great hero who shouldered the burden of saving the world.

Although Naruto was wearing a mask, he still recognized Naruto from the bright blond hair and familiar Reiatsu.

"Fortunately, I was clever and pretended not to recognize him. Otherwise, Naruto would be exposed!" The boy danced and exaggeratedly received the credit.

"Yes, yes, you're the best, Kanon." Haku gently stroked the boy's hair and looked at Karin. "Karin, it seems like you'll have to be patient. It seems that Naruto-sama has something important to attend to."

Karin immediately became depressed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The young girl had been training very hard during this period to let Naruto see the results of her hard work.

Thus, she was praised.

"It's fine, Sister Karin. Although you are not as good-looking as Brother Haku and you are also silly, Lord Naruto will still smile at you." Kanon stood on tiptoe, touched Karin's hand, and comforted her.

After some guidance, Naruto's team arrived at the hidden laboratory area.

After going through layers of stairs and corridors, they were finally going to see Orochimaru.

Throughout the journey, Neri remained tense and on edge, her muscles tight with nervousness.

He would even remind Naruto and Rock Lee in a soft voice,

"Be careful later. If the situation is bad, retreat immediately."

Facing the terrified Neri, Naruto gently comforted her, "Don't worry, Root and Orochimaru's business relationship is still very firm. He won't do anything to us. All we have to do is complete the deal."

"..." Hearing Naruto's comforting words, Neri suddenly felt very unhappy.

She had grown up with Root, and she had almost forgotten about life and death.

Why did Naruto appear to be even calmer than her in this mission?

Was he really not afraid of death?

No

He was too cute and new!

He had no idea how terrifying a powerful expert like Kage-rank was.

Neri recalled the details she had studied with Orochimaru in the past, and she was shocked.

Back then, Orochimaru held the organs of a ninja in his hands, his long, crimson tongue gently licking them, speaking in an intoxicated tone:

"This fishy smell is a bit heavy. It seems that research will have a certain effect on the organs. Let me experience it again."

When she thought of the scene from back then, Neri could not help but feel her hair stand on end.

She thought that her research was already very disgusting, but she did not expect that someone was even more excessive than her.

That scene was imprinted in her mind, and she could not forget it for a long time.

From then on, she had included Orochimaru on the inviolable blacklist.

So.

She spoke in a solemn tone, with the demeanor of a senior, saying, "You haven't had any direct contact with Orochimaru, so you don't understand his terror. I have worked alongside him, and this mad scientist might dissect you without a second thought. So, caution should always come first in all matters."

"Sugoi! Insect Queen, you worked with Orochimaru, so who is more outstanding in your research ability?" Rock Lee was interested and asked exaggeratedly.

"Research ability?" Neri snorted coldly, "In terms of scientific research, I will not lose to anyone!"

"Hmm? I have a question," Naruto said, looking pensive. "When Orochimaru defected, you must have been quite young, right?"

No matter how he calculated, the age of Neri at that time would not exceed six years old.

"Ahem!" Neri blushed and changed the subject.

In the laboratory.

Orochimaru sat elegantly on a chair and gently wiped the blood off his hands.

Just before that, Orochimaru's subordinates had already provided information about the arrival of Naruto's team.

"It seems that Naruto has done a good job. That old guy Danzo sent him directly to receive Hollow." He couldn't help but sigh.

Having worked with Danzo for a long time, he naturally knew how difficult it was to obtain Danzo's trust.

That guy was suspicious and greedy.

Even when facing the person he trusted the most, he still had a trace of doubt.

For Naruto to be able to obtain Danzo's trust in such a short period of time, it naturally proved his ability.

This made Orochimaru feel more at ease with his cooperation.

In addition to Naruto, Orochimaru also had a target he was interested in.

Neri.

There was a look of reminiscence in his eyes.

He vaguely remembered that before he defected to Konoha, he was still helping Root with some experiments.

At that time, Root sent a lot of researchers to assist him.

Although it was called a helper, more of it was surveillance.

It was just that these so-called scientific talents had poor talent, and after following them for a few years, they were all trash.

Later on, Root quietly started a scientific research plan.

The so-called scientific research talent plan was.

Send the children of Root, who were four to ten years old, to the laboratory and let them learn from the scientific researchers.

Let them win at the starting point.

Therefore, from another perspective, these children were also Orochimaru's disciples.

Root didn't have many scientific talents, and there weren't many outstanding ones.

Among these children, some stand out despite their short stature.

However, what left a deep impression on Orochimaru was that Neri was completely different from the other children.

As a child of the Aburame family, Neri had cultivated his body into a bug nest since he was young.

The children of the Aburame family were generally relatively calm and indifferent, which was more in line with the characteristics of scientific researchers.

Neri was the same.

As soon as she came to the laboratory, she did not show any fear. Instead, she calmly observed her surroundings, her muscles tense.

Obviously, she was ready to run away at any time.

Orochimaru had never seen such a spineless child, and he immediately became interested in her.

After that, Orochimaru showed his scientific research talent, which almost scared the little brat Neri out of her wits.

Neri made him find a little childhood fun, so the impression is quite deep.

Of course, the most unforgettable thing for him was that in an experiment, he gave an experimental question to the children of Root's scientific research genius plan.

Dissect the human body.

While the other children were exploring with 'seriousness', Neri stepped on the chair and very seriously controlled the insects to move the organs of these corpses, muttering,

"Hmph, these are extremely precious research materials. It's not good to waste them. I want to steal them all."

She would create some noise to attract the attention of other children and then order the insects to steal the organs.

In the end, Neri's table was filled with all kinds of organs.

The little girl smiled like a fool, lying in the organs, looking like she had obtained the world.

This scene had never left Orochimaru's mind.

When he defected later, he even considered taking Neri away.

It was just a pity.

He missed this opportunity.

Neri should be considered one of Konoha's few scientific geniuses.

He wondered if she had been put in an important position by Root.

Thinking of this, Orochimaru secretly shook his head.

With Root's scientific research and teaching ability, it would be difficult for Neri to get enough resources.

"Clack!" While Orochimaru was thinking, the door opened and entered Naruto's team.

"Welcome!!" Seeing the familiar faces, a twisted smile appeared on Orochimaru's cold countenance as he approached them.

While Neri tried to change the subject, the emotionally naive Rock Lee couldn't contain his excitement and kept asking, "Hey, hey, hey! When you were so young back then, could your research abilities compare to Orochimaru's? You're truly amazing!!"

Rock Lee was very excited.

All along, Neri had been an extremely cowardly rookie Ninja.

He didn't expect that he had misunderstood her.

So Neri was a scientific genius!

"Ahem, although I was young at that time, my scientific research strength was not bad," Neri said awkwardly with a straight face.

"Clack!" At this time, they walked to the end and opened the door.

Orochimaru welcomed them and expressed his welcome. His eyes fell on Neri. "Long time no see, little brat."

"Little brat" Hearing this, Rock Lee, who had already regarded Neri as a companion in his heart, suddenly stood up indignantly.

"Mr. Orochimaru, you have to pay attention to your words. The Insect Queen standing in front of you is no less than your scientific genius!"

"..." Neri expressed that he wanted to dig a hole and get in.