384 Orochimaru's Hideout

Jirobo who was standing outside also felt a little bloodlust. Since he wasn't in the room and the bloodlust wasn't focused on him, he quickly ran inside and saw Orochimaru giving a side eye to Tayuya while she was just standing in her place shivering and covered in sweat.

"Please forgive her Lord Orochimaru." Jirobo begged as he gave a bow. Orochimaru showed no anger on his face, in fact, the smile on his face got wider but Tayuya and Jirobo both knew that it wasn't a good sign.

Just when they thought that their heads were going to fly, Orochimaru calmed down and the blood lust disappeared as well with it.

He looked again at Kabuto and said "Where am I going to get an assistant as competent as him I have already used most of my precious materials on him. The monster who wreaked Havoc in the hidden mist was truly something I had never seen. You 4 did a good job by collecting his blood and flesh that had scattered around near the battlefield."

Tayuya gave a small bow and said "We maintained a good amount of distance when everyone was fighting the monster and even when Yami Uchiha was handling the monster alone. After the big explosion when the big bat took Yami Uchiha's half-dead corpse away, we sneaked in and just picked up any samples we could find. The best thing was the blood didn't mix or get diluted at all after falling in water so most of the samples were obtained from shallow water."

"The flesh that you guys brought saved Kimimaro from death. He was doomed to die before and even I had given up but the nourishment and energy just a fist-sized piece of flesh had was tremendous. I hope all of you are keeping an eye if a monster like this ever appears." Orochimaru asked.

"Y-yes yes...Orochimaru-sama we have spread our people all over except the 5 great villages. They are gathering information on anything related to that monster." Tayuya said to which Orochimaru said "It's been 3 years and you haven't found a single thing. Are you planning to become my test subjects?" He looked back as he said that and this time there was no smile on his face.

"No..No Orochimaru-sama we tried to track the traces of the monster but it led to the Jashin cult and every member of that cult seems to have been killed just last month. Even the one we were tailing. We have barred all our spies from entering the 5 great villages. Due to the fiasco created by the Akatsuki, all are on high alert."

As Orochimaru was thinking about what steps to take to gain more information, he heard a loud voice getting closer. Tayuya and Jirobo turned toward the source of the voice and saw one of their underlings running toward them shouting.

"What's the matter? Why are you shouting? Can't you see we are talking with Lord Orochimaru?" Jirobo asked angrily to which the shinobi pointed in the direction he came from and said "When I went to give dinner to Sir Kimimaro, he wasn't in his room." 

"So what he must have gone to train" Tayuya said not even waiting for the guy to finish what he was saying.

"No...instead of Sir Kimimaro, there was someone else in his room. The man was wearing an orange mask and he was wearing an Akatsuki robe." the shinobi said and as soon as he said the word Akatsuki, Orochimaru walked out of the room into the lobby where the shinobi was standing.

"Is he still there?" Orochimaru asked to which the shinobi looked down and said "Y-yes Lord Orochimaru...he said he is waiting for you."

"Waiting for me? I don't remember any Akatsuki member wearing an orange mask. He may be a new addition to the organization who Pain must have sent to get rid of me. I thought he had more important things to do after losing Itachi and after their defeat in the hidden sand." Orochimaru said as he licked his lips with his tongue in a creepy way.

The shinobi lead Orochimaru along with Tayuya and Jirobi to Kimimaro's room. As they stood at the entrance of the room, they saw A person wearing an orange mask and an Akatsuki robe sitting on a table dangling his legs like a kid.

"Who are you?" Orochimaru asked.

"I am Tobi...A new member of the Akatsuki. I came here to..." Tobi was saying when Orochimaru interrupted.

"Did Pain send you to get rid of me? Or did you come here on your own to gain some notoriety?" Orochimaru asked.

"None of the two...I need your medical skills to do something for me." Tobi said to which Orochimaru chuckled and said "Heh...why would I help someone whose people are trying to kill me? And I don't think you have anything to offer me." Orochimaru said as his eyes wandered around the room.

Tobi quickly noticed this and said "Are you searching for Kimimaro? Don't worry he is safe with me. I heard that you are planning to perform living corpse Reincarnation jutsu on Kimimaro and transfer your soul into his body. Is that true? If it is then it's a great choice but how are you going to do it if Kimimaro is in my possession?"

Hearing this Orochimaru didn't even wait a second and pounced on Tobi. He had taken all of the possibilities in mind which included dodging the attack, countering it or just taking the attack head and defending, but Tobi didn't do anything among the three and just sat there without saying anything and Orochimaru's attack went through him and the table shattered into pieces.

Orochimaru stretched his hands toward Tobi and a white snake slithered out of his sleeve and jumped toward Tobi. The snake snapped his fangs with all its might and ferocity.

Hissss

But there was no flesh to bite onto. The fangs slapped shut and the snake landed on Jirobo's shoulder which freaked the meathead making him push the snake away and fall back on the ground.

"Now is this how you welcome a patient?" Tobi said jokingly to which Orochimaru smiled in frustration and said "Fine...tell me what you want? I don't think you have left me much choice. You are rather annoying than dangerous."

Tobi just opened his robe and showed his missing arm. Orochimaru looked at Tobi a little confused and asked "Why me? Reattaching an arm is something many medical nims do. Why would you come to me for something so trivial?

Tobi touched his shoulder and said "Because my missing arm has been destroyed. I do not have an arm that I can get reattached. But I know that you possess the cells of the 1st Hokage and you can make an arm for me with that."

"Even if I am unable to make that happen, I can't guarantee that the arm will also accept your body. It is a rather risky endeavor." Orochimaru said. 

'It is obvious for him to say that but he doesn't know that I already have plenty of Hashirama cells within me. I expected those cells to react and regrow my arm but that didn't happen. I neither have the healing that comes with from the Hashirama cells anymore.' Tobi thought. 

"You don't have to worry about that. Just get started." Tobi said in a slightly serious tone and this was not missed by Orochimaru. He understood that Tobi was in some kind of hurry.

"What's the rush? What can you give me in return for this?" Orochimaru asked.

"I can promise that the Akatsuki won't pursue you anymore and you won't have to watch your back the whole time." Tobi said. He knew that Orochimaru had limited his men and his actions in fear of being exposed. 

"Heh...do you think you guys scare me? You better get me a better offer or else I have no reason to treat your arm." Orochimaru said with a malicious smile on his face. He knew that he had Tobi under a rock this time and it was Tobi who needed to fix his arm.

"Fine...I will make you an offer you can't refuse." Tobi said and walked closer to Orochimaru. This got Tayuya and Jirobo on alert thinking that Tobi might launch a surprise attack but seeing that no bloodlust was exuded by Tobi, Orochimaru didn't even flinch.

Tobi brought his face close to Orochimaru's face and whispered something. Orochimaru's eyes widened as he heard what Tobi said. He looked at Tobi and asked "Are you sure you can make good on this deal?"

"Don't you worry about that? Just get my arm back as it was and you will get what I have promised you." Tobi said to which Orochimaru replied "Alright release Kimimaro right now and we can start. I am not getting him involved in this...he is too precious to wager on.

The next second Kimimaro appeared from a vortex. He looked at Tobi and a bone spike appeared from his elbow. He was about to attack Tobi with it but Orochimaru stopped him and said "Find yourself a new room, Kimimaro. This room now belongs to our newest patient."

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