Chapter – 451 Orochimaru’s Curiosity

Before leaving the Naka Shrine, Kuroto gave several instructions to Itachi, exhorted Itachi to stay close to Shisui and protect him during the adaption period, and at the same time warned Shisui to be especially careful these days against enemy attacks.

After all, Obito, Danzo, and Orochimaru, all are threats that cannot be underestimated.

Moreover, all three of them have the right motivation to deal with Uchiha Shisui, the current strongest of the Uchiha Clan, because to deal with the Uchiha Clan one must first overcome the obstacle of Uchiha Shisui.

But because Shisui is not in the right condition now, therefore, he can't use his true combat power; which is why he must be protected.

Itachi obviously understood Kuroto's reasoning and made sure that he would protect Shisui, at the same time, he would carry out other instructions given by Kuroto as well.

Satisfied, Kuroto bid farewell to Shisui and Itachi, then quietly strolled back towards his home.

On the way to his home, Kuroto of course thought about the many changes that happened during the day; and honestly, Kuroto is quite glad that he did not become arrogant and overconfident after awakening the Tenseigan and did not expose his true combat power and true identity to the public, otherwise, he would have become the center of attention of all the enemies.

And if that had been the case, Kuroto would have to be constantly worried and guard against all kinds of conspiracies, not only from Obito and the other enemies but also from many people around him, after all, who knows when someone will start getting strange ideas, or maybe the people they cherish the most are taken hostage so that would leave them with no choice but to fulfill the instructions of the kidnappers.

Judging from the method Obito used to conspire against his own Sensei; he is definitely the kind of guy who has no bottom line when it comes to achieving his goal, of course, Kuroto is no different, but that's not the point here. The point is that, had Obito known Kuroto's true identity and power, Obito would gain more chess pieces that he can use to take advantage of Kuroto's weakness, but that wouldn't be the case for Kuroto. After all, Obito is completely empty from the inside and someone who doesn't even care for who he is, and since there is no one left alive whom Obito seems to care about any longer so there is probably nothing stopping him from using even the dirtiest of means to take advantage, but Kuroto won't be able to do so.

Then, Kuroto would have no option left but to bring Nohara Rin back to life and use her to deal with Obito, but bringing her back to life would be a very difficult task for the current Kuroto, because if the current him were to bring her to life, then he would die as a result which is definitely not beneficial enough.

Fortunately, Kuroto has been a level-headed person, and only chose to reveal himself to the extent that wouldn't be too suspicious, and wouldn't cause him too many problems.

Now one could argue that if Kuroto really wanted to, he could have completely hidden; not garnered even a bit of attention and that would have been much more advantageous, but Kuroto doesn't think that way. According to him, being too inconspicuous is also quite suspicious as it would at some point definitely garner attention, after all, there's only so much one can truly hide, and there's only so much one can survive against just based on luck.

This is why, it is better to reveal a few things, make others think that they are the ones in control; make others believe that they know everything about him when in reality they would have no idea of the true depths of his abilities.

This way others will believe that he is a bit difficult person to deal with, but at the same time, he is not too big of a threat and can be disposed of any time if they really feel like doing it, as a result, they will focus on things and people who are more important and more threatening (that is the Amatsukami) compared to just an elite Anbu Squad Captain.

Now considering the fact that Amatsukami is very secretive and hidden too well, so Obito and the rest of the Akatsuki will have to direct more and more of their attention and efforts towards finding and understanding them to be able to deal with them. But since they won't be able to find them, so they will also fear Amatsukami. After all, the fear of the unknown is the greatest of all fear. And this unknown, that is the Amatsukami, will also stop them from running rampant, and restrict them subconsciously so that they would not dare to act rashly.

'I suppose that even now, all Akatsuki personnel are more than likely either increasing their individual strength or investigating the traces of Amatsukami all over the world now.' Thought Kuroto as his lips curled into a mocking snicker.

Before finding Amatsukami that is playing Akatsuki and the other villages in the palm of their hands, Akatsuki should not dare to deal with the Five Great Shinobi Villages, unless they are confident enough, the lesson they learned at Amegakure should have been more than enough to keep them in check, after all, even Nagato who had the Rinnegan and could summon Gedo Mazo, and Nibi almost lost his life at the hands of the leader of Amatsukami. So even if Akatsuki is reluctant; they have to admit that Amatsukami can actually threaten their existence.

This is probably the only reason why they have been quiet for so long and haven't carried out their other plans, even Obito sneaked inside Konoha and took back his eye, but did not care about the Uchiha Clan that hasn't been destroyed yet, nor did he care about all the movements that Konoha has been making these days.

In Obito's eyes; the threat of a mere Uchiha Clan and Konoha is nothing compared to Amatsukami, but what he doesn't understand is that if he doesn't make his move on the Uchiha Clan and Konoha, he would never be able to find anything about Amatsukami, which will eventually form an endless loop.

…

In Konoha's Guesthouse.

Kimimaro looked at the night view outside the window with many thoughts going in his mind.

The events that happened for the whole day kept flashing in his mind, but the major part of all those flashes was the scene where Hyuga Kuroto dared to satirize Orochimaru-sama openly. Intense killing intent appears in his heart whenever he thinks of Hyuga Kuroto.

At this time, a shadow emerged from the darkness and sneaked into the room quietly.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Kimimaro turned around quickly and said all while a bone blade extended out from his hand; staring at the intruder with cold eyes.

The shadow wasn't panicked under the cold gaze of Kimimaro, rather it smiled and said, "As expected of Kimimaro."

"Kabuto?" Kimimaro recognized that tone, and asked, "What are you going here?"

Kimimaro adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, then said, "I have heard about everything that happened today. How does it feel to be able to defeat the genius kid of the Uchiha Clan?"

"The genius of the Uchiha Clan? He wasn't enough for me to even bother to care about!" because the victory against Uchiha Sasuke was too easy, Kimimaro felt no sense of accomplishment.

Kabuto smirked and said in a casual tone, "That's right, compared to the hateful Hyuga Kuroto who betrayed Orochimaru-sama, the genius kid of the Uchiha Clan is really not worth mentioning, huh?"

As soon as Kimimaro heard Kabuto's words, his face turned gloomy.

Kimimaro can ignore others insulting him, but what he can't ignore are the insults to Orochimaru-sama, and Hyuga Kuroto not only dared to betray Orochimaru but even satirize Orochimaru to his face, which really made Kimimaro angry, and determined to assassinate him.

'That's right, Kabuto should know, huh?' Kimimaro's eyes lit up, and after making up his mind, he asked Kabuto, "Kabuto, you should know where he lives, right?"

Kabuto was obviously surprised by Kimimaro's question, and asked, "What are you going to do? Don't forget that we are currently in Konoha, and from what I have heard, he is a Jonin."

Kimimaro said coldly, "Tell me where he lives, and you don't need to care about other things."

With a bit of hesitation, Kabuto drew a map on a piece of paper; then handed it to Kimimaro with a worried expression, "Be careful, if you feel that you don't stand a chance then don't insist on it."

With an indifferent look, Kimimaro took the map from Kabuto, and without saying a word he disappeared from the room.

After Kimimaro left, Kabuto showed a strange smile.

Similar to Kimimaro who hates Hyuga Kuroto, even Kabuto hates Hyuga Kuroto, and he too wants to get rid of Hyuga Kuroto.

After Kimimaro had left, a hoarse voice suddenly came from behind Kabuto, "Kabuto, I don't remember, I allowed you to do something like this."

Kabuto turned around with a shudder; immediately knelt respectfully on the ground, and said, "Oro… Orochimaru-sama?!"

Orochimaru slowly walked out of the shadow and said, "Aren't you going to give me an explanation?"

Sweat poured out of Kabuto's forehead, and he swallowed deeply upon feeling the heavy pressure he was subjected to, "Oro… Orochimaru-sama, I… I was just… I ju-just wanted to clear away the… the traitor!"

"Is that so?" With a smile, Orochimaru cast his gaze outside the window, and said, "It's fine then."

Upon noticing that Orochimaru does not have any intention of pursuing the matter, Kabuto sighed in relief, at the same time, he also realized that if Orochimaru was really opposed to the idea, then he would have stopped Kimimaro before Kimimaro left.

Gazing at the night view of Konoha outside the window, Orochimaru said lightly. "It's okay for him to try it out, but whether he succeeds or not is an entirely different matter." At the same time, Orochimaru perceived the reaction of Anbu Shinobi to Kimimaro's movements and quirked his eyebrow upon noticing something.

'It appears that he is not taking any chances, huh?' was his thought.

Initially, Orochimaru had completely different plans for the Alliance Ceremony. Orochimaru wanted to embarrass his Sensei, Sandaime Hokage in front of all by using the Edo Tensei of Shodaime and Nidaime to kill him.

Whenever Orochimaru thinks of Sarutobi Sensei being forced to battle to the death against the two previous Hokage; who are also his Sensei and the scene where all the three of them together destroy the village in the aftermath of their battle Orochimaru feels extremely excited.

For him, other than the pursuit of eternal life and mastery of all the Jutsu, destroying everything that his Sensei loves and cherishes has become a joy for him.

But Orochimaru never expected that Konoha's defense would be so rigorous, much stricter than the spies initially reported. The presence of the representatives of Sunagakure, Kusagakure, and Takigakure was a matter Orochimaru did not take into account. Not to mention there are also Jiraiya and Tsunade in the village. Then the Konoha Military Police Force led by Uchiha Fugaku too, and finally the identity of one of the Anbu keeping watch over him.

Although the fourth Anbu joined in keeping watch over him not very long ago, Orochimaru recognized him based on the recent intelligence he has just received from Shimura Danzo only about an hour ago; the fourth Anbu with the Weasel mask keeping watch over him turned out to be none other than Uchiha Itachi of the Uchiha Clan.

'No wonder Uchiha Itachi was respectful to Kuroto-kun, after all, he is a subordinate in Kuroto-Kun's Anbu squad.' Thought Orochimaru about what he had learned from Shimura Danzo's mouth in exchange for some things.

In the face of so many high-tier combat personnel, especially Uchiha Itachi even Orochimaru can't help but sigh and dared not act rashly.

Besides, Orochimaru is also not sure about what combat power can the two Edo Hokage display; therefore, he decided not to make any move on Konoha, for now, at least.

But of course, this doesn't mean that he won't test a few things.

For example, what does Hyuga Kuroto want from Kimimaro? And the attitude of Uchiha Itachi towards Konoha and Hyuga Kuroto. After all, the moment Kimimaro sneaked out, he was obviously noticed by the four Anbu, but neither of them stopped him, not even Uchiha Itachi, therefore, Orochimaru was more curious about a lot of things.

…

Among the four Anbu.

Hana asked Weasel, "Is it alright to ignore him?"

Weasel (Crow Clone) nodded, "I have had my summon follow him secretly, so his movements are still under my watch."

Rabbit said, "But I wonder what does captain wants from him?"

Akame answered Rabbit's doubts, "It's to obtain intelligence on Kaguya Takashi, the newest member of Akatsuki, as per the intelligence Captain managed to obtain while he was in Kirigakure, Kaguya Takashi along with Hoshigaki Kisame, and Chinoike Mageta have also joined the Akatsuki, and since this kid, Kimimaro is one of the last two members of the Kaguya clan, therefore, he is a source of intelligence that we can't let go so easily."

Hana nodded, "Makes sense I suppose." Then without any more care, she continued the mission assigned to the four members of Team Ro by their captain.

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