Settling Down

Fatty Fei sighed as he regarded the empty bowls before him in disappointment. His eyes looked over to Kong Shizu's unfinished bowl of congee.

"You going to finish that?" He smiled as Kong Shizu pushed the bowl over.

"What's wrong with Kang Yuan? Could he have been possessed? Did that Whore do something?" The horse-faced young man asked over the slurping of Murong Fei.

It didn't make sense! All of a sudden, their stupid and easily influenced young master had changed. No longer had they been able to visit brothels or live the high life. The tyrannical Kang Yuan hoarded all the profound coins! They weren't used to this life of poverty.

But without Kang Yuan's wealth they couldn't go anywhere or do anything! There was no way they'd become beggars in this backwater nation. Visiting Kang Yuan had become difficult as well. He's become introverted and had locked himself in his room for days. The last time they visited, they could hear thunking.

Not the lewd kind. No, this sounded similarly to something repeatedly hitting the ground hard. They couldn't tell what he was doing in there nor did they wanted to know.

Meawhile the two debaucherous youths lamented. Orochimaru was in his room, sweat gliding off his body, his feet peculiarly attached to the ceiling and his long hair black dangling from their roots towards the ground.

'Too weak! This vessel is too weak!' Orochimaru despised the exhaustion his new vessel felt. For the last few days he'd been familiarizing his new body with chakra.

Imagine his shock when he discovered that his body functioned normally with even the slightest bit of chakra! It seemed the natives if this land didn't posses or need chakra to live. At least his current vessel didn't.

Fortunately, this didn't hinder him from harnessing his physical and spiritual energies to form chakra. After days of building up a reasonable amount- he began remastering chakra control. With 307 chakra points and a weak vessel, this proved difficult.

However Orochimaru was nothing but persistent. From water-walking in the public bathhouse secretly, to wall-walking he'd done it all. Finally he was seeing results despite his weak vessel not being strong enough or used to any sort of physical stresses that didn't involve moving of the hips.

He cut the chakra flow to his soles and gracefully landed on the floor. Not giving his vessel a chance to rest, the displaced Sanin immediately began doing various exercises.

He needed to thoroughly purge the weaknes from his body. No shinobi wouldn't be deeply disturbed with such a weak physical Constitution.

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A week passed like this. The two lackeys couldn't go on living off average services of the Inn, so they mustered all their courage and went to confront Kang Yuan. Fully determined to complain and plead. But as the door opened, the person inside wasn't Kang Yuan.

A girl stepped out. She looked beautiful, golden hair, brown eyes, large breasts and a black diamond tattoo in her forehead.

The horse-faced Kong Shizu slavated- he hadn't had any action in days! He reached out to this beauty. He wasn't fearful. She wore normal robes and had no profound aura around her. Besides, she was leaving Kang Yuan's room. Obviously she was a prostitute!

Kong Shizu could already imagine the softness of her boundful breasts as he reached out to grab himself a handful. Only, he found himself soaring through the air before falling heavily on his back!

"Ack!" He screamed as the wind was blown from his lungs.

"Humph! Trash!" He heard a soft voice before a heeled foot stepped on his face as the girl stepped on him. Fatty Fei held his hands up and backed away! He'd be damned if he got implicated too! After stepping on Shizu's face once again, the girl walked off with a huff. It was only then that Fatty Fei went over to help his 'friend' up.

"Who was that!" Kong Shizu realized he messed up. A hidden expert almost killed him!

The two looked to Kang Yuan's room only to find it empty. 'Where is he?'

"He couldn't have left us secretly? Right!?" Fatty Fei was shaken!

The two began searching the place and ended up at the reception hall. Only to spot their money bag!

"Younger brother Yuan!" The two of them shouted out in unison as the barged over to him.

"Oh? It's you two. I've been looking everywhere for you. Pack up we're leaving." Kang Yuan smiled at them.

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Two very special rickshaws travelled peacefully through New moon city. These vehicles were special because they followed a route not normally taken by normal citizens.  As time passed the surrounding buildings started looking dilapidated and the traffic lightened. The few people that could be seen were obviously of a poor background.

By this time, no sect members of any sect or clan could be seen. Then came the smells. Kong Shizu used a scented rag to shield his nose while Murong Fei, who needed a rickshaw all for himself, used a fan to disperse the smells of excrement and garbage.

The road became bumpy due to the sudden lack of stone pavements. Occasionally, you could spot a couple skinny beggars or thugs slinking around in the city's heart. But here, they were everywhere! The faces of Murong Fei and Kong Shizu got paler the further they went.

Until finally, the vehicles pulled up a large, ruined Mansion Estate. As the trio descended the rickshaws and approched what was supposed to be a gate. Kong Shizu and Murong Fei drew in a deep cold breath! Degredation was all they could see! The 'Gate' was mostly missing and characters of the estate's were faded.

"Younger brother! Is this really the place you bought? Are we actually going to live here?" Fatty Fei couldn't take it anymore and asked.

Before Orochimaru could answer, a skinny old man walked out from the ruins. He had a small smile on his face as he bowed before them. His posture and movement showed his clear mastery of servant mannerisms.

"Greetings young masters. I am head servant Huang. I assume you're the new lord of this manor?" He asked; looking directly at Orochimaru.

"Yes I am. We'll be in your care." Orochimaru said.

"Of course Young Master. Do you have any luggage?" Old Huang looked behind them.

"No need everything is in here." Orochimaru smiled while showing his fingers decorated with spacial rings.

To old man Huang's credit - he only widened his eyes at the rings that if exposed to the rest of the district could cause a bloodbath.

"This way young lords." Huang led three young men through the ruins of the estate.

The place was obviously scavenged by people. Most of the tiles on the roofs were stripped off. The wood and paper windows of many rooms were gone.

Weeds and ugly thorns grew out everywhere and almost tripped Fatty Fei a couple times. He couldn't help but shout in anger and disgust. "Old man! Weren't you tasked with keeping this place up-to-date!? How is this pigsty fit for human inhabitation?"

Old Huang looked back with a humiliated face. "My apologies young lords. This old fool abandoned this place after the previous master died. All the other staff fled as well. You see the eastern slums are a dangerous place. I had no choice-"

"That's your excuse? You old dog! This place is filthy!" Kong Shizu threw his two cents in.

Immediately, the two frustrated young men attempted to drown old Huang in their spit. On the other hand, Kang Yuan seemed to not notice the stench or decadence. He looked around and was automatically more pleased the more he looked.

'Hmm... So that area used to be a library huh?.... And that is the main manor.' Orochimaru's keen eyes could easily piece together the organinal outline of the Manor.

"Show me the rear of the estate" Kang Yuan said cutting off the verbal bashing of old Huang.

"Y-yes." As if given amnesty, the old man quickly brought them to the back of the manor, where most of the land actually was. It was overgrown. But as they walked through the weeds. Orochimaru could see the original walk way's outline.

He noticed the artificial hills and ponds. Even a practice field. At the edge of his property' The Yue Shan river and peach grove circled around the place like a belt, creating a natural barrier and marker for the end of his land.

'Yes.... This place was perfect.' Orochimaru thought.

Renovating everything and restoring it to its former glory would be expensive- but that could wait. No one knew it yet. But this poor abandoned courtyard was the birth place of a most terrifying force that would one day involpe the the entire continent!