Chapter 37

The office door slammed shut.

There was silence after Ameyuri and Utakata left.

"You really don't have to worry about the Jinchuuriki." Considering Utakata's character, he will not commit rash acts, since he has decided to give up thoughts of escaping," noticing the concern on Mei's face, Yudao smiled, after which he stood up from the sofa and added, "well, I also have to go to work."

- M? – Mei was taken aback and was silent for some time after hearing the words of the First Mizukage.

– How many hideouts did Orochimaru manage to discover? – he suddenly asked.

"Only a few and no traces of Orochimaru himself," the Fifth Mizukage shook her head, not understanding why such a question.

"Give me information about them, I'll make a gesture of goodwill, after all, we haven't seen Orochimaru for a long time," Yudao answered carefree, knowing full well that the Sannin himself would not be found there, but the results of the experiments could present a pleasant surprise.

How can he not know where Orochimaru is really hiding?

– What about Yoshiro Kinoshita? – Mei asked, seeing that Yudao was about to leave.

Yoshiro is still imprisoned; no one dared to touch him without the permission of the First Mizukage. But the current situation puts the Kinoshita Clan in a very delicate position. Because it is impossible to choose a new head of the clan while the old one is alive nearby.

– The Kinoshita clan is not rocking the boat yet, then why the rush? They could use a little pressure..." Yudao smiled sarcastically, as if he was harboring insidious plans known only to him.

"Okay..." sparkles shone in Mei's eyes; indeed, Yoshiro's conclusion hangs like a sword of Damocles over the Kinoshita Clan.

The Kinoshita clan will not dare abandon their Head as long as Yoshiro continues to live according to the will of the First Mizukage.

Apparently he had his eye on this clan for some reason.

Mei even felt a little sorry for Yoshiro. He could have died with peace of mind if he had been the head of a small clan or had an ordinary origin, like the same Seiki Tsuchida.

Yoshiro made a fatal mistake by deciding to enter into a criminal conspiracy with Seiki and hide the news of the Jinchuriki's escape, which is why he was sacrificed by Elder Genji in the name of finally strengthening the political influence of the Fifth Mizukage in Kirigakure.

There is no room for sentimentality, right and wrong, in politics, there are only winners and losers, and Yoshiro obviously lost miserably.

***

Boom!

An explosion occurred in the thicket of the forest.

Yudao studied the place marked on the map, brushing dust off his shoulder.

This was the last refuge, and they were mostly empty. Apparently the shelters were closed shortly after the discovery of Kirigakure.

A little sad of course, but he expected to leave empty-handed.

"Well, to the Village of Sound?" – Yudao whispered with a smile and after a short moment he instantly disappeared from the destroyed shelter.

Country of Rice Fields.

A country neighboring the Country of Fire, not far from the borders of the Countries of Lightning and Earth, almost at the junction of three of the Five Great Countries, due to which their shinobi rarely come here.

Therefore, the Great Shinobi Villages did not know when their own Shinobi Village appeared on the territory of the Country of Rice Fields.

Or they knew, they just didn't really care.

No one imagined that this small shinobi village was founded by a renegade, who also controlled the entire country.

Right now, Yudao was looking with interest at the small shinobi village of Orochimaru from the branch of a tall tree.

The entire Village of Sound can be easily seen from a short distance; besides, the view, to put it mildly, was not particularly rich and overall looked half-abandoned.

No wonder the great shinobi villages didn't care about this unknown village, there really is nothing to see here at all.

Unlike ordinary shinobi villages, there are almost no ordinary people here, and if there are, they are just materials for experiments.

It's too loud to call it a shinobi village, but rather just a particularly large hideout for Orochimaru.

Phew!

And then the whistle of cutting air reached the ears of Yudao, who was carefreely looking at the Village of Sound from a high tree.

The kunai was aimed straight at his heart.

Hearing the sound, he carelessly glanced in its direction and then lightly flicked the thrown kunai with his index finger.

The steel kunai immediately shattered into pieces!

That's why the eyes of the figure hiding nearby in the bushes went up to his forehead: you have to use your hands... with your bare hands to smash the kunai to smithereens! Who was brought into their village this time?!

"Dosu, come on!" – the lurking man exclaimed loudly; he instantly realized that there was nothing for him to catch alone.

Boom!

And a moment later, a sound wave rushed towards Yudao.

At the same time, the hiding figure made a series of hand seals and jumped out of the bushes shouting, "Cutting Air Waves!"

Along with the sound waves, an invisible cutting attack from concentrated chakra rushed towards the uninvited guest.

But Yudao only smiled carefreely at the two hiding people who finally decided to show themselves to him.

One with long spiky black hair, wearing a yellow sweater with three hieroglyphs for "death" and a snake-colored scarf.

The other one was even stranger, with white bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye, with strange-looking armor on his arms.

The first one might not have been recognized, but Yudao remembered them as soon as he saw the second one.

Abumi Zaku and Kinuta Dosu are members of the team that represented the Sound Village in the Chūnin Exams.

Passable characters, of course, but like it or not, you will still remember it, because they are able to defeat some Genin from Konoha.

Yudao, who was standing on the branch, didn't even raise an eyebrow at their attacks, making no movement at all.

The Village of Sound's unique sonic ninjutsu struck the motionless intruder as Dosu and Zaku looked on jubilantly.

But the very next moment they changed their faces greatly, not waiting for not only a painful scream, but even a simple roar from their ninjutsu. It seemed as if their techniques were instantly evaporated by mere contact with the stranger's body!