Chapter 32 Possible Remnants

It has been a few days since Arata left Karin with his parents and started to make his way. It wasn't until half a day later before he arrived at a location surrounded by water and as he looked off into the distance, he saw a small mountain that seems to have been tampered with as there was several bridges connecting cliffs and other mountains together for easier travel.

He soon arrived at a bridge and stopped as he saw four ninjas with the hidden sound logo on their ninja head band. Arata immediately recognized those four ninjas. Those four ninjas were the ones that had created the barrier that trapped Orochimaru with the Third Hokage back when they invaded the village. Just as he was about to past by them, the four stood in his way as if they didn't let him past.

Arata narrowed his eyes and said, " what's the meaning of this? I am here to see Orochimaru."

One of the four people with four arms said, " You? Aren't you a leaf ninja? How did you find this place?"

Arata replied, " Kabuto gave me a scroll with a map that led me here. I have some business with Orochimaru."

The four didn't believe Arata as they prepped for battle. Just as they were about to attack Arata, another person showed up. He had white hair with pale skin and had two red dots located at the inner side of his forehead.

" Let him through. Kabuto and Orochimaru had already informed me of his reasons for coming here."

Sakon, a ninja who seemed to be carrying something on his back, suddenly said, " Kimimaro, are you sure. You may not know since you didn't see him fight yet, but he is a pretty strong ninja. He..."

Kimimaro interrupted, " Enough, I said that Orochimaru-sama has already informed me that he was on his way here. Let him through. We have our own mission to complete."

The four were surprised by what Kimimaro had said. However, since they knew that they couldn't beat him, they stepped aside and allowed Arata to past by them.

Arata took one more glance at Kimimaro and continued on his way.

Kimimaro suddenly said, " Orochimaru-sama is down that entrance there." He pointed downwards to a hole that was made at the side of a cave.

Arata nodded as he started to jump down and head towards the entrance.

Sakon, " So, what's our mission?"

Kimimaro: " We are to retrieve Sasuke from the Leaf village and escort him here."

The others nodded as they began to make their way towards the leaf village.

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Walking inside the cave and through the hall, Arata kept his guard up. The hallways were lit up with candles located at several points along the wall. There were several rooms that he had passed through which Arata naturally ignored.

Although he and Orochimaru may have come to an agreement, he did not let his guard down as he couldn't possibly trust Orochimaru. He saw Orochimaru's body. Even though Orochimaru is injured and can't use any jutsu's, he still heard stories that he was one of the legendary sanin who achieved great exploits during the third ninja war. Furthermore, he looked so young like he was in his mid twenties. That should be impossible with his age.

Walking for another few minutes, he arrived in a large room where Orochimaru was sitting on a ledge with a huge snake statue behind him and Kabuto standing next to him.

Orochimaru, " So you've finally come."

Arata nodded his head, " Yes. What can you tell me about what you've recovered from the ruins of the Uzumaki clan."

Orochimaru chuckled as he responded, " Straight to the point I see. Well it's not like I am much for idle chit-chat anyways. Hmm let's see... Follow me." Orochimaru got up and started walking to a hallway located on the right side of the large room.

Arata nodded his head and followed Orochimaru and Kabuto. Shortly after, Orochimaru arrived in front of a door and Kabuto opened the door. When he entered the room, he saw a neat organized room filled with scrolls and other valuables.

Orochimaru smiled and said, " This is all that I have recovered from the ruins of Uzumaki clan. They mostly obtained some of the clan's history and only contains a few forbidden hidden jutsu's that solely belonged to the Uzumaki clan."

Arata nodded his head as he went forwards and reached out to grab a scroll. Just as he did so, Kabuto spoke, " Naturally, we won't be giving you this information for free, you know."

Arata narrowed his eyes and said, " Naturally? Naturally this belongs to me as a member of an Uzumaki clan and you naturally have no right to own these and horde these for yourselves."

Orochimaru chuckled once again, " Uzumaki clan? They are nothing but a destroyed clan. Of course whoever finds them is the owner."

Arata narrowed his eyes as bloodlust began to seep out. Seeing this, Kabuto went on guard and went prepared for an anticipated battle.

Orochimaru continued, " I can give you all these scrolls if you only do one thing for me. Unless you want to fight against me and Kabuto, which I highly don't recommend, as you will surely lose, I am willing to give it to you without fighting if and only if you do one thing for me."

Arata was not a dumb person and knew that if he fought against these two, then he may come out with several injuries that may be fatal and cause him to not achieve his goal. Arata took a deep breath in as he calmed his nerves and drew in his killing intent. He looked at Orochimaru and continued, " What do you want from me?"

Orochimaru nodded his head, " There's a certain man... or child I should say that has an affinity for what I am currently doing a research about. I want you to find that person and bring him to me. I was going to have Kimimaro find him but because of some stuff that happened recently, I had him return and do something else."

Arata responded, " I assume that you already knew how he looks like and where he is located."

Orochimaru: " There is a village not too far from here that was destroyed by him. It was said that he possess blind rage and loses his temper easily. I am interested in that boy, so I simply want you to bring him to me."

Arata nodded his head in understanding, " That's it? Alright then, I'll bring him right away."

Kabuto took out another scroll from inside his clothes and handed it to him. Arata opened up and saw a description of the person he was supposed to look for and bring. He had spiky orange hair and seemed to possess a fairly strong build. Arata soon put the scroll away and then walked out of the room. Before he continued onwards, he looked at the two and said, " I assume that despite your betrayal to the leaf village you still know how to uphold your side of the deal."

Orochimaru smiled and replied, " Naturally. My hatred for the leaf village and this is two completely different things. After you bring him here, you can take all of the scrolls here and you can continue on your way."

Arata nodded his head and then left towards the exit as he wanted to find the person right away.

Kabuto: " Orochimaru-sama, are we just going to let him go, without doing anything? He could still be a spy and inform the leaf village about our location."

Orochimaru smiled and said, " He won't. Since he left the village, I assume that he doesn't have any strong ties to the village if we don't act against the village for the time being."