Chapter 187: Aging

No response.

There was no reaction to Orochimaru's disappearance.

Tōshirō merely widened his eyes, scanning the surroundings back and forth continuously, afraid of missing any clue that could lead to him being ambushed by Orochimaru again.

"Phew…"

"It seems he really left~"

Seeing no movement and finding nothing amiss after a long period, Tōshirō was finally certain that Orochimaru was no longer nearby.

"That person's aura is really cold~"

Recalling the killing intent that Orochimaru displayed for an instant just now, even after some time had passed, the indifferent, cold, and ruthless aura of the other party still made Tōshirō's hair stand on end as if on reflex.

And the remark about looking forward to their next meeting…

What a joke!

It's better for such a freak to meet the Sage of Six Paths as soon as possible.

Well, given Orochimaru's level of perversion, achieving that would be quite difficult~

Hastily ending this generous encounter hunt, Tōshirō felt that his own camp was the safest place.

Internally, he kept complaining that Orochimaru had truly taken advantage of this situation. He did not expect that in this transmigration, instead of getting something out of Uncle Snake, he ended up getting tricked by him.

Who could he complain to?

"Damn it! It's all about my lack of strength. Otherwise, things wouldn't have ended up so badly!"

"It's Orochimaru, right! I'll remember this grudge. If there's a chance in the future, I will make him pay~"

Just Tōshirō's luck, it originally wouldn't have required someone of Orochimaru's level to come after Tōshirō for this matter.

It happened that the member reporting to 'Kage of the Pot' from Root exaggerated the information after witnessing the powerful Lightning Release jutsu.

Orochimaru, who was there with Danzo, heard it and took a strong interest in the jutsu. So, one of the Three Legendary Ninja volunteered to undertake the task of acquiring detailed information about the enemy's jutsus.

The way Orochimaru had swapped jutsu was an idea he came up with at the moment. Out of consideration for Tōshirō being a Uchiha, he held back somewhat.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been such a hassle.

Regarding the jutsus, knowing the village's stance, Orochimaru didn't particularly care but still didn't go against the village's policies. He carefully selected what to give to Tōshirō.

If it wasn't for Chidori having some interesting variations in Orochimaru's eyes, triggering some of his curiosity, Tōshirō wouldn't have had a choice in the matter.

Don't think the name of Uchiha alone could guarantee Tōshirō's safety.

...

Early the next morning.

After completing his usual morning training, someone informed him to go to Chief Simeon's tent.

"I wonder what the Chief wants from me!"

Entering the tent located in the center of the Uchiha camp, bathed in the light streaming through the window, Tōshirō looked at the seated Uchiha Simeon and asked.

Compared to the old days in the family, Uchiha Simeon's appearance had changed significantly.

Not only did he look grayer, but even his once-black temples had started turning white.

The sudden change made Tōshirō suspect whether the other party had used a forbidden technique like Izanagi.

However, he quickly dismissed it because, according to the original story, using Izanagi required Mangekyō Sharingan.

Otherwise, like Danzo, one would need to use the First Hokage's cells and use three-tomoe Sharingan.

So... either the other party had awakened Mangekyō or used some other forbidden method, it was hard to tell.

[Like father, like son!]

Thinking back to Uchiha Fugaku, who had never shown his Mangekyō to his clan members even until death, made Tōshirō feel a headache.

They truly were birds of a feather...

"Tōshirō! How did you get in contact with Orochimaru? He handed two jutsus to the family to give to you!"

Looking at his brother's subordinate in the tent, Uchiha Simeon couldn't help but be curious about how Tōshirō got entangled with Orochimaru and why the latter gave two jutsus to him.

"Uh… mainly because Senior Orochimaru had some interest in two jutsus I developed, so he came to see me last night to swap~"

Surprisingly, Orochimaru allowed the family to be involved. This move perplexed Tōshirō, not knowing the true intentions behind it.

"...Is that all?"

Slightly disappointed by Tōshirō's answer, Uchiha Simeon realized the connection between them was merely so limited, far from his expectations.

"...Yes!"

Despite his confusion, Tōshirō answered obediently.

This left Tōshirō genuinely puzzled! The Chief didn't care about him leaking the two jutsus at all.

Instead, he was concerned about his connection with Orochimaru, which was bewildering.

Shouldn't the focus be on those two jutsus?

"If there's an opportunity, try to deepen the connection with Orochimaru. If you need anything, you can directly come to me!"

"???"

Damn, what is the family planning, to get on good terms with Orochimaru?

Were they tired of his lively presence?

Or did they think Orochimaru was short of experimental subjects and wanted to offer him up?

Tōshirō was certain that if he got too close to Orochimaru, he'd end up as a corpse on his experiment table sooner or later.

His eyes would probably be preserved in some special solution as a valuable research specimen.

It should be noted that Orochimaru hadn't completed his Immortality Jutsu at this point!

Thinking of such an end gave Tōshirō a shiver. He'd rather face those Iwa-nin.

At least they fought him head-on, life or death, but with Orochimaru...

(Chapter end)