[Hokage] Terukawa

After finishing the conversation, Kakashi left my residence without saying a word.He greeted me as usual, said goodbye to me, and walked away without looking back as usual, while I silently watched his back at the entrance, and waved repeatedly meaninglessly Actions.

...It seems that the joy of being understood has also faded.Sure enough, in the future, when we talk about things, we should only explain the key points, and leave all other useless things to me.

Kakashi is right, he is right at all, but a person's character and the situation he faces are not completely mutually accomplished and balanced.If external stimuli are compared to a spear, then a person's personality and his coping methods are the shield. The balance between the spear and the shield can only appear in the middle and late stages, and at the very beginning, the initiative of the spear must precede the passivity of the shield. , even... It is precisely because of the active attack of the spear that the shield really has the meaning of existence.

The other name of this shield is "receipt", and the other name of the spear is "encounter".

I twitched the corner of my mouth silently.

But my goal has been achieved, so... there is nothing worthy of my persistence.

Yes, my personality is bad, but from the root of it, this is not something I can easily change, so Kakashi's last words are not completely untouched by me, but they are only touched.Besides, how can there be the best of both worlds?The choice between the fish and the bear's paw is the eternal problem that confuses people, but the first step of the choice is trade-offs and trade-offs. Now that I have a clear balance in my heart, the problem of how to choose is naturally no longer a problem.

I have more important things to do than worry about what I have already decided.

After looking at the time to make sure that Kakashi had gone far away, I changed into the uniform I usually go out on a mission, plus the sample container I casually took from Orochimaru last night, and set off for the Snake Cave Research Institute.

This trip is going through the main entrance, and the time is exactly ten o'clock in the morning.The configuration of the uniform and the sample container made me no longer have the worries of yesterday. Everything is aboveboard. Even in this period when all actions are easily "misunderstood" and over-interpreted, it is difficult to pick out any faults. The point—who would intentionally embarrass a social animal ninja who was in a hurry to hand in the quest?

"Yawn... Hello, you are from Anbu, please come here. What are you here for? Hand in the task? But I think your mask is a bit unfamiliar."

The gray-haired young guard at the door yawned, looking slack and lazy.

"It's Anbu's. This mask looks familiar to me, but there's no way, we all in Anbu are like this."

I nodded, speaking calmly.

"And little brother, I think you are also a stranger."

Seeing Tian being chatted to death, he smiled awkwardly, and finally began to perform his duties: "Who do you ask for the task?"

"Master Orochimaru."

"This..." The young guard's body stiffened visibly, "Life is really not easy, senior, come in quickly."

I nodded to him again, and walked straight into the research institute, but the gray hair of the young guard was always lingering in front of my eyes, with an indescribably strange feeling, but where is the hair of this color? It's not rare, I can't find a specific reason, if I really want to say it, it's more like some kind of wonderful intuition.

Strange eyes, not just talking.It’s just that there are so many people living here in the research institute. If it’s just because I’m unfamiliar with it that it arouses my vigilance, then…

I lowered my eyes and thought, and walked up to the second floor without stopping. The studio on the face of Orochimaru was set up here.

"Master Orochimaru, here are the collected samples, here is the letter of entrustment and the report."

In one hand is a random sample container, and in the other hand is a scroll with unknown contents.I bowed down and offered the two things, knowing in my heart that this was a win-win deal with Orochimaru.

As for the future... each according to his own ability.

Orochimaru raised his head to take the two things, and grinned a normal smile compared to last night: "Captain Black Fox, I have been thinking about you for more than one night... Hehe, but you really did not disappoint me, you are here. "

...But the spiritual core of a person is still consistently abnormal.

I didn't look up, but the corners of my eyes twitched, and I kept my tone steady: "Fortunately, I didn't disgrace my life. Master Orochimaru, here are the sample materials and mission report, please have a look."

"Stand up straight, Captain Black Fox, there is no one else here but you. I found you from countless books, and recognized you from the vast crowd, not because of your...false tameness—— Um?"

The casual poetry-like sentence stopped quite suddenly. After a brief pause, Orochimaru’s voice came back with a little surprise and joy—I can even directly imagine his expression at the moment—as if As if he saw something interesting, he must have been surprised and playful, and then began to laugh intermittently.

The hoarse and dark low smile seemed to be rubbing back and forth between gravel and glass.I tried my best to ignore the discomfort his laughter caused me, still hanging my head down.I couldn't see him, but his reaction was exactly what I expected.

"The handwriting is good." After a while, he praised.

"Is the content satisfactory to you?"

"Hehe, one word is worth a thousand words."

The tone at the end of the words is relaxed and rising, and it sounds like he is not in a bad mood.

But I feel he still has something to say.

"but……"

really.

"Captain Black Fox, you handed me a scroll with only one word 'kill' written on it in such a docile and docile manner. The contrast is really big, but with your caution, you will not aim at nothing. "

I heard the light sound of him shaking the scroll, as if he was looking at it repeatedly.

"Captain Black Fox, raise your head up."

The meaning is the same as before reading the scroll, but the current tone is undoubtedly much better than the previous one.

Only then did I stop arguing with Orochimaru on the mentally handicapped issue of "whether I can hold my head up".In fact, the business of this trip has progressed so far, and my first goal has been achieved-he has seen the so-called "contrast" I want him to see.Then, as Orochimaru said, this false respectful gesture is a pile of irrelevant garbage from now on.

I straightened my back, put down my hand that was saluting Anbu, and raised my head without any scruples to look directly into Orochimaru's eyes.The pair of golden pupils had also been waiting there early, and the legendary staring at each other full of metaphysical meaning was nothing more than raising one's head in reality.

There's not much to say about that.Orochimaru's eyes have always been straightforward and explicit, and he didn't bother to hide those unexplained interests and research desires.

"Master Orochimaru, my idea is actually very simple. It is imperative for me to take revenge, but I will not be eager for quick success and pay an unnecessary price for a reasonable result."

——This is my response to the phrase "Hold the fate of you and your enemy".Such a long sentence certainly has a lot of room for simplification. It can be understood as "Your aggressive method is useless to me", or it can be synonymous with "Don't meddle in your own business" ", as far as the intersection between me and Oshemaru is concerned, this is already quite a rude sentence.

But no matter whether that sentence was casual or intentional, since Orochimaru provoked me to make a mistake, my reaction should not have been unexpected by him.

Orochimaru really didn't react much to this, he only responded with a smile that was not a smile, and then said casually: "I also know that Captain Black Fox would not make such a low-level mistake, but... after all, this matter has nothing to do with it." The cornerstone of our cooperation is closely related, to some extent, I need to do more control and more testing."

"Oh."

I looked at him blankly.

"Unfortunately, then your temptation may not be considered successful, because it looks more like incitement or provocation."

"Inciting or provoking... Ah, is this important? To me, this is even a good thing, because it proves that Captain Black Fox, you are firm-willed, clear-headed, plan before you act, and not those... Hehe, those serious naïvetés who are easily charged with enthusiasm."

Orochimaru's voice is hoarse and dull, but when he speaks slowly, he has a gentle and subtle rhythm.His demeanor is still relaxed and natural, but I noticed that when referring to "naive elements", there was a brief pause in the words he used to describe, and at the same time he squinted his eyes slightly, a pair of condescending golden pupils Glanced away briefly, as if thinking of someone who had nothing to do with this scene.

The next moment, he looked over again as if he had some feeling, and my eyes didn't evade, and a strange smile gradually appeared on his pale, sickly face.

"In this way, you will probably become a good partner. You know, even I don't want to force a dead person to fulfill the agreement in life. After all, that would be terrible..."

"That's... not very polite."

Orochimaru's voice fell, I didn't answer, I just moved my eyes away from his face, and moved to the open scroll he had been holding in his hand.A razor-sharp "kill" character spreads out across the entire scroll, with hard edges and sharp turns, all of which make it look almost sharp.I sat at the desk for a long time last night, but the draft I had already typed failed to land on the paper after all. Only an inexplicable impulse drove me to write the word "kill".I wanted to throw it away and start over, but I stopped when I just picked it up—maybe just one word is enough.

Killing intent should be interpreted with the word "killing", and any extra points are redundant.

I turned my gaze back to him: "What do you mean...you can wake up the dead?"

Seeing Orochimaru's smile with unknown meaning, I was not moved by it, and just repeated each word in a deep voice: "I'm asking, can you wake up the dead?——Don't use this Look at me with such eyes, Orochimaru, if you don't want to, I can't ask this question at all."

"Captain Black Fox really understands me. If it weren't for the great differences between you and me, I would almost think that you are a great gift from the world." Orochimaru laughed.

... Such "commendations" are too much for me, who is just an ordinary person.

I silently touched the goosebumps on my arms, and said in a light tone: "My lord is joking."

"It seems that Captain Black Fox has made his fortune."

Orochimaru let out a low laugh, only nodded slightly, and put away the killing scroll with a snap.

"That's right. It's a forbidden technique. It can indeed awaken the dead, but it's definitely not resurrection."

I was slightly stunned, and after a while, I nodded expressionlessly: "Oh, I got it, so what?"

"so?"

Orochimaru didn't take my cold reaction to heart.He finally put away his sloppy sitting posture, and leaned forward slightly with his straight waist again.Due to the obstruction of the table and chairs, I couldn't see the movement of his lower body clearly, but when I looked up, I could meet his dark golden eyes that were inexplicably dull, and his forearm supported his hands with fingers crossed He also supported his pale and thin chin, and there was a cheerful smile on his sickly pale face.He was looking at me, observing me, as if my answer didn't matter to him - he just wanted to see my reaction.

"What do Captain Black Fox think?"

I thought about it a little: "I don't have any ideas, I'm just curious."

"Curious what?"

"Curiosity about the cost of awakening the dead, and some, um, philosophical questions about life, but it probably doesn't make much sense to someone like you," I changed to a more relaxed stance, "Wake up the dead, Maybe some things that shouldn’t have happened, or some things that should have happened can’t happen. I can’t say if this is right, but I think everyone’s life should be a thread. When a person dies, the thread will be broken It's just...waking the dead? That's weird."

I shook my head.

"The line that was broken early reappears after a blank space. The blank is no longer a pure blank, and the line is no longer a pure line. The meaning of death is missing, and the meaning of life is bound to be incomplete."

"Oh... I understand," Orochimaru raised his eyebrows, "You don't want such a technique to exist?"

"You asked me what I think, I just answered honestly," I didn't answer directly, but said, "This kind of blurring of the boundary between life and death will inevitably pay a high price, and it is also a terrible rule of thumb." changes..."

Before I finished speaking, Orochimaru suddenly laughed out loud.I looked up and saw that he had also changed to a one-handed chin posture, looking more relaxed.

"Captain Black Fox, what I'm curious about is not how you understand the world, but how this technique can be used for you in your eyes."

"I don't think it will be of any use to me," I said lightly, "I don't care either. To die is to die, to live is to live."

"Talk to the dead relatives again, yell at the dead enemies, meet the sages of the past to answer questions...even so?"

"even so."

I nodded.

"What you said is human nature, but human nature should not be an excuse to play with life and death."

"Even you and me?" Orochimaru asked.

"I thought about the enemy dying early, and I trekked all the way with a knife, but in the end it was just a situation where I was fighting wits with the air," I said frankly, "This made me hesitate, but I quickly thought of a solution .”

"Oh?" He showed an expression of interest, "Would you mind sharing it with me?"

"If one dies early, I'll destroy one of Kirigakure Anbu's hunting missions, just to let them get acquainted with the feeling of being hunted for revenge in advance."

"Hahaha, good! Interesting!"

After hearing my words, Orochimaru clapped his hands and raised his head in praise.This inevitably made me feel a little bit stunned - after two days of getting along, only this moment of him can remind me of the famous "Konoha Sannin" in the past.

When he stopped laughing, he tapped his fingers on the table in a playful manner. While looking very careless, ridicule and joy almost overflowed from his deep voice: "Then I wish you Find that measuring stick as soon as possible!"

I was a little dazed for a while, but I quickly realized what he meant - killing one's own enemy and killing another's enemy are still different after all, if you want to use the latter to fill the gap left by the former Hollow, then I'd better have a clear scale.

Wanting to understand this level, I nodded to Orochimaru. I have my own considerations on this point. It is meaningless to persuade others. The important thing is to be able to convince myself.

"Then this matter is over, and everything is going well."

On the opposite side, Orochimaru, who was sitting on a chair, moved his neck lazily, smiling, and seemed to be in a good mood.

"Welcome to my project team, my unique special researcher, you can come and go here as you like in the future."

I smirk back.

Now that the matter has been done, I have no reason to stay here any longer.To be honest, I thought everything would be fine after handing in the scroll, but a new round of conversation is waiting for me here... I've already wasted too much time here.

I felt bad all of a sudden, and after a brief farewell, I started to leave, but when my hand was about to touch the doorknob, I suddenly paused.

"What?" Orochimaru's voice came from behind.

I hesitated for a while, and finally said: "The guard at the gate of the research institute looks very unfamiliar."

"Guards? Why didn't I know that Konoha Research Institute still needs guards?"

Orochimaru who was sitting on the chair spoke lazily.

"But there are many elderly people in Konoha. When you get old, you will always feel a little insecure."

"...So that's the case, I know."

I understand.That's reasonable.

And things like the guards of the Konoha Research Institute were unreasonable from the beginning.

"Such an arrangement will be allowed... I can't see that you respect the teacher."

"Respect the teacher, we are each other, not to mention they dare not do anything here."

Orochimaru said with a half-smile.

"However, if you are capable enough, it would be a good choice to dispose of the roots that grow in the wrong place without leaving any traces."

"I'm not that free yet, let's talk about those adults..." I slightly accentuated my words, "He was sent to watch you. I don't want to get involved and get angry."

"You also said that he looks familiar, which means that you are already familiar with the other person. Do you want to guess why?"

"It's just a replacement—wait a minute, what do you mean?!" I suddenly looked back, and even forgot to add the honorific title.

Orochimaru raised his eyebrows: "What's different about Konoha Research Institute today?"

What's the difference?how could I know!But looking at Orochimaru's attitude, it seems that I should have known it, but how dare I have any overstepping thoughts, my purpose is so pure that it can't be more pure, just submit a symbolic application... Then— —

and many more.

"Me? Was my action last night exposed? Or..." I muttered, and subconsciously raised my eyes to Orochimaru.

"Don't look at me, I don't even know when you go out, and it won't do me any good to sell you." Orochimaru laughed.

……reasonable.According to the agreement, he would not want me to have problems.

Then there is only one case.

"I was followed last night? I didn't find out."

After clarifying my thoughts, my tone completely cooled down, followed by an inexplicable negative emotion.

Could it be that my strength is so weak that I can't even be found if I'm being followed? ...No, if it doesn't exist, even if it exists, it will definitely not be tracking.In fact, one of the advantages of Anbu’s background is that our detection and anti-reconnaissance capabilities are at the top among ninjas of the same level, and we were able to track me in the dead of night last night without being noticed... I think it is very Those with quasi-shadow level and above are not allowed to do so.

Judging from this point alone, the conclusions obtained seem to be very horrifying, but then again, how can I, a little dark army leader, have such a face?

I have gone through such a complicated detour in my heart, but the real time has only moved a little bit.

"...A perceptual ninja?"

I spoke again, my tone was hesitant at first, but in the end it became extremely certain.The expression that had been tense unconsciously because of the danger was also relaxed in the process.Immediately, I began to summarize all possible useful information one by one.

"Recently, I only checked ninjutsu, because I finally concluded that it was wood escape ninjutsu, which exposed their self-stealing, so it is completely reasonable for the root cause to find me... This is for them It's not a trivial matter, is it?"

"Since it's not a trivial matter, it must be done by a trusted confidant. Given the special nature of the root, I can be sure that the existence that can become a 'confidant' will not be weak—at least stronger than my apparent strength It must be a very rare quality at the root to be flexible and flexible at the same time."

"The standard is not low, and it also means that the number of qualified 'confidants' must not be many."

"And perception-type ninjas... Perception-type ninjas are not bad, and the scope can be further narrowed."

"Shrink...shrink. To what extent do you want to shrink?"

After thinking about this, I have completely calmed down.I tilted my head slightly and looked at Orochimaru who had been watching me sorting out the information with great interest, and actually smiled at him with a mention of the corner of my mouth: "Master Orochimaru, if you are that old man, would you send the tracking information to him?" How many confidantes should I entrust with the task of investigating me?"

Orochimaru also laughed, and the answer he gave was not disappointing: "One."

"Hey, don't you take me seriously?" I smiled.

"Strong combat power, good at planning, and a rare perceptual ninja," Orochimaru knocked on the table, his smile became a little mocking, "A private army is a private army after all, and when the movements and strength are limited, you can't waste your vitality .Not to mention the fact that as you said, they don't take you seriously."

"Oh, just think you're praising me."

The smile on my face remained the same, but then I asked another question.

"Then what if you want to follow up and investigate me?"

——Oshemaru didn't seem to be surprised when he received this question. He didn't make any outrageous expressions, but just gave me a meaningful look with a smile.

"One," he said.

"That's really..." Very unbelievable.

I thought so in my heart, and said so with my mouth, but my last few syllables failed to fall to the ground smoothly.

"One me, that's enough."

Orochimaru, who interrupted me, put his head on the side of one palm and said with a smile on his face.

"I really hope that there won't be a future where we meet in battle."

"……Ha ha."

I squeezed out a few short laughs from between my teeth, which I regarded as perfunctory to him.

My and his true attitude towards each other should not be put on the table right here and now, so——

--【impossible】.

I raised my eyebrows, and pointed my sharp eyes directly at Orochimaru's eyes.

--【I know】.

I know.

That's what his eyes said, plainly... maybe with a dash of banter or pity.

tsk...

never mind.There is ample time.