Naruto: I Kill, I Loot, I Ascend

Chapter 217: Successfully Completing the Mission of Recruiting Orochimaru

Jiraiya and Tsunade, who had been drinking water, both spat it out at the same time.

"WHAT?! You want Orochimaru to join Root?!" Jiraiya shouted in shock.

As disciples of Hiruzen Sarutobi, they were well aware of Root's existence.

And they knew exactly what kind of place it was.

Root was essentially Konoha's sewer.

Their strength wasn't particularly impressive, but all the dirty work of Konoha was handled by them.

Tsunade, however, showed an expression of "just as I expected."

A murderous brat like Hyuga Arin really did seem suited for a place like Root.

But still—

Wouldn't Danzo eventually die of anger?

She knew Arin well.

Anyone who became his superior would inevitably suffer severe internal injuries.

Not physical ones.

The kind caused by pure rage.

Thinking about it that way, Arin joining Root really was a wonderful decision.

Let those two hurt each other. Neither of them would come out ahead.

Danzo had an extreme desire for control.

He firmly believed that ninja only needed to obey orders, and emotions were unnecessary.

Meanwhile, Arin was a ninja who could not be controlled at all.

Or more accurately—

He was completely out of control.

And that loss of control would drive his superiors insane.

The key point was—

He never corrected his behavior.

And now he was also extremely powerful.

When he was weak, he showed surface-level respect to anyone who could kill him.

But once he became strong—

He would throw punches at anyone.

Hadn't he used to act submissive around her?

Now that his strength had grown, he behaved completely recklessly around her.

A classic case of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Serves both of them right.

Tsunade suddenly found herself wondering—

When would those two finally start fighting?

She was honestly looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, the man at the center of the conversation—Orochimaru—scratched his head.

"Root, huh…"

"I actually intended to join before."

"But for some reason, Danzo rejected me in the end."

There were many top-secret jutsu and research materials there.

"What?! You actually considered joining Root?!" Jiraiya stared at Orochimaru in disbelief.

"Of course," Orochimaru nodded.

"There are quite a few classified materials I'm interested in."

"My original plan was to read everything first and then withdraw."

"But Danzo suddenly refused to let me join."

So he planned to take everything and leave?

No wonder Danzo rejected him.

The same thought passed through all three of their minds.

"Well, about that," Arin said to Orochimaru.

"Danzo that old bastard—no wait… that old thing… no, that's not right."

"Anyway, he still wants you to join Root."

At least show him a little respect!!

Tsunade sneered.

She knew this would happen.

"Actually… I'll pass this time," Orochimaru said, shaking his head.

Back then, he had been alone.

Joining Root wouldn't have mattered.

But now he had Nawaki to teach.

And Nawaki wanted to become Hokage in the future.

If Orochimaru carried a stain on his record, it might affect him.

"No, Orochimaru-sensei."

"I think you should join."

Arin's smile remained on his face.

But suddenly the air in the room grew colder.

Orochimaru looked at that smile.

His own gentle expression stiffened slightly.

"I am still your teacher."

"And I'm currently a patient."

He had a feeling Arin was about to do something very unreasonable.

Was it this dangerous to take in students now?

No—

It was just this particular student who was dangerous.

As someone who understood Arin fairly well, Orochimaru knew—

This guy was capable of anything.

"Orochimaru-sensei," Arin said softly.

His voice suddenly became gentle.

He even helped tuck the blanket around Orochimaru.

"My mission completion rate is still 100%."

"You wouldn't want your adorable student's record to drop… right?"

Orochimaru finally understood.

Danzo had assigned Arin the mission to recruit him.

A flicker of black-blue flame suddenly ignited.

Orochimaru's blanket caught fire.

"Oh dear," Arin said with an apologetic expression.

"Sorry, sensei. When I get emotional, I sometimes lose control of my flames."

Could you at least make it less fake?!

Arin hurriedly grabbed the flower vase nearby.

He removed the flowers and poured the water onto the flames.

The fire burned even stronger.

"Let's talk this through!!" Orochimaru's face changed.

He tried to throw off the blanket—

But discovered it had been pinned to the bed with a kunai.

"Have you made your decision, sensei?" Arin asked with a smile.

The flames slowly devoured the blanket.

They burned slower than ordinary fire.

But they were very determined.

"Oh right," Arin suddenly asked curiously.

"Does Konoha Hospital offer lifetime VIP service?"

This had completely turned into a threat.

"Maybe you should think about it, Orochimaru," Jiraiya said quietly from the side.

"At this rate, it feels like you won't leave the hospital alive."

"With that flame temperature," Tsunade added calmly,

"You'll probably be burned into snake ash."

"You two are enough already!!" Orochimaru shouted.

"Fine!! I'll join!!"

At worst, he could just steal the research materials and run later.

The flames immediately weakened and went out.

"See? That wasn't so hard," Arin said.

He pulled out a fruit basket from his inventory and placed it on the table.

"How exactly did you take that out?!" Orochimaru stared in confusion.

Honestly, studying Arin's body structure might be more valuable than all the Root research materials.

Tsunade looked completely unsurprised.

She had long gotten used to Arin's strange abilities.

He always managed to bring unexpected excitement into ordinary moments.

After Orochimaru agreed, Arin returned to Root to report.

Aburame Ryoma, standing beside Danzo, looked at Arin with envy.

In the entire Root organization, only Arin could freely enter and leave the base.

Ordinary Root members were forbidden from leaving without Danzo's permission.

They underwent strict training every day.

Only those assigned missions could go outside.

"So easily?" Danzo looked at Arin suspiciously.

He always felt like this kid had pulled some strange trick again.

"After all, he's my beloved teacher," Arin said with tearful emotion.

"As his most cherished student, when I pleaded sincerely…"

"Orochimaru-sensei naturally agreed happily."

(Orochimaru: If I hadn't been there, I might've believed that.)

Whether Danzo believed him wasn't important.

What mattered was—

Arin held out his hand again.

This time the reward obviously couldn't just be money or jutsu.

Danzo thought for a moment.

He didn't think Arin would lie about this.

"Root's Second Squad will be under your command from now on."

"They will follow your orders completely."

He turned to Ryoma.

"Take him to the Second Squad."

Suddenly, Danzo remembered something.

His expression became serious.

"You are not allowed to use Root's name to persecute the Uchiha clan!!"

Arin dug at his ear.

Then he leaned closer to Danzo.

"Danzo-sama, what did you say?"

So this brat really planned to target the Uchiha.

Danzo felt a headache coming.

He repeated loudly,

"You are not allowed to target the Uchiha clan!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Arin said, rubbing his ear.

"Why are you shouting so loudly?"

You little—!!!

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