Natsuki raised his hand in greeting, seeing that only Sasuke looked a bit disheveled while everyone else seemed uninjured.
He immediately felt relieved.
He turned to Kakashi and said,
"Kakashi-senpai, I searched all over and couldn't find Orochimaru. I only came here after hearing the commotion in this area. In the hallway, I saw this big white-scaled snake suddenly rush past, so I cut it down in one strike. If I'm not mistaken, that should be Orochimaru, right?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, that was indeed Orochimaru. I didn't expect he would transform himself into such a state."
He couldn't help but sigh.
To think one of the Legendary Sannin, for the sake of achieving immortality, would commit countless atrocities — even going so far as to transform himself into something neither man nor snake — only to end up dead like this.
Pitiful, lamentable… and hateful!
Natsuki then looked at Sasuke. "You didn't happen to fight Orochimaru again, did you? How did it go? Did you win?"
Sasuke shook his head. "I used shunshin gen'ei (Body Flicker Mirage) to gain the upper hand, but Orochimaru used a trick — transforming into a giant snake to coil around me and trigger the jūin (Cursed Seal) on my body. If Yakumo hadn't rescued me, I might've been in danger."
Oh? Calling her by name already?
Well, that's not necessarily strange — Sasuke also calls Sakura and Megumi by name.
Natsuki smiled and praised, "As expected from someone I recommended to the team — totally reliable in critical moments!"
Kurama Yakumo blushed again, while Megumi proudly added, "Boss, you didn't see it — when the snake had Sasuke wrapped up, Yakumo hit it with a genjutsu, forcing it to let go, then nailed it with a spike — nearly killing it. If Orochimaru hadn't shed his skin to escape, you wouldn't have even gotten the chance to finish him off!"
"Oh? That's impressive!"
Natsuki followed along with the praise, making Yakumo blush so hard her face turned crimson.
The girl still had thin skin — she just couldn't handle praise, which only made her seem cuter.
Not teasing her further, Natsuki turned with Kakashi and Aoba Yamashiro to inspect the corpse of the white-scaled snake, confirming it wasn't a Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique) but the real thing — and truly dead.
"Can we confirm Orochimaru's death?" Aoba asked.
"Most likely. We saw Orochimaru transform into the white-scaled snake ourselves. Now that the snake's dead, and the wounds match the spikes Yakumo left, I'm pretty sure he's gone for good."
Kakashi, however, wasn't entirely certain. Orochimaru was far too cunning — he might have slipped away.
Both of them then looked toward Natsuki.
After a moment's thought, Natsuki said, "I'm confident he's dead. When I struck, I confirmed it was really Orochimaru and saw no signs of him using a substitution or escape technique."
Of course, he didn't mention that Orochimaru's soul might still exist in the jūin marks on Mitarashi Anko and Sasuke. He'd just warn Sasuke about that later.
If Orochimaru wanted to revive himself, he could simply crawl out from a cursed seal. But with his hands ruined, he wouldn't dare to show himself until he found a solution.
So there was no immediate danger.
Kakashi and Aoba both breathed a sigh of relief. With Orochimaru gone, this mission could be considered a success. The village would be safer without that poisonous snake lurking around.
Kakashi said, "Natsuki, relay the news to the others — we'll continue clearing out this base."
Natsuki nodded, quickly sending several paper notes to each squad via teleportation.
Aoba's team headed toward the records room to check prisoner files. If there were any innocents inside, they'd free them right away.
Kakashi went to find Sai to see what he was up to.
Sakura, unsure what to do, turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, what about us?"
Sasuke ignored her, instead stepping up to the snake's corpse. He drew his blade and sliced open its belly — spilling out ten Kusanagi no Tsurugi (Grasscutter Swords) and ten scrolls.
"Natsuki, come here."
Sasuke beckoned him. "These are Kusanagi swords, and the Ryūchidō (Dragon Ground Cave) summoning contract. Which one do you want?"
Natsuki didn't hesitate, taking a Kusanagi sword. "I'll take this. TenTen's an expert with ninja tools — she'll love it. As for the contract… if I dared to sign a snake contract, TenTen would kick me out of bed."
Sakura's face flushed at his bold words.
Sasuke, however, didn't understand. "Why? The Dragon Ground Cave is one of the Three Great Sacred Grounds — signing with it would be powerful."
Natsuki patted his shoulder. "You don't get it. Most girls hate snakes."
Is that so?
Sasuke looked up at Sakura.
Her expression stiffened, but she forced herself to say, "I-I don't hate snakes!"
She couldn't admit she liked them — saying she didn't hate them was already her best effort. She guessed Sasuke would sign the contract for strength and wanted him to know she didn't mind.
In truth, Sasuke only looked her way because she was the only girl there.
Unrolling the scroll, he saw Orochimaru and Kabuto's names at the end — and without hesitation, bit his finger and signed his own name.
Curious, Natsuki glanced over and noticed someone named "Kishimoto" on the list. He rolled his eyes.
With Orochimaru dead, the rest was just cleanup.
Instead of worrying over minor details, Natsuki casually searched a lab. Orochimaru had some wild ideas, but his human experiments were too twisted for Natsuki to stomach.
Meanwhile, Sasuke's luck held — he found another Kusanagi sword, this one in katana style, just like the one from the original story.
It seemed he and Orochimaru really were fated — even without defecting, Sasuke still managed to loot plenty from his legacy.
Just the Kusanagi swords and Dragon Ground Cave contract alone were a big haul.
And unbeknownst to Natsuki, Sasuke also found intel on the Three-Tails — a true windfall.
Other squads soon finished clearing nearby outposts, eliminating many Sound ninja. The mission was a clear success, and everyone gathered at the base entrance.
The moment TenTen arrived, she ran to Natsuki, grabbing his hand and playfully scratching his palm — excitement practically radiating from her.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 500 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]