After estimating the bounty on his own head, Muzan realized it was worth as much as an A-rank mission.
A bold idea suddenly crossed his mind.
Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right.
Otherwise, he could simply transform into someone else, carry his own severed head to collect the bounty, and make a fortune.
With his current regenerative abilities, even decapitation wouldn’t pose much of a problem.
“In a few days, you’ll return to the village with Konoha’s supply convoy.” Orochimaru estimated that war wasn’t far off.
The front lines would require a steady flow of provisions to sustain the fighting.
“Oh, and one more thing.” “I covered up the fact that you kept the enemy’s storage scroll.” Muzan had only turned in the heads.
Everything else on the enemy corpses had quietly found its way into his own possession.
When Orochimaru suddenly brought it up, Muzan thought it was something serious.
“No need to worry.” “Everything that happens at the front-line camp is reported directly to me.” “As long as it doesn’t affect the bigger picture, you can keep whatever you take.” Orochimaru had always been generous toward his own people.
Besides, all confiscated items were ultimately reported to him anyway.
Even if one of his subordinates reported the missing loot, the report would simply disappear into oblivion.
“I’m only reminding you.” “When a shinobi dies, traces of their perception linger for a short while.” “Next time, be more careful.” “Don’t let yourself get caught.” Whenever he had time, Orochimaru would casually teach them bits of practical shinobi knowledge like this.
“Thank you for the advice, Sensei.” Knowing that Orochimaru would be occupied with front-line affairs for some time and wouldn’t have much opportunity to personally train them, Muzan realized it was the perfect chance to continue his genetic research.
“Orochimaru-sensei…” “If possible, I’d like to study genetic modification.” Orochimaru looked at his disciple with obvious interest.
The request reminded him of a certain rumor.
“So even Tsunade couldn’t cure it…” “The child cursed by sunlight.” “I once treated patients with albinism.” “They couldn’t remain under the sun for long.” “Your condition is even more severe.” “Fortunately, I’ve done some research in that area.” “You can have these.” He opened his mouth…
…and spat out a scroll.
Looking at the saliva coating it, Muzan’s face darkened.
Pinching the edge with two fingers, he reluctantly tucked it into his robes.
Only Orochimaru would store things like that.
Still…
With these research notes, his own experiments would progress far more quickly once he returned to Konoha.
His inability to withstand sunlight remained his greatest weakness.
A flaw written into his genes…
One that would require equally extraordinary methods to overcome.
Hopefully…
This research would provide some answers.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ There was nothing else for the three of them to do.
They simply remained at the camp until it was time to accompany Konoha’s supply convoy back to the village.
Anko lay sprawled atop one of the wagons, watching groups of shinobi moving around them.
They were still deep within Konoha’s rear lines.
With Orochimaru guarding the front, enemy shinobi had no chance of infiltrating this far.
“Uncle Mokusuke, why are there so many people escorting the convoy?” “I don’t know either.” “These shinobi aren’t part of our transport unit.” Mokusuke was just an ordinary chunin.
He had thought this assignment would be an easy one.
Instead, a large force of additional shinobi had suddenly joined them.
That made him suspect the journey wouldn’t be peaceful.
The atmosphere throughout the convoy gradually became tense.
“You and Mari only ever think about eating.” “You’ve learned almost nothing about shinobi deployments or military tactics.” Muzan explained his own guess.
Compared to Kirigakure, separated by the sea…
Kumogakure posed a much greater threat to Konoha.
“If I’m right…” “These shinobi are heading to reinforce the front lines.” “Looks like the situation there has become serious.” The moment he finished speaking…
He immediately sensed several pairs of eyes turning toward him.
“That’s exactly right.” One of the shinobi leading the escort had overheard him.
Their mission truly was to reinforce the front.
“If Kirigakure wants to invade, they’d have to cross the ocean.” “Moving that many ships without being noticed isn’t easy.” “As long as a few powerful shinobi guard the coast, most of Kirigakure’s strategies become useless.” “As expected of Orochimaru-sama’s disciple.” “The front is currently being held by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.” “But the enemy has also deployed powerful shinobi.” The legendary Konoha formation.
Working together, even a Kage-level opponent wouldn’t willingly confront them head-on.
It also demonstrated just how seriously Konoha took its defensive line.
Combined with this fresh wave of reinforcements…
Even if Kumogakure launched a full-scale invasion, Konoha wouldn’t be afraid.
“So once the war starts…” “We’re going to the front too, right?!” The adults noticed the excitement shining in Anko’s eyes.
None of them had the heart to immediately tell her how cruel war truly was.
“Then I’ll finally earn my own nickname!” “Hmm…
what should people call me?” “Count me in!” “Mari’s going to become an amazing shinobi too!” Neither Mari nor Anko had ever experienced war themselves.
They had only heard stories.
They didn’t understand that war wasn’t merely about earning fame.
It was about endless sacrifice.
Muzan looked at his two clownish teammates and felt the corner of his eye twitch.
Suppressing the urge to lose his temper, he poured cold water all over their dreams.
“You two?” “Once you’re on the battlefield, you’ll probably be too scared to know which way is north.” “And shinobi don’t earn titles just because they want one.” “They earn them by making their enemies fear them.” A true reputation…
Was forged through rivers of enemy blood…
And mountains of enemy bones.
Not by daydreaming like the spoiled son of some wealthy landlord.
“You jerk, Muzan!” “Just wait!” “When the time comes, you’ll be my very first little follower!” Mokusuke’s expression darkened.
If children like these were being sent to war…
Then Konoha’s situation was far worse than he’d hoped.
“Enough.” “If you’ve got time to argue, spend it learning more ninjutsu.” His words interrupted the bickering.
Anko had been about to retort before she finally noticed how oppressive the convoy’s atmosphere had become.
“War…” “…isn’t as wonderful as you imagine.” “Every ninja world War claims countless lives.” “Even the Kage themselves can’t guarantee they’ll survive.” “Anko…” “You should pray that none of you ever have to step onto a battlefield.” Mokusuke’s hoarse voice quietly described the cruelty of war.
A chill ran down Anko’s spine.
Beside her, Mari stood frozen in place.
“You’re exaggerating, Uncle Mokusuke.” “War may be terrifying…” “But Konoha will always be the strongest.” Muzan’s voice rang out firmly from beneath his black cloak.
War would come.
But this time…
It wouldn’t end in tragedy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ The journey back passed without incident.
The shinobi escort moved quickly, and even the supply convoy reached Konoha in remarkably short order.
The moment he returned…
Muzan shut himself inside the laboratory.
As he opened Orochimaru’s research notes, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
“As expected of the greatest scientist in the ninja world.” “I never imagined Orochimaru-sensei’s understanding of cells was this thorough.” To reach these conclusions…
He must have performed countless bloody experiments.
The further Muzan read…
The messier the handwriting became.
And the more complicated the recorded knowledge grew.
“No wonder Orochimaru gradually lost his humanity.” Just researching cellular composition alone had required an enormous number of experiments.
Not only on ordinary people…
But also on shinobi possessing various kekkei genkai.
Those subjects weren’t livestock waiting to be slaughtered.
Which meant…
Danzo, the Darkness of the ninja world…
Had almost certainly provided Orochimaru with plenty of assistance.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [Translator’s Notes] Hello, everyone!
I just posted a new story called Naruto: Starting Out as Tsunade’s Deskmate.
It has a lighter, simpler tone than this one, but it still features a transmigrated OC with a system.
🙂 Don’t forget to check it out.