“I’ve decided to assign your team a mission.”
Orochimaru placed a scroll on the desk and slid it toward Ren.
“Complete it as quickly as possible.”
He paused.
“Today’s training schedule is not canceled.”
The reluctance in his voice was impossible to miss.
A few days earlier, Hiruzen had nearly blown a fuse during the Jonin Council meeting.
Konoha was already preparing invitations for the upcoming Chunin Exams, and somehow Orochimaru—one of the people responsible for the entire operation—had forgotten they existed.
The Third Hokage still couldn’t understand it.
If the exams weren’t important, why had Orochimaru personally attended the Academy graduation examinations?
Fortunately, Orochimaru had confidently assured everyone that Konoha’s performance would be exceptional.
That was the only reason Hiruzen hadn’t thrown his pipe at him.
Even so, training remained the priority.
Especially after the Hokage’s direct intervention.
“Your combat ability is already more than sufficient,” Orochimaru said.
Ren raised an eyebrow.
“But being a shinobi isn’t just about fighting.”
Orochimaru tapped the mission scroll.
“Lord Third selected this assignment personally.”
That caught Ren’s attention.
“Oh?”
Over the past two months, Orochimaru had explained Konoha’s plans for the Chunin Exams.
Ren didn’t care about diplomacy.
Or politics.
Or strategic deterrence.
The opportunity to fight large numbers of opponents, however?
That was extremely interesting.
Despite Orochimaru providing summoned snakes for combat training every day, there was a problem.
The strongest summons were usually the same few snakes.
And according to the system, repeatedly defeating the same target eventually produced diminishing returns.
Unless the target became stronger.
Unfortunately, snakes weren’t known for their explosive growth rates.
The rewards were still useful.
Just not optimal.
The Chunin Exams, on the other hand, would gather talented shinobi from multiple villages.
To Ren, that sounded less like a tournament and more like a giant experience farm.
He unrolled the scroll.
“A B-Rank mission?”
His eyes scanned the contents.
“Bandit suppression.”
“And intelligence retrieval,” Orochimaru added.
Ren nodded.
Bandit suppression missions were among the most common assignments in the shinobi world.
Bandits never disappeared.
Not in the Land of Fire.
Not in the Land of Earth.
Not anywhere.
Some were exactly what they appeared to be.
Others were far more complicated.
Certain “bandit groups” were little more than intelligence networks operating under a different name.
Officially, they were criminals.
Unofficially, everyone knew someone was funding them.
Which was why they kept reappearing no matter how many were eliminated.
As for who funded these networks?
Every village had theories.
Most somehow pointed toward everyone else.
The current target had already exposed itself.
Intercepted communications.
Suspicious movements.
Established contact routes.
Everything pointed toward Iwagakure involvement.
The mission itself was straightforward.
Destroy the base.
Eliminate any hidden Iwa operatives.
Recover intelligence.
Cut off the enemy network.
Ren rolled up the scroll.
“Understood.”
Then he immediately grabbed Kurenai and Rin.
“Let’s go.”
If they moved quickly enough, he could still make it back before evening training.
And more importantly—
Before snake punching time ended.
Orochimaru watched the three leave.
He had no intention of accompanying them.
The mission was simple.
As the door closed behind them, he shook his head.
“Honestly, I don’t understand Sensei sometimes.”
This entire mission had been Hiruzen’s idea.
The reasoning was simple.
According to the Third Hokage, Ren was:
Too reckless.
Too direct.
Far too willing to solve every problem by running straight through it.
Therefore, Hiruzen had deliberately selected an intelligence-gathering mission.
The goal was to teach patience.
Stealth.
Reconnaissance.
Proper shinobi thinking.
Orochimaru found the logic baffling.
“As long as he becomes strong enough, what difference does a little recklessness make?”
He walked toward his laboratory.
“If someone has a weakness, point it out.”
“Correct it.”
“Why build an entire training program around it?”
The more he thought about it, the less sense it made.
A story from years ago suddenly surfaced in his memory.
A wealthy nobleman’s son had fallen in love with a beautiful woman.
Unfortunately, he worried she only loved his fortune.
So he devised a test.
He told her he owned nothing but a modest house, an ordinary carriage, and a small savings account.
Because surely nobody could be poorer than that.
Orochimaru felt much the same.
He had met countless shinobi.
Some cautious.
Some impulsive.
Some outright insane.
The most reckless person he knew was Jiraiya.
And frankly—
“No one could possibly be more reckless than Jiraiya.”
Satisfied with this conclusion, Orochimaru returned to work.
A B-Rank mission was normally assigned to experienced chunin teams or jonin-led squads.
For newly graduated genin, it could easily become fatal.
But Ren wasn’t a normal genin.
Orochimaru never doubted their ability to complete it.
The target was relatively close to Konoha.
At shinobi speed, the round trip shouldn’t take long.
Yet as the day stretched on, there was still no sign of Team Orochimaru.
By late afternoon, Orochimaru finally looked up from his notes.
“…Strange.”
The sun was already sinking toward the horizon.
A faint crease appeared between his brows.
Had something gone wrong?
Perhaps an unusually strong enemy had appeared?
Normally, these intelligence outposts housed only a handful of chunin-level operatives.
Occasionally a jonin might be present.
Dangerous, certainly.
But not enough to threaten Ren.
That confidence was precisely why Orochimaru had sent them alone.
Still…
Coincidences happened.
What if an elite Iwa shinobi had arrived at the wrong place at exactly the wrong time?
That would be a completely different situation.
Elite jonin weren’t simply stronger.
They possessed experience.
Judgment.
Refined killing intent.
Ren’s physical abilities were monstrous, but he was still young.
Still learning.
The possibility wasn’t impossible.
Orochimaru pushed back his chair.
Perhaps he should investigate personally—
Creak.
The door opened.
“Sensei, we’re back.”
Ren strolled inside.
His clothes were torn.
Covered in dust.
Yet somehow there wasn’t a single drop of blood on him.
He looked fantastic.
Relaxed.
Refreshed.
Almost cheerful.
Behind him, Kurenai and Rin looked completely destroyed.
Both girls were breathing heavily.
Their legs trembled.
Their uniforms were disheveled.
They looked like they’d run across half the country.
Orochimaru stared.
His eyes moved slowly.
From Ren.
To Kurenai.
To Rin.
Then back to Ren.
A dangerous thought briefly crossed his mind.
“…Report.”
His voice grew noticeably colder.
If the delay involved certain teenage activities…
He was seriously considering replacing both girls before the Chunin Exams.
The team needed shinobi.
Not distractions.
Kurenai and Rin were talented.
But if they were interfering with Ren’s growth—
Then they were liabilities.
“Yes, Sensei.”
Ren immediately stood at attention.
“We located the bandit base.”
“Then?”
“We attempted infiltration according to standard shinobi procedure.”
Orochimaru nodded.
Reasonable.
“Then?”
“We were discovered.”
Still reasonable.
Even experienced infiltrators failed sometimes.
Years later, Orochimaru himself would infiltrate Konoha disguised as Naruto and still get noticed by Sasuke.
These things happened.
“Then?”
“Around two hundred bandits emerged and attempted to surround us.”
Orochimaru pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Skip ahead.”
He didn’t care about routine details.
He wanted to know why they were late.
Ren nodded.
“Facing overwhelming numbers, we executed a tactical withdrawal, breached the main compound, eliminated all two hundred and seventeen bandits, killed six hidden Iwa shinobi, and recovered the intelligence.”
Orochimaru paused.
“…Continue.”
“Using the recovered intelligence, we identified seventeen additional Iwa-supported bandit outposts operating within the Land of Fire.”
Silence.
A bad feeling began forming.
“So we continued the mission.”
Ren sounded completely reasonable.
“As loyal shinobi of Konoha, we felt it would be irresponsible to ignore enemy intelligence assets.”
The bad feeling intensified.
“…Continue.”
“Unfortunately, we ran out of time.”
Ren sighed.
Genuine disappointment appeared on his face.
“We only managed to destroy eight additional outposts.”
The room fell silent.
“Approximately fifteen hundred enemy casualties in total.”
Another pause.
“The cleanup isn’t finished.”
Ren looked thoughtful.
“I intend to continue tomorrow.”
Silence.
Long silence.
Very long silence.
Orochimaru slowly raised his head.
His gaze drifted past Ren.
Toward Kurenai and Rin.
The two girls looked as though they had aged several years.
Now he understood why.
Then, for the second time in recent memory, the future Legendary Sannin’s mind produced only a single response.