Using the Flying Thunder God, Aoba arrived beside Karin.
The two of them were lying low in a village outside Otogakure.
According to the intelligence they’d gathered, Oto shinobi periodically came out to replenish their supplies.
Today happened to be one of those days.
And this village was a necessary stop along their route.
“Aoba-sama, why are we going after Otogakure?” Karin asked quietly out of curiosity while they lay in ambush.
“That goes back to Orochimaru’s various underground bases…” Aoba looked up at the sky.
Orochimaru had been one of the Third Hokage’s most beloved students.
After his human experimentation was discovered, he’d defected from Konoha.
Once he’d become a missing-nin, he needed money to continue his human experiments, so he’d gone around raising funds through all sorts of means.
After all, scientific research required one thing above everything else: money.
The technological development of the shinobi world was downright bizarre.
You could call it backward, cameras and movies existed, and the Land of Snow had even developed trains.
Yet at the same time, shinobi were still throwing shuriken at one another.
In an environment like this, conducting scientific research naturally meant buying equipment.
Computers, microscopes, cell culture dishes, you could find all of them in the shinobi world.
The problem was that they were insanely expensive.
Hundreds of times more expensive than Aoba had imagined!
That alone made it obvious how much money it took to establish a proper research base.
Orochimaru hadn’t just built one.
He’d built several.
He’d even gone so far as to establish Otogakure.
That alone showed just how wealthy he was.
“Our current mission is to raise some funds.
Otogakure happens to be fairly wealthy.
You should understand what I mean.” Aoba had already been racking his brain over how to make money.
Tomorrow was the day Orochimaru’s Konoha Crush would begin.
By then, Otogakure would inevitably be depleted of manpower.
If he timed things properly, getting rich in one fell swoop wouldn’t be a problem.
If it were another hidden village, Aoba wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
For one thing, he might not be able to beat them.
For another, once he provoked them, the trouble wouldn’t be easy to shake off.
Taking on an entire hidden village single-handedly wasn’t something that could be done casually.
Otogakure was different.
Its leader was an S-rank missing-nin, so it had no moral high ground to begin with.
And after tomorrow, Orochimaru would be crippled.
Aoba wouldn’t have to worry about immediate retaliation.
Once he became stronger in the future, Orochimaru would only be the one getting beaten senseless by him.
He wouldn’t have to fear the man coming after him.
Besides, they’d already become enemies after Orochimaru ambushed them in the Forest of Death.
So Aoba felt absolutely no guilt about taking advantage of Orochimaru.
“I see.
Aoba-sama really does think several steps ahead!” Karin nodded earnestly.
After spending half a day lying in wait, they finally spotted a shinobi approaching.
After confirming that the forehead protector was indeed from Otogakure, Aoba immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to launch a surprise attack.
The Sound shinobi was barely at Chunin level and had no ability to resist.
He was captured with ease.
“Who are you?!” the Sound shinobi demanded loudly as he struggled.
“Tell me everything you know about Otogakure.
If you cooperate, I might consider letting you live.
Don’t force me to use more coercive methods.” Ignoring the Sound shinobi’s questions, Aoba began his interrogation.
It was obvious he had no experience with this sort of thing.
The Sound shinobi had absolutely no intention of cooperating.
“So you’re spies from another village.
Don’t even think about getting any information about our village out of me!” Aoba was wearing a tanuki mask this time, so he hadn’t revealed his identity.
The Sound shinobi therefore had no idea which village he belonged to.
“Come on.
Isn’t staying alive a good thing?” Aoba kindly tried to persuade him.
“Your village’s leader is about to abandon you.
It’s not worth throwing your life away for him.” The man clearly didn’t believe him.
If anything, he thought Aoba was spouting nonsense.
“Impossible!
That lord would never abandon us.
You’re deliberately trying to sow discord.
Do you really think I’ll fall for it?” Compared to Orochimaru, who had established Otogakure and given them a better life, it was obvious who the Sound shinobi trusted more.
Besides, Orochimaru was exceptionally good at winning people’s loyalty.
His subordinates were willing to risk their lives for him.
Those Sound shinobi would rather die than betray Orochimaru.
“Whether you believe me is up to you.
I’m not lying.” Aoba helplessly spread his hands.
Once Konoha Crush was exposed, Otogakure would definitely be targeted by Konoha.
Orochimaru fleeing was inevitable.
“Hmph.
Your words are full of holes.” The Sound shinobi sneered contemptuously.
“At your level, you think you can force information out of me?
Dream on!” With that, he steeled himself and opened his mouth, preparing to bite through his own tongue.
Seeing that the Sound shinobi was about to kill himself, Aoba’s eyes instantly turned into the crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
With a single glance, he plunged the man into a genjutsu.
As expected of the Sharingan.
Its enhancement to genjutsu was far beyond what he’d imagined!
Under his control, the Sound shinobi’s eyes became unfocused and his expression went blank.
He answered practically every question without resistance.
Before long, Aoba had obtained all the information he wanted.
Otogakure’s layout was different from that of other hidden villages.
Only part of it had been constructed above ground.
Rather than calling it a hidden village, it would be more accurate to call it an underground snake den, or perhaps a massive underground base.
The interior was a maze of interconnected passages and chambers.
Without knowing the layout, Aoba really wouldn’t have been able to find the entrance.
Fortunately, he’d already obtained the information.
He could take advantage of the night and scout the place first.
He left Karin outside while he quietly infiltrated Otogakure alone.
Otogakure’s security wasn’t particularly strict.
Most likely, Orochimaru had hurriedly pulled personnel away in preparation for tomorrow’s Konoha Crush.
The Sound Four—no, that was no longer quite accurate.
They should be called the Sound Three now—had already secretly infiltrated Konoha.
Orochimaru himself had even disguised himself as the Fourth Kazekage and become one of Konoha’s honored guests.
Of course, to prevent himself from being caught in a counterattack, Aoba had no intention of making his move tonight.
Tomorrow, when the third stage of the Chunin Exams began and chaos erupted, would be the perfect opportunity to act.
There should also still be a sickly Kimimaro in Otogakure.
His strength was considerable, probably approaching the level of a Kage.
Exactly how strong he was, Aoba couldn’t say without fighting him personally, but he was definitely not at true Kage level.
As long as Aoba was careful and didn’t alert Kimimaro, he should be able to explore Otogakure without being discovered.
Carefully avoiding the patrolling guards, Aoba successfully entered the core area.
He first arrived at a storeroom containing a large number of scrolls.
He casually opened several and looked through them.
They were either ordinary ninjutsu scrolls or things of little importance.
None of it was particularly useful to Aoba.
More importantly, he couldn’t turn any of it into money.
So he didn’t touch a thing.
The Otogakure treasury and laboratories were his real targets.
He left everything else alone to avoid alerting the village.
The treasury would certainly contain money or valuables, which naturally held the greatest appeal for Aoba.
As for the laboratory, he certainly wasn’t going to conduct any experiments himself.
That sort of thing required far too much brainpower.
He simply didn’t have the talent for it.
But the valuable equipment inside the laboratory would surely fetch a good price if he took a few pieces out and sold them.
Aoba then quietly placed a Flying Thunder God mark in a concealed corner.
Tomorrow, he would be able to enter this place with ease.
Continuing onward, Aoba discovered a particular area that seemed different from the rest.