A Kind Child

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Wearing an ordinary kimono, Orochimaru traveled alone through the towns and cities of the Land of Water with an amused look on his face.

Because of Sasori, he had not left the Land of Water according to his original plan. And because there were almost no enemies in the Land of Water who required him and Sasori to fight together, he had not stayed with Sasori.

Kirigakure's unrest had already lasted for a long time.

That turmoil had nearly exhausted all of Kirigakure's strength. Several well-known kekkei genkai clans inside Kirigakure, such as the Kaguya and the Yuki, had been wiped out. Clan members who possessed kekkei genkai either died or fled, scattering throughout the region.

Fortunately, the Land of Water stood apart from the mainland, and the neighboring forces, Konoha and Kumogakure, were locked in confrontation and peace talks. They had no energy to spare for anything else. Otherwise, whether Kirigakure could continue to exist at all would have been uncertain.

Suddenly, a burly man holding a blade blocked Orochimaru's path, his face vicious. "Hand over your money."

Orochimaru extended his long tongue and lightly drew it over his lips. In a hoarse voice, he said, "A fool who cannot even sense danger. How pitiful."

The burly man flew into a rage. "You are dead!"

Clang.

Before the burly man finished speaking, the blade in his hand slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground.

He forced his head down and discovered that at some point, a small green snake as thick as a finger had bitten tightly into his throat.

Orochimaru brushed past the burly man. From beginning to end, his hands never left his sleeves.

The burly man collapsed behind him and stopped breathing.

After traveling through the Land of Water for so long, very few people dared cause trouble for Orochimaru. Even the lowest-ranking Kirigakure shinobi could sense the cold, unapproachable aura around him.

Only a pure civilian thug like that burly man would be stupid enough to walk forward and die.

That also showed that the turmoil in the Land of Water was no longer confined to the shinobi class. The lives of ordinary civilians had been severely affected as well. The entire Land of Water was in chaos.

After turning a corner, Orochimaru suddenly stopped. His gaze was drawn to a pile of trash in the corner.

In front of the trash pile, a ragged child squatted on the ground, tearing a small lump of blackened bread into pieces and sharing it with several thin stray cats. The little cats meowed and showed great affection toward the child.

"Oh? What excellent chakra."

Orochimaru licked his lips and slowly walked toward the trash pile.

The child's fear grew as Orochimaru approached. He curled up, wanting to hide deeper in the corner, but when he thought of the small cats at his feet, he gritted his teeth, spread his arms, and shielded them.

Orochimaru looked over the skinny child in front of him, then glanced at the bread crumbs the child had fed to the cats. He asked, "What is your name?"

The child answered cautiously, "My name is Haku."

Looking into Haku's pure, clear eyes, Orochimaru shook his head and turned to leave.

This child was starving himself, yet still gave the little food he had left to stray cats. Even if he possessed decent chakra, such a kind child was not suited to be a shinobi. With only one look, Orochimaru gave up on taking the child with him.

But after walking a few steps, he suddenly stopped, because he remembered the child named Jugo.

Jugo was a child who could absorb natural energy. Precisely because Orochimaru had obtained that child, a new project called the cursed seal experiment had been added to his research.

Orochimaru looked back at Haku and murmured, "A child this pure may be able to carry that kind of power."

At that moment, a figure landed beside Orochimaru. It was none other than his partner, Sasori.

Sasori glanced briefly at the small, skinny Haku in the corner. His gaze did not linger. He turned to Orochimaru and said, "Let us go. The person I am looking for has appeared."

Orochimaru smiled. "Are you sure the one you are looking for is a person and not a corpse?"

Sasori gritted his teeth. "I will turn him into a corpse."

Orochimaru rarely saw Sasori this irritated, so he pretended to ask casually, "Who exactly are you looking for? I do not have time to run around with you for nothing."

"A shinobi from your Konoha."

The Land of Wind.

With the help of the Kusagakure shinobi, after a full month, Naoki finally found traces of Roran's remaining people.

After climbing over a sand dune, the Kusagakure jonin Ryuran pointed toward a conspicuous oasis in the distance and said to Naoki, "The people of Roran you are looking for are there."

Naoki looked over. Around the edge of the oasis, a ring of covered wagons had stopped. Sparse figures moved back and forth between the wagons. Some were drawing water from the oasis, some were tending camels and sheep, and some were lighting fires to cook.

Naoki frowned. "Why are there so few people?"

Even counting everyone in the caravan near the oasis, there were only two or three hundred people. That was far fewer than Naoki had expected. In his view, the surviving people of Roran might not be numerous, but they should not have dwindled to only two or three hundred.

A local guide hired by the Kusagakure shinobi quickly explained, "Ever since Roran was abandoned, these people lost their livelihood. Some left, some died. These are all that remain."

Naoki asked again, "Even without a city, their lives should not have become this miserable, should they?"

The guide was about to explain when he suddenly saw something and pointed into the distance. "Look."

Naoki followed the direction of the guide's finger and saw two Sunagakure shinobi arrive at the oasis and begin speaking with the people of Roran.

The exchange seemed unpleasant. After an argument, the two Sunagakure shinobi left the oasis, gradually disappearing into the wind and sand.

Naoki asked, "Why would Sunagakure shinobi appear here?"

The guide sighed. "I heard Sunagakure has been taxing these people of Roran. Those two Sunagakure shinobi just now were probably tax collectors."

Naoki thought briefly and understood Sunagakure's intention.

How much tax could they collect from a caravan of only two or three hundred people?

Sunagakure was doing this first as an excuse to monitor the people of Roran. Second, they were likely hoping to apply economic pressure and force the people of Roran to fully submit to Sunagakure.

Once that happened, Sunagakure could legitimately claim the Dragon Vein.

Naoki found Sunagakure's maneuvering perfectly normal. After all, if Sunagakure did not covet a massive chakra source like the Dragon Vein at all, that would be truly abnormal.

Ryuran, the Kusagakure shinobi, asked, "Mr. Ki, do you need to go over and confirm the person you are looking for?"

Naoki shook his head. "No need."

Ryuran said, "In that case, regarding our commission this time..."

Naoki did not say anything more. He simply handed the remaining payment for the commission to Ryuran.

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