Chapter 225: Konoha Village
A massive cliff, with a bustling village below it. The cliff face was carved with the heads of three individuals.
That's right, this was Konoha Village. After leaving Iwagakure, Ishiro didn't go to the Land of Water but instead came to Konoha.
Ishiro chose to come to Konoha at this time naturally to look for an opportunity, because Konoha currently had very few high-end combatants.
Among them, Minato Namikaze, whom Ishiro was most wary of, was not in Konoha.
Although the number of ninjas in Konoha who could display Kage-level combat power was frighteningly large, fortunately, they each had their own issues.
At this point in time, the Sannin and Minato Namikaze were not in Konoha. Among Konoha's many Kage-level individuals, only Kushina Uzumaki was likely to be wandering around the village.
Others, such as Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, and Fugaku Uchiha, would not be running around the village randomly.
Ishiro felt he was relatively safe.
As long as he could fly away and escape the moment he sensed something wrong, Ishiro felt that Konoha was not a place of certain death.
Ishiro dared to infiltrate Konoha due to two main reliances. First was a ninjutsu to suppress chakra fluctuations. This allowed Ishiro to lurk within Konoha Village while maintaining a certain level of combat readiness.
Second was the Mind's Eye. The miraculous thing about this S-rank ninjutsu was that, much like seeing with eyes or hearing with ears, it didn't consume chakra. Therefore, using the Mind's Eye didn't risk exposing his identity as a ninja.
The only risk Ishiro had to take was the moment he first entered Konoha. Ishiro couldn't carry any sealing scrolls, nor could he have a single trace of chakra in his body.
Otherwise, Konoha's sensory barrier would definitely detect it.
At the same time, because Ishiro was entering Konoha Village disguised as an ordinary person, he couldn't carry any weapons.
So, at that moment, Ishiro was at his weakest. Fortunately, Ishiro's luck was good, and no accidents occurred when he entered Konoha.
After entering Konoha, Ishiro immediately ducked into a tavern to refine his chakra.
This process was risky. If Konoha's sensory team's periodic village-wide scan happened to pass over Ishiro at this time, then this unfamiliar yet near-Kage level chakra source on Ishiro would immediately trigger Konoha's highest level of alert.
Fortunately, Ishiro had done his homework before coming. This time was precisely when Konoha's sensory team was changing shifts. Ishiro was betting that the sensory team wouldn't conduct a time-consuming full-village scan during this period.
After refining his chakra, Ishiro immediately cast the ninjutsu to suppress his chakra fluctuations. Then, as if nothing had happened, Ishiro left the tavern and walked around the area, carefully observing with his Mind's Eye.
After confirming there was nothing abnormal in the vicinity, Ishiro finally breathed a sigh of relief. Infiltration successful.
Ishiro had entered Konoha with a merchant caravan. He only had three days, but there were many things he wanted to do.
Taking advantage of the early hour, Ishiro first went to the Uchiha clan's current gathering area. The reason Ishiro dared to do this was simple: the Uchiha clan had just relocated, and there were still other civilians living nearby.
And because the Uchiha clan needed to build houses, there were many civilians or ninjas in this area doing things like construction.
Ishiro had intelligence on these matters beforehand, so even though he was walking in the Uchiha clan's territory, Ishiro was not afraid of being exposed.
However, Ishiro did not go deep, merely strolling around the periphery.
Ishiro came to Konoha mainly for two people. These two were named Uchiha Izumi and Uchiha Sakai.
Ishiro had long ago instructed the intelligence department to pay attention to kind-hearted children within the Uchiha clan. These two were young but kind-hearted children from the Uchiha clan that the intelligence department had reported to Ishiro.
Of the two, Uchiha Izumi was a girl, currently 5 years old, in the first grade of the Ninja Academy. Uchiha Sakai was a boy, a year younger than Izumi, who would be entering the Ninja Academy in a month.
Ishiro hoped to encounter one of these two. This was the biggest purpose of his trip. If one of them appeared in front of Ishiro at this time, Ishiro would not hesitate to expose himself and snatch them away.
Anyway, this place was already very close to the edge of Konoha. As long as he acted quickly, even Konoha's Kage-level powerhouses might not be able to react in time.
Unfortunately, Ishiro's luck didn't seem to be very good. He didn't encounter Uchiha Izumi or Uchiha Sakai, but instead ran into an ill-timed pair of best friends.
"What the hell, why is Kushina Uzumaki here?" The arrivals were none other than Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha.
Ishiro didn't understand why the Konoha higher-ups would let the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki get so close to the Uchiha clan. Ishiro only knew that he had run into the person he least wanted to meet.
Seeing Kushina Uzumaki, Ishiro didn't entertain any wild thoughts. It wasn't that he hadn't thought about releasing the Nine-Tails within Konoha Village, learning from Obito, and dealing Konoha a severe blow—taking out a Hokage would be a bonus!
But Ishiro knew his own limits. He might be able to defeat Kushina Uzumaki through various strange methods, but it would definitely not be quick. By then, his own fate would surely be to be killed by the Kage-level individuals from Konoha rushing over.
So Ishiro naturally turned his head and left in another direction.
Kushina Uzumaki was chatting with Mikoto Uchiha and did not pay attention to Ishiro.
"The Nine-Tails should have sensed my ill intent. I hope the Nine-Tails doesn't expose me. I remember the relationship between the Nine-Tails and Kushina didn't seem to be very good."
The worst-case scenario that Ishiro feared did not happen. The pair of best friends happily walked past the area where Ishiro had just been.
Ishiro breathed a sigh of relief. He figured there were probably too many people in Konoha with ill intent towards the Nine-Tails or Kushina, so the Nine-Tails had gotten used to it.
Ishiro left the Uchiha clan's territory and walked in the direction of the tavern.
Suddenly, a father and son pair in green jumpsuits ran quickly from Ishiro's left side, doing handstands, and then quickly departed from Ishiro's right.
Ishiro didn't move. Although he felt extremely unlucky, having encountered two Konoha ninjas with Kage-level combat power in such a short time, he still walked back with a calm expression.
He kept emphasizing to himself: "Konoha is too dangerous."
He needed to get back to the tavern quickly. If he ran into Hiruzen Sarutobi out inspecting the public sentiment, it would be over.
Only after returning to his tavern room did Ishiro let out a long sigh of relief. Such bad luck. If his Mind's Eye hadn't detected any problems, Ishiro would have thought he had been exposed.
That afternoon, Ishiro did not leave the tavern again. He only came out to move around after dark.
This time, Ishiro's target was Orochimaru's residence. Given Orochimaru's caution, his residence shouldn't have any confidential materials. But in Ishiro's eyes, apart from the ninjutsu scrolls recording various forbidden jutsu, the most valuable things in all of Konoha were Orochimaru's research.
Even knowing that there shouldn't be anything in Orochimaru's home, Ishiro still wanted to go and try his luck.
The journey was perilous but without major incident. With the sharp tool of his Mind's Eye, although he occasionally needed to use chakra to dodge, as long as he wasn't detected by Konoha's barrier, it wasn't a big problem.
Orochimaru himself was still in the Land of Whirlpools conducting his human experiments, and there was no one else at home. Ishiro's infiltration was very smooth.
Orochimaru's house was a small two-story building. After entering, Ishiro first went upstairs. He just hastily searched the upper floor, then moved to the ground floor. After searching both floors and finding nothing, Ishiro began to check the underground.
With Ishiro's understanding of Orochimaru, even in his own home, Orochimaru definitely had another nest underground.
Ishiro cast the Moving Underground Technique, entered the ground, and began to feel his way around.
This process was naturally easy to expose, and being exposed underground was equivalent to Ishiro losing his greatest advantage of flight.
Fortunately, the risk was worth it. Not long after descending, Ishiro encountered a seal.
"Huh, it's a Five Elements Seal?" If it were another seal, although Ishiro could still break it, it would take at least some time for analysis. But with a Five Elements Seal, Ishiro circled the seal a bit and found a hidden door left by Orochimaru, entering the interior of the seal from there.
The moment he entered the seal, Ishiro was prepared for battle. After all, this was Orochimaru's residence. But Ishiro had overthought it; there were no defenses here at all.
However, Ishiro, who had encountered no danger, was not very happy, because no danger meant no gains.
The basement was not large, only the size of a small room. Ishiro could see the end at a glance. There weren't many things inside either. Ishiro had anticipated this because Orochimaru's stomach seemed to be able to hold anything; his own body was the biggest warehouse.
But Ishiro was unwilling to give up and still searched meticulously. He first checked various hidden places but found nothing. Finally, he found two scrolls directly on the tabletop.
Ishiro was somewhat speechless; these two scrolls were placed in the most conspicuous spot. Judging by their position, they were probably used for recording something the last time Orochimaru left.
Ishiro carefully opened them to have a look.
"Is this experimental data?" The first scroll recorded some data that Ishiro couldn't understand. Ishiro hadn't brought a sealing scroll, so he just looked at it and then put it aside.
Opening the second scroll, Ishiro's eyes lit up immediately: "Genjutsu!"
The scroll recorded the genjutsu that Iwagakure was most lacking, and not just one, but a full four of them. Of the four genjutsu, one was A-rank, and three were B-rank.
Ishiro quickly began to read, but after a short while, his brows furrowed. Because these four genjutsu were all Sharingan genjutsu; this scroll was for Uchiha clan members to practice after awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Ishiro just gave it a rough scan and found that these four genjutsu were all ocular-type genjutsu. Without a Sharingan, they couldn't be cast at all.
Unwilling to give up, Ishiro circled around again. After confirming there were no more gains, he returned to the table, memorized the contents of the four genjutsu, and then left the room.
Even if he couldn't use them, they were good for reference. Iwagakure was lacking in everything related to genjutsu.
After Ishiro left, a small green snake emerged from a corner of the room. The small green snake watched the direction Ishiro left, flicking its tongue, then lowered its head and remained motionless. It seemed to be searching its memory for Ishiro's identity.
But no matter how it thought, it had no impression of Ishiro.
Just then, Ishiro unexpectedly re-entered the room. The small green snake realized something was wrong and immediately tried to dart back into the corner. But it was too late. Ishiro, having activated the Lightning Release Stimulation Method, flashed to the small green snake's side in an instant and grabbed it by its vital spot.
Although the small green snake was Orochimaru's summoning animal, it was clearly different from a normal summoning animal. After being attacked, it didn't disappear directly as Ishiro had thought.
Ishiro guessed the small green snake was probably not summoned by Orochimaru but had come directly from Ryuchi Cave.
Although Ishiro had caught the small green snake, after thinking about it, he found that apart from killing it, there seemed to be no good way to deal with it.
"Maybe I should try using genjutsu?" Ishiro suggested to himself.
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