Chapter 437 - 437: Blood Guidance

"Witnessed and slightly altered a side event in the Naruto world: The Death of the Fourth Kazekage. Reward: 10 × 2 Witness Points."

"Foolish mortals… couldn't you have called on me sooner?" Akio shook his head with a sigh. The man's heart had been completely shredded, no level of medical ninjutsu was saving him now.

Seeing Orochimaru here was both surprising… and somehow inevitable. Ever since he'd gained that so-called "power of fate" from Akio's blood, the guy had gotten increasingly unhinged. At this point, nothing he did felt out of character.

But what Akio really didn't expect… was to see another "familiar stranger" here, Hidan.

"Orochimaru-sama, you can pull it out now, it hurts like hell! That guy's already dead!" As the curse victim died, Hidan dropped out of his ritual state.

Akio raised an eyebrow. Hidan calling Orochimaru "lord"? So he ditched the Jashin cult and switched loyalties? Now that was interesting.

"Orochimaru, running into me here surprised?"

Orochimaru licked his lips.

"You always manage to do the unexpected. Of course I'm surprised."

Akio chuckled.

"Then care to explain what's going on? You managed to replicate that cursed ritual from the Jashin cult?"

Orochimaru shook his head.

"Not quite. I've only recreated the setup. So far, Hidan is the only successful case of achieving an immortal body. I still don't know where the process goes wrong, there's barely any reliable data on curses. He's a one-off."

"Orochimaru-sama, you know this guy? Why is he glowing blue huh?"

Hidan blinked. The faint blue figure in front of him suddenly faded out of sight. In the next instant, a pair of hands landed on his shoulders.

"Orochimaru, I'll be back shortly. Stay here. Don't move."

"You!" Hidan reached back

but Akio's form dissolved into scattered blue light, imprinting itself onto Hidan's right arm as a pale cyan mark.

Hidan frowned, raising his arm.

"What the hell is this?" He pulled out a kunai and tried to stab the mark, but Orochimaru stopped him.

"Leave it."

"Leave it? Why? It looks terrible ugly color, ugly design…" Hidan immediately launched into a rant.

Orochimaru ignored him, long used to the noise. He already had a rough idea what Akio was doing. Years ago, when Akio fought that reincarnated shinobi, the sacrifice used had been an immortal body from the Jashin cult.

This time, Akio sealed his chakra into Hidan's arm, probably as a contingency.

Not a bad move. After all, there were still plenty of experiments left to run on Hidan… and aside from being annoyingly talkative, he was extremely useful.

Konoha Village.

Akio's real body slowly opened his eyes… only to find himself staring at something that looked like a monkey's backside.

It took him a moment to remember; he'd been in the middle of spanking Naruto.

"…It's been a few minutes. Naruto, why are you still lying across my lap? Want another round?"

"Ah!" Naruto jolted upright. "Grandpa, you finally moved! Why do you zone out while hitting me?!"

Akio laughed.

"I've done it so many times your backside doesn't even register anymore. What, you getting addicted to it?"

Jiraiya shook his head with a grin.

"You were holding him subconsciously just now; he couldn't break free. I didn't want to risk hurting him, so I stayed out of it. What was that technique?"

"Heard of the 'Astral Projection Jutsu'? This is something similar my own sealing technique: a 'Thought Projection.'"

He waved a hand casually.

"I could teach it to you. You leave chakra somewhere, activate it later, and your consciousness transfers over. Very convenient… actually, never mind. Probably not a good idea."

He could already imagine Jiraiya leaving chakra markers in women's bathhouses. Yeah definitely not happening.

Jiraiya didn't even think of that angle.

"So what just happened?"

"Hey! Pervy Sage! Grandpa! Why are you two chatting like nothing's wrong? Get me off already!" Naruto shouted, squirming on Akio's lap.

Akio shrugged.

"I let go ages ago. You seemed pretty comfortable, so I didn't interrupt."

Naruto immediately jumped down, yanking up his pants and pointing toward the cliff.

"I'm gonna go take a leak."

Akio blinked. Did I seriously scare him into that? …At least he didn't go that far.

"Go ahead." He turned to Jiraiya.

"Something big just happened, but it's nothing you need to worry about. I'll handle it myself."

"Keep teaching Naruto the Summoning Jutsu. I'm not about to let him show up to the Chūnin Exams backed up by a tadpole."

Jiraiya frowned slightly.

"This has something to do with Orochimaru, doesn't it?"

Akio paused. He figured that out? Jiraiya really had gotten sharper with age.

"Yeah. I'm going to find out exactly what he's been up to. You stay in Konoha. You're pushing fifty, don't spend your whole life chasing Orochimaru and forgetting to settle down. I'll bring Tsunade back soon."

Jiraiya gave a wry smile.

"Tsunade… huh. And 'pushing fifty,' huh…" He sighed. "When you find out what's going on, let me know. I still want to understand why he defected."

Akio nodded. As Naruto returned, he waved once then vanished.

Border of the Land of Wind.

Akio reappeared before Orochimaru, who had indeed stayed put. Hidan was gone, already heading toward the Hidden Sound Village, Akio could sense him.

"Hidan's too noisy," Orochimaru explained.

Akio nodded. With his precaution already in place, Hidan didn't matter anymore.

What mattered now was

"Orochimaru… killing the Fourth Kazekage that was part of this 'fate' guiding you too, wasn't it?"

Orochimaru shook his head.

"No."

Akio froze.

"No?"

Orochimaru licked his lips.

"Fate guided me to impersonate the Fourth Kazekage… and go to Konoha to kill Hiruzen-sensei. Killing the Kazekage was simply the easiest way to maintain the disguise."

Akio frowned.

"Then how exactly are you receiving these 'instructions'?"

Orochimaru paused briefly.

"You've probably already guessed. It's the power in your blood."

"Back then, I obtained twenty milliliters of your blood. Fifteen were used for experiments, completely useless. Unwilling to give up, I injected the remaining five milliliters into myself."

"Taking Anko Mitarashi as a student. Defecting from Konoha. Founding the Hidden Sound Village. Seeking out Kimimaro in the Mist. And now this… five separate 'guidances' in total."

Akio's expression stiffened.

"My blood… can do that?"

Orochimaru's smile widened slightly.

"'Guidance' might not be the right word. 'Control' might be more accurate."

"When I took Anko as my student, it was entirely subconscious. When I defected, it was half instinct, half deliberate experimentation. This time… much the same."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Your blood is fascinating."

Akio's face darkened.

Fascinating?

He didn't find it fascinating at all.

"…What the hell is going on here?"

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