"..."
Even Natsuro was momentarily speechless after hearing Anko's comment. When he did react, he just looked at her with a deadpan expression.
"I already have a fiancée,"Natsuro reminded her.
"Well, there's a saying, 'the flowers at home aren't as fragrant as the wild ones,' right~" Anko joked.
"Even if that were true, I probably still wouldn't pick you," Natsuro retorted.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Anko widened her eyes in outrage. She had only been joking, but Natsuro had taken it to another level, was he seriously looking down on her?
"Exactly what it sounds like." Natsuro replied nonchalantly. Honestly, even if he were interested in fooling around…
He glanced at Anko, bold and brash personality, fishnet outfit full of "appeal"—but yeah, not his type.
He definitely preferred someone like Konan, cool and calm on the outside, but warm underneath.
And with Nagato in hand, Konan would've been much easier to seduce, but… he really wasn't interested in doing something like that.
He knew full well that Anko had only been teasing. Still, her courage to joke like that to her supreme commander baffled him. Wasn't she afraid of pissing him off?
But then again, Anko's loud, blunt personality fit perfectly with what he remembered from the original story.
Anko now glared daggers at Natsuro. Just because he was her superior didn't mean he could bully people like this.
Sure, she normally wasn't very serious, but she wasn't that reckless. It was just that this situation wasn't exactly formal.
After all, this was a private meeting room. The fact that he called her here personally and then had Sasuke stand guard at the door, of course she'd start overthinking things.
Though to be fair, even she didn't really believe that was the reason.
"Alright, Anko. That cursed mark Orochimaru left on you, it's still there, right?" Natsuro finally cut to the chase.
"It is." Anko blinked in surprise, so that's why he called her? Then she nodded and replied.
"I'm going to help you remove it. Are you okay with that?" Natsuro asked, as a formality.
Anko's eyes widened. "You can actually remove it?"
"Of course." Natsuro nodded, thinking to himself: Honestly, I could've done this years ago.
He'd already helped Sasuke not just remove his, but modify it. Removing Anko's mark was child's play in comparison.
So why hadn't he done it sooner?
Because… he needed her to keep that cursed seal. More specifically, he needed the mental imprint Orochimaru left behind.
Unlike with Sasuke, there was no point in modifying Anko's curse mark, she didn't have the chakra reserves to support Sage Mode anyway.
If she did, he wouldn't mind helping her, but that clearly wasn't the case. So it would've just been a waste of time.
Anko touched the side of her neck where the cursed seal lay. Her eyes filled with conflicting emotions. That mark had tormented her for years. Back when the Third Hokage was in charge, they'd tried everything to remove it, but failed. In the end, they could only seal it.
But now, Natsuro was saying he could remove it completely.
"Wait… are you actually into me?" Anko blurted out.
Natsuro's face darkened. What is with this woman's train of thought? He had no desire to collect lovers like trophies.
Sensing his exasperation, Anko explained, "I mean… it's just so sudden, you offering to remove my cursed mark and all."
"It's something a Hokage should do, helping his people deal with their burdens," Natsuro said plainly. Naturally, he wasn't going to tell her the real reason he needed Orochimaru's imprint.
"Besides, if you're really moved by this, you can just do more missions in the future to help boost the village's GDP."
"I don't know what 'GDP' is, but I'll work harder on missions from now on!" Anko declared earnestly.
She'd even cut back on dango time, if that's what it took.
What Natsuro didn't know was that his casual remark had probably saved Anko from becoming the chubby older woman she'd become in the original timeline…
Because with her bold personality, once she decided to do something, she'd truly commit to it!
Unsurprisingly, Anko agreed to let him remove the cursed mark. After all, it had been her lifelong torment, and she'd always wanted to be rid of it. Now that she had the chance, she wasn't going to waste it.
Natsuro nodded and gestured for her to sit down.
"Don't you need anything to prepare?" Anko asked, a bit surprised.
"No need." As he spoke, Natsuro's fingers gently touched her neck. Chakra surged from his fingertips.
Soon, the cursed seal and the surrounding sealing jutsu became visible to his eyes.
He looked at it and sighed. No wonder Anko still suffered in the original story, the seal was terribly crude. There was no way it could've completely suppressed Orochimaru's curse mark.
Still, he couldn't entirely blame the sealing team. After all, not everyone had access to high-level techniques like the Four Symbols Seal.
In no time, Natsuro undid the seal and dispelled Orochimaru's curse mark, then extracted the mental imprint Orochimaru had left behind.
He would use it later to locate Orochimaru.
"It's done." Natsuro said casually.
"Already?!" Anko stared wide-eyed in disbelief. She'd expected it to take hours. But he had only touched her neck for a few seconds!
"What else did you expect?" Natsuro replied.
"Seriously… Hokage-sama, you're amazing!" Anko said with genuine admiration.
"Alright, now that that's done, you should head out. I'm sure you've already heard about the Fourth Great Ninja War, right? Get ready for it."
Since Anko was a special jonin, she wasn't included in the earlier meetings.
"Yes, sir!" Anko saluted and left.
Before leaving, she had the urge to say, If you're ever interested in me, I wouldn't mind...
But in the end, she held back. The gap between them felt too vast, he probably really didn't see her that way.
Saying anything would just be self-humiliating.
Still, before she walked out, Anko couldn't help sneaking another look at Natsuro. A thought popped into her head:
Unless a girl already had someone she loved, there probably wasn't a single woman in the world who could truly reject this man...
So powerful, so handsome, so reliable…
He was what most girls only dreamed of, and even then, few dared use someone like him as a mental standard. Just a fraction of what he was would already make them ecstatic.
Natsuro had no idea what Anko was thinking, and frankly, no real awareness of his own charm.
At first, his looks had lagged slightly behind Sasuke's, but after his natural transformation, he'd caught up, and even surpassed him slightly.
And even if his looks weren't enough, his status and power were more than enough to make him overwhelmingly attractive.
He was now the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Shinobi Forces, made up of all five great nations plus the Land of Iron.
Who else could claim such a title? Even the First Hokage hadn't held such absolute authority.
He had done something no one in history had ever achieved. As for the Sage of Six Paths, most people weren't even sure if he'd really existed, so there was no point comparing.
Either way, he was well aware he was already spoken for.
After Anko left, Sasuke came in. He had a feeling Natsuro was going to look for Orochimaru, but he didn't know why.
"Sasuke, go make preparations for the war. You'll have to show your strength on the battlefield, and your work in the ANBU continues as well."
"Understood." Sasuke nodded and left without asking further. If Natsuro had decided something, there was no need for questions. He trusted him.
Natsuro watched Sasuke's back disappear, then sighed and vanished as well.
In a dark, cavernous palace, Natsuro reappeared and glanced around.
Yep. This place definitely screams 'Orochimaru's lair.'
Even now, he thought that without the mental imprint, he probably wouldn't have found Orochimaru at all.
He looked around and spotted rows of coffins.
His eyes narrowed.
He could guess what was inside: the many corpses Orochimaru and Kabuto had collected over the years…
However, just from a glance, the sheer number of coffins was already enough to send chills down one's spine, and he knew full well that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
All he could say was… as expected of Orochimaru and Kabuto.If it were him, he probably wouldn't have the stomach to do something like this.
"What a rare guest... isn't this Natsuro-kun~?"
At that moment, Orochimaru, who had been standing at a lab bench seemingly conducting some sort of experiment, removed his gloves and pushed up his glasses with his pale hands.
The scene was strikingly reminiscent of Kabuto.
"So are you Orochimaru or Kabuto right now?" Natsuro couldn't help but ask.
Although the glasses weren't Kabuto's trademark black frames, the gesture was identical.
"Hmph, Natsuro-kun, how shallow. Does it really matter whether I am Orochimaru or Kabuto?" Orochimaru smiled, his tone oily."As long as I can reach the pinnacle of jutsu, what does it matter if I cease to be myself in the process?"
Natsuro was silent for a moment, muttering in his heart: Madman.
"Naturally, I'm still Orochimaru. These glasses were carefully crafted, they help me see things clearly during my experiments," Orochimaru eventually answered.
"Now that I've answered your question, Natsuro-kun, could you tell me why you've come to find me? This might be your last chance to do so. Don't tell me you're here just for a chat, or to kill me?"As he spoke, Orochimaru licked his lips with that long tongue of his.
"You can rest assured on that point," Natsuro replied. "When you attacked Konoha and Tsunade, I did think about killing you. But after that, not really."
"Oh my, what an honor." Orochimaru smiled.
But Natsuro found the whole scene unnerving.
They had the same face, yes, but the way he spoke had a weird mix of Orochimaru's theatrical style and Kabuto's snide sarcasm…
Clearly, Kabuto had rubbed off on Orochimaru more than he'd expected. And honestly, it was kind of annoying.
"So, as the unprecedented Supreme Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, what brings you here, Natsuro-kun?" Orochimaru asked again.
"You're surprisingly well-informed," Natsuro commented. He had only just notified Konoha, but Orochimaru already knew.
"Of course. As a snake, if I can't sense changes in my environment, how would I survive?" Orochimaru replied.
"Then you've heard about Madara Uchiha's Moon's Eye Plan?" Natsuro asked.
There was a brief silence before Orochimaru responded, "And what would that plan be? Would you enlighten me, Natsuro-kun?"
"Naturally." Natsuro went on to explain Tobi's so-called "Moon's Eye Plan" in full, then asked Orochimaru for his opinion.
"A meaningless endeavor," Orochimaru said coldly, eyes filled with disdain."Any jutsu researched within a fantasy world is also fantasy. Even if one were to reach the pinnacle of jutsu inside a dream, it would still be false."
He could guess that in the world of Infinite Tsukuyomi, he'd probably have a blissful "second life," where he easily mastered countless jutsu and achieved all his goals...
But fake is fake.
Orochimaru sought the truth of all jutsu, so a world of illusion held no appeal for him. He had no interest in chasing empty dreams.
"Just as I thought," Natsuro nodded, observing Orochimaru.
No wonder fans in his previous life called Orochimaru Uncle Snake, his obsession with jutsu and the pursuit of power truly ran to the core.Everything he did was aligned with that goal.
Even if his methods were cruel and twisted, that purity of intent made him hard to hate completely.After all, a person who pursues their ambition to the end… is admirable in its own right.
At least, unless you were his enemy. Then it was a very different story.
Compared to Orochimaru, characters like Tobi, who spent the entire series blackened only to be "talked out of it" at the end, were harder to accept.
"Natsuro-kun, do you believe that man is really Madara Uchiha?" Orochimaru suddenly asked.
"I don't." Natsuro answered bluntly.
"As expected of Natsuro-kun—so decisive, and accurate," Orochimaru said, stunned for a moment before letting out his signature eerie laugh.
Then Orochimaru made a hand seal, and a coffin rose up from the ground."Let me show you something interesting, Natsuro-kun."
"Let me show you something interesting, Natsuro-kun."
He narrowed his eyes, already guessing what it was.
The scene gave him déjà vu, it was just like in the original story, when Kabuto had shown Tobi this exact same scene.
And sure enough, when the coffin lid slid open, Madara's corpse was inside.
"Heh, if this guy wakes up and hears you call him a 'thing,' I doubt he'll let it slide," Natsuro said.
"Hmm, so you already guessed?" Orochimaru looked surprised at how calm Natsuro was, but when he heard the remark, he realized Natsuro likely already knew what this was all about.
Which made sense, Orochimaru had previously summoned the First and Second Hokage during his attack on Konoha, so Natsuro making that deduction wasn't strange at all.
"It's pretty obvious," Natsuro said, glancing at the other coffins. Even now, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
Orochimaru… you're really something else.
"As expected of you, Natsuro-kun. And as for your concern, of course, I wouldn't say these things in front of him. I've studied his personality quite thoroughly and would take proper precautions," Orochimaru said with a grin.
Then he closed the coffin and sent it back underground.
"So, Natsuro-kun, now will you tell me why you came looking for me?"
"Of course," Natsuro nodded.
Orochimaru couldn't help but feel a bit of anticipation. He had a feeling Natsuro had brought something truly unexpected.
Then, under Orochimaru's surprised gaze, Natsuro got straight to the point:
"After the war is over… come work with me, Orochimaru."
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Currently on Chapter 389 - The Threat That is Kaguya Otsutsuki