"Hiruko too! You have got to be kidding me…!" – Upon seeing this name, Kuroto's expression became really solemn.

After all, in Kuroto's grand plan, Hiruko [another one of the Konoha missing-nin] has an irreplaceable role, therefore, Kuroto has been inquiring about his whereabouts for a while now. ​​

The only problem is that Hiruko's tracks are extremely mysterious, so even if he used Konoha's Anbu intelligence network, he still couldn't find any clue related to Hiruko.

And never did Kuroto expect that the Akatsuki will take interest in Hiruko, as well as find his whereabouts first, now this has gone way beyond Kuroto's expectations.

"Sigh, I didn't expect that the short encounter with Obito at the Root Base would cause such a big change in the plot, the power of fate is also quite mysterious, it seems that escaping its clutches wouldn't be that easier, after all, who could have speculated that!"

As it is said in the chaos theory, the changes in the world are caused by small or tiny things, a mere flutter of a butterfly can create a storm on the other side of the world… and Kuroto has just started to witness these things personally… and if such changes keep happening, then the future would a completely different picture.

The current actions Akatsuki is taking have been inadvertently initiated by him, Kuroto can really feel that the casualty of everything in the world is impermanent.

But now that such a change has happened, Kuroto can't waste his time crying over the spilled milk, the next best thing to do is to decide on the further course of action with this knowledge.

Both Hiruko and Orochimaru are of the same generation, and it wouldn't be strange if both of them had some secret cooperation that nobody is aware of, and even if they don't, it still changes nothing. However, the fact that Akatsuki employed Orochimaru and Sasori to find Hiruko, they should have two intentions behind this move:

First is obviously that Obito would want to verify whether Hiruko is that mysterious person that he encountered at the Root Base.

The second is that, in either case, Pain or Obito would want to recruit Hiruko into the Akatsuki.

And this is more troublesome!

'It should be too late to stop this now!" – with one hand on his chin, Kuroto continued thinking.

There is no superior or subordinate relationship in the Akatsuki, between any of the team, therefore, Orochimaru and Sasori have no specific reason to disclose any information about their task to Shinichi.

And Shinichi also doesn't have any reasonable reason to ask Orochimaru such a detail, therefore, Kuroto can't stop Akatsuki from making contact with Hiruko.

"What impact will it have on my project if Hiruko does join the Akatsuki?"

What Kuroto needs from Hiruko is only his Jutsu, so even if he does join the Akatsuki, as long as Kuroto is able to get his hands on that technique, he could care less about it.

After all, even if Hiruko joins Akatsuki, all that would happen is that he would become one of their members. So, Kuroto isn't worried too much about it.

With that thought in mind, Kuroto unsummoned the greedy cat and quietly returned to the Village.

…

As soon as Kuroto returned to Konoha, Kuroto directly went to his laboratory without caring about any other matter.

The devices he bought in the first batch were very carefully selected by him, and they are some of the most urgently needed for the beginning of his current plan, therefore, now that he has them, Kuroto at least has the option to start his plan.

But before he does, he still needs to see his teacher Orochimaru once.

After all, in the field of Bio-Engineering, Genetics, and other related departments, Orochimaru can be regarded as the undisputable master, and even though Kuroto has awakened the Tenseigan by activation of all his gene sequences, this doesn't mean that he could rival Orochimaru in this field.

Therefore, Orochimaru's resources and research is indispensable if Kuroto wants to begin his big project.

Kuroto also needs to confirm Hiruko's situation through Orochimaru, what Kuroto is really worried about is not that Hiruko would join the Akatsuki, but that Hiruko would refuse to join the Akatsuki, and as a result, he would be eliminated by them.

If Hiruko were to die inexplicably, there would many twists and turns in Kuroto's plan, and this could be problematic.

Through the One-Eyed Viper, Kuroto sent a scroll with a request to meet Orochimaru as soon as possible.

And not long after, the One-Eyed Viper reappeared before Kuroto.

Taking out the scroll from the belly of the Viper, Kuroto immediately unfolded it and murmured, "So, the Land of Sound, huh…!"

There isn't any information on the scroll other than a few sentences, which states that Orochimaru will meet him at a secret base in the land of Sound previously known as the Land of Rice Field, about two weeks later from now.

Since that's decided, Kuroto burned the scroll and after adjusting his lab with the newest equipment, he returned home and had a simple Anbu life for the next two weeks that majorly involved some task completion within the territory of the Land of Fire.

…

Two Weeks Later, Land of Sound.

Currently, Kuroto was casually walking in a forest in the territory of the Land of Sound, dressed as a simple traveler with a simple white Kimono, a black hakama, and a black jacket over it, his brown hair braided at the side, giving Kuroto an innocent look, one would expect from a teenager.

Whoosh…

While Kuroto was walking, a Kunai suddenly shot at his step, prompting him to stop.

Coming to a standstill, Kuroto didn't take his hands out from his pockets and just said, "I am here to see Orochimaru-Sama!"

With Kuroto's sentence, a figure appeared before Kuroto and after taking a deep look at his appearance, he respectfully stated, "Please follow me!"

Looking at the face of the other party, Kuroto was highly stunned because the person that appeared before him was none other than the only lucky survivor of Orochimaru's cruel experiments, 'Yamato' who successfully awakened the Wood Release after adapting to the Hashirama Cells!

Why did Orochimaru defect in advance?

Why did Orochimaru and Danzo suddenly come to odds?

Why did Danzo try to eliminate all of Orochimaru's people on such a large-scale, even at the expense of severe loss of village manpower?

These doubts have been plaguing Kuroto for a long time, and the moment he saw Yamato before him, the picture turned quite clear, it may not be the exact reason, but it is the best explanation Kuroto could hope for at this stage.

Yamato, the only person to successfully fuse with the Hashirama Cells, is most likely the fuse of everything, and the fight between Orochimaru and Danzo has most likely occurred because of him, which prompted Orochimaru to defect.

Yamato who was still a kid looked at Kuroto in confusion and asked, "What's wrong with you? Why don't you move?"

Shaking his head slightly, Kuroto suppressed the shock on his face and started walking.

Silently following after Yamato, Kuroto thought to himself, 'In the main story, Orochimaru thought that Yamato was a failure, therefore, he was picked up by Danzo, but unexpectedly Orochimaru didn't ignore Yamato this time!'

As the only survivor of the Hashirama Cell transplantation project, Yamato has an incredible research value.

Therefore, it isn't difficult to understand that when Orochimaru and Danzo, both discovered that Yamato awakened the Wood Release, a conflict happened between the two parties.

The result is in front of Kuroto, Orochimaru was able to get his hands-on Yamato, but was forced to defect from the Village.

Following Yamato, Kuroto came all the way to an underground cave entrance.

Stopping at the entrance, Yamato turned towards Kuroto and said lightly, "There will be some snakes along the path but don't worry, they won't attack you as long as you follow me!"

Kuroto nodded with a smile.

This reminded him of the time when Kuroto used to do the work that currently Yamato is doing.

Shaking his head, he continued following behind Yamato and passed through a dark and damp underground passage and entered Orochimaru's secret base.

Passing through several corridors under Yamato's lead, he finally arrived in front of a secret room.

At this point, Yamato stepped aside and stated, "Orochimaru-Sama is inside, you can go and see him for yourself!"

Taking a look around at his current location, he nodded towards Yamato and stepped in.

Kuroto found ten traps, five seals, and over twenty ninjas hiding in the dark along the way, such a tight arrangement is obviously not very good hospitality.

Undoubtedly, Orochimaru is planning something for him.

However, in Kuroto's view too, this is more or less understandable.

If a subordinate suddenly wants to rise in the ranks to become an equal collaborator, it is inevitable that he would need to pass some unforeseen and unwanted tests, not to mention we are talking about Orochimaru here, so such a scene is obviously inevitable.

Turning the door handle, Kuroto composed himself and walked in with a calm expression…

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Read up to Chapter - 288 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p-atreon.com/Milta_translations