I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 702 We, the young, will gradually grow old, and then a generation gap will appear between us and the younger generation.

"Was the Flying Thunder God Technique nerfed? Why hasn't Minato returned yet?"

Inside the meeting room, Qian Dou leaned close to Tian Feng and whispered something. Tian Feng rolled his eyes at Qian Dou, the Byakugan ninja, and said, "You think these are the ninja cards you collected? You want to nerf them?"

It just dawned on me, how come you've been so broke? Did you spend it all on cards?

"I only bought a few, mainly because I couldn't get my own ticket."

"Tch, maybe they didn't even do it. Who knows who you are anyway?"

The two spoke in hushed tones, but in the quiet conference room, and among the attendees who were all Jonin, it was quite jarring.

Tatsuma listened with great pleasure, since he had already reached a cooperation agreement with that company, and the village would receive copyright revenue for every card pack sold by that company.

But the others looked at them strangely, especially Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, who couldn't even understand what the two were talking about.

Could it be that I've fallen behind on information since retiring?

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought to himself, then turned his gaze to Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado. These two old friends were still working on the front lines; they should...

But what he saw were two bewildered faces, just like his own.

Fugaku frowned, thinking to himself, "So it's called 'Gennin'? That kid Itachi seems to have thrown away more than a dozen of my cards. Last time he even secretly prayed to exchange ten of my cards for a Shisui Shunsui card."

"That's outrageous! Since you've spent money to buy it, you should collect it properly. Speaking of which, it seems I haven't taken a solo photo with Itachi yet. Should I contact this company to discuss a card featuring the father and son together?"

As everyone waited with mixed feelings, Minato finally returned with Kabuto. Minato's expression was somewhat strange, as he seemed both frightened and guilty, and he was carrying a large folder in his arms.

"Fourth Generation Lord, I...I..."

Upon seeing Tatsuma, Kabuto wanted to explain, but his voice was filled with sobs.

"Why are you crying? You dismantled my equipment worth tens of millions, and you weren't even scared."

Before Tatsuma could speak, Orochimaru coldly rebuked him. But this voice, which would have sent chills down the spines of the other children, actually eased Kabuto's tension. He looked at Orochimaru, feeling guilty, but spoke fluently:

"Lord Orochimaru, I'm so sorry, I'll put it back together."

"snort!"

Orochimaru snorted and then said, "Tell me about the blood sample properly. You have to take responsibility for your mistakes. If the mistakes weren't yours, don't worry about being implicated."

"Yes"

Although Kabuto was still cowering, his mindset was much better than when he first arrived. He lowered his head, seemingly organizing his thoughts, and then said:

"Three days ago, I received a work assignment to cooperate with Dean Nono. In the following days, the corresponding work schedule was issued, and I strictly followed the work schedule."

As for this blood sample bottle, I remember it because a small number of ninjas in the village were required to have an extra vial of blood drawn, and the stopper was a different color; it was stored separately in another storage box.

I even suspected that Lord Orochimaru might have deliberately extracted extra blood from ninjas for experiments, but I never had the chance to ask him.

Upon hearing this, the meeting room fell into an unusual silence. Everyone looked at Orochimaru with strange expressions, as they all felt that this was something Orochimaru was capable of doing. Orochimaru, on the other hand, had a dark expression on his face.

He didn't even want to participate in the physical examination. As for secretly saving some blood for experiments, it sounds good, but why would he use such a recorded method? It's an insult to him!

Seeing that no one interrupted or spoke up, Dou paused for a moment, then continued:

"However, the storage box is gone today, and so are those work schedules. But I swear, I really did receive those work schedules."

I marked the quantity on each one so I could keep track of how much work I did each month. After all, even though Lord Orochimaru missed out on subsidies several times before…

The meeting room grew increasingly quiet, and the way everyone looked at Orochimaru became increasingly strange, while Orochimaru's face grew darker and darker.

He works so much every day, and he still has to find time to tally up the subsidies for those children. Isn't it normal for him to make mistakes occasionally? Besides, it's just a small amount of money; is it really necessary to bring it up in this kind of setting?!

And what exactly is the connection between these things and what happened last night?! Was the purpose of bringing him out of the lab not to assist with last night's events, but rather to stage a public denunciation meeting against him?

Kabuto tried his best to ignore Orochimaru's murderous gaze, opened his large folder, and said, "But when Lord Minato came to see me today, I found that several work schedules were missing during my review."

Moreover, all of these are related to the transfer, storage, and processing of blood samples.

Chenma leaned over, pulled over the folder, flipped through it, and said, "There's something wrong with this folder. The deformed parts can't have been caused by normal use."

Orochimaru glanced at the folder and said, "It's caused by internal expansion."

"I think I know."

Minato said, "When I fought Black Zetsu, he left something on me, like spores, that would absorb my chakra and turn me into White Zetsu."

"My lab has been hacked."

Orochimaru unleashed his true killing intent at this moment. He was only slightly annoyed by being questioned and having his "evil deeds" exposed by his students, but someone actually dared to invade his laboratory.

"Ahem, it's the village's laboratory."

Tatsuma corrected him, and Orochimaru, his emotions interrupted, glared fiercely at Tatsuma. Tatsuma didn't care at all; village property is village property, and no one can touch it, including Orochimaru.

He pushed the folder toward Orochimaru and said, "Lord Orochimaru, please check if there are any White Zetsu artifacts left behind."

Orochimaru stopped the sliding folder and nodded. Tatsuma looked at Kabuto and said, "Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that someone plotted against the village. Not to mention you, no one here was able to prevent it."

Don't worry. Oh, and by the way, compile a list of any subsidies the lab has owed or underpaid in the past, and the village will reimburse them together. If there are any similar situations in the future, just contact Lord Orochimaru or me directly.

"Yes, Fourth Hokage."

Kabuto finally felt relieved and nodded. Then, his eyes couldn't help but glance at the folder in Orochimaru's hand, even though he knew that Orochimaru shouldn't ask for the work schedules that represented his subsidies at this time.

But that's a third of my monthly income!

"I will keep a clear count of the quantity. Of course, you also have to repair the equipment you dismantled. Otherwise, you will have to work for me until you pay off your debt."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!"

Tatsuma gave some more instructions, as he needed to give an account to outsiders, appease those inside, and handle some loose ends. For example, the hot spring inn—without its owner, the village couldn't be allowed to fall into disrepair.

The village has taken over its management.

After the meeting, Tatsuma returned to the Hokage's office, and Minato followed him in. As soon as he closed the door, he said, "Tatsuma, I suspect that Madara Uchiha's backup plan couldn't be just this one."

"I know, I actually know some things, but I don't know whether I should make up my mind to remove it."

"What's there to hesitate about? Is it someone very important?"

Minato frowned, his first suspicions being the village's higher-ups, but he ruled them all out. Tatsuma shook his head, not answering the question, but instead asking:

"Now that Naruto has been born, Jiraiya-sensei should be coming back, right?"

"Yes, we should have notified him after he was born, but... we never had the chance."

"Let's tell him the good news and send him back to the village so we can celebrate for Naruto."

"it is good."

Minato nodded, but he still felt something was off. However, he didn't ask any further questions. There must be a reason why Tatsuma wouldn't tell him.

(End of this chapter)