Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode.

Chapter 88 Reunion with Orochimaru

Long black hair, pale skin, narrow purple eyeshadow, golden vertical pupils, and a cold and gloomy aura.

At that moment, Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, appeared before Kirito.

"It's been a while, Kirito. I didn't expect you to become a medical ninja so quickly. That's quite surprising."

Orochimaru entered the consultation room and smiled at Kirito in a hoarse voice.

This time, Kirito felt that Orochimaru's behavior was much more normal. He wasn't as scary as when they first met. He could completely suppress his murderous aura, and his emotions were very stable. Now he just looked like a pale-skinned, gloomy old man.

If it weren't for his overly cold demeanor and somewhat frightening, snake-like eyes, he might actually be a quiet and handsome man that everyone loves.

"So it's Lord Orochimaru. Are you here for a medical checkup?"

Upon hearing this, Kirito smiled, then glanced at the blood-stained bandage wrapped around Orochimaru's right hand and asked.

"Yes, I came here today specifically to see Kirito's Palm Healing Technique."

Orochimaru nodded in response, then naturally sat down in front of Kirito, unwrapping the bandages from his hand to reveal a deep wound.

Kirito glanced at the wound and immediately realized it was a fresh cut inflicted by a kunai not long ago. He couldn't help but think to himself, "This wound is so fresh, could he have just done it himself?"

Despite his inner grumbling, Orochimaru is still a hero of Konoha, not the mad scientist who later disregarded and trampled on life.

Considering the great contributions Orochimaru had made to Konoha on the battlefield of the Land of Rain over the years, Kirito carefully treated Orochimaru's wounds, meticulously disinfecting them before beginning to treat him with Healing Palm Technique.

Kirito has been a medical ninja for over a month now, but there's only one hospital in the entire Hidden Leaf Village, and the number of medical ninjas is currently far from meeting the needs of the village's huge population.

Even a young medical ninja like him, who had just graduated, was treated like cattle by his superiors every day, and faced a huge number of patients every day.

With such intense work, the number of times he used the Palm Immortal Technique naturally increased rapidly.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

With a large number of surgeries to support him, coupled with his outstanding learning ability, Kirito's mastery of Healing Palm Technique can be described as rapid and leapfrog.

On his attribute panel, his Palm Immortal Technique level has reached 5.

Kirito estimated that his Healing Palm Technique skills were already comparable to those of seasoned medical ninjas.

In just a minute or two, the wound on Orochimaru's hand had completely healed, leaving no scar.

"What an excellent palm technique, Kirito. If you were on the battlefield, you would definitely give your comrades a great sense of security."

Orochimaru looked at the healed wound, moved his arm, and found no discomfort. He praised it with an appreciative expression.

"You flatter me. My medical skills are far inferior to Lady Tsunade's. I still need to study hard at the hospital."

Kirito was completely unmoved by Orochimaru's hints and decisively rejected his invitation.

Go to the battlefield?

What a joke.

He'll be nine years old in a month.

If Konoha really needs a nine-year-old child like him to go to the battlefield, then Konoha is probably about to be destroyed.

The wood show will be destroyed by the forest wind.

He understood this principle. Once he went to the battlefield and lost the protection of Konoha, even if he had the strength of a Jonin, it wouldn't be easy for him to survive safely.

Both external and internal enemies will certainly do everything in their power to target him.

A dead Konoha genius would be in their best interest.

"With great power comes great responsibility, Kirito. Sometimes, there are things you can't refuse just because you want to. There are always times when you have no choice in the matter."

Orochimaru was not surprised by Kirito's rejection, but said something meaningful.

After saying that, he stood up and bid farewell to Kirito: "Goodbye then, Kirito. I hope we can have a pleasant time together like today when we meet again."

"What did he mean by that just now?"

Kirito watched Orochimaru's departing figure, his expression shifting between anger and uncertainty.

A powerful figure like Orochimaru never speaks without reason; he must know something to say those things to him.

"It seems I'm one step closer to the battlefield."

Kirito made a self-deprecating remark, but there wasn't a trace of fear on his face.

In order to survive in this perilous world, he had been secretly accumulating strength and was ready to fight at any time.

If the enemy wants to deal with him, they should be prepared to be killed by him.

To be honest, even he himself didn't know how strong he would be if he went all out.

"For now, let's continue to work hard and build up our strength."

Kirito closed his eyes again and then skillfully condensed his chakra, quickly restoring the chakra he had consumed and continuing to accumulate chakra in a chakra pool opened up by a sealing technique within his body.

. . .

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, a heated debate is underway.

"No, I don't agree with this plan. Amegakure is not so easy to deal with. Moreover, the difference in strength between Hattori Masanari and Hanzo is too great. We might just support him and then be killed by Hanzo. In that case, we would lose everything. Our resources don't come from thin air."

Xiaochun, with a stern face, spoke loudly as she turned to her new room.

The Amegakure Split Plan—this is the plan that the Third Hokage just gave to the three Hokage advisors, written by Tsunade herself.

The plan was roughly to encourage Konoha to support Hattori Masanari, a powerful Amegakure figure whose ideology differed from Hanzo's, thereby fostering a pro-Konoha force within Amegakure and ultimately causing internal divisions that would prevent Amegakure from taking action against Konoha.

This plan clearly explains the various water-style ninjutsu mastered by Kirito's White Zetsu clone (his Rain Ninja identity), along with case studies and his personal biography. It can clearly demonstrate that Hattori Masanari is a powerful water-style ninja and a pacifist. I personally strongly oppose Hanzo's plan to challenge the Great Powers to become the sixth Great Power.

Judging solely from the contents of the plan, Hattori Masanari is undoubtedly a very suitable candidate for Konoha to support. If the plan succeeds, Amegakure will no longer be a threat, and may even become an asset for Konoha to restrain other major powers.

The current point of contention is that investing in Masanari Hattori is too risky.

Hattori Masanari's strength is indeed quite formidable; he was able to hold his own against the Sannin in the Land of Rain, but compared to Hanzo of the Salamander, his strength is somewhat lacking.

If Hattori Masanari incurs Hanzo's displeasure, he will likely die.

Even now, in Amegakure, Hanzo can still wield absolute power.

"Xiaochun is right, the risk is too high. Besides, Amegakure is now powerless to attack Konoha. This high-risk investment plan is not worthwhile for Konoha right now."

After Koharu Tsunemi finished speaking, Homura Mito immediately spoke up in support.

Seeing that her two old classmates, Koharu and Homura, were strongly opposed, the Third Hokage, who had originally intended to support Tsunade's plan, began to waver.

But then, Senju Momoka said quietly, "However, even if we don't support Hattori Masanari, there will still be people who want to support him, such as Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and even the far-off Kumogakure and Kirigakure might find an opportunity to contact him. I don't believe that people from other villages besides our Konoha won't notice this person's value."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and the Third Hokage instantly changed.

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(End of this chapter)