XX-level Hokage

Kabuto was in his office recording his recent experiments when Mashiro suddenly appeared in front of him.

Kabuto was already prepared for Mashiro's elusive nature, so he stopped what he was doing, stood up, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Lord Mashiro."

"Kabuto is still so busy. Once you're done with this, you should all go back to Konoha. I'll set up a new system for the research institute: four days on, three days off. That way, you'll have enough time to do what you want," Mashiro said with a smile.

“On behalf of all the members of the research institute, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Lord Mashiro,” Kabuto said gratefully.

Even in Otogakure, he frequently received letters from the orphanage; the children missed him dearly. "Does Kabuto know the specifics of Orochimaru's experiments in Kusagakure?" Mashiro suddenly asked.

“I’m sorry, Lord Mashiro, I’m unaware of this. I wasn’t with Orochimaru when he was conducting his experiments in the Land of Grass. If you really want to know, perhaps you could ask Kimimaro and the other Sound Ninja.” Kabuto replied.

"I see, okay, I understand." Mashiro said before disappearing into the shadows. Back in Konoha, Mashiro headed straight for the Anbu's prison.

"Take those Sound Ninja to the interrogation room," Mashiro said to the ANBU guarding the prison. "Yes, Lord Mashiro."

Mashiro entered the interrogation room and waited quietly. Out of humanitarian spirit, Mashiro did not put the Sound Four in the same cell as other prisoners, after all, they were not very old when they were imprisoned.

Soon, the Sound Four were brought to the interrogation room: Kimimaro, Sakon, Ukon, Tayuya, and Jirobo. After three years of imprisonment, except for Kimimaro, the other three had lost the courage to resist.

"Guests, how were your three years in prison?" Mashiro asked with a smile. All four of them had empty eyes and remained silent.

"I can give you a chance to go out now, and not just a casual drive, but a real chance to go out freely. I can even..."

"I'm giving you the status of a Ye resident, so you can truly bask in the sunlight," Mashiro said gently.

Listening to Mashiro's story, all three except Kimimaro showed longing in their eyes. "What do you want to do?" Kimimaro asked, not believing that Mashiro would suddenly be so kind.

"I want to know something about Orochimaru?" Mashiro asked bluntly.

"We could never betray Lord Orochimaru. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Go back now," Kimimaro said coldly.

Although Kimimaro's attitude remained firm, the other three were clearly wavering, after all, Orochimaru had been dead for three years.

"Really? That's a shame. I've had some delicious food prepared for you. I hope you'll consider it." Mashiro said, clapping her hands.

Several secret agents pushed a food cart in and placed the dazzling array of food on the table in the interrogation room.

Without Mashiro's special request, the meals provided to the four of them in the prison were the same as those for other prisoners. As for the food in the Dark Side prison, not to mention the taste, it was already a blessing to have something to eat.

Seeing these things, Sakon, Ukon, Jirobo, and Tayuya were already drooling, and even Kimimaro couldn't help but take a few more glances.

"I'm going to ask Orochimaru some questions. Whoever answers will get to keep the things, and I can even take him out with me," Mashiro said with a smile.

Sakon, Ukon, Jirobo, and Tayuya are all poised for action. Three years of torment have worn away their loyalty to Orochimaru, even Kimimaro...

His eyes were filled with a complex expression.

"Can someone tell me what kind of experiments Orochimaru conducted in the Land of Grass? For example, the experiments on snake people?" Mashiro asked.

No one answered. Kimimaro was somewhat surprised, while Sakon, Ukon, and Jirobo were completely unaware. Only Tayuya frowned, seemingly thinking back on something.

"Does nobody know?" Shinji asked again.

"That's a real shame." Mashiro said, about to order someone to take the things off the table. "Sir, I know something," Tayuya suddenly said at that moment.

"You know?" Mashiro's gaze fell on Tayuya.

Tayu was somewhat afraid of Mashiro's self-illumination, but she still mustered her spirits and faced Mashiro's self-illumination, saying, "I know a little about the snake people's experiments that you mentioned, sir."

“Very well, take the rest of them away,” Zhen Zi ordered.

Soon, amidst the reluctant farewells of Sakon, Ukon, and Jirobo, the three were taken back.

Mashiro gave a signal, and another ANBU member standing at the door came up behind Tayuya, removed her hand shuriken, and left the interrogation room. At this moment, only Mashiro and Tayuya remained in the large interrogation room.

"Eat."

Mashiro pulled up a chair, sat down, and said softly.

With Mashiro's approval, Tayuya couldn't resist any longer and began wolfing down her food at the table. Because she was eating so hastily, Tayuya suddenly stopped, pounding her chest in pain.

"No need to rush, these are all yours," Mashiro said gently, handing the water to Tayuya.

Tayuya quickly finished the water Mashiro handed her. Looking at Mashiro's gentle smile, a strange thought suddenly popped into her mind: this person...

It wasn't as bad as she had imagined.

While Tayuya continued eating, Mashiro gently stroked her hair. Tayuya's hair was a rare natural red, a sight unseen outside of the Uzumaki clan. Mashiro hadn't noticed it much before, but Tayuya was actually very beautiful, a kind of mischievous and cute beauty. She was very thin, yet possessed a faint air of heroism.

"Has Tayuya finished eating? Can you explain in detail now?" Mashiro asked after Tayuya stopped eating.

"In the Land of Grass, Lord Orochimaru once conducted an experiment, a life-splitting experiment. At that time, Lord Orochimaru seemed to have witnessed something very powerful in the organization he had joined. That thing gave Lord Orochimaru the idea of ​​creating a snake-people army."

However, Lord Orochimaru's idea required some experimental subjects with extremely strong vitality, but such subjects were hard to find except for members of the Uzumaki and Senju clans, so the experiment remained stagnant.

Until one day, Lord Orochimaru captured two priestesses from the Land of Demons. The priestesses of the Land of Demons all possessed very powerful abilities, and the two that Lord Orochimaru captured were born with incredibly strong vitality.

Thus, the experiment began, but the two test subjects underwent completely different changes during the experiment. One witch could infect them and turn them into snake people, while the other witch could force other creatures to split, as if they were reproducing themselves.

The experiment ultimately failed, and the snake-people that were born had no ability to think and were only slightly stronger than ordinary people in combat.

So Lord Orochimaru sealed away the two test subjects, intending to see if they could be successfully improved later; if not, he would destroy them. Tayuya recounted.

"How did you find out about this? Judging from the reactions of the other people, they don't seem to know anything about it," Mashiro asked.

"My flute playing can control those snake people to some extent. Orochimaru Amanto once asked me to try training them," Tayuya hurriedly replied.

Mashiro did not doubt Tayuya's words; she had already roughly understood how things had unfolded.

In her previous life, due to her good relationship with Orochimaru, Orochimaru did not defect and therefore did not conduct these experiments. In the original story, Orochimaru's hands were sealed by the Third Hokage, and as a powerful general, he no longer had the time to conduct experiments in the Land of Grass, so he destroyed the experimental subjects.

In this life, because Mashiro killed Orochimaru during the Konoha Crush, he didn't have time to deal with the experimental subjects in the Land of Grass, which led to their escape and the formation of that strange village.

Speaking of the priestesses of the Land of Demons, Shiwan's ability is quite troublesome.

"Your information is very useful to me. I'll pick you up in a few days." Mashiro said, snapping out of her reverie.

Then she leaned down and kissed Tayuya on the cheek before leaving, leaving Tayuya looking completely bewildered.

Chapter Sixty: The Shrine Maiden's Tears

The next day, Mashiro returned to the snake-people village, but Kiyoshi did not seem to be there.

The appearance of the true self caused snake-men to emerge from the houses, their vertical pupils filled with desire, and their scales began to stand up.

Mashiro observed the snake-people who were approaching and cultivating. Just as Tayuya had said, these snake-people had no reason and were like wild beasts. Moreover, there was a very strange phenomenon: the number of small snake-people far exceeded that of the large snake-people, far exceeding the limit that such a small village could bear.

"You actually came here." Qing's voice came from behind, her tone tinged with unease.

She slowly walked from the village entrance to Mashiro's side. As she arrived, all the snake people who had gathered scattered and returned to their houses.

"Didn't I tell you I'd bring you chocolates and candies today?" Mashiro said with a smile. Upon entering Kiyoshi's room, Kiyoshi poured Mashiro a cup of tea; this time, she seemed to have boiled the water beforehand.

"Here, chocolate. But I was afraid you couldn't handle bitterness, so I gave you regular chocolate." Mashiro said, handing a box to Kiyoshi. Kiyoshi hesitated for a moment, then finally reached out and took the box, opened it, and inside were neatly wrapped chocolates.

Looking at Mashiro, who made a gesture of opening the packaging and putting it in her mouth, Kiyoshi gestured for her to eat it. Because of Mashiro's kindness, and also out of curiosity, Kiyoshi finally put the chocolate in her mouth. "Delicious."

The silky, sweet taste was irresistible to Qing; it was the first time she had ever tasted such a unique flavor.

Mashiro's reaction to Kiyoshi wasn't surprising; few girls dislike chocolate. [Kiyoshi's Affection +5]

"Do you like it? If you do, I can bring you more tomorrow," Mashiro said with a smile.

Qinggang was about to agree, but then suddenly remembered something and said expressionlessly, "No need. Don't come over starting tomorrow." "Are you worried about my safety?" Mashiro asked.

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Qing's gaze was somewhat evasive.

“I understand, so you've finally decided to take care of this village,” Mashiro said seriously. “What do you know?” Kiyoshi’s gaze turned cold.

"When Orochimaru died, several of his subordinates were also imprisoned. Yesterday I went to inquire and heard about the experiments in the Land of Grass, as well as the two captured priestesses. Kiyoshi, you were one of those priestesses, weren't you?" Mashiro looked at Kiyoshi and said calmly.

"I was initially terrified that others would find out about this, but now I feel a sense of relief. It's strange." Kiyoshi's expression suddenly relaxed after hearing what Mashiro said.

"Everyone feels lonely, especially those of you who have experienced pain. You're afraid of others knowing about your past, yet you yearn for someone to listen," Mashiro said softly, looking into Kiyoshi's eyes.

"Perhaps that's true." Kiyoshi did not object to Mashiro's guess.

"You should know I mean no harm, so could you tell me your story?" Mashiro took the teapot, poured a cup of tea, handed it to Kiyoshi, and said.

Kiyoshi took the teacup, took a sip, her gaze distant, and said softly, "My original name was Yuuma Shiri. I have an older sister named Chifuji Kiyoshi. We are both priestesses from the Chifuji family in the Land of Demons. However, because I was born to a concubine, I took my mother's surname."

With the appearance of the Great Priestess, the other priestess families in the Land of Demons gradually declined, and the Chito family was no exception. The entire family was reduced to just a few members, and their bloodline was extremely thin.

As you probably know, my sister and I were captured by Orochimaru while we were gathering herbs. Because of the characteristics of the Kaneji family bloodline, he conducted many experiments on us, eventually turning us both into half-human, half-snake monsters.

However, because of this, my sister and I both gained strange abilities. My sister can turn anyone she comes into contact with into a snake-man like us, while I can cause various creatures, including snake-men, to split and reproduce.

However, the snake-people we created lacked the ability to think, which greatly displeased Orochimaru, who then sealed us away. Until recently, the machine that sealed us seemed to have stopped working, allowing my sister and me to escape.

To our surprise, after escaping, we found ourselves seemingly transformed back into ordinary humans. Because of the unfamiliar surroundings, we were nearly eaten by various wild animals in the forest, but fortunately, we were rescued by a villager.

He took us to a village, and we settled there. My sister used the Chifuji family's abilities to heal the injured in the village, while I used the abilities I obtained from Orochimaru to help the women in the village have children.

We lived quietly like this until last year's Academy Night, when my sister suddenly screamed in pain. Then her body was covered in scales, and she transformed back into a half-human, half-snake. At the same time, everyone in the village who had been healed by my sister also turned into snakes.

Then, my body began to ache terribly, and then I lost consciousness.

When I woke up the next day, my sister and I had been tied up by the villagers. It turned out that after my sister, I had also become a half-snake, half-human being, and all the children born in the village because of my blessing had also become snake people.

It was then that my sister and I realized that we had both actually been monsters all along.

Just as the remaining villagers were about to burn us alive, the transformed snake-people swarmed in and killed all the normal villagers. We were powerless to stop them and could only watch helplessly as the village that had taken us in turned into hell.

Then, my sister and I began searching for a way to turn them back into humans in order to atone for our sins. But suddenly, we found ourselves half-snake and half-human more and more often. We gradually discovered that when the curse marks on our backs started to sting, we would turn into monsters at night.

After a year of searching, my sister finally couldn't bear the pressure and committed suicide. She originally thought that after her death, the snake people who had been turned into her would turn back, but they didn't. The snake people still existed, but with my sister's death, they became more docile and stopped going out to harm passersby.

Then I inherited my sister's name, and with it, this sin and pain.

Thus, I am left alone in this land of snake people. These snake people bear witness to my sins, and this village is my tombstone. "Qing recounted everything that had happened with self-deprecation.

"So, you're also planning to commit suicide?" Mashiro asked in a low voice.

"No, I plan to commit suicide along with this land of snake people. I will gather all the snake people together. I have collected enough poison. After they drink the poison, I will burn this place down, along with myself."

"Let everything be buried in the flames." Kiyoshiro said expressionlessly. "I see. How tragic." With that, Mashiro turned and left.

Chapter 61: Flames and Tails

The sky was cloudless, the stars twinkled, and the full moon radiated a captivating glow.

Qing summoned all the snake people, and then used ropes to pull two wild boars that had been prepared in advance out of the house.

Then Qing silently walked away, and immediately all the snake people rushed towards the wild boars. Soon, only bones and blood remained on the two wild boars.

Qing watched all this, then looked up at the sky. "Sister, you're such a cunning hedgehog."

Since Chifune Kiyoshi's death, she has been guarding the village alone, enduring the loneliness of having no one to talk to. At the same time, whenever she sees the villagers who have turned into snake people, intense self-blame constantly fills her heart.