Chapter 249 – The Transaction (Extended Chapter)
"Everyone's here, are they?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes swept across the gathering crowd, the cold smirk on his face deepening.
One presence was conspicuously absent: Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage.
That could only mean one thing—Minato was busy elsewhere, with matters more important than standing here.
Hiruzen tilted his head slightly, gaze landing on Danzo beside him.
Danzo felt the weight of the look. He said nothing, only gave a small nod and closed his eyes as if resting. That silent acknowledgement was enough. It meant preparation had been made. It meant security.
And so, Hiruzen relaxed. His eyes turned back toward the blazing inferno, and in the reflection of the flames, his gaze was colder than steel.
No one else dared to take charge. With the former Hokage standing here—flanked by Danzo, Koharu, and Homura—who would presume command? Even Fugaku Uchiha, despite the Police Force being his domain, stood quietly at the side, offering no orders.
Only Jiraiya seemed restless. The flames roared unchecked, and no one organized an effort to extinguish them. Even he dared not plunge recklessly into the blaze.
"Sensei, shouldn't we at least put out the fire?" Jiraiya asked at last, his tone heavy as he glanced at his old teacher. He could sense chakra surges deep inside the burning forest, unmistakable traces of battle.
Why hadn't Minato appeared yet? Had something happened to Kushina?
But no—the source of this fire wasn't enemy invasion. Jiraiya knew that much. This was no accident. His student Minato trusted that boy, Uchiha Kei. And if Minato trusted him… then Jiraiya would too.
Still, without Minato present, only Hiruzen could control the scene. Yet Hiruzen seemed detached, as though content to watch the spectacle.
"Let's wait," Hiruzen said at last, his voice calm but firm. "The Fourth will be here soon enough. He is Hokage now. This decision belongs to him."
Jiraiya frowned, biting back his words. If things continued this way, who knew what devastation awaited inside? He regretted not tailing Orochimaru more closely, not intervening sooner—until the fire grew so fierce he had been forced to retreat. Now, it was too late.
But before anyone could argue further, the ground itself shuddered.
A monstrous chakra flared—familiar, suffocating. Manda.
Orochimaru had summoned Manda.
The realization sent shock through the crowd. Yet before they could process it, another chakra burst forth, colder, darker, far more terrifying—so heavy it crushed hope itself.
Then came the quake. The very earth trembled.
Faces paled. Even Hiruzen's composure cracked. What power was this?
Moments later, Manda's presence vanished entirely. Impossible.
"Everyone!" Hiruzen barked, urgency breaking through his calm façade. "Water Release users—now! Extinguish the fire immediately!"
---
Meanwhile, within the forest—
Orochimaru, drenched in mucus, staggered. His pallid face looked worse than ever, yet his golden eyes burned with fevered madness.
Across from him, Kei stood motionless, his Susanoo looming behind him. Its skeletal form remained intact, his breathing steady. The toll on him was minimal.
For all its cost, Susanoo's chakra came not only from his body, but from the hidden wellspring within his eyes. Without that, no shinobi could endure such a construct.
Kei had confirmed it again tonight—this power was overwhelming, unrivaled in both offense and defense. But the price was equally clear: the larger his Susanoo grew, the more it clashed with his true strength as a fast, precise assassin. Managing both speed and the massive construct stretched his focus thin. Worse, his Susanoo's lower body remained vulnerable. He remembered well how even Danzo had cut through Sasuke's incomplete Susanoo with mere Wind Release.
I'll need to push it further, Kei thought grimly. A fortress isn't enough. I'll need armor, true defense. Not until the fourth stage will it gain the agility I need.
His crimson eyes flicked to Orochimaru, who was visibly weakened from using the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique. The sannin's chakra reserves were drained, his resistance diminished.
"I warned you, Orochimaru," Kei said quietly, his voice flat. "Dabbling with unknown power can kill you."
"And yet…" Orochimaru's tongue slid across his lips, eyes fever-bright. "Isn't it fascinating? Tell me, Kei-kun, don't you feel your Susanoo is flawed?"
"You mean the gaps below the waist?" Kei's reply was calm, almost dismissive. "True enough. But do you think I came unprepared?"
His blade lifted again, black chakra flaring—then his brow furrowed. The flames around them were dying down. The outside world was closing in. Their clash had drawn too much attention.
So… it ends here.
Uchiha Kei glanced at Orochimaru, weighing his thoughts for a brief moment.
Then, with a faint ripple of chakra, his Susanoo receded, leaving only its skeletal first stage.
"Seems I can't enjoy myself to the fullest after all," Kei said, a note of disappointment in his voice. "Orochimaru, I trust you know what comes next?"
Orochimaru's tongue flicked across his lips as his golden eyes gleamed. "Since that's your decision, Kei-kun, I won't intrude on your leisure. What terrifying power… so this is the might of the Uchiha?"
"Some things aren't meant for you," Kei replied sharply, brows furrowing. Why do I feel like I've turned into Itachi, lecturing him?
He gave his head the smallest shake and leveled his gaze at Orochimaru, calm once more. "If you intend to leave Konoha, now's the time. Or would you rather wait until the Third arrives? Do you want me to expose my power just to kill you here?"
For the first time, Orochimaru's slitted pupils flickered. The feverish hunger in his face dimmed slightly. With a silent nod, he began to turn away.
"You've truly decided, then?" Kei's voice cut across the silence. "Leaving like this… it'll strike your teacher hard."
"…Yes." Orochimaru paused mid-step.
"But he is no longer the Sarutobi-sensei I once knew. Power… life itself is fragile. Better to devote myself to pursuits of real worth. Konoha has become my cage—a prison chaining my flight."
He raised his head slightly, eyes drifting toward the still-burning horizon, the sky painted red by firelight. No one was visible beyond the smoke.
After a long silence, he turned back to Kei. "I've prepared a gift for you, Kei-kun. Consider it repayment for letting me witness such dreadful strength. Now… I'll take my leave."
"Wait." Kei's voice was steady, but it halted Orochimaru in his tracks. "You're interested in the Sharingan, aren't you?"
"Of course." Orochimaru's expression shifted, guarded now. "Though wasn't it you who said such things aren't mine to covet?"
"True. But what if I traded you someone else's eyes?"
"Oh? Then what does Kei-kun want in return?"
Kei's eyes narrowed. "The research on Hashirama Senju's cells. Not the copies you hand to Sarutobi Hiruzen—the version you kept for yourself."
---
Meanwhile, outside, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood watching the flames gradually die under waves of Water Release. His unease only deepened.
He wasn't a sensor, but Manda's aura was impossible to miss—overbearing, prideful, always broadcasting its presence. Yet now, not only had Manda vanished, but in its place had come something far darker.
A chakra so cold, so malignant, it suffocated him. Truly evil.
Then, the earth itself had quaked. And after that—silence. Manda's signature gone without a trace.
How could the Third rest easy after that? No… something was wrong. Very wrong. Had Orochimaru… failed?
He didn't want to believe a fourteen-year-old brat could force Orochimaru into retreat. But this brat was Uchiha. And the Uchiha's potential… Hiruzen had seen it firsthand in Madara.
He exhaled, lowering his gaze. "That lab… what was its true purpose?"
"Originally? Experiments with Wood Release." Danzō's voice was low, his head also inclined.
"But after one of Orochimaru's bases was exposed, we converted this site. Don't forget—Orochimaru is still a Leaf shinobi. A clever one."
"You shouldn't have let him near things like this. A Hokage must remain untainted."
Hiruzen bit down on his pipe. "And you shouldn't have let personal greed put us in this position."
Danzō scowled. "How many times will you harp on this? Enough, Hiruzen. What's done is done. We can't turn back time. If we could… I'd have chosen differently long ago."
Hiruzen's silence was heavy. He knew what Danzō meant. Regret lay thick between them—choices made, paths they could never return to.
He exhaled smoke into the night, eyes lifting toward the steaming forest. The blaze was nearly extinguished now.
Jiraiya, nearby, shifted restlessly, torn between dread and hope. Was it Orochimaru he worried for? Or something else?
"Police Force stays here—contain the fire and monitor anyone entering later." Hiruzen's voice rang with authority again. "Everyone else, with me. We're going in."
"Yes, Lord Third!"
The Konoha shinobi snapped into formation, marching behind Hiruzen toward the blackened forest.
Fugaku's frown deepened. Leaving the Police Force behind… not a good sign. And Minato still hadn't arrived.
Could it be… Minato's run into trouble too?
He cast a sharp glance into the woods. Kei's battle with Orochimaru—Kei had clearly prevailed. But had he gained what he sought? And Minato… what had he found, or failed to?
Fugaku drew a long breath, turning to Hyūga Hiashi. "Shall we?"
"Let's." Hiashi nodded. "The Inuzuka, the Aburame, the Ino-Shika-Chō—all here. We can't avoid this."
Indeed, they couldn't. Fugaku only prayed Kei and Minato were safe, and their gambit not wasted.
---
Inside the ruined clearing, Kei unrolled a scroll, then spoke aloud, his voice cutting through the stillness.
"You've been watching long enough. No need to hide anymore."
At his words, Imai Kenta and Hyūga Ayaka emerged from Orochimaru's underground lab. Their clothes were singed, their expressions awkward, but they were unharmed.
Kei had sensed them long ago—they hadn't even bothered concealing their chakra. Orochimaru had, of course, noticed too. Neither had cared.
Kei had been busy negotiating with Orochimaru for his research notes. Orochimaru, meanwhile, was busy calculating what Kei truly wanted.
In the end, Orochimaru had surrendered a set of his personal Hashirama reports—the ones he'd never given the village.
A gift, yes. But also an investment. Orochimaru suspected this boy would become an opponent he could not ignore.
"Captain, what was that earlier?" Ayaka asked, frowning. "For a moment, I thought you'd lost control."
"Worried it would all collapse?" Kei shook his head. "Relax. I don't take such risks. What about below?"
"Orochimaru said he had a gift for me. Did you accept it?"
Ayaka and Kenta exchanged a look. They knew exactly what he meant.
No wonder the lab had been crawling with test subjects. They were left there deliberately. And not just them—they'd even found a cabinet filled with files.
They hadn't had time to read them. When the earth shook, they'd thought the entire place was about to cave in. Survival came first. They'd bolted.
At the exit, they'd been stunned to find Orochimaru bloodied, his chakra nearly drained, and Kei already waiting. A trade had been struck: a pair of Sharingan for Orochimaru's research.
Ayaka wasn't surprised. She understood Kei too well.
Kenta, however, was unsettled. He said nothing.
Only once Orochimaru left did Kei call them out.
"It's a grand gift," Ayaka admitted calmly. "Shame we haven't examined it properly. Still… doesn't this feel too smooth? Almost like he wanted us to have it."
"That's because he did," Kei said with a thin smile. "He wants to leave Konoha. To him, this village is just a cage. This was his way of buying that freedom."
"…If he wanted to go, he could have just left." Kenta frowned. "Why stage all this?"
"Because his obsession makes him act like a madman." Kei's smile widened. "He wanted to taste my power. The Mangekyō's power. That was his price for the trade."
Mangekyō.
Kenta fell silent. He didn't know its full scope, only what books said—that awakening it required unimaginable cost, and the power it granted was monstrous.
But he had seen enough. He hadn't forgotten Kei's black chakra ribs.
"Unbelievable," Kenta muttered. "We were supposed to be the distraction… yet we ended up completing the mission."
Ayaka exhaled softly. "It feels unreal."
"Real or not doesn't matter," Kei cut in. "If the Fourth secures more evidence, then perhaps we'll finally be able to cleanse Konoha's leadership entirely."
His smile turned razor-sharp before fading. He handed the scroll to Ayaka. "Take it. Study it. It'll be of more use in your hands than mine."
Ayaka accepted with a nod, saying nothing further. She understood his trust—and shared his curiosity.
"Enough. The fire's dying. They'll be here any moment."
"Too late," Kenta sighed. "They've already entered."
"…Good." Kei blinked, then nodded. "Saves me the trouble."
"Captain, don't be too optimistic," Kenta said grimly. "Whoever's coming, it won't be our Police Force. And you know what that means when they examine these documents."
Kei's brow furrowed. That was no good.
He drew Namikaze Minato's special kunai and infused it with chakra, then flicked it into a nearby tree.
Minato, you'd better not be too damn late.
He'd already lost hope in the man's punctuality.
But until Minato arrived, Kei had to project strength. No one else could be allowed near Orochimaru's files.
"Prepare yourselves," he said quietly. "We've had setbacks, but if we don't hold our ground, everything tonight will be wasted."
"Yes, Captain," Ayaka and Kenta answered together. "We're in this with you. Whatever comes, we stand or fall as one."
---