After a few days observing Kakuzu, Nagato confirmed that he could be trusted enough, and fulfilled his promise; Konan handed over the financial management of the Akatsuki to Kakuzu.
After many years as a mercenary organization, the Akatsuki actually had an abundance of funds in hand. When Kakuzu had access to the records, he eyes shone golden in joy.
As for Sasori, he was out at his own hideout during those days, and no one knew what he was doing.
Nagato sent out Tendo Pain and Gakido Pain to find him more bodies of Jonins he has seen before. He wanted to complete all six paths as soon as possible to avenge Yahiko.
…..
Back In Konoha, Ryo was observing the growth of his sister, Lain.
He was far from worried. She was competing with two talented Uchiha, and all three were growing through that compet.i.tion, which was a good thing.
However, when Lain and Izumi were having a practice fight, Lain’s wood release was suddenly exposed!
When learning of the news, Ryo immediately teleported to the academy, and picked up Lain. Back home, he asked her about what had happened, and she told him that after feeling a peculiar Chakra from Izumi, her wood release went out of control!
Izumi was had nothing special about her power wise in the Anime. She was just shown to be Itachi’s love interest, until she died by his hands during the Uchiha ma.s.sacre.
As for her family, her father was normal Ninja, and her mother was Uchiha civilian.
Besides her Uchiha blood, Ryo could think of nothing special about her that could trigger such a reaction. So, how could it happen? How could an Uchiha trigger a Senju specific Kekkei Genkai?
Unfortunately, Ryo had no time to think about this matter, for the news about Lain spread across the entire village.
Wood Release had a special significance for Konoha. With this power, the first Hokage was the man who ended the chaos of the Warring State Era, and then built the foundation of what Konoha was today.
On top of that, this was also a Kekkei Genkai of the Senju clan. How could a Yamanaka ever awaken such an ability?
Very quickly, the Yamanaka clan fell under a lot of pressure. Konoha’s citizens, whether civilians or Ninjas, all wanted to know what was going on.
In the Hokage’s office, Sak.u.mo was looking at Lain and Ryo standing before him, feeling a headache from the whole matter. He never expected that Ryo would bring him such a big “surprise”.
“Ryo, speak up! What happened to this little girl?”
With Lain’s power already exposed, Ryo had nothing to hide and he said: “Sak.u.mo san, Lain was initially a girl with outstanding amounts of Spiritual Power for her age. I conducted some experiments on her, and….”
Ryo gave Sak.u.mo a general idea about the experiment, and intentionally emitted Orochimaru, who was present in the meeting, from his narrative!
Right now, Danzo’s old plans were not in action, and Orochimaru did not have to leave Konoha. While the latter did have the idea, Ryo had been trying to retain him recently, and Orochimaru’s att.i.tude eventually loosened up. Therefore, Ryo did not want him bothered by the matter, for he did not want to awaken his desire to leave.
However, as soon as Sak.u.mo heard the word “experiment”, he immediately thought of Orochimaru. After taking a deep breath, he decided to go with Ryo’s version of the events and did not say anything.
“Ryo, what are you going to do about this?”
After some thought, Ryo said: “We should drag this out for a while. During this time, I will go and find Tsunade hime, and ask her for help. If I could get her to claim that Lain is related to the Senju, we would have no more problems.”
As soon as Ryo finished his words, Orochimaru interfered: “No! I will take the full blame for this. Recently, I’ve been looking for an excuse to leave Konoha; this is my chance.”
“Orochi san, why must you leave?” said Ryo with a bitter smile.
“Yes, Orochimaru! Being Tsunade’s teammate before should make it normal for you to meet her. You could go with Ryo’s plan yourself if you want. Why should you go as far as to leave Konoha?” Sak.u.mo also asked
“Ryo kun, you of all people should understand why I must leave. Here, my scientific ambitions will never be satisfied.”
Ryo remained silent, knowing that Orochimaru was right. In Konoha, there were far too many restrictions and regulations, and far too many people who admired and cared about Orochimaru.
Ryo knew all too well that this was not the Orochimaru he saw in the anime. This Orochimaru maintain his humanity, his emotions, and could not just ignore the feelings of his village and explore the unknown wantonly.
“Well, I guess this means things are decided! I’m going back to clean up my lab. Sak.u.mo, in a few days, you can send the Anbu there.” After saying that, Orochimaru left the office.
Looking at his back, Ryo sighed. Orochimaru was his teacher, his friend, and in many ways, the two were the only ones who could understand each other in this world.
Now that he had decided to leave, Ryo was obviously not feeling good about that.
He returned home with Lain, and locked himself up in his room and did not get out until Sak.u.mo’s Anbu came for him.
In Orochimaru’s lab, the Anbu found a child in gla.s.sware, one whose cells were integrated with those of Hashirama.
Based on this, the Anbu concluded that the one behind Lain’s Wood Release abilities was Orochimaru.
When receiving the “news”, Sak.u.mo immediately announced: “Orochimaru has used the cells of the 1st Hokage to conduct human experiments. He has violated taboos of Konoha, and from today on, he is no longer one of Konoha’s Ninjas!”
“Sak.u.mo sama, Orochimaru sama is very powerful, and knows too many of Konoha’s secrets. If he’s to take the path of all of those who cut off their villages, he would end up turning into an S-Tier Missing Nin!”
“I was in a similar position in the past, and now I’m in the Hokage’s office!”
Hearing that, the Anbu had no more arguments, and they turned away conveying Sak.u.mo’s orders.
Meanwhile, outside Konoha, Ryo was looking for Orochimaru while hiding his Chakra.
As he found him, he also found Jiraya on the ground, unconscious. Just like in the Anime, he tried to stop him, and just like then, he was too kind to fight back seriously, and was knocked out by Orochimaru.
Ryo looked at Jiraya, and then scanned the area, confirming that there were no other people around. Then, he pretended not to care about the unconscious Sannin, and greeted Orochimaru: “h.e.l.lo Orochi san, you weren’t going to leave without saying good bye weren’t you?”
Orochimaru smiled and said: “You’ve finally arrived Ryo kun! I’ve been waiting for too long, and this idiot caught up with me. I don’t know how he got the news, but he came from outside the village to stop me!”
“Yeah I saw. Orochi san, don’t you have any regrets?”
“Regrets? Maybe I’ll have some in the future, but not now. By the way, I have taken Yugao and Anko along with me. While Anko doesn’t care much, Yugao still wants to be a Ninja of Konoha in the future. I’ll entrust you with this matter.”
“I’ll handle it. Orochi san, I’ve promised you before that I will help you build the greatest lab in the world, and I will keep that word!”
“I’ll be waiting for you!” Orochimaru licked his lips excitedly.
“Oh, one last thing Orochimaru san, have mercy for Kakashi!”
Orochimaru was surprised, nodded, and then turned around and left.