Chapter 139: Chapter no.138
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Forest Within Hi no Kuni - Approximately Halfway Between Konoha and the Border
The entire forest was silent except for the crackling of burning wood and the occasional rustling of a small animal moving through the vast amounts of vegetation surrounding the area. The brilliant orange glow of the small fire partially illuminated the campsite and revealed five familiar faces, with each sitting on a vertical log, not too different from the logs that genin would be tied to during their survival exams.
The moon was full tonight and was shining down on them peacefully. It was strange, Naruto had always felt incredibly powerful during the night of a full moon. Perhaps it was because of the Ōtsutsuki chakra lying dormant within him, though seeing as how Kaguya acted as the core for them moon, it shouldn't feel like he was being protected by its very existence.
Even though the full moon illuminated the night, it had been decided that they should stop for the night. Natsuki and Narumi seemed like they wouldn't be able to go for much longer anyways. Their low endurance and lack of proficiency with how shinobi usually travelled only further proved that their senseis and the previous Hokage had been pampering them far too much. Even so, the group had covered more ground than had been anticipated, which meant that they wouldn't have to travel for as long tomorrow and could start their mission late-afternoon at the latest.
Usually shinobi wouldn't risk having a fire where enemy shinobi could easily track their location, but Naruto was a sensor-type shinobi and combined with his Kenbunshoku Haki, it was nearly impossible to sneak up on him. Seeing how tonight was incredible cold, with the other shinobi on his team shivering and looking like they were freezing, it wouldn't hurt to have a fire this once. If he sensed anything other than an animal, he would extinguish it at once.
Naruto had been gazing longingly at the moon. He didn't know why, but it just felt like something was calling out to him from there...it was an odd sensation. Though he would need to save such thoughts for another time. After giving the moon one last whimsical glance, Naruto turned his attention back towards the four kunoichi sitting before him on the other side of the fire.
Their attention had been captivated by the roaring fire, but that was to be expected with how cold it was for them. It was an oddity for Hi no Kuni to experience such severe cold at this time of year, or really any time of year. He watched as their breath was able to materialize as they breathed in and out with their hands open and facing towards the fire.
"Now that we have some time to rest, why don't we go over the mission and its details?" Naruto asked rhetorically, successfully gaining their undivided attention.
"Didn't we go over those in the Hokage's office?" Narumi asked, honestly confused as to what more they could discuss in regards to their current assignment.
To them, they had been given simple orders. Eliminate the threat the shinobi posed, recover any documentation that may be there, destroy Orochimaru's hideout, and investigate the town for any foreign shinobi that may be residing there. It was fairly straightforward if one thought about it.
"Do you really believe that would be the only information he would give us for an A-Ranked mission? Those were orders, nothing more." Naruto responded as he faced the blonde-haired girl.
Mikoto and Satsuki remained silent and were waiting for Naruto to relay to them information that would be crucial to the completion of the mission, but it appeared that the Uzumaki-Namikaze siblings were more talkative and impatient. Two qualities that were not the best fit for a shinobi, which was strange considering that they were both daughters of the Yondaime Hokage.
"The mission objectives we usually receive are pretty simple and straightforward. Wouldn't this mission be the same?" This time it was Natsuki who spoke up. Naruto had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at such a simplistic outlook on missions.
"...I don't exactly know what Kakashi-san and Kushina-sama have been doing as your senseis, but they obviously have not taught you the importance of information in our line of duty. Knowing the correct information could mean the difference between life and death, though when dealing with cases involving Orochimaru, you should always assume that he's one step ahead of you." Was Naruto's somewhat harsh reply to the girls. He didn't want to come off as arrogant or anything like that, but these two girls were starting to get on his nerves. He saw that Narumi was about to speak up once more, but he rose his hand to cut her off. "...Please remain silent and listen to the information that I have before speaking up again."
Naruto gave the two children of the former Hokage a glare that silenced them. He waited a moment to ensure that no other outbursts would follow before continuing what he had intended to say.
"...While all our previous objectives remain and are just as important, the main purpose of our assignment is to recover any information that we can find about Orochimaru's cursed seals..." Naruto closed his eyes as he remembered his conversation earlier that day with Obito, though he would make sure to omit the portion where part of Orochimaru's soul is housed within those marked with the cursed seal. "This hideout that we are tasked with investigating and destroying...holds the origins of the cursed seal."
Naruto opened his eyes to see the reactions of the shinobi before him. They were as expected, eyes widened to epic proportions, jaws on the ground, and utterly speechless. The origins of Orochimaru's infamous cursed seals had always been shrouded in mystery, but everyone in the village knew that once you were marked by the Sannin, you were as good as his.
"The seal originated from a clan who possessed the innate ability to passively absorb natural energy from their surroundings. However, this constant surge of power within their bodies can be linked to their insanity and causes them to go berserk constantly." Naruto explained the short version of what they needed to hear for this mission, once again leaving out the part that they were known as the clan of monsters. The two girls would begin to constantly doubt themselves and question their humanity if they knew that fact. "The reason why Konoha shinobi were even in the area of our destination was because their had been sightings of strange humanoid figures wandering throughout the forests. The cursed seal has a second stage where the user can take on a strange appearance that greatly increases their power by giving them access to Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra and ultimately his influence."
"These clansmen are also able to take on that form, albeit naturally, so it is far more powerful...Every single one of Orochimaru's higher-ranked subordinates is marked with one of these seals, giving them access to an almost unlimited source of power. When it their second stage, their power can be compared to that of a jinchūriki. However, this increase in power comes at a cost. Every time the seal is released, it corrodes the mind and body of the user, making them far more susceptible to his influence and ultimately turning them into his mindless puppets...There have been dozens of these clansmen to have been reported in the area, but they have been presumed to have left the country and are now residing in Yu no Kuni. Though the report that was sent back stated that there is still one of them who remained at the laboratory...If we can obtain the research on these cursed seals as well as obtain a DNA sample from its original source, we may be able to remove these cursed seals entirely as well as track the chakra they produce back to Orochimaru's location."
Naruto remained silent for a moment to let everyone come to terms with what he just said. It should be noted that Natsuki and Narumi were now clutching their necks and trembling slightly. They were most likely worried that they would eventually be consumed by the cursed seal just like Naruto had said. He would leave the questions and answers until after he finished everything he needed to say.
"...That's not all..." Naruto spoke up once again, bringing his team's attention back to him. "From what Konoha has found from Orochimaru's previous hideouts, they operate as laboratories for human experiments, prisons for human test subjects, research facilities, and so on. There are likely to be prisoners being held captive their as well as people actually being experimented on. From the information we know, there are at least a handful of shinobi still in the hideout, but prisoners and such could number far more and they are likely to be enemies as well, considering their minds and bodies are likely to have been corroded even more so than those who had overused the cursed seal."
"In reality we have so much information on Orochimaru, yet none at all. We can't be sure which is accurate for this base and which is merely assumptions...What I'm trying to say is that we're essentially going in blind." Naruto wrapped up his long winded briefing with far more of a headache than he started with. He hadn't realized just how much of a disadvantage they were at until now.
He had edited major aspects of the cursed seal and its inner-workings, mainly because they weren't essential at the moment and would have caused Narumi and Natsuki to only worry about it further. Though, he hadn't considered what would happen if either of them were to get near the source of their cursed seal. It could immediately force them into their stage two transformation or possibly resonate with them, causing large-scale corrosion of their minds, inducing them into a berserk state just as the clan of monsters was prone to.
He would need to keep them as far away from the source as possible.
Then there was Mikoto and Satsuki. Satsuki was no doubt skilled, but she was still only at chūnin level and Mikoto was currently a question mark. She was a jounin-level shinobi, but with the condition of her body he was unsure of her limits. That ruled them out as well.
Naruto sighed to himself. It seemed that he would need to be the one to retrieve the DNA sample.
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