"Shion in one place, Haku in one place, Yakumo in one place, Toneri in one place, Sasuke in one place, Naruto in one place, Neji and Kimimaro in one place, Ryuzetsu and Chino in one place, plus Karin guarding the core node—the people guarding the nine nodes are assembled!"
After organizing the guarding personnel, Shinji let out a breath.
This piecing together not only barely satisfied the guarding tasks for the nine critical nodes but also left behind two Kekkei Mora level combat powers, Hikari and Kaguya Otsutsuki.
"With two Kekkei Mora as backup, even if something goes wrong on Orochimaru's side, it should be quickly extinguished!" After a pause, Shinji said: "But it is still best to find and resolve Orochimaru before the great war!"
Shinji did not ignore the uncertain factor that was Orochimaru; on the contrary, despite running all over the shinobi world as if he did not care about Orochimaru, in reality, he had been searching for Orochimaru's traces—it was just that Orochimaru had evaded his perception.
It was precisely because Orochimaru repeatedly evaded his perception that he was very certain something he did not know about must have happened to Orochimaru. Similarly, this narrowed the scope for him, because the powers that could evade him currently were nothing more than two possibilities: the Hegemon of Terror or Shibai Otsutsuki.
To this end, he even specifically went to the Research Institute to check Shibai Otsutsuki's remains.
That was a corpse, without any traces of life, nor the possibility of a fraudulent death; this was the final conclusion Shinji reached.
Therefore, Shinji was more inclined to believe the Hegemon of Terror had done something to Orochimaru, leading to Orochimaru's series of changes.
This was why Shinji did not go to great lengths to search for and arrest Orochimaru, and why he tried his best to conceal the Barrier Project and the personnel information of those guarding the critical nodes; it was because he worried Orochimaru was the Hegemon of Terror's eyes in the shinobi world!
...
In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
Shinji came to the Research Institute to listen to Amado's report.
"The surveying tasks for the nine critical nodes have all been completed, the manufacturing of reinforcement spikes is seventy percent finished, and the development of the barrier is sixty percent finished..."
While reporting, Amado carefully observed Shinji's expression.
Shinji said: "Too slow!"
Amado wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained: "I am very sorry; there were deviations in the previous predictions. The gap in manpower and resources required to complete the plan is very large. The entire shinobi world has been mobilized, and there is no way to be any faster."
Shinji did not criticize Amado.
He knew such a massive project required meticulousness without errors while maintaining secrecy without leaks; actual operation was extremely difficult.
Finally waving his hand, Shinji said: "Forget it, the time should be enough."
Amado then asked: "Leader, regarding the personnel guarding the nine critical nodes, have you arranged them?"
Shinji nodded: "The core node will be guarded by me personally, and for the other eight locations, I will arrange Akatsuki members to guard them separately. The list is temporarily secret!"
Amado let out a breath: "With you personally guarding the core node, it should be foolproof!"
Although there were nine critical nodes, the most important one was actually the core node where the God Tree would be planted and the Infinite Tsukuyomi would be activated. Once this node fell, the entire defense barrier would instantly collapse, and the other eight critical nodes would fail one by one.
As long as the core node was safe, even if one or two of the other eight critical nodes fell, the impact on the situation would not be fatal—at least it would not cause the defense barrier to collapse instantly.
Shinji did not want to talk more about this matter, so he asked: "Is there any news of Orochimaru?"
Amado shook his head: "No, we sent out more than a hundred investigation teams all over the shinobi world, but still could not find any news of Orochimaru."
...
Shinji grinned with a cold laugh: "Hmph, how interesting!"
Amado continued: "But there is something I think you will be interested in!"
After saying that, Amado handed Shinji a classified report.
Opening the report and glancing at it, Shinji frowned slightly: "These are..."
"This one came from the Hidden Sand Village; the Dragon Vein secret realm in the Ancient Ruins of Rōran within the Land of Wind was stolen by someone a week ago!"
"This one came from the Hidden Waterfall Village; their Hero's Water was stolen by someone ten days ago!"
"And this one is..."
Amado briefly introduced the contents of the report.
Without exception, what was recorded in the report were all incidents of chakra being stolen; among them, the more serious one was the Dragon Vein of the Ancient Ruins of Rōran in the Land of Wind, because the chakra contained in the Dragon Vein was at the Tailed Beast level. As for the others, such as the Hero's Water of the Hidden Waterfall Village, the level was quite a bit lower.
Shinji asked: "You suspect Orochimaru did it?"
Amado analyzed: "These places are all key locations for various shinobi villages. For example, the Ancient Ruins of Rōran have always been under the strict surveillance of the Hidden Sand Village. It is completely impossible for an ordinary person to steal the Dragon Vein silently. But this time the thief stole the Dragon Vein very easily; even until now, the Hidden Sand Village side has not figured out how the other party did it."
Shinji nodded slightly, approving of Amado's speculation.
If this thief were Orochimaru, everything would be reasonable, because the current shinobi villages are almost undefended in the eyes of Orochimaru.
Shinji pondered: "What is he collecting this chakra for?"
Whether it was the Dragon Vein of the Ancient Ruins of Rōran or the Hero's Water of the Hidden Waterfall Village, this chakra was indeed a non-negligible magnitude at the level of ordinary shinobi. But for the current Shinji, it actually did not have much meaning.
Ordinary Tailed Beasts, even the strongest Nine-Tails among them, were just slightly larger foxes in his eyes. The chakra of the Dragon Vein was inferior to the Nine-Tails; as for the other several items of chakra, they could not even reach the Tailed Beast level, so Shinji truly could not understand what Orochimaru was collecting this chakra for.
Amado said: "We are still analyzing and have not found a reasonable explanation yet. However, if you want to deal with Orochimaru, I have a plan here!"
Shinji asked: "What plan?"
Amado said: "I have analyzed Orochimaru's recent behavioral logic and found that he has an extraordinary obsession with Shinjutsu. So if you decide to take action yourself, I can arrange for Eida and Daemon to serve as bait to lure Orochimaru into showing himself!"
Shinji glanced at Amado: "You think Orochimaru has mastered the ability to take Shinjutsu from others?"
Amado nodded: "Judging from his behavior, there is such a possibility!"
"Even so, you are being too deliberate; he will not take the bait!" Smiling, Shinji said: "But you reminded me; I have better candidates here, it is just that now is not the time. We must complete the Barrier Project first!"