On a cliff overlooking a canyon in the Land of Earth, Diarmuid and Kakuzu stood watching. About a month had passed since they first arrived in this territory. During that time, they had accepted a contract from Iwagakure to harass Kumogakure's raiding parties along their advance.
This canyon, as Diarmuid had deduced from various intelligence reports and his own prior knowledge, was the site of the final showdown. If things went as expected, this was where the Third Raikage would stage his life-and-death struggle against ten thousand shinobi.
Standing beside Diarmuid, Kakuzu glanced around and furrowed his brow. "Why have we stopped the mission? We could have collected more headbands to cash in for a final payout."
Hearing his money-grubbing logic made Diarmuid's teeth ache. "Speaking of which, since you love money so much, why don't you just rob people? With your strength, it's much faster than doing missions, isn't it?"
Kakuzu was silent for a moment before replying, "A gentleman loves wealth, but obtains it through proper means."
"Ptui..." Diarmuid spat a glob of phlegm into the canyon.
Kakuzu: "???" Are you insulting me?
Diarmuid felt Kakuzu was the one insulting him. You call yourself a gentleman? "Proper means"? What kind of gentleman trades corpses for cash? You've certainly done your share of dirty work.
However, Kakuzu had a surprisingly decent temperament and didn't mind Diarmuid's gesture. He pressed further, "What exactly are we doing here?"
"Wait a while, and we might see a spectacular show. I've been studying the tactical situation between Iwagakure and Kumogakure these past few days, and I've noticed something odd. We've been delaying them for a month, yet Iwagakure's front-line troops haven't returned to reinforce their borders. Instead, Kumogakure's advance has been getting smoother, and now they're deep in the heart of the Land of Earth. Don't you find that strange?" Diarmuid said with a smirk.
"Nothing strange about it, and I'm not interested. As long as the money is paid," Kakuzu said indifferently.
Diarmuid's lip twitched. He had intended to show off a bit, analyze the situation, and then lead into the final outcome to establish his image as a "Strategic Grandmaster." But Kakuzu, the bastard, wouldn't play along, which was incredibly frustrating.
Still, having started the performance, Diarmuid decided to carry it through. Ignoring Kakuzu's apathy, he continued, "I suspect this is a strategic ploy by Iwagakure. These past few days, the Cloud forces have been guided toward this specific direction. Based on my observations, this place is a dead end. Once Kumogakure encounters a massive force of Stone ninja here, exhausted after a long march while Iwagakure is fresh and waiting, they could be wiped out in one go. If the Third Raikage and these Cloud shinobi fall here, Iwagakure can declare victory in their war against the Cloud."
Kakuzu: "???" I didn't ask. Why are you talking to yourself? I'm not curious at all, okay?
Despite his internal grumbling, Diarmuid's theory was bold and imaginative. Kakuzu thought it over and realized it was actually plausible. "So, you're planning to lie in wait here as well? Once they've finished tearing each other apart, we go down and collect the headbands?"
Forget the damn headbands!
"I'm here for the Third Raikage. I want his corpse," Diarmuid stated.
After careful consideration, he realized that capturing the Third Raikage alive was nearly impossible, and capturing the Kage of any major village was unrealistic. It wasn't a matter of power; it was about pride. For men of their stature, dying in battle was far more honorable than being taken prisoner. If he tried to take him alive, the Raikage would likely kill himself first. It was perfectly logical for a Kage to have self-destruct seals placed on their person for such an occasion.
Therefore, Diarmuid decided to kill the Third Raikage here, take the body, and see if Orochimaru could help with the rest.
Thinking of this, Diarmuid asked, "Is there still no word from Orochimaru?"
"None. Perhaps your inexplicable gesture was meaningless. He has no interest in you," Kakuzu said, shaking his head. "If you ask me, we should just track down his location and take him by force."
"If his location were that easy to find, I would have knocked on his front door long ago," Diarmuid retorted.
Orochimaru was the undisputed "Master of Escape" in the shinobi world. After defecting from Konoha, Jiraiya and Konoha spent years hunting him, yet they couldn't find a single hair. Later, he joined the Akatsuki, caused trouble, and defected again. Sasori and the others wanted him dead, but they couldn't catch him either. For years, Orochimaru was at odds with every major power, and while many could kill him, almost no one could find him to do so. It was only because he got too cocky that he eventually got himself trapped by Sasuke.
Even when it seemed he was out of the game, he clawed his way back to life and survived until the very end, somehow even managing to rehabilitate his image. A truly colorful life.
Currently, Diarmuid's information sources were limited to the traveling Kakuzu and the intelligence master Sasori. Kakuzu only paid attention to news that made money. Sasori might have been reliable, but he was currently in a self-imposed depression after failing to master Kagami's body.
Thus, Diarmuid was essentially information-blind. Finding Orochimaru before he officially betrayed Konoha was practically a pipe dream.
"Could that guy really have found nothing? Is there nothing wrong with my blood?" Diarmuid rubbed his chin. He was only guessing about his blood's properties, and Orochimaru's silence was making him doubt himself. What now? Use a Sharingan to lure him?
But come to think of it, Orochimaru probably wasn't interested in the Sharingan yet. In the original timeline, his obsession was sparked after the Third Shinobi World War when he accidentally witnessed a young Itachi's training. Right now, Itachi was at most five years old, and the war wasn't over. Orochimaru's obsession hadn't been activated yet.
As Diarmuid was lost in thought, Kakuzu suddenly spoke up: "They're here."
Diarmuid followed Kakuzu's gaze. Sure enough, a massive group of people in military formation was approaching. They were moving directly toward the path of the Kumogakure raiding force.
This was likely Iwagakure's trump card.
"Looks like about ten thousand men," Kakuzu added. He glanced at Diarmuid. "It seems your theory was correct. Iwagakure truly intends to annihilate the Cloud's active forces here... So, what do we do?"
"They'll probably set up barriers to hide their presence soon. Let's back off for now. We'll wait for them to turn this place into a slaughterhouse, and then we'll swoop in to pick the fruits," Diarmuid smiled.
Kakuzu nodded, and the two moved further away. With ten thousand men hiding, Kumogakure would surely have sensory ninja, so Iwagakure would need large-scale barriers to mask their presence. Diarmuid had no intention of getting caught in the middle. The battle was slated to last three days and nights; he was in no rush.
…
Meanwhile, in Konohagakure, Land of Fire.
Deep within the Root secret base, in Orochimaru's laboratory.
Orochimaru held a vial of blood, a look of confusion on his face. This was the sample Diarmuid had sent through Kakuzu's connections. Although he was working with Root, Orochimaru frequently used the Underworld to buy strange items. These were delivered by specialized couriers to various drop points. Root knew about this, but since Orochimaru mostly bought experimental materials, they didn't interfere and sometimes even accepted deliveries for him.
This vial had arrived looking like any other experimental sample, so no one had paid it any mind. Orochimaru himself was puzzled because he hadn't ordered this. Whose blood is this? Human or animal?
There was no information attached, only that the sender was the S-rank rogue ninja from Takigakure, Kakuzu. This left Orochimaru quite baffled. If anyone else had sent him such a thing, he might have just thrown it away. But Kakuzu... the man had a reputation. As someone who navigated the Underworld, Orochimaru knew Kakuzu's legendary status as a shinobi who had been active for over fifty years. A man like that wouldn't send a random blood sample just to play a prank.
Orochimaru had begun his research immediately, but after three or four days, he found nothing wrong with it. He confirmed it was human blood, but after numerous tests, it seemed perfectly ordinary.
"Strange. Is Kakuzu really just toying with me? Or is there a blind spot I've missed?" Orochimaru rubbed his chin, staring at the vial in his hand.
I have no grudge against you, Kakuzu; why would you waste my time like this?
After thinking it over and finding nothing unusual, Orochimaru concluded that Kakuzu was intentionally messing with him. Damn it. If I ever run into you, Kakuzu, I'll make sure your end is anything but simple.
With that thought, Orochimaru tossed the vial into a nearby trash bin. He turned to leave, intending to return to the experiments he had neglected for the past few days.
But before he had taken two steps, a thought struck him. His expression shifted to one of shock. He spun around, went back to the trash bin, and fished out the test tube. This time, he didn't study the blood itself. He looked at the test tube.
It was a standard, ordinary test tube.
But that was exactly the problem! Such a simple, ordinary tube had held a blood sample that had been in transit for over twenty days before reaching him. And yet, the blood inside was still highly active? It looked as if it had been drawn only moments ago!
In that instant, Orochimaru found the blind spot. If the tube was fine, the blood was the anomaly! This seemingly ordinary blood possessed a level of vitality so powerful he hadn't even been able to detect it initially.
"Interesting... how very interesting!" Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with excitement and fervor. He had found a new direction. He hurried back to his lab bench with the vial.
This time, he would give it his everything.