Chapter 416: Trap?

Orochimaru stared at Tsunade, weighing his options. He could put some trust in her, do what she wants and go with her or he could send her to hell because this was such an obvious trap it was pathetic.

The problem was... it was working on him.

For so long he wanted nothing but to show Sarutobi up. He didn't really hate Konoha in general. He hated Sarutobi and hurting Konoha was the most direct way of revenge for forcing him to defect.

Were his experiments over the top? Sure, he could admit that much. If he had succeeded, it would have set Konoha's might apart from every other nation. Just imagining an army full of Wood Release wielders...

Konoha would have been able to conquer the continent.

But these experiments were not all that different from what Sarutobi and Danzo had him doing for years up till that point.

In fact, every village had something like that. They were ninja villages and contrary to the perfect picture they portrayed for their gullible clients, being a ninja was a dirty business full of cruelty, ruthlessness, blood, and gore.

Sarutobi knew that.

Danzo knew that.

Heck, even Jiraiyia was fully aware of that fact despite his mind not being able to compute anything that didn't have to do with perversion. Orochimaru would know. He saw how Sarutobi baited Jiraiya into learning sealing arts by showing him spying seals.

Another thing that utterly pissed Orochimaru and forever soured his feelings towards Konoha was when Minato became Hokage instead of him.

Was him being completely left out of consideration for the Hokage seat reasonable? Orochimaru did not think so. He was perfect Hokage material. Maybe he was a bit ruthless and cold but he could make the village stronger and capable of protecting itself while advancing.

But Sarutobi chose Minato over him just because Minato was all about puppy-eyed sunshine that did not have a capacity of thinking beyond serving his village.

Did Minato's service in the third ninja war bring a lot of benefit to the village? Sure. But did him winning one battle in a very flashy manner outweighed decades of service, scientific advancements, and being a very skilled commander in two wars, never letting the enemy cross into Konoha territory despite being horribly outnumbered all the time?

Orochimaru would like to think that was not the case and Sarutobi was simply biased against him.

He had tons of other small reasons why he disliked Sarutobi too, and that was why this obvious bait worked so well on him.

"You know me too well." Orochimaru whispered under his nose, showering Tsunade with searching looks. In the end, he sighed and raised his tone so his former teammate would hear him, "Okay, what do you mean by that?"

Tsunade smirked at that. She deliberately worded it in a way that would appeal to Orochimaru's more paranoid side, making him definitely think this was a trap. She simply wanted to see what he would do if she dangled in front of his nose something he wanted for so long.

And he indeed did not disappoint. After only brief consideration, he jumped after this offered opportunity.

Oh, he might not seem eager and his eyes held a lot of caution but Tsunade knew him far too well. If he wasn't immensely interested, he would have never asked her to clarify. If he thought there was zero chance for this to be a genuine proposal, he would not even consider it.

"It's simple, really. I just offer you what I offered Sarutobi." Tsunade chuckled, "A way to resolve this feud between you. A deathmatch basically." She shrugged.

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To be fair, this was a very crafty way to gain benefit no matter in which way the situation would proceed. If Sarutobi died, she would lose one of the biggest opposing voices in Konoha and if Orochimaru died, Konoha would lose one of its more revenge-driven enemies that would simply not let go of their grudge just because Sarutobi was no longer in the office.

In the end, she didn't really care which one of them would survive. She could take care of the remaining one at some other time. She mostly organized this for her own entertainment.

"And Sensei agreed to that?" Orochimaru asked in utter shock.

Tsunade shrugged, "He thinks it is high time to correct a few of his mistakes."

Orochimaru understood what Tsunade meant by that. Sarutobi apparently wanted to kill Orochimaru as he blamed himself for his defection and turn towards the dark path.

That... wasn't entirely correct. Sarutobi was only responsible for putting Orochimaru under Danzo's command and the old war hawk showed him the ropes of the darker underbelly of Konoha but that was beside the point.

This turn of events made Orochimaru creepily chuckle at the irony, "Hehehe. How very expected of our teacher, don't you agree, Tsunade?"

"Indeed, how very hypocritical." She snorted and rolled her eyes, "But who cares. Are you in or not?"

Orochimaru pursed his lips while seemingly pondering his options. It wouldn't have been like him to instantly agree so he had to put up a bit of show. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

In the end, however, his choice was obvious. "Fine. Lead the way." He eventually said in his usual manner.

Tsunade didn't deem that with an answer, she just turned around, fully showing him her back as if baiting him, and walked towards the door leading out of the Kage Box.

Orochimaru amusedly watched, wondering if she expected him to attack her, before he started following after her.

As they walked, he realized they were heading towards the rooftops, where he ironically firstly planned to trap Sarutobi with the help of the Sound Four after baiting him there by kidnapping his grandson, Orochimaru wondered how could Tsunade be calm when the ninjas of Kumo, Iwa, and Oto were currently fighting Konoha's forces all around.

She was the Daimyo of Konoha, yet, she seemed to have no care in the world during a stroll through the battlefield turned arena as if it didn't even matter.

He supposed her reasons were similar to his. Explosions, screams, and cries resounded in the background, all noises they were both far too familiar with from their long service in Konoha's ranks.

But still, he expected more worry for the village from Tsunade.

Her body language basically betrayed that she didn't care and that baffled Orochimaru.

Their walk was silent as neither started a conversation. Whatever reason Tsunade had, Orochimaru didn't care but he was glad for it. He had a lot of planning to do in his head. Facing Sarutobi, even in his old age, would be a hurdle. He knew that much.

They eventually reached the rooftops and when he saw a lone Sarutobi already waiting for them, Orochimaru's worries fell.

This... was actually not a trap!

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