It's normal to get a kaleidoscope as a first deposit of six yuan, right?

"No, no, no, we absolutely did not mean that." Seeing that Orochimaru seemed unhappy, the guard quickly took the key from his waist.

Having obtained the key, Orochimaru successfully opened the door, but his expression changed upon seeing a crimson rune inside.

Holy crap, how come there's a cursed barrier here? How am I supposed to access the funds inside?

The two guards outside, seeing that Orochimaru hadn't gone in yet, also sensed that something was amiss.

"Wait a minute, why isn't Lord Orochimaru forming hand seals to release the cursed seal?"

"Could it be fake!?"

After the two guards reacted, they raised their machetes and slashed at the giant snake. Sure enough, the moment the blades fell, Orochimaru turned into a cloud of smoke, and then a steel Kusanagi sword blocked their attack from below.

"Sigh, wouldn't it be better to just let me in obediently?" Zhi Xue sighed as she looked at the two guards in front of her. Then she activated her Sharingan and used her eye technique to forcibly hypnotize the two men.

Snapped…

After taking down the two guards, Zhixue came to the cursed seal. Under the Sharingan's vision, the structure of the cursed seal was clearly visible. Unfortunately, she was a poor student, and even though she understood the structure, she couldn't figure out how to do it.

After thinking for a mere 0.01 seconds, Zhixue chose to raise the Kusanagi Sword and plunge it into the center of the cursed seal.

boom!

Just then, Orochimaru, who had just arrived at the entrance of the Ibri clan's cave, suddenly felt the ground tremble and immediately turned and ran towards Shisue.

"Cough cough cough, how come there are so many explosive tags?" Amidst the flying dust and rubble, Zhixue used chakra to throw away a piece of rubble that was pressing on her body. She coughed twice, stood up shakily, and then felt a pain in her leg, almost collapsing to the ground again.

Zhi Xue leaned against the wall as she walked out of the pile of broken stones. Only then did she see that, in addition to the numerous wounds on her body, a deep gash had been cut open on her left calf by a stone. Blood and dust had almost completely covered her smooth skin, making it look particularly gruesome.

After stepping outside, Zhixue saw a group of guards running towards her from a distance and surrounding her.

"Surrender, outsider, your death is near."

Seeing so many machetes pointed at her, Zhixue's face darkened.

"Why did I think of using the Kusanagi Sword to pierce the curse seal?"

*Ding* Just a reminder to the host, there are only 5 minutes left before the discounted movie-level experience card sells out. Please make a decision as soon as possible.

As the crowd gradually surrounded her, Zhi Xue looked at the limited-time movie-level experience card on her retina. After hesitating for a moment, she reluctantly clicked on it.

Ding! Movie-level experience card sold successfully.

Silver taels - 299w.

Upon hearing the system announce -299w, Zhixue clutched her chest and suddenly felt a clenching pain in her heart.

It hurts, it hurts so much! That's nearly 300 million taels of silver, an amount that Zhi Xue might not earn in five years, and it's all gone just like that. But if she can get Orochimaru's treasure, then it won't be a complete loss.

Ding! The host's current situation is critical. Do you want to use the Kage-level experience card? It is predicted that after using it, you will gain a huge amount of chakra and some experience ninjutsu.

"Master, use the Shadow-level experience card, quick."

After Zhi Xue spoke these words to the system in her mind, she suddenly felt the chakra in her body begin to surge wildly. Before, the chakra was like a bottle of water, but now it was like a small lake, and it was still rising.

In addition, the methods of using various Five Elements Ninjutsu appeared in Zhixue's mind as if she had practiced them hundreds of times.

Feeling the power surging within her body, Zhixue had the illusion that she could punch through a mountain range with her small fists.

"Is this the power of a Kage-level expert?" A hint of excitement flashed across Zhi Xue's pretty face as she watched the guards approaching. Her small hands moved so fast they formed hand seals like a blur.

"Water Release—Big Explosive Water Wave!"

Just as Orochimaru was running inside, he turned a corner and suddenly felt a tremor coming from the cave, which was getting closer and closer.

"Huh? What's the noise?"

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, still pondering whether to run or go in, when he was suddenly swept away by a large surge of water.

Orochimaru: ???

Did they hit groundwater?

Chapter 26, Konoha's Support

"Is this the outside world? Tianzang, it's so big! I've never seen anything like it before, it's like entering a dream!" Xuejian, controlling Tianzang's body, stood at the top of the market tower, opened her arms, took a deep breath of the fresh air, and felt the refreshing breeze that was deadly to the Yibuli clan, and exclaimed in amazement.

"Ah, let's save our sighs for later. Let's get down to business first."

"Oh, you mean the fireworks hidden in the bag?" Xuejian took out a small firework from her ninja tool bag and then prepared to light it with a lighter.

But a figure in a black cloak jumped up from below and grabbed Xuejian's arm.

"Enough, Yukimi, your farce with those two brats should end now. Come back with me, Lord Orochimaru and the Ibri clan need you!" Gota pulled up one side of his hood, revealing his extremely gloomy eyes as he spoke.

"Chief, leader?" Xuejian was also surprised when she saw Wutai.

For an Ibrahim to dare to reach such a high place alone, knowing that the fierce winds at such heights could kill any Ibrahim at any moment, shows just how much danger Wutai was taking to get here.

Tenzang seized control of the body, shoved Gota aside, and, rubbing his reddened wrist, asked him, "What do you mean by that? Even without Yukimi, Orochimaru would still have come, wouldn't he?"

"You wretched brat! If you hadn't misled Xuejian into leaving the clan's territory, how could such a troublesome situation have arisen!?" Wutai said, reaching out to grab Tianzang.

Tianzang jumped onto a nearby box and threw out more than a dozen shurikens.

The sound of ping-pong and sparks mingled atop the tower. After blocking the shuriken, Gota continued to grab at the sky burial.

Taking advantage of its small size, Tianzang slipped under Wutai's arm and ran towards the nearby rooftop.

"Don't even think about running!" Just as Wu Tai was about to give chase, the surrounding cargo flags suddenly started to flutter and the wind began to blow. Wu Tai quickly hid behind a nearby building and waited for the wind to pass before he was able to jump down. However, by then, Tian Zang and Xue Jian had already jumped off the roof and disappeared.

Wu Tai: You bastard!

……

Konoha Village...

At this moment, in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi was handling various administrative matters of Konoha when an Anbu member walked in from the doorway, knelt on one knee, and said with his head bowed:

"Third Hokage, we haven't found any trace of Orochimaru in the blockade behind Konoha. The possibility of him breaking through from the front is almost zero. We suspect that he used shadow clones to confuse the area and then went to hide in the densely populated area in front of Konoha."

Upon hearing the report from the Anbu, Hiruzen Tobi put down his pen.

"Did you go to the front? It's located in the more prosperous heartland of the Land of Fire and is adjacent to Konoha Village. The management there is indeed much more lax compared to other places. Someone, come here."

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the table with his pipe, and instantly two ANBU members carrying katanas appeared in front of him, kneeling on the ground, waiting for Hiruzen Sarutobi to speak.

"Lord Hokage, please give your instructions."

"If Kakashi is still receiving treatment in the hospital, you will take over as the leader of the Anbu squad and go to the front to scout out the situation of the defense line."

"clear."

After the two ANBU left, Hiruzen Sarutobi went to call over Shisui Uchiha, who was using shadow clones to attend the clan meeting.

When Shisui was first summoned, he thought Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to know what kind of tricks the Uchiha clan's internal council was up to. However, as soon as he walked in and saw a D-rank mission card on the desk, he had a bad feeling.

"Hokage-sama."

"Hmm." After taking a puff of his old pipe, Hiruzen Tobi nodded to Shisui and then pushed the quest board in front of him.

"This was transferred from the mission commissioning meeting place. They said you brought it back, but the mission token was faked using the transformation spell."

When Shisui heard what Hiruzen Sarutobi said, his expression changed, and he immediately thought of Shisui, that troublesome little girl.

"This mission was taken by your sister, Uchiha Shiyuki. There are records of her entering and leaving Konoha. But most importantly, this is just a D-rank mission to be delivered to a nearby market. Even at the speed of an ordinary person, she would have returned to Konoha an hour ago."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, clasped his hands together, and continued speaking to Shisui: "According to intelligence from the rear defense line, there's a chance that Shisui will encounter Orochimaru on her mission route, so I need you to investigate secretly. This is not only for your sister's safety, but also to eliminate a major threat to Konoha."

"What?" Shisui looked incredulous upon hearing that Orochimaru might encounter Shiyuki. After accepting the mission, he quickly equipped himself and left Konoha...

After Shisui left, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, the two elders of Konoha, came to the Hokage's office and sat down.

"Orochimaru has defected. Why don't you get some information about the Uchiha clan from Shisui before sending him?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, put his hands behind his back, and stood up.

“While I can get information from Shisui, he’s not the most suitable person. If I ask him about the clan meeting first, it will take a long time. After that, I can tell him about Uchiha Shisui. When it comes to family, even the kindest and most selfless person will have reservations about you.”

"But if I put aside the changes within the Uchiha clan for now and tell him that Shiki has most likely met with an accident, he will be grateful to me from the start, which will keep his heart firmly tied to us. Moreover, his departure from Konoha now will also deal a blow to the confidence of the Uchiha clan."

Upon hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, the two elders instantly understood. However, if they did that, there would still be a problem.

Who will deliver the content of the clan meeting? Konoha is already very weak, and it's uncertain whether there will be such an opportunity in the future. Therefore, the large gathering of Uchiha clan members has made Konoha sense a dangerous atmosphere.

“Besides Shisui, we certainly have other informants, but this is something we have to stop for the sake of the village’s peace.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi's cloudy old eyes looked toward the door.

With a creak, under the curious gazes of Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, Itachi Uchiha, dressed in Anbu attire, knelt before Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Lord Hokage..."

Chapter 27 The Two People Meet

Sizzle sizzle sizzle…

The cursed seal, crackling with sparks, was forcibly split in two by Zhixue, turning into chakra fragments that dissipated into the air.

Zhi Xue clenched her small pink fist, dispelling the thick chakra aura emanating from it.

This power, which eliminates any worry about running out of chakra, is exactly what she's been dreaming of. Unfortunately, it only lasts for five minutes.

Ding, it's 4 minutes and 47 seconds. Please act quickly, host.

"Good good."

Zhi Xue walked to the back of the cursed seal, where there were several large boxes. After cutting the lock with her chakra blade, she opened the boxes and her heart skipped a beat.

The contents of the box were not money or other worldly possessions, but they were still very special and even taboo in Konoha.

The interstitial cells were frozen in nine small vials in this large box.

Zhi Xue closed the box, then took out a spatial scroll and put one of the bottles inside. There was no need to take it all; as long as it provided nutrition, Hashirama's cells would grow and divide indefinitely. Besides, she needed to save face for Orochimaru; she wanted to avoid making enemies before he grew stronger.

However, Zhi Xue was a little shocked by what she expected. But it was also understandable. With this, as long as she successfully transplanted it, it wouldn't be impossible for her strength to reach the Shadow level outside of the Night of the Annihilation.

After packing the box, Zhixue asked the system in her mind.

"Master, how much does a perfect transplant of Hashirama cells cost?"

Ding! Host, would you like "transplantation" or fusion?

"What's the difference between fusion and transplantation?" Zhixue asked, somewhat puzzled. Aren't they the same thing?