Konoha: I have a clone in One Piece.

Chapter 189 Fate Stirs Up Waves

In a small town in the Land of Fire.

"Ptooey! What is this?! How can it taste so awful?!"

The wandering samurai with a sword sheath at his waist threw the strangely shaped fruit in his hand to the ground.

"That damned merchant, is he deliberately getting revenge on me?"

The wandering samurai thought with a vicious glint in his eyes.

A few days ago, he extorted a lot of protection money from a fruit vendor in the market. Later, seeing that the vendor was easy to bully, he often went there to extort money from him.

Just two days ago, because there was no more oil to extract, he brought back some fruit from that vendor.

But what's truly unexpected is that some of these fruits are incredibly unpalatable!

"Damn it, I'm going to kill you tomorrow!"

"They actually secretly slipped this in... uh..."

The wandering samurai's low, angry curses abruptly ceased.

"What's going on?!"

The wandering samurai stared in horror at the strange changes happening to his body; his hand had turned into a tiger's claw!

"No...no..."

But no matter how much he wailed, the changes in his body did not stop.

Then, the wandering samurai's feet also turned into tiger claws, and hair began to grow on his body. Finally, even his head turned into a tiger's head with a gaping maw!

"Roar—"

The tiger's roar was incredibly loud, instantly waking everyone in the town.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Are there tigers?

"A tiger has entered the town?"

"..."

However, just as people were still in a panic, the tiger's roar suddenly stopped!

Inside a dilapidated wooden house on the outskirts of town, a large, yellow and white tiger, standing four or five meters tall, displayed a human-like look of surprise on its face.

"So that's how it is..."

Suddenly, the tiger transformed back into human form, and the wandering samurai looked at himself with surprise: "So I can turn back into a human after all!"

The next moment, he seemed to have thought of something.

The wandering samurai quickly found a wooden plank, then transformed his hands into tiger claws and swung them fiercely at the plank.

bang——

The two-centimeter-thick wooden board was easily cut into pieces by the sharp tiger claws!

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The wandering samurai laughed wildly.

"This is wonderful, this is truly wonderful! I never imagined I'd have such an opportunity, hahaha..."

The sudden surge of power after consuming the strange fruit filled the wandering samurai with joy and pride.

With such formidable strength, he even felt that the ninja who had bullied him before was nothing special!

"That guy must have a lot of money, right? After all, he's a ninja, and there's that nobleman too..."

Thinking of this, intense greed and resentment flashed in the eyes of the wandering samurai.

……

Not long after, in the town center, in a luxurious mansion.

"ah--"

"Help! There's a monster! There's a monster!"

"Don't eat me, don't..."

"Waaaaah..."

Inside the courtyard, a yellow and white tiger was recklessly biting at people dressed in fine silk and satin who were trying to escape.

The tiger had some wounds, but the ninja who had previously served the nobles lay dead on the ground.

Moments later, the screams and wails ceased, replaced by a large number of severed limbs.

The stench of blood permeated the entire luxurious mansion!

A short while later, the luxurious mansion suddenly burst into flames.

Meanwhile, under the moonlight, a tall, fierce tiger with bloodstains all over its body, carrying a large bundle on its back, walked happily toward the edge of the town.

On the other side, two figures, like phantoms, silently witnessed the entire event.

"Was this your work?"

Madara Uchiha, suspended in mid-air, looked at Suzuki ahead with a puzzled expression:

"What exactly is that fruit? And why can it turn that guy into a tiger?"

"The fruit? It's called a Devil Fruit," Suzuki said calmly as he walked forward. "Of course, it will have another name here later."

Madara Uchiha frowned deeply.

Devil Fruit...

It doesn't sound like anything good.

"What is your purpose in spreading this stuff? Why make a worthless samurai eat it? What benefit do you get from it?"

Madara Uchiha asked several questions that had been bothering him.

He couldn't understand how Suzuki could so casually distribute a power that could kill a ninja even after an ordinary samurai consumed it. Wouldn't it be fine to give it to his subordinates or to those he admired? At the very least, if it had any negative effects, wouldn't it be acceptable to give it to people he didn't like?

"Mr. Ban, why are you asking so many questions, like a little kid?"

Suzuki chuckled and shook his head:

"You'll find out the purpose later if you're still around."

"You brat! Who are you calling a child? Do you want to die?!"

"But I am..."

Madara Uchiha's face turned red as he struggled and roared furiously.

After a while, receiving no response and still unable to break free of the chains, Ban quieted down, frowning as he guessed:

"Is your goal to give those guys power?"

"Do you want to see beings in the ninja world who can rival ninjas?"

"you……"

Madara Uchiha kept asking questions.

However, Suzuki still did not respond, but continued to walk forward slowly with a calm expression.

However, the seeds had already been sown.

Fate had already secretly stirred up waves.

……

In the Land of Fire, at a bandit stronghold.

A group of bandits were having a banquet and drinking inside the house.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

"Drink, keep drinking!"

The bandit leader picked up the wine bowl and poured it into his mouth.

"The boss really showed off this time!"

"Yeah, yeah, that ninja was completely powerless to resist, otherwise, we don't know how many more brothers would have died..."

"As expected, the boss is the boss! Not only does he treat us to the best of everything, but he's also incredibly powerful!"

"It's an honor for us to work under the boss, hahaha..."

The bandits drank and laughed as they talked about the ninja killed by their bandit leader.

Yesterday, a mysterious ninja appeared here, knocked out many bandits, and even stuffed them into sacks. Fortunately, the bandit leader had recently gained the ability to transform into a black-browed serpent, which allowed him to kill the ninja.

Thinking of this, one of the bandits couldn't help but look curiously at the bandit leader and ask:

"Boss, how do you have the ability to transform into a long snake?"

"Have you learned those ninjas' ninjutsu?"

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The bandit leader drank and laughed loudly.

He accidentally ate a strange-looking and unpalatable fruit among the offerings from his underlings, which gave him the inexplicable ability to transform into a long snake.

However, the bandit leader was not prepared to answer his underlings' questions.

Regardless, that fruit must be a very precious treasure!

Since he can turn into a long snake and gain the power to kill ninjas after eating just one, he must keep this secret and then try to find other types of fruit to gain even greater power.

So the bandit leader mumbled something:

"I don't know either, it just changes for no reason..."

However, before he could finish speaking, a large number of white venomous snakes suddenly emerged from the mountain stronghold, surrounding everyone.

"ah--"

"Snake...snake..."

"So many snakes!!!"

"Don't come any closer, don't come any closer..."

Under the bites of thousands of white venomous snakes, nearly a hundred bandits fell to the ground and died in a very short time.

"Oh no! Are there ninjas??"

The bandit leader's eyes widened, and he immediately threw away the wine bowl in his hand. His lower body transformed into the shape of a snake, ready to face the unknown enemy.

Strangely, the white venomous snakes only circled around him for a while, flicking their tongues, before collectively turning their heads towards the doorway.

Soon, a chilling aura filled the room.

Accompanied by a faint, almost inaudible footstep, a pale-skinned man dressed in a gray kimono with a rope tied around his waist, resembling a cold, venomous snake, entered.

"You...you are..."

The bandit leader, his face filled with terror, called out the man's name in disbelief:

"Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha?!"

"Hehe..."

Orochimaru chuckled, his eyes revealing keen interest as he looked at the bandit leader before him, whose lower body had transformed into a snake's tail.

"Because we needed it urgently, I sent someone to capture the test subject yesterday, but he hasn't returned after all this time..."

"I thought we had run into some kind of trouble."

"I never expected to encounter such an interesting creature as you..."

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his cheek, a look of curiosity creeping onto his face.

"By the way, what species are you?"

"Is it a hybrid of human and snake?"

The bandit leader didn't respond. Without saying a word, he turned and began to flee frantically towards the door.

"Hehe..."

Orochimaru chuckled and then casually tossed a shuriken to the ground.

"ah--"

The bandit leader's snake tail was struck by the shuriken, and he instantly collapsed to the ground in pain, screaming loudly.

Orochimaru slowly walked over, looked down at the bleeding snake tail, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face:

"It didn't disappear because it was attacked; it's not a transformation technique."

"die!"

The bandit leader had a fierce look in his eyes, and his upper body transformed into the shape of a long snake, opening his mouth wide as if trying to devour the powerful enemy in front of him.

But the next moment.

Bang! ! !

Orochimaru slapped the giant snake head away.

The snake, which was over ten meters long, flew horizontally for over a hundred meters in an instant, and crashed heavily onto a hard rock outside the house.

If it were a normal snake, Orochimaru's attack would have splattered its brains out.

However, due to the unique endurance and regenerative abilities of Zoan-type Devil Fruits, the bandit leader did not die. Instead, his snake-like body writhed and rolled on the ground in agony, howling incessantly.

"Ouch...it hurts..."

"Hehe."

Orochimaru walked over slowly again.

He then cast a sealing spell, firmly binding the struggling and twisting serpent.

Immediately afterwards, he placed his hand on the bandit leader's bleeding snake tail wound.

Feeling the bright red blood and sensing the condition inside the strange creature before him, Orochimaru's smile grew even wider:

"It can transform into a half-human, half-snake, and can even become a snake completely."

"But there's no trace of chakra... so it's not a bloodline limit after all..."

Orochimaru withdrew his blood-stained hand, wiped the blood from his fingers, and pondered:

"Moreover, it doesn't even have natural energy, and it has nothing to do with immortal techniques."

"How could such a strange creature appear in the ninja world?"

Orochimaru licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with the scrutinizing gaze he had used on the terrified bandit leader struggling on the ground. A look of inquisitive curiosity flickered in his eyes.

"Heh heh, this is really interesting. Well, let's take it back and study it, maybe even dissect it."

Orochimaru deftly hoisted the long snake onto his shoulder, his figure leaping swiftly as he embarked on his journey back to Konoha.

……

Time passed.

February 1, 48th year of the Konoha calendar.

In the new year, everything seems to have taken on a new look.

However, in the Hokage's office...

Minato Namikaze looked at the two desks in the same room, a bitter look flashing in his eyes.

The third generation sir...

Didn't you agree to hand over Konoha to me?

Why are you still lingering here?

Ugh……

Looking at the trivial documents on his desktop, Minato Namikaze, who had recently become the Fourth Hokage, couldn't help but show a look of confusion.

Why do I have to make decisions about things like stealing eggs or having an affair?

Shouldn't this kind of thing just be handed over to the subordinates?

And the more important documents of Konoha Village...

Minato Namikaze couldn't help but glance at the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was engrossed in processing documents, and a sense of resentment arose in his heart.

Although he became Hokage, reality was clearly different from what he had imagined.

Currently, almost all departments in Konoha Village are still under the control of the Third Hokage, who has no room to intervene.

Konoha Ninja Academy, Konoha Hospital, Finance Department...

Even the Anbu, which is essential for the Hokage, was not handed over to him!

Then what's the point of being Hokage?

Just then, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, frowned as he looked at the document in his hand and muttered to himself:

"Strange, what's going on?"

"Why are there so many noble deaths in the Land of Fire lately?"

"Even the village's ninja squads have suddenly disappeared inexplicably. Could it be that another village is secretly plotting against Konoha?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, habitually took out his pipe, lit it, and began puffing away.

As he smoked, he glanced at Minato Namikaze, who seemed lost in thought behind the Hokage's desk, and asked kindly:

"Minato, have you encountered any difficult documents?"

"...Huh? Uh...no, no."

Smelling the unpleasant smell of smoke, Minato Namikaze gave a wry smile, sighed inwardly, and then helplessly lowered his head to deal with the matter of the villagers' eggs being stolen.

Before long, a member of the secret service rushed into the office.

"Lord Hokage, something terrible has happened!"

(End of this chapter)