Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 34.1 (Patreon)

Surprisingly, before Daiki could reply to the Snake Sannin, Kakashi stepped in front of him, cutting the mans vision from him, glaring at Orochimaru.

"So not only Sasuke, but Daiki has your interest as well, huh?" Kakashi huffed, "Tell me Orochimaru, what do you plan to gain from all this? Why go after Sasuke?"

Daiki felt the urge to roll his eyes. There was only one thing Sasuke had that Orochimaru wanted. It was obvious, hell he'd already told the Hokage and the like what he wanted.

He supposed Kakashi didn't get the memo.

That, or he was fishing for more information.

"Oh you know how it is, two guys have it already and this third one just has to have it kuku," Orochimaru laughed lightly, "Three I suppose if you're counted, and all things considered, it hasn't been all that long since you were given it by your dearly departed little friend."

"So that's it then." Kakashi replied, voice monotone.

"Indeed, it's the Sharingan!" Orochimaru revealed, spreading his arms wide, grandiosely, "But pardon my rudeness, I have no interest in you Kakashi-kun, unlike Sasuke-kun, you're useless to me I'm afraid, I have no need of an imperfect sharingan user."

"Well obviously," Daiki scoffed, "If it was just about implanting the Sharingan like Kakashi, you could have raided the corpses of the Uchiha ages ago and got it like that, you want the natural ability to use it like an actual Uchiha, and for that you need to have the body of an Uchiha."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up, "Indeed! So intelligent aren't you Daiki-kun?" he hissed, seeming very pleased by his words, "Unfortunately, all the Uchiha are now dead, beyond Itachi and Sasuke-kun, and I'm sure you understand why I'd target Sasuke-kun."

"Because you're too scared to face Itachi?" Daiki taunted.

He was looking for a rise out of the man, to break that amused facade and see about making him sloppy by attacking his pride.

Orochimaru just chuckled, "Well, you're still but a young lad Daiki-kun, all that talent and power doesn't change that," he replied in amusement, "Subduing Itachi and taking his body, is much more of a challenge than taking young Sasuke-kun from the Leaf Village, it's just that simple, and I'm quite the pragmatic man you see."

His taunt washed over him like a pitiful stream against a mountain and was turned aside.

Daiki clicked his tongue, taunting was useless, what about insults then? "So you're just a coward then looking for easy prey," he shrugged, "But this isn't an orphanage Pedomaru, so I suggest you walk away before I my break my foot off in your scrawny ass."

"Could have fooled me, what with all the orphans in here and all, kuku," Orochimaru laughed his words off, "But do feel free to continue, the feeble banter point of battles are ever so amusing sometimes, I'm sure your mind is twisting and turning desperately trying to come up with options to combat me or escape."

Damn, that was cold.

His insults and taunting were completely ineffective here.

But then, he understood it. What were the words of some little weakling when you towered so high above them like a lion over an ant.

Or at least that was probably how Orochimaru saw the current situation.

"Shows what you know, I could escape from you instantly and you couldn't do a thing about it," Daiki scoffed at him, "If it wasn't for Sasuke being vulnerable, I'd be beating your ass like you owed me money right now."

Literally, he could escape to Isobu's personal dimension at anytime. He was just reluctant to show it off in front of Orochimaru unless he was forced to.

"Well, you're welcome to try my interesting little friend," Orochimaru smiled widely, spreading his arms out invitingly, daring him to come at the man, "Though I should add, that if you feel brave because Kakashi-kun is here, he wouldn't make a difference I'm afraid, I'm sure he remembers how our last encounter went."

"I was barely a man at that time," Kakashi refuted, "This won't go like that time, I'm far stronger than I was then."

In response, Orochimaru chuckled derisively, "No, no you are not," he replied, denying his words, "In fact, I dare say you're weaker, you've lost that edge you had back then Kakashi-kun, and let all that potential you had go to waste. Jonin at a mere thirteen years of age and with potential to rival our dearly departed Minato-kun, or at least near his own, but look at you now, you're older now than Minato-kun was when he died, and yet you don't even come close to his strength, what a disappointment you turned out to be."

'He's gonna need a fragment of Gelel for that one.' Daiki resisted the urge to wince. That was a real burn right there.

He had to resist the urge to clap.

He was impressed.

Surprisingly, Kakashi didn't react much at all to the insult, and kept his cool, "Feel free to think so, true I may be weaker physically, rusty from the peace we've enjoyed, but I've learned much along the way," the copy ninja replied, "There may be a gap between us Orochimaru, a substantial one, but don't think for a moment I don't have ways to cross it."

"Hmm, is that so?" Orochimaru hummed thoughtfully, "That is interesting, I wonder, how exactly you would do that though? The mangekyou perhaps? Did all that grief you went through in your younger years unlock it? Or mayhaps you've learned how to use the gates from Gai-kun, I remember you were quite close to him were you not?"

Kakashi stilled, only for a very brief second. But, neither Daiki nor Orochimaru missed it, "Oh, so the eight gates then?" Orochimaru mused, "Interesting, so the Sharingan even allows you to copy that method?"

'Wait, it does?' Daiki had to resist the urge to let his own eyes widen at that information. He had no idea how he would get Gai to teach him to open the gates.

And here the solution dropped right into his lap. Once he had Shisui's Sharingan, he could just copy the method.

"Perceptive as always, aren't you Orochimaru? I suppose you weren't called one of the greatest prodigies to ever come from Konoha without reason," Kakashi all but admitted he was right, "But you guessing it doesn't change anything, I'm known as the master of a thousand jutsu for a reason, do you feel confident enough to take on all that jutsu amplified by the Eight Gates?"

'Now this is interesting.' Daiki eyed Kakashi thoughtfully. This had went completely off script.

Originally, Kakashi would have been stunned into inaction by Orochimaru, the gulf in their strength that massive.

But here, Kakashi was ready to fight him and even had a plan to beat him? The eight gates would fuck him up for sure, but it was still quite the hand to play.

Even Orochimaru couldn't take that lightly.

Especially not with Daiki here. He already knew one little mistake would be all it took for Daiki to fire off the same jutsu he had in the Forest of Death, and if he couldn't escape it in time, like he had before, he would die.

"Well, that would be troublesome for sure," Orochimaru tapped his chin, "Of course I would still beat you Kakashi-kun, but it would become a bit of an exercise in doing so, and of course all that commotion would have reinforcements come running."

Then he smirked, "A good threat Kakashi, how about I return the favour?" he replied, and ever so casually, went through a few hand seals, before reaching down and pressing his hands against the ground, maintaining eye contact with Kakashi and Daiki and almost daring them to act.

Daiki's eyes widened.

He recognised those hand seals!

The ground ripple and from it, a wooden coffin emerged from the ground. Oddly though, it wasn't as he was expecting. The coffin was open still, and there was no formidable shinobi within it.

But rather, a girl, a girl he recognised, wrapped to the chin in bandages, her black eyes was wild with panic and terror, "Orochimaru-sama, please, I'm sorry we failed you, please have mercy!" Kin Tsuchi begged him.

"…What is this?!" Kakashi growled at him, and it was the first how of pure emotion he'd given since Orochimaru appeared.

The state of Kin actually enflamed his temper.

Orochimaru opened his mouth, but Daiki cut him off before he could, "It's Edo Tensei, the Nidaime Hokage's jutsu," he explained, "Using a living sacrifice it lets you summon someone that's already dead back to the world of the living as a puppet to fight under your orders as long as you have their dna."

Orochimaru's eyes actually widened, "You know of it Daiki-kun? My interest in you grows ever more," he hissed out, almost moaning in happiness, befor he turned his attention back to Kakashi, "Indeed, this is the Edo Tensei jutsu, you showed me your hand, I thought why not show you mine? And as kind as I am, I thought, why not let you have a reunion with your dear departed and beloved teacher, Minato-kun."

Kakashi's eyes widened in absolutely horror.

'Minato can't be summoned, his soul is in the Shinigami's stomach.' Daiki's mind raced. This could be a real problem.

But nothing stopped Orochimaru from changing who he summoned. And if he summoned Hashirama Senju, then they were absolutely fucked.

Even with him being weakened from the non improved Edo Tensei that Kabuto would perfect later, he was still a kage level shinobi, beyond anyone currently in this room.

And with the Mokuton, he could suppress the power of a Bijuu. which would totally invalidate Daiki's trump card!

"Or perhaps I could let you meet you dearly departed little friends? I wonder what Obito-kun or Rin-chan's reactions would be to Kakashi-kun all grown u-"

He was cut off by two swords appearing in the air besides Daiki, crackling with lightning chakra.

Twin streams of lightning shot towards Orochimaru, forcing the man to quickly evade, and Daiki didn't waste the surprise attack.

He thrust his free hand out behind him, firing off the a blast of pure force, jettisoning him forward at the same time he rushed towards Orochimaru.

A split moment later, his foot smashed into the wooden coffin, right behind Kin's head and shattered it, and as he landed, he grabbed up Kin in his free hand and launched himself backwards, landing beside Kakashi.

It was such a sudden attack, neither Kakashi or Orochimaru spoke for a moment.

It only lasted a moment though.

Orochimaru chuckled once more, "How ruthless Daiki-kun, and we were having such a pleasant conversation too," he shook his head, "And here I was being kind, not only offering Kakashi-kun the chance to meet with those he misses so dearly, but even offering up one of the three that tormented his precious genin in the forest not long ago."

Kin on his shoulder whimpered, but didn't speak, "I'm not interested in sappy shit like that," Daiki shrugged, even with balancing both Kin and Sasuke on his shoulder, "Honestly, this has dragged on way too long, I'm a busy guy you see, so I cut that crap off at the head, or well I will after I rip yours off if you don't piss off already."

"Ah Daiki-kun, do you think little Kin is the only sacrifice I've prepared, I have dozens just waiting," Orochimaru tutted, "And now you have even more baggage and made yourself a target, how do you plan to fight if you have to carry around Sasuke-kun and this useless little girl."

In response, a jet of lightning shot from one of the Kiba blades hovering by his side and Orochimaru tilted his head to the side, easily avoiding the attack.

"I think I'll manage." he replied drily.

"Well, if you want her Daiki-kun, feel free to keep her, she's very much disposable, not like you and Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru shrugged the attack off nonchalantly, "Say Daiki-kun, it may be a bit abrupt, but why don't you cut your ties with the leaf village and join me? Konoha has squandered your talent for sure, not a single person to teach you. With my teachings, you could very well surpass the Hokage of the past."

Kakashi growled again, and eyed Daiki from the corner of his eyes. "I'm good," Daiki snorted, "I don't need your help."

"Now now, let's not be too short sighted here, talent only goes so far my young friend," Orochimaru waggled his finger reproachfully, "And this village will soon be a thing of the past, it won't be long before I raze it to the ground."

"No you won't." Daiki denied flatly, instantly.

The flat denying and so quickly, actually caused Orochimaru to blinked in surprise, "Oh, and how can you be so sure?" he replied, "You haven't even seen a glimpse of my true strength yet my young friend, and the Village Hidden in the Sound, I created it, they are all my loyal subordinates, do you think Konoha can stand up to myself with a village at my back?"

"I just got done fixing up my house and my buddies pond, you destroying the village, means you'll destroy my house, where I live, keep my shit and relax, not to mention, this village has tons of hot girls," Daiki deadpanned, before narrowing his eyes, "If you try it, I'll kill you and raze your village to the ground instead."

"Hmm, well that is a pity," Orochimaru shrugged, unconcerned, "Well, I'm sure your answer will change in the future when you see what's in store for Konoha, I can wait, and am unbothered by the arrogance of a child who doesn't understand the situation."

Casually, the pale man stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned, walking away, "And I've seen all I needed to know," he looked over his shoulder at them both and grinned, "Sasuke-kun desires power above all else, since you cannot get rid of my Cursed Seal, the day will come when he seeks me out for that power."

"If my hands weren't full, I'd be sticking the middle finger up at you," Daiki replied with a snort, "Please imagine I'm doing so."

"Very well, I'll do that." Orochimaru nodded and casually walked away, disappearing behind the pillars out of sight, his presence vanishing.

For Kakashi and any normal person at least.

Daiki stared through the pillars and watched him go, sinking into the ground with a single hand seal and making a straight forward path out of the building into the forest.

Kakashi sighed, relaxing, "…Well that was fun." the man commented idly, a bead of sweat trailing down the side of his face.

"Meh, that guy's a clown," Daiki scoffed, "He's all big talk, I could take him." he'd have been in for a fight shock if he really tried to fight.

Daiki would have dumped Kin and Sasuke’s asses in Isobu's dimension, went full three tailed cloak and unleashed all of his clones currently training in there while he was at it.

"Saying he's all big talk is quite funny from you, it's like your favourite pass time," Kakashi snorted, "You might have your big turtle trump card, but if a single one of them going up against him was enough to bring him down, he wouldn't have reached this point."

Double speak, why was he-

Oh right, Kin Tscuhi was currently privy to everything they were talking about. Sure, she seemed too terrified to even move in his grasp right now, but her ears were still working.

"Not true, my favourite pass time is getting laid, unlike you Virginkashi," Daiki snorted fight back, "And how many of my kind has he actually fought, never mind a perfect one like myself. Unless he ever fought Killer Bee or Yagura, then I doubt he's at all prepared to face me."

"You'd kill everyone in this tower by accident if you tried to go full power," Kakashi shook his head, "Without it, he'd be privy to your secret, know what's going and flee before you could kill him, and he'd come up with multiple plans to deal with you. Orochimaru is not someone we can ever underestimate."

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right," Daiki clicked his tongue, before shaking his head, "So what will we do about this girl then? Kin Tsuchi is her name from what I remember from when I was scoping out the first exam. Can I keep her? She's cute enough and I've been looking to get some maids for my place."

He'd show Sasuke he could get hot maids!

"Yeah, no," Kakashi rolled his eyes and replied flatly, "She's a foreign kunoichi and former subordinate of Orochimaru, what is wrong with you kid?"

"A foreign subordinate he was going to kill, whom I saved the life of, and I'm stronger than Orochimaru, I'm totally badass," Daiki replied, trailing off in a tangent before getting back on track, "I doubt she's going to betray anything to the guy who'd snap her neck for a laugh."

He felt the girl on his shoulder stiffen and swallow heavily.

"Still, not going to happen," Kakashi shook his head, "We need to have her interrogated and learn all we can about Orochimaru and this Sound Village."

"Well obviously," Daiki rolled his eyes, "But beyond being a foreign kunoichi she hasn't exactly committed any crimes against us, and she won't be allowed to go freely, so she can be my maid after that."

"She tormented Sakura and tried to kill her and the rest of my team." Kakashi deadpanned.

"It's the chunin exams, do you know how many people I killed in the forest?" Daiki scoffed, hell he planned on murdering the sensei of one of the teams he killed while he was at it, brutally so, "Besides, Sakura kicked her ass, she's lucky Sakura isn't built to use my jutsu or she'd be dead in fact."

"You know I'm actually not in a position to grant any of that anyway right?" Kakashi rolled his eyes right back at him, "If you want to have her as a maid instead of her being kept in a cell or killed, take it up with the Hokage."

"Fine." Daiki shrugged.

"Good." Kakashi shrugged.

"By the way, get bent Kakashi." Daiki replied.

"Control your raging hormones brat." Kakashi replied.

"Fuck you." Daiki retorted.

"No thank you." Kakashi retorted.

And they bickered right up until they left the underground basement, where they parted ways, Daiki taking Sasuke to the infirmary and to keep an eye on him until he woke up.

And Kakashi taking Kin to be interrogated.