Taking a deep breath, Arata didn't even dare to raise his head and spoke in a trembling tone, "I… I want to be Naruto's father!"
?!
Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes widened, and he fell into a daze. 'What did I just hear?'
"Hey, what are you talking about, you brat?" Kushina's voice sounded in his mind, the disbelief bare in her tone.
She used to enjoy watching the suffering of others from the soul bead, but now she had become the show herself!
"Curse, it is the curse! Believe me!" Arata quickly cleared his innocence, but Kushina remained doubtful. "Really?"
"I swear by the life of my good brother!"
"What the hell..."
[Option completed.]
[Congratulations on obtaining twenty years of chakra.]
Another twenty years of chakra...
Arata was only ten years old but unknowingly had obtained the fruit of forty years' worth of ass-sitting without doing anything.
Do I like this kind of boost in my strength? Of course, I love it!
And I don't know why, but the choice does not seem as against my will as it used to before. Did the system finally take sympathy on my misery?
Across from him, Sarutobi Hiruzen was still in a dazed state, and it took him a long while to gradually digest what he had just heard. "Arata, there are some things you shouldn't say without thinking carefully."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Arata said respectfully.
"I know, you want to give Naruto more care, right?" Sarutobi Hiruzen felt that he had seen through Arata's thoughts and continued in a serious and thoughtful tone, "You shouldn't say that in front of Naruto either. I am sure Naruto's father would not like to hear what you just said."
"No, you stinky old man!" Kushina said angrily. "What are you talking about? Do you think I have no objection? What do you think of me?!"
"I understand, Hokage-sama." Ignoring the raging kunoichi inside his mind, Arata responded with a slight nod.
"You can change the reward to another one." Sarutobi Hiruzen paused and said, "But it can't be too outrageous..."
This time, there was no further interference from the system. With a sigh of relief in his heart, Arata spoke smoothly: "Then, when I have time, can I go outside the village and have a look around the ninja world?"
**Sound Ninja Village, underground laboratory.**
Orochimaru, who had long black hair and pale skin, was concentrating on dissecting his latest experimental subject on the operating table.
First, he took out the spleen for observation, then the liver, lungs, and finally the heart.
Orochimaru's entire right arm was stained red with blood, but he didn't care; his movements remained refined and smooth.
After completing the observation, he stuffed these organs back into the abdominal cavity of the experimental subject and said in a hoarse voice, "Get rid of this material, Kabuto. He is no longer useful."
"Yes." Kabuto, a young ninja wearing round glasses standing beside Orochimaru, nodded respectfully. He took out two bottles of medicine from his lab coat and poured it on the experimental subject.
Tsk.
Visible to the naked eye, the long-dead experimental subject was instantly dissolved, leaving only a few pieces of clothes on the operating table.
"Kabuto." Orochimaru wiped the remaining blood on his arm with a towel. His pale yellow vertical pupils stared at his subordinate like a poisonous snake and said, "Do you have any good news to tell me when you come here?"
"It should be bad news." Kabuto Yakushi lowered his head and said respectfully, "Kusano and Mizuki were captured by the people of Hidden Leaf Village."
"Kusano and Mizuki?" Orochimaru thought for a moment and seemed to remember who these two people were. He sneered and said, "They are just two losers. This kind of news is not bad news."
"I understand, Orochimaru-sama."
"Kabuto, do you have anything else to say to me?"
"No more, Orochimaru-sama."
Yakushi Kabuto bowed, not daring to let Orochimaru see the expression on his face.
In fact, the arrest of the two secret comrades, Kusano and Mizuki, also involved another crucial piece of information.
From what he heard, among the people who captured Mizuki, there was a third-year student from the Konoha Ninja Academy named Kobayashi Arata.
Kabuto Yakushi didn't reveal this information to the man before him.
The reason? The boy was one of the young kids he knew at the orphanage. Thanks to this very little brother who once helped him in time, he and the dean of the orphanage, Miss Nono, did not kill each other.
Orochimaru stared at Yakushi Kabuto with a playful look in his eyes: "Kabuto, I'm going to meet some very interesting people these two days. I plan to leave the Sound Ninja Village in your care for the time being."
He had already realized that the subordinate in front of him was hiding something, but he didn't care.
To Orochimaru, Yakushi Kabuto was a very useful tool at the moment, and there was no problem in giving the other party some privileges within his means.
Moreover, Orochimaru also believed that Kabuto Yakushi was smart enough to know when he had to stop.
"Yes." Medicine Master Kabuto responded respectfully, cold sweat on his forehead.
**Time passed by, the night grew darker.**
Arata was walking through the forest outside Konoha. His speed was not slow, and the scenery on both sides passed by quickly.
"Slow down and watch your step," Kushina reminded him in a concerned tone.
"Don't panic. I'm very stable. I can maintain this much balance easily," Arata replied in a very confident tone.
"I don't understand. Why are you in such a hurry?" Kushina sighed in resignation and said, "As soon as you got the Hokage's clearance to leave the village, you rushed out of there as if your life depended on it."
"You'll know once we reach our destination." Arata took a breath and decided to speed up again.
"Hmph, acting all mysterious. You have to at least tell me where your destination is, right?"
"Kusagakure (The Village Hidden in the Grass)!"