Chapter 1501 Theft and Seduction

"Shion is in one place, Haku is in one place, Yakumo is in one place, Toneri is in one place, Sasuke is in one place, Naruto is in one place, Neji and Kimimaro are in one place, Ryuga and Chinano are in one place, plus Karin who is guarding the core node, the people guarding the nine nodes are all here!"

After sorting out the garrison personnel, Shinji breathed a sigh of relief.

By patching together all the information here and there, he not only barely met the task of guarding the nine key nodes, but also retained two "bloodline network" level fighters, Uchiha Hikaru and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.

"With two bloodline nets as backup, even if something unexpected happens to Orochimaru, it should be able to be quickly eliminated!" After a pause, Shinji said: "But it's better to find Orochimaru and deal with him before the war!"

Shinji did not ignore the uncertain factor of Orochimaru. On the contrary, although he ran around the Ninja World as if he didn't care about Orochimaru, he had actually been searching for Orochimaru's trace, but Orochimaru had hidden from his perception.

It was precisely because Orochimaru had deceived his perception time and time again that he was very sure that something must have happened to Orochimaru that he didn't know about. Similarly, this also limited him to a certain range, because the power that could deceive him at the moment was nothing more than the two possibilities of the Fear Overlord and Otsutsuki Shibai.

For this purpose, he went to the research institute to examine the body of Otsutsuki Shibai.

It was a corpse, without any signs of life, and there was no possibility of it being resurrected. This was the conclusion Shinji came to in the end.

So Shinji is more inclined to believe that it was the Lord of Fear who did something to Orochimaru, which led to a series of changes in Orochimaru.

This is why Shinji did not go to great lengths to search for Orochimaru, and tried his best to conceal the 'Barrier Plan' and the information about the personnel guarding key nodes, because he was worried that Orochimaru was the eyes of the Fear Overlord in the Ninja World!
In a blink of an eye, two weeks passed.

Shinji came to the research institute and listened to Amado's report.

"The survey tasks of the nine key nodes have been completed, the manufacturing of the reinforcement nails has been completed by 70%, and the development of the barrier has been completed by 60%."

While reporting, Amado carefully observed Shinji's expression.

Shinji said, "Too slow!"

Amado wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained, "I'm sorry, the previous forecast was off. The gap in manpower and material resources needed to complete the plan is very large. The entire ninja world has been mobilized. We can't go any faster."

Shinji did not blame Amado.

He knew that such a large project had to be meticulous and error-free, while also having to be kept confidential and not leaked, and would be extremely difficult to implement in practice.

Finally waving his hand, Shinji said, "Forget it, that should be enough time."

Amado then asked, "Sir, have you arranged for the guards at the nine key nodes?"

Shinji nodded: "I will personally guard the core node, and I will arrange for members of the Akatsuki organization to guard the other eight locations. The list will be kept secret for the time being!"

Amado breathed a sigh of relief: "With you personally guarding the core node, it should be foolproof!"

Although there are nine key nodes, the most important one is the core node of planting the sacred tree and activating the "Infinite Moon Reading". Once this node is lost, the entire defense barrier will collapse instantly, and the other eight key nodes will also fail one by one.

As long as the core node is safe, even if one or two of the other eight key nodes are lost, the impact on the situation will not be fatal, at least it will not cause the defensive barrier to collapse instantly.

Shinji didn't want to talk about it any more, so he asked, "Any news about Orochimaru?"

Amado shook his head: "No, we sent out more than a hundred investigation teams all over the ninja world, but we still couldn't find any news about Orochimaru." Shinji grinned and sneered: "Huh, how interesting!"

Amado continued, "But there is something I think you might be interested in!"

After that, Amado handed Shinji a confidential report.

Shinji opened the report and took a glance at it, frowning slightly: "These are..."

"This one was sent by Sunagakure. It's from the secret dragon vein of ancient Loulan in the Kingdom of Wind. It was stolen a week ago!"

"This one came from Takigakure. Their 'Hero's Water' was stolen ten days ago!"

“And this one, yes.”

Amado briefly introduced the contents of the report.

Without exception, all the reports recorded incidents of chakra theft. The most serious of these was the dragon vein of Ancient Loulan in the Kingdom of Wind, because the chakra contained in the dragon vein was at the level of a tailed beast. As for others, such as the 'Hero's Water' of Takigakure, the levels were much lower.

Shinji asked, "Do you suspect Orochimaru did it?"

Amado analyzed: "These places are all important locations of various ninja villages, such as the ancient Loulan ruins, which have always been under the close surveillance of the Sand Village. It is completely impossible for ordinary people to steal the dragon veins quietly. But this time, the thief stole the dragon vein very easily. Even until now, the Sand Village has not figured out how the other party did it."

Shinji nodded slightly, agreeing with Amado's speculation.

If the thief was Orochimaru, everything would make sense, because the various ninja villages nowadays were almost defenseless in Orochimaru's eyes.

Shinji pondered, "What does he collect all this chakra for?"

Whether it was the dragon vein of ancient Loulan or the hero water of Takigakure, these chakras were indeed a force that could not be ignored at the level of ordinary ninjas. But for Shinji now, they actually didn't mean much.

Ordinary tailed beasts, even the strongest Nine-Tails, are just bigger foxes in his eyes. The chakra of the dragon vein is not as good as that of the Nine-Tails, and as for the other chakras, they are not even at the level of tailed beasts, so Shinji really doesn't understand why Orochimaru collects these chakras.

Amado said: "We are still analyzing it, and we haven't found a reasonable explanation yet. But if you want to deal with Orochimaru, I have a plan here!"

Shinji asked, "What's the plan?"

Amado said: "I have analyzed the logic of Orochimaru's recent behavior and found that he has an extraordinary obsession with divine arts, so if you decide to do it yourself, I can arrange Aida and Dimon as bait to lure Orochimaru to show up!"

Shinji glanced at Amado and said, "Do you think Orochimaru has mastered the ability to take away the divine arts from others?"

Amado nodded: "Judging from his behavior, this is possible!"

"Even so, you are being too deliberate. He won't take the bait!" Shinji smiled and said, "But you reminded me that I have a better candidate. It's just that now is not the right time. We must complete the 'Barrier Project' first!"

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