Chapter 250: Conspiracy
"Kabuto, search this forest thoroughly. I have a feeling there's something important here waiting to be discovered."
With a gleam of excitement in his eyes, Orochimaru issued his order to Kabuto Yakushi.
"Understood, Orochimaru-sama."
After acknowledging the command, Kabuto immediately began meticulously examining every inch of the forest.
It didn't take long before he made a noteworthy discovery.
Standing at the edge of a sealed-up crevice, Kabuto raised his voice and called out—
"Orochimaru-sama, over here!"
"Oh?"
With a swish, Orochimaru appeared beside Kabuto, his gaze following the latter's line of sight toward the ground below.
At first, he didn't notice anything unusual.
But as he closely observed the terrain, he soon realized the problem.
"This place… was split open before?"
Orochimaru's tone carried a hint of curiosity.
Hearing his master's remark, Kabuto confirmed with certainty—
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Based on the traces below, this was caused by some kind of Earth Release ninjutsu."
As he spoke, Kabuto lightly tapped the ground with his fingers.
With each touch, a ripple of chakra spread outward, seeping into the soil like waves of energy.
During the process, his ears twitched slightly, as if he were listening intently.
And in fact—he was.
Since the battle at the Eastern Sand Dunes, after witnessing Baishi's strange infrasound-based jutsu, Orochimaru had dedicated himself to researching similar sound-based techniques.
He had to admit—Orochimaru's research capabilities were among the best in the shinobi world.
Originally, he had already been interested in sound-based jutsu, but after seeing Baishi's abilities firsthand, his progress in the field skyrocketed.
Not only did he achieve his initial research goals, but he also expanded his knowledge into even deeper areas.
As a result, he successfully developed a series of unique jutsu with different applications.
For instance—the ultrasonic detection jutsu that Kabuto was using right now was an advanced tracking ability, far surpassing most traditional sensory techniques.
Especially when it came to scanning solid terrain, this method was superior to almost all existing alternatives.
Right now, Kabuto was using it to probe the underground environment.
Orochimaru, being intimately familiar with his subordinate's abilities, immediately understood what he was doing.
So he remained silent, choosing not to interrupt.
After a long moment, as Kabuto finished his assessment, Orochimaru finally asked—
"Well? What did you find, Kabuto?"
After a moment of thoughtful silence, Kabuto organized his thoughts and reported—
"This crevice was indeed created by Earth Release, but someone later sealed it back up."
"Sealed it?"
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed as he murmured, "So… there are other crevices nearby?"
"Correct, Orochimaru-sama."
Kabuto nodded and continued—
"Aside from this one, there are dozens of similar fissures scattered throughout the area."
He paused, then added—
"Also… there's something else."
Orochimaru's eyelids lifted slightly.
"Oh? What else?"
"Beneath us… there's an underground lava lake."
"Lava?"
At that revelation, Orochimaru's mind immediately flashed back to several previous locations—
The magma caverns beneath Moon Island.
The lava rivers beneath the small mountain in the Grass Country, near the Earth Country border.
Three times now, Baishi had deliberately chosen to set up his base in high-temperature, magma-filled locations.
Even if Orochimaru didn't want to take notice, the pattern was now too obvious to ignore.
"But… why magma?"
Muttering to himself, Orochimaru furrowed his brow, puzzled.
"Does lava provide him with some kind of special benefit?"
At that moment, Kabuto interjected with a suggestion.
"Could it be the high temperatures?"
"High temperatures…? High temperatures…"
Orochimaru repeated the words, rolling them around in his mind.
Then—
A sudden realization struck him.
His eyes flashed, and he clapped his hands together.
"Of course! It's not the lava itself—it's the high-temperature environment it creates!"
"There's no mistake! That must be the key!"
Orochimaru had spent years collecting every piece of intelligence on Baishi that he could find, trying to uncover any potential weaknesses.
He had learned time and time again that Baishi's abilities were vast and unpredictable.
But one consistent fact stood out—
Baishi possessed an unusually high resistance to Fire Release jutsu.
And now—it was clear why.
His instincts screamed that this wasn't a coincidence.
Baishi's choice of high-temperature bases was likely connected to his immunity to flames.
With this breakthrough, tracking Baishi became significantly easier.
Instead of searching randomly, he only needed to locate areas with active magma.
And where were those locations?
The answer was obvious.
Aside from deep-sea volcanoes, which were difficult to reach, most places with flowing magma were easily identifiable.
And since Baishi had always chosen such locations, it made sense to prioritize those first.
"But how do I find all these places quickly?"
Despite narrowing down the search, the shinobi world was still vast.
Searching every potential magma site one by one was time-consuming and inefficient.
More importantly—
If Baishi caught wind of the search, he could easily relocate again.
Then, Orochimaru's gaze sharpened.
"Perhaps… he can help."
A name surfaced in his mind.
A curious figure—one that intrigued him greatly.
Why not share this information with him?
If nothing else, this would serve two purposes:
Testing the individual's capabilities.
Tracking Baishi more effectively.
A win-win situation.
"Yes… this will work."
After careful consideration, Orochimaru finalized his plan.
Meanwhile…
On the other side—
Baishi remained immersed in his studies, fully dedicated to developing his own Genjutsu techniques.
But before he could achieve that—
He needed to master a wide variety of existing Genjutsu.
Only by understanding the fundamentals could he construct something new.
Rushing into it blindly would be inefficient—and worse, it might result in a flawed final product.
Fortunately—
Baishi's intelligence stat had grown to ridiculous levels.
With his immense mental capacity and enhanced learning abilities, no matter how complex a Genjutsu was, he could comprehend it with ease.
Thus—
It took him very little time to complete his preliminary studies.
Now, all that remained was refining his knowledge into something unique.
Of course—
During this process, he didn't neglect his other attributes either.
Ever since doubling his spiritual connections from 12 to 24 individuals, his overall evolution speed had increased again—by another 5%.
At first glance, 5% didn't seem like much.
But considering how fast he was already advancing, this was a significant boost.
In other words—
Even while focusing on Genjutsu, his overall progression had not slowed down.
And at this rate—
It wasn't going to slow down anytime soon.