Naruto: Reborn as Orochimaru

Chapter 87: Uchiha Madara?

Three years ago, Orochimaru set a clear goal for himself: making money. And he knew that using his scientific breakthroughs was the fastest and most efficient way to achieve it. 

Sure, contributing technology to Konoha was a noble endeavor, but it wasn't exactly lucrative. When he developed the initial recovery potion, the village gave him two million ryo as a lump sum and a modest salary of 100,000 ryo per month. He hadn't complained, but the village wasn't making any real money from the potions either. They sold the recovery potion to Konoha's own ninjas at cost, plus a small fee of 10,000 ryo to cover production expenses. And since the rare medicinal ingredients were in limited supply, the village could only produce about a thousand units per year. 

In short, there wasn't enough profit to go around, and Orochimaru had his own ambitions that required funding—funding he couldn't get from Konoha alone.

Initially, he thought of working with Danzo to secure more resources, but there were certain technologies he couldn't risk Danzo getting his hands on. He needed his own independent source of funds to build the experimental base he envisioned. This led him to a simple conclusion: he had to start making money on his own.

Selling these potions to other nations wasn't just about profit. He could increase the price tenfold and earn a fortune, all without Konoha ever finding out. The village had a limited supply of rare ingredients, but Orochimaru wasn't bound by those constraints. 

Thanks to his system, Orochimaru could buy the raw materials for his gene repair solution at a fraction of the cost. In the system's marketplace, all the rare ingredients only cost 100 technology points per unit, and the two most essential ingredients cost him only 20 points each. (T/N: He gets the points by completing re

The recovery potions were sold to smaller villages like Kusagakure, while the enhancement serum were distributed through the black market, ensuring they didn't fall into the hands of anyone who could use them against Konoha.

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"Scientific advancements really are the fastest way to make money," Orochimaru muttered to himself as he walked back to town that evening.

A single trip had netted him fifty million ryo, far more than any high-risk mission could offer. And with the world constantly at war, selling products that enhanced a ninja's combat potential was like printing money. The tenfold price markup was a goldmine.

Of course, some might wonder whether his competitors would try to reverse-engineer the potions. But Orochimaru wasn't worried. As someone from a modern world, he understood the importance of a technological monopoly. The potions and materials he sold were directly sourced from his system. Even if someone managed to analyze the ingredients, they wouldn't be able to replicate them because the materials didn't exist in this world.

In short, there was no threat to his market dominance. In time, Orochimaru believed, the entire ninja world would be operating under the shadow of his technological monopoly.

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As he made his way back through the forested mountain path toward the town where Tsunade and Jiraiya were staying, something caught Orochimaru's eye.

"Wait… what is that?"

Halfway up the mountain, he spotted a figure in the distance, barely visible through the mist. The person was dressed in black armor and carried a large round fan on their back.

Orochimaru's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is that… Uchiha Madara?"

He blinked, trying to process what he was seeing. It couldn't be. Uchiha Madara was supposed to be long dead, but the figure in the distance matched his iconic look perfectly the black armor, the fan, everything.

Orochimaru's sharp golden eyes, while not as powerful as the Sharingan, had become highly attuned over the years, and he was confident in what he had seen.

"Why would Uchiha Madara be here?"

As he mulled it over, the figure vanished into the fog, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, recalling the history of the Third Great Ninja War. It was in the Land of Grass that Konoha and Iwagakure clashed, and this was also where Uchiha Obito, the future enemy of the world, was supposedly saved by none other than Madara himself.

"Could it be that Madara is hiding in the Land of Grass?" Orochimaru whispered to himself, already piecing together the implications.

Without wasting any more time, he retrieved two tiny, invisible mechanical flies from his sleeve. These insects were one of his recent inventions, designed for covert surveillance.

He released them into the air, directing them toward the location where the mysterious figure had disappeared.