Naruto Senju Shippuden (Book Two of Naruto Senju) [Complete]

Ch.34:Deciphering the Code

The following day, Burto left his apartment early in the morning. He took one of the books written by Jiraiya with him that once saw Orochimaru reading , the one which had inspired his name and went to sit in some quiet spot.

He hadn't had the occasion to read it yet, so he though now would be a good opportunity to start, to keep him busy.

He sat down on bench taking the book and began studying it. He first took a good look at the front cover before opening the book.

He then started leafing through it, taking his time as he did so.

But as he thought he would be all alone, he was soon joined by Orochimaru. He went to sit next to him.

Burto noticed him but didn't say anything.

"So your the one who took my book." Orochimaru said.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" he asked, fearing Orochimaru might scold him.

"No, not at all. I have another copy anyway at home."

Burto nodded and slowly looked away.

"Have you found anything yet?"

"Found what?"

"Clues. To decipher the secret code."

"Huh? Hmm... Honestly I wasn't looking for anything. I was just leafing through the book out of nostalgia."

"Oh I see. Well, it's alright. I just came to the conclusion that those numbers corresponded to book pages. Otherwise, I have no idea what they can refer to. Do you mind if I have a look at it?

"No," Burto said before handing the book to her.

Orochimaru took it and leafed through it, looking for the pages that corresponded to the numbers. She looked first at page 9, then 31, then 8, then 106, then 7, then 207, then 15.

But nothing seemed to correspond.

"Damn... That's impossible..." Orochimaru said out of frustration.

"What's up?"

"This doesn't help," Orochimaru stated solemnly.

Burto stared at him with a very serious look.

"Do you have a photo of this code?" he then asked him.

"Alright."

With that, the two stood up and directly went to where the Konoha Cryptanalysis Team was located since they had one.

"Hokage-Sama," Shiho said when she noticed them coming in , seemingly surprised to see him there.

Shikamaru was with her.

"So could you find something?" Shikamaru asked Orchimaru as he noticed the book he had in his hand.

"No. Not yet."

"Shiho, could you give a photo of the code to Burto, please? He'd like to examine it."

"Of course, Godaime-Sama," Shiho replied before hurrying to get a photo.

A few minutes after she handed it to Burto. Burto observed it carefully.

"I think why you haven't found anything yet, snake eyes. If you looked at page 9, you shouldn't have, because this isn't a nine. If you look carefully at his way of writing-"

"It's the katakana "ta" letter..." Orochimaru interrupted him.

Yes, Orochimaru had read novels written by his best friend, long before Burto started, even the Icha Icha paradise (not entirely) only to edit the book for him. Plus he hates that series  (he not a pervert. He too much of a gentleman to peep on women). So he should have noticed that sooner.