Swish, swish!
Swish!
Night fell, and the rain pattered on the rooftops.
The flying raindrops drew parabolas, and the large drops shattered upon impact.
The lights of Konoha were as hazy as a mirage.
Owl-like black shadows leaped across the rooftops.
They all wore light gray tactical vests and carried sheathed short swords or straight blades on their backs.
Many of them even carried the lingering scent of blood.
The features beneath their white masks revealed a sense of solemnity and coldness, making the villagers on the streets avoid them.
They passed through the bustling streets and arrived at the sparsely populated edge of the village.
They stopped in front of a building with the “Anbu” symbol hanging on it.
This place was the Konoha “Anbu” building and headquarters.
Almost all the Anbu ninjas had been urgently summoned from their homes.
Although crowded, the scene was orderly and dead silent.
The atmosphere was as oppressive and solemn as if they were attending a funeral.
Among those Anbu ninjas, Kakashi Hatake was impressively present.
However, his forehead was wrapped in bandages, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his single visible dead-fish eye was full of doubt.
Those explosive tags, who exactly placed them there?
Was it Lord Third?
Kakashi naturally hadn’t seen that strange black cat.
He had only seen Orochimaru burst out from underground, only to be blown away mid-air by the explosive tags detonating beneath his feet.
Although Kakashi was close and suffered some shockwaves, it was far less than the direct damage Orochimaru took.
Even though he hastily cast a ninjutsu to try to offset the explosion’s impact, his arm was still shattered by that terrifying power.
But Lord Third didn’t seem to have set them up beforehand…
Creak!
The door of the Anbu building in front of them was pushed open, making a harsh sound that broke the dead silence.
Kakashi had to shake off the doubts in his mind, adjust his mask, and look up.
He saw two figures walking out one after the other.
Besides Hiruzen Sarutobi, who wore the red and white Hokage robes and the Hokage hat, there was also an old man wearing a black kimono, with bandages wrapped around his right arm and right eye.
His narrow eyes and the scar on his chin made him look somewhat gloomy.
The creator and leader of “Root,” the one who controlled Konoha’s “Darkness,” the person with the most power below the Hokage.
Danzo Shimura.
“This emergency summons is to capture Orochimaru as soon as possible, who slipped through the net in the previous operation.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the Anbu ninjas, his tone calm and direct: “According to reports, Orochimaru has been severely injured.
Judging from his injuries, leaving the Land of Fire in a short time will not be easy.”
“The knowledge, intelligence, and technology Orochimaru possesses are incredibly important assets to Konoha.
I hope you can try to bring him back alive.”
“Once he defects from the Land of Fire, it will deal a fatal blow to Konoha.
By then…”
He paused here, and after a moment, he continued: “We must race against time before Orochimaru crosses the border.”
“Everyone, make sure to search with all your might!”
After speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head, his expression cold, without spouting any nonsense, and said in a deep voice: “Scatter!”
Swish!
Swish!
The Anbu ninjas scattered into black shadows.
These hounds and falcons would hunt down that cunning snake with all their might, whether in the sky, underground, or in the water.
And after all the Anbu ninjas had left, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and walked toward the Anbu building.
But as he brushed past Danzo Shimura, a voice carrying a hint of mockery reached his ears.
“You really are tender and protective of your cute disciple.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped, lowered his head slightly, his face shrouded in the shadow of the bamboo hat, making it impossible to see his expression clearly.
“Even someone like you can ‘miss’.” Danzo Shimura continued to speak, “I heard you rescued a brat from the Hyuga clan from Orochimaru’s hands?”
The two had been old friends for decades; how could Hiruzen Sarutobi not hear the hidden meaning in his words?
He sighed wearily in his heart.
“He’s just a pitiful young man,” Hiruzen Sarutobi explained, adding, “He is from the branch family of the Hyuga clan.”
Meaning, give up on that idea.
No matter what experimental results Orochimaru might have achieved on that young man, a branch family member implanted with the “Caged Bird” could never be used by you.
Otherwise, just based on the “Will of Fire” Yun Chuan Hyuga displayed, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have already tried to approach and recruit him, even if he was a talentless “piece of trash.”
Even if he were an ordinary person of commoner origin, he could have been arranged to be a teacher at the ninja academy.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t…
A branch family member of the Hyuga clan could only become a servant to the main family members, holding no exploitable value whatsoever.
As long as a main family member activated the “Secret Seal,” they could easily destroy the cranial nerves of the one bearing the Caged Bird.
The “Tongue Eradication Seal” Danzo used was merely to prevent people from leaking classified intelligence, only causing full-body paralysis where one could neither speak nor move.
Compared to the Caged Bird, it was simply the work of a merciful saint.
“…”
Hearing this, Danzo Shimura just faced the distant night sky, his eyes closed.
He seemed to have given up on the plan in his heart, and his tone returned to its usual calm coldness: “No matter what, I will assist with all my strength.”
“For Konoha, I will do my utmost.”
“…Then I am truly sorry,” Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at him, saying calmly, “For making you ‘go to such trouble’.”
Saying that, he ignored Danzo and walked into the Anbu building.
Although Danzo’s words openly and secretly mocked him for only caring about personal feelings and ignoring Konoha’s interests, and although Danzo might have had overlapping interests with Orochimaru in the dark.
But from the moment Orochimaru defected.
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that this old friend of his, in order to eliminate the potential threat Orochimaru posed to Konoha, would definitely do his utmost just as he said.
Perhaps the explosion that severely injured Orochimaru was a backup plan Danzo had prepared in advance, hiding it from Orochimaru.
This was also why he repeatedly ignored the other party’s little tricks.
After all, in his view, everything Danzo did was ultimately for Konoha.
Just as that young man from the Hyuga clan said, for Konoha, this “big tree,” to grow, it indeed needed “roots” that never saw the light of day.
But, it only needed “roots” that ‘never saw the light of day’.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi left, Danzo Shimura opened his eyes.
“Caw, caw.”
A crow circling above landed on Danzo’s shoulder, spitting out a small scroll from its beak into his raised hand.
“…”
Danzo lowered his head and unrolled the small scroll.
Densely packed small characters caught his eye; it was a cipher unique to Root.
The scroll recorded the subsequent cleanup work of the experimental base.
Unfortunately, most of Orochimaru’s experimental equipment and records had been destroyed in the shockwave of the explosive tags.
According to the inspection of the explosion traces, the explosive tags had surprisingly been planted throughout the entire underground pipeline, almost completely destroying the whole experimental base.
One must know that those experimental instruments were bought by Danzo at a huge price through special channels.
Some of them weren’t even available in Root.
“Did that guy Orochimaru do this?
Even if he destroys it, he won’t leave it for me?”
Danzo Shimura raised his head, his narrow eyes full of gloom, but he quickly rejected this idea.
Because Orochimaru also had an arm blown off by the explosive tags.
With that specially modified body, he might be able to recover, but given his state of nearly depleted chakra at the time, there was no need to risk such severe injuries just to put on this act.
Moreover, with Hiruzen’s guilt and indecisiveness towards Orochimaru, he could never be this ruthless and thorough.
Based on Danzo’s understanding of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the guy might even be thinking right now that it was Danzo who secretly pulled the strings.
“Then, who else?”
Danzo’s brows gradually furrowed and locked tightly.
He vaguely felt an invisible hand manipulating all these events in the dark.
He thought of the only surviving young man, but reason told him it was absolutely impossible.
Such clean, traceless, insidious, and ruthless methods, even calculating both Orochimaru and Hiruzen into it, could absolutely not be the work of a fifteen-year-old boy.
It was even more impossible for a cowardly boy from the Hyuga branch family, without father or mother.
“Damn it!
Who exactly is it?!”
Danzo tightly gripped the scroll and crushed it, utterly detesting the feeling of a profound, unknown threat hiding in the darkness, yet being powerless against it.
The other party must be extremely dangerous, a threat to Konoha even greater than Orochimaru.
Danzo Shimura, known as the “Darkness of the Shinobi,” would never allow such a guy to continue existing!
Better to kill by mistake than to let them go!
Thinking of this, remembering that brat from the Hyuga branch family, Danzo’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He took out a scroll from his pocket, wrote some ciphers on it, and let the crow fly away with it in its beak.
Just a “piece of trash” from the Hyuga branch family.
Even if he died in some accident, no one would care.
Meanwhile, within the borders of the Land of Fire, hundreds of kilometers away from Konoha, deep in a forest.
Crack.
The crisp sound of a breaking dead branch came from deep within the sea of trees, startling a few birds taking shelter from the rain under a tree.
A figure staggered out from the shadows.
“Huff, huff!”
Orochimaru stumbled and leaned against a tree.
Amidst his panting, he tasted the rusty flavor of blood between his teeth; it was blood bubbles bursting in his throat.
His left arm was severed from the forearm, exposing bloody, mangled flesh and stark white bone fragments.
Half of his clothes were soaked with blood.
This was probably the most severe and fatal injury he had suffered since modifying his body.
Since he had anticipated this day long ago, he naturally had a backup plan left in the Land of Fire: a clan named “Iburi.”
They possessed a Kekkei Genkai called “Smoke Transformation,” which allowed them to turn their bodies into smoke and enter someone’s body in smoke form, thereby controlling the target’s actions.
But at the same time, they had a weakness: if they were blown by the wind while in smoke form, they would dissipate and die.
Due to their inability to stably control this power, a large number of Iburi clan members died.
It was through his help that their abilities stabilized, and their lifespans were also extended.
And the blood of the Iburi clan members could heal injuries, so they were kept as his “blood bags.”
If he hadn’t been severely injured by the final explosive tag detonation, even if he had been wounded by the old man, he could have supported his injured body to arrive there alive.
“Damn it!
Damn it!!
It’s all because of that brat!!” Orochimaru’s hoarse voice was full of malice and anger.
He touched the scroll on his chest.
Fortunately, this scroll recording ancient secrets was still in his hands.
As long as he continued to find a way to break the sealing jutsu on it, he would definitely be able to learn more secrets of the Otsutsuki clan.
In addition, he had also taken a piece of flesh from that Otsutsuki body.
If the Impure World Reincarnation jutsu could be perfected…
The only way right now was to have Manda use the “Reverse Summoning Jutsu”; only then could he safely escape the Land of Fire.
But with that beast Manda’s personality, seeing him heavily injured, its first reaction would be to swallow him whole.
Moreover, the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave, as well as her subordinates Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, and Tagitsuhime—those three large snakes—were not to be trifled with…
“Cough, cough!”
Orochimaru suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, completely interrupting his thoughts.
His vision blurred, a ringing filled his ears, and his sense of touch gradually went out of control.
The twisted tree shadows seemed to turn into sharp claws, and the vines into tripwires.
All of this made him understand that his bodily functions were gradually collapsing.
The fear of death made him dig his five fingers deep into the tree trunk.
The moss on the tree was crushed into a pungent green juice in his palm.
He still had to go find that brat for revenge.
He still had to grasp all the truths of the world!
No matter what, he couldn’t die.
He couldn’t die here!
Just as Orochimaru made up his mind and was preparing to use the Summoning Jutsu.
Poof!
A puff of white smoke suddenly exploded, and Orochimaru’s figure disappeared from the spot.
A few seconds later, a tall figure appeared, with white hair hanging down to his waist.
It was the pursuing Jiraiya.
“Reverse Summoning Jutsu?” Jiraiya frowned.
“Orochimaru, what exactly are you…”
At the same time, in a space transformed from a natural karst cave, stalactites resembling barbs hung from the dome of the cave.
The ground was paved with cyan bricks featuring snake-shaped reliefs.
Dark green ghost fire burned faintly in the wall niches, and blue-purple ores flickered on the rock walls.
“This is…”
Orochimaru frowned and opened his eyes.
Seeing the familiar scene before him, he asked in astonishment, “Ryuchi Cave?”
He clearly hadn’t summoned Manda yet.
How was he reverse-summoned here?
“Orochimaru.”
Before Orochimaru could figure out the situation, an old, ethereal voice reached his ears.
He subconsciously looked up towards the sound.
Coiled on a stone throne, a massive white-scaled snake caught his eye.
The White Snake Sage, the ancestor of Ryuchi Cave, a white-scaled giant snake that had lived for over a thousand years.
Its strength was so terrifying that Orochimaru couldn’t even begin to estimate it.
Usually, the White Snake Sage appeared as an elderly grandmother wearing a white long shirt.
But right now, it was the first time Orochimaru had seen the other party’s true form.
The usual indifferent aura was gone, replaced by the foul stench from the snake’s mouth.
“How is it possible?”
The white-scaled giant snake stared straight at Orochimaru with those amber snake pupils, its face displaying a human-like expression of shock and uncertainty.
“Your fate…
was actually rewritten?”
Meanwhile, in Konoha Village, at the Hyuga clan compound, inside a dilapidated house at the edge of the estate.
“Meow.”
A faint cat’s meow mixed with the chirping of crickets reached his ears.
Yun Chuan Hyuga, who had been lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.
“Finally gone.”
He sat up on the bed, turned his head to look at the calm night outside the window, touched the bandages on his neck, and a smile appeared on his face.
Such a severe, fatal injury, and yet just one day later, it had actually mostly recovered.
This level of healing ability, although not comparable to the terrifying and extreme nature of Hashirama’s cells, was enough to rid him of the “fragile” weakness of a ninja.
And this was just one of the benefits this body brought him.
Thinking of this, Yun Chuan Hyuga looked at the panel that appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Yun Chuan Hyuga]
[Age: 15]
[Bloodline: Hyuga Clan -> Otsutsuki Clan (5%)]
[Chakra Limit: D-rank -> S-rank]
[Chakra Nature: Wind -> Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Yin, Yang]
[Ninjutsu: …]
(END CHAPTER)