Swish! Swish!
Night fell, and the rain pattered on the rooftops. The falling drops traced parabolic arcs, shattering upon impact. The lights of Konohagakure were hazy, like a mirage.
Owl-like black shadows leaped across the rooftops, all clad in lightweight gray tactical vests, with sheathed short swords or straight-bladed katanas on their backs.
Many of them still carried the faint smell of blood. Beneath their white masks, their eyes held a solemn and cold expression, prompting the villagers on the streets to give them a wide berth.
They passed through the bustling, prosperous streets and arrived at the sparsely populated edge of the village.
And this place was the building and headquarters of Konoha's "ANBU.
Nearly all ANBU members had been urgently summoned from their homes. The scene, though crowded, was orderly and silent. The atmosphere was as oppressive and solemn as a funeral.
Among those ANBU, Kakashi Hatake was present.
However, his forehead was wrapped in a bandage, his brow tightly furrowed, his one listless eye filled with confusion.
Who on earth placed those explosive tags there? Was it Lord Third?
Kakashi, of course, had not seen the strange black cat. He had only seen Orochimaru burst out from underground and then get blown away in mid-air by the explosive tags that detonated beneath his feet.
Although Kakashi, being close by, was caught in the blast, the damage was nothing compared to what Orochimaru suffered directly. Even though Orochimaru had used ninjutsu in an attempt to offset the explosion's impact, the terrifying power still blew off one of his arms.
But, Lord Third didn't seem to have set any traps beforehand...
Creak!
The main doors of the ANBU building were pushed open, the harsh sound breaking the dead silence.
Kakashi could only shake the doubts from his mind. He put on his mask and looked up to see two figures walking out, one behind the other.
Besides Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was wearing the red and white Hokage robes and hat, there was an old man in a black kimono with his right arm and right eye wrapped in bandages. His narrow eyes and the scar on his chin gave him a rather grim appearance.
The founder and leader of "Root," the man who controlled the "darkness" of Konoha, the most powerful person beneath the Hokage.
—Danzo Shimura.
"This emergency summons is to capture the escaped Orochimaru as quickly as possible from the previous operation."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the ANBU members, his tone calm and direct. "According to reports, Orochimaru is severely injured. Judging by his wounds, it will not be easy for him to leave the Land of Fire in a short period of time."
"The knowledge, intelligence, and techniques Orochimaru possesses are an invaluable asset to Konoha. I hope you will do your best to bring him back alive."
"Once he defects from the Land of Fire, it will be a fatal blow to Konoha. At that point..."
He paused here, then continued after a moment, "We must race against time before Orochimaru crosses the border."
"Everyone, put all your effort into the search!"
With that, Hiruzen looked up, his expression cold. Without any further pleasantries, he commanded in a low voice, "Scatter!"
Swish! Swish! The ANBU ninja dispersed like black shadows. These hounds and talons would hunt down that cunning snake with all their might, whether in the sky, on the ground, or in the water.
After all the ANBU had left, Hiruzen turned to walk into the ANBU building.
But as he passed Danzo Shimura, a voice tinged with mockery reached his ears.
"You're certainly fond of your precious student."
Hiruzen stopped, lowering his head slightly. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hat, his expression unreadable.
"For someone like you to 'slip up'..." Danzo continued. "I hear you rescued a Hyuga child from Orochimaru's clutches?"
The two had been old friends for decades. How could Hiruzen not understand the meaning behind his words? He sighed wearily in his heart.
"He's just a poor child," Hiruzen explained, adding, "He is from the Hyuga Branch Family."
The meaning was clear: Give up on that idea.
No matter what experimental results Orochimaru might have achieved with that child, a member of the branch family branded with the "Caged Bird Seal" could never be of use to you.
Otherwise, given the "Will of Fire" Hyuga Kumo had displayed, Hiruzen would have already tried to approach and recruit him, even if he was a "failure" with no talent.
Even if he were a commoner from a civilian family, he could have been arranged to be a teacher at the Ninja Academy.
Unfortunately, he was not...
A member of the Hyuga Branch Family could only be a servant to the Main Family, holding no exploitable value.
With a mere thought, a member of the Hyuga Main Family could activate the "Secret Seal" and easily destroy the brain nerves of anyone bearing the Caged Bird.
The "Tongue Eradication Seal" that Danzo used, which only served to prevent secrets from being spoken by paralyzing the entire body, was practically a mercy in comparison.
"..."
Hearing this, Danzo Shimura simply faced the distant night, his eyes closed, seemingly abandoning his plan. His tone returned to its usual calm indifference. "Regardless, I will provide my full assistance."
"For the sake of Konoha, I will do everything in my power."
"...Then I apologize," Hiruzen glanced at him, his voice calm. "for 'troubling' you."
With that, he ignored Danzo and walked into the ANBU building.
Although Danzo's words were laced with sarcasm, mocking him for putting personal feelings before Konoha's interests, and although Danzo might have had dealings with Orochimaru in the dark...
The moment Orochimaru defected...
Hiruzen knew that his old friend, in order to eliminate the potential threat Orochimaru posed to Konoha, would indeed do everything in his power, just as he said.
Perhaps that explosion that severely wounded Orochimaru was a backup plan that Danzo had prepared in advance, hidden from Orochimaru.
This was also why he had ignored the other's little schemes time and time again. After all, in his view, everything Danzo did was ultimately for Konoha.
Just as that Hyuga child had said, for the "great tree" of Konoha to grow, it indeed needed "roots" that never saw the light of day.
But, it only needed "roots that never see the light of day."
After Hiruzen left, Danzo Shimura opened his eyes.
"Caw caw."
A crow circling above descended, landing on Danzo's shoulder. It spat out a small scroll it held in its beak, which landed in his raised hand.
"..."
Danzo lowered his head and opened the small scroll. Densely packed small characters, the unique code of Root, came into view.
The scroll recorded the follow-up cleanup work at the experimental base. Unfortunately, most of Orochimaru's experimental equipment and records had been destroyed in the explosive tag blasts.
According to the analysis of the explosion traces, explosive tags had been laid out along the entire sewer pipe, almost completely destroying the entire experimental base.
It was important to note that that experimental equipment was purchased by Danzo at a high price through special channels. Some of it, even Root did not possess.
"Was it that bastard Orochimaru? He'd rather destroy it than leave it for me?"
Danzo Shimura looked up, his narrow eyes filled with a dark gloom, but he quickly dismissed the thought.
Because Orochimaru himself had lost an arm in the explosion. While his specially modified body might allow him to recover, in his state of near-total chakra depletion, there was no need to put on such a show while grievously injured.
Furthermore, given Hiruzen's guilt and indecisiveness towards Orochimaru, he would never go to such ruthless extremes.
In fact, based on Danzo's understanding of Hiruzen Sarutobi, that fellow probably thought he was the one who had secretly made the move.
"Then, who else could it be?"
Danzo's brows gradually furrowed and locked together. He faintly sensed an invisible hand manipulating all these events from the shadows.
He thought of the only surviving child, but reason told him it was impossible. Such a clean, traceless, insidious, and ruthless method, which even outplayed both Orochimaru and Hiruzen, was definitely not something a fifteen-year-old child could pull off.
It was even more impossible for a timid, parentless child from the Hyuga Branch Family to do.
"Damn it! Who is it?!"
Danzo clenched the scroll tightly, crushing it. He hated this feeling of an unknown threat lurking in the darkness, and being utterly powerless against it.
The other party must be an extremely dangerous individual, a threat to Konoha even greater than Orochimaru.
Danzo Shimura, known as "The Darkness of Shinobi," would absolutely not allow such a person to continue to exist!
Better to kill by mistake than to let one slip away! With this in mind, thinking of the Hyuga branch family child, Danzo's eyes narrowed slightly. He took a scroll from his robes, wrote some coded text on it, and had the crow carry it away in its beak.
He was just a "failure" from the Hyuga Branch Family. No one would care if he died in some accident.
Meanwhile, within the borders of the Land of Fire, in a forest several hundred kilometers from Konoha.
Crack.
The crisp sound of a dry branch snapping came from deep within the forest sea, startling a few birds seeking shelter from the rain under a tree. A figure staggered out from the shadows.
"Heh heh!"
Orochimaru staggered against a tree, tasting the rusty tang of iron between his teeth as he gasped for breath. It was the taste of blood blisters bursting in his throat.
His left arm was severed from the forearm, the blood-red mangled flesh and stark white bone fragments clearly visible. Half of his clothes were soaked in blood.
This was probably the most severe and fatal injury he had suffered since his body modification.
Since he had long anticipated this day, he naturally had contingency plans within the Land of Fire. It was a clan called the "Ibuki."
They possessed a Kekkei Genkai of "Smoke Release," allowing them to turn their bodies into smoke and enter a person's body in that form, thereby controlling their actions. However, it came with the weakness of dissipating and dying if blown by the wind while in their smoke state.
Due to their inability to stably control this power, many members of the Ibuki Clan had died. It was only with his help that they could stabilize their ability and even extend their lifespans.
And the blood of the Ibuki clansmen could heal injuries, so he had stored them as "blood bags."
If he hadn't been severely injured by the final explosive tag blast, even if he had only been wounded by the old man, he could have survived long enough to reach that place.
"Damn it! Damn it! It's all because of that brat!!" Orochimaru's hoarse voice was filled with venomous rage.
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 surely learn more of the Otsutsuki Clan's secrets.
Furthermore, he had also taken a piece of flesh from that Otsutsuki body. If the Edo Tensei technique could be perfected...
The only way now was to have Manda use the "Reverse Summoning Jutsu" to help him escape the Land of Fire safely.
But given that beast Manda's personality, the first thing it would do upon seeing him so heavily injured would be to swallow him whole.
And the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave, as well as her subordinates, the three great snakes Hakutaku, Iwakuni, and Tagorihime, were not easy to deal with either...
"Cough! Cough!"
Orochimaru suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, completely interrupting his train of thought.
His vision blurred, and the ringing in his ears grew louder as his sense of touch began to fail.
The twisted tree shadows seemed to transform into claws, the vines into tripwires. All of it told him that his body's functions were progressively collapsing.
The fear of death made him dig his fingers deep into the tree trunk, crushing the moss into a green, pulpy mess in his palm.
He still had to get revenge on that brat! He still had to master 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, preparing to use the Summoning Jutsu.
POOF! A cloud of white smoke suddenly exploded, and Orochimaru's figure vanished from the spot.
A few seconds later, a tall figure appeared. His long white hair fell to his waist. It was the pursuing Jiraiya.
"A Reverse Summoning Jutsu?" Jiraiya frowned. "Orochimaru, what on earth are you..."
At the same time, in a space converted from a natural cavern, stalactites like inverted spikes hung from the ceiling.
The ground was paved with cyan stone bricks covered in snake-shaped reliefs. Dark green phosphorescent flames burned eerily in niches, and blue-purple ore flickered within the rock walls.
"This is..."
Orochimaru opened his eyes with a frown. Seeing the familiar scene before him, he said with surprise, "Ryūchi Cave?"
He clearly hadn't summoned Manda yet. How was he reverse-summoned here? "Orochimaru."
Before Orochimaru could figure out the situation, an ancient, ethereal voice reached his ears. He subconsciously followed the sound and looked up.
A massive, white-scaled great serpent coiled on a stone throne came into view.
The White Snake Sage, the progenitor of Ryūchi Cave, a white-scaled great serpent that had lived for over a thousand years, her power so terrifying that Orochimaru could not even begin to estimate it.
Usually, the White Snake Sage appeared as an elderly grandmother in a long white robe.
But at this moment, for the first time, Orochimaru saw her true form. The transcendent aura she usually carried was gone, replaced by the foul stench from a snake's maw.
"How is this possible?"
The white-scaled great serpent stared at Orochimaru with her amber snake eyes, a human-like expression of shock and uncertainty on her face.
"Your destiny... has actually been rewritten?"
Meanwhile, in Konohagakure, within a dilapidated house on the edge of the Hyuga Clan Compound.
"Meow."
A faint cat's meow, mixed with the chirping of crickets, reached his ears. Hyuga Kumo, who had been lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.
"He's finally gone."
He sat up in bed and turned to look at the calm night outside the window. He touched the bandage on his neck, a smile gracing his lips.
Such a severe, fatal wound had already healed for the most part after only a single day.
This level of healing ability, while not as terrifyingly extreme as Hashirama Cells, was enough to allow him to overcome the "fragile" weakness of a ninja.
And this was only one of the benefits this body had brought him.
With this in mind, Hyuga Kumo looked at the panel that appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Hyuga Kumo]
[Age: 15]
[Bloodline: Hyuga Clan → Otsutsuki Clan (5%)]
[Chakra Capacity: D-Rank → S-Rank]
[Chakra Natures: Wind → Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Yin, Yang]
[Ninjutsu: ...]