Swish! Swish!
Night fell, and rain pattered on the rooftops. Falling raindrops traced parabolas, large drops shattering upon impact. Konoha's lights were hazy, like a mirage.
Black figures, like owls, leaped across the rooftops. They wore light gray tactical vests and carried sheathed short swords or straight blades on their backs.
Many of them still carried the lingering scent of blood. Their white masks concealed solemn, cold expressions that made villagers on the streets shy away.
They traversed bustling streets and arrived at the sparsely populated edge of the village.
They stopped before a building marked with the character "An" , which was the Konoha ANBU headquarters.
Almost all ANBU ninjas had been urgently summoned from their homes. Though crowded, the scene was orderly and silent, the atmosphere so somber and stifling it felt like attending a funeral.
Among those ANBU ninjas, Hatake Kakashi was conspicuously present.
A bandage wrapped his forehead, and his brows were tightly furrowed, his lifeless eyes filled with confusion.
Those explosive tags… who put them there? Was it the Third Hokage?
Kakashi naturally hadn't seen the strange black cat. He had only seen Orochimaru emerge from underground, then get blasted mid-air by the explosive tags detonating beneath his feet.
Though Kakashi, being close, was somewhat affected, he was nowhere near as damaged as Orochimaru, who took the full brunt of the explosion. Even with timely ninjutsu to mitigate the blast, Orochimaru still lost an arm to the terrifying power.
But, the Third Hokage didn't seem to have laid them out beforehand…
Creak!
The large door of the ANBU building swung open, its grating sound breaking the dead silence.
Kakashi could only shake off the doubts in his mind. He put on his mask and looked up, seeing two figures emerge one after another.
Besides Sarutobi Hiruzen, wearing his red and white Hokage robes and hat, there was an old man in a black kimono, his right arm and right eye wrapped in bandages. His narrow eyes and a scar on his chin made him appear somewhat grim.
The founder and leader of Root, controller of Konoha's "darkness," and the most powerful person beneath the Hokage.
—Shimura Danzo.
"This urgent summons is to swiftly capture Orochimaru, who escaped during the previous operation."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the ANBU ninjas. His tone was calm and direct: "According to reports, Orochimaru is severely wounded. Judging by his injuries, it won't be easy for him to leave the Land of Fire quickly."
"Orochimaru's knowledge, intelligence, and techniques are immensely valuable assets to Konoha. I hope you will do your best to bring him back alive."
"Should he defect from the Land of Fire, it would deal 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, dedicate your full strength to this search!"
Having said that, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up, his expression cold. Without any superfluous words, he commanded in a deep voice, "Dismiss!"
Swish! Swish!
The ANBU ninjas dispersed into black shadows. These loyal hounds would relentlessly pursue the cunning snake, whether in the sky, on the ground, or in the water.
Once all the ANBU ninjas had departed, Sarutobi Hiruzen also turned to walk into the ANBU building.
But as he brushed past Shimura Danzo, a slightly mocking voice reached his ears.
"You're truly fond of your dear disciple, aren't you?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stopped, lowering his head slightly. His face was shrouded in the shadow of his hat, obscuring his expression.
"Someone like you, to actually 'slip up'," Shimura Danzo continued. "I hear you rescued a Hyuga clan child from Orochimaru?"
The two had been old friends for decades. How could Sarutobi Hiruzen not understand the meaning behind his words? He sighed inwardly, feeling a little weary.
"He's just a poor child," Sarutobi Hiruzen explained, adding, "He's from the Hyuga branch family."
Meaning, let that thought die.
Regardless of what experimental results Orochimaru might have achieved on that child, a branch family member branded with the "Caged Bird Seal" could never be used by you.
Otherwise, based solely on the "Will of Fire" Hyuga Kawa displayed, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have already tried to approach and recruit him, even if he was a "waste" without talent.
Even if he were an ordinary person of commoner birth, he could be arranged to become a teacher at the Ninja Academy.
Unfortunately, he wasn't…
A branch family member of the Hyuga clan could only serve as a subordinate to the main family, with no exploitable value.
Simply by activating a "secret seal," a Hyuga main family member could easily destroy the brain nerves of someone bearing the Caged Bird Seal.
Danzo's "Tongue Sealing Curse" was merely to prevent the disclosure of confidential information; it only caused full-body paralysis, rendering one unable to speak or move. Compared to it, the Caged Bird Seal was benevolent.
"..."
Hearing this, Shimura Danzo merely faced the distant night sky, his eyes closed. He seemed to have abandoned his internal plans, and his tone returned to its usual calm and coldness: "Regardless, I will assist with all my might."
"For Konoha, I will do everything I can."
"…I apologize then," Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at him, his tone calm. "For 'troubling' you."
With that, he no longer paid attention to Danzo and entered the ANBU building.
Although Danzo's words implied criticism that he prioritized personal feelings over Konoha's interests, and despite Danzo potentially having covert entanglements with Orochimaru in the past.
However, from the moment Orochimaru defected.
Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that his old friend, in order to eliminate any potential threat Orochimaru posed to Konoha, would indeed exert his full effort, just as he claimed.
Perhaps the explosion that severely injured Orochimaru was a contingency plan Danzo had secretly prepared, unbeknownst to Orochimaru.
This was also the reason why he repeatedly ignored Danzo's minor transgressions; after all, in his eyes, everything Danzo did was ultimately for Konoha.
Just as that Hyuga clan child had said, for Konoha, this "great tree," to grow, it indeed needed "roots" that never saw the light of day.
However, it only needed "roots" that remained in the "dark."
After Sarutobi Hiruzen left, Shimura Danzo opened his eyes.
Caw! Caw!
A crow circling above descended, landing on Danzo's shoulder. It spat out a small scroll from its beak, which fell into his outstretched hand.
"..."
Danzo lowered his head and opened the small scroll. Rows of tiny characters, the unique cipher of Root, came into view.
The scroll recorded the subsequent cleanup of the experimental base. Unfortunately, most of Orochimaru's experimental equipment and records had been destroyed in the explosive tags' blasts.
According to the analysis of the explosion traces, the explosive tags had been placed throughout the entire underground pipeline, practically obliterating the entire experimental base.
It was worth noting that much of that experimental equipment had been purchased by Danzo at a high price through special channels, some of which even Root didn't possess.
Did that Orochimaru do it? Is he unwilling to leave it to me even if it means destroying it?
Shimura Danzo looked up, his narrow eyes filled with gloom, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
Because Orochimaru himself had lost an arm in the explosion from the tags. While his specially modified body might be able to recover, given his near-depleted chakra state at the time, there was no need for him to stage such a show while severely wounded.
Furthermore, given Sarutobi's guilt and indecisiveness regarding Orochimaru, he would never go to such extreme lengths to kill him.
Indeed, based on Danzo's understanding of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the old man might even now be thinking he was the one who had secretly orchestrated the attack.
"Then, who else?"
Danzo's brows gradually furrowed and tightened. He faintly sensed an invisible hand manipulating all these events in the shadows.
He thought of the only surviving child, but reason told him it was impossible.
Such a clean, traceless, insidious, and ruthless method, even implicating both Orochimaru and Sarutobi, absolutely could not have been executed by a fifteen-year-old child.
And certainly not by a fatherless, motherless, timid child from the Hyuga branch family.
"Damn it! Who is it?!"
Danzo clenched the scroll tightly, crushing it. He utterly detested this feeling of an unknown threat lurking in the darkness, yet being powerless against it.
The other party must be an extremely dangerous individual, whose threat to Konoha even surpassed Orochimaru's.
Shimura Danzo, known as the "Darkness of the Shinobi World," would never allow such an individual to continue existing!
Better to kill a thousand innocents than let one enemy escape!
With this thought, recalling the Hyuga branch family child, Danzo's eyes narrowed slightly. He pulled a scroll from his pocket, wrote some ciphered text on it, and had the crow take it in its beak and fly away.
It's just a "waste" from the Hyuga branch family. No one would care if he died in some unfortunate accident.
Meanwhile, within the Land of Fire, in a forest hundreds of kilometers from Konoha.
Snap.
The crisp sound of a dry branch breaking echoed deep within the forest, startling a few birds seeking shelter from the rain beneath the trees. A figure stumbled out from the shadows.
"Hmph! Hmph!"
Orochimaru staggered and leaned against a tree, tasting the metallic tang of rust between his teeth as he gasped for breath. Blood clots in his throat were bursting.
His left arm was severed from the forearm, revealing crimson, 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 sustained since his body modifications.
Since he had long anticipated this day, he naturally had contingency plans within the Land of Fire, involving a clan called "Iburi."
They possessed the "Smoke Release" Kekkei Genkai, allowing them to transform their bodies into smoke and enter others' bodies in that form to control their actions. However, they also had the weakness of dissipating and dying if blown by wind in their smoke form.
Due to their inability to consistently control this ability, many Iburi clan members died. With his help, they managed to stabilize their ability, and their lifespans were also extended to some extent.
And the blood of Iburi clan members could heal injuries, so he had stored them as "blood bags."
If he hadn't been severely wounded by the final explosive tag explosion, even if he had been injured by the old man, he could have endured his injuries and reached there alive.
"Damn it! Damn it!!" Orochimaru's hoarse voice was filled with venom and rage.
He touched the scroll at his chest.
Fortunately, this scroll containing ancient secrets is still in my hands.
As long as he continued to find ways to decipher the sealing jutsu on it, he would surely learn more secrets of the Otsutsuki clan.
Furthermore, he had taken a piece of flesh from that Otsutsuki body. If the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu could be perfected…
Now, the only way was to have Manda use the "Reverse Summoning Jutsu" to allow him to safely escape the Land of Fire.
But given that beast Manda's temperament, upon seeing him severely wounded, its first instinct would be to swallow him whole.
Moreover, the Sage of the White Snake of Ryuchi Cave, and her subordinates, the three great snakes Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, and Takitsuhime, were not easy to deal with either…
Cough! Cough!
Orochimaru suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, completely interrupting his thoughts.
His blurring vision, and the buzzing in his ears, his sense of touch gradually spiraling out of control.
The twisted shadows of trees seemed to turn into claws, and vines into tripwires, all making him realize that his bodily functions were steadily collapsing.
The fear of death made him dig his fingers deep into the tree trunk, the moss on the tree pulverizing into a pungent green pulp in his palm.
He still had to get revenge on that brat; he still had to grasp all truths in the world!
No matter what, he couldn't die, he couldn't die here!
Just as Orochimaru made up his mind and prepared to use a summoning jutsu.
Bang!
A puff of white smoke suddenly burst open, and Orochimaru's figure vanished from the spot.
A few seconds later, a tall figure appeared, long white hair flowing down to his waist—it was Jiraiya, who had been pursuing him.
"Reverse Summoning Jutsu?" Jiraiya frowned. "Orochimaru, what on earth…"
At the same time, in a space transformed from a natural cave, with stalactites hanging like barbs from the cave's ceiling.
The ground was covered with serpentine bas-reliefs on blue stone tiles. Dim green phosphorescent lights flickered in the alcoves, and blue-purple minerals shimmered on the rock walls.
"This is…"
Orochimaru frowned, opening his eyes. Seeing the familiar scene before him, he exclaimed in surprise, "Ryuchi Cave?"
He hadn't even summoned Manda, so how had he been reverse-summoned here?
"Orochimaru."
Before Orochimaru could figure out the situation, an ancient, ethereal voice reached his ears. He instinctively followed the sound, looking up.
A colossal, white-scaled serpent, coiled on a stone throne, came into view.
The Sage of the White Snake, the founder of Ryuchi Cave, a white-scaled serpent that had lived for over a thousand years, whose power was so terrifying that Orochimaru couldn't even estimate it.
Normally, the Sage of the White Snake appeared as an aged grandmother in a white robe.
But at this moment, Orochimaru saw her true form for the first time. The serene aura that usually surrounded her had dissipated, replaced by the pungent stench from her snake mouth.
"How is this possible?"
The white-scaled serpent stared intently at Orochimaru with her amber snake eyes, a human-like expression of shock and uncertainty on her face.
"Your destiny… it has been rewritten?"
Meanwhile, in Konoha Village, within the Hyuga clan compound, in a dilapidated house at the edge of the grounds.
Meow.
A faint cat meow, mixed with the chirping of crickets, reached his ears. Hyuga Kawa, who had been lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.
"Finally gone."
He sat up in bed, turned to look at the calm night outside the window, and touched the bandage on his neck. A smile spread across his face.
Such a severe, fatal injury, yet in just one day, it had already mostly healed.
This level of healing ability, while still not comparable to the terrifying and extreme power of Hashirama's cells, was enough to allow him to overcome the "glass cannon" weakness of ninjas.
And this was merely one of the benefits this body brought him.
With this thought, Hyuga Kawa looked at the panel that appeared before him.
[Name: Hyuga Kawa]
[Age: 15]
[Bloodline: Hyuga Clan → Otsutsuki Clan (5%)]
[Chakra Limit: Rank D → Rank S]
[Chakra Natures: Wind → Wind, Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, Yin, Yang]
[Ninjutsu: …]