There was no war. Life was peaceful.
Kiyosuke's daily routine was simple: take care of the kids, go on missions, take care of the kids again, and go on more missions.
Life was plain, uneventful, and incredibly dull.
But recently, more and more shinobi had gone missing from the village. Even ordinary civilians in the surrounding areas had started to disappear. That was when Kiyosuke realized—Orochimaru's defection was drawing near.
That morning, he was basking in the sun with Naruto in his arms when Kakashi arrived, wearing his Anbu mask.
"Kiyosuke, there's an Anbu mission."
Ever since he joined the Anbu, Kiyosuke had only been assigned a single mission: protect Kushina. He'd been planning to resign and go talk to Hiruzen Sarutobi, but to his surprise, the old man had told him to just stay registered with the Anbu. He hadn't expected another mission to actually come his way.
"What's the job?"
"No idea. We're just supposed to follow Third-sama."
"I think I get it."
He stood up with a sigh and changed into the Anbu uniform Kakashi had brought with him. His old set didn't fit anymore. He was almost eighteen now, standing at one eighty-two centimeters—much taller than he'd been three years ago.
He put on his mask, strapped the standard-issue Anbu longsword to his back, handed Naruto off to Rin, and then the two of them headed to the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was already in his battle gear, a light armor draped over his body. A group of shinobi knelt before him. When he saw Kiyosuke and Kakashi arrive, he said,
"Move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone answered in unison.
They followed closely behind Hiruzen. Their destination—the experimental base where Orochimaru was located.
Kiyosuke's thoughts were all over the place. It seemed like Anko had already been marked with an incomplete version of the Cursed Seal of Heaven. She was currently in the Land of Sea.
Oh well. She'd be fine. At worst, it would just hurt like hell.
No pain, no gain—right?
...
When they arrived at the lab, Hiruzen turned to Kiyosuke and Kakashi.
"You two wait here."
"Yes, sir."
The two of them leapt into the trees and concealed themselves.
Kiyosuke crossed his arms and watched from above.
Hiruzen wasn't going to lay a hand on Orochimaru.
That man had raised him like his own son. In his old age, Hiruzen's heart had gone soft. He no longer had the ruthless decisiveness of his youth.
Sure enough, Orochimaru burst out of the base, fleeing at high speed.
Kakashi blocked his path, lightning crackling in his hand.
"Raikiri!"
Raikiri—the more powerful evolution of Chidori—stabbed toward Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru didn't dodge. Instead, he slashed at Kakashi with a kunai, forcing him to leap back and evade. The difference in combat experience between them was far too great.
Kakashi quickly turned to counter, but Orochimaru was already upon him. The kunai sliced forward, splitting Kakashi's mask in two.
A chill ran down Kakashi's spine. The gap between them was overwhelming.
"Nice eye you've got," Orochimaru said, licking the kunai with his tongue.
"But I don't need a fake."
A snake slithered up Orochimaru's body. He glanced at it and smiled.
"Cute thing. Are you thirsting for his blood too?"
The snake opened its mouth, revealing an explosive tag tucked inside the roof of its mouth.
Boom!
Orochimaru barely dodged in time, clutching his ribs on the right side.
The explosion had caught him—several ribs broken, flesh shredded and mangled.
"Don't move!"
"Yeah! Don't move, sensei!"
Kiyosuke appeared behind Orochimaru, pressing a kunai to his back.
"Was that your doing just now, Kiyosuke?"
"No, sensei. You know me—I'd never stick an explosive tag in a place like that."
"Then it must've been Third." Orochimaru clutched his wound, barely even sparing Kiyosuke and Kakashi a glance as he walked off.
Kakashi was drenched in cold sweat. Being stared down by those cold, snakelike eyes had felt like being plunged into a frozen abyss.
"So that's... Orochimaru? Terrifying! Kiyosuke, why didn't you stop him?"
"Do you really think I could bring myself to do it?" Kiyosuke shrugged.
"And what the hell was Third-sama thinking, bringing me here to stop my own teacher? As if any of us could."
"It was a mission."
"Oh, come on. Orochimaru taught me for years. If it were you, you couldn't do it either. Third-sama let him go without a scratch—clearly, he couldn't do it either. It's fine if we fail this mission."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know."
Kiyosuke nodded.
"But either way, we can't catch up to him now."
"You just don't want to catch up, do you?"
There was no doubt that Kiyosuke could've caught up to the injured Orochimaru. But he didn't.
"Nope. Can't catch up."
Yeah. He was definitely doing this on purpose.
...
Not long after, Hiruzen emerged with a grim expression. He glanced at the injured Kakashi and at Kiyosuke, who looked completely unbothered. He sighed.
"Let's go."
The group departed.
A shadow silently pursued the direction Orochimaru had fled...
...
Nightfall.
Anbu Headquarters.
A large number of Anbu had gathered. Hiruzen and Danzō stood at the top of the stairs.
Hiruzen began,
"I know many of you are already on important missions. But this emergency assembly has one goal—capturing the defector, Orochimaru."
"According to the report, he's seriously injured. Given the extent of his injuries, leaving the Land of Fire won't be easy. Listen carefully. Orochimaru's knowledge, intel, and techniques are a precious asset to Konoha. We must bring him back alive if possible. If he escapes the Land of Fire, it will deal a devastating blow to our village."
"This is a race against Orochimaru—and against time. For Konoha's sake, I ask that you all search with everything you have."
"Disperse!"
The Anbu vanished into the night.
Kiyosuke stood up slowly, cast a glance at Danzō, and let out a snort under his mask as he strolled off.
"Look at him, Hiruzen! Just look at him!" Danzō snapped. "That's Orochimaru's disciple! I say we detain him now. Once he's proven innocent, we can release him!"
Hiruzen looked at him and said,
"If you have Nine-Tails-level combat strength, I won't object."
Danzō fell silent. Even he couldn't withstand that level of power.
Still, he refused to give up.
"Then at least retrieve the Jinchūriki! We can't let him keep raising the boy. He's Orochimaru's disciple—we can't risk him passing on his madness!"
Hiruzen gave the same reply,
"If you have Nine-Tails-level combat strength, I won't object."
"Ugh..."
That shut him up completely. Danzō didn't know what else to say.
"I'll assist with the search myself."
"Apologies for the trouble." Hiruzen sighed, as if he'd aged several years all at once, and left the Anbu base.
Danzō returned to the Root and mobilized a large number of Root operatives to hunt down Orochimaru.