Rainy night.
After four hours of forced march, Orochimaru led Ryun and a chunin named Hyuga Nisshō to the outskirts of Ryūmon Town.
Through Ryun's deliberate inquiry, this Hyuga of the "Nisshō" generation indeed had close blood ties with Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hizashi. He was Hiashi's cousin. Although born earlier than Hiashi, he was unlucky. His father belonged to the branch family, so he, who had no connection to the main family, was early marked with the "Caged Bird Seal."
"Nisshō, use the Byakugan to record the nearby garrison distribution," Orochimaru ordered in a low voice.
"Understood!"
"Byakugan, activate!"
As veins bulged around his eyes, Hyuga Nisshō began recording all the visible ninja garrison forces on a white cloth.
The three of them wandered around the outskirts of Ryūmon Town for nearly two and a half hours, roughly recording the military intelligence within the Byakugan's range.
"Next, we will enter the town!"
By a muddy small river, Orochimaru reminded them with a solemn expression.
Ryun and Hyuga Nisshō nodded heavily.
As Orochimaru formed hand seals, three special pythons instantly opened their mouths wide. The three carefully entered the snakes' bellies.
Inside Ryūmon Town, by a certain riverbank.
Three small pythons as thick as an arm swam ashore from the muddy river.
Soon, the pythons opened their disproportionately large mouths, and Orochimaru's three figures slowly crawled out from the snakes' bellies.
As soon as they emerged, Hyuga Nisshō gasped for breath, while Ryun and Orochimaru appeared relatively relaxed, their breathing steady.
"This place is not safe!"
Orochimaru used the Snake Binding Technique to grab Hyuga Nisshō's body, then immediately activated the Body Flicker Technique, disappearing from the spot with Ryun.
The three soon appeared inside a damp and dark house.
"It feels too smooth..."
While Hyuga Nisshō used the Byakugan to record the garrison intelligence, Orochimaru unconsciously frowned.
They were now very close to the Rain-nin stationed area, but they had encountered very few ninjas along the way.
Given Ryūmon Town's importance, the number of patrolling ninjas should not be so few. The actual defensive capability seemed very poor, which was unreasonable.
"Are there any unusual movements at the Rain-nin gathering point?" Orochimaru asked.
Hyuga Nisshō, using the Byakugan, saw clusters of moving human-shaped chakra, but this alone could not fully determine what they were doing...
"No major movements for now."
Orochimaru fell silent for a moment. "Continue recording the intelligence you see."
"Understood." Hyuga Nisshō nodded, then resumed writing on the white cloth.
"I have a bad feeling..."
Ryun stood by the window, murmuring as he watched the drizzling rain.
Orochimaru frowned upon hearing this. Before the intelligence was fully recorded, even if there was danger, they could not leave.
"Stand guard outside first. Wait a little longer. Once Nisshō completes the recording, we can leave..."
Ryun silently jumped out of the window, then climbed onto the roof, activating the Three Tomoe Sharingan.
"Rainwater..."
Catching the falling rain in his hand, Ryun's sense of unease grew stronger.
In the original work, Pain used a perception-type secret technique called "Rain Tiger at Will Technique." Ryun suspected this technique might originate from Amegakure, and he sensed a faint abnormality from the rainwater.
Just earlier, the outskirts of Ryūmon Town were under light drizzle, but after entering Ryūmon Town and approaching the Rain-nin stationed area, the rain suddenly intensified.
Ryun did not believe this was a coincidence.
Unfortunately, even knowing there might be a problem, for the sake of intelligence, given Orochimaru's personality, he would likely still not retreat. Thus, Ryun felt no need to mention this.
Orochimaru clearly also had a feeling earlier, yet he still ordered Hyuga Nisshō to continue scouting for intelligence.
"A large number of Rain-nin are suddenly moving! They must have discovered us!" Hyuga Nisshō suddenly exclaimed in alarm.
"Don't panic. Check which direction has fewer Rain-nin..." Orochimaru first took the intelligence white cloth from Hyuga Nisshō, then calmly spoke.
"Southeast direction! That direction has the weakest defensive force!" Hyuga Nisshō urgently replied.
"Oro..."
The next moment, a colorful giant snake swallowed the terrified Hyuga Nisshō whole. This cold scene was witnessed by Ryun outside the window.
Chunin Hyuga Nisshō was most likely gone.
"The rainwater might be problematic..." Ryun calmly stated his opinion.
He had long witnessed Orochimaru killing companions. To be honest, he was indeed panicked when he first saw it. But as his strength grew, his mindset rapidly changed.
In the original work, when the Sannin were trapped by Iwa-nin in a mountain, Orochimaru's first thought was to kill the injured Jiraiya to avoid being dragged down.
Hyuga Nisshō had now completed his mission, his value exhausted.
During the upcoming breakout, Orochimaru and Ryun could not afford to care for Hyuga Nisshō. Rather than letting him die at the hands of Rain-nin and leak intelligence, it was better to have their own people destroy the body.
"Head southeast... retreat!"
As Orochimaru's voice fell, the two instantly disappeared from the spot.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
While fleeing, noticing the enemies closely pursuing them, the two immediately created shadow clones to disrupt the pursuers' vision, while their real bodies continued fleeing southeast at full speed.
Moments later.
At the southeast corner, four Rain-nin jonin who had received the enemy intrusion signal, along with a small group of chunin and genin, blocked their path.
Upon meeting, one Rain-nin jonin immediately used a large-scale ninjutsu: "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Under the heavy rain, a violent flood directly crashed toward the fleeing duo.
The two instantly halted. Orochimaru quickly formed hand seals and used an earth-release ninjutsu.
"Earth Release: Triple Earth Wall!"
Rumbling!
Three thick earthen walls abruptly rose from the ground. The flood shattered two walls before splitting into diverted streams.
"Do not engage, disperse and break through!"
Orochimaru shouted, then fled to the right.
Ryun, receiving the order, fled to the left.
"Summoning Technique!"
Orochimaru bit his finger and summoned a giant snake from Ryūchi Cave. Standing on the snake's head, he charged straight toward the town's exit.
This move had pros and cons. While it increased escape speed, it also unavoidably drew attention, as a giant summon was too conspicuous.
Ryun thought of letting his good teacher attract more enemy firepower, so he temporarily suppressed the thought of using the Summoning Technique.
Among the four jonin, three targeted Orochimaru, while the remaining one led a group of low-rank Rain-nin to pursue Ryun.