Hiruzen looked solemn as he stepped into the dimly lit tunnel, flanked by two Jonin… Kakashi and Suzume.
Meanwhile, deep within the secret base, the massive explosion jolted Orochimaru from his research.
"Heh heh... I expected you to arrive sooner, Sarutobi-sensei." Orochimaru murmured as he slowly turned around, his golden, serpentine eyes glinting under the cold light of the laboratory.
At this time, he was still wearing a Jonin vest and a Konoha's forehead protector. His vertical pupils locked onto the three figures emerging from the tunnel.
"Orochimaru...it's really you..." Hiruzen's gaze swept across the laboratory, taking in the floating organs in petri dishes and various experimental equipment. The air was thick with the smell of disinfectant and blood.
There were even several corpses of Ninja wearing Konoha's forehead protectors.
Although he knew Orochimaru had become obsessed with research after the Third Great Ninja War, even collaborating with Danzo, he still found it hard to believe that Orochimaru would use the village's Ninjas as live test subjects!
"How dare you trample on the Will of Fire..." This kind of heinous act made Hiruzen feel nothing but shame toward the previous Hokage.
More importantly, if word got out that the Third Hokage's disciple had been capturing Konoha's Ninjas for human experiments, what would the other clans and civilian Ninjas think? How would they react?!
Thus, Hiruzen had no choice but to clean up this mess himself!
Kakashi and Suzume instantly flashed to Hiruzen's side, drawing their kunai and assuming battle stances.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen formed hand seals at blinding speed before slamming his palms onto the ground.
"Summoning Technique!"
Bang!
As the runes of the summoning technique spread out, after a cloud of smoke erupted, and from within emerged the towering figure of the Monkey King, Enma, wearing a Konoha's forehead protector.
"Huruzen, the enemy is-" Enma crossed his arms, his words cutting off abruptly as he caught sight of the pale face in the shadows.
"Forgive me, Enma. This time... I must clean up my own mess." Hiruzen spoke with deep sorrow.
"With just this much... you won't be able to stop me... sensei." Orochimaru formed a hand seal.
A high-frequency sound wave tore through the air like an invisible blade, making Hiruzen, his two guards, and Enma clutch their ears in pain. Hiruzen even stumbled and fell to the ground.
By the time they recovered, Orochimaru had already appeared behind them, standing at the entrance of the passageway.
Orochimaru glanced back, his slitted pupils swirling with complex emotions as he looked at his teacher one last time. Then, without hesitation, he dashed down the corridor.
At the same time, the secret base's self-destruct mechanism activated. Countless explosive tags detonated, engulfing the facility in a chain reaction of explosions.
"Hokage-sama!" Kakashi, Suzume, and Enma immediately shielded Hiruzen.
…
On the outskirts of Konoha Village, Orochimaru raced through the trees.
'How laughably indecisive...' Recalling Hiruzen's earlier hesitation, Orochimaru curled his lips in mockery.
'What a shame... There was no time to relocate the equipment from the other labs. Now it'll just fall into Danzō's hands.' Orochimaru didn't mourn the loss of the equipment, as all his research data was stored in his mind. With enough time and funding, he could easily rebuild even better labs.
Still, the thought of all those resources falling into Danzo's lap was irritating.
'That old fox Danzo will never let go of this opportunity...'
'Pursuers were likely already on their way.'
Orochimaru kept running.
Soon, he approached Konoha's barrier.
However, the moment he crossed it, the Barrier Team would detect his exit point, and Konoha would immediately know which direction he had fled. The chasing squads would catch up in no time.
Crack…
"Who's there?!"
Orochimaru leaped mid-sprint, hurling several kunai toward the source of the noise.
The kunai embedded themselves into a tree trunk, and Orochimaru landed on a nearby branch.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Applause echoed from the shadows nearby as Menma, wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, stepped forward, with two eerie phantoms floating behind him.
When he saw the three mysterious masked figures, Orochimaru's pupils constricted slightly.
Even though he spent most of his time holed up in his lab, Orochimaru had heard of the infamous Ninja who had recently risen to prominence in the Ninja World, a man who called himself Shura.
Not only had he attacked Konoha Village, leaving the Hyuga Clan's head and his brother lightly and severely wounded, but he had later assaulted Kumogakure, inflicting heavy casualties.
The incident had forced Kumogakure to immediately cease hostilities with Konoha and issue a staggering 70 million Ryo bounty on the mysterious assailant!
"Khu khu, it seems that you are a Ninja from Konoha." A hint of intrigue flashed in Orochimaru's cold snake eyes.
"As expected of one of the Legendary Sannin. But you've only guessed half right." Behind Menma, the figures of Shinigami and Tennyo hovered ominously in the air.
Orochimaru's assumption wasn't unfounded… after all, Shura had first appeared in Konoha, struck again in Kumogakure, and now precisely intercepted his escape route.
Clearly, this man had an intimate understanding of Konoha's barrier system, strongly suggesting he was, or had been, a Konoha's Ninja!
This immediately reminded Orochimaru of the mysterious figure behind the Nine-Tails Rampage three years ago.
Though much of that night had been suppressed, as one of Konoha's high-ranking people and the Third Hokage's disciple, Orochimaru still knew the truth of what had happened.
While the identity of the one who controlled the Nine-Tails and attacked Kushina remained unknown, many had witnessed the Sharingan in the fox's eyes.
"Fascinating... Truly fascinating." " Orochimaru stared at the three masked figures, his instincts sending a chill down his spine… especially when he looked at Shinigami.
'A powerhouse capable of wreaking havoc in Kumogakure, yet lurking in Konoha Village for so long... and now, precisely cutting off my escape...'
Orochimaru's mind raced, the thrill of deduction making him unconsciously lick his lips. With a sinister smirk, he asked, "So... what do you want? Or rather… what do you seek from me?"
Given that this mysterious Ninja could move freely between Konoha Village and Kumogakure, his strength was undoubtedly immense.
Therefore, Orochimaru knew he couldn't afford to be delayed here. They were still within Konoha's barrier range, and if a battle broke out, the Third Hokage and Danzo's pursuers would arrive in no time. If the masked man simply fled, Orochimaru would be the one left in danger.
The longer this dragged on, the worse it was for him!
"Oh? How cooperative." Menma chuckled lightly before stating his demand: "Hashirama's cells."
"!!!"
Orochimaru's pupils trembled!
Only one person knew he possessed Hashirama's cells, and that is Danzo, his former collaborator!
"You're not one of Danzo's men!" But Orochimaru immediately rejected his own suspicion with certainty.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What does matter is that if you don't leave soon... Kakashi and Kinoe will catch up." Menma's tone was mocking, yet he casually dropped a name that sent Orochimaru's mind into chaos.
'Kinoe!'
That was the only surviving test subject from Orochimaru's Hashirama's cells experiments, but later taken by Danzo Even as Danzo's collaborator, Orochimaru only knew him by his current designation, Kinoe.
'Just how much does this man know?'
Without hesitation, Orochimaru's throat convulsed before he reached in and pulled out a slime-covered scroll from his mouth.
"This is what you want!" Orochimaru threw the scroll with a sinister look in his eyes, and quickly broke through in the direction of the village's barrier.
The moment he crossed the barrier protecting the village, Orochimaru turned his head and imprinted the figure of Shura clearly in his mind.
'This debt... I will repay it without fail!'