Almost the instant his words fell, Orochimaru's snake-like pupils suddenly contracted into two blade-sharp lines.
At the same time, all intelligence related to the man before him flashed rapidly through his mind.
'Aizen Sousuke...'
Though from the same class as Kakashi, aside from decent learning ability, his talent, physique, and background were all unremarkable. After graduating from the ninja academy at age nine, he entered Konoha Hospital as a medical genin.
During the Third Shinobi War, he had no outstanding achievements, merely using his status as a medical ninja to avoid the front-line meat grinder in the rear, and was promoted to chunin at age twelve.
After the war ended, he began participating in research work and was promoted to jounin several years ago through developmental research in Yin Release bloodline limits.
His life resume might be considered excellent among young Konoha ninja, but for someone of his so-called 'stature,' it seemed too ordinary. Moreover, being completely blank in bloodline abilities, he had no qualifications to warrant his attention.
Was it precisely because of this that he could escape his notice?
Orochimaru thought this while his expression inadvertently revealed hints of curiosity:
"Just who are you?"
"A spy, sleeper agent, bloodline family deserter, or... an obscure ambitious man?"
With such an ordinary life resume yet capable of accomplishing such things, it could only mean this man, like Yakushi Kabuto, had discovered his exceptional talent and observational skills from a young age, or had received secret training while evading everyone's sight.
——Truly a remarkable young man.
Orochimaru's eyelids narrowed slightly, his gaze inadvertently revealing some appreciation, and... the deepest killing intent.
"Just a nameless nobody."
The Aizen standing before him seemed completely unable to detect the meaning hidden in Orochimaru's gaze, speaking calmly, "To think someone of your stature would remember my name."
"This is my honor."
"Discovering Wood Release test subjects, guiding my actions, blocking ANBU and Root's vision, finally leading me here..." Orochimaru's voice was flat, his feet stepping toward him like a park stroll, shortening the distance between them.
"A nameless nobody couldn't accomplish these things."
"You flatter me."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, Aizen showed him a slightly bashful smile like a genuine young person.
Orochimaru ignored his words, his voice continuing:
"When did all this begin?"
Wood Release test subjects that even he, a Wood Release research participant, hadn't discovered;
Information concealment from Root and ANBU;
Secret guidance of his actions;
Coveting his experimental information or even more resources...
Just imagining the workload and concealment methods required to accomplish these things made Orochimaru's strongest curiosity continuously grow in an irrepressible form, ultimately transforming into infinite excitement.
"From the beginning."
The man standing before him maintained that polite yet slightly respectful appearance, smiling as he answered: "Whether talent, schemes, coveting, or your failure—everything was destined from the start."
"Orochimaru-sama."
Aizen Sousuke spoke while also stepping toward him, his tone as calm as if merely narrating an insignificant matter, yet his voice cut like a sharp blade through Orochimaru's inner thoughts hidden beneath silence:
"And you are exactly as I judged—narrow-minded and arrogant, emotionally rich yet self-enclosed, while possessing both the determination and ambition to execute your path by any means necessary."
"So you followed suspicion and impulse."
"Finally arriving here."
Orochimaru's pupils contracted slightly at this unprecedented evaluation, the smile on his pale face growing richer, clearly already furious to the extreme, yet his voice became increasingly calm:
"Then, Aizen-kun."
"You who are so skilled at scheming, why do you—"
As the final step fell, his hoarse trailing tone climbed word by word, transforming into a tsunami suddenly surging beneath the calm.
"Dare to stand before me?"
Erupting alongside this voice was the terrifying killing intent unique to the Sannin, standing at the very peak of the contemporary ninja world.
Merely the gaze mixed with murderous intent stirred violent winds around them both. The increasingly vigorous fury ignited surging killing intent that suddenly swept like a storm, the rolling torrent rising in the dense forest with bone-chilling coldness, causing even the tough bark of century-old trees around them to crack inch by inch.
In the center of Orochimaru's highly contracted vision, Aizen Sousuke's face became increasingly clear.
Step forward, advance.
Unimaginable tremendous force heavily crashed onto the soft ground surface, splashing large scattered clods of earth. The explosive reaction force accompanying this propelled his slender form, scraping along the ground in a blurred afterimage barely visible to the naked eye.
The wrist constantly resting at his waist drew his blade with a clang. The incomparably sharp Kusanagi sword reflected a broken arc in the moonlight, wrapped in violent winds, amid the faint sound of a sonic boom, slashing toward the opposite man's neck without question.
Clang——!
That was the splitting sound of metal collision.
Sparkling sparks caused the Kusanagi sword to abruptly stop just one inch from Aizen's neck, deadlocked with a pitch-black kunai, unable to advance another step.
In Orochimaru's vertical pupils, there seemed to flash a moment of astonishment.
Aizen's voice rang out beside his ear.
"Just as I said."
"Orochimaru-sama, you are too arrogant."
Almost the instant his voice fell, a whip-like leg swept fiercely into Orochimaru's waist like black lightning, folding his form in half and sending him flying into the distance amid the dense sound of breaking bones.
Before Orochimaru could rise, the chipped kunai wrapped in howling winds shot straight toward his face.
At the critical moment, Orochimaru's neck suddenly bent sideways, forming a nearly ninety-degree angle.
A muffled thud.
The kunai pierced straight into the tree trunk behind him, leaving only the ring visible.
Following closely after the kunai came the opponent's powerful and heavy straight punch.
Orochimaru barely managed to cross his arms to block. The punch struck his arms with a stone-crushing thud, making even his body, modified countless times, feel long-forgotten pain.
However, the expression on his pale face became increasingly excited.
'Not bad.'
In a flash, the Kusanagi sword in his hand changed from normal grip to reverse grip, slashing forward at a distance almost touching both their forms, tearing through the air with a ripping sound, causing the young man opposite to instinctively step back half a pace.
Before he could react, another suddenly elongated arm had already reached out, grabbing directly toward his shoulder.
The young man was momentarily caught off guard. Hook-like fingers had already clamped fiercely onto his shoulder blade. The arm extended several meters suddenly swung like a whip, actually lifting his entire body to sweep a deadly arc through the air.
Only at the moment before impact did a kunai pierce straight into the center of the arm, severing tendons and bones. The grip that suddenly lost strength was immediately broken free from, and the form flipped to land on a tree trunk.
Using the split second of leverage against the tree trunk, his form shot out again like an arrow from a bow.
Clang!
Kunai and Kusanagi sword collided again.
Under the dim moonlight, their gazes crossed inadvertently, both faces simultaneously showing a trace of smile.
Immediately after, the sound of storm-like collisions continuously rose from deep within the forest, both figures alternately changing positions so fast it was dizzying.
This long-awaited evenly matched battle gradually awakened the dormant hot blood in Orochimaru's heart, as if returning to the battlefields of years past, fighting against countless death-defying ninja.
His speed, his strength, his reactions, his technique...
Everything, absolutely everything, excited Orochimaru immensely.
To master strength only a hair's breadth inferior to his own at such a young age—what secrets could be hidden within this young body?
Just thinking of this point made the greed in those snake pupils involuntarily blaze fiercely.
Making him even more desirous.
Consequently, even the arm wielding the blade seemed to grow more powerful, piercing winds continuously tearing apart beside them both.
The surrounding towering trees burst with vicious cracks on their surfaces, as if two giant beasts were fighting in the forest, inadvertently clashing to tear soil, snap trees, and send up branches and leaves—terrifying to a degree completely unlike battle between ninja.
Also shocked by this battle were the others currently in the monitoring room.
...
Yakushi Kabuto maintained his upward-looking posture with a dazed expression. Not only him alone—the surrounding researchers were equally stunned with wide eyes, all their gazes remaining on the screen covering the entire wall before them.
The young man's palm pressed desperately on the alarm button directly connected to Orochimaru-sama's earpiece on the worktable, continuously pressing for who knows how long, yet receiving no feedback whatsoever.
The man in the footage continued his obsessive combat.
Almost subconsciously, a low, incredulous murmur escaped from Yakushi Kabuto's mouth:
"Orochimaru-sama..."
"What the hell are you doing?!"