Chapter 143: The Slaughtered Village
As Orochimaru rushed toward the front line, constantly analyzing the information in his mind, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of something abnormal!
His figure, which had been darting with ghostly speed, abruptly halted.
Orochimaru stood like a rigid pine tree on the branch of a towering tree, gazing into a particular direction far ahead.
Swish, swish, swish! The gathered Konoha ninja respectfully settled behind Orochimaru. They all followed the gaze of their cold and imposing superior, and immediately, almost everyone's face filled with confusion.
It was an ordinary-looking clearing in the woods, seemingly without any anomalies.
Chi landed half a step behind Orochimaru. His ordinarily dull eyes suddenly flashed with a knife-like sharpness. He vaguely sensed something was wrong with the clearing but couldn't pinpoint it immediately.
Orochimaru leaped down, landing firmly in the clearing.
The clearing was about the size of two or three football fields, which seemed unnaturally large for a typical forest clearing.
Thud, thud, thud! Figures landed one after another behind Orochimaru. When the Konoha ninja actually stepped onto the clearing, their excellent qualities as major-nation shinobi allowed them to keenly sense that something was amiss.
Orochimaru ignored the others. His dark-golden eyes swept back and forth across the entire large clearing. He slowly walked toward the shrubs at the edge of the area.
The lush green shrubs were growing unusually low and neatly trimmed. Some were even sprouting new buds, and there were faint traces around the shrubs that suggested they had been artificially pruned and cleaned.
Orochimaru frowned slightly. He slowly walked toward the center of the clearing, his eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet.
The Konoha ninja watched Orochimaru's actions with confusion.
Orochimaru crouched down and grabbed a handful of dirt. After carefully examining its texture, he found it to be unusually dry. He held it to his nose, but the earthy smell was barely noticeable.
He tilted his hands and rubbed them together. The dirt slowly crumbled into fine dust, scattering from the gaps between his fingers.
Orochimaru's dark-golden eyes fixed intently on the subtle composition. Suddenly, his gaze erupted with a razor-sharp fierceness, and a faint killing intent rapidly spread outward. The soil contained fine, yellowish sand.
Uncovering the Horror
Standing up, Orochimaru suddenly clenched his right hand. Pure Chakra was instantly refined and gathered into his fist.
His gaze sharpened—Monster Strength Taijutsu, Monster Strength Fist!
Boom! Orochimaru's right fist slammed hard into the solid ground.
The surging Chakra and the fierce, explosive punch were driven deep into the earth by his right hand.
Crackling sounds followed rapidly. The solid ground could not withstand such a violent punch and began to fracture and burst apart. With long, narrow, fragmented fissures radiating outward like a spiderweb, large chunks of earth instantly broke apart and rolled over, kicking up huge clouds of dust and smoke.
Just as the Konoha ninja were stunned by Orochimaru's terrifying strength, they suddenly realized a horrifying and sickening situation.
From the chunks of dirt and rubble that were rolling up like waves, an intense stench of rotting corpses suddenly erupted. Scattered and revealed within the earth were shocking, gruesome bodies.
Orochimaru's eyes were filled with killing intent; he had vaguely guessed what this was.
Looking at the long-dead bodies, Orochimaru turned to the stunned Konoha ninja and called out: "Medical ninja, step forward!"
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru!" The medical ninja were now completely subdued by the astonishing insight and power Orochimaru had displayed. After all, rumors could not compare to the direct, real, and impactful sight of the truth.
Orochimaru ordered emotionlessly: "Examine the identities of these deceased people, their cause of death, and the time of death!"
He paused, then continued his commands: "The rest of the ninja, use your jutsu to overturn this clearing and see what else is hidden beneath!"
The roar of Ninjutsu tearing up the earth echoed through the woods.
The excellent elite training of a major nation's shinobi gave the Konoha ninja extremely high efficiency, especially with two Anbu squads—the best of Konoha's ninja—present.
Before long, the brothers Aokita and Aokiya came forward to report, joined by Yakushi Tenshu.
Yakushi Tenshu, who, as a medical ninja, was usually gentle in temperament, now spoke with involuntary seriousness and deep anger as he reported to Orochimaru: "Lord Orochimaru, based on the current situation, this was a slaughtered village. The entire village numbered three hundred and twelve people: thirty-two children under twelve years old, thirty-eight elders over fifty years old, one hundred and forty adult men, and one hundred and two women. There are no survivors. The death location for everyone was in the most fatal parts of the human body—the heart, throat, or back—killed by a sharp object. The technique was clean and swift, suggesting it was carried out by foreign ninja. The time of death was at least two days ago."
Aokita and Aokiya exchanged glances. The older brother, Aokita, stepped forward to add to the report: "We can confirm that these ninja used a jutsu to cover their tracks after the massacre. While the residual Chakra fluctuations have vanished, the composition of the soil left behind by the jutsu clearly contains varying amounts of fine sand. Therefore, I estimate that an elite Sand Ninja squad bypassed the Western Front, penetrated deep into our country's heartland. Their purpose is unknown, but the situation is absolutely dire. Please make a decision quickly, Lord Orochimaru!"
Orochimaru nodded. To reach a conclusion so close to his own judgment in such a short time showed he was relatively satisfied with his subordinates' efficiency.
He glanced at the Konoha ninja gathered around him.
Everyone's face was a mixture of shock and fury. Deeply ingrained in their minds by Konoha's education was the concept that they must not bully or kill unarmed, defenseless civilians. This belief held true even when dealing with enemy civilians, let alone now, when they encountered the slaughtered bodies of their own countrymen.
Even the usually carefree Jiraiya and the generally low-combat-ability medical ninja had eyes blazing with anger.
The crowd gathered around Orochimaru, fearlessly meeting the intense scrutiny of his eyes.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then gave his decisive command...
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