"Ye Cang, if you get a chance to kill that kid in the future, take it!" Chiyo, leaping through the forest, ordered in a low voice.
"Understood, Granny!"
The two moved closer and closer to Sunagakure's camp.
---
On the other side, Uchiha Fugaku, leading the pursuers, suddenly jolted as if struck, his pace faltering slightly.
A ninja behind him noticed the pause. "Captain, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Keep moving." Through the information sent back by his summoning crow earlier, he now knew that the only reinforcement to arrive had been that old woman from Suna, Chiyo.
But turning back to chase Ye Cang now was unrealistic. Fortunately, for this pursuit mission, Orochimaru hadn't given him a kill order. The real cost of this operation was the loss of an Inuzuka clansman. These were all things he would need to explain to Orochimaru upon return.
The team remained silent the rest of the way, returning to the Konoha camp one after another.
Back at camp, Uchiha Fugaku dismissed the pursuit squad and walked toward Orochimaru's command tent.
After announcing himself, Uchiha Fugaku entered.
"You're back, Fugaku," Orochimaru said without looking up, his brush scratching furiously across a report on the desk.
"Orochimaru-sama, my apologies. The pursuit was a failure." Uchiha Fugaku stood just inside the entrance, head bowed.
"Oh?" Orochimaru stopped writing and looked up. His golden, vertical pupils fixed on Uchiha Fugaku. "Tell me. What was the situation?" His bright red tongue flicked out to wet his lips.
Uchiha Fugaku relayed, unhurriedly, what he had seen and heard during the pursuit. He omitted, however, the part where he had observed Chiyo.
"Very well. I understand. You are dismissed, Fugaku. You've worked hard." Orochimaru's gaze returned to his papers.
"Then I shall take my leave." Uchiha Fugaku took a few steps back, turned, and exited the tent, making his way toward the Uchiha section of the camp.
Once Uchiha Fugaku was completely gone, Orochimaru spoke softly. "Kaito, go verify this with the rest of the pursuit team."
A figure slowly materialized from the shadows at the side of the tent and slipped out silently.
---
The Uchiha clan was not well-regarded in the village. Even on the battlefield, they tended to operate in their own groups or be broken up and scattered piecemeal into other squads. No one could deny their combat prowess, however. Once their eyes were awakened, their power increased dramatically. A Sharingan wielder with three tomoe could elevate an average shinobi's strength to jonin level. It was no exaggeration to say the Uchiha alone could act as Konoha's guard force.
Uchiha Fugaku arrived at a tent marked with the Uchiha fan emblem. People on the path, all bearing the fan symbol on their arms or backs, greeted him respectfully.
Back inside the tent, several elder members of the clan appeared one after another.
"Young Master, how did the mission go?"
Uchiha Fugaku removed his jonin vest and tossed it onto a table. He sat down on the simple camp bed, shaking his head slowly without speaking.
Seeing the head shake, the elders exchanged glances, then looked at the weary Uchiha Fugaku. Without another word, they turned and filed out of the tent.
Once they were gone, Fugaku simply lay back on the bed, arms behind his head, staring blankly at the tent ceiling.
When he had reported to Orochimaru earlier, his Sharingan had clearly seen a figure dissolve into the shadows the moment he left. He had volunteered for this mission himself, hoping to improve his standing in Orochimaru's eyes. In Fugaku's estimation, Orochimaru was the most likely candidate for the Fourth Hokage's seat, and thus the best person to help ease the growing tension between the village and the clan. To integrate faster, he had brought most of the clan's moderate, pro-village faction to this front.
But it seemed that wasn't the case. Orochimaru didn't hold their "cursed clan" in particularly high regard.
As the young patriarch, Uchiha Fugaku felt the deepening rift between village and clan more acutely than most.
Just as he was lost in these heavy thoughts, a sudden chill ran down his spine. The pores on his arms contracted instantly.
His black pupils transformed into spinning three-tomoe Sharingan in the blink of an eye.
Uchiha Fugaku vanished from inside the tent.
The moment he flashed outside, chaos erupted. A tent not far away was in disarray, splattered with a flowing green liquid. A stream of it had sprayed precisely where he had just been lying.
Through his Sharingan, Fugaku could see the green liquid emitting a massive, volatile chakra signature.
Several Uchiha clansmen had been splashed with the substance. The chakra within their bodies began to riot violently. Their limbs started to soften, as if being corroded.
Just as Fugaku and the other Uchiha stood momentarily at a loss, a shout cut through the confusion.
"Get back!"
A figure, shrouded in a shimmering, light-blue chakra film, burst from the ruined tent. In a few quick flashes, it appeared in front of the three contaminated Uchiha.
The figure pulled a kunai from its weapon pouch.
"Stop!" Several Uchiha jonin, seeing the drawn blade, instinctively moved to intervene.
"I am the Deputy Director of the Medical Department, Dosuke. If you want them to live, don't interfere." The figure spoke without turning.
The Uchiha froze.
"Let him work," Uchiha Fugaku commanded. His Sharingan had already observed that the moment this "Dosuke" approached the injured, their raging chakra had begun to stabilize.
As Fugaku and the clan members gathered in a concerned circle around Dosuke, Orochimaru approached calmly from a distance.
Orochimaru had already learned the specifics of the pursuit from Sagawa Kaito. He was here now for two reasons: to placate the Uchiha and to check on the Medical Department, which had been relocated to this new camp sector.
As he reached the Uchiha area, he saw the crowd gathered around. Picking up his pace, the first thing that caught his eye was Dosuke's busy, focused form.
Seeing Dosuke was occupied, Orochimaru made no sound to disturb him. Instead, he walked up to Uchiha Fugaku.
"Fugaku. What has happened here?" Orochimaru's distinctive, raspy voice snapped Fugaku to attention.
He turned quickly to face the pale-skinned Sannin. "Orochimaru-sama. There was an incident in our part of the camp. Several of our clansmen were contaminated by that green liquid. Deputy Director Dosuke is treating them." He pointed toward the tent covered in the fluid.
"I see," Orochimaru said. His golden, serpentine pupils dilated sharply at the sight of the green liquid.