Listening to the gossip around him, a faint curve lifted beneath Serpent Kabuto's hood—a smile tinged with mockery and calculation.
"Uchiha Sasuke… so your name resurfaces once again."
"But… Haruno Sakura?"
He murmured the two names under his breath.
The viewers of the Heavenly Screen immediately caught the connection.
This lined up perfectly with the earlier arc where Haruno Sakura had taken center stage—Sasuke's attack on Konoha, Sakura becoming a trainee of the Divine Knights. It was the same point in the timeline.
"So… Konoha truly is in turmoil now," Serpent Kabuto said lightly, almost amused. "Its strongest have fallen. Internal strife festers… A perfect time for a 'return.'"
There was no trace of belonging in his tone. If anything, his so-called "return" carried the scent of opportunism.
"Konoha's 'legacy'… the quality of its departed legends surpasses the rest of the shinobi world."
Greed flickered in his eyes.
"The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. Uchiha Madara. And countless prodigies throughout history… Their cells, their genetic information—these are the finest materials for constructing the ultimate Impure World Reincarnation army."
The screen showed Serpent Kabuto infiltrating Konoha.
Though his strength now exceeded Orochimaru's former self, he remained exceedingly cautious.
Like a ghost, he slipped through the village's defensive grid, exploiting his deep understanding of its security systems. Stealth, disguise, and sensory precision allowed him to operate within Konoha's shadows without detection.
Patiently.
Meticulously.
He gathered what he needed—fragments of legends.
The process was slow and deliberate, revealing a terrifying level of restraint.
Then—
While collecting materials at a concealed location, Kabuto suddenly paused.
His mutated sensory abilities had picked up a familiar chakra signature.
"This presence is…"
He tilted his head slightly beneath the hood, surprise flashing briefly before softening into something more complicated.
"Karin…?"
He whispered her name.
That loud, red-haired girl from Orochimaru's base.
Silence lingered as he weighed his options.
At last, a faint smile surfaced—tinged with nostalgia, curiosity, and cold calculation.
"Very well… I'll pay an old friend a visit."
He seemed to convince himself.
"If Karin is here… then Uchiha Sasuke—the brat who 'killed' Orochimaru-sama—must be nearby as well. Still chasing revenge, perhaps? Hah."
His chuckle carried open disdain.
"To wallow in personal hatred… to obsess over individual vendettas… How narrow."
He stood, brushing nonexistent dust from his cloak.
"True power lies in transcending life and death—turning history itself into one's chessboard."
With that, he vanished into the shadows, moving silently toward Karin's chakra signature.
Across the shinobi world, alarm bells rang.
This monstrously dangerous Serpent Kabuto was about to intersect with Karin and Sasuke—two equally volatile forces—on Konoha's already unstable stage.
"He's going after Karin? Why? To reconnect—or manipulate?"
"Karin's with Sasuke, right? Is he planning something against Sasuke?"
"He calls Sasuke's revenge childish… but what does he want?"
"He's still collecting DNA! How many monsters does he intend to summon?!"
Speculation surged again.
Kabuto's long-term objective—his undead army—was clear.
But his decision to approach Karin and Sasuke now?
That was murky.
Alliance? Exploitation? Something else entirely?
The Heavenly Screen shifted.
Thanks to his precise sensory ability, Serpent Kabuto located his target quickly.
But when he actually saw where Karin was—
Even he hesitated.
Karin was sitting boldly atop one of Konoha's most iconic landmarks—
The Hokage Rock.
She swung her legs casually, as though sunbathing in her own backyard.
No attempt at concealment.
No caution whatsoever.
Brazen beyond belief.
"…That position is far too conspicuous."
Kabuto hesitated in the shadows.
Appearing openly in such a location carried immense risk. It ran counter to his usual secrecy.
He wanted to quietly harvest Konoha's strongest remains.
Then develop in the shadows.
And stun the world later.
Seeing this, the real Kabuto in the present couldn't help rubbing his forehead.
A soft sigh escaped him as he addressed Karin beside him.
"The 'me' on that screen… is likely making a miscalculation."
"He doesn't know you are the so-called 'Demon Child'—nor how strange your abilities truly are."
"In his eyes, you're probably just a former colleague with keen sensory skills and an excitable personality."
"To approach you under that assumption—while you're sitting somewhere so obvious… He may suffer greatly."
His concern was entirely analytical—rooted in information disparity.
Karin, however, puffed out her chest proudly.
She sprang up and patted Kabuto on the shoulder.
"Relax, Kabuto! Even if that ugly 'you' doesn't know how awesome I am, I definitely won't beat you to death!"
She said it as though granting an enormous favor.
Kabuto staggered slightly from the enthusiastic slap. His lips twitched.
Looking at her innocent, heroic expression, he forced out through clenched teeth:
"…I truly thank you for that."
Won't beat me to death?
So she would still beat me—just not lethally?
He felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
Karin mistook his tone entirely.
She waved cheerfully.
"Of course! We're basically teammates now, right?"
"Yes, yes… Lady Karin is absolutely correct."
Kabuto's smile returned—gentle as ever.
Orochimaru watched the interaction with open amusement.
After a moment, he chuckled lightly.
"You two seem to get along quite well."
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