"What?"
"That is impossible!"
"Lord Orochimaru..."
"It must be a lie!"
"Lord Orochimaru is one of the Sannin."
"Read the announcement carefully, it was published by the Hokage herself."
"Then... is it true?"
All around the village people were shocked as they read the announcements posted across the streets.
Not only because they had discovered that Orochimaru, considered one of the three heroes of the Second Ninja War for holding back Hanzo of the Salamander together with Tsunade and Jiraiya, the man nicknamed the demigod of the shinobi world, had done something illegal, but because of the cruelty of what he was accused of.
"Human experiments? That crosses the limits of morality, is that even possible?"
"Actually, there were always homeless people outside my shop, but recently they started disappearing. I thought the ninjas had driven them away."
"Yes, I had a friend, he was homeless. He came to my shop every day to ask for leftovers. One day he stopped coming without saying anything. Could it be...?"
"And I..."
As soon as one person spoke it was like a small fuse that started a fire. Everyone began talking and realized there were many missing people in Konoha they had never paid attention to before.
...
While they argued, outside Konoha, in the Forest of Death, inside his main underground laboratory, Orochimaru hurriedly sealed all his medical equipment into a scroll before beginning his escape.
Barely a minute after he left, an ANBU group appeared at the location.
"There are recent traces. He left not long ago heading east."
"Understood!"
They all disappeared instantly, and less than five minutes later the fastest ones managed to catch up with him.
"Fireball Jutsu."
The jonin at the front formed hand seals and a ball of fire shot toward Orochimaru.
"Multiple Shadow Bullet Jutsu."
While Orochimaru easily dodged the fireball, a member of the Nara clan fired several shadow bullets in sequence toward the place where his teammate had launched the fire.
"Lord Orochimaru, surrender and we will show mercy" declared the third ANBU to arrive when he saw the situation.
His answer came from behind in the form of a sword that pierced his heart before heading toward the other two who had arrived earlier.
Both stopped their attacks to block the sword, but the blade was too fast, managing to cut the neck of one while the other was caught off guard when Orochimaru emerged from underground behind him and snapped his neck instantly.
It took him only ten seconds to kill three ANBU jonin. Something incredible, yet still too slow. In those brief ten seconds the full ANBU squad had already arrived.
Seeing this, Orochimaru knew he could no longer escape easily, so he decided to fight.
He looked at them with a smile and his long snake like tongue licked his lips while his eyes fixed on each of them like a predator analyzing prey.
The pressure of one of the Sannin was enough to make the entire squad step back unconsciously.
"Is this... worth it? For Kushina?"
"It is Orochimaru, there is no way we can fight him."
"Let us retreat. We will tell Kushina we could not capture him."
Orochimaru listened to their discussion and frowned immediately.
"Cowards who want to run away? Trash, how many people have you killed?" he asked with a sinister smile.
However one of the ANBU seemed to misunderstand him and stepped forward confidently.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. I have also killed several normal civilians, they are just trash. We can let you go, do not worry..."
Kugh.
Before he could continue speaking, the Kusanagi sword cut his neck just like the previous one.
"L-Lord Orochimaru, there is no need to fight. We will let you go. If you do not leave now more squads will keep arriving and you will not be able to escape."
"More squads?"
Orochimaru smiled as if he were looking at idiots.
"Did you not realize? They only sent trash so I would take care of them."
Even though he called them trash, Orochimaru still killed them all.
As a normal civilian who had risen to become one of Hiruzen's disciples, his talent was as incredible as expected. He possessed talent in all five chakra natures.
In half a minute he had already finished the entire squad.
Then he split into dozens of small snakes that scattered in every direction trying to escape.
But all of them were pierced by a kunai at the same time, dying instantly.
At that exact moment an enormous fireball was launched toward a tree. Before it struck, Orochimaru emerged from the shadows and dodged the explosion.
When he appeared again he smiled without fear and looked in the direction the attack had come from.
"By your appearance you must be the Black and White Demon" he said while observing the ninja in front of him. "Although judging by your appearance, perhaps it would be more correct to call you Hinata."
Despite having been trained for years, Hinata's true personality was not completely hidden. When she heard her identity being discovered so easily she slightly frowned and unconsciously clenched her fist, details that Orochimaru immediately noticed.
"So I was right. I am curious. Kushina must have known about my operations for a long time, why is she only coming after me now?
No... rather than wondering why she waited so long, I am curious about what makes her need to capture me right now."
Faced with Orochimaru's attempt to extract information, Hinata simply remained silent.
"So you will not say anything?"
Hinata still did not respond. Instead she threw a semi transparent cube that erased everything inside a one meter cubic space.
Orochimaru managed to dodge thanks to his incredible agility, but at the cost of one arm that was caught within the area and completely erased.
However this was not a problem for Orochimaru. The lost arm immediately began regenerating and in less than three seconds it was as good as new.
"Dust Release... you continue to surprise me. How can your body withstand so many incompatible elements at the same time? What keeps everything together?" Orochimaru said as he faced the most interesting test subject of his life.
He then launched a water attack shaped like a wave toward Hinata, but she easily avoided it by teleporting.
As soon as she appeared again, right behind Orochimaru, she found that the one standing there was no longer him but a massive snake that extended its body and opened its mouth toward her.
Hinata did not dodge immediately. Instead she waited.
Manda's mouth was so large that Hinata could easily fit inside even after the jaws closed.
Once inside, Hinata used lava explosion in both hands, striking the inside of its mouth before teleporting away.
"Arghhh!"
Manda roared in pain as its mouth burned from the inside before retreating and coiling around where Orochimaru stood.
"Orochimaru, where did you bring me? That girl is very strong."
Orochimaru did not answer. There was no one to answer.
In the next instant Manda's entire head was erased by Dust Release.
Orochimaru barely managed to escape again at the cost of his other arm, which also regenerated, although much slower than the previous one.
Knowing victory would be difficult, Orochimaru began using different escape techniques to dodge the attacks while trying to gather information.
"You know? Manda is... was a monster with decades of experience...
...comparable to Katsuyu or Gamabunta...
...even capable of fighting tailed beasts for a while...
...but you killed it with a single attack...
...although it was not you, it was Dust Release, a kekkei genkai...
...isn't that incredible? Decades of experience and monstrous strength can...
...be nothing against the right kekkei genkai.
That is why kekkei genkai are so powerful...
...that is why I want to improve the human body...
...to fuse the power of kekkei genkai...
...to turn it into the most powerful weapon...
...to become...
...what you are."
Even though Orochimaru kept talking while dodging the deadly attacks, Hinata did not respond even once.
Remembering their earlier conversation, Orochimaru smiled as an idea formed in his mind.
"Why do you not respond? Could it be that you actually have nothing to say, because in reality... there is no plan? Perhaps the one who sent you simply told you to conquer the world or something like that without any real plan?"
"Shut up! I will not allow you to insult Lord Kaito!"
'Bingo!' Orochimaru exclaimed in his mind. 'I found her weakness.'
"What is it? Is that not true? Otherwise why are you only attacking me now? Why is Danzo still alive? Is it not because Kaito is a fool who worries about consequences?" he continued provoking her.
Crack.
Several cracking sounds echoed as all the surrounding trees moved toward Orochimaru and restrained him from every direction.
'Large area attacks, easy to identify later. She was probably not using them because she does not want anyone to know she was here' Orochimaru analyzed while trapped among the branches.
"To think that in the end I would not die for some grand purpose, but simply because of a powerful fool without a brain" he sighed.
"Kaito is not a fool! Danzo is still alive because he has a purpose. And you were still alive until now because you were needed to support Danzo, but not anymore!" Hinata burst out.
'I supported Danzo but I am no longer necessary. Then it must be something that started recently. The attack on the Uchiha?' Orochimaru thought, although he decided to keep probing.
"I see. He only wants Danzo to deal with those Uchiha so he does not carry the blame. Exactly the same as Hiruzen. In the end Kaito is just like the coward Hiruzen."
"He is not! Kaito wants Danzo to push the Uchiha to the limit so that in the end they decide to separate from Konoha, and he will take them to his worl..."
While speaking, even Hinata realized she had said too much and immediately fell silent.
But Orochimaru was already smiling.
He had obtained all the information he wanted.
He transformed into dozens of small snakes while fleeing.
"No, this is bad. If he escapes then I..."
Without thinking too much, Hinata changed her own weight making herself lighter and flew as high as she could before creating an enormous Dust Release cube that covered the entire forest and throwing it.
Once the attack reached the desired position it activated instantly.
A gigantic cube, nearly the size of the entire Forest of Death, erased the entire forest along with several dozen meters underground.
Seeing that, Hinata panicked.
"Ah... I... what did I do? This will definitely attract attention."
Before she could think further, a hand touched her shoulder from behind.
When she turned around she saw a red haired woman with black wings on her back looking at her seriously.
"Miss Kushina, I..."
"I know, do not worry. With me here I can take responsibility for this and Konoha will believe it" Kushina tried to calm her.
"Then..." Hinata's expression visibly relaxed at her words, but Kushina interrupted her again.
"Do not relax yet. I saw everything. You lost your composure during the battle, you gave information to your enemy and finally disobeyed orders not to attract attention. They told me you only had theoretical experience and almost no practical experience, but even so those are very serious mistakes."
"I-I am sorry."
"Go home for now. I will handle the situation. I will decide your punishment later."
Hinata nodded guiltily and disappeared from the place.
Kushina watched her leave and sighed, then looked down at the ground, where there was now a massive smooth cube shaped hole.
"At least no one was there."
Although if someone had been there and had survived, Kushina would have made sure to kill them. Someone capable of surviving something like that would have the ability to hear the conversation between Hinata and Orochimaru, and that would be a serious problem.
Fortunately, both before and after the attack, while monitoring Hinata, Kushina had not sensed anyone nearby.
Detecting no one else, Kushina flew toward Konoha, where she could already sense ninjas approaching to check the situation.
Without Kushina knowing, once she left, from beneath a rock a black shadow with a humanoid shape emerged.
An almost cartoonish smile spread across its face as it spoke.
"How interesting."
After saying that it disappeared into the ground while moving away into the distance without anyone noticing.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)