They traveled in pairs, planting God Trees to devour all life on a planet. Main family members returned home, leaving branch members behind to watch over the harvest. The soulless body described in the scroll belonged to such a branch member, ancestor of the Hyuga Clan.
Though much remained sealed, it was enough to shake Orochimaru with excitement. Eternal life was real. Bodies died, but souls could endure.
Six years passed.
In that time, Orochimaru believed he fully controlled Yunchuan Hyuga. The boy looked at him with trust and obeyed every experiment, even approaching the Third Hokage or carrying messages to Danzo despite his fear. Though lacking talent as a ninja, he showed sharp curiosity in research, often giving Orochimaru unexpected ideas.
It was rare enough to make Orochimaru hesitate. But greed for truth and immortality won in the end.
Until now.
Facing the boy who struck suddenly and the headless corpse beside him, Orochimaru felt disbelief. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Yunchuan Hyuga smiled. "Thank you, Orochimaru sir. True ignorance is not lacking knowledge, but refusing to seek it. Weakness is not the problem. Arrogance is."
Because of arrogance, Orochimaru never saw the threat. He focused only on the body, ignoring all the signs before him.
Realizing this, Orochimaru laughed in anger. "Do you think you can escape me?"
He vanished in an instant. Killing intent burst forth, and a kunai broke the air at terrifying speed. Yunchuan Hyuga did not dodge, but stepped into its path.
Blood sprayed as the blade cut half his neck. Yet he smiled, silently mouthing, "You still could not strike my heart."
A crash echoed. Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared behind Orochimaru, roaring in fury.
Yunchuan Hyuga closed his eyes on the table, thinking his last thought. Bound by the Caged Bird, given the worst role, but still the best actor.
Drip… drip…
The sound of water echoed layer after layer inside an arched space, mixed with a sobbing wind from nowhere. Damp mold carried the smell of old rust straight into the nose.
A pitch black cat lay low in the shadows, its paws toying with several half dead white snakes. When a snake stopped moving, the cat loosened its grip, letting the body twitch again before pressing it down once more, showing a clear sense of cruel amusement.
But soon, as if sensing something, the black cat raised its head. Only then did its appearance become clear.
The cat was completely black, yet its eyes were one white and one black. To an ordinary person, it would look like a cat blind in one eye, but no one knew that the white eye was the "Byakugan" coveted by the other Four Great Ninja Villages.
After all, the Kirigakure Jonin known as "Ao" was called the "Byakugan Killer" just for possessing a single Byakugan, and even made it into Konoha's Bingo Book. No one would ever imagine that a madman would transplant something as precious as a Byakugan into a cat.
Yet someone had done exactly that. The black cat lowered its head, bit the corpse of a white snake, and turned into a fleeting shadow as it leapt into the darkness of the interlaced pipes above, silent as if stepping on clouds.
Perched at a bend in the drainage pipe, the white pupil widened slightly while the black eye narrowed into a thin line, staring at the calm water in the distance. The muddy sewage, deep enough to reach the knees, shimmered with an oily sheen and reflected the rusted pipes overhead.
Drip… drip…
Moments later, ripples spread across the surface as three swift black figures ran across the water, their forms twisting strangely in the reflections. Hiruzen Sarutobi and two ANBU had gone through considerable trouble, encountering many traps and decoys left by Orochimaru before finally finding the correct path through the maze-like underground pipes.
This dark and damp place was suited only for snakes and rats, and Orochimaru's habits truly seemed to be drawing closer to those of a snake. Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly stopped, staring at a rust-covered iron door ahead with a darkened expression, and raised a hand to signal the ANBU to move forward.
Bang!
With the dull crash of the door being forced open, a nauseating stench rushed out, mixing rot, disinfectant, and the sweet reek of decaying flesh. Cold air poured in, making the stomach churn.
Dim yellow light cast harsh shadows, and the sight before them made Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils shrink. The laboratory walls were soaked in dark red stains, forming blotchy, abstract patterns, while hanging bulbs flickered from the impact.
Layer upon layer of blackish brown residue had hardened on the floor, like evidence that could not be washed away. Hiruzen Sarutobi clearly heard the sudden, sharp breathing of the two ANBU beside him as they stared at several cylindrical glass tanks standing in the room.
In the pale green liquid were curled human shapes, skin made translucent and waxy from long immersion. Exposed muscle was stitched together with thread like writhing maggots, and within split chests hearts still beat, while snake-like organs were grafted into the abdomen and tangled with cables that stretched out of the tanks.
There were many such specimens, each marked with blood red numbers like "32," "42," and "65." On iron racks around them sat glass jars filled with organs at different stages of development, twitching unnaturally in the liquid.
"This…" One ANBU's eyes trembled behind the mask.
To be honest, though the scene was shocking, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been mentally prepared. After all, Orochimaru's earliest human experiments had been conducted with the tacit approval of him and the other high level figures of Konoha, in the transplantation of Hashirama's cells.
Those test subjects had volunteered in hopes of reviving Wood Release, which proved that Hiruzen Sarutobi was not softhearted. Even so, standing here, he still felt pity and guilt toward his former student.
That was until he saw, at the deepest part of the lab, two overlapping shadows.
Because Orochimaru had his back to the door, Hiruzen Sarutobi first saw the operating table, a young face, and a throat that had been cut open. There was no smile left on Yunchuan Hyuga's face, only terror, as tears slid down his childish features.
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi, the boy raised a hand and opened his mouth toward him, but no sound came out. Still, Hiruzen Sarutobi could clearly tell what he wanted to say.
"Grandpa Third…" he said.
At that moment, Orochimaru also turned around, the bright and cold light reflecting off his pale face and making the blood-soaked cruelty look even more twisted. At his feet, a headless corpse still sprayed blood, turning the lab into a hellish rain of red.
The impact of this scene hit Hiruzen Sarutobi far harder than the experiments themselves. Most importantly, he recognized that boy and remembered him clearly.
As the honorary principal of the Konoha Ninja Academy, he often made time to give speeches, shaping an image of a kind elder while talking about the Will of Fire. Once, he had chosen Yunchuan Hyuga's class and noticed the overflowing admiration on the child's face during the talk.
Afterward, as usual, the teacher asked the children to write their thoughts. Hiruzen Sarutobi normally never read those essays, but remembering that eager young face, he dug out the paper that had nearly gathered dust.