Those experimental tools had cost Danzo enormous sums, acquired through special channels. Some of them were items even Root did not normally possess. The loss was not small.
"Was it that guy Orochimaru?" Danzo Shimura raised his head, his narrow eyes filled with dark emotion. "Did he destroy everything rather than leave it to me?"
He quickly rejected the idea. Orochimaru himself had lost an arm to the explosion. With his modified body, recovery might be possible, but his chakra had been nearly exhausted at the time. There was no reason for him to go that far.
Moreover, given Sarutobi's guilt and hesitation toward Orochimaru, he would never act with such ruthless finality. Danzo knew him too well. In fact, Sarutobi might even believe Danzo was responsible.
"Then who else could it be?"
Danzo's brows drew together tightly. He felt as though an invisible hand was manipulating everything from the shadows. The thought left him deeply uneasy.
He thought of the only surviving boy, but reason immediately denied it. Such clean execution, leaving no traces, and ruthless enough to trap both Orochimaru and Sarutobi at once was beyond a fifteen year old.
It was even more impossible for a timid orphan from the branch family of Hyuga Clan. There was no way someone like that could pull this off. The logic did not hold.
"Damn it, who is it?"
Danzo crushed the scroll in his hand. He hated the feeling of an unknown threat hiding in the dark while he could do nothing about it. That sense of powerlessness gnawed at him.
This unseen enemy was extremely dangerous. To Konoha, the threat might even exceed that of Orochimaru. Danzo, known as the darkness of the shinobi world, would not allow such a person to exist.
Better to kill by mistake than let them go.
With that thought, Danzo recalled the Hyuga branch boy. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took another scroll from his robes and wrote several lines of coded text. He handed it to the crow, which took flight at once.
Just a useless branch family member of Hyuga Clan. If he died in some accident, no one would care.
At the same time, within the Land of Fire, hundreds of kilometers away from Konoha, deep in a forest.
Crack.
The sound of a dry branch snapping echoed through the trees, startling birds sheltering from the rain. A figure stumbled out from the shadows, barely keeping his footing.
"Hah, hah."
Orochimaru leaned against a tree, gasping for breath. A metallic taste filled his mouth as blood bubbled up from his throat and burst between his teeth. Each breath was agony.
His left arm was severed at the forearm. Torn red flesh and exposed white bone were clearly visible, and half his clothes were soaked through with blood. The injury was horrific.
This was the most severe and life threatening wound he had suffered since modifying his body. Even with all his preparations, he had underestimated the situation.
He had long anticipated this day, and of course he had left contingencies within the Land of Fire. One of them was a clan called Iburi. They possessed a bloodline ability that allowed them to turn into smoke.
In smoke form, they could enter another person's body and control their movements. However, they had a fatal weakness. If scattered by wind while in smoke form, they would disperse and die.
Because the ability was hard to control, many Iburi clan members died. With his help, they stabilized their power and even extended their lifespans. In return, their blood could heal injuries.
He kept them as living blood supplies. If not for the final blast from the Explosive Tags, even after being injured by the old man, he could have endured long enough to reach them.
"Damn it, damn it, it's all because of that brat!" Orochimaru growled, his hoarse voice filled with hatred.
He reached to his chest and touched the scroll hidden there. Fortunately, the scroll recording ancient secrets was still with him. That alone was a relief.
As long as he could continue deciphering the sealing techniques on it, he would learn more about the Otsutsuki Clan. He had also taken a piece of flesh from that Otsutsuki body. If the Impure World Reincarnation could be perfected…
For now, the only way was to have Manda use Reverse Summoning. Only then could he escape the Land of Fire safely. There was no other option left.
But given that beast's nature, seeing him so badly injured would likely make Manda swallow him whole. On top of that, the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave and her subordinates were not easy to deal with either.
Cough, cough.
Orochimaru suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, completely breaking his train of thought. His vision blurred, and a ringing filled his ears as his senses slipped out of control. His body no longer obeyed him as it should.
The distorted shadows of trees looked like claws, and the vines underfoot felt like restraints. All of it told him his body was failing. His condition was collapsing fast.
Fear of death drove him to dig his fingers into the tree trunk. Moss crushed beneath his palm, leaving a foul green paste on his skin. He forced himself to stay conscious.
He still had to take revenge on that brat. He still had to grasp all the truths of this world. No matter what, he could not die here.
Just as Orochimaru made up his mind and began forming signs to summon, a loud bang rang out. White smoke exploded outward, and his figure vanished from the spot.
A few seconds later, a tall figure appeared. Long white hair hung down to his waist. It was Jiraiya, who had been in pursuit.
"Reverse Summoning?" Jiraiya frowned. "Orochimaru, what are you planning now?"
At the same time, in a space formed from a natural cavern. Barbed stalactites hung from the ceiling, sharp and uneven. The floor was paved with green stone carved with snake patterns.
Dark green ghostly flames burned quietly in wall niches. Blue and purple minerals glimmered faintly within the rock. The air was heavy and unfamiliar.
"Where is this?"
Orochimaru opened his eyes with a frown. When he recognized the scene before him, surprise crossed his face. "Ryuchi Cave?"
He had not summoned Manda yet, so how had he been pulled here by reverse summoning? The situation made no sense to him at all.
"Orochimaru."
Before he could understand what was happening, an aged and hollow voice reached his ears. He instinctively looked up toward the source. What he saw made his breath catch.
Coiled atop a stone throne was an enormous white scaled serpent. It was the White Snake Sage, the sage of Ryuchi Cave, a being that had lived for over a thousand years. Her power was far beyond what Orochimaru could measure.
Normally, she appeared as an elderly woman in white robes. But this was the first time Orochimaru had seen her true form. The calm presence was gone, replaced by the foul stench from her open jaws.
"How is this possible?"
The white serpent stared straight at Orochimaru with amber eyes. Her face showed a humanlike expression of shock and doubt. The reaction was unmistakable.
"Your fate…" she said slowly. "It has been rewritten?"
At the same time, back in Konoha, within the Hyuga Clan compound. In a dilapidated house on the edge of the clan grounds.
"Meow."
A soft cat's cry mixed with the chirping of crickets. Yunchuan Hyuga, who had been lying on the bed, slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was calm and alert.
"Finally gone."