In the pitch-black darkness, with no support from their teammates, the five men's hearts fell into complete chaos. What terrified them most was when a sharp, miserable scream suddenly shattered the silence.
Soon after came a second scream, then a third, until the place was plunged into complete stillness.
When the lights came back on, Orochimaru's figure emerged, his expression looking somewhat bored.
After all, the strength of these seven people was mediocre at best. Five of them were only of chunin level, unable even to break free from his shadow bindings.
The other two were special jonin, capable of resisting the entanglement and devouring of his shadow to some extent, but once Orochimaru personally stepped in, working together with his shadow, they were easily taken down.
Who was Orochimaru?
He was the second-greatest scientist in the shinobi world. And after spending so much time with Shin, his strength had been steadily rising, walking a path completely different from others.
The great ninja villages wanting him dead, Orochimaru could understand that.
But sending a few ninjas to take his life, wasn't that just looking down on him a little too much?
Did they think he was an easy target just because, back on the battlefield, he'd always acted as a commander and never shown much direct combat ability?
No, that didn't make sense. Even if they underestimated him, they shouldn't underestimate Konoha's defensive strength.
Before long, Orochimaru figured it out, this was Shin being playful again.
He just didn't know which ninja village Shin planned to target this time. After all, if someone infiltrated Konoha to assassinate a high-ranking official, somebody had to take the blame.
Whether this time Shin was serious or just making a show of force, he wasn't sure.
But based on what he knew of Shin, having just wiped out Kusa, it was unlikely he'd immediately launch another war. It was probably just to send another warning, after all, war was far too much of a time drain.
"Shin has gone too far," he muttered in dissatisfaction. "Does he think if they were stronger, I couldn't handle it?"
Still, he was only complaining for form's sake. In truth, he knew very well that Shin had kept stronger enemies from sneaking in as a precaution, protecting Konoha's citizens.
Once upon a time, Orochimaru didn't care much for Konoha, but after successfully taking down the Konoha Council and carrying out a massive purge, executing over three thousand people, the situation had changed.
Nowadays, Konoha was full of talent, and everyone spoke so pleasantly...
Having left his research lab for once, he immediately reported the matter to Tsunade.
Upon hearing the news, Tsunade feigned fury, immediately convened a high-level meeting, and declared that the matter must be thoroughly investigated and avenged.
Three days later, the investigation's results came out.
The ninjas who had attempted to assassinate Orochimaru were from Kumo, complete with evidence.
By now, Suna was already ruined, Iwa had temporarily reached a peace agreement with Konoha for its own benefit and development, and Kiri, isolated overseas and tending toward seclusion, posed little threat to Konoha.
Hanzō was being especially well-behaved, just the day before, he'd secretly sent people to make overtures of friendship to Konoha, practically offering to be its underling. Uzushio was already Konoha's steadfast ally.
For present-day Konoha, the only major hidden threat was Kumo. So the culprit could only be them, and even if it wasn't, it had to be them.
Of course, Shin had no intention of going to war with Kumo, but curbing their arrogance and taking the opportunity to warn the other villages was still very necessary.
The news of Kumo's attempted assassination of Orochimaru spread quickly through Konoha, stirring anger among the people.
Over the past six months, he had kept a low profile, but every convenient new piece of technology in Konoha had been his doing.
What's more, many of his inventions had revolutionized Konoha's combat methods, strengthening the village's overall power.
Kumo, absolutely outrageous.
Especially considering that A had once made a public promise in front of everyone: for some years, they would coexist peacefully with Konoha.
And yet here it was, only half a year later, and they'd already sent people to assassinate Orochimaru.
Rumor had it that Orochimaru had been gravely injured. How the hell was that supposed to be tolerated?
With public outrage boiling over, Tsunade openly sent a formal query to Kumo, demanding they give an explanation for the incident, or else Konoha would mobilize the full strength of the village and wipe Kumo off the map.
Tsunade had never forgotten how the Third Raikage had schemed against her before. Now that the opportunity had come, of course she would settle old and new grudges together.
Two days later.
After reading Konoha's official letter of protest and seeing the reactions from the other villages, the Third Raikage's face turned extremely sour.
What the hell did they mean, I sent assassins?
This had nothing to do with him, well... maybe just a tiny bit.
Back then, the plan to secretly train operatives to assassinate Shin and Orochimaru had been agreed upon by all the villages.
But now? Iwa refused to take a stance, speaking in bureaucratic vagueness about needing to investigate the "full context" so as not to wrongly accuse an innocent party.
Suna, seeing Iwa's reaction, immediately played dumb, saying, "Our village is weak; we can't afford to offend anyone. You all just discuss it among yourselves."
Ame claimed it had nothing to do with them, and Kiri said, "We're far away, we don't know anything."
Thinking of all these fence-sitters made the Third Raikage seethe with rage.
Back when they had all joined forces against Konoha, they insisted on dragging him into it. Now, faced with Konoha's obvious attempt to sow discord, they were letting the alliance crumble without a second thought.
As expected, none of them were reliable.
He also understood that times had changed.
Half a year ago, their alliance was formed because, although Konoha was powerful, no single hidden village could stand against it, but together, they might restrain it.
But ever since Shin had single-handedly suppressed the Nine-Tails, everyone's mindset had shifted.
When Shin suddenly erased Kusa from the map, it carried a clear threat:
The message was simple, if you behave like Kusa, paying lip service while plotting in secret, don't blame us for being ruthless.
That's why no one had brought up the "Small Village Development Act" that Hashirama had once proposed.
Kusa? Wiped out? Well, so be it, we know nothing about it.
As for why Konoha was suddenly acting so high-profile, everyone shared the exact same thought: Konoha no longer had to hold back.
Seeing the accusations aimed squarely at himself, the Third Raikage even considered going all-in, openly revealing the truth that all the villages had plotted to assassinate Orochimaru together.
But now, with Konoha shamelessly producing forged evidence, it was clear they were determined to take him down.
If he exposed the truth, Konoha would immediately say, "We don't believe you. Don't drag others into your own mess."
The other hidden villages would then jump out to condemn Kumo for slandering them, turning him into everyone's common enemy instead.