"By the way, Minato," Kenji said. "Do you have any guesses about the identity of that masked man from the attack? Anything at all?"
He wanted to know if Minato had considered the possibility of Obito. Even just a suspicion would be something to work with.
Minato's expression darkened immediately. He shook his head slowly.
"Not yet. Given his strength and that space-time technique, he should be known in the shinobi world. Someone with abilities like that doesn't appear out of nowhere. But whether it's Konoha's intelligence records or the ninjas I know personally, no one fits the profile. It's like he materialized from thin air."
He paused, then added with a slight frown, "Kushina mentioned something interesting though. When he saw Rin that night, he froze for a moment. Just a split second, but she noticed it. I think he might be connected to whoever framed Rin before. Seeing her alive must have shocked him. But I've investigated Rin's background thoroughly. She's just an ordinary civilian-born kunoichi. Nothing special about her family or circumstances. I can't figure out why anyone would target her specifically."
"I see," Kenji nodded, keeping his expression neutral.
So Minato hadn't thought in Obito's direction at all. Which made sense. In everyone's eyes, Obito had died at Kannabi Bridge. The idea of suspecting a dead man would seem ridiculous. The mental barrier of accepting someone's death made it nearly impossible to consider them as a threat later. It was the perfect cover, really. Being "dead" meant you could operate with almost complete freedom.
The conversation continued late into the night, touching on village politics, security concerns, and plans for the future. At some point, Naruto, Daiki, and Karin all fell asleep despite the adults' chatter. Minato and Kenji used the Flying Thunder God Technique to transport the sleeping children back to their respective homes, reappearing at the restaurant within seconds.
By the time they finally decided to call it a night, the restaurant staff was clearly ready to close up shop.
"Kenji, Honoka, we'll take Mizuki home first," Minato said as they all stood and gathered their things. "It's too late to sort out housing tonight, so she'll stay at our place. I'll help her find a proper apartment tomorrow."
"Thanks for handling that," Kenji replied, and Honoka nodded in agreement.
They watched as Minato, Kushina, and Mizuki vanished. Honoka slipped her hand into Kenji's, and he smiled as he turned to her. Then they headed home through the quiet streets of Konoha.
---
Several days passed.
Kenji stood in the Hokage's office, watching Minato unfurl a scroll across his desk. The Fourth Hokage's expression was grim.
"Kenji, I've been reviewing the village archives," he began. "Over the past few years, several genin, chunin, and even ANBU members from Konoha have gone missing. But it gets worse. There have also been cases of infants disappearing from villages around Konoha's borders. We've confirmed at least sixty missing babies so far."
Kenji's expression didn't change, but internally he was already connecting the dots. This had Orochimaru written all over it. The scale, the methods, the targets. All consistent with forbidden experimentation.
"After I ordered ANBU to conduct a secret investigation," Minato continued, "we discovered that someone has been conducting experiments involving the transplantation of Hashirama cells. These experiments were banned years ago due to the fatality rate. And after you provided those Wood Release puppets that could replicate some of Wood Release's functionality, the village officially outlawed any further research."
He pushed a sealed scroll across the desk toward Kenji.
"But apparently, someone decided to restart the experiments anyway. According to ANBU's findings, all those missing ninjas and infants were used as test subjects for cell transplantation. The parties involved are Root and Orochimaru."
Kenji picked up the scroll and unrolled it. Inside was a detailed map of Konoha's outskirts with a specific location marked in red. The target site was deep within a dense forest at the edge of the village's territory.
"This is Orochimaru's experimental base?" he asked.
"Correct," Minato confirmed. "I've already sent Kakashi to further investigate Root's involvement. But the location marked on that map is Orochimaru's primary research facility, confirmed by multiple ANBU surveillance reports. I want you to lead a team there and capture Orochimaru. Alive if possible. If he resists capture and you have no other option, you're authorized to kill him. As one of the Sannin, he possesses far too many of Konoha's secrets. If he were to defect and share that knowledge with enemy villages, the consequences would be catastrophic."
Kenji nodded slowly.
With his current strength, dealing with Orochimaru shouldn't be difficult. The real challenge would be Orochimaru's survival techniques. The man had more ways to cheat death than a cat had lives. Actually killing him, or even just keeping him captured, would be the hard part.
"I've already assigned ANBU to support you," Minato said. He raised his hand and made a sharp gesture toward the office door.
The air rippled.
Nine ANBU operatives materialized in the room using the Body Flicker Technique, appearing so quickly and silently that they might as well have been ghosts. They dropped to one knee in perfect synchronization.
"Hokage-sama!" they said in unison.
"Yamanaka Kenji will lead this operation," Minato addressed them formally. "You nine will form a capture squad under his command. Your target is Orochimaru. Follow Kenji's orders as you would mine. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Time is critical," Kenji said, already moving toward the door. "We leave immediately. If Orochimaru suspects something's wrong, he'll vanish and we'll never find him again."
The ANBU fell in behind him without a word. Within seconds, the group had left the Hokage Building and were racing across Konoha's rooftops toward the village outskirts.
---
Thirty minutes of high-speed travel brought them to the edge of a dense forest that marked the boundary of Konoha's territory. The trees here were old growth, and their canopy blocked out most of the sunlight. The undergrowth was heavy, perfect for concealing a hidden facility.
Kenji raised his fist, signaling the ANBU to halt and take cover. They scattered immediately, vanishing into the foliage without a sound. Professional work.
He pulled out the mission scroll and checked the specifications. There should be surveillance ANBU already in position. He formed the hand seals for the agreed-upon signal, a brief pulse of chakra with a specific frequency.
Less than ten seconds later, a figure dropped from the canopy above and landed silently beside him. The ANBU wore a bird mask and standard black ops gear.
"Password," the surveillance operative said quietly.
"3.141592653." Kenji provided the code from the mission scroll. The ANBU nodded, confirming his identity.
"What's the situation inside the base? Any movement?"
"No abnormalities detected," the ANBU reported. "We've been watching for three days. No one has entered or left the facility during that time. Orochimaru and at least six other chakra signatures are currently inside."
"Good," Kenji said. He turned to address the nine ANBU he'd brought with him. "Listen carefully. I want a complete perimeter established around this base. Spread out and seal every possible exit. No matter what happens inside, no one gets past you. Understand? No one escapes."
"What about you?" one of the ANBU asked, his voice slightly concerned.
"I'm going in alone," Kenji said flatly. "Orochimaru is my target. The rest of you handle any other personnel who try to flee."
The ANBU hesitated for only a moment before responding. "Understood!"
They dispersed immediately, moving quickly through the forest. Within a minute, they'd established a perimeter that would be nearly impossible to breach without detection.
Kenji consulted the map one more time, committing the layout to memory. The entrance was concealed beneath a pile of scattered rocks about fifty meters ahead. According to the intelligence report, it was camouflaged with moss and vines to look like natural formation.
He approached, scanning for traps or sensors. When he reached the rocks, he paused and examined the area more closely. There, partially hidden beneath hanging vines, was a narrow opening. He glanced back once to confirm the surveillance ANBU was in position, then slipped into the entrance.
The passage was narrow and slightly damp. After about ten meters, he spotted the first trap, a pressure plate hidden beneath loose dirt. He stepped over it. Another twenty meters and he found a tripwire stretched across the tunnel at ankle height. He ducked under it, noting the explosive tags attached to the mechanism.
The tunnel gradually widened until it opened into a proper corridor. The walls here were reinforced with wooden beams. He'd reached the facility.
Scattered through different chambers, he could feel several signatures. He identified each one by its strength and characteristics. Six weaker signatures, probably guards or research assistants. Two were moving patrol patterns. The other four were stationary, likely working at their stations. And there, deeper in the facility, was a chakra signature he recognized immediately. Cold, distinctly powerful... it could only belong to Orochimaru.
Kenji moved quickly now that he had his target's location. Speed was more important than stealth at this point. The guards would be handled by the ANBU if they tried to escape. His job was to get to Orochimaru before the Sannin realized something was wrong.
The corridor split several times, but he followed his sensory technique toward Orochimaru's position. His footsteps were nearly silent despite his pace. Years of ninja training had made that automatic. But that was not the whole truth.
He had swapped to prosthetic limbs fitted with sound-suppression seals, crude prototypes still being tested. At the soles of each foot, embedded just beneath the flexible synthetic skin, were micro-seal arrays etched in a spiral pattern. They channeled trace amounts of wind chakra in a constant, low-output laminar flow, nothing flashy like a cutting gale, but a thin, controlled cushion of air that sheared the friction between foot and ground. In real physics terms, it disrupted the boundary layer, preventing the sharp pressure spikes that caused most footfall noise. In chakra terms, it was a subtle application of Wind Release: Silent Step, a technique he had developed while experimenting with sound.
The seals weren't perfect. They drained chakra slowly, and if he pushed too hard, the airflow could turbulence and the suppression would fail.
In short, the air cushion absorbed impact, redistributed force, and bled away sound before it could propagate.
Finally, he came to a large stone door. Reinforced, probably sealed with some kind of barrier or lock mechanism. He could feel Orochimaru's chakra on the other side.
He didn't waste time trying to disable whatever security systems protected the door. Subtlety was no longer necessary. He channeled a massive amount of chakra into his right leg. Then he kicked.
BOOM!
The stone door exploded inward, the entire slab shattering into fragments that flew into the room like shrapnel. Dust and debris filled the air, providing instant cover.
Kenji launched himself through the opening, riding the shockwave of his own attack.