Chapter 32: The Nine-Tails Attack
Rewinding time just a little bit.
In the forest outside Konoha Village, just an instant before Minato Namikaze's specially made kunai was about to pierce through Obito's head.
Hokage Building, third-floor corridor.
Because most of the Anbu had been deployed to the front lines to combat the Nine-Tails, this center of power appeared exceptionally empty, even somewhat eerily quiet.
Yahiko wore a voluminous black hooded robe, his face covered by a fox mask he had picked up casually from the roadside. He strolled down the corridor with a leisurely pace, as if he weren't infiltrating an enemy nation's headquarters, but rather wandering through his own backyard garden.
"Only three Anbu left behind? You're quite careless, Minato Namikaze."
Yahiko stopped before a window that seemed somewhat out of place at this moment. Through the glass, he could just see the massive Nine-Tails in the distance, its form towering toward the sky.
In his mind, a vision from Epitaph flashed by.
In the vision: at the corner at the end of the corridor, an Anbu wearing a Cat-face Mask would rush out in two seconds. The moment he discovered Yahiko, he would throw three Kunai and sound the alarm simultaneously.
"Too noisy."
Yahiko whispered.
Behind him, a dark red, hideous phantom instantly emerged. On that face, which looked like a furious dried corpse, the dark green pupil on its forehead flickered with an eerie light.
**King Crimson: Time Deletion**
The entire world collapsed into countless streaks of radiant light; the concept of time was violently severed here.
In that "deleted time" where only Yahiko could act, he calmly rounded the corner, stopping right where the Anbu had just stepped out. He didn't attack, but instead directly pushed open the door to the Hokage Office and walked inside.
Time resumed its flow.
"Wha—?!"
At the corridor corner, the cat-masked Anbu only felt a momentary daze in his mind. He clearly felt like he had already rushed past the corner and was even prepared for battle, but there was no one in front of him.
"Strange... did I just feel like someone was there?"
The Anbu scratched his head in confusion and continued running downstairs, completely unaware that he had just brushed past a ghost. This was the terror of King Crimson—in this world, no one could realize that a "segment" of their time had gone missing, except for Yahiko himself.
Hokage Office.
Yahiko didn't waste a single second, walking straight toward the large office desk.
"Found it."
Inside a hidden compartment behind the desk, that massive scroll was lying there quietly.
Using King Crimson's indestructible power to forcibly destroy the core of the barrier, Yahiko grabbed the scroll of seals, which was as tall as a person, and casually spread it out on the desk.
"Let me see what treasures the scroll of seals has."
Yahiko quickly browsed through the contents of the scroll.
Although his main body had been repaired by the System, his Chakra capacity was still a major weakness. And while King Crimson's stats were invincible, it was limited by its range (2 meters).
This led to an awkward situation: he was a melee-invincible mage, but he had no mana.
"As long as I learn the Shadow Clone, I can have King Crimson coordinate with the Clone's hand seals. Then I can truly master the 'instantaneous seal-less Ninjutsu' tactic."
A satisfied curve formed at the corner of Yahiko's mouth. He didn't just memorize the Shadow Clone; he also glanced at the 'Edo Tensei' and 'Mutually Multiplying Exploding Tags' further down.
Just then.
"Ah—!!"
A short, shrill scream came from the corridor outside, followed by the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the floor.
That was the sound of a throat being slit in an instant.
Yahiko closed the scroll. His body didn't move; he only slightly turned his head, a hint of amusement showing in his eyes behind the mask.
"It seems I'm not the only one who wants to be the 'fisherman' tonight."
...Outside, the corridor.
Orochimaru slowly withdrew his blood-stained hand, his long tongue licking his lips with lingering desire. He looked at the Anbu corpse on the ground as it gradually lost its warmth, his golden vertical pupils filled with cold indifference.
"What a perfect chaos..."
Orochimaru laughed in a low, raspy voice, his sound like a venomous snake crawling over fallen leaves. "The old man is busy dealing with the Nine-Tails right now, and Minato is nowhere to be seen. The scroll of seals... I finally have the chance to see that technique in its entirety."
His desire for 'Edo Tensei' had reached the point of obsession. As long as he mastered that technique, death would no longer be the end, and the truths of life would be laid bare before him.
Orochimaru walked to the door of the Hokage Office and lightly placed his hand on the doorknob.
According to his intelligence, the inside should be empty.
"Click."
The lock turned, and Orochimaru pushed the door open. His 'Hidden Shadow Snake Hands' were already primed and ready to react to any possible traps.
*Snap.*
The sound of a light switch being flipped echoed, and the office lights suddenly flared to life.
Orochimaru's pupils constricted sharply, and his muscles tensed instantly.
Behind the Hokage's desk, in the chair that should have been vacant, sat a man in a black robe. The man wore a comical fox mask and was holding the massive scroll Orochimaru dreamed of, flipping through it as leisurely as if he were reading the morning paper.
"This is quite..."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes, his killing intent spreading like a physical substance, "...an unexpected guest."
He didn't act immediately. As one of the 'Sannin', his intuition told him that this fellow before him, who showed no Chakra fluctuations whatsoever, was extremely dangerous.
"Good evening, Orochimaru."
Yahiko didn't even look up, his fingers lightly tracing over the scroll. "Are you also interested in these 'dangerous toys' left behind by the Second Hokage?"
"Hehehe..." Orochimaru let out his signature cold laugh, his body leaning forward slightly. "I don't know which rat hole you crawled out of, but that is my property. Put it down, and perhaps I can consider making your corpse into something exquisite."
"Your property?"
Yahiko finally looked up, the hollow eye sockets of the fox mask staring straight at Orochimaru, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. "How is it that I remember the name 'Senju Tobirama' being written on this? Are you also an illegitimate child of the Senju Clan?"
"Sharp-tongued brat."
Orochimaru lost his patience. No matter who the opponent was, he would simply kill them.
"Hidden Shadow Many Snake Hands!"
Orochimaru's sleeves suddenly burst open, and dozens of massive venomous snakes shot out like arrows from a bow, their fanged mouths wide as they lunged from all directions toward Yahiko's limbs and neck.
The speed was so great that even an elite Jonin would have found it impossible to dodge!
However.
Just as the venomous snakes were about to touch the black robe.
A sense of "incongruity" descended.
Orochimaru only felt his vision blur.
The sensation was very strange, like a frame had suddenly been skipped in a video tape. His brain still held the excitement of "the snakes are about to hit the target," but the image transmitted back by his retinas was—
The snakes bit nothing but air, slamming violently into the Hokage's chair and tearing the expensive leather seat into shreds.
And the black-robed man was gone.
"Body Flicker Technique?" Orochimaru was startled. "No, there were no hand seals, and no trace of a Chakra burst. Is this Space-Time Ninjutsu?!"
"What are you looking for?"
Read 30+ Advanced Chapters at P@ Tre On
FictionTimeo