Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi wore a heavy expression as he led Kakashi and Sparrow—two elite Jōnin—into the depths of the gloomy tunnel.
Inside the secret laboratory, the massive explosion had already jolted Orochimaru from his research.
"Heh heh... I honestly expected you to arrive much sooner, Hiruzen-sensei." Orochimaru turned slowly, his golden slitted pupils shimmering under the cold clinical lights of the lab bench.
He still wore his Jōnin flak jacket and the Hidden Leaf headband. His vertical pupils fixed on the three figures emerging from the corridor.
"Orochimaru... it really is you..." Hiruzen's gaze swept across the room. He saw culture vats filled with floating organs, complex machinery, and an air thick with the scent of disinfectant and iron-rich blood.
His eyes eventually landed on several corpses—ninja still wearing the forehead protectors of the Hidden Leaf.
He had known that Orochimaru had become obsessed with research after the Third Shinobi World War, and even that he had been working with Danzo, but he had refused to believe his own student would use the village's own shinobi for live human experimentation.
"To think you would trample upon the Will of Fire..." This cold-blooded depravity made Hiruzen feel as though he had failed every Hokage who came before him.
More importantly, if word got out that the Third Hokage's disciple was kidnapping his own villagers for human experiments, what would the other clans and civilian ninja think? How would they react?
Hiruzen had to clean his own house.
Kakashi, hidden behind his white cat mask, and Sparrow flickered in front of Hiruzen with kunai drawn, dropping into combat stances. Hiruzen's hands moved in a blur, his palms slamming against the floor.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
As the summoning formula spiraled outward, a cloud of smoke erupted to reveal the towering, muscular form of the Monkey King, Enma, sporting his own Leaf headband.
"Hiruzen, the enemy is—" Enma's words cut off abruptly as he recognized the pale face in the shadows.
"I've made a fool of myself, Enma. I must settle this family matter," Hiruzen said, his heart heavy.
"You won't be able to keep me here with just this... Sensei." Orochimaru wove a set of signs.
A high-frequency sonic wave tore through the air like an invisible blade, vibrating the eardrums of the three men and the Great Ape. Hiruzen was momentarily disoriented, stumbling back onto the floor.
By the time they recovered, Orochimaru had already flickered to the entrance of the tunnel behind them. He cast a single look back, his slitted eyes swirling with a complex mix of emotions as he glanced at his teacher, then bolted into the night without a word.
Simultaneously, the facility's self-destruct sequence engaged. A chain reaction of explosive tags began to level the base.
"Hokage-sama!" Kakashi, Sparrow, and Enma immediately moved to shield Hiruzen from the collapsing ceiling.
Outer Woods of Konoha
Orochimaru blurred through the branches.
What laughable indecision... He thought of Hiruzen's hesitation and let a mocking sneer tug at his lips.
It's a pity I didn't have time to move the equipment from the other labs. Danzo will get a free windfall. Orochimaru didn't care about the hardware—all his research was stored in his mind. Given time and funding, building better labs would be easy. But the thought of leaving his assets to that old fox, Danzo, rankled him.
Danzo won't let this chance go to waste...
Pursuers were likely already on his trail. Orochimaru pressed on, nearing the village's sensory barrier. Once he crossed it, the Barrier Corps would detect him, and Konoha would know exactly which direction he was fleeing.
Zip—
"Who's there!"
Orochimaru leapt into the air, hurling several kunai mid-flight. The blades thudded deep into a tree trunk as he landed on a nearby branch.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Applause echoed from a patch of shadow nearby. Menma, wearing his white three-eyed fox mask, stepped slowly into the moonlight. Floating behind him were two eerie, spectral silhouettes.
Orochimaru's pupils contracted. Even a man buried in a lab like him had heard of the mysterious ninja "Shura" who had recently risen to infamy.
The man who had struck Konoha, left both Hyuga brothers wounded, and then devastated the Hidden Cloud to the point they signed a peace treaty—a man with a seventy-million-rye bounty on his head.
"Heh. It seems you might be a ninja of the Leaf after all," Orochimaru hissed, a spark of curiosity flickering in his cold snake-like eyes.
"As expected of one of the Sannin, but you're only half right." Behind Menma, the Death God (Shinigami) and the Jade Maiden (Tennyo) hovered like ghosts.
Orochimaru's suspicion was logical. Shura appeared first in Konoha, then again in Konoha, and had now perfectly intercepted his escape route. He clearly knew the village's barrier system intimately. He was almost certainly an insider.
It reminded Orochimaru of the mysterious intruder from the Nine-Tails incident three years ago. Much of that information was classified, but as a high-ranking member of the village, he knew the details. While the culprit's identity remained a mystery, many had seen the Sharingan in the fox's eyes that night.
"Interesting... truly interesting." Orochimaru stared at the three masked figures. His instincts gave him a sense of dread regarding the floating Shinigami.
"A powerhouse capable of ransacking the Cloud, yet lurking in the Leaf for so long... and now you've blocked my path with such precision."
Orochimaru's mind raced. The intellectual challenge made him instinctively flick his tongue over his lips. He grinned darkly. "So, what is it you want? Or rather, what do you hope to gain from me?"
A ninja who could move freely between the Leaf and the Cloud was a monster. Orochimaru knew he couldn't afford to be delayed. He was still inside the barrier; if a fight broke out, Hiruzen or Danzo's men could arrive at any moment. Shura could simply vanish, but he would be trapped.
Every second of delay worked against him.
"Oh? You're quite cooperative, aren't you?" Menma chuckled softly and stated his price: "Hashirama Cells."
!!!
Orochimaru's pupils shook! Only one person knew he possessed the cells of the First Hokage: his partner, Danzo!
"You're not one of Danzo's men!" Orochimaru stated firmly, immediately dismissing his first thought.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that if you don't leave now, Kakashi and 'Kinoe' will be here shortly." Menma's tone was light, yet he casually dropped a name that sent Orochimaru's head into a tailspin.
Kinoe!
The only test subject to survive Orochimaru's Hashirama cell implants, whom Danzo had snatched away. Even Orochimaru only knew him by that specific codename.
This person... just how much does he know?!
Without hesitation, Orochimaru's throat convulsed. He reached into his mouth and pulled out a mucus-covered scroll.
"This is what you want!" Orochimaru hissed, hurling the scroll toward Menma while simultaneously bolting toward the barrier's edge.
As he breached the sensory wall, Orochimaru turned his head, burning the image of "Shura" into his memory.
He would settle this debt one day.