[Naruto : Yellow Flash] Chapter 636 - 640

Chapter 636: A Difficult Decision

At this moment, Minato was extremely shocked.

If the situation he judged from the words of the Great Toad Sage was correct, then even under this changed history, Naruto would have to become a Jinchūriki again.

When Minato was carrying out the Roran mission, the future Naruto he met did have half of the Nine-Tails sealed in his body.

So, was this Naruto's destiny?

"Minato, what's wrong?" Fukasaku could see the strange look in Minato's eyes and asked immediately.

Minato came back to his senses and said, "It's okay. It's nothing."

"You don't have to take the old geezer's words too seriously. He's ancient, and sometimes he says nonsensical things."

Shima, who was standing by, comforted Minato.

Just now the Great Toad Sage had said that Minato had failed.

"Haha, it's really nothing. I just remembered something else." Minato slowly stood up and smiled.

"I can't leave the village for too long, so I'll take my leave now."

"Master Fukasaku, Lady Shima, see you next time."

After Minato bowed to the two sages, he disappeared from their sight in an instant.

"That kid has something else on his mind."

Looking at the figure that suddenly disappeared in front of her, Shima narrowed her eyes slightly.

She and Fukasaku had lived for hundreds of years. Minato's act of pretending to be fine just now might have deceived everyone else in the world, but not these two great sages.

"Yes. But since he is Jiraiya's disciple, he could be the child of prophecy. Now it seems that he is the most likely candidate."

Master Fukasaku said that he knew one of Jiraiya's disciples possessed the legendary Rinnegan.

But even that man, by far, was far inferior to Minato.

He was like a natural born ninja, with impeccable talent and will.

But maybe he was too perfect, and it made people feel a little unreal.

Minato returned home and into his bedroom.

He sat on the bed and pondered over and over what the Great Toad Sage had said.

In this way, a night passed.

After thinking all night, he finally did not reach a decision, because this matter involved not only the Nine-Tailed Fox but also the potential reactions of the village leaders.

What he cared about most was Kushina's thoughts.

Letting Naruto become a Jinchūriki was something that Kushina, as a mother, would never agree to.

Because she herself was the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, she knew best how heavy the burden was.

Although Kushina had hardly shown it over the years, Minato was the only one who knew best that beneath her carefree appearance, Kushina's heart was actually softer and more fragile than anyone else's.

If a Jinchūriki could not bear such a heavy weight, their future would be doomed.

As a father, Minato didn't want Naruto to face this kind of test, but he had to take into account what the Great Toad Sage had said.

Although he had changed history this time, he had to admit that he did not defeat the masked man.

Even now, the man's true identity was still unknown.

Sigh

This was probably the most hesitant Minato had been since his rebirth. Unable to make a decision, he took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

"You're awake."

In the kitchen, Kushina was already preparing their breakfast.

"Good morning!"

Kushina, who was busy with her work, glanced at Minato and chuckled.

"Well, good morning!"

Minato was slightly startled at first, then responded.

"What's wrong with you?"

It was just this moment of hesitation that aroused Kushina's suspicion.

Women's observation skills are strong, not to mention that as a ninja, Kushina's perceptiveness was quite impressive.

Although for many years, as a Jinchūriki, she was unable to move freely and could not take on missions.

However, her strength was still among the best in Konoha today.

"Huh!?"

Minato secretly realized that something was off, and pretended to be unaware of her concern, then asked, "How is Naruto, is he still asleep?"

"Already awake," Kushina said.

"Then I'll go see him."

Minato said, then walked towards Kushina and Naruto's room. In the crib, little Naruto's body swayed slightly from side to side, causing the crib to rock.

He seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Walking to the crib, Minato stretched out his hand and gently stroked Naruto's tender little face.

"Yeah!"

Naruto seemed to be enjoying Minato's touch as he smiled.

Naruto had a pair of blue eyes that were even brighter than Minato's, and his smile was as contagious as his father's.

And he also loved to smile, as if he was extremely cheerful by nature.

"Naruto."

Minato looked at Naruto with a slightly complicated expression, because he really couldn't make a decision.

Naruto just smiled at him, babbling continuously, as if he noticed his father's troubled mood and was trying to comfort him.

"Minato, breakfast is ready!"

Just when he was lost in thought again, Kushina's voice from outside the door pulled him back.

Kushina walked to the crib, picked up Naruto, then looked at Minato with a slightly puzzled expression and said, "What's happening with you this morning? Your expression is really strange."

"Is it because the village has been rebuilt recently and the affairs are too complicated?"

The attack on Konoha was a big event after all, so in addition to reconstruction, Minato also had to do a lot of work to try to calm down the comments from all sides.

Some of the rumors that maliciously attacked Konoha came from other major countries.

Having been defeated by Konoha in the Third Ninja World War, they would certainly not easily let go of any opportunity that could weaken Konoha.

"Perhaps."

Minato said smoothly.

Although Kushina was suspicious, she didn't press the issue further.

After breakfast and saying goodbye to Kushina and Naruto, Minato headed to the Hokage Building, to his office.

At this moment, thick piles of documents had piled up on the desk that was empty last night.

After calming himself down a bit, Minato started his complicated work again.

However, he hadn't been dealing with it for long when there was a knock on the door outside the office.

"Come in."

Minato said, and then a Konoha ninja wearing the iconic Chunin uniform walked in hurriedly.

"What happened?"

Minato asked with a frown, noticing the anxious look on his face.

The Chunin immediately replied, "Hokage-sama, my teammate has been missing since the night before yesterday. I asked many people to look for him, but no one has found him until now."

Chapter 637: Experiment

"What!?"

Hearing this, Minato stood up suddenly, his blue eyes stern.

"Please explain the specific situation," he asked.

The Chunin immediately replied, "The night before yesterday, we drank a little together after finishing the day's reconstruction work, and then we separated."

"Yesterday morning, they didn't come to work. I thought they had drunk too much, so I went to their houses to look for them at noon."

"But the neighbors said that no one returned home the night before yesterday. I informed the responsible Jonin about this matter. Until now, some of my companions are still searching everywhere in the village, but there is still no news."

The Chunin looked extremely anxious, as the missing Konoha ninjas were all his good friends.

"Is there more than one missing person?"

Minato's face darkened even more. When the village was attacked before, not only the houses, but most importantly, the barrier covering the entire Konoha was also partially damaged.

The barrier was originally repaired by Minato, but after he became Hokage, he no longer had the time.

Therefore, the last repair was done by Kushina, and now her skills in sealing techniques were not much worse than Minato's.

The first phase of the village's reconstruction had just been completed, so he hadn't yet involved Kushina in the barrier repair work.

Because the control hub of the barrier team had also been destroyed, it had not yet been completely rebuilt.

However, Minato had already found the vulnerabilities in the barrier through his perception and dispatched ANBU ninjas to take turns on duty, so it was almost impossible for anyone to use these gaps to sneak into the village.

"Yes, there are three in total, one Chunin and two Genin," the Chunin replied.

Minato nodded, then glanced to the side and whispered softly, "Tell your captain to come to my office for a minute."

"Yes!"

At this time, someone seemed to respond. It was a ninja from the ANBU.

Not long after, Uchiha Yoruki arrived at the Hokage's office.

"Minato, what's the emergency?"

Uchiha Fugaku also frowned, because since Root was disbanded that day, many former members of Root had joined the ANBU.

These personnel could not directly participate in the work of the ANBU, although Root was originally a training institution for cultivating ANBU operatives.

However, these Root members were all selected by Danzo himself, and their thinking had been influenced by him.

So these days, in addition to dealing with the affairs of the ANBU, Uchiha Fugaku also had to conduct some special training and observation of these personnel.

If it wasn't something serious, Minato wouldn't have disturbed him.

"More ninjas have gone missing," Minato said with a serious look.

Uchiha Fugaku's eyes twitched.

Because after the masked man attacked Konoha, upon investigation, it was found that several ninjas in the village had disappeared.

After all, that confrontation affected the entire Konoha, so perhaps some ninjas were buried in the ruins, or there were other accidents. This was also a possibility, so Minato didn't investigate further at the time.

But now it seemed that things were not as simple as he thought.

"Did the ANBU ninjas who were guarding the vulnerabilities in the barrier protecting the village find any suspicious traces?" Minato asked.

"No, everything is normal," Uchiha Fugaku replied.

Minato frowned. If this was true, then there were two possibilities for the mysterious disappearance of ninjas in the village.

One was that the masked man who possessed a special space-time eye technique had sneaked back into Konoha.

With his abilities, not even Minato could track him down at all times.

But if that person really wanted to find out information about Konoha, there was no value in targeting ninjas at the Chunin and Genin levels.

Also, since that man was able to find out such top-secret information as Kushina's childbirth, why would he need to use such low-level means?

If it wasn't him, then there was only one possibility left—that these missing ninjas might still be somewhere in the village.

For some unknown reason, they were captured by someone within Konoha.

Of course, these were just Minato's assumptions.

Sigh

Minato took a deep breath. The disappearance of ninja was by no means a trivial matter. Then he looked at Uchiha Fugaku and the Chunin in front of him.

"Dispatch the ANBU ninjas to participate in the search for the missing ninjas."

When it came to this kind of work, the ANBU ninjas were even more effective than some of the Jonin.

"You will tell him the detailed information of the missing ninjas. Don't stop your search, even if it delays the reconstruction process."

Minato said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

The two people in front of him both responded firmly.

After the two left the Hokage's office, Minato's solemn expression remained unchanged.

Because he had a vague feeling that this matter might be more complicated than he imagined.

Somewhere in Konoha, there was an underground laboratory.

The dim light illuminated the various instruments in the laboratory, which looked extremely eerie.

In this gloomy room, there was a faint smell of blood and decay.

It was the smell of rotting corpses.

However, the figure in front of the experimental table at the deepest part didn't seem to care about these odors.

He stared intently at what was in front of him.

There was a fiery madness in those enchanting, serpentine yellow eyes.

This person was actually Orochimaru.

At this moment, he was dissecting a corpse.

On the ground beside him, there was a blood-stained Konoha forehead protector that he had casually thrown on the ground.

"Whoosh!"

Just as he was concentrating on his work, the space behind him began to produce swirling, twisted ripples.

A figure wearing a loose black robe suddenly appeared.

Orochimaru was one of the Legendary Sannin after all, so he sensed something and turned his eyes to the side, and saw the masked man through the gaps in his long black hair.

His snake-like pupils shrank slightly, and then he said: "You should be the one who led Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu to attack Konoha some time ago?"

Although he had not seen it with his own eyes, given Orochimaru's position in Konoha, how could he not have obtained the specific information about that day?

"You were lucky enough to escape from Minato Namikaze that day, and now you dare to come to Konoha again?" Orochimaru said calmly, looking at the man in front of him with a wary expression.

Orochimaru had no idea why this person had come.

In response to his vigilance, the masked man shrugged and said, "Come to think of it, shouldn't you thank me?"

"If my companions and I hadn't attacked Konoha that night, you probably wouldn't have had the chance to capture Konoha ninjas as test subjects for your experiments, right?"

Chapter 638: Seeking the Truth

"How do you know that?"

Orochimaru's expression changed immediately, because even in the current Konoha Village, no one had discovered that he was conducting secret experiments.

The masked man in front of him seemed to have known this for a long time.

"Because the intelligence system I have is stronger than the five major ninja countries combined," the masked man said nonchalantly.

If this sentence were uttered by someone else, it would probably be ridiculed by countless people.

But Orochimaru could tell that the masked man in front of him was not deceiving him.

Because whether it was the attack on Konoha or the experiment he discovered now, it proved that what the man in front of him said was true.

"Haha, that's really interesting."

At this point, Orochimaru's originally guarded state gradually relaxed. He licked his lips with his scarlet tongue, and his voice became hoarse.

"What? You're not going to do anything about me attacking Konoha?" asked the masked man.

"I hate doing meaningless things the most."

Orochimaru said: "Let's not talk about the fact that as I am now, there is no way I can harm you."

He was very clear about his own abilities. Even though he was one of the Legendary Sannin, this masked man was able to escape easily from the encirclement of several top masters of Konoha.

"Besides, even if you attack Konoha, what does it have to do with me?"

He looked unconcerned, his eerie snake eyes staring at the masked man in front of him with considerable interest.

Some of the things about this guy and the large amount of information he holds are what really interest Orochimaru.

"Hehe."

The masked man smiled when he heard this. He was not surprised by Orochimaru's reaction.

Because before this, he had already collected a lot of intelligence to confirm this.

This man is regarded by the world as one of the pillars of Konoha today and one of the Legendary Sannin who have made great achievements in the two world wars. Even the masked man cannot see through his true thoughts.

But what is certain is that Orochimaru is different from ordinary Konoha ninjas.

He will not be bound by so-called protection and ties.

"So, you have been planning to conduct your experiments in Konoha secretly?"

The masked man turned his eyes slightly, and with his keen eyesight, he naturally saw the corpse on the experimental table and the bloody Konoha forehead protector on the ground next to it.

"If the higher-ups of Konoha knew what you are doing now, what consequences do you think will happen?"

He lowered his eyes. According to his intelligence system, Orochimaru had been conducting this kind of experiment for a long time.

In fact, this guy had already started doing this secretly before the Third Ninja World War began.

Two years after the end of the Third World War, under the cover-up of Danzo and his Root, the top leaders of Konoha did not notice anything special.

But not long ago, the Root was forcibly disbanded by the Fourth Hokage.

"Well,do you think I'm afraid I would be killed!?"

Orochimaru pondered for a moment, then answered, as if he was talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"Aren't you afraid of death?"

The masked man asked. It was the first time he had seen someone like this who showed no emotion when talking about his own death.

"Afraid?"

Orochimaru chuckled and said, "The so-called birth, aging, sickness, and death are all normal phenomena in nature. Anything is destined to die one day from the moment it is born."

"Since we already knew there would be such an outcome, what is there to be afraid of?"

What he said made the masked man in front of him speechless for a moment, and the scarlet eyes under the mask flickered slightly.

"But precisely because of this, I want to try to change this outcome instead of just sitting here and waiting for death."

Speaking of this, Orochimaru's eyes were filled with fiery passion.

"Oh?" The masked man exclaimed in surprise.

"Since birth, aging, sickness, and death are established laws, the rules of the world, then I have to explore who set these laws and rules, and why they are like this."

"In order to achieve this goal, I need experiments to prove it. I want to know everything in this world!"

"Knowing everything, is it possible?"

The masked man said in a deep voice. Orochimaru's idea was too horrifying.

Because this world is so vast. In comparison, it is simply a dream for humans to want to know everything within their lifespan of dozens or hundreds of years.

"Of course, as long as we can seek the truth, we can achieve it."

Orochimaru said: "So, if I want to know everything, I have to give up this human body first, because it is too fragile."

"If I want to know everything, I need a lot of time."

"So what are you going to do?" The masked man narrowed his eyes.

"Haha, there are many ways."

Orochimaru smiled, his snake eyes staring at the masked man in front of him, and said: "For example, like you, use the powerful life force of the First Hokage Senju Hashirama."

As soon as the words fell, the figure hidden under the mask trembled suddenly.

There was a sudden surge of murderous intent in the masked man's eyes, because this was one of the biggest secrets he had.

However, he did not ask the question immediately, and it was hard to say whether Orochimaru was deliberately testing him.

"You don't have to be so surprised. You are not the only one in this world who possesses Hashirama's cells."

"I've done a lot of research on this, so I'm very curious about how you can harness this power."

Orochimaru said that he knew the details of the fight between Minato and others when the masked man attacked Konoha that day.

He had only suspected it, but when the masked man appeared in front of him today, Orochimaru had confirmed it.

Then the identity of this person in front of him was worth considering.

Judging from various details, one could only identify this masked man who is hiding his head and showing his tail as Uchiha Madara.

But is he really that person?

Orochimaru was skeptical about this, but he didn't care who this person was.

"But even the power of the First Hokage cannot achieve my goal. As strong as the First Hokage was, he eventually died like an ordinary person. No matter how powerful he was, he was only nothing under the dust of time."

Orochimaru said that in the world of ninja, strength is respected, but no matter how powerful a ninja is, it is impossible to stand at the top forever.

No matter whether it is the First Hokage who once looked down upon the world, or Namikaze Minato who is now famous in the ninja world, one day, under the influence of time, they will all fall from the altar.

In his opinion, there is no point in fighting such things.

At this point, the masked man discovered something that was beyond his expectations.

That was Orochimaru in front of him—he was unlike anyone he had ever come into contact with so far.

This is a man whose thoughts are beyond the world's understanding. He is not afraid of death, so no one can control him.

Chapter 639: Entrustment by an Important Person

"So, what are you going to do next?"

After calming down his slightly fluctuating mind after talking with Orochimaru, the masked man looked at Orochimaru in front of him and said.

"Leave Konoha."

Orochimaru said indifferently, without any emotion in his expression or tone.

It was like leaving a strange place instead of the hometown where he was born and raised.

This kind of calmness was beyond the emotional range of normal people.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple."

The masked man said: "As far as I know—"

"The Fourth Hokage has begun to suspect me, right?" Orochimaru interjected.

"He asked Jiraiya to observe me secretly. The reason why he hasn't taken any action yet is that he hasn't found any definite evidence."

How could Orochimaru, who was called a rare genius in decades by the Third Hokage, be so focused on experiments and know nothing about the things around him?

"It seems you already have your own plans."

The masked man said that since Orochimaru had noticed all this, it meant that he was already prepared.

"If you run into any trouble, I'll help you solve it."

"After all, from my perspective, it would be beneficial for me if you leave Konoha."

Having said this, the masked man no longer tried to hide anything. Even if he didn't say it, both parties knew the truth.

"As you like."

Orochimaru said, neither agreeing nor refusing.

After all, even he was not completely sure that his plan would succeed smoothly.

He had known for a long time how difficult Minato Namikaze was to deal with.

The reason why both sides were still safe and sound now was only because Minato was hindered by Orochimaru's status and military achievements.

At that time, he might really need the masked man's assistance.

However, Orochimaru naturally knew this person's purpose.

After their attack on Konoha failed, they attracted great attention from the village and the entire ninja world.

So at this time, they needed to do something to divert attention.

Although he didn't know what their real purpose was, Orochimaru was not interested in them for the time being.

In today's Konoha, there were only two things or people that could arouse his interest.

The first was the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, and the second was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

Orochimaru had vaguely felt something abnormal about Minato a long time ago.

This time when someone attacked Konoha, Minato used barrier ninjutsu to protect the entire village and still had energy left to fight off the enemy.

Orochimaru conducted a special investigation on this.

More than ten years ago, when Minato was a teenager, he formed a team with Hatake Sakumo, Suzuka, and others to go out of the village to carry out a confidential mission.

During that mission, Minato was seriously injured, but afterwards his body recovered at an unusual speed.

These abnormalities were stimulating Orochimaru's curiosity.

But now he had no way to conduct research because that man was much stronger than him.

However, he was not completely without chance.

Because he was not the only one targeting Minato Namikaze.

"Good luck to you."

With each of them having their own thoughts, the masked man murmured softly, and the space in front of him began to twist in a vortex, sucking his body in.

After the masked man left, Orochimaru turned around and looked at the corpse on the experimental table. An intriguing smile appeared on his overly pale face.

In the evening, in the Hokage's office.

After finishing the documents in his hand, Minato stood in front of the window of his office, overlooking Konoha which was gradually regaining its prosperity.

But now he couldn't be happy at all, because the several ninjas who mysteriously disappeared in the village had not been found yet.

"Knock, knock!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Minato turned around and said, "Come in."

In addition to a Konoha ninja in Chunin uniform, there was also a young man wearing the uniform of a high-ranking retainer of the Land of Fire who walked into the office.

Minato recognized the pattern on his clothes. The master of this servant in front of him was a powerful figure in the Land of Fire and had significant influence.

"Hokage-sama." Both of them said respectfully first.

His eyes fell on the young man, and Minato asked: "Are you here to request a mission?"

The young man nodded and said, "A few days ago, the head of the family was targeted by assassins in his mansion. Although fortunately, he was not seriously injured, he was still worried. He thought that the guards in the mansion were too weak, so he wanted to seek help from the Konoha ninja."

"Is that so?" Minato nodded.

The young man in front of him took out a document from his sleeve and handed it to Minato.

"This is the mission request letter drawn up by my master."

Minato opened the document and after reading it briefly, his golden brows frowned slightly.

Because this minister of the Land of Fire had specifically requested Orochimaru to be responsible for his protection.

"What's the matter? Lord Hokage, is there anything wrong with this request letter?" the young man asked.

"No, it's just that for a mission of this level for Lord Orochimaru, I still need to discuss this with the previous Hokage before approving such a mission outside the village."

Minato was confused, but this was of course just an excuse for him to delay this man for a while.

Because some things that happened around Orochimaru recently seemed a little abnormal, and at this time someone came and asked him to leave the village and perform a guard mission.

Moreover, this minister of the Land of Fire seemed to have always been quite close to Danzo.

However, all of his suspicions remained just speculations and there was no evidence.

But he couldn't let Orochimaru out of the village so easily.

Minato didn't want to alarm the Third Hokage because, no matter what, Orochimaru was the latter's most proud disciple.

But now that things had come to this, some things must be clarified.

"Okay, please hurry up."

The young man seemed calm and composed, and spoke to Minato with a little impatience despite his respectful manner.

Minato nodded, and then said to the Konoha ninja beside him: "Let's temporarily arrange for the guest to stay."

The Konoha Chunin nodded, then escorted the young man out of the Hokage's office.

After the two left, Minato hesitated for a moment and then ordered someone to inform the Third Hokage.

But the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

"Go check. Is he the only retainer who came to the village today?"

He ordered an ANBU ninja who was skilled in speed to rush to the gate of Konoha and retrieve the registration book for entering and leaving the village.

The ANBU quickly returned to the office and reported to Minato.

Minato took the registration book, glanced at it, and then his deep blue eyes suddenly became stern.

Because about ten minutes ago, Orochimaru had left the village with a letter of authorization from an important official from the Land of Fire!

Chapter 640: Orochimaru's Killing Intentions

"Go and find the ANBU personnel and your captain who were stationed at the gate just now, quickly!"

Minato's expression suddenly changed. He raised his eyes and spoke to the ANBU in front of him.

"Yes!"

The ANBU received the order and left as quickly as possible.

Minato stood in front of his desk, his expression becoming increasingly solemn.

Not long after, the Third Hokage came to the Hokage's office.

As soon as he entered the room, he noticed Minato's serious expression.

"Minato, what's wrong?" asked Hiruzen.

Minato handed the registration book in his hand to Hiruzen, and then said: "About half an hour ago, a retainer of an important figure of the Land of Fire came to the village to request a mission."

He then informed Hiruzen about the request.

Although the difficulty of this mission was not high, the level was not low because of the client's identity.

"Even though Orochimaru left the village on a mission without coming to see you, there's no need to make such a fuss, right?"

As Hiruzen finished his words, the door of the Hokage's office opened and several ANBU along with Uchiha Yoruki walked in.

Having said that, Hiruzen's brows were slightly furrowed.

Because Orochimaru's actions did seem a bit unusual, and there were actually two copies of the authorization letter from the Land of Fire official.

One copy was the one Minato saw just now, and the other was handed directly to Orochimaru by another member of the retainer's entourage.

With Orochimaru's status in Konoha and the letter of authorization from an important figure from the Land of Fire, the guards at the gate would not stop him at all.

"Have you seen any trace of Orochimaru?"

Minato's gaze skipped over Hiruzen and looked at Uchiha Yoruki and the ANBU.

Several people shook their heads. There was no useful information.

"Damn it."

Minato secretly thought that something was wrong, because he had previously ordered the ANBU personnel to search for the missing ninja in the village together with the Konoha ninja, so the defense of the ANBU around the village was much weaker than usual.

He pondered that everything that had happened recently and Orochimaru's abnormal behavior were too coincidental.

"Minato, what exactly do you want to say?"

Hiruzen's expression also gradually darkened. He obviously realized that Minato had some unspeakable suspicions.

Looking at Hiruzen in front of him, Minato took a deep breath.

According to the information Hiruzen had access to, he would have noticed these things under normal circumstances.

But he had just disbanded Root, and Danzo was of course unhappy about this.

Therefore, most of the Third Hokage's attention was focused on Danzo.

Although it was just a suspicion and there was no definite evidence, Minato had to say it.

He looked at Hiruzen and said in a heavy voice.

"I suspect that the disappearance of the ninjas in the village is related to Orochimaru-senpai!"

During this period of time, Orochimaru had already traveled quite a distance away from Konoha.

Swish!

He moved forward quickly among the dense woods.

When he landed on a thick tree trunk again, he stopped temporarily.

"Have you followed enough?"

Orochimaru glanced sideways and spoke towards the now empty forest behind him.

As soon as he spoke, a figure suddenly landed on a tree trunk not far away.

Jiraiya looked at the person in front of him with a serious expression.

"Where are you going?" Jiraiya said with a frown.

"You should know that the content of the mission should not be revealed easily, right?"

Orochimaru gave Jiraiya a slightly sarcastic look.

"But no matter what kind of mission it is, you should first go to the Hokage's office and get the Hokage's authorization before you can officially start, right?" Jiraiya said.

"This doesn't seem to concern you."

Orochimaru said calmly, turned around, and moved forward again.

As soon as he took a step forward, Jiraiya behind him followed.

The brown snake pupil suddenly turned to the side at this moment. He formed a seal with both hands and swung his left hand backwards.

"Hiss."

At this moment, his left hand suddenly transformed into dozens of snakes entangled together.

Seeing this, Jiraiya immediately stepped back and landed in a new position, avoiding the attack.

"If you follow me again, I won't be polite!"

Orochimaru's voice sank. He had never intended to hit with this attack in the first place.

Otherwise, even Jiraiya wouldn't have been able to escape so easily.

As soon as he finished speaking, his left hand returned to normal and he turned and left.

"Orochimaru, what on earth are you doing!?"

At this moment, Jiraiya's roar came from behind.

The former paused, but ignored him.

Orochimaru moved forward again, but Jiraiya followed him.

"I told you not to follow me again!"

There was murderous intent in his snake eyes. He swung his left hand again and used the snake hand technique he had used before.

"Rasengan!"

But this time, there was also a blue chakra sphere condensed in Jiraiya's right hand.

"Crash!"

The collision of the two attacks caused the leaves on the trees in the dense forest to fall continuously.

They landed on two tree trunks facing each other again.

"What are you talking about, man?"

Orochimaru stared at Jiraiya with gloomy eyes.

At this time, the latter took out a bloody Konoha forehead protector and several scrolls from inside his vest.

He threw them casually toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru reached out to take the scroll, then unfolded it and glanced at it briefly. His snake pupils suddenly shrank.

The expression in Jiraiya's eyes was particularly complicated at this moment. He looked at Orochimaru, who remained indifferent, with emotions fluctuating in his eyes.

"You are really capable."

Orochimaru slowly raised his eyes, looked at Jiraiya, and said in a deep voice: "You have actually found my laboratory."

After receiving confirmation from Orochimaru, Jiraiya could no longer control his emotions. He looked very confused and yelled at the person in front of him.

"The disappearance of the ninjas in the village was caused by you. Why?!"

"How did you find out? Even Minato Namikaze should just be suspicious of me now."

Orochimaru did not answer Jiraiya's question, but asked one in return.

He was really curious about how Jiraiya discovered his secret so quickly.

"Orochimaru, when did you become so slow?"

Jiraiya said with a bitter laugh, then shouted loudly: "Because we have been together since we were little. We are the Legendary Sannin!"

He clearly wanted a response from Orochimaru.

However, after a moment's silence, the voice that responded to Jiraiya was extremely indifferent.

"Boring."

Jiraiya's expression suddenly changed, and he roared, "Answer my question! Why did you hurt the ninjas of Konoha—your companions!"

He really didn't want to believe that everything he saw in that underground laboratory was done by Orochimaru.

However, his questioning received no response from the man in front of him.

Orochimaru's expression became more and more solemn. The corners of his slender mouth slowly raised into an arc as sharp as a knife. He suddenly raised his eyes and stared at Jiraiya with a stern look in his eyes.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you try to stop me again, I will kill you!"