Seeing the snakes driven off, Jiraiya couldn't help but glance at Hyūga Satoru with a bit of surprise.
Even though he'd already heard from Kushina that Satoru was a monster of a prodigy, seeing it with his own eyes still felt different.
That three-headed serpent wasn't just some random summon—it was one of Orochimaru's carefully prepared "guard dogs." Ordinary jōnin couldn't even scratch it.
But Satoru and his squad hadn't even needed to go all-out.
Jiraiya let out a breath, then waved his hand.
"Alright. The entrance is open now. Stay sharp—Orochimaru's base is never this simple."
With the summoned beast dispersed into smoke, the ground's hidden mechanism finally stopped resisting. The underground gate—half-covered by weeds and mud—sat exposed like the mouth of some buried monster.
The four-man squad regrouped quickly.
Kakashi checked his kunai and wire.
Shisui's posture became lighter, like a shadow ready to slip forward at any moment.
Guy rolled his shoulders, grinning as always, but his eyes were focused.
Satoru activated his Byakugan and scanned straight through the soil.
"There are people inside," Satoru said quietly. "Not many. But the chakra signatures are… strange."
Jiraiya's expression hardened.
"That's Orochimaru."
Without wasting another second, they descended.
The passageway down was narrow, damp, and lined with seals carved into stone—barrier marks, warning marks, and traps layered so densely it felt like walking through a spiderweb.
But Jiraiya knew Orochimaru too well.
He moved with practiced familiarity, avoiding certain tiles, stepping around certain cracks in the wall, and occasionally flicking a small burst of chakra to disable a hidden mechanism.
Kakashi clicked his tongue softly.
"…You've been here before."
Jiraiya didn't deny it.
"I've been chasing him for years."
The deeper they went, the colder the air became. The walls shifted from natural stone to clean-cut slabs—manmade, refined, precise.
Then the corridor opened into a wide chamber.
And the smell hit them.
A sharp, metallic stench—blood, disinfectant, and something else… something like rotting herbs.
Along the sides of the chamber were rows of glass tanks, half-filled with pale fluid. In some of them floated indistinct shapes—limbs, organs, things that didn't look like they belonged to any normal human body.
Guy's smile faded.
"…This bastard."
Shisui's gaze stayed calm, but the air around him sharpened.
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed.
Satoru didn't react outwardly, but his Byakugan tracked everything in the room in detail—every seal line, every chakra thread, every hidden opening.
"There's a second chamber ahead," Satoru said. "That's where he is."
Jiraiya nodded once.
Then, as if the base itself had heard them—
A soft hiss echoed through the hall.
Not from the shadows.
From the ceiling.
A snake dropped down without warning, its fangs flashing toward Kakashi's neck.
Clang!
Kakashi blocked instantly, kunai catching the fangs. The snake twisted and tried to coil around him—but Shisui's blade flickered, and the head was severed cleanly.
The body hit the floor, still writhing.
Then another snake.
And another.
The ceiling cracked open with hidden holes, and suddenly a rain of serpents poured down like living weapons.
"Annoying," Satoru muttered.
He stepped forward—no hand signs, no wasted motion.
"Eight Trigrams — Air Palm!"
A wave of compressed chakra exploded outward.
Snakes were blasted off the walls, shredded midair, or slammed into the stone so hard they burst.
Guy darted in, fists like cannonballs, smashing anything that came close.
Shisui moved like a phantom, cutting down anything that slipped through.
Kakashi covered the angles with precise throws and clean counters.
But it wasn't meant to kill them.
It was meant to stall them.
Because while they were busy—
A low laugh drifted from deeper within the base.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
A voice like cold silk.
"Orochimaru…" Jiraiya's tone dropped.
From the far end of the corridor, Orochimaru stepped into view.
He looked exactly like Jiraiya remembered—pale skin, golden eyes, long hair like ink—but his presence felt even more wrong than before, like something human-shaped wearing a human face.
And he was wearing it.
A black cloak.
Red cloud patterns stitched across it.
Satoru's eyes sharpened.
Jiraiya's face tightened.
Kakashi's hand tensed on his weapon.
Shisui's calm gaze turned icy.
"So you really did join," Jiraiya said, voice heavy.
Orochimaru smiled.
"Join? That's such an ugly word."
He lifted one hand. On his finger was a ring—dark and cold, inscribed with a single character.
Exactly what Jiraiya had described.
Exactly what Satoru had come to confirm.
"You're the ones sniffing around my little home?" Orochimaru's eyes slid over them—then paused on Satoru. "Oh… the Hyūga heir."
Satoru didn't answer.
He simply stared.
Orochimaru's smile widened.
"How interesting. Minato is really getting bolder."
Jiraiya stepped forward, voice hard.
"Orochimaru. Tell me everything you know about that organization."
Orochimaru tilted his head.
"And why would I do that?"
Satoru spoke, calm and direct:
"Because you don't belong with them."
Orochimaru's eyes flickered—just slightly.
Satoru continued:
"They're gathering money. Recruiting rogue-nin. Moving in pairs. They're tied to the Night of the Nine-Tails."
"You might think you're using them."
"But if you're wrong… you're just another piece on someone else's board."
For a moment, the base fell silent.
Then Orochimaru laughed softly.
"Ah…"
"That mouth. That confidence."
"You're like Minato in a different way."
He let the words hang—then his gaze sharpened.
"But you're still young."
"And youth always overestimates itself."
The air suddenly changed.
Not with killing intent.
With something colder.
Orochimaru raised both hands.
The floor beneath them lit up with a massive seal array.
Kakashi's eye widened.
"Sealing formula—?!"
Jiraiya's expression twisted.
"No—those are…"
Satoru's Byakugan traced it instantly.
And his pupils narrowed.
"…Edo Tensei."
The forbidden summoning of the dead.
Before anyone could stop it, Orochimaru bit his thumb and slammed his palm down.
"Impure World Reincarnation!"
A burst of ash-like smoke erupted. The chamber shook as the seal array roared to life, pulling something upward from nowhere.
Two coffins slammed up from the ground.
One.
Then another.
The lids rattled.
Jiraiya's face went pale.
"Don't tell me…!"
The first coffin lid cracked open.
A pale hand pushed out.
And then—slowly—someone stepped out.
Not a monster.
Not a snake.
A man.
White hair.
Cold, sharp eyes.
Armor plates like an ancient warlord.
Tobirama Senju.
The Second Hokage.
Then the second coffin shuddered.
A figure stepped out, tall and broad, hair like dark fire, wearing battle armor older than Konoha itself.
A presence that made even the air feel heavy.
Hashirama Senju.
The First Hokage.
Kakashi's breath caught.
Shisui's eyes widened for the first time.
Even Guy's body went stiff.
And Jiraiya… looked like he'd just been stabbed.
Orochimaru smiled like a child showing off a new toy.
"Now then…"
"Shall we talk?"
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/Nova5tudios