.
***
**Chapter 32: First Encounter with Orochimaru**
*Konoha Hidden Village - A Relatively Secluded Street*
The clamor from the direction of the Chunin Exam venue faintly reached this street, forming a stark contrast to where Rubik stood at that moment. His hands were tucked into his pockets, seemingly wandering aimlessly, his gaze casually sweeping over the shops and houses on either side, like an ordinary tourist.
Yet beneath his relaxed posture, his perception spread out like an invisible web, keenly capturing every subtle movement around him.
After walking about half the street, Rubik stopped in front of a stall selling three-color dango. His eyes didn't linger on the tempting sweets, though. Instead, he spoke lazily into the empty air, his voice neither loud nor soft but echoing clearly on the quiet street:
"Come out. You've been following me the whole way. Tired yet?"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Shortly after, a slender figure slowly emerged from the shadow cast by a ninja tools shop at the street corner.
Her long black hair was tied back, and she wore form-fitting dark ninja attire that accentuated her graceful curves. Her face still held that signature cool expression—it was Senju Momoki.
Rubik turned to face her, a playful smile tugging at his lips, laced with clear teasing:
"Yo, isn't this the elite from 'Root'? Did our last 'sparring session' not teach you a lesson? Or have you..."
He deliberately drew out his words, his gaze flicking over her slender neck. "...forgotten the feeling on your neck?"
Momoki's foot instinctively stepped back a fraction, her fingers unconsciously brushing her smooth neck, as if she could still feel the cold grip of Rubik's fingers and the suffocating pressure from that day.
But then, an even more embarrassing memory flooded her mind—the drunken night she had collapsed into his arms, sobbing, been carried back to bed by him, and possibly said things she shouldn't have... Her cool expression flushed with a thin layer of rouge, spreading from her earlobes to her cheeks.
Her watery eyes glared at Rubik with a mix of shame and barely concealed panic. She tried to keep her voice steady and cold, but it carried a faint tension:
"I wasn't secretly stalking you! I was... openly following you on a mission!"
She tried to justify it as a mission, but her confidence faltered.
After saying that, she hesitated, her gaze flickering. Finally, she couldn't hold back, her voice dropping lower with a cautious probe:
"...That night when I was drunk... I didn't say anything weird, did I?"
Rubik's smile deepened, full of mischief. He tilted his head, pretending to think hard, tapping his chin lightly:
"Weird stuff? Hmm... let me think..."
He dragged it out, watching the mix of tension and anticipation in Momoki's eyes. Then he shrugged innocently:
"Sorry, I had a bit too much to drink that night too. Things got fuzzy afterward... I really don't remember."
"You!" Momoki instantly saw through his evasion. Her cool facade nearly cracked, her cheeks burning deeper, her moist eyes nearly sparking with fury. She stepped forward, as if to grab his collar and demand answers.
In that split second as she lifted her foot, Rubik's playful expression vanished. His eyes sharpened, and he shot out his right hand like lightning, seizing Momoki's wrist and yanking her straight into his arms!
"Mmph!" Momoki yelped in surprise, her body slamming uncontrollably into Rubik's solid chest. Before she could struggle or protest, she felt his warm breath—tinged with chill—against her ear. In a voice so low and dangerous only they could hear, he commanded:
"Don't move. And don't make a sound."
His tone brooked no argument. He added a line that froze her solid:
"The one I was calling out... wasn't you."
A bone-chilling, viscous killing intent—like a real, slithering serpent rising from the shadows—silently locked onto them!
Momoki's hair stood on end. As a Root elite, she was highly sensitive to such intent! Following Rubik's taut gaze, she whipped her head toward the darker corner at the street's far end.
*Tap... tap... tap...*
Slow, deliberate footsteps echoed. A figure strolled out from the shadows.
He wore Amegakure's signature gray high-collared coat and forehead protector, his face shrouded in the shadow of the upturned collar. Narrow, inhumanly cold and greedy golden eyes gleamed like a snake's slit pupils!
The aura radiating from him was cold, damp, heavy with the stench of death—overwhelmingly powerful, suffocating. Each step felt like it crushed countless corpses beneath his feet.
The man, disguised as an Amegakure ninja, halted a few steps from Rubik and Momoki. His lips curled into a hair-raising grin, and a raspy voice with an eerie magnetism slithered out, like a viper's hiss:
"Heh heh heh... Such sharp senses, Uzumaki boy. And... the little Senju girl."
His gaze raked over Rubik with greedy hunger, like appraising a priceless treasure. The look sent a shiver of revulsion through Momoki.
Orochimaru!
Momoki's heart nearly leaped from her chest. She instantly understood what Rubik meant by "The one I was calling out... wasn't you!"
He held her protectively at his side. She could feel his body tense like a drawn bowstring, the playful demeanor gone, replaced by the grim vigilance of facing a top predator. The air thickened, oppressed only by those icy serpentine eyes.
"Why is such a dangerous guy here? This could threaten Konoha! I need to alert Lord Danzo... Lord Danzo? Would he... really stop Orochimaru?"
As a Root member, a treasonous thought involuntarily surfaced in Momoki's mind.
The frigid air solidified, weighing heavily on Rubik and Momoki. Orochimaru's narrow golden slit pupils scanned them with interest, lingering on Rubik. His raspy voice carried playful curiosity:
"Impressive perception. My stealth jutsu fools even Kage-level shinobi. How did you... detect me?"
He tilted his head slightly, like a snake eyeing prey.
Rubik didn't answer directly. Still half-shielding Momoki, his body coiled for instant action, he flashed a cold smile, keeping deliberate distance in his tone:
"My teacher is Jiraiya. For a 'famous' pedo-uncle like you, a disciple naturally stays extra alert."
He deliberately concealed his mind's eye of kagura ability, attributing it to knowledge of his "pedo-uncle" and chakra traits.
"Heh heh heh..."
Orochimaru chuckled lowly, like a serpent's hiss:
"That idiot Jiraiya picked a fine student."
His eyes unmasked his admiration for Rubik—a greedy gaze at prime material—that made Rubik, already repulsed, break out in goosebumps.
But Orochimaru's gaze soon shifted to Momoki, trembling slightly behind Rubik from his killing intent. His icy golden pupils lingered on her pale, lovely face with scrutiny and reminiscence.
A moment later, his lips twisted into an even stranger grin. His voice held dawning realization... and unsettling nostalgia:
"Such a pretty girl... You look familiar."
He extended his crimson, forked tongue like a snake's, slowly licking his thin lips:
"Ah, I remember... You're Chitose's daughter, aren't you? All grown up now..."
"Chitose"—the name struck Momoki like thunder!
The instinctive fear she'd barely suppressed under Orochimaru's terror shattered, drowned by a torrent of shock, rage, and bone-deep agony!
She lunged halfway from behind Rubik, her watery eyes blazing with fury. She glared at Orochimaru, her trembling voice laced with disbelief:
"How... how do you know my mother's name?!"
Rubik felt a flicker of surprise. This was the first time he'd seen Momoki's emotions erupt—no more cool facade, but a beast with its reverse scale touched. Her reaction confirmed Orochimaru's words.
Orochimaru savored her response, his smile widening with delight and memory.
"Heh heh heh... How do I know?"
He shook his head lightly, as if recalling an amusing tale:
"After all... a pureblood Senju specimen for experiments is a rare gem."
His casual tone sliced like the sharpest blade, carving out Momoki's heart!
***