Just as Minato Namikaze's hand coalesced with golden sealing formulas, ready to step forward and place a restrictive measure on Orochimaru to ensure the safety of this dangerous transaction, Orochimaru, who had been facing away from the group, suddenly raised a hand. His pale fingers swayed gently, signaling Minato to stop.
"Let's discuss this later, Fourth Hokage."
Orochimaru's voice still carried that characteristic magnetism and rasp, but at this moment, it held a trace of illusory etherealness. "My true body is not here. While this environment is suitable for experiments, it is not suitable for discussing those things..."
"What?"
Jiraiya's pupils shrank instantly. Before he could react, the Orochimaru in the gray kimono before him suddenly grinned, his smile eerie and stiff.
"The original body will know everything you've said. As for that deal..." Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils took one last deep look at the purple toad perched on Minato's shoulder. "I look forward to it."
"Poof!"
Accompanied by a dull explosion, white smoke instantly surged up, filling most of the laboratory.
The Orochimaru who had been standing there vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a cloud of slowly dissipating chakra dust.
"A Shadow Clone?!"
Jiraiya rushed forward a few steps, waving his hand to disperse the smoke. Looking at the empty floor, his expression turned incredibly grim. "Damn it! I knew this guy would only leave a Shadow Clone behind."
"I failed to see through it as well."
Minato Namikaze withdrew the sealing formula in his hand, a look of solemnity flashing in his blue eyes. "This technique was created by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. Even with high-level ocular powers like the Byakugan or the Sharingan, it is extremely difficult to distinguish it from the original. Once released, it can even return memories and experiences completely to the original body. It is indeed an excellent means for scouting intelligence and avoiding risk."
"That bastard!"
Looking at the empty lab, Tsunade felt a surge of fury from being toyed with.
She spun around abruptly, a chakra-infused fist slamming ruthlessly into a nearby massive cultivation tank.
"Crash—!"
The reinforced glass shattered instantly, and green nutrient fluid burst out like a flood. A twisted experimental specimen soaking inside slid to the ground with the liquid, emitting a nauseating, fishy stench.
"Does he think we're fools?!" Tsunade gritted her teeth, veins bulging on her forehead. "He let us waste our breath on a Shadow Clone for half the day while he hides in the gutter watching the show?!"
"Calm down, Tsunade."
Jiraiya quickly jumped away, avoiding the splashing corrosive liquid, and comforted her with a wry smile. "You know how Orochimaru is. Danzo just died; if he dared to leave his real body here waiting for us to corner him, he wouldn't be Orochimaru."
"Then what do we do now?" Tsunade shook the slime off her hand, looking thoroughly annoyed. "Scour the world for that slippery snake? Or issue a wanted poster?"
"No need."
Minato shook his head, his gaze calmly fixed on the darkness deep within the lab. "Since Orochimaru was already gone, it means he was on guard against us from the start. However, Gamakon's words just now clearly struck his weakness."
Minato turned to look at Gamakon on his shoulder. "If he accepts our terms, he will return. All we can do now is wait."
"Exactly."
Gamakon let out a yawn, seemingly unsurprised by Orochimaru's disappearance. "That guy is greedy but values his life even more. Let him digest the volume of information from tonight first. Let's go. The smell here is too strong; I need to go back and take a bath."
...
Night deepened, and the forest outside Konoha was enveloped in a thick layer of mist.
At the third watch, all was silent.
This was the edge of the Forest of Death, where people were rarely seen except for patrolling Anbu.
At this moment, however, a purple toad sat perched on a massive rock. Its golden horizontal pupils shimmered with an eerie light under the moonlight, as if waiting for something.
Gamakon looked at the waning moon in the sky, silently calculating the time.
Earlier in the Root underground lab, right before Orochimaru's Shadow Clone dispersed, he had intentionally made an extremely subtle gesture—taking a deep breath, bloating his white belly high three consecutive times, and then quickly exhaling.
In this shinobi world, no one understood the meaning of this gesture.
But Orochimaru was an exception.
Not because Orochimaru had read 'Journey to the West', but because of his suspicious nature and tendency to over-analyze, combined with his extremely high intelligence. He would inevitably link the number 'three' to a time.
The third watch.
As for the location, when Gamakon was bloating his belly, his gaze had seemingly drifted toward the direction of this forest.
This was a gamble, betting on the extent of Orochimaru's hunger for the 'unknown'.
"Rustle..."
A light breeze blew, making the leaves emit a soft friction sound.
Gamakon's ears twitched slightly, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
"He's here."
In the shadow of an ancient tree ten meters in front of Gamakon, a slender figure slowly emerged as if growing out of the darkness.
Pale skin, golden elongated pupils, and purple eye shadow stretching down to the sides of the nose.
This time, it was the genuine article.
Orochimaru leaned against the tree trunk with his arms crossed. His snake-like eyes stared intently at the toad on the rock, with an expression that was both wary and filled with unconcealed curiosity.
"How interesting."
Orochimaru was the first to break the silence, his voice exceptionally clear in the night air. "A toad from Mount Myoboku actually knows how to use such a subtle way to ask me out. Bloating your belly three times to hint at the third watch... are you imitating the scenes from ancient texts where transcendent masters transmit secret methods?"
"You surprised me quite a bit too."
Gamakon stood up from the rock and patted the dust off his claws like a human. "I originally thought that given your cautious nature, even if you understood the hint, you'd send a few snakes to scout the path first. I didn't expect you'd actually dare to come alone."
"Because I wanted to confirm something."
Orochimaru slowly stood straight, a cold sense of pressure instantly permeating the air. He extended his long tongue and licked his lips. "What you said in the lab earlier... about 'Gods', about 'Karma', about the origin of chakra. Was it a story you made up to save your life, or is it a reality?"
"If it was made up..." Orochimaru's gaze turned bone-chillingly cold. "Even if you are Jiraiya's summoning beast, you will become my experimental material tonight."
...