Chapter 875 Orochimaru's Unspoken Regret

Fifty kilometers outside of Konoha.

Orochimaru's main body lay on a rock by a stream, listening to the birdsong deep in the forest while gazing at the starry sky.

He cleared his mind, carefree and serene, just like the young man who trained under Hiruzen decades ago!

Unfortunately, there is no figure of Jiraiya and Tsunade by his side.

Orochimaru furrowed his brows lightly. Just as he had managed to clear his mind, worries flooded back in, followed by a sudden rush of memories.

It was the memory of his clone being killed by Sanbi's Jinchuriki, Konoha Saburo, using his tail!

'Wait!'

'Sanbi…'

In that instant, Orochimaru, like an electrified rabbit, sprang up from the rock.

Orochimaru's eyes glittered brightly, 'Gekko Kanpū, that scoundrel snatched Sanbi from me, and he brought Sanbi to Konoha!'

'For him to do so, wouldn't the Abyss be concerned about this?'

'Or, the Abyss's Headquarters is really in Konoha, and the so-called leader is actually Minato?'

Then, following this line of thinking, Orochimaru thought that the reason Minato created the Abyss, it must be to do something that is not suitable on the surface. Based on what happened with Sanbi's Jinchuriki, Orochimaru guessed that Minato intended to collect all nine Biju under the guise of the Abyss, then unify the Shinobi World!

'If that's the case, then was Hachibi's Jinchuriki, Killer B, also taken by the Abyss?'

'If that's the case, then my Konoha Crush Plan may fail.'

Sanbi, Hachibi, plus Kyubi that originally belonged to Konoha, as well as Yellow Flash, Hiruzen-sensei, Jiraiya, Kanpū, Shisui … well, Shisui is confined at the border of the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire, so he could temporarily exclude him.

But even with those remaining people, Orochimaru feared that neither he, Shinno, Kirigakure, Sunagakure, Kusagakure, nor Otogakure could contend with them.

'I still need outside help!'

Several factions flashed through Orochimaru's mind.

The first is Kumogakure.

But he immediately ruled out due to the Yondaime Raikage's extremely irritable temperament and stubbornness. Cooperating with him was equivalent to planting a bomb by his side, with the potential of it exploding at any time.

The second is Akatsuki.

But Orochimaru dismissed that as well.

Because Nagato, who owns Rinnegan, considered himself a god, he's arrogant and looked down on everything. Moreover, there were many powerful Missing-Nin within the Akatsuki, so Nagato would never deign to cooperate with a traitor like him.

If Nagato agreed, then he must have some plan to benefit from the situation, akin to the praying mantis stalks the cicada, not being aware of the oriole behind it.

Having already found it extremely difficult to contend with Konoha, Orochimaru didn't want another Akatsuki lurking behind him!

The third is Iwagakure.

But that wouldn't work either.

Because the hired gun of Iwagakure is Akatsuki!

If Iwagakure agreed to cooperate, Onoki will definitely entrust this matter to Akatsuki.

'Since the other options are not possible, it seems that I can only invite that person.'

'Konoha's S-Rank Missing-Nin, Uchiha Obito!'

Orochimaru knew that Obito had a grudge against Konoha. So if Obito knows about the Konoha Crush Plan, Orochimaru believed that he will definitely participate.

Moreover, years ago, when Kanpū was training Sage Mode in Ryuchi Cave, Orochimaru Orochimaru had worked together with Sasori and Obito to attack Kanpū. Although it ended in failure…

'Wait!'

Orochimaru's body suddenly trembled.

'Sage Mode…'

In fact, the training of Sage Mode in Ryuchi Cave is very simple. It only required enduring and integrating the Senjutsu Chakra injected by White Snake Sage to get started.

Many years ago, Orochimaru had been injected by the White Snake Sage multiple times in order to train Sage Mode. Unfortunately, his body could not bear the Senjutsu Chakra of the White Snake Sage. Although he managed to avoid being completely transformed into a snake through shedding his skin, it also became his most unspoken regret.

'But now…'

Orochimaru looked down at his body and trembling all over.

"It seems that I need to make a trip to Ryuuchi Cave, hehehehe." Under the cover of night, Orochimaru's sinister and arrogant laughter slowly echoed.

…

Konoha.

Hokage's Office.

The information that Konoha Prison was infiltrated had finally reached here.

Minato felt felt that this incident was related to the capture of Hayate, so he sent Eagle to investigate personally overnight, and finally made a major discovery.

First of all, according to the Shinobi guarding the prison, the intruder possessed the Sharingan and could use Genjutsu with it, so it was undoubtedly a Shinobi of the Uchiha Clan.

However, upon further investigation into the prison, it was discovered that the intruder's target was none other than Danzo!

And from the mouths of nearby prisoners, it was learned that Danzo referred to that person as: Orochimaru!

The conclusion drawn from these clues was…

"Orochimaru has transplanted Sharingan?" Minato's face showed an expression of astonishment.

"That's actually not surprising." Eagle said: "Kakashi can transplant Sharingan to become the Copy Ninja he was known as, so it is not surprising that Orochimaru can transplant Sharingan and master Sharingan's Genjutsu."

"So Hayate actually fell into Orochimaru's hands?" Minato frowned.

'With Orochimaru's methods, it's likely that Hayate has already been taken out of Konoha, right?'

'No, even if there's a one in a million chance, we can't give up!'

Minato ordered the Anbu and the Military Police Force to continue guarding Konoha's Gate, to check every person entering and leaving, while simultaneously searching the entire village!

...

Early the next morning.

After having breakfast, Shinno came to the dense forest, Hayate was still tied to a tree trunk, his mouth taped shut, looking exhausted, as if he were about to die.

Shinno thought this guy still had some use, so he used medical ninjutsu to save him, then gave him some water and soldier pills, which allowed Hayate to barely sustained his life.

Then, he sat down on the side and pondered his next move.

Since the plan to capture an Anbu to torture the barrier's key failed, he only had two options now. One is to give up on Hayate and leave Konoha directly.

The second is to wait for Orochimaru to come and ask for his help.

After some thought, Shinno decided to give Orochimaru a chance to perform.

So he sat quietly in the forest and waited. And one day later, Orochimaru didn't come.

Shinno is in no hurry. After all, Konoha is so big, so Anbu and the Military Police Force wouldn't find this place for a while.

Another day passed, and Orochimaru still didn't come.

Shinno wasn't worried.

On the third day, while walking around the streets, Shinno noticed that the search range of Konoha's Anbu and the Military Police Force had come very close to the forest where he had placed Hayate!

Shinno didn't dare to be careless, so he hurried back to the forest, then used a secret medicine to make Hayate appear as if he were dead, then buried him alive, and finally erased all traces in the forest. Afterwards, he left the forest and stayed in a tavern inn.

Late that night, Konoha's Anbu and the Military Police Force finally searched the forest. About two hours later, they completed the search and left.

Even so, Shinno didn't move. It was only in the early morning that he quietly entered the forest, dug out Hayate who is in suspended animation, fed him the antidote, and resurrected him.

However, after this series of operations, Hayate, who already had a fractured right shoulder and multiple fractures all over his body, was basically crippled.

But Shinno doesn't care, after all, he was just a bait.

Time passed slowly.

Seven days later.

Konoha's Anbu and Military Police Force finally completed the search of the entire village, but unfortunately, they did not find Hayate.

Helpless, Minato had no choice but to give up.

And on this morning, Tenzo accompanied by Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin, left the village to begin their first C-rank escort mission. On the same afternoon, Kanpū returned to Konoha.