Bang!
In the suddenly silent secret chamber, the sharp crash of a hand slamming onto the table suddenly rang out, carrying trembling, furious rage!
"Impossible! Orochimaru, enough! Stop trying to fool me! What exactly are you plotting?"
Then came an unbearable furious roar that echoed through the well-insulated, sealed chamber.
"Lord Kazekage, calm down."
The next moment, as he watched the Fourth Kazekage rise and slam the table, the intrigued expression on Orochimaru's face slowly froze. A seemingly soothing smile curled across his lips, though perhaps because of his features and raspy voice, that soothing smile looked no different from his earlier sinister, ill-intentioned grin.
Still, the tone of his words was much more earnest and serious, making him sound somewhat less unpleasant.
He had not expected that, after more than a decade, that brat Taki Chiba's intimidation would still be so powerful.
No. It should be said that Sunagakure's reaction to those three words was far too extreme.
At the same time, noticing the faintly trembling figure beneath the Fourth Kazekage's loose robes—or rather, the body shaking from violent inner turmoil—such a thought flashed through Orochimaru's mind.
At this moment, he could tell that the mind of this village's Kage was already in turmoil.
And from the words of this village's Kage, he could hear that although the Fourth Kazekage kept saying it was impossible, deep down, he already believed it. He believed that Taki Chiba was alive. His heart simply instinctively refused to accept it.
He did not want to believe that Taki Chiba—the Taki Chiba whose reported death during the Nine-Tails' Rampage had made every Kage and every village's shinobi in the Shinobi World breathe a sigh of relief—was still alive.
The reason for such a reaction was quite simple.
Taki Chiba's deterrence, his deterrence over the