Waiting for the Rain to Stop, the Wind to Cease, and the Story to Begin

"Dan, hold on a little longer. I'll heal you..."

In a forest on a rainy night, several ninja stood silently around a man who was severely wounded and on the verge of death. Aside from the patter of rain, only a woman's pleading could be heard.

Her hands continued to channel Chakra into the ninja before her, but the ninja named Dan was already taking more breaths in than letting out.

"No... You promised me..."

The woman's pleading voice trembled, and her face was already covered in tears. Yet the rain washed them away again and again, leaving her drenched and utterly disheveled.

The companions around her wanted to speak but held back, making the atmosphere unbearably oppressive.

A young man standing on a distant tree took in the entire scene.

The young man had long black hair draping over his shoulders and a pair of cold, serpentine eyes. Yet when he saw the woman weeping ahead of him, a trace of reluctance flashed through his gaze.

The young man was Orochimaru, and the only woman who could make him show such an expression was Tsunade Senju, one of the Sannin alongside him.

Not long ago, Chiyo of Sunagakure had personally led a group of elite Sunagakure ninja in an attack on Konoha. Dan Katō, who had been responsible for patrols, took the lead and brought only his own ninja squad to intercept them.

Tsunade, who had only recently returned from a mission in Amegakure, had been among them. The two had been apart for so long that their reunion was sweeter than newlywed bliss, and they had spent this time practically inseparable.

Chiyo and Tsunade had engaged in a contest of Medical Ninjutsu, while Dan Katō had slaughtered his way across the battlefield with his bug-level Spirit Transformation Technique.

At first, no one could stop him. But Sunagakure's elite ninja were no pushovers either. After Dan Katō had taken down more than twenty of their comrades, the Sunagakure ninja finally found an opening and launched a vicious attack on his physical body.

Two fists could not fight four hands. Outnumbered, Dan Katō could not attend to everything, and one moment of carelessness doomed him beyond recovery.

By the time Orochimaru, who had rushed over after hearing the news, reached the battlefield, Dan Katō was already at death's door.

"Things with form will eventually be destroyed. Only the formless is eternal."

Though he had long grown accustomed to life and death on the battlefield, even Orochimaru, known for his coldness and ruthless decisiveness, could not remain unmoved when faced with someone he knew.

Dan Katō was Tsunade's lover, but he was also Orochimaru's comrade. Looking at Dan Katō, who had already lost all signs of life, then at Tsunade, who was crying in terror—

Perhaps unable to bear such a suffocating atmosphere, Orochimaru pushed off with his feet and vanished from the spot the next moment.

The Sunagakure ninja had already scattered and fled. Chiyo had come off slightly worse in her clash with Tsunade and had gained nothing herself. She was now leading the few remaining ninja away from the battlefield.

"Lady Chiyo, we suffered terrible losses in this ambush. Are we really just going to let it end like this?"

A ninja clutching his wound spoke to Chiyo. His weak voice made it clear that he was badly injured as well.

"We still underestimated Konoha's strength. This operation was too rushed. I never expected Konoha to react so quickly. I misjudged when they would return from Amegakure."

Chiyo, who was rapidly making her way toward the outskirts of the Land of Fire through the rainy night, spoke in a somewhat strained voice.

Originally, they had intended to take advantage of Konoha's elite ninja being deployed to attack Amegakure and launch a surprise assault on Konoha.

There had been nothing wrong with their plan. Sunagakure had first sent Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law ahead—they were the Parents of Sasori of the Red Sands.

But what they had not expected was that the unprecedentedly undermanned Konoha still had its war god, Konoha's White Fang, stationed there.

The two had arrived with great fanfare, only to be cut down one at a time by Hatake Sakumo.

That spectacular delivery of heads from afar made White Fang's name resound throughout the Ninja World, no less renowned than the newly famous Sannin.

That was what led to Sunagakure's current operation, which could be said to have been launched entirely for revenge.

"Although we lost many comrades, we also killed that troublesome Konoha bastard. I heard he was Tsunade's lover."

Remembering Dan Katō's Spirit Transformation Technique, the ninja's eyes still brimmed with apprehension. Yet his tone was full of satisfaction and gloating.

"Pick up the pace. Konoha's ninja are catching up."

As she spoke, Chiyo set several simple Explosive Tag traps along the way. She did not expect them to cause the pursuers much harm; she only hoped they would slow them down and buy more time.

Before long, a long-haired ninja, drenched from head to toe, arrived at the location where Chiyo and the others had set their traps.

The instant his feet touched down, a series of crackling explosions erupted around him, swallowing him whole.

The sudden blaze in the rainy night illuminated the surrounding forest, and the other Konoha ninja pursuing them glanced in that direction as well.

After the smoke dispersed, a pair of icy serpent eyes came into view.

"Sunagakure ninja, you truly deserve to die!"

It was Orochimaru, who had caught up with them. He stared coldly ahead, his tongue unconsciously licking across his lips.

Seeing that it was Orochimaru, the other Konoha ninja relaxed. They themselves could have dealt with such an attack easily, let alone Orochimaru, whose reputation had already begun to soar.

Just as Orochimaru was about to continue the pursuit, an intense pain suddenly struck his head, halting his raised foot.

The next moment, Orochimaru's body fell from the tree. In the pitch-black night, none of the other ninja noticed, and the torrential rain drowned out the sound of his landing.

The next day, Konoha Hospital.

Orochimaru slowly opened his eyes. Morning sunlight streamed through the window and fell across his face, making his pale complexion seem almost sickly.

"Where am I?"

Before he could fully open his bleary eyes, a flood of memories filled his mind, leaving him too weak to do anything but collapse back down.

Who knew how long passed before Orochimaru opened his eyes again, though confusion and disbelief still lingered within them.

He had originally been a researcher in the twenty-first century. While out gathering materials one day, he had accidentally been bitten by a Little White Snake. Before his colleagues could get him to the hospital, he had already died.

When he woke up again, he was indeed in a hospital, but it was no longer one from the world where he had once lived.

Through the original owner's memories, he learned the identity of the body's former owner and the world to which he belonged.

Sitting up in bed, Orochimaru carefully examined his attire, then pinched his arm hard. The pain made him realize that none of this was a dream.

"I never thought I'd have a day when I transmigrated—and that a single snakebite would bring me into this body."

Orochimaru sighed toward the heavens. When others transmigrated, they either became members of clans like the Uchiha or Hyuga, with their Kekkei Genkai, or members of the Senju or Uzumaki Clan, with their Sage Bodies.

Orochimaru was not bad either, but in this Ninja World, where bloodlines determined everything, his potential could not compare to those favored children of heaven.