"You said you saw Jiraiya?"
Orochimaru nodded.
Kitahara Kaede curled his lips in a light laugh.
"But why did I see someone else?"
Orochimaru said nothing, but disbelief was plainly written across his face.
Kitahara Kaede was not the type to press people aggressively.
So he said calmly,
"If you don't believe me, look into my eyes."
With that, he leaned closer to Orochimaru.
The latter cooperated and looked into Kitahara Kaede's eyes.
And once Orochimaru looked into Kitahara Kaede's eyes,
He froze for a moment.
"It really isn't him."
Orochimaru murmured.
He had indeed seen someone else in Kitahara Kaede's eyes.
"Who is that? How could he possess such powerful ocular techniques?"
The first thing Orochimaru thought of was ocular techniques.
No sooner had he spoken than Orochimaru pressed Kitahara Kaede further.
"Could he be a rising star of the Uchiha Clan?" 343
As Orochimaru's suspicions grew increasingly extreme, Kitahara Kaede cut in.
"Don't overthink it. It might not be a physical entity."
Orochimaru could not believe Kitahara Kaede's words.
"Not a physical entity? Impossible. There are absolutely no creatures without physical forms in the ninja world."
"What if it's from beyond the ninja world?" Kitahara Kaede's words undeniably shattered all of Orochimaru's absolute assumptions.
After all, everything Orochimaru had studied existed within the ninja world.
As for what lay beyond it,
He knew nothing at all.
Just after Kitahara Kaede finished speaking,
A slip of paper suddenly drifted before him.
Orochimaru was about to warn him to be careful.
But Kitahara Kaede had already caught the note in his hand.
"What is that? A hidden weapon?" Orochimaru guessed.
Kitahara Kaede casually unfolded the note.
The reason he opened it so confidently,
Was that Kitahara Kaede had sensed a familiar aura from it.
The note carried a trace of