When Orochimaru arrived at Uchiha Madara's hideout under Obito's guidance, he found it completely empty.
There was no one left in the cave, though traces of habitation remained: robes and weapons hung on the walls.
Orochimaru inspected the place and realized he had still arrived too late. They had noticed something was wrong and withdrawn in advance.
On a stone chair, he found a pool of blood and three dried tubes resembling White Zetsu tissue.
The other ends of the tubes led into a huge, pitch-black pit that was completely empty. Orochimaru sent two pythons down to investigate.
Several White Zetsu corpses had been discarded beside the pit. Unlike the White Zetsu killed by Orochimaru, these seemed to have had their flesh and blood sucked dry, leaving only a layer of skin behind. The sight was horrifying.
"I remember there was some strange plant here," Obito said from behind him.
"What kind of plant?"
"I think it was called the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path... Those White Zetsu came from that plant."
So they were called White Zetsu...
Orochimaru pondered this. Before long, the two pythons returned from the pit, slithering up onto his shoulders and flicking their tongues.
"What a pity," Orochimaru murmured.
He turned to look at the empty White Zetsu husks on the ground, his gaze sweeping across the cave.
"But that's fine. The unknown is what makes things interesting." He seemed to be speaking to the snakes on his shoulders, yet also to himself.
Obito stood before the stone chair, staring at the bloodstain and the tubes. He remembered Madara telling him that without the Chakra supplied by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Madara would die immediately.
Madara couldn't already be dead, could he...?
Orochimaru remained in the cave for quite some time,