Taking Over Orochimaru's Secret Base

Celestial Maiden of Jade rolled up the scroll with her ribbons, gave it a light shake in midair to fling off the disgusting mucus, then handed it to Menma.

Taking the scroll, Menma infused it with chakra to inspect it. Sure enough, the Storage Scroll sealed a vast life force that surged like the tides.

Though Orochimaru was indeed utterly deranged when it came to human experimentation, as long as someone matched his strength or had the potential to cooperate with him, he was still trustworthy.

After watching Orochimaru vanish into the woods, Menma also left with Grim Reaper of Three and Celestial Maiden of Jade.

If they had truly fought, Grim Reaper of Three's scythe could do more than merely absorb chakra—it could also damage the soul.

It was the perfect counter to Orochimaru, whose soul was incomplete.

As Menma landed, a White Tiger wearing a mask leaped from the forest, stopped before him, and lowered its body.

It bent down to carry Menma on its back, then raced through the forest.

There were actually many more of Orochimaru's secret bases around Konoha, and Danzo did not even know about quite a few of them.

After Orochimaru escaped this time, all of those secret bases would be abandoned.

Menma had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.

Before long, White Tiger stopped at a concealed entrance on a cliff.

From the cliffside platform outside the entrance, they could see Naka River as well as Naka Shrine ten kilometers away.

That was the territory of the Uchiha Clan and also a secret gathering place for the Uchiha. The shrine's underground chamber housed a Stone Tablet said to have been left behind by the Sage of Six Paths, which Zetsu had later altered.

"This secret base has quite a nice view." Menma withdrew his gaze and walked down the deep passageway.

Celestial Maiden of Jade and Grim Reaper of Three floated at the front, clearing the hidden weapons and traps within the corridor for Menma.

Though this secret base was small, it had everything it needed. Half-formed test subjects floated in culture tanks, while an independent power system hummed away.

White Tiger, Celestial Maiden of Jade, and Grim Reaper of Three—the three summoned beasts—began clearing out the traps and snakes Orochimaru had left behind in the secret base.

Menma entered a lounge and found several experimental logs inside.

It seemed this was not Orochimaru's primary experimental site. The logs contained only a few hastily written pages, but they still gave Menma a basic understanding of the laboratory.

White Tiger possessed exceptional sensory abilities and had already discovered three of Orochimaru's secret bases one after another. They would all become Menma's property.

Suddenly, the sealing array at Menma's waist sent a searing pain through him.

"Has he come?" Menma set down the experimental log and rapidly formed hand seals.

He pressed his palm heavily against his lower back.

"Caged Bird Seal!"

A pale curse mark flickered across the surface of his skin for an instant before falling silent.

In the forest outside Konoha.

Uchiha Obito, dressed in an Akatsuki black cloak patterned with red clouds and wearing a spiral mask, stood atop a large tree with a slight frown.

"Obito, it seems something has happened in Konoha. The White Zetsu lying in wait reported that Konoha is heavily guarded and has dispatched many sensory ninjas to investigate everywhere," said the white half of Zetsu's face as he emerged halfway from the trunk.

"Call me Lord Madara when we're outside!" Obito said coldly.

"Sure thing, Lord Obito." White Zetsu still wore that endlessly chattering expression.

Obito had grown used to this sort of bickering. Ever since Uchiha Madara saved him, he had been confined underground, and White Zetsu was usually the only one he could talk to. So even when White Zetsu said something foolish, Obito would at most stop responding to the subject.

"Has the White Zetsu you placed in the Orphanage sent back any information?" Obito's Sharingan beneath his mask glanced at Zetsu.

"Now that you mention it, the White Zetsu over there really hasn't sent any news in a long time." Zetsu fully emerged from the tree and stood beside Obito, tilting his head with a grin.

"It seems something we don't know about has happened inside Konoha." Obito once again used Kamui to sense the mark he had left behind.

Yet he could not sense the mark he had placed on the child of his teacher Minato.

This made Obito's brow beneath the mask furrow deeply.

He could not help recalling the battle three years ago. Teacher Minato had fought him only once, yet had learned the details of his abilities. He then used Flying Thunder God: Second Step to severely wound him and the Contract Seal to sever his control over the Nine-Tails.

"Could there be a sealing technique capable of sealing a Space-Time Ninjutsu mark?" Obito thought of the Uzumaki Clan, famous for their sealing techniques.

But the Uzumaki Clan had already been wiped out along with their country, and even Konoha's ninjas proficient in sealing techniques should not have been capable of something at that level.

"Damn it... what happened to that brat?!" Obito began to grow anxious. That little fellow was an important part of his revenge plan!

He still wanted to see Teacher Minato's two sons kill each other ten years from now!

"Hey, hey! Obito, are you really going to Konoha?!" Zetsu could not help trying to dissuade him as he watched Obito's body gradually turn intangible.

"Don't worry. The Fourth Hokage is already dead." A low, confident voice came from beneath Obito's spiral mask. "No one can threaten me."

Deep within Konoha, inside the Root base, in Danzo's room.

A Root ninja landed outside the paper sliding door, his silhouette cast by the dim light.

"Lord Commander! Orochimaru has defected!"

The commander, who had been lying on tatami beneath a quilt, abruptly opened his right eye.

"Bring Kinoe to me," Danzo ordered.

"Yes!" The Root ninja swiftly vanished after receiving his order.

Danzo threw back the quilt and slowly rose.

"Orochimaru, have you finally come to this?" Danzo had given considerable support to Orochimaru's experiments, but he also knew that using Konoha ninjas as living test subjects would cross Hiruzen Sarutobi's bottom line.

Thus, after the number of imprisoned criminal ninjas was no longer enough to waste on experiments, Danzo had his subordinates abduct ordinary Konoha ninjas to supply Orochimaru's research.

Of course, publicly, he knew nothing about it. It had all been done by his subordinates.

"Lord Danzo!" Before long, a thirteen-year-old boy wearing a tanuki mask and bearing the code name Kinoe arrived before Danzo.

Danzo took out a scroll and handed it to Kinoe. "Go to this location, give the scroll to the person there, then wait there for Orochimaru and assist his escape."

Although Kinoe had mastered the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, his strength was merely at the jonin level. Compared with a renowned Elite Jonin like Orochimaru, there was still a vast gap between them. Naturally, Danzo did not believe Kinoe could deal with Orochimaru.

But Orochimaru absolutely could not be captured by Hiruzen Sarutobi. If he exposed Danzo, it could become troublesome.

Since Orochimaru could not be allowed to return, could not be killed, and Danzo still needed Orochimaru's techniques, the only option was to assist his escape.

"Yes!" Kinoe accepted the scroll and used the Body Flicker Technique to depart.

Just after Kinoe left, an Anbu ninja arrived at the Root base under Aburame Tatsuma's lead.

"Lord Danzo! Lord Hokage requests your presence!"

"Understood." Danzo put on his outer robe, hiding the secret on his arm deep beneath it.