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Land of Rice Fields, Otogakure.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the rolling mountains a dark gold, draping this valley on the border of the Land of Rice Fields, surrounded by dense forest and undulating hills, in a quiet and faintly eerie veil.

This had once been nothing more than an ordinary farming village, peaceful and removed from the world, but ever since Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, had chosen it as a secret base, it had quietly undergone a complete transformation.

The low farmhouses had been replaced by more functional and defensible structures of stone and steel. The air was no longer filled purely with the fragrance of earth, but also carried faint traces of disinfectant, medicinal herbs, and some... indescribable smell.

Although Orochimaru's main research activities had moved, following his nominal "submission" to the Land of Stars, to the more advanced and more strictly supervised laboratories in Star City, Otogakure remained his private plot for certain gray-area or forbidden studies.

After all, though Asura of the Land of Stars had granted him unprecedented research resources and support, he had drawn a harsh red line when it came to "experimental ethics."

The use of innocent civilians was strictly forbidden; only death-row criminals were permitted.

For Orochimaru, who would stop at nothing in his pursuit of "truth," this was undoubtedly a restraint.

As a result, Otogakure became a window through which he secretly conducted more "free" explorations. By cooperating with the Land of Rice Fields and several neighboring small countries that lacked ninja villages, he "dealt with" criminals or ninja no one cared about, giving it the respectable name of "waste utilization."

It was only because of what Asura had said back then—"The greatest difference between you and Tobirama Senju is your bottom line..." —that Orochimaru disdained using civilians