This was a desolate, uninhabited stretch of barren mountains in the southeast of the Land of Earth. Amid the jagged, towering rocks, an entire rock formation had been hollowed out to conceal Orochimaru's Northern Base.
To the south lay the Land of Stone, the Land of Rain, and the Land of Grass; to the east lay the Land of Waterfalls. This chain of small nations served as a buffer zone between the Land of Earth, the Wind Country, and the Fire Country. On top of that, the Land of Earth itself was hardly peaceful, being a place that often hired Akatsuki as muscle. Its general atmosphere was easy enough to imagine.
Orochimaru had chosen to place his dedicated human experimentation base here. It was a rather discerning choice. Perhaps he had taken on a job from Iwagakure back when he worked for Akatsuki and conveniently established it along the way—
Wu Yu, Karin, and Yinglian, who carried the disabled child on her back, followed the guide Kimimaro straight to the entrance of the base.
The guards observing from the sentry post saw that the leader was none other than Kaguya Kimimaro, the person Lord Orochimaru valued most. They had originally intended to verify his identity, but Kimimaro casually flung out a bone. It smashed through the window, grazed past one guard's temple, and embedded itself in the wall behind his head. The guards immediately obediently opened the gates and let them into the base.
This was not Kaguya Kimimaro's first visit to the Northern Base. In fact, after Orochimaru had taken him away from the Land of Water, he had lived here for several years.
At the time, another youth had also been used and studied by Orochimaru as a human test subject alongside him. That youth was named Jugo,