The Sinking Island

The instant the White Zetsu Clone died, Zetsu, who had already set out with Hiruko, changed expression.

"What is it?" Hiruko asked grimly.

"My clone was discovered by Orochimaru." Zetsu put on a dramatic performance. If not for his yin-yang face, he would surely have been able to display a complicated mix of annoyance and rage right now!

"So you've lost track of Orochimaru?" Hiruko frowned. Though he found Zetsu deeply irritating, he had to admit that Zetsu's intelligence-gathering abilities were among the best in the Ninja World.

Moreover, Orochimaru had once been part of Akatsuki and knew this organization's operations very well. Without Zetsu's intelligence, finding Orochimaru in the vast Ninja World would truly be difficult.

Yet a trace of suspicion suddenly arose in Hiruko's heart.

Before Orochimaru defected, he had been teamed up with Zetsu. Since they had been teammates, had Zetsu really failed to notice Orochimaru's disloyal intentions at all?

Perhaps Zetsu's clone losing Orochimaru's trail this time had been deliberate from the start.

Interesting!

Hiruko wanted to kill Orochimaru, but at this point, all he could do was wait and see how things developed.

Orochimaru led Kimimaro and a group of trusted subordinates to the Land of Rice Fields.

The Land of Rice Fields was a small country without even a ninja village. Combined with the intelligence Yakushi Kabuto had gathered here years ago, Orochimaru effortlessly reached an agreement with the Land of Rice Fields' Daimyo and established a small ninja village called Otogakure.

His trusted subordinates immediately transformed themselves into ninjas of Otogakure!

During this time, Orochimaru also found a left arm to attach. As for the left arm Uchiha Itachi had cut off, he intended to preserve it. Whether as a warning or a humiliation, he would remember it forever!

One day.

"Kimimaro,