A massive explosion rang out.
When the smoke cleared, no one was left at the scene.
"Damn it, he got away!"
Kimura Takuya, who had expected a fierce battle, hadn't imagined that Orochimaru would run.
He'd deliberately taunted Orochimaru earlier to keep him there.
He hadn't expected Orochimaru to flee so decisively.
"Tuoye, what do we do?"
"I left some of my Soul Energy on Danzo. The two of them can't get away. I wasn't keeping an eye on them before, but tracking them now will be easy.
"But we need to leave. Anbu will be here soon."
With that, Kimura Takuya led everyone away, erasing their tracks before they left.
Not long after Kimura Takuya and the others had gone,
a squad of Anbu arrived and searched the entire pig farm. Aside from the blast marks left by the Spiral Cannon, they found only a few Kunai.
They found nothing else.
"Lady Ziyue, there are only signs of a fight, but we don't know how many people were involved. There's also something very strange."
"Oh? What is it?"
Uzuki Yugao, her hair a shade of purple, asked in confusion when she saw her subordinate hesitating.
"All the boars here were given aphrodisiacs, but the sows were deliberately kept apart. They weren't... well, you know."
"And?"
Uzuki Yugao nearly lost her composure beneath her mask. The corner of her mouth twitched as she pressed on.
But the Anbu continued, saying something even more astonishing.
"So I'll make a bold guess: someone raped these boars!
"Lady Ziyue, they all look completely drained. I'm afraid each one was raped more than ten times!"
"Idiot! Who would be bored enough to do something like that?"
Ziyue smacked her subordinate on the head with the back of her sword, then turned to leave. With her back to the others, she said fiercely,
"Keep tracking them. Our targets are Orochimaru and his subordinates, not some pig rapist!"
"But, Lady Ziyue, what if Orochimaru did it? He raped every boar in Konoha, leaving them all drained. Soon Konoha won't have any piglets, and we won't have any pork to eat!"
"Idiot! How did you even get into Anbu? Why would Orochimaru do something like that?"
"We ran into Orochimaru earlier. He can turn into a snake, right? He got away, but Lord Hokage injured him. And snakes are lecherous creatures. Maybe he drained the life force from these pigs to heal himself!"
The Anbu's story grew wilder by the minute, and he came up with all sorts of reasons to prove Orochimaru had raped the boars.
Only after he'd finished did the others understand: his family owned the pig farm, and he wanted Orochimaru to pay for the damages.
"I do want Orochimaru to compensate me, but you can't deny that what I said makes sense, can you?
"Snake demons really can absorb life force to heal themselves!"
"Enough! Keep tracking!"
"Yes, sir!"
Seeing their captain lose his temper, the Anbu stopped talking, and they continued the pursuit.
Outside Konoha,
Orochimaru had changed into a black robe embroidered with red clouds. He brought Kabuto and the pig that was Danzo to a residence. ׺°"˜`"°º× ׺°"˜`"°º×
"Orochimaru, you're late."
"Something came up, Sasori, but it led to an unexpected windfall."
Sasori, still in his Hiruko form, saw that Orochimaru and Kabuto had brought back a pig.
Even the expressionless puppet seemed to show a hint of surprise.
"You know I don't need to eat, right?"
"Ahaha, this isn't actually a pig. This is Konoha's shadow, Lord Danzo."
"What?"
Orochimaru then told Sasori what had happened to Danzo.
Sasori had already turned himself into a puppet and lost all his emotions.
Even so, the story left him deeply shocked.
[ ]
"Incredible. This is a perfect creation. It's not quite as good as my Human Puppets, but it's still ingenious! If a human head can be combined with a pig's body, perhaps I could make my Human Puppets even more complete!"
As a master puppeteer, Sasori immediately saw the value of the pig.
He had created the Human Puppet technique himself, and his Medical Ninjutsu was top-notch. Otherwise, the Human Puppets couldn't retain their vitality.
What's more, Sasori's grandmother Chiyo was a medical ninja capable of using a resurrection technique.
So Sasori's skill in Medical Ninjutsu had to be considerable.
The more he looked at the pig, the more he liked it. He had his puppet paw at it all over.
"Incredible. Only the head is human; every other part is a pig's body. How did they keep the head alive?
"The point where they're joined is so seamless. Ordinary Medical Ninjutsu couldn't do this."
"Haha, so you can tell this technique is extraordinary too? It's the work of a medical ninjutsu genius from Konoha!
"Kabuto and I studied it, but we still couldn't figure out the key."
Orochimaru pointed at Kabuto as he spoke in admiration. Kabuto also gave Sasori a subtle nod.
Sasori was surprised that Kabuto admitted he couldn't crack it either. After all, Kabuto was the spy he'd sent to Orochimaru.
Sasori knew how capable Kabuto was. He'd even entrusted Kabuto with work on his Human Puppets. And even Kabuto couldn't figure it out?
Interesting!
"You brought it here because you want to figure out how the technique works, right?"
"Exactly. We can work together to crack it and share the results. What do you say?"
Orochimaru sensed Kabuto's subtle gesture but pretended not to notice.
He simply invited Sasori to help crack the technique.
Sasori hesitated a little, then voiced his concern. After all, the organization's leader was terrifyingly powerful.
"But we haven't completed the mission the leader gave us."
"The mission is just to gather intelligence on Konoha.
"Konoha has suddenly changed Hokage. Now there's the Hokage Advisor's scandal, as well as the truth behind Danzo's death.
"So it makes sense for us to stay here longer, doesn't it?
"Besides, isn't Danzo the perfect source of intelligence?
"If we heal Danzo, we can complete the mission and figure out the technique. Isn't that a win-win?"
Orochimaru shook his head, pointing out that they could complete the mission through Danzo and didn't need to keep risking their lives sneaking into Konoha for information.
Sasori thought he had a point. It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone, so he agreed, though he added a condition to be safe.
"Fine. But this place isn't safe anymore. Let's leave and find somewhere else to study it."
"No problem. I have a lab nearby. It's very convenient, and all the equipment is already there."
Orochimaru had no objection to Sasori's suggestion.
This place was only a temporary hideout, after all.
It had no equipment, so research was impossible.
And before they could study the technique, they'd need to heal Danzo.
After Danzo woke up, he'd described what had happened to him. Perhaps reliving the ordeal had been too much for him.
His mind had become completely unhinged, and he could no longer provide any useful information.
But perhaps that was for the best. Otherwise, Sasori might learn that the technique's true ability was to bring the dead back to life.
I'll work with him on the research, then kill him once we've obtained the results and leave the organization.
Orochimaru made up his mind.
After hearing Orochimaru out, Sasori didn't object.
He was naturally wary of Orochimaru's lab.
But he had a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, so he wasn't afraid of whatever tricks Orochimaru might try. He nodded and agreed.
And so, the three of them and the pig left for Orochimaru's secret laboratory.
Kimura Takuya had been monitoring them the whole time.
Danzo's sudden mental breakdown hadn't been an accident.
"You want to crack my technique? Even my master couldn't figure it out. You two can forget it. Haha."
Before you continue