Tonight was exceptionally quiet. Dark clouds obscured the moonlight, while faint starlight cast pale tree shadows, reflected in a crow's pupil.
Then, the clouds slowly began to withdraw from the sky, gradually revealing the moon. Its light was red—the crimson red of fresh blood.
After seeing Minato Namikaze off, Uzumaki Kuming walked into the courtyard to catch some wind and breathe in the fresh air. When he looked up and saw that eerie moonlight, he froze. An inexplicable sense of palpitations rose in his heart.
Why do I have such an ominous feeling?
Uzumaki Kuming's expression turned grave. The Mind's Eye of the Kagura spread across all of Konoha. Its ability to sense good and evil allowed him to easily detect anyone hostile toward him, but after scanning the area, he found nothing strange. The Chakra of his family and companions was also quite stable. Nothing seemed to have gone wrong.
Though he had investigated everything thoroughly, the palpitations in Uzumaki Kuming's heart still refused to fade.
"Is it just my imagination? Or is something wrong with my body?"
Uzumaki Kuming muttered. Then his figure turned into a streak of light and vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was already inside the Immortality Laboratory. The night was still young, and the laboratory was brightly lit. The researchers were busy at work, and Uzumaki Kuming's arrival immediately drew everyone's attention.
"Oh? What brings the esteemed Fourth Hokage here?"
"Have you come to inspect our results?"
On a massive operating table in the center of the laboratory, Orochimaru, whose body was clamped to all manner of instruments, noticed Uzumaki Kuming's arrival. He raised himself up and teased him with a smile.
Ever since acquiring the body of an Otsutsuki clansman, Orochimaru had been in an excellent mood. Moreover, helping