The sound drifted over from nearby in fits and starts.
Belaque immediately perked up and said to Uchiha Madara with a smile, "Our food is here."
"What kind of food is that? That's obviously a person's voice." Uchiha Madara said speechlessly. "Don't tell me you Dwarves eat human flesh."
"You don't understand this thing." Belaque smiled. "It really is our food. It's probably a specialty around here—Ventriloquist Snakes."
"They can amazingly imitate the sounds of many creatures: human voices, animal cries. Some people have even claimed to hear Ventriloquist Snakes make the sound of a Dragon, though no one knows whether that's true." Belaque explained to Uchiha Madara.
"Save me... Save me..." The voice came and went intermittently. Uchiha Madara listened carefully, and it was indeed a human voice.
"Whatever else, I can tell human and animal voices apart." Uchiha Madara said. "That was clearly the voice of someone on the brink of death."
"You can sense it yourself." Belaque said to Uchiha Madara. "It seems you shut off that ability of yours the moment you met me. What are you afraid of?"
"I found that in your world, as long as I don't reveal my strength and seal off my chakra, none of you can detect how strong I am. But then I can't sense what's around me either." Uchiha Madara said with a bitter smile. "I just don't want others to know my true strength."
"But since you say it's a snake, I'm willing to give it a try." Uchiha Madara smiled and activated his chakra. In an instant, he could perceive everything around him with perfect clarity.
Sure enough, behind some rocks not far away, several snakes were flicking their tongues.
The faint cries of "Save me... Save me..." were coming from there. In other words, those