After You See Yourself, Can You Still Remain Arrogant?

"I don't recall having the habit of conversing with small-fry."

Lin Zi didn't even lift his eyelids. His hands suddenly transformed into two giant pythons, the friction of their scales producing a teeth-grating rustle as they tightly coiled around the necks of the two Root ninja, hoisting them into mid-air like chicks.

"I'm in a very good mood today, so go back and tell your master..."

Before he could finish, his snake-like pupils constricted violently. His sensory perception from Ryūchi Cave swept out like radar, capturing a surge of chakra in the forest to the southeast.

He was all too familiar with that scent; it was identical to the aura of the two small-fry he had just dealt with. Moreover, the other party made no attempt to hide, standing openly in the moonlight as if extending an invitation.

"Oh?" Lin Zi's tongue flicked out, slowly licking his lips, a playful glint flashing in his golden slit pupils. "This is interesting."

He released his grip, and the two Root ninja hit the ground with a thud, clutching their throats and gasping for air.

Lin Zi didn't spare them another glance. His black ponytail whipped in the night wind as his figure, like a slithering snake, skimmed across the ground and darted deep into the forest.

Danzo stood calmly in the moonlight, his hands clasped behind his back.

He was certain that no matter what version of Orochimaru this was, he would surely grasp his intent; after all, that snake understood the rules of the game regarding power and the shadows better than anyone.

Just as he was squinting in contemplation, the sound of something cutting through the air echoed from the woods ahead.

It wasn't the sound of footsteps, but the rustle of a snake crawling over fallen leaves, and it was impossibly fast.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Zi was standing right before him, the distance between them less than three meters.

His pale skin shimmered coldly under the moonlight, and his golden slit pupils were fixed on his face, looking down at him from a position of superiority.

"Orochimaru, you actually came."

Danzo's voice was hoarse.

"Since Elder Danzo extended a personal invitation, I naturally had to come and take a look." Lin Zi crossed his arms, his tone light and airy. "You are a man of great importance, after all."

"To think you could be this polite."

Danzo curled his lips in a rare display of emotion, his aged face appearing even more sinister in the moonlight.

"What, are we going to fight now? Would that be considered impolite?"

Lin Zi laughed as well, his lips curled upward, yet his eyes were filled with nothing but mockery and derision.

"That is not the case."

Danzo leaned on his cane and took half a step forward.

"I am simply finding it quite novel to encounter an... Orochimaru such as you for the first time."

"Can't stand the sight of me?"

Lin Zi tilted his head, his hands hanging at his sides as the cold glint of snake scales began to manifest on his fingertips.

"Then you'll just have to endure it."

He assumed the starting stance for Sage Mode, his chakra beginning to churn restlessly around him.

Danzo, however, remained unmoved, even leaning in closer, his eyes shining with a sense of unshakeable confidence.

"You wouldn't dare kill me here. This is still Konoha, and I am still, in name, an elder of Konoha."

Lin Zi's movements paused for half a second.

"As expected."

He scoffed, dropping his hands and crossing his arms again, his tone dripping with disdain.

"I truly despise the way you think you can do whatever you want just because you hold power."

"However, you are wrong about one thing."

He suddenly wiped the smile from his face, his golden slit pupils narrowing into two thin lines.

"Why do you think... I wouldn't dare touch you?"

Before the words had even faded, Lin Zi struck with both hands!

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Countless white snakes surged wildly from his sleeves and palms, sweeping toward Danzo like a vast, all-encompassing white net!

"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"

Danzo reacted with lightning speed, opening his mouth to exhale a series of crescent-shaped wind blades, sharp enough to sever steel, in a desperate attempt to shred the swarm of snakes.

The wind blades sliced through the front row of pythons, sending flesh and blood flying, but the swarm continued to surge forward in an endless stream.

Meanwhile, Lin Zi's figure had already vanished from his original spot, shielded by the cover of the snakes.

Danzo's pupils shrank to pinpricks, and just as he turned to react—

A cold Kusanagi Sword was already pressed against his throat.

"Don't move."

Lin Zi's voice resonated right against the back of his neck, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue in his ear.

"This might hurt quite a bit."

"Orochimaru!!"

Shimura Danzō's entire body went rigid, and a flicker of terror finally flashed through his eyes.

Before he could even finish his exclamation, Lin Zi had already retracted the Kusanagi Sword and delivered a vicious kick!

BANG!!!

The force was so immense that Shimura Danzō was sent flying instantly, his back snapping four or five trees as thick as bowls before he finally slammed into a pile of ruins with a thunderous crash, half his body buried under withered branches and fallen leaves.

He struggled to climb out from the wreckage of wood and debris, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, just as he prepared to weave hand signs to launch a Wind Style jutsu.

"Orochimaru, you bastard!!"

Across from him, Lin Zi had already sheathed the Kusanagi Sword at his waist, arms crossed over his chest, watching him with an air of leisure and a smile that looked entirely harmless.

"I won't kill you right now, Shimura Danzō. Don't you feel lucky?"

Shimura Danzō clutched his chest, the memory of that blade resting against his throat moments ago soaking his undergarments in a cold sweat.

He forced himself to calm the chaotic chakra within his body; what emanated from the "Orochimaru" before him was a bottomless, pure sense of dread.

"What exactly are you trying to do... Orochimaru from another world."

"I don't intend to do anything at all." Lin Zi shrugged. "Because the one who will take your life won't be me."

He looked at Shimura Danzō with a smile that appeared particularly chilling under the moonlight, like a python that had eaten its fill and was now sizing up its next prey.

"Your life is worth a lot; there are many people who have been eyeing you. You really are... living the high life, aren't you~"

Lin Zi blinked and turned to walk away.

But just as he was about to exit the woods, he suddenly stopped, turning his head slightly; his golden slit pupils glowed terrifyingly in the night.

"Also, don't disturb me, Shimura Danzō."

He paused, his voice turning abruptly cold, like ice picks striking the ground.

"Otherwise, next time, I will definitely take your life."

With that, he vanished into the night without looking back, leaving Shimura Danzō alone in the ruins of broken trees, clutching his chest with a grim expression.

In the woods behind him, several dark figures slid silently out of the shadows like loaches emerging from the earth, kneeling in unison before Shimura Danzō.

The leader pressed his forehead against the ground, his breathing kept extremely shallow.

"Lord Danzō," the leader of the Root said, his voice strained, his fingers still pressed against the kunai at his waist. "Is it really unnecessary to... keep him here?"

Shimura Danzō gritted his teeth, his voice sounding as if it were being ground between them.

"No need. We couldn't keep him here even if we tried."

The Root members kneeling on the ground stiffened, their heads hanging even lower, nearly burying themselves in the dirt.

"Did you think... he hadn't noticed you?"

Shimura Danzō sneered, cold light flashing in his eyes.

"A bunch of trash. If he had truly wanted to kill anyone just now, we would already be corpses."

He braced himself against his knees, struggling to prop up his injured body.

His ribs ached as if they were splitting, every step pulling at his nerves. Shimura Danzō gritted his teeth, inching his way out of the woods as withered branches crunched crisply beneath his feet.

"Go, write a secret letter." He suddenly stopped, ordering without looking back. "Send it to the previous laboratory."

He turned his head slowly, his single eye churning with an irrepressible ferocity under the moonlight, like a venomous snake driven into a corner.

"There is someone... who will surely care about him even more than we do."

"Yes!" The kneeling Root member rose instantly, his figure flickering and vanishing into the night.

The moonlight cast a deathly pallor over Shimura Danzō. He stared in the direction where Lin Zi had disappeared, his voice so low it sounded like a mutter to himself, or perhaps some kind of malicious curse.

"Orochimaru... I hope that when you see yourself, you can still maintain that arrogant look on your face."