"I don't remember having a habit of talking to small fry."
Lin Zi didn't even lift his eyelids. His hands suddenly transformed into two giant serpents. Their scales rasped together with an ear-grating hiss as they coiled tightly around the Root ninjas' necks, lifting them into the air like a pair of chicks.
"I'm in a good mood today. Go back and tell your master..."
Before he could finish, his slit pupils contracted sharply. His Ryūchi Cave senses swept out like radar, detecting a chakra signature in the forest to the southeast.
He knew that scent all too well. It was exactly the same as the two nobodies in his grasp—and the other person wasn't even trying to hide. They stood openly in the moonlight, as if inviting him over.
"Oh?" Lin Zi flicked out his tongue and slowly licked his lips. A glint of amusement passed through his golden, slit-pupiled eyes. "Now that's interesting."
He let go. The two Root ninjas hit the ground with a pair of thuds, clutching their throats as they gasped for breath.
Lin Zi didn't spare them another glance. His black ponytail whipped in the night wind as he darted toward the depths of the forest, slithering close to the ground like a snake.
Danzo stood calmly in the moonlight, his hands clasped behind his back.
He knew what to expect. No matter what kind of Orochimaru he was dealing with, he would understand the message. After all, that snake knew the rules of power and the game of shadows better than anyone.
As he narrowed his eyes and pondered, a sound cut through the air from the woods across from him.
It wasn't footsteps. It was the rustle of a snake slithering over fallen leaves—and it was impossibly fast.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Zi was standing right in front of him, less than three meters away.
His pale skin gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight. Golden, slit-pupiled eyes were set in his face as he looked down at Danzo.
"Orochimaru. You came after all."
Danzo's voice was hoarse.
"It's not every day that Elder Danzo personally invites me. I had to come see what you wanted." Lin Zi folded his arms, his tone airy. "You do have quite a bit of clout, after all."
"I didn't know you could be so polite."
Danzo's lips tugged upward for once. In the moonlight, his aged face looked even more sinister.
"What, are we going to fight now? Would that be more polite?"
Lin Zi smiled too, the corners of his mouth lifting, though his eyes were full of scorn and mockery.
"Not exactly."
Danzo leaned on his cane and took half a step forward.
"It's just that this is the first time I've met an... Orochimaru like you. I find it rather novel."
"Can't stand me?"
Lin Zi tilted his head. His hands hung at his sides, and a cold sheen like snake scales had begun to glimmer on his fingertips.
"Then keep it to yourself."
He assumed the opening stance for Sage Mode, chakra stirring faintly around him.
Danzo didn't move an inch. He even leaned closer, his eyes shining with brazen confidence.
"You wouldn't kill me here. This is still Konoha, and I'm still an elder of Konoha in name."
Lin Zi paused for half a second.
"Figures."
He scoffed, lowered his hands, and folded his arms, his tone full of distaste.
"I really hate how people like you think you can do whatever you want just because you hold power."
"But you've got one thing wrong."
His smile vanished. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes narrowed to thin lines.
"Why do you think... I wouldn't dare touch you?"
Before the words had left his mouth, Lin Zi struck with both hands!
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Countless white snakes surged from his sleeves and palms, spreading like a vast white net as they swept toward Danzo!
"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"
Danzo reacted instantly, spitting out one crescent-shaped wind blade after another. They were sharp enough to slice through steel, and he intended to shred the snakes.
The blades severed the snakes at the front, spraying blood and flesh everywhere, but more poured forward without end.
Under cover of the snakes, Lin Zi had already vanished from where he stood.
Danzo's pupils contracted sharply. He started to turn—
A cold Kusanagi Sword was already resting against his neck.
"Don't move."
Lin Zi's voice sounded right behind his neck, like a viper hissing beside his ear.
"This might hurt a little."
"Orochimaru!!"
Danzo's whole body stiffened. At last, a flicker of fear crossed his eyes.
Before he could finish shouting, Lin Zi pulled back the Kusanagi Sword and drove a vicious kick into him!
BAM!!!
The kick sent Danzo flying. He crashed through four or five thick trees in succession before slamming into a heap of ruins with a crash, dry branches and dead leaves burying half his body.
He struggled to crawl out from beneath the broken trees. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. He was just about to form Hand Seals and unleash Wind Release again when—
"Orochimaru, you bastard!!"
Across from him, Lin Zi had already sheathed the Kusanagi Sword at his waist. He folded his arms and watched Danzo with an unhurried, harmless smile.
"I'm not going to kill you right now, Danzo. Don't you feel lucky?"
Danzo clutched his chest. Thinking of the blade that had just been at his throat, he felt the cold sweat on his back soak through most of his undershirt.
He struggled to calm his chaotic chakra. The "Orochimaru" standing before him filled him with a fear deeper and more unfathomable than anything he had ever felt.
"What exactly do you want... Orochimaru from another world?"
"I don't plan to do anything." Lin Zi shrugged. "Because I'm not the one who's going to kill you."
He smiled at Danzo. In the moonlight, his grin was especially chilling, like a python that had eaten its fill and was sizing up its prey.
"Your life is valuable. Lots of people have been eyeing you for a long time. You really are... living the good life~"
Lin Zi blinked, then turned and walked back.
But just before he left the woods, he stopped and turned half his face toward Danzo. His golden, slit-pupiled eyes shone terrifyingly in the darkness.
"And one more thing. Don't bother me, Shimura Danzo."
He paused, his voice turning cold as an icicle striking the ground.
"Or next time, I'll take your life for sure."
With that, he disappeared into the night without looking back, leaving Danzo alone among the shattered trees, clutching his chest, his face dark.
Several shadows silently slipped out of the darkness behind him, like loaches wriggling up from underground. They all dropped to one knee before Danzo.
The one at the head bowed until his forehead touched the ground, keeping even his breathing as quiet as possible.
"Lord Danzo," the lead Root operative said in a hoarse voice. His fingers were still resting on the Kunai at his waist. "Are you sure we shouldn't... keep him here?"
Danzo gritted his back teeth, his voice grinding out between them.
"No. We can't keep him here."
The Root operatives kneeling on the ground stiffened, lowering their heads even further until they nearly touched the dirt.
"Do you think... he really didn't notice you?"
Danzo sneered, a cold glint in his eye.
"Useless fools. If he'd really wanted to kill us just now, we'd already be corpses."
He braced himself against his knees and struggled to straighten his injured body.
His ribs hurt as if they were about to crack. Every step tugged at his nerves, but Danzo gritted his teeth and slowly made his way out of the woods. Dry branches snapped beneath his feet.
"Go. Write a coded letter." He stopped suddenly and gave the order without looking back. "Send it to the laboratory we used before."
He slowly turned his head. In the moonlight, his one visible eye seethed with barely contained viciousness, like a venomous snake backed into a corner.
"There's someone... who definitely cares about him more than we do."
"Yes!" The Root operative who had been kneeling immediately stood and vanished into the night.
Moonlight bathed Danzo in pallid light. He stared in the direction Lin Zi had disappeared, his voice so low it sounded like either a mutter or a vicious curse.
"Orochimaru... I hope that after you meet yourself, you can still keep that arrogant attitude."
Before you continue