Base

The next morning, the three of them emerged from their tents amidst the chirping of birds in the surrounding area. The sun had just begun to rise. After quickly packing their gear, they crossed the border into the Land of Fields.

The Land of Fields is a small nation bordering Konoha. Because the terrain is flat and consists almost entirely of plains, it is primarily used for rice cultivation.

To its east lies the endless ocean, and besides the Land of Fire, its neighbors include the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Iron.

As a nation without ninja forces, the Land of Fields occupies an awkward position. Most of its neighbors are not weak, and its proximity to the ocean makes it rich in resources.

This has led other nations to view the Land of Fields as a piece of fat meat waiting to be carved up.

Fortunately, the Land of Fields has never suffered from major warfare. The reason is that one of its neighbors, the Land of Iron, is a permanently neutral country, which remained untouched even during the Third Shinobi World War.

It is precisely because of this unique geographical location that Orochimaru chose to establish his laboratory here.

By this time, Orochimaru had already joined the Akatsuki. After witnessing the power of the Akatsuki leader, he developed a keen interest in the Rinnegan.

After being defeated by Deva Path Pain, he joined the Akatsuki—though it was his own request to join. As for his motive, it was, of course, to find an opportunity to snatch Pain's eyes.

He left the Akatsuki headquarters after staying near Nagato for a few months, as he could find no opening to take the Rinnegan.

Nagato could contact them via the rings issued to them, so he did not stop Akatsuki members from going out; he simply issued orders through the rings when there was a mission.

After returning to the Land of Fields, Orochimaru found a secluded spot to establish a new underground experimental base.

He spent his free time in the base conducting experiments. When the leader issued tasks, he would execute them selectively. Although this made Nagato dissatisfied with his methods, the Akatsuki was short on manpower, so he did not press the issue.

Upon entering the territory of the Land of Fields, Naruto Uzumaki activated his sensory abilities. Recent training had extended his range to sixty miles, but even with such a wide reach, searching was not an easy task.

Because Orochimaru's experimental base was built deep underground, Naruto Uzumaki had to project his senses beneath the surface to search.

Naruto Uzumaki continued his search while maintaining his sensory field, with Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha following closely by his side.

A short distance ahead of them stood a large tomb, though the interior had been hollowed out, and a passage lay behind the tombstone.

The passage extended far into the back, leading to a set of stairs. After descending, the path continued forward, followed by more downward stairs. After winding around for a long distance, the end of the passage opened into a small plaza, which branched off into many corridors leading to individual rooms.

At the end of the main corridor stood a hall. On the east side of the hall sat a stone chair, its back carved with a giant snake, its head coiled above the chair in an attacking posture.

Aside from the stone chair, the hall was filled with experimental equipment. Various organs were soaked in crystal jars. At that moment, a man in a white lab coat was dissecting a corpse.

The man had pale, sickly skin, a thin face, and a gaunt, bony frame. His bangs covered his right eye, and his eyes resembled those of a cat, with black lines trailing from the corners to his nose and slit pupils. As he lowered his head to dissect, he wore a sinister smile, his long tongue flicking out to lick the blood splattered on his face.

Behind him stood several figures. The leader had white hair, green eyes, red eyeshadow on his lids, and two red dots on his forehead.

Beside him was a youth of similar age with orange hair and orange eyes, possessing a relatively sturdier build.

Behind the two stood four strangely dressed teenagers. They watched the dissection process carefully, occasionally turning to whisper to one another.

The man at the front was none other than Orochimaru, known as the Legendary Sannin. The two behind him were Kimimaro and Jugo, and the four behind them were orphans adopted by Orochimaru: Kidomaru, Jirobo, Sakon, and Tayuya.

They all came from different places. Kimimaro, from Kirigakure in the Land of Water, possessed a powerful bloodline but had a tragic childhood; after being saved by Orochimaru, he had remained by his side.

No one knew where Jugo, standing beside him, came from. He had been brought back during one of Orochimaru's previous outings. Having been kept in confinement, he chose to pledge loyalty to Orochimaru after being defeated by Kimimaro two days prior.

The four behind them also came from different places, but they shared one common trait: they all possessed special bloodlines.

The reason Orochimaru brought Jugo back was that Jugo was unique. Although Orochimaru did not yet know of the existence of natural energy at the time, he noticed upon meeting Jugo that he was different from ordinary people. He could enter a special state by absorbing a certain type of energy, so Orochimaru, always interested in the unknown, brought him back to his base.

After Jugo pledged his loyalty, he described how he entered that state, and Orochimaru immediately began experiments.

Outside, Naruto Uzumaki had already detected the passage behind the tombstone. He turned to Jiraiya and said, "Pervy Sage, there is a tomb ahead with a passage inside. That should be the entrance to Orochimaru's base."

Jiraiya nodded and said, "Let's head over quickly. Check if there are any other exits; a base built by a guy like Orochimaru wouldn't have just one passage."

With that, the three of them dashed toward the tomb. Upon arriving, Naruto Uzumaki continued to scan the surroundings.

After a careful search, Naruto Uzumaki discovered several more exits in hidden locations. After signaling with a nod, he quickly ran to each exit, left a Flying Thunder God seal, and set up a Sensory Barrier before returning to the tombstone.

Naruto Uzumaki said to Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha, "Pervy Sage, Shisui, it's all done. We can go in."

The two nodded. Naruto Uzumaki seemed to recall something and turned to Jiraiya, saying, "Pervy Sage, you must not hold back. If Orochimaru gets away this time, who knows when we'll find him again?"

Jiraiya felt speechless at this; was he the type of person who didn't know the gravity of a situation? "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Naruto Uzumaki then gathered chakra in his leg and kicked the tombstone with all his might.

Under Naruto Uzumaki's strength, the tombstone shattered instantly. They were not afraid of alerting Orochimaru, because a man like him would not flee unless he had engaged in combat and determined he was outmatched.

With the tombstone shattered, the passage was revealed. Every few meters inside, a lamp was installed, so the group did not need to take out lighting equipment and ran straight inside.

Orochimaru, who was conducting experiments inside, knew someone had broken in the moment Naruto Uzumaki shattered the tombstone. This was not only because the tombstone had a trigger mechanism, but also because his summoning snakes had seen the three of them enter the passage.

Although Orochimaru lacked sensory abilities, he could monitor his surroundings by summoning snakes and sharing their vision to see what their eyes saw.

Knowing someone had intruded, Orochimaru stopped his experiment and licked the blood off his face. He turned to the others and said, "Heh heh heh, a few little bugs have broken in. Let's go, get ready."

The others behind him answered in unison and followed Orochimaru to the small plaza.

Once out, Kimimaro unbuttoned his shirt, and many sharp bone spurs grew from the joints of his upper body.

Jugo closed his eyes, and black markings quickly spread across the left side of his body.

The Sound Four also used their abilities. Kidomaru grew four extra arms, Sakon grew an extra head, Tayuya took out a flute, and Jirobo's muscles bulged rapidly.

Naruto Uzumaki, who was rushing in, sensed them, and the information on each of them quickly surfaced in his mind.

Kimimaro: Holder of the Kaguya Clan's Kekkei Genkai, Shikotsumyaku. He can freely manipulate osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and even control calcium concentration to form bones. His bones are harder than steel, granting him a defense that normal physical attacks cannot penetrate, while his bones can also become the sharpest spears upon counterattack.

Jugo: Born with a Sage Body, he comes from a special clan. As for the origin of his Sage Body, it traces back to when Kaguya gave birth to Black Zetsu after being sealed. Black Zetsu not only manipulated her two sons and guided Indra to be driven by power to turn against his brother, but in order to seek greater power, Black Zetsu, lacking a complete human form, seized human bodies and obtained power at Ryūchi Cave.

During that period, because remaining attached to a human body was inconvenient for movement, Black Zetsu detached himself. However, because this body had gained a portion of senjutsu power while Black Zetsu was possessing it, it would automatically undergo Sage Transformation whenever it reached a place with dense natural energy; the descendants of this person are the Jugo Clan.

The four people behind him also held the titles of Spider Ninja, Split Ninja, Hercules, and Magic Sound, all of whom were ninjas with special abilities and great potential.

Seeing this, Naruto Uzumaki quickly said to Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha, "Pervy Sage, Brother Shisui, try to leave them alive later; the people inside will be useful in the future."

"I'll handle Orochimaru, Brother Shisui will take care of the others, and Pervy Sage, you're responsible for suppressing the perimeter—don't let a single one escape."

Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha nodded to show they understood.

.You are reading Naruto: Starting with Asura Chakra by the great author Ti Ta