Ten days later, somewhere in the Land of Rice Fields.
Guy followed a girl with striking long blue hair all the way to a barren field of rubble strewn with weathered boulders.
He watched her quickly press several spots among the seemingly haphazard boulders, triggering a hidden mechanism.
Her figure then vanished into a gap between the boulders.
Guy slowly emerged from behind a distant boulder, his gaze sweeping over the seemingly ordinary rubble field from beneath his gray bamboo hat.
"Guren... is Orochimaru's base here?"
The blue-haired girl was one of the targets Guy had come to the Land of Rice Fields to find.
Guren, a ninja who possessed the Crystal Release kekkei genkai.
She was about ten years old now.
After ten days of searching, Guy had finally found his first target.
Unfortunately, judging by how easily she entered the base and the sense of belonging her movements conveyed...
Orochimaru had clearly already "recruited" her—and even brainwashed her.
Guy was in no hurry to snatch her away.
After all, he knew Orochimaru's talent for brainwashing all too well.
Especially with someone like Guren, whose admiration for Orochimaru bordered on fanaticism, and who would even be willing to give her life for him in the future.
Convince her with nothing but "Talk Release"?
Guy didn't think he had Naruto's knack for that.
Even if he forcibly took her away today, she might find a way to run back to Orochimaru tomorrow.
"But since I've found the entrance, I might as well follow the trail."
The corners of Guy's mouth lifted slightly beneath his hat.
There might well be other "targets" inside Orochimaru's base.
At ten, Guren's worldview had already begun to take shape, heavily influenced by Orochimaru. It would be difficult to change.
But people like Sakon and Ukon,