Orochimaru Defects

Three days later, news spread throughout the Ninja World that Pakura, an elite jonin of Sunagakure known as "Scorch Release," had killed shinobi from her own village and Kirigakure, stirred up tensions between the two nations, and defected from Sunagakure...

Inside Iwagakure, Kitsuchi was discussing a pair of antique-looking orange bracers with the village's senior officials.

After receiving the report of Pakura's defection, he solemnly said to his village's leader, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki—his biological father,

"Lord Tsuchikage, Pakura and I are alike. Now that she's defected, this is our chance. We can consider taking her in secretly!"

Ōnoki folded his arms and calmly watched the research shinobi at work. "What, do you think taking in a rogue ninja is more important than making an enemy of Sunagakure?"

"Pakura and I are chosen ones. Her future value far exceeds what an ordinary shinobi village can offer!" Kitsuchi declared firmly. "You and the village shinobi have studied the Earth-Walking Bracers I brought back. The technology and power they contain are as insignificant as dust compared to the existence behind us..."

Thinking of this, Kitsuchi gave a bitter smile. "The Ninja World is facing a time of upheaval. We have to seize this opportunity!"

"You brat. You went out to gain experience and came back having grown quite a bit. In that case, go and approach her on the village's behalf!" Ōnoki chose to trust the son he had raised himself.

"Thank you, Father!" Kitsuchi couldn't help feeling pleased.

Meanwhile, in a hidden laboratory in Konoha, thousands of miles away, a little snake crawled into Orochimaru's palm and spat out a scroll. Orochimaru quickly read it, then burned the message. He gave a sinister smile.

"Pakura, huh? Have you sensed the decay of the shinobi villages, too? Then it's time for me to sever my ties with all of this!"

"Bang!"

Someone forcefully kicked open the laboratory door. A squad of Anbu Ninja escorted the Third Hiruzen Sarutobi, dressed in battle gear, into the laboratory.

Seeing what were clearly human organs inside some of the laboratory equipment, Hiruzen looked at his student in anguish and asked,

"Orochimaru, were you behind the recent disappearances of shinobi from the village?" Though phrased as a question, his tone carried a hint of certainty.

Orochimaru licked his lips. "As you can see, Teacher Sarutobi, they've become useful to my research into ninjutsu."

"Give yourself up and come back with me to face justice," the Third said sternly.

"Teacher, a dragon that has seen the ocean won't return to a small pond."

Orochimaru removed the Forehead Protector from his brow. His tongue slipped out, holding a Kunai, and lightly slashed through the Leaf symbol.

"Orochimaru!" Hiruzen's heart sank. "Are you going to betray the village?"

"Nothing can hold me back on the path I've chosen! If something like the village stands in my way, I'll destroy it!"

"Orochimaru, do you know what you're saying?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was heartbroken by his student's betrayal.

"Sarutobi, there's no point talking. Let's take him down first," said Enma, Hiruzen's summoning beast, as he swung the staff in his hands at Orochimaru.

Faced with the powerful blow, Orochimaru neither dodged nor tried to block. He had already heard the reminder by his ear.

[Countdown to the end of the custom teleportation service. Teleportation commencing. Method: Negacion!]

A shaft of warm yellow light suddenly pierced through the laboratory roof. The golden glow passed through it and enveloped Orochimaru.

Enma's mighty blow landed squarely where Orochimaru's head was, within the yellow light.

Yet, bizarrely, the staff passed straight through his head! The gust from its swing sent the laboratory equipment outside the yellow light flying into disarray, but it couldn't even ruffle a strand of Orochimaru's hair...

The corners of Orochimaru's mouth curled slightly. As he felt the pull of the Negacion beam, a mysterious light gleamed in his purple, bewitching eyes. The mysterious power made every cell in his body grow excited.

The Konoha shinobi all froze. The unknown light surrounded Orochimaru, causing every attack to miss! Whether ninjutsu or ninja tools, they all seemed to strike nothing but air, unable to harm him in the slightest.

Enma had already retreated to Hiruzen's side. In surprise, he said, "Hiruzen, this unknown technique must be Space-Time Ninjutsu. Our attacks have all been rendered useless."

Orochimaru, now slowly rising into the air, looked down at the people of Konoha and gave a sinister smile.

"The moment Negacion activated, we were already in two completely separate spaces. Nothing inside or outside this beam of light can affect the other."

"Orochimaru!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward and looked up at the student who was becoming a stranger to him. He couldn't put his feelings into words.

"My most prized student... have you fallen into depravity, too?"

"Teacher Sarutobi, 'depravity' is such a hypocritical word! What is depravity? Do you get to define it? Heh. I know exactly what I'm doing. From now on, I'll walk my own path alone. Farewell, old man!"

Orochimaru's figure rose higher and higher, passed through the roof, and ascended into a void that had opened in midair. The deep, dark void looked like the world had opened its enormous mouth. Countless scarlet lights watched everything outside from within the endless darkness...

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Orochimaru disappear into the distance and murmured,

"The path you chose yourself? Orochimaru, what exactly did you see?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to the Hokage Office with questions on his mind. After dismissing everyone, he took a tiny snail from his desk drawer. A small telephone rested on the palm-sized snail's back. Hiruzen activated the Den Den Mushi and called someone.

"Buru buru, buru buru..."

The Den Den Mushi rang. A moment later, its drowsy eyes brightened, and its face strangely transformed into the image of a blond, spiky-haired man.

"Third, were you looking for me?... Hey, hey! Naruto, stop messing around..."

The Den Den Mushi's imitation of Minato's face seemed to be grabbed by the cheeks, stretching them out very, very long...

"Naruto, that hurts!"

"Hee hee hee hee!"

A baby's laughter came from the other end of the call...

Hiruzen Sarutobi listened fondly to Minato and Naruto interacting, then said with a smile, "Minato, have Haruna look after Naruto for a bit. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Sure, Third. Just give me a moment."

About ten minutes later, Minato appeared in the office wearing casual clothes.

"Third, you wanted to see me?"

Minato's hair was still a mess, as if he had just stepped away from his role as a full-time dad.

"Minato, your Flying Thunder God Technique has surpassed Teacher Tobirama's."

The Third calmly took a puff from his pipe.

Minato waved his hand and said sincerely,

"Not at all. There's still a lot I can learn from the Second Hokage. But I'll keep working to become stronger!"

The Third shook the ash from his pipe and shared some news that shocked Minato Namikaze:

"Orochimaru has defected from Konoha."

The Third then described in detail how Orochimaru had experimented on shinobi from the village, as well as the strange events surrounding his defection.

After listening, Minato Namikaze fell into thought. In reality, he was searching for related information in the Main God Sub-System in his mind. The Main God assistant (Main God Sub-System), bound deep within his soul, quickly displayed the search results:

[Negacion: A custom service from Main God Space. It can be used outside of Reincarnator missions. A full-fledged Reincarnator can spend points to teleport matter from the current world to a private room in Main God Space. The number of points deducted depends on the quantity and energy level of the matter being teleported. Note: This cannot be used if the Reincarnator is currently in combat.]

The final note had, of course, been added by Zhu Shen. Otherwise, he felt Orochimaru might exploit a loophole and turn it into a flashy trick, or Reincarnators might treat it as an escape card they could use at any time. Then how would they be motivated to earn points? So Zhu Shen had personally stepped in to patch the system.

After seeing the description of Negacion, Minato also realized that Orochimaru was one hundred percent a Reincarnator like him. Although he didn't know how Orochimaru had used Negacion in the middle of a battle, there was no doubt that this ability only appeared among Reincarnators!

Minato's expression turned grave. He exhaled and said to Hiruzen,

"One thing is certain: Orochimaru and I are alike. I don't recommend that the village send anyone after him. It's not a question of whether we should do it, but whether we can..."

For some reason, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a wave of relief. He said,

"So he was forced to join an unimaginable organization, just like you? In that case, we'll simply list him as an S-rank rogue ninja..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned and walked to the window. Looking out at peaceful Konoha beneath the night sky, he fell into thought. After a long while, he turned back to Minato. "What were the results of your investigation into the Nine-Tails Incident?"

Minato, who had been thinking about the explosive news that Orochimaru was a Reincarnator, came back to his senses and replied seriously,

"That's also what I wanted to tell you. We can be fairly certain the culprit was someone from the Uchiha Clan. The masked man had the Uchiha Clan's distinctive ocular jutsu—the Mangekyō Sharingan—and had awakened a unique technique, Kamui, which could transfer all attacks into another dimension..."

Minato briefly told Hiruzen about the information on Kamui he had found in Main God Space. Since it didn't involve Main God Space itself, it didn't count as breaking the rules.

"The Mangekyō Sharingan..." A glint flashed in the Third's eyes. The image of a figure who had once looked down upon the Ninja World crossed his mind. He slowly asked, "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"I can only say for certain that it wasn't one of the Uchiha in the village."

Minato shook his head. "I left a mark on the masked man. I can sense it within a certain range, but I've been back in the village for some time and haven't detected him."

Actually, after learning about Orochimaru, Minato had another theory: perhaps a Reincarnator had purchased the Mangekyō Sharingan Bloodline. But Minato didn't think anyone capable of purchasing that Bloodline would have been as 'weak' as the masked man seemed, with Minato figuring out his ability after only a few moves.

"The Uchiha Clan..."

Hiruzen silently raised his level of concern about the Uchiha Clan another notch, then said to Minato,

"By the way, as you suggested, we'll let Naruto take his mother's surname for his protection. Are you really not going to meet him?"

Minato Namikaze smiled tenderly. "No. My identity is too sensitive, and the Ninja World is unsettled. I'd rather investigate things quietly.

"Besides, I know Naruto will face many more challenges and hardships as he grows up as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. I'm already sorry that I can't stand in front of him and shield him from the storm as his father... But I don't think it'll be long before I can. I've been revived, so I'll definitely find a way to revive his mother, too! Once the situation in the Ninja World becomes clear, I'll show myself."

"If that's what you wish, then we'll do as you say. By the way..."

The Third was about to ask Minato something else when Minato's aura suddenly changed, turning solemn.

It was all because that mysterious Main God mission had arrived again!