The Undercurrents Stir

Early morning, at the Konoha Gate

Lihuo had arrived early to wait there. It was his first time leaving the village, and he couldn't help feeling excited.

Today, he had made a point of wearing his black Uchiha training uniform. With Sakumo's White Fang strapped to his back, he looked especially dashing.

As for his other necessities, Lihuo had packed them into a sealing scroll and tucked it into his ninja pouch.

Though these sealing scrolls didn't hold much and weren't particularly convenient to use, they did lighten the load for a sealing-jutsu novice like Lihuo.

Besides his daily necessities, Lihuo had also packed Kunai, Explosive Tags, Military Ration Pills, and other items into his ninja pouch so he could grab them quickly.

Lihuo felt a little uneasy. This was his first time undertaking an A-rank mission, and the difficulty and uncertainty of it weighed constantly on his mind.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before Orochimaru made his way toward the Konoha Gate, with a man following behind him.

When Lihuo spotted Orochimaru, he hurriedly called them over. Once the two men had drawn near, he carefully studied the man behind Orochimaru.

The man wore fine ninja gear and had a stern expression. A Sand Village Forehead Protector sat on his head, and he radiated a faint air of danger. Clearly, he was a Jonin.

So he must be the target of this mission.

Lihuo thought to himself.

But... why does something feel off?

Before Lihuo could think further, Orochimaru had already completed the paperwork to leave the village and beckoned Lihuo and the man to set out.

After bidding farewell to the ninja guarding the village, Lihuo finally stepped onto the land beyond its walls.

The scenery before him wasn't much different from what he'd seen inside Konoha, but Lihuo still whooped with excitement, acting just like Naruto.

"Wow! This grass is really grass!"

"This tree is really a tree!"

Lihuo hurried over to a towering tree. Its trunk was so thick it would take ten people to wrap their arms around it. It was undoubtedly an ancient tree.

With his back to the other two, Lihuo's excited expression immediately faded by eighty percent. The remaining twenty percent was genuine. His face settled into its usual calm, capable look.

He slowly placed a hand on the trunk, like a child who had never seen the world, then turned and returned to Orochimaru's side, continuing onward as if nothing had happened.

If anyone had happened to be standing beside the ancient tree just then, they might have made out three characters that had appeared on its trunk:

"Dengdengdong"!

It was Lihuo's Flying Thunder God Formula. This mission was so dangerous that he worried whether his Flying Thunder God Technique would work when it mattered most.

So he decided to leave a Flying Thunder God Mark every so often as a last resort.

After the three of them had continued onward for a while, Orochimaru, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

He began looking around, muttering to himself as he did.

"Hmm, we've reached a place where no one is around."

Whoosh!

Before he'd even finished speaking, while Lihuo and the other man were still trying to figure out what Orochimaru meant, Orochimaru suddenly sprang into action!

His neck abruptly stretched out and shot toward the Sand Village ninja, moving like a bullet from a gun. The man had no time to react.

Orochimaru opened his gaping maw, revealing sharp fangs.

"Argh!"

The Sand Village ninja let out a shrill cry. Orochimaru drew back his neck and calmly licked his lips.

"You! What did you do to me?!"

At that, Orochimaru replied nonchalantly,

"You're Sha, right? It said so in the mission briefing. Don't worry, I only injected a toxin into your body."

Hearing this, Lihuo let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought it was something serious. So it's just a tox— A toxin?!"

Orochimaru continued,

"It's a toxin that suppresses chakra. Don't worry. By the time you reach Sunagakure, both the toxin and the wound will have healed completely, without leaving a trace."

"But for now, you'd better come along quietly. Otherwise, this will get troublesome."

Orochimaru spoke calmly, then stopped paying attention to the ninja's expression and instead beckoned Lihuo to continue down the road.

Sha secretly gathered chakra. After confirming that everything Orochimaru had said was true, he gave up resisting.

After all, if someone could inject you with poison right in front of you and you couldn't stop him, there was a good chance you wouldn't be able to stop him from killing you either.

While the three of them were making their way along, three figures appeared outside Konoha.

They were nimble, and chakra rippled faintly around them. They were clearly ninja, but they weren't wearing Konoha flak jackets.

Instead, they wore black undershirts beneath silver flak jackets.

Their muscular arms brimmed with strength, and conspicuous matching tattoos marked their skin. Without exception, they all wore animal masks.

They were Konoha's Anbu!

Unlike Root, which gave off a chilly air, these Anbu radiated only a murderous aura. There was no doubt they were directly under the Hokage's command.

At this point in time, three of the Third Hokage's Anbu were particularly renowned—the ones who had appeared in the manga, that is. They were Xiang, Qing, and Linjiao.

And it was these three whom the Hokage had temporarily assigned a secret mission.

At that moment, the three were hidden outside Konoha's gates, discussing how to carry out their mission.

"I never expected Lord Orochimaru to take this mission," said Xiang, the strongest and most senior among them.

"That makes things difficult. If it were an ordinary Jonin, we could just act directly."

"The most urgent thing is to inform Lord Orochimaru about this."

"But Lord Hokage said this mission was highly confidential."

"Can you complete it without Lord Orochimaru noticing?"

None of the three thought they could manage that. In the end, Xiang, who was leading them, made the decision.

"Carry out the mission!"

At Xiang's command, the three Anbu shot off like arrows loosed from their bows, becoming shadows as they raced toward Orochimaru and the others.

At that very moment, far away in the vast desert and rocky wasteland of the Land of Wind, a squad of Sand Village Anbu were taking a break and replenishing their supplies.

Anyone who looked closely would see that their clothes were exactly like Sha's—the captive's!

"Glug, glug, glug."

A Sand Village ninja took a drink of water, then looked toward his captain.

"Captain, we've been searching for a whole week and still haven't found Sha. Should we keep looking?"

The captain, who was at the head of the squad, shot the questioner a bloodshot glare.

"Sha disappeared near the Konoha border. The odds are that Konoha's ninja captured him."

"He has a lot of important information in his head. We need to bring him back alive or dead!"

"Can't we ask the village for backup? How long are we supposed to keep searching like this?"

"Have you fried your brain in the sun? You want to disgrace us too? If this reaches the higher-ups, both of us will lose our heads!"

The captain grew more and more furious as he spoke. When he was done, he ordered the squad to move out again and head toward the Konoha border, hoping to find the missing Sha.

But they had no idea that the Sha they'd been searching for all week was on his way to Sunagakure under Lihuo and Orochimaru's escort.

For now, though, the two of them still hadn't realized that he wasn't a rogue ninja carrying a secret technique, but an Anbu operative.

After traveling for several days, the three of them reached the border of the Land of Fire.

"I can't walk anymore! I can't take another step!"

Sha swayed unsteadily, his steps unsteady as well. At last, he dropped onto his backside beside a tree.

Seeing this, Orochimaru slowly walked over.

"Mr. Sha, surely you haven't figured out your situation yet?"

Lihuo could clearly feel Orochimaru's presence growing more imposing with every step he took toward Sha.

But even with Orochimaru bearing down on him until his face had gone pale, Sha refused to budge.

"Oh? A real hardhead."

Orochimaru's gaze turned cruel, but just then, a bird flew across the sky.

In everyone else's eyes, it was an utterly ordinary bird. But when Orochimaru saw it, the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile, and his eyes narrowed.

"Interesting."

Then he looked toward Sha, who was leaning against the tree trunk.

"If you want to rest, why not take a nap?"

Thud!

Orochimaru punched Sha unconscious, then turned to Lihuo.

"He doesn't have any chakra, so he won't be waking up anytime soon. Stay here and keep watch. Sensei has something to take care of."

Lihuo nodded. He understood that if Orochimaru didn't want to say what it was, asking wouldn't get him an answer.

After Orochimaru Body Flickered away, Lihuo began carefully inspecting the Sand Village ninja.

Meanwhile, Orochimaru appeared in front of the three Konoha Anbu, just as expected.

"Tell me, what is it you want with me, using the Third's special method to contact me?"