Undercurrents

Early morning, at the gates of Konoha Village.

Lihuo had been waiting there for quite some time; after all, this was his first time leaving the village, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Today, he had specifically chosen to wear his black Uchiha training uniform, with Sakumo's White Fang strapped to his back, making him look exceptionally dashing.

As for Lihuo's other daily necessities, he had packed them into a sealing scroll tucked away in his ninja tool pouch.

Although this type of sealing scroll didn't have a large storage capacity and wasn't particularly convenient to use, it was a great way for a novice in sealing jutsu like Lihuo to lighten his load.

Beyond his daily supplies, Lihuo had also placed his kunai, explosive tags, and military ration pills into the pouch to ensure he could reach them quickly.

Lihuo felt a slight sense of unease; after all, he was executing an A-rank mission on his very first outing, and the difficulty and unpredictability of the task weighed heavily on his mind.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before Orochimaru walked slowly toward the Konoha gate, with a man following close behind him.

Seeing Orochimaru, Lihuo quickly signaled for them to approach. Once the two were within range, Lihuo carefully scrutinized the man behind Orochimaru.

The man was dressed in high-quality ninja gear and wore a stern expression. With a Sunagakure forehead protector on his head, he exuded a faint, dangerous aura; clearly, his strength had reached the level of a Jonin.

It seems he is the target for this mission.

Lihuo thought to himself.

But... why do I feel like something is off?

Before Lihuo could dwell on it, Orochimaru finished the departure procedures and gestured for Lihuo and the man to set off.

After bidding farewell to the gate guards, Lihuo finally stepped onto the land outside the village.

Looking at the scenery before him, although it was no different from what was inside Konoha, Lihuo still shouted and cheered with excitement, looking exactly like a carbon copy of Naruto.

"Wow! This grass is really grassy!"

"And this tree is really tree-like!"

Lihuo walked quickly to the side of a towering tree. The trunk was so thick it would take ten people to wrap their arms around it; it was undoubtedly an ancient tree.

With his back turned to the two men, the excited expression on Lihuo's face faded by eighty percent (the remaining twenty percent was genuine), replaced by his usual calm and professional demeanor.

Lihuo slowly placed his hand on the trunk, acting like a child who had never seen the world, before turning away to return to Orochimaru's side, continuing their journey as if nothing had happened.

If anyone had happened to be standing by the ancient tree at that moment, they would have been able to faintly make out three characters carved into the bark.

"Dengdengdong"!

It was Lihuo's Flying Thunder God Mark. Given such a dangerous mission, Lihuo was very worried about whether his Flying Thunder God technique would be effective at a critical moment.

Therefore, he decided to leave a Flying Thunder God Mark every so often as a final insurance policy.

As the trio traveled for a while longer, Orochimaru, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

He began to look around, muttering to himself as he scanned the area.

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

Whoosh!

Before the words had even faded, and just as Lihuo and the other man were still trying to understand what Orochimaru meant, Orochimaru suddenly struck!

His neck elongated in an instant, shooting straight toward the Sunagakure ninja with the speed of a bullet leaving a chamber, leaving no room for reaction.

He opened his blood-red maw, revealing sharp fangs.

"Ah!"

Following a shrill cry from the Sunagakure ninja, Orochimaru retracted his neck and licked his lips indifferently.

"You! What exactly did you do!"

Hearing this, Orochimaru said nonchalantly:

"Your name is... Sha, right? It was written in the mission briefing. Don't worry, I've only injected a toxin into your body."

Hearing this, Lihuo let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought it was something else, it's just... wait, a toxin!?"

Orochimaru continued:

"This is a type of toxin that suppresses chakra. Don't worry, by the time you reach Sunagakure, both the toxin and the wound will have completely healed, leaving not a single trace."

"But for now, it would be best if you just follow us obediently; otherwise, it will be quite a headache."

Orochimaru said coldly, then stopped looking at the ninja's expression and instead signaled for Lihuo to continue the journey.

Sha secretly gathered his chakra, but after discovering that everything Orochimaru said was true, he gave up on resisting.

After all, if someone could openly inject you with a toxin and you couldn't stop them, there was a high probability that if they wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be able to stop that either.

Just as Lihuo and his group of three were on their way, three figures appeared outside Konoha Village.

They were agile, with faint fluctuations of chakra radiating from their bodies—they were undoubtedly ninjas—but they were not wearing the standard Konoha flak jackets.

Instead, they wore black under-layers topped with silver vests.

Their muscular arms were filled with power, prominently marked with identical tattoos, and without exception, they all wore animal masks.

They were the Konoha Anbu!

Unlike the cold and gloomy atmosphere of Root, this group of Anbu radiated only a murderous aura; they were undoubtedly the Hokage's direct subordinates.

At this stage, the Third Hokage had three renowned Anbu under his command (renowned in the sense that they appeared in the manga): Xiang, Qing, and Linjiao.

It was these three who had been temporarily dispatched by the Hokage on a secret mission.

At this moment, the trio was hidden outside the gates of Konoha, discussing how to carry out their assignment.

"I didn't expect that the one taking on this mission would be Lord Orochimaru," said Xiang, the strongest and most senior among them, speaking first.

"This makes things difficult. If it were an ordinary Jonin, we could have acted directly."

"The most urgent matter is to notify Lord Orochimaru about this immediately."

"But the Hokage said this mission is top secret."

"Then can you complete the mission without Lord Orochimaru noticing?"

All three were confident they lacked such ability, and in the end, Xiang, as the leader, made the call.

"Execute the mission!"

Following Xiang's order, the three Anbu turned into black shadows like arrows released from a bow, bolting toward the direction of Orochimaru and his group.

Meanwhile, far away in the vast Gobi Desert of the Land of Wind, a squad of Sunagakure Anbu was resting and resupplying.

If one observed closely, the clothing these people wore was exactly the same as that of the captured Sha!

"Gulp, gulp, gulp."

A Sunagakure ninja took a drink of water, looked at his captain, and said, "Boss, we've been searching for a week and still haven't found Sha. Should we keep going?"

The captain glared at the questioner with bloodshot eyes. "Sha disappeared at the Konoha border; it is highly likely he was captured by Konoha ninjas."

"His brain holds a great deal of important intelligence, so we must see him alive or see his corpse!"

"Can't we request reinforcements from the village? How long are we going to keep searching like this?"

"Has the sun fried your brain? Isn't it embarrassing enough? If this reaches the higher-ups, both our heads will roll!"

The captain grew more furious as he spoke. After finishing, he signaled the team to continue their journey toward the Konoha border, attempting to track down the missing Sha.

Little did they know that Sha, whom they had been desperately searching for for a week, was currently being escorted by Lihuo and his companion toward Sunagakure.

However, the two of them had yet to discover the fact that he was not a rogue ninja carrying secret techniques, but an Anbu.

After traveling for several days, Lihuo and the others arrived at the border of the Land of Fire.

"I can't walk anymore, not another step!"

Sha's figure swayed unsteadily, his gait floating, until he finally plopped down beside a large tree.

Seeing this, Orochimaru walked up to him slowly.

"Mr. Sha, surely you haven't failed to grasp your own position yet?"

Lihuo could clearly feel that as Orochimaru stepped closer, his aura gradually intensified.

Yet, even though Sha had been forced to turn pale by Orochimaru, he insisted on not moving an inch.

"Oh my, a stubborn one."

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

In the eyes of others, this bird was unremarkable, but when Orochimaru saw it, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Interesting."

He then looked at Sha, who was leaning against the tree trunk.

"Since you want to rest, you might as well take a nap."

Thud!

After knocking Sha unconscious with a punch, Orochimaru turned to Lihuo and said, "He has no chakra and won't be waking up anytime soon. You guard him here; Teacher has some business to attend to."

Lihuo nodded. He understood that if Orochimaru didn't want to say what the business was, asking further would yield no results.

As Orochimaru vanished with a Body Flicker, Lihuo began to carefully inspect the Sunagakure ninja.

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

"Speak. You used the Third Hokage's communication method to contact me—what exactly are you trying to do?"