"What does this man have to do with the Senju? He can actually use Wood Release." Looking at Yamato lying on the ground, the masked man reached out and removed the mask from his face, revealing an unfamiliar face.
"What an unexpected bonus!"
Then he tied Yamato's hands and feet with rope and took him into the cave.
A black snake slithered along behind him.
Back in the cave, the masked man tossed Yamato, bound hand and foot, to one side.
"What's this?" Hearing the commotion, Akimichi Yamaichi slowly opened his eyes. He happened to see Yamato being tossed onto the ground. When he saw the familiar Anbu uniform, his expression changed instantly.
He knew this had to be someone the village had sent to find them. What surprised him, though, was Yamato's age. His mask had already been removed, revealing his real face.
Yamato was younger than Kakashi. In the entire Anbu, apart from Naraku and Itachi, he was probably the youngest.
"What a waste of a genius." Akimichi Yamaichi felt a pang of regret, but it was quickly replaced by anger.
Glaring at the masked man, Akimichi Yamaichi said, "Nakashita So, you'll pay for this."
Nakashita So—the masked man—was completely unmoved by Akimichi Yamaichi's words.
"Heh. Pay for it?" Nakashita So sneered, then removed his mask. He had black hair and slightly sallow skin, and looked like an ordinary middle-aged man.
Bang!
Nakashita So suddenly kicked Akimichi Yamaichi's burly body. "How could people from a great clan like yours possibly understand some things?"
Akimichi Yamaichi's face twisted with pain, but he still glared at Nakashita So.
In his eyes, Nakashita So was nothing but a lunatic.
"Heh." Nakashita So sneered and left, carrying a bowl of rice deeper into the cave. There, a man sat slumped against a large rock.
The man's hands and feet were shackled, and a strange formula intermittently shimmered across his body.
Nakashita So's arrival seemed to catch his attention. He raised his head slightly, revealing a pair of pale eyes.
Byakugan. It was obvious that he was from the Hyuga Clan, and he had successfully awakened the Byakugan.
"Captain Hyuga, you're in a sorry state now, aren't you?" Nakashita So taunted his former superior.
Hyuga Hi's expression didn't change in the slightest. He simply struggled to sit up, then took the bowl of rice from Nakashita So.
"Eat up. It's not time for you to die yet. After all, the special powers your great clans possess can be of use to Lord Orochimaru."
That was what Nakashita So thought to himself.
Just then, he seemed to sense something. He vanished in a flash and reappeared at the cave entrance.
He didn't know that after he left, a smile appeared at the corner of Hyuga Hi's mouth. His eyes were now pale blue, and veins bulged at his temples.
"Looks like we're going to..."
At the cave entrance, Nakashita So saw that the White Snake had returned and felt relieved. A smile spread across his face.
"Let's see what Lord Orochimaru's latest orders are!"
Nakashita So stepped up to the White Snake. As if sensing him, the White Snake opened its mouth and spat out a scroll.
Holding the scroll, Nakashita So began to tremble uncontrollably.
Nakashita So, Akimichi Yamaichi, and Hyuga Hi had once been a team, with Hyuga Hi as their captain.
They were the team the Third Hokage had sent to investigate.
The mission had seemed easy enough for their team. There were few ninja in the Land of Frost, and at most, they would occasionally have minor skirmishes with people from the Land of Lightning.
As a great nation, the Land of Lightning also regularly sent ninja there to gather information.
At first, things had been peaceful for them. Then one day, Nakashita So suddenly attacked Hyuga Hi and Akimichi Yamaichi.
First, Nakashita So poisoned Akimichi Yamaichi and knocked him out. Then he used a special formula to restrain Hyuga Hi. Just like that, the two men, both stronger than Nakashita So, became his prisoners.
And that was how things had remained. Nakashita So seemed to be waiting for something. Though he had captured them both, he hadn't killed them. He even cooked them a little food each day.
What they didn't know was that Nakashita So was waiting for Orochimaru, one of Konoha's S-rank missing-nin and one of the Sannin.
Nakashita So was a child from an ordinary family. Perhaps because he had lost both his parents as a child, just like Orochimaru, he had developed an almost fanatical obsession with him.
Because of that obsession, when he learned that Orochimaru had defected from Konoha, he had come to see himself as a missing-nin of Konoha, too. He had also acted in a way befitting his new identity.
That was why he had captured Hyuga Hi and Akimichi Yamaichi.
As for why he had kept them alive, the main reason was Orochimaru.
As Orochimaru's most devoted follower, Nakashita So knew a little more than most. He knew Orochimaru loved nothing more than conducting research.
That was why he had kept the two men alive, intending to hand them over to Orochimaru for experiments. After all, both Hyuga Hi and Akimichi Yamaichi possessed special abilities, especially the former's Byakugan, which was famous throughout the Shinobi World.
After successfully capturing them, Nakashita So had contacted Orochimaru through a special method, and Orochimaru had given him a few simple orders.
"Lord Orochimaru." After reading the scroll, Nakashita So's eyes shone with excitement, as if something unbelievable was about to happen.
"So they were all here!"
Outside the cave, Naraku's Shadow Clone murmured to himself. Though Shadow Clones couldn't use the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Naraku could still sense several chaotic chakra signatures inside the cave.
One of them felt somewhat familiar.
"Could Yamato be in there, too?" The Shadow Clone furrowed his brow and looked at the splintered wood on the ground, confirming his suspicion.
"If that's the case, let's see who dares to bully my teammate!"
The Shadow Clone murmured, "Shadow Clone Technique!"
Bang!
A cloud of white smoke appeared. The next moment, a breeze scattered it, and another figure stood there.
The two Shadow Clones looked at each other and nodded. Then the newly arrived one vanished with a bang, turning into a cloud of smoke.
"Hmm? Did he find them?"