The door to the Hokage's Office closed again, shutting out the breeze Tsunade had stirred as she left.
The room was dim, lit only by a solitary lamp on the desk.
Baishi ran his fingers along the edge of the black snakeskin scroll. It felt strange—cool and supple, almost alive. The snake emblem painted in gold dust across its seal glimmered eerily in the lamplight.
"Orochimaru has less patience than I expected," Baishi said, his voice giving nothing away.
Shikaku Nara stood nearby, brow furrowed. He eyed the ominous scroll and said gravely, "Lord Hokage, this... can't mean anything good. Orochimaru wouldn't send a secret letter now without wanting something. This is extortion."
What he intended to use as leverage went without saying.
Baishi said nothing. He lifted the Golden Snake Seal with a fingernail and slowly unfurled the scroll.
No traps. No Cursed Seals.
The scroll bore neat, delicate handwriting in a specially made ink. The message was brief.
Orochimaru began by "greeting" the Fifth Hokage, then "shared" the breakthrough he had achieved in the Life Cradle project and "invited" the Hokage to witness a perfect work of art soon to be born.
Only at the end did the letter state its true purpose without pretense.
Orochimaru demanded that Konoha unfreeze every hidden asset of his that had been seized within the Land of Fire and restore normal operations at Kazama Logistics Park within twenty-four hours. Otherwise, he would release the creation of that "perfect work of art," along with the raw material's "agonized struggles," to the public through black market channels.
A small photograph was attached. In it, Namikaze Minato lay bound to an operating table, black tubes inserted all over his body. His eyes were shut, his face twisted in pain.
Behind him stood countless culture dishes