Iwagakure's underground base was as lively as a marketplace on opening day.
The corridor lights flickered on and off, their irritating buzzing mixed with the smell of burnt cables and sweat.
The Genin who had just been hauling uranium ore were sprawled in the corner, gasping for breath. Their cuffs were covered in pitch-black soot, and the sweat salt stains around their collars had not washed out, making them look utterly filthy.
Yoru pushed open the laboratory's heavy iron door, and the stench of formaldehyde mixed with something raw and fishy hit him right in the face.
Orochimaru was crouched beside a massive metal disk, an eerie green glow in his golden snake eyes that made one's hair stand on end.
The scalpel in his hand, smeared with some unknown mucus, was carefully carving runes into the metal disk.
"Lord Yoru, your spaceship project is progressing as slowly as a snail. It's painfully tedious."
Orochimaru gave a sinister chuckle, his tongue circling his lips and flicking out a few green droplets of saliva.
"Building spaceships? That thing would take ages to reach the center of the galaxy."
Yoru leaned against the blast door, casually spitting the flavorless gum from his mouth onto the floor before grinding it beneath his boot.
He looked at the enormous disk, which covered at least two hundred square meters and was covered in all kinds of blue-glowing crystals.
"You old poisonous snake, what exactly are you cooking up?"
Yoru asked casually, his brow faintly furrowed.
"Our target is those alien monkeys' nest, not digging holes in our own backyard."
"That is precisely the difference."
Orochimaru set down his scalpel and patted the huge metal disk with his oil-stained snake claws.
"I forcibly modified this based on those Ōtsutsuki fellows' Yomotsu Hirasaka, together with the Heavy