Sen casually tossed away the dead branches that had already crumbled into powder.
He brushed the white dust off his clothes.
Turning to Tsunade, who was still slumped in the rubble, he curled his lip.
"Lady, the ground's cold."
"If you're done staring, shouldn't we discuss heading back to the village?"
Bracing herself against a stone slab, Tsunade struggled to her feet.
Her green outer coat was still covered in splinters from the wood shattered moments earlier.
But before she could speak.
Whoosh-
A chilly, sinister gust carrying the stench of dead fish suddenly.
Blew in through the hall's ruined doorway.
"That smell... it's disgusting."
Sen covered his nose and spat on the ground in utter disgust.
"Ptooey."
"That overgrown snake just won't give us a moment's peace."
It wasn't just Sen.
Tsunade, who had only just escaped the grip of her fear of blood, at that moment.
Also.
Looked grim.
Out in the wilderness beyond Tanzaku Town, strewn with gravel and withered yellow weeds.
Swarms of pitch-black venomous snakes, their bodies coated in sticky slime, formed a vast black tide.
Across the sand.
They writhed and slithered.
Making a spine-chilling rustle.
And amid those venomous snakes.
Orochimaru stood with his head tilted, several swollen, purplish finger marks still visible on his pale face.
His two empty sleeves hung at his sides.
The stumps of his arms.
Were tightly wrapped in bloodstained coarse bandages that reeked of old mildew.
"Heh... hehehehe..."
He let out a hoarse, grating laugh.
"Teacher Hiruzen, and... Tsunade."
Beside Orochimaru.
Stood a clean-cut young man wearing round glasses and holding a notebook covered in dirt and dust.
Kabuto Yakushi.
Kabuto pushed up his glasses, leaving greasy rings of sweaty fingerprints all over the lenses.
He looked at everyone amid the ruins, an utterly false, gentle smile