Kamizuki Yu: Orochimaru, I've Got All Your Dirt! Hidden Leaf Public Trial Scheduled!

The rainy night did not grow peaceful with the end of the alley battle.

Kamizuki Yu appeared outside the Hokage Building. Rather than barging in directly, he sent word through the ANBU.

Moments later, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane appeared before him with grave expressions.

"Kamizuki Yu, you said... Orochimaru?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice carried a faint, almost imperceptible tremble.

Kamizuki Yu pointed toward the alley behind him. "I captured him. His chakra has already been sealed."

All three were shaken.

They had anticipated the possibility of Orochimaru defecting, but never imagined such an opening—or such a swift conclusion.

"He..." Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated.

"The evidence will give you a 'surprise.'" Kamizuki Yu's tone was calm, as though he were discussing something utterly trivial.

Just as the atmosphere in the Hokage Building grew unbearably tense, special [Image Crystals] quietly activated throughout the Hidden Leaf Village.

Kamizuki Yu had arranged them in advance, and they contained irrefutable evidence of Orochimaru's inhumane live experiments.

Dim laboratories, twisted bodies, despairing screams, syringes and scalpels reflecting a cold gleam.

One horrifying scene after another was projected through those crystals across the village.

"Th-that... what is that?" A genin who had just finished working overtime passed by a wall and saw the projection.

"My God! Is that Lord Orochimaru?"

"What is he doing? Those people..."

Panic spread like a plague.

At first, there was only a small disturbance. Soon, the entire Hidden Leaf erupted.

"Impossible! This has to be fabricated!" one of Orochimaru's admirers screamed.

But more villagers, upon seeing the pained faces of those children and the test subjects warped beyond human recognition, felt their stomachs churn.

Anger, fear, disgust, disbelief.

One of the legendary Sannin, a hero of the Hidden Leaf, was actually a demon wearing human skin?

Inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi saw the same scenes through a crystal.

The pipe in his hand fell to the floor with a clatter.

In the footage, Orochimaru's cold snake eyes were focused and feverish as he conducted his experiments, with countless wailing souls in the background.

Many of the victims were Hidden Leaf shinobi, even ordinary villagers. Some were war orphans.

"Orochimaru... you... you actually..." Hiruzen Sarutobi swayed, and Homura Mitokado quickly caught him.

He looked old.

Older than ever before, as though age had seized the Third Hokage in an instant.

His expression shifted from initial shock, to heartbreaking grief, then to deep self-blame and regret.

"It was me... I harmed them..." he muttered, his voice terribly hoarse. "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have indulged you so much..."

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane wore livid expressions.

"Hiruzen! This isn't the time for self-reproach!" Homura Mitokado barked. "That wretch!"

Koharu Utatane clenched her fists so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her flesh. "He dared to do this in the Hidden Leaf! If not for Kamizuki Yu... the consequences would have been unimaginable!"

Fear after the fact.

Overwhelming fear after the fact washed over them like a tide.

If Kamizuki Yu had not struck with thunderous force and exposed everything to the public, what horrifying disaster would the Hidden Leaf have faced once some of Orochimaru's forbidden techniques succeeded?

They did not even dare to think about it.

"We must bring the situation under control immediately!" Homura Mitokado turned to Kamizuki Yu. "Where is Orochimaru now?"

"Somewhere quiet," Kamizuki Yu replied flatly. "I left him alive for you to judge."

His calm attitude instead gave the Hidden Leaf's higher-ups an inexplicable sense of pressure. This young man seemed to have controlled everything from the very beginning.

"Kamizuki Yu," Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, "how... how did you know about all this?"

"That isn't important." Kamizuki Yu spoke lightly. "What matters is how you intend to deal with it."

Of course, I picked it all up while checking in at Orochimaru's Secret Laboratory.

"Deal with it? He must be severely punished!" Koharu Utatane declared resolutely.

Just then, the office door was violently shoved open.

A white figure rushed in on a gust of wind. It was Jiraiya, who had hurried back from Mount Myoboku—or perhaps had already been in the village and was alerted by the disturbance.

"Old man! Orochimaru, he..." Jiraiya saw the scene inside the room and the images within the projection crystal, and his words abruptly stopped.

The anxiety and concern on his face froze the instant he saw those experiment records.

Then came profound shock and disbelief.

"Th-this is..." Jiraiya's voice was somewhat dry.

He walked step by step toward the crystal, watching what his former companion had done.

Those miserable scenes, those twisted lives—every frame struck his heart like a heavy hammer.

"Impossible... Orochimaru... He may have been obsessed with forbidden techniques, but how could he..."

He wanted to defend Orochimaru, but the footage and the victims' lists were irrefutable evidence.

Helplessness.

A vast sense of helplessness enveloped him.

Heartache. Disdain.

He could not imagine that the companion who had once fought beside him, the genius they had praised so highly, had hidden such ugliness and cruelty within his heart.

"Jiraiya, you've seen it all." Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes wearily.

"Why... did it become like this..." Jiraiya growled, his fists clenched as veins bulged. He was not asking anyone else. It was more as though he were asking himself, asking Orochimaru, whose face had become utterly unrecognizable.

If Tsunade had been in the village at that moment, she likely would have smashed every replica of that laboratory to pieces with her monstrous strength. This utterly trampled upon the principles and beliefs she held as a medical shinobi.

The people's fury had already burned to its peak.

"Traitor! Demon!"

"Kill him! Kill him!"

"The Hidden Leaf will not tolerate such scum!"

The crowd was enraged.

Outside the Hokage Building, a large number of agitated villagers and shinobi had already gathered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Convene an emergency high-level meeting!" he ordered. "All jonin, advisers, and ANBU squad captains are to report to the meeting room immediately!"

He turned to Kamizuki Yu. "Kamizuki Yu, you..."

"I won't be taking part." Kamizuki Yu waved a hand. "How to handle this is an internal matter for the Hidden Leaf. I've already handed him over to your ANBU. He's in the deepest cell of the Interrogation Division dungeon."

He paused, then added, "A friendly reminder: his Living Corpse Reincarnation is troublesome. Don't give him an opportunity."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

Kamizuki Yu's actions seemed like he had kicked the ball back to them, but in truth, he had already nailed Orochimaru to the pillar of shame, leaving him no possibility of turning things around.

The Hidden Leaf's emergency high-level meeting was convened.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt as though water could drip from it.

Every document detailing Orochimaru's crimes and every segment of footage sent chills through the jonin present.

One of the once-heroic "Sannin" had become a forbidden-technique madman despised by all, a traitor to the Hidden Leaf.

His reputation was utterly ruined.

Before such absolute evidence, no one could say a single word in Orochimaru's defense.

The discussion centered on how to deal with Orochimaru, how to answer to the entire shinobi world, and how to eliminate the severe damage this incident had inflicted upon the Hidden Leaf's reputation.

Meanwhile, among the people, aside from condemning Orochimaru, the main topic of discussion was admiration and gratitude for Kamizuki Yu.

"If not for Lord Kamizuki Yu, we'd still be in the dark!"

"He was the one who subdued that demon Orochimaru!"

"Lord Kamizuki Yu is the Hidden Leaf's true guardian!"

The previous rumors that Kamizuki Yu's strength was unfathomable now received the most direct and shocking confirmation.

After this incident, his prestige in the Hidden Leaf reached a new peak.

Kamizuki Yu stood at the edge of Hokage Rock, looking down at the brightly lit yet restless village.

The rain was still falling.

He did not care about the praise, nor did he care how much of a headache the Hidden Leaf's higher-ups would have.

Orochimaru, this chess piece, was temporarily useless. But the knowledge in his mind might still prove useful.

As for those test subjects... they truly were unbearable to look at.

Still, this reminded him that the pursuit of power, without limits, would lead to madness.

"Orochimaru, Orochimaru, of all people to provoke, you just had to jump out at a time like this."

He turned, rain soaking the tips of his hair.

"Perfect Sage Mode... Tch. Maybe I can consider checking in at Mount Myoboku or Dragon Cave in the future."

After dealing with Orochimaru, Kamizuki Yu felt that he had taken another step closer to his goal of lying flat—and perhaps... another step farther away.

After all, this world never lacked people who stirred up trouble.

He yawned.

"Time to go back and sleep."