Encountering Orochimaru

Takuma walked at the very front of the team, the muscles in his back held taut.

Ever since they had taken out the three Rain Ninja, his Spider-Sense had never fully settled down. A faint sting lingered at the back of his head, constantly warning him that something was watching them.

"How much farther to the Central Tower?" Yakumo asked softly from the middle of the group.

Tetsu glanced around. "At this pace, we'll reach the outskirts before dark. But the closer we get to the center, the more teams we'll run into."

Takuma didn't answer. His gaze swept through the woods on either side.

Something felt off. Those three Rain Ninja had shown up at just the right time, as if someone had deliberately driven them toward his team.

But what could the other side want? Their hastily assembled little squad had neither a famous bloodline nor any reputation. They weren't worth anyone's trouble.

Unless the scrolls weren't the target at all.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the temperature around them dropped without warning.

Every hair on Takuma's body stood on end. His Spider-Sense blared, a sharp sting shooting up his spine and straight to his head.

"Stop!"

Takuma abruptly raised a hand. Tetsu reacted at once, stepping in front of Yakumo. His hands formed half a seal, and Earth Style chakra had already gathered in his palms.

Yakumo tensed instantly, too. Her scroll snapped open halfway with a rustle, and the tip of her charcoal pencil touched the page, ready to cast a genjutsu at any moment.

The faint chirping of insects and birds that had been audible moments before vanished completely.

Even the rustling of leaves in the breeze stopped. It was as if an invisible hand had clamped around the forest's throat. The silence was so complete they could hear their own heartbeats.

Takuma fixed his gaze on the dense woods ahead.

He couldn't see anything unusual, but the Spider-Sense alarm was pounding so hard it nearly numbed his mind. The danger was right there, just a hair's breadth away.

"Come out." Takuma gritted his teeth and drew a Kunai with his right hand. Its blade glinted coldly in the dim light.

His palm was slick with sweat. Any enemy who could set his Spider-Sense off like this was far stronger than those Rain Ninja.

A figure slowly emerged from behind a tree.

He moved at a leisurely pace, as if out for a stroll after a meal, but with every step, the pressure in Takuma's chest grew heavier.

Long hair hung over his shoulders. His skin was so pale it seemed almost sickly, as though he had spent his whole life away from the sun.

He wore a gray-black, high-collared trench coat that covered half his face, leaving only a pair of golden, slit-pupiled eyes visible.

The man took a few steps, then stopped. Tilting his head slightly, he looked over the three of them. His gaze paused on Tetsu, swept past the scroll in Yakumo's hands, and finally settled on Takuma.

A long, glistening tongue slipped from his mouth and slowly licked his lips.

Orochimaru.

One of the legendary Sannin, a direct disciple of the Third Hokage, and an S-rank criminal who had later defected from Konoha.

One of the most dangerous madmen in the entire Shinobi World, obsessed with bloodlines and forbidden jutsu. The lives he had taken could have built a mountain.

Why was it him?!

In the original story, Orochimaru had gone into the Forest of Death specifically to target Uchiha Sasuke, the vessel for the Sharingan.

Why had he ended up in front of their little nobody squad? The plot had gone way too far off the rails! Takuma didn't have the Sharingan, and he wasn't a Jinchuriki. Why was Orochimaru after him?!

This man was nothing like the wandering ninja they had faced before. The gap in their strength was so immense they weren't even qualified to fight back.

"Oh?" Orochimaru spoke, his voice hoarse and languid, like sandpaper scraping wood. There was an indefinable chill to it. "I was just wandering around, looking for some interesting kid to test my skills on. But I didn't expect to run into something much rarer..."

His gaze slid over Takuma from head to toe like a cold, damp snake's tongue, openly probing and scrutinizing him.

He wasn't looking at a person. He was looking at a specimen, an experiment laid out on a dissection table.

Tetsu stepped forward once more, his hands almost finished forming the seals for Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall.

He could feel the terrifying chakra radiating from the man: heavy and cold, like a bottomless swamp. Just standing near him made it difficult to breathe.

"Who are you?" Tetsu asked in a low, wary voice.

Orochimaru acted as if he hadn't heard him. His gaze remained fixed on Takuma. "A descendant of the Senju Clan... No wonder your chakra is so much denser than an ordinary Genin's. You're one of the Morimiya boys, aren't you? The Third Hokage did a fine job keeping you hidden."

Takuma's heart tightened.

Even many Chunin in Konoha didn't know his surname or bloodline, yet Orochimaru had identified them at a glance.

Just how many spies had this guy planted in Konoha?

"More interesting still..." Orochimaru took a step forward, and the air around them grew even heavier. "There's a very special vitality inside your body."

He narrowed his golden, slit-pupiled eyes, as if he had stumbled upon a priceless treasure. "An extraordinary ability to heal. It isn't Medical Ninjutsu, nor is it a trick for storing chakra like the Yin Seal... It wells up from deep within your cells—a wild, vigorous regenerative power."

Cold sweat broke out across Takuma's back.

He hadn't even told Tenten or his father the whole truth about the secret of his Wolverine Healing Factor. He had only said it was an innate gift of the Senju Bloodline.

And Orochimaru had seen through it just by looking? How terrifying was this man's perception?

"You're imagining things," Takuma said, forcing the words out and trying to keep his voice steady. "The Senju Clan has always been good at recovering from physical injuries. It's an inherited trait."

"An inherited trait?" Orochimaru gave a low laugh. His hoarse, grating laughter was especially unnerving in the silent forest. "I know Tsunade's Yang Release very well. Even her healing can't match yours. The Senju Bloodline couldn't produce a freak like you."

Coming from him, the word "freak" wasn't an insult. It carried a note of feverish delight.

Alarm bells rang in Takuma's mind.

He knew Orochimaru's personality all too well. The rarer the specimen, the more he wanted to get his hands on it and study it.

Takuma's mind raced. Yakumo and Tetsu were behind him. He couldn't retreat.

But face Orochimaru head-on? The three of them didn't stand a chance against an enemy of the Sannin's caliber.

Their only option was to split up and run. If even one of them got away, that was something.

He turned his head slightly and whispered, "When I count to three, run in opposite directions. Don't look back—head straight for the Central Tower. I'll hold him off."

"No." Tetsu refused at once, his voice firm. "If we go, we go together."

Yakumo gripped her charcoal pencil tightly. A rough outline of a genjutsu array had already appeared on her scroll. "My illusion can hold him for a few seconds. We'll retreat together."

"It won't hold him." Takuma gritted his teeth, the hair on the back of his neck standing up even more.

Orochimaru's chakra continued to rise. His cold presence washed over them like a tide. "He's Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. If you stay, you'll only die with me."

"The Sannin..." Yakumo's face went deathly pale.

Orochimaru seemed to have heard their conversation. He gave another low laugh.

He sauntered forward two more steps, stopping less than five meters from Takuma.

His golden, slit-pupiled eyes curved with amusement and cruelty.

"Run?" he said lightly, the word effortless, yet carrying unquestionable authority. "Do you really think anyone can get away from me?"

The instant the words left his mouth, a terrifying killing intent erupted without warning.

It was the pressure forged through decades of battle and slaughter, piled high like a mountain of corpses. An invisible mountain slammed into the three of them.

The forest fell deathly silent.

Only the three of them breathing heavily and Orochimaru's unhurried footsteps could be heard.

He circled them halfway, like a venomous snake sizing up its prey, then stopped in front of Takuma.