Qian Ye closed the communication scroll in his hands.
Orochimaru had always been an insanely arrogant madman.
For one of the Legendary Sannin to send a distress signal himself, the mess underground must have been on the verge of spiraling out of control.
"Bullet, come down to the basement with me."
Qian Ye stood up and casually draped the black coat hanging over the back of his chair across his shoulders.
Bullet tossed the beast leg he had gnawed down to bare bone onto the table and grinned.
"What, another fight?"
"That snake Orochimaru bit off more than he could chew. We're going to clean up his mess."
Without wasting another word, Qian Ye led Bullet through the secret passage behind the command post and descended straight into the deepest rock strata beneath the Hidden Leaf.
This had originally been an abandoned air-raid shelter left over from the Second Hokage's time. Orochimaru had since converted it into his most secret biological laboratory.
The closer they drew to the laboratory's core, the more pungent the stench of blood and burning became.
Countless cracks covered both sides of the hard granite passage.
Green nutrient solution and purplish-black poisonous blood flowed across the floor. The remains of several clones used as assistants had been torn to pieces.
Boom!
With a muffled crash, the reinforced steel blast door, half a meter thick, was knocked straight out from inside.
The twisted door spun past Qian Ye's scalp and slammed deep into the stone wall behind him.
Orochimaru shot backward through the shattered doorway.
Several gaping tears marked his white robe, and a cut deep enough to expose bone ran across his pale cheek.
Usually so particular about his appearance, Orochimaru now had disheveled hair and labored breathing.
Even the Kusanagi Sword in his hand, sharp