"Millennium Items?" Orochimaru's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
That Uchiha brat seemed to wear a strangely shaped golden key of unknown material around his neck year-round.
Orochimaru had always taken it for some Uchiha charm or family heirloom and never looked into it.
Now, in light of the Canopy Screen's words, the image of that key suddenly stood out with startling clarity.
Orochimaru slowly ran his tongue over his lips again. This time, he savored the scent of danger mingled with temptation.
Calculation flashed through his golden snake eyes.
The road to immortality was long and perilous. Every step demanded caution.
The unknown might hold new knowledge and power, but it was more likely to conceal an unpredictable risk great enough to overturn everything.
If the key Sasuke Uchiha wore was truly involved, it would lead into a bottomless whirlpool.
In an instant, the gleam in Orochimaru's eyes settled, and his usual cold reason returned.
"I haven't fully grasped the secrets of immortality yet. Why invite trouble of unknown origin that may have nothing to do with eternity?"
He had more important experiments to finish.
As for those distant, uncanny tales, he would leave them in the realm of legend for now.
If a true immortal had anything to spare, it was the patience to wait and watch.
He picked up a report on cellular activity, his lips curving with a scientist's cool focus.
The laboratory's dim light stretched his slender shadow across the floor, like a snake lying in wait.
Elsewhere, near the border of the Land of Fire, the afternoon sun had bleached a training ground pale.
Heat waves warped the distant scenery, while the shrill drone of cicadas rolled in like another, invisible wave of heat.
"Damn it! Why can't I get it right?" Naruto Uzumaki knelt on