"Cangyue, you certainly made good time."
Cangyue had barely landed at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire when Orochimaru stepped out from behind a tree.
Clearly, he had been waiting for quite a while.
"Mostly because I couldn't wait."
Cangyue put away the Flame and Thunder Swords and rubbed his hands together.
"Don't be shy. Whatever good stuff you've got, bring it out."
Black Zetsu, perched on his shoulder, stirred slightly.
Orochimaru?
Cangyue rushed all the way here just to see him?
Black Zetsu knew Orochimaru specialized in forbidden techniques and research on the human body, and he was smarter than most ninja.
But even so, surely that wasn't enough to get Cangyue this excited?
What forbidden technique could survive a slash from his sword?
"Please, come in."
Orochimaru turned and entered a hollow in an ancient tree.
Cangyue followed close behind.
The entrance was narrow, only wide enough for one person.
After several dozen steps downward, the space before them suddenly opened up.
White light tubes illuminated the entire underground space.
Blue walls with a cold metallic sheen stretched into the distance. Clusters of virtual projections floated in the air, dense streams of data rotating endlessly.
Neatly arranged devices served purposes he couldn't fathom, but looked impressive at a glance.
Cangyue stopped.
"Orochimaru, haven't you taken your tech tree down a pretty weird branch?"
The ninja outside were still storing information in scrolls.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru was already playing around with virtual projections.
More importantly, there were two other Orochimarus in the laboratory.
One stood at a console, recording data.
The other pushed a metal cart past the far end of a corridor.
Black Zetsu immediately extended his senses.
"They aren't shadow clones."
"They both have complete signs of life."
Cangyue had noticed something