He stopped clapping and nodded calmly, meeting Orochimaru's suddenly constricted serpentine pupils.
"You were half right. I do have both Senju and Uzumaki blood."
That casual admission carried more weight than any weapon.
The smile on Orochimaru's face froze instantly, replaced by an almost ravenous fervor. I was right! I really was right! Such a perfect life-form actually exists in this world!
He looked at Toru Kujyo as though he were a one-of-a-kind masterpiece into which a god had poured every ounce of devotion. Whether Toru Kujyo had come to kill him no longer mattered. Before the joy of pursuing "truth," even his own life seemed insignificant.
The night was black as ink, and the air smelled of earth and decay. This was Otogakure-or rather, one of Orochimaru's countless lairs. In a dark, damp underground passage, Toru Kujyo strolled leisurely ahead, while Sasuke and Karin followed behind, their faces wary.
"Hey, are you sure Orochimaru will be here?" Sasuke lowered his voice, his hand already resting on his sword's hilt. The place filled him with a visceral revulsion.
Toru Kujyo did not turn around. He merely chuckled. "He'll come. He's caught the scent."
The moment he finished speaking, a vicious gust struck from the blind spot behind Toru Kujyo's neck! A streak of deep blue chakra had condensed into a razor-sharp scalpel, silent and swift as lightning!
"Lord Orochimaru, run!" A bespectacled figure shouted urgently the instant his surprise attack connected.
It was Kabuto Yakushi! He had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for what he considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.
Yet the head did not go flying as he had expected.
Less than a centimeter from Toru Kujyo's skin, the Chakra Scalpel, sharp enough to sever muscle and nerves, was stopped by a layer of