Only his clothes had changed. Instead of a Konoha Ninja uniform, he wore a grayish-white robe with a sacred rope tied around his waist.
"You still have the nerve to come back?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes were bloodshot, as though they would burst into flames the next second.
"Why wouldn't I? I've never done anything shameful. Weren't all those 'crimes' of mine carried out on your orders and Lord Danzo's? If I'm a criminal, I doubt either of you can escape the blame."
Orochimaru smiled easily.
"The village has certainly been lively while I was away. Of the four of you in power, the killing left only you standing... tsk, and I missed such a wonderful show."
As he spoke, ninja from the Sarutobi Clan and the Shimura Clan were already arriving one after another.
The two clans' compounds were only half a street apart.
Orochimaru had slipped into Konoha unnoticed because Xuan Zhe and Tsunade had granted him passage. But once he entered Sarutobi Clan territory, he could only force his way in.
After all, he still couldn't assemble a team like the Sound Ninja Five. With only limited manpower at his disposal, he couldn't stage anything on the scale of the Konoha Crush Plan.
Still, it was enough.
"Th-that's... Orochimaru?"
"What's he doing back here?!"
"Get someone! Hurry and call for reinforcements!"
"We can't! All the ninja stationed in the village have been sent to the outer defensive lines!"
The arriving Sarutobi and Shimura clansmen were all dumbstruck with fear the moment they saw Orochimaru.
Their first instinct was to call for help, only to remember that Tsunade had ordered every available ninja in the village to guard its perimeter today.
"Where is Asuma?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had no interest in settling old scores with Orochimaru.
He cared about only