Orochimaru's golden, serpentine eyes flickered slightly, but the smile on his face remained unchanged:
"You worry too much, Senior Torifu. I have always devoted myself to contributing to the village. With the situation on the Iwagakure front temporarily stable, I was finally able to leave."
He glossed over it, clearly unwilling to dwell on the topic.
Then his gaze swept seemingly casually over Lin Ze in the corner of the tent.
Orochimaru's gaze briefly met the eyes behind Lin Ze's mask.
There were no sparks, no killing intent, only a cold, unspoken calm.
Thoughts raced through Orochimaru's mind.
His secret base in the Land of Rice Fields had previously been wiped out, causing devastating losses. His first suspect had been Lin Ze, who had a grudge against him and was shrouded in mystery.
He had secretly used considerable resources to investigate, even having people tail Lin Ze for a time, but there was no evidence connecting Lin Ze to the destruction of the base in the Land of Rice Fields.
The base had been destroyed so thoroughly that no valuable clues remained. Whoever had done it was clearly experienced and extremely powerful!
The location of the base in the Land of Rice Fields was exceedingly secret. Even Danzo didn't know about it... given Lin Ze's whereabouts and the strength he displayed at the time, he couldn't possibly have done it so cleanly... Orochimaru mused.
He had ruled out Lin Ze and begun suspecting that another faction had acted in secret.
That had made him rein himself in considerably of late. After all, being targeted by an unknown, powerful enemy was hardly pleasant.
However, that did not mean he had abandoned his "interest" in Lin Ze. That unique and powerful force within Lin Ze remained the research material he dreamed of