Within Konoha, Lin Ze bounded through the night and once again slipped silently beyond the village's security perimeter.
Lately, he had practically turned the area around Konoha upside down.
With his ANBU identity and memories of the original story to guide him, he had indeed found several of Orochimaru's secret bases near Konoha.
Unfortunately, they were either long abandoned or too low-level to have access to core secrets like Living Corpse Reincarnation.
He had also asked Fox, but the results had all been disappointing.
Orochimaru operated with extreme caution and secrecy. His truly important bases left no traces to follow.
Looks like conventional methods won't work, Lin Ze thought.
The Land of Keys.
It was a tiny country that practically required a magnifying glass to find on a map of the Shinobi World. Its ninja village was even smaller than Kusagakure or Takigakure.
Yet this little place had a distinctive intelligence network.
Wearing his Suzaku mask and signature black robe, Lin Ze stood outside a somewhat desolate valley.
A stone monument inscribed with "Village of Keys" stood at the valley entrance.
Lin Ze looked over from a distance.
He found that rather than a ninja village, it looked more like a slightly larger mountain stronghold.
Its walls were low, with only a handful of ninja in conical hats patrolling them. Their chakra fluctuations were weak, at most at the level of chunin.
It really is tiny.
Lin Ze made that assessment inwardly.
He made no attempt to conceal himself and walked straight toward the entrance.
"Stop! Who are you?"
A guard noticed him and immediately challenged him. Though he tried hard to sound stern, a trace of nervousness showed in his eyes.
Lin Ze simply released a faint, almost imperceptible pressure.
"I'm looking for whoever's in charge. I have