The rain was still falling in the Land of Flame. Fine raindrops tapped against the window frames of the " Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Tower," splashing up tiny water droplets that mingled with the smell of alcohol and the noise inside the building, drifting out onto the street.
The Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Tower Restaurant was packed, mostly with ninjas and some wealthy commoners. The clinking of wine bowls, the sounds of drinking games, and laughter filled the air, dispelling the gloom of the rainy day. Ten years had passed since the last large-scale war in the Shinobi World, and no more Ōtsutsuki warships piercing the sky. This peaceful life allowed those who had once been constantly on edge, preparing for battle, to finally sit down and enjoy a cup of tranquil wine.
"Drink! One more!" At a table by the window, a burly man with a thick beard gulped down a large bowl of wine, wiped his mouth, and shouted in a voice that drowned out the surrounding noise, "If you ask me, this peaceful life is all thanks to the Immortal King Tsubasa's desperate fight back then! Three high-level Ōtsutsuki Domain Level Advanced Stage experts! They were the kind of people who could turn a planet upside down with a flick of their fingers. Only the Immortal King Tsubasa could withstand that in the entire Shinobi World!"
"That's right!" A young ninja beside him immediately echoed, his face full of admiration. "It's written in the textbooks. The Immortal King Tsubasa single-handedly fought against three high- Domain Level Advanced Stage experts, and in the end, to repel the even stronger main force of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, he burned his own body and spirit, leaving not even a trace. He is truly the greatest hero of all time!"
Upon hearing this, everyone at the table nodded in agreement, their tone filled with admiration and regret. But just then, the burly man with the thick beard suddenly changed his tone, slamming his hand on the table so hard that the wine bowls bounced. His admiration instantly turned into indignation. "A hero may be a hero, but just thinking about that traitor Orochimaru makes me furious!"
" Orochimaru?" The young ninja frowned, then a look of disdain appeared on his face. "You mean that deserter Orochimaru?"
"Who else could it be but him!" The bearded man became more and more excited as he spoke, spittle flying from his mouth. "During the great battle back then, so many ninjas charged forward for their lives, some dying, some wounded! Even the Immortal King Tsubasa, fighting against three Domain Level Advanced Stage experts, was almost unable to hold on. Who rushed out to fight alongside the Immortal King? It was Orochimaru!"
He paused, took a sip of wine to clear his throat, and his anger intensified. "And the result? To buy him a chance, the Immortal King withstood a full-force attack from a Domain Level expert, severely injuring that guy and throwing him in front of Orochimaru! Orochimaru, on the other hand, pounced on him and devoured that Domain Level expert, instantly breaking through to become some kind of Zombie Monarch Immortal King Level expert!"
" Immortal King Level!" a tall, thin ninja exclaimed in astonishment. "That's on par with Immortal King Tsubasa Tianyi! If he had stayed to help back then, let alone the three Domain Level experts, even the Ōtsutsuki Legion that came later might not have fared well!"
"What a load of rubbish!" The bearded man spat angrily. "If he had helped, would there have been the incident of the Immortal King burning his body and spirit? After that guy broke through, he vanished without a Kageko! He ran faster than a rabbit, disappearing without a trace!"
"I heard," a ninja wearing a straw hat and with a hoarse voice leaned over at the next table and said mysteriously, " Orochimaru has been a bad guy for a long time. Back in Konoha City, he secretly conducted human experiments, capturing many people to study zombie transformation. He doesn't care about other people's lives at all in pursuit of power; he's lost all humanity!"
"Yes, yes, I heard about it too!" the young ninja quickly chimed in. "It's all in the textbooks. He's a madman who'll do anything for power. Back then, he followed the Immortal King Tsubasa, probably just looking for an opportunity to improve himself. Later, seeing that the Ōtsutsuki Legion was growing larger and larger, he knew he couldn't win, so he used the opportunity of breaking through to escape. He must have fled to some unknown star field to live a life of hiding!"
"Coward! Utter coward!" The bearded man slammed his fist on the table, his face flushed with rage. " The Immortal King Tsubasa trusted him so much, treating him like his right-hand man, and yet he deserted in the face of battle, leaving the Immortal King to shoulder everything alone! This kind of person should be nailed to the pillar of shame, forever reviled!"
Those around him echoed his sentiments, and curses rose and fell. Some said Orochimaru was probably afraid of the Ōtsutsuki's strength and dared not fight again; others said that after his breakthrough, he thought he was great and disdained to fight alongside the people of the Shinobi World; still others said that he might have already defected to the Ōtsutsuki and become a traitor to the Shinobi World.
"Do you think he might have been killed by Ōtsutsuki?" a timid commoner asked in a low voice.
These words had barely left his mouth when they were met with a burst of laughter. "Killed? You overestimate him!" the tall, thin ninja scoffed. "A Immortal King Level expert, even if he couldn't win, running away would be a piece of cake. He's just afraid of death, a complete deserter!"
The discussion in the restaurant continued, the words "deserter Orochimaru " like a thorn stuck in everyone's heart. No one noticed that in the corner of the restaurant, a man wearing a straw hat that covered most of his face paused slightly in the hand holding the wine bowl, his knuckles turning white.
The man slowly took a sip of wine; the liquor was spicy, but it couldn't suppress the bitterness in his throat. He was Shikamaru Nara, the current Hokage of Konoha, and one of the few people in the Shinobi World who hadn't been completely swayed by public opinion.
He put down his wine bowl, his gaze piercing through the rain as he looked towards the distant sky, his brow furrowing slightly. Ten years had passed, a full ten years. The infamy surrounding Orochimaru had transformed from scattered discussions into a Shinobi World acknowledged "fact" in the ninja world. In the warning hall, Orochimaru's vilified portrait hung opposite the heroic portrait of the Immortal King Tsubasa, one reviled, the other revered—a stark contrast. In textbooks, he was a "coward who deserted in the face of battle," a "traitor who abandoned his responsibilities," used to educate every generation of young ninjas about what was right and wrong.
But Shikamaru felt that something was off.
He had analyzed and understood Orochimaru's situation, or rather, he understood the logic of that kind of "madman" all too well. Orochimaru, now a zombie, was obsessed with immortality and truth; for these two things, he was willing to disregard everything, even to the point of madness, challenging the entire Shinobi World. Would such a person run away out of "fear of death"?
Shikamaru recalled the great battle ten years ago, a scene he would never forget.
In the outer space of Mars, the Ōtsutsuki's warships blotted out the sky. The ninjas of the Shinobi World fought desperately, but in the face of an absolute disparity in strength, everything seemed so pale and powerless.
The Immortal King Tsubasa was a pillar of the Shinobi World at the time. He charged forward alone and stopped three Domain Level Advanced Stage Ōtsutsuki Domain experts. It was an incredibly fierce battle; the aftershocks of the energy collisions even overturned asteroids within a radius of tens of thousands of miles. Although the Immortal King Tsubasa was powerful, he quickly fell into a disadvantageous position against three opponents of the same level. His wounds multiplied, and his aura grew weaker and weaker.
Just when everyone thought the Shinobi World was doomed, Orochimaru rushed out.
At that time, Orochimaru was not yet the Zombie Monarch, but a powerful Flying Zombie the Immortal Venerable Peak Level. He led his zombie subordinates and charged into the battlefield without hesitation. His fighting style was still crazy, with bizarre Ninjutsu appearing one after another. Even when facing attacks from Domain Level powerhouses, he did not back down in the slightest.
" Orochimaru! Are you crazy? That's not someone you can handle!" Jiraiya behind, trying to stop him.
Orochimaru simply turned around and smiled, a smile that still carried a hint of coldness and wickedness, yet also possessed a strangely reassuring firmness. " Jiraiya, Tsunade, you two keep an eye on things. Leave these Ōtsutsuki Clan to me and the Immortal King Tsubasa."