Hiruzen had just turned around, but hadn't even taken a step yet.
A sudden, ear-piercing electronic noise erupted from the thick, black pine tree overhead.
"Sizzle. Sizzle."
It looked like two rusty pieces of iron scraping against each other.
Hiruzen's right foot, which was suspended in mid-air, froze instantly. He didn't dare to step down.
His heart clenched suddenly, as if it had been squeezed by a large, cold hand.
A blinding red light swept down from the tree canopy.
Like a giant red brush, it swept across Hiruzen's coal-dust-covered face, turning the surrounding withered grass a ghastly red.
Hiruzen swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing awkwardly in the black mud.
He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction of the red light.
On a tree trunk three meters off the ground, a rough piece of pine bark split open in the middle.
That wasn't tree bark at all. It was a square metal box painted with camouflage paint.
The metal box was opened, revealing a dark, hollow glass lens surrounded by a ring of glowing red lights.
She was staring intently at him.
The sound of gears meshing was very soft. "Click, click." The camera followed Hiruzen's face, adjusting the angle slightly.
Chakra surveillance camera.
Orochimaru created an industrial product that combined the spiritual perception array of the Yamanaka Clan with mechanical transmission.
Hiruzen was stunned. He had never seen this thing before.
He thought it was some new type of Explosive Tag trap, or a barrier eye used in Sensory Ninjutsu.
He held his breath, slowly pulled his right foot back, and stepped onto the damp, dry grass, not daring to make a sound.
The monitoring room on the fourth floor of the Hokage Building in the center of Konoha.
A wall-to-wall black and white CRT screen.
The screen emitted a pale blue glow, making the room feel cold.
The computer case fan emitted a low-frequency buzzing noise. Several black cables, as thick as an adult's arm, stretched along the corner of the wall, extending down to the generator room below.
Shu Shiraishi sat in a black office chair with wheels.
He was wearing a black tank top, his legs crossed and propped up on the metal workbench in front of him.
He was holding a chipped enamel mug.
Steam was rising from the rim of the cup.
He took a sip. The tea was a little too hot. He frowned and spat out a tea stalk that was mixed in with the water.
The teacup was placed on the iron tabletop, making a crisp "clang" sound.
Shu Shiraishi raised his head.
The largest monitor screen in the center has somewhat rough image quality, with fine static.
In the center of the image stands a person.
His entire body was blackened. His clothes were tattered into strips hanging from his shoulders, and his face was covered in coal dust and black mud.
The person was sticking their rear end out, cautiously pulling their legs back, their hands raised in mid-air as if guarding against something.
Like a wildcat that has just crawled out of a chimney and been caught by a flashlight. Comical and pathetic.
Beside the control panel, Yamanaka Fūshin was wearing a pair of heavy-duty monitoring headphones.
He was rapidly fiddling with several metal dials on the panel.
" Lord Hokage, the seventh camera on the outskirts of Mine Area Three has captured some images."
Fūshin took off half of his earphone. He lowered his voice considerably.
"It's Hiruzen Sarutobi. He climbed out through the exhaust duct."
Shu Shiraishi looked at the screen.
He twitched his lips and let out a short, cold laugh.
"Idiot."
He reached out and touched a red button on the control panel.
"Even the village's sewers have radar. Does he think the area outside the mine is just wilderness?"
Shu Shiraishi tapped the red button twice with his finger, but didn't press it.
"Sir, should we notify the border Urban Management Brigade to make the arrest?" Fūshin asked, his hand on the communication microphone.
"Need not."
Shu Shiraishi stared at Hiruzen's terrified face on the screen.
"I spent half the night climbing pipes. Let him be happy for two minutes first."
Shu Shiraishi's finger pressed on the red button.
The plastic button was pressed all the way down, making a "click" sound.
The channel was switched on, connecting to the full-frequency high-volume broadcast system in the woods of the mining area.
Shu Shiraishi leaned forward, closer to the metal microphone on the table.
In the woods outside the Black Rock Mine.
Hiruzen had only taken two steps back when his heel struck a thick tree root.
He gritted his teeth, preparing to turn and disappear into the bushes, determined to escape the eerie red light first.
The force was just exerted by the soles of the feet.
A series of deafening electrical buzzing sounds simultaneously erupted from the tree canopy in all directions.
"Sizzle--buzz!"
The sound was so loud that it startled all the birds roosting in the trees into flight. The flapping of their wings created a cacophony of noise. The sound waves shook the dry leaves, causing them to fall to the ground with a soft rustling sound.
Hiruzen shuddered in fright; his heart pounded against his ribs.
Immediately afterwards.
A cold, harsh voice boomed down from dozens of loudspeakers hidden in the woods.
Hiruzen.
The sound carried the characteristic distortion and reverberation of a loudspeaker, rolling overhead like muffled thunder.
It slammed into tree trunks on all sides, then bounced back into Hiruzen's eardrums.
Hiruzen's calf suddenly cramped.
That's Shu Shiraishi's voice.
He would never forget the demon who beheaded his father in the square.
"Isn't it hard to mine coal in the mine?"
Shu Shiraishi's voice was neither hurried nor slow, as cold as a block of raw iron, completely devoid of any inflection.
"Out admiring the moon in the middle of the night?"
These few sentences.
Like several large iron hammers, they slammed solidly into the back of Hiruzen's head.
His mind went completely blank.
The heroic spirit of escaping death and the grand ambition of saving Konoha were utterly crushed by these two sarcastic remarks.
My calf muscles feel like they've been pulled out; they're sore and weak.
"Thump."
Hiruzen at both knees and slumped heavily onto the cold, wet ground.
The dry grass pricked his chapped palm, causing excruciating pain, but he couldn't feel it.
The face, covered in coal ash, instantly lost all color, turning deathly pale. Even his lips trembled and turned bluish-purple.
"No... it's impossible..."
Hiruzen wide open, and he was muttering something that sounded like air leaking from his throat.
He had clearly avoided all the visible sentries and crawled through rusty ventilation ducts for half an hour.
Not even a patrolling Ninja Dog was alerted.
He stared intently at the iron box gleaming red on the tree trunk.
What kind of monster is this? This isn't Ninjutsu at all!
His whereabouts, from the moment he crawled out of the ventilation duct.
He was right under their noses. They were watching him from the Hokage Building, hundreds of miles away, like he was watching a monkey show.
This is comprehensive industrial monitoring.
The infiltration and concealment that traditional ninjas were so proud of have been turned into a laughing stock in the sewers.
A cold, icy voice echoed from deep within the woods.
It's not a broadcast. It's a real person's voice. A little disgusted.
" The Lord Hokage is asking you a question."
Kagami Uchiha emerged from behind a large black pine tree.
A red Jōkan armband was strapped to his right arm. The armband stretched straight in the night wind.
He was carrying a vibrating straight knife connected to an electrical cord. The black blade did not reflect light.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Before Hiruzen reply...
More than a dozen high-powered searchlights lit up simultaneously on tree trunks and in the grass from all directions.
Blinding white light, like countless tangible swords, pierced Hiruzen's body.
The light illuminated this small open space, making it brighter than the midday sun.
Hiruzen was startled by the bright light and abruptly closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face.
He quickly raised his hands, which were covered in blood blisters, to shield his eyes and peer through his fingers.
"Crack. Crack."
A series of rapid, grinding sounds of mechanical gears echoed from the surrounding grass.
It wasn't footsteps. It was the sound of heavy metal hitting the muddy ground.
The withered grass was flattened in large swaths.
Four mechanical war dogs, each about half a person's height, emerged, stepping through the frosty weeds.
This is a modified product made by Orochimaru using the Ninja Dog of the Inuzuka Clan.
Its entire body was covered in dark blue-black steel armor. Its claws were sharp alloy steel spikes. Sparks flew when it stepped on stones.
The mechanical dog's mouth split open, revealing gleaming metal fangs.
The hydraulic rod on the chin hissed and emitted a plume of white mist.
The red electronic eye was fixed on Hiruzen, who was sitting on the ground.
A deep, electronic roar emanated from the generator in the throat.
"Roar--"
Immediately afterwards.
Dozens of Uchiha Jōkan dressed in short black shirts emerged from all around the woods.
They completely surrounded the open space.
"Swish. Swish."
The sound of swords being drawn filled the air.
Dozens of straight knives were pointed at the man on the ground, who looked like a mud-covered monkey.
Hiruzen lowered his hand, which was blocking the light.
He stared blankly at the encirclement of steel and Sharingan surrounding him.