Once Orochimaru realized he had achieved his goal, he immediately prepared to make a run for it. He quickly Hand Seals, then slammed his hand against the wall, instantly sinking his body into the ground.
Immediately afterward, the ground where Kōki was standing shook violently, and in the dim candlelight, fine golden sand began to fall from the stone ceiling.
Kōki understood that Orochimaru had planned this all along; the self-destruct trap at this base was a means to delay Orochimaru's pursuit.
However, to think that such methods can stop him is to underestimate him; those who attack him must pay the price.
Kōki swiftly Hand Seals and shouted, " Wood Release: Violent Tree Binding Burial Technique!"
Countless incredibly thick logs suddenly sprouted from the cracked ground, growing rapidly at a visible speed and reaching towards Orochimaru's location.
The tree's attack was faster than Orochimaru had anticipated, and in the blink of an eye it appeared in front of Orochimaru and bound him tightly.
Immediately afterward, the wood encasing Orochimaru contracted forcefully, and Orochimaru instantly felt an immense force strike his entire body, as if it were about to completely crush him.
With a "whoosh!" sound, Orochimaru spat out a mouthful of bright red blood.
Strangely, Orochimaru's expression, though pained, was not one of despair; he seemed completely unconcerned about being attacked by Wood Release.
Then I saw him clasp his hands together and shout, "Ho!"
Rumble-----
Suddenly, a violent explosion occurred, and endless Kakkō instantly engulfed Orochimaru and the trees surrounding him.
The powerful force spread to Kōki, who was not far away. Upon seeing Kōki, Yuki immediately tore a large hole in the base and escaped.
These explosions were precisely the source of Orochimaru's confidence, even though he was bound by Wood Release. He had already calculated the locations of the dozens of Explosive Tag he had planted in the base, intending to use them to extricate himself from his predicament.
At the same time, the powerful explosion could further destroy the base, preventing Kōki from having time to pursue him.
The next moment, under such a powerful bombardment, the base finally collapsed amidst Kakkō and roars. Countless pieces of rubble crashed to the ground, raising huge clouds of dust that slowly rose into the Forest of Death, mixed with the black smoke from the explosion of the Explosive Tag.
Such a huge commotion naturally alerted the Konoha ninjas. Although the explosion occurred in the most remote part of the Forest of Death, it was still not completely outside the Konoha territory. In addition, the powerful explosion made it impossible for the Konoha Ninja not to know about it.
A dazzling golden light flashed, and a figure with golden hair and wearing a red-patterned divine robe appeared beside Kōki, asking the pale-faced Kōki, " Kōki, what happened here?"
" Minato- senpai, Orochimaru attacked me." Kōki replied with a hint of anger after hearing the question.
Indeed, the fastest to arrive was none other than Minato Yellow Flash and now the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze. After sensing the considerable commotion in the Forest of Death, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to rush over immediately.
At first, Minato thought it was some kind of foreign invasion, but after hearing Kōki's reply, he was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized the seriousness of the situation.
If what Kōki said is true, then Konoha, which has just settled down, will once again be thrown into turmoil.
It's important to understand that Orochimaru is one of the Sannin and a direct disciple of the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. For someone of his status to attack Kōki, who is also an important figure in Konoha, is tantamount to betraying Konoha.
Moreover, Orochimaru was a hero of the Third Shinobi World War. For such a person to become missing-nin would be a huge blow to Konoha and could also reignite some bad ideas in other ninja villages that had already surrendered.
But now is not the time to think about these things; the most urgent task is to confirm that what Kōki said is true.
" Kōki, let's go back to the Hokage's office and discuss this with the Lord Third." Minato looked at Kōki with a serious expression, then pointed to the ruins of the base and said, "I'll have ninjas search these ruins to see if we can find any useful clues. Also, I'll send someone to Orochimaru's residence to check; hopefully, Orochimaru can still find him."
Kōki nodded after hearing Minato's arrangement. Then, under Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique, the two returned to the Hokage's office.
Upon returning to the Hokage's office, Minato went to invite Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya over, while simultaneously sending people to Orochimaru's residence and the previously collapsed base to search for useful clues.
Not long after, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Jiraiya walked into the Hokage's office with serious expressions.
Before Minato could speak, Jiraiya, who was more impatient, asked first, " Minato, what happened to Orochimaru?"
He was enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of Konoha and gathering material for his future novel, but when Minato someone to say that Orochimaru was in trouble, he couldn't even keep up with his research and came over immediately.
Orochimaru was his closest friend, and now that Orochimaru is in trouble, how could he possibly be in the mood for research?
Seeing Jiraiya's anxious expression, Minato gave a wry smile. He had no idea what was wrong with Orochimaru. He should ask Kōki, who was the one who had witnessed this moment firsthand.
" Jiraiya- sensei, you should ask Kōki about the specifics; he knows more about it."
Jiraiya hearing this, Jiraiya immediately turned to look at Kōki.
He was no stranger to Kōki, who was by Minato's side. After all, they had worked together on the battlefield to defeat Iwagakure, and he had felt ashamed of Kōki for having the Four-Tails Jinchūriki stolen by the Light Organization.
However, he couldn't understand what Orochimaru's affairs had to do with Kōki.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, seemed to remember something, glancing uneasily at Kōki before silently puffing on his pipe.
Seeing Jiraiya looking at him, Kōki spoke up, " Lord Jiraiya, Orochimaru invited me to his base in the Forest of Death today, saying he wanted to discuss my origins. But I didn't expect Orochimaru to have set a trap and suddenly attacked me while I wasn't paying attention. He wanted to take my body cells, and I was caught off guard, so he succeeded. After getting my cells, Orochimaru immediately activated the base's traps and fled."
When Kōki talked about this, he said Orochimaru Orochimaru, not threaten his life.
"Background issues? What background issues? And why would Orochimaru do this?" Jiraiya was confused by Kōki's explanation. What did Kōki's background have to do with Orochimaru?
Although he knew Orochimaru was interested in human bodies, he didn't believe Orochimaru would harm someone from his own village.
Of course, only Jiraiya himself knows whether he truly didn't believe it or simply didn't want to admit it.
In any Kōki certainly doesn't believe that Jiraiya was unaware of Orochimaru's changes. After all, he's the person who knows Orochimaru best; how could he not notice Orochimaru's transformation?
However, he didn't say anything, after Jiraiya quite a bit, and there was no need to shatter his illusions, was there?
He may not expose it, but others will.
This person was Jiraiya, the teacher of Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag on his pipe, his face bitter, and slowly said, " Jiraiya, Orochimaru has changed. You grew up with him, didn't you really know?"
Upon hearing this, Jiraiya fell silent. Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi had said, he and Orochimaru had grown up together since childhood; they weren't brothers, but their bond was stronger than that of brothers.
He had naturally noticed Orochimaru's changes, but he couldn't believe that Orochimaru would really betray Konoha, betray Teacher Sarutobi who had cared for him so much, and betray his brother who had grown up with him.
Seeing Jiraiya's expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed with shame.
"Sigh, it's all my fault. If I had noticed Orochimaru's abnormality sooner and brought him back to the right path, perhaps this wouldn't have happened."
Orochimaru displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, coupled with a serious and calm personality beyond his years, making him the pride of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
It was precisely because of this that, despite the countless efforts he poured into Orochimaru, when he discovered Orochimaru's greedy nature in his thirst for Ninjutsu, he not only did not stop him, but instead allowed Orochimaru to develop—no, it cannot be said that he allowed him, but rather that he indulged him.
Even the Konoha Ninja were not allowed to view it, so the Scroll of Seals was given to Orochimaru.
But he couldn't believe that even this couldn't satisfy Orochimaru's insatiable thirst for knowledge.
This made him somewhat regretful. At that time, he vaguely realized that he seemed to have done something wrong, so he began to restrict Orochimaru's absorption of Ninjutsu, hoping to change Orochimaru's ways.
However, he didn't expect that his actions would give Danzo an opportunity to successfully bring Orochimaru closer to him.
Then, Kōki's incident occurred.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi deeply regretted that if he had known about Orochimaru's abnormality earlier and intervened before Orochimaru cooperated with Danzo, he might have been able to bring his most promising disciple back to the right path.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's words Jiraiya urged, "Old man, what exactly is going on? What does it have to do with Kōki? Just tell me!"
"Actually, after Orochimaru joined Root, he was conducting human experiments for Danzo." Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe and exhaled heavily.
"At first, I didn't know what Orochimaru would do for Danzo after joining Danzo's Root, until one day I discovered that someone in Konoha was conducting human experiments."
You see, I had explicitly forbidden such experiments at the time, so after discovering this situation, I immediately sent people to investigate. As a result, they found a research base in a remote place, and there they found Kōki from that time.
After searching the research base, it was discovered that it was conducting human experiments using Wood Release, and Kōki was the only survivor of these experiments. Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at the calm-faced Kōki beside him and sighed again.
"And the person in charge of this human experiment was Orochimaru."
Because I was soft-hearted for a moment, I didn't pursue his crime.
Looking back now, I should have been more ruthless. Only by punishing Orochimaru could I have made him realize his mistakes and prevented this from happening.
Jiraiya looked surprised after hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's account.
He originally thought that Kōki was a member of the Senju Clan who had gone into hiding and had unexpectedly awakened Wood Release. He never expected that Kōki was actually an experimental subject of Orochimaru's Wood Release experiment.
On the other side, Minato also looked at Kōki with surprise, he hadn't expected Kōki's background to be so complicated.
"So you know why Orochimaru targeted Kōki, right? First, because he discovered Kōki's identity as a test subject in his past human experiments; second, because he wanted to uncover the secret of Kōki's awakened Wood Release; and third, probably because he failed to become Hokage Position. If he had Hokage, he probably wouldn't have done something so extreme."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was not entirely unaware of Orochimaru's feelings. He knew Orochimaru's personality; if he had supported Orochimaru's ascension to the Hokage Position, Orochimaru certainly wouldn't have left Konoha. But he didn't.
He once truly regarded Orochimaru as his successor to the Hokage Position, but Orochimaru ultimately disappointed him, and now he has even abandoned his identity as a Konoha Ninja, leaving him with nothing but sighs and disappointment.
Jiraiya was speechless at this point, because he was partly responsible for Orochimaru's failure to be selected, as he chose to support his student Minato instead of Orochimaru, which probably disappointed Orochimaru.
With a guilty expression, Jiraiya said, "Old man, and Minato, I want to bring Orochimaru back. He shouldn't have become missing-nin."
But before he could finish speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi retorted, " Jiraiya, you know Orochimaru's character. Since he's done such a thing, he definitely won't return to Konoha. And have you forgotten? Orochimaru has already committed crimes that Konoha Ninja absolutely cannot commit. He conducted human experiments, and now he's attacked his comrades. If we let Orochimaru come back, how can we face the lives lost at his hands?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's words instantly shattered Jiraiya's idea of bringing Orochimaru back.
Hiruzen Sarutobi is right. Orochimaru has done so many wrong things. If we just let him come back like this, how will the Konoha Ninja view him? More importantly, what will Kōki think?
neither knows.
You must understand that Konoha can do without Orochimaru, but it absolutely cannot do without Kōki. Kōki is an indispensable person for Konoha.
Minato, standing to the side, was also quite helpless about what had happened.
Keep in mind that he had only been Hokage for a short time when Sannin, one of the Orochimaru, defected, which was a huge blow to his reputation.
But now that he is the Hokage, he absolutely cannot tolerate such behavior and must make a statement.
Therefore, with the tacit approval of Jiraiya and Hiruzen Sarutobi, he issued a bounty on Orochimaru.
The next day, news of Orochimaru's defection spread throughout the Shinobi World, making him Orochimaru 'Konoha first S-rank missing-nin after the Third Shinobi World War.
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