No one knew how much time had passed. When the scar-faced ninja woke from his faint, sharp pain tore through his wrists, twisting his face, and he finally saw four figures standing before him. His eyes cleared as he took them in.
"Damn it. You Root are not ninja from Amegakure at all." He lay on the ground, lifted his head, and shouted, "Whoever you are, let me go now. The patrol will find this place soon."
He was tightly bound from head to toe, ropes wrapped so hard that he could only writhe like an insect. No matter how much he struggled, it was useless, and his voice could not reach outside at all. He cursed in his heart, wondering why no one had come to save him after such a big disturbance.
"So many people saw what happened," he thought in panic. "Did no one report it or raise the alarm?"
"Stop yelling." Kakashi Hatake picked at his ear and stared at the scar-faced ninja with a pair of dead fish eyes, then explained kindly, "We walked out openly, and the tavern owner even escorted us. No one is coming to save you."
When he heard that, even Kakashi Hatake could not help smiling a little, finding the situation absurd. The usually stiff-faced Tenzo also wore a strange expression as he glanced at the silent Ryuji Hyuga beside him. The scar-faced ninja froze, staring blankly ahead.
"What?" he blurted out. "Are those people insane, not telling the patrol and just watching you take me away?"
Kakashi Hatake did not bother to explain and said flatly, "Talk. Tell us everything you know."
"Dream on," the scar-faced ninja growled. "I will never betray…"
"Let me handle it." Before he could finish, Ryuji Hyuga stepped forward with a gentle smile and said, "Relax. I will crush your bones one by one, just like before, until you say what we want to hear."
At those words, Kakashi Hatake and the other two exchanged glances and looked at the scar-faced ninja with pity. Without a word, they turned and left, giving the space to the two of them. The smile on Ryuji Hyuga's face made the captive shiver, his face turning pale as he shrank backward.
"You, do not come closer. You…" His scream cut off into a long howl of pain.
After some time, the three waiting outside heard the shrill screams fade away until nothing remained but a dreadful silence. The sound ended with a faint kacha. Soon after, Ryuji Hyuga walked out of the abandoned house.
He met their searching gazes, nodded once, and said, "He is completely drained." The interrogation had gone smoothly, and under his methods, the scar-faced ninja spilled everything he knew. He talked about the situation in Amegakure, Hanzo's current state, the stationed personnel, and the standard weapons, pouring it all out without holding back.
By the end, he even confessed to spying on a neighbor girl bathing when he was young. If Ryuji Hyuga had not stopped, he might have gone on to confess his wife's private tastes. Kakashi Hatake pushed the door open to take a look inside.
The scar-faced ninja's body was crushed beyond recognition, bones shattered until he was little more than a lump of ruined flesh. Kakashi Hatake's expression did not change at all, since ninja were never kind people and ANBU was no humanitarian group. He set the place on fire and burned everything clean.
"Now we can be sure," Kakashi Hatake said after sorting through the information, "that Amegakure has indeed changed as we guess, and Hanzo's personality has shifted as well. The root cause is that organization called Akatsuki." He had quickly grasped the key point, which was Akatsuki.
Unfortunately, those who knew about it kept silent, and even Hanzo avoided the topic. The scar-faced ninja and the other three Amegakure Ninja knew very little. That made the picture incomplete.
"Is not the focus of this mission to investigate Hanzo and Amegakure's remaining strength?" Tenzo asked.
"Yes," Kakashi Hatake replied calmly. "But only if the threats within Land of Rain are limited to Hanzo and Amegakure." The real goal was to determine how much of a threat Land of Rain still posed to Konoha.
As the war expanded, Sunagakure and Iwagakure were likely to intervene. If that happened, Land of Rain would become the shortest route for two major villages to attack Land of Fire. Konoha had to understand the situation there before anyone else.
For ninja, intelligence was the most important thing. Just like Jiraiya's fight against the Six Paths of Pain controlled by Nagato, if Jiraiya had known their abilities and secrets, and if Nagato had not gone all out, the outcome might have been different. Another example was Hidan, whose technique was terrifying but had fatal flaws, since with proper intelligence even Shikamaru could kill him, while Asuma Sarutobi died because he did not know.
Because of that, in the Ninja World, there was never an absolute rule that a Genin could not defeat a Chunin, or that a Chunin could not defeat a Jonin. As long as one understood the enemy and gathered enough intelligence, it was possible to exploit weaknesses and plan accordingly. Even a Genin could kill a Jonin.
"So you think Akatsuki might interfere with Konoha in future wars?" Ryuji Hyuga asked suddenly.
When Kakashi Hatake nodded, another ninja frowned and said, "It is just a group chased around by Amegakure, with only a handful of remnants left. Is it worth this much concern?"
"I think Kakashi Hatake is right," Kakashi Hatake said, but before he could explain, Ryuji Hyuga spoke with a smile. "Hanzo's reputation is real, forged on the battlefield."
"Even if he is old, he should not be this timid." He continued, "If that Akatsuki could drive someone like Hanzo into such fear, then they are definitely not simple."
Hearing this, Tenzo and the other Konoha Ninja member thought it over and came to agree with Kakashi Hatake and Ryuji Hyuga. The reasoning fit too well to ignore.
"Then what do we do next?" Tenzo asked.
After a moment of thought, Kakashi Hatake said slowly, "Given Hanzo's current personality and situation, his attitude toward Konoha may no longer be as hostile as before. We can try to talk to him."
"While gathering intelligence on Akatsuki, we can offer to help him deal with this problem and seek an alliance. If it works, Land of Rain could later become a barrier for Konoha against Sunagakure and Iwagakure." He paused and added, "Of course, this only happens if Third Hokage agrees. We cannot act on our own."
Ryuji Hyuga nodded in agreement, but his gaze suddenly paused. A strange feeling rose in his mind, clear and sharp. The Scroll that Orochimaru had taken away had been activated.
That meant Orochimaru now met the conditions to open the Sealing Technique and could see what came after. Ryuji Hyuga's eyes flickered as he thought with a smile, "So he finally developed the Immortality Transfer. I have waited a long time, Orochimaru-sama. Do not disappoint me."
After all, he had left something interesting behind in that Scroll. Or rather, a lie. Or perhaps, a set of rules.
Ryuji Hyuga no longer limited himself to manifesting Ninjutsu or objects. He wanted to try planting underlying rules into the Ninja World. It was a vast deception, one that could make the entire Ninja World dance to it.
At the same time, at the border between Land of Grass and Land of Rain, inside a hidden experimental base in a cave, Orochimaru's pale face looked especially cold under the lights. Yet the madness and fervor on that face burned intensely.
"Finally, it is done. Immortality Transfer. I…" Before he could finish, he suddenly flicked out a snake tongue, and his voice changed into that of a woman as she mocked him, "Useless Orochimaru. Even if you develop a technique to change bodies, can you really give up this one that can use sage arts?"
"The more you gain in Ryuchi Cave, the higher the price you must pay," she hissed. "You will never escape this in your lifetime."
"Shut up," Orochimaru snapped as his voice changed again, his eyes filled with hatred. "Tayuyashimeji, one day I will devour your body and soul."
He turned toward the Scroll on the table. It was not accurate to say he walked over. He crawled instead.
At this moment, Orochimaru had lost both legs, replaced by a white snake tail. That day, to survive, he had made a deal with the White Snake Sage. This was the price he had to pay.
By merging with the body of Tayuyashimeji, one of the three great snake princesses of Ryuchi Cave, he gained the ability to use sage arts but could never escape their control. Even so, it was all worth it.
"Hiss." Orochimaru unconsciously flicked his tongue, his eyes burning as he looked at the Scroll in his hands. The contents he could never see before now unfolded easily with a light pull.
"As expected, only by mastering the soul and natural energy can one Remove the Sealing Technique behind the Scroll." His gaze grew even hotter as he scanned the next part, but after reading the first two lines, he froze.
"All beings die, yet their paths are not one. When the body perishes and the soul departs, it may scatter to the wind, return to the Six Paths' Pure Land, or fall into my Void Realm."
"The Void Realm is the resting place of souls, suspended between the living world and the Pure Land, forever covered by endless night."