"Hongdou, if I leave this village one day, will you go with me?"

In the laboratory, Orochimaru asked his disciple Anko with a smile while mixing the potion.

"Leave the village? Teacher Orochimaru, do you want to travel again?"

Anko raised her head and looked at her teacher Orochimaru with pure eyes.

Orochimaru didn't speak, he just smiled and touched Anko's little head.

This disciple is so innocent and cute.

But, he was tired of staying in this village.

Here, he couldn't find what he wanted.

No, it is what I am looking for. It originally meant saying goodbye to this village.

He has felt it since the end of the Rain Kingdom War more than three years ago.

The rotation speed of the windmill in this village has become very slow and boring.

Human beings are ultimately bound by ‘time’.

This is true no matter how powerful a ninja is.

"If Orochimaru-sensei is going to travel, take me with you, just like Tsunade-sama took Shizune with you."

Anko murmured in an envious tone.

Orochimaru continued to stroke Anko's little head, but the direction of his thoughts was no longer here.

Because his trip will be a very long and distant one.

Say goodbye to everything here.

◎

"Missing case..."

Taking the information obtained from the ANBU, Kakashi took it home and studied it carefully. It was already night time.

The first disappearance occurred in early February, almost mid-February.

A couple located in the commercial street in the west of Konoha disappeared mysteriously. At first, the ANBU did not alert the ANBU, but the Uchiha security team conducted an investigation. However, after three days of searching with no results, another disappearance occurred.

The case made the Uchiha security team aware of the problem.

The most critical thing is the second disappearance case. The missing person is not an ordinary person, but a genin in the village.

In view of the seriousness of the matter, after discussions between the security team and the ANBU, the matter was officially transferred to the ANBU for inspection, supplemented by the search by the security team.

There was nothing gained during the period, but in the end due to insufficient evidence, even if the suspects were narrowed down to a minimum, immediate arrest action could not be taken.

After all, the targeted suspect has a high status in the village, so it would not be good to alert the enemy.

There are two suspects, Orochimaru, one of the three ninjas, and Shimura Danzo, the leader of the group.

Compared to the former, the latter, as the root leader, is more questionable.

In the ANBU files, Shimura Danzo can be said to be full of misdeeds.

Kakashi looked thoughtful after reading all the information he brought from the ANBU.

From early February to April now, there have been a total of twenty-one missing persons, ranging from civilians to ninjas.

It can be said that the frequency is quite high.

I don’t know where these people who were kidnapped went, nor what the intentions of those who kidnapped them were.

Because in Kakashi's thinking, neither Orochimaru nor Danzo had a reason to do this.

Although Orochimaru was involved in human experimentation, he would never experiment on ninjas from his own village. With the power and channels Orochimaru had at his disposal, it was really easy to obtain experimental subjects from outside.

The same goes for Danzo.

Once this kind of thing is exposed, even the Third Hokage will not be able to cover it up.

It is enough to ruin anyone's reputation. No matter how high their position is, they cannot escape jail.

However, if it weren't for these two people... the ANBU really couldn't guess who else would have such great energy and motivation to kidnap those missing persons.

The ANBU has not locked on the real target for a long time because every time the ANBU takes action, the opponent will erase the traces in advance. It is obvious that the opponent has planted a nail in the ANBU.

The ‘nail’ in the ANBU is sending a message to someone.

Could it be one of Orochimaru and Danzo? Or were both of them involved? Or was it a third party? Kakashi's mind was filled with such doubts.

If you want to start an investigation, it will be very difficult.

Even the ANBU has been infiltrated, and every move made by the ANBU is likely to be obtained by the enemy in the dark.

When Kakashi was thinking hard about where to start the investigation, his body stiffened suddenly, his figure jumped back, and he subconsciously pulled out the White Fang dagger behind him, which fired intense lightning, illuminating the dim environment in the house.

Bright.

In front of the window of the room, a figure stood upright.

His black hair is smooth and straight, his handsome and feminine pale face, purple eye shadow and snake-like golden vertical pupils give him a chilling and sinister atmosphere.

Wearing Konoha's Jounin uniform and Konoha's ninja forehead protector on his forehead.

Seeing Kakashi's alert movements, the sinister smile on his face grew wider and wider.

"Your intuition is really getting more and more sensitive, Kakashi."

"Lord Orochimaru."

After Kakashi saw that it was Orochimaru, he breathed a sigh of relief and put down the White Fang dagger in his hand, and the lightning on it disappeared.

"I'm glad you can remember me."

"Yes." Kakashi was a little unsure about Orochimaru's intention of coming to him at this time, so he asked in a tentative tone: "I don't know if Orochimaru-sama comes in person this time. What important tasks do you want to entrust to me?"

?"

The communication between Orochimaru and himself is usually through code transmission.

Face-to-face information transfer like this is rare.

Once this happens, it means Orochimaru will make big moves.

Orochimaru did not answer, but walked to the desk and picked up the information there.

All of them contained information about the recent disappearances in Konoha, and Orochimaru scanned them one by one.

As the reading progressed, the smile on the corner of Orochimaru's mouth became more and more obvious, with an evil quality.

"Kakashi, who do you think I am?"

Orochimaru suddenly asked such a question.

what kind of person?

Kakashi thought about it and then replied: "Master Orochimaru is a talented ninja."

Orochimaru's talent is not only reflected in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, but also in his extremely in-depth study and analysis of the concept of jutsu, and he has found his own path.

Among the three ninjas, who is the most dangerous? Kakashi believes that this person is Orochimaru.

He is a terrible person who can do everything to perfection.

"Yeah?"

Orochimaru didn't make any comments, he just looked at Kakashi's serious attitude, and the look on his face became dazed.

Perhaps he was recalling a familiar old friend, and there was a look of nostalgia in his eyes.

"You and Sakumo don't look alike, but your blade will be more terrifying than Sakumo's blade..."

Orochimaru came to his senses and said these words.

Kakashi didn't say a word.

Orochimaru generally means that his blade is uncontrollable.

Because his father's knife can be controlled, there is no danger.

The sword in his hand is the same sword as the White Fang dagger in his father Sakumo's hand, but they represent different meanings, protect different things, and pursue completely different goals.

"You have to risk your life to save that idiot Jiraiya, just to get closer to Sarutobi-sensei... This is the scariest thing about you."

Orochimaru sighed with emotion, speaking from the bottom of his heart.

For the sake of revenge, he would even risk his own life. Because of this, Orochimaru felt that the blade in Kakashi's hand would be much scarier than Sakumo's.

Kakashi and Orochimaru looked into each other's eyes, but still didn't speak.

Orochimaru shifted his gaze, turned to look at the dark night outside the window, and murmured: "Speaking of which, I also found a brand new path."

"A whole new road?"

Does it mean ninjutsu?

Kakashi knew how obsessed Orochimaru was with ninjutsu.
To be continued...