In the forest, Orochimaru's past physical form was still moving among the trees, judging which one concealed the two figures.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru's consciousness had already moved ahead, approaching the innermost tree.
Experience told him that the two people were hiding behind that tree.
As he anticipated finally resolving years of unanswered questions, a wicked, satisfied smile spread across his face. His steps, buoyed by excitement, became almost lighthearted.
However, just as he neared the tree, a figure emerged from the dense undergrowth in the deeper, darker part of the forest.
He immediately noticed the shadowy form, and terror twisted his face into an involuntary grimace.
In his vision, it was a gaunt, ravenous figure.
This entity existed beyond life itself, predating Earth's evolution from single-celled organisms. It had descended to Earth eons ago.
Its form was difficult to discern. Orochimaru could make out hints of a "hound" in its warped features.
A long, hollow, tubular tongue flicked like a snake's, while its crouched wings lent it a bat-like aspect.
All the malice of the universe seemed concentrated in its emaciated, starving body. Even the most unspeakable entities Orochimaru had encountered paled in comparison to this being—this one surpassed them by magnitudes.
Its eye sockets, filled with green phosphorescent flames, locked onto him.
On its massive head, with faint canine characteristics, two rows of jagged, white fangs emitted a low, guttural growl.
This sound was one only Orochimaru, a traveler through time, could hear. And this figure was one that only violators of temporal laws could face.
The Hound of Tindalos!
They pursue their prey endlessly, like true hounds!
In a moment of soul-crushing terror, he lost all courage to face his fear or to investigate who hid behind the tree.
All he could do now was scream and flee like a headless chicken.
Even in his consciousness state, he could offer no resistance—but that didn't mean the Hound of Tindalos couldn't harm him.
On the contrary, the last remnants of reason in his mind warned him that if this horrifying entity caught him, it would devour his consciousness faster than it would consume a physical body.
He ran in the opposite direction, brushing past his ten-years-ago self.
The Orochimaru of a decade earlier had also faced terror here, although his foe at the time was merely a Demon Spider. But now, his future consciousness faced something far more dreadful.
In this timeline, Orochimaru's consciousness couldn't rely on the accidental flash of Kakashi's Chidori to save him, as it had ten years ago.
For the Hound of Tindalos only hunts those who should not exist in the current timeline. Only these individuals can see, hear, and feel the hound's overwhelming evil and terror.
Even as a disembodied consciousness, Orochimaru was no exception.
He sprinted across the grassland, screaming uncontrollably. But soon, his screams turned into hysterical laughter.
"Ah…"
"Ahahahaha!"
By now, Orochimaru's fear had overwhelmed his ability to control his expressions, rendering him completely unhinged.
Suddenly, the pursuing figure leapt into the night sky, riding the raging wind.
In this overwhelming madness, the Hound of Tindalos accelerated to an unimaginable speed.
Its skeletal, bat-like wings flapped once, propelling it to a supersonic velocity of 444.44 meters per second in the blink of an eye.
At such incredible velocity, the hound was upon Orochimaru in an instant.
Its claws, honed over millennia and thousands of corpses, swiftly hooked onto Orochimaru's shoulders. Like an eagle snatching prey from the ground, it seized his consciousness and ascended into the air.
The claws, devoid of flesh and belonging to this extradimensional demon hound, pierced through his shoulders, inflicting immense psychic pain.
Its previously low growls became fully audible, cutting through the roaring wind as it flew.
The Hound of Tindalos only needed to find a place to land—or even land immediately—and it would feast on its prize.
This prize was his consciousness, the totality of his spirit and soul.
Just as his mind teetered on the brink of oblivion, a sliver of rationality sparked within Orochimaru.
He quickly pulled out a blue pill from his mouth and swallowed it.
This was no ordinary pill; it was a temporal medicine—a form of the pill that existed only within consciousness.
By swallowing this pill, one could traverse time. For Orochimaru, taking its consciousness form would return him to his original timeline.
Now, he cared nothing for the purpose of his journey, nor would he dare to revisit it in the future.
Although the current time was also a reality—an existing past—he desperately hoped it was nothing more than a nightmare. The blue pill was his salvation, the key to waking up.
As a cool sensation spread through his stomach, his consciousness began to dissipate rapidly. Before the Hound of Tindalos could land its claws and fangs upon him, his form vanished without a trace.
---
Orochimaru suddenly bolted upright from the grass.
Though his soul had rejoined his body in an instant, the sheer terror he had accumulated left his body drenched in cold sweat.
A look of fear returned to his face, the sensation spreading as icy dread that seeped into every pore of his being.
For a long time, he sat motionless on the grass, staring blankly into the void, his expression hollow.
His mind began to process what had just transpired.
The fears that had gripped him moments ago now felt distant, like fragments of a dream from a faraway time.
After a long silence, he lowered his head and let out a dry chuckle.
"Heh."
"Hah... hahaha..."
"Hahahaha!"
For reasons unknown, he laughed.
Perhaps he was overwhelmed with relief at surviving, or maybe he found amusement in the hound's relentless pursuit. Whatever the reason, the laughter seemed to have some justification.
His laughter echoed through the forest, as if the trees themselves could share in his joy.
Suddenly, a thick white mist began to seep from the base of the trees without warning.
The mist appeared almost alive, shifting and swirling with a strange vitality.
Within it, a shape began to emerge from the source of the fog, writhing in impossible ways.
In that instant, as Orochimaru watched, the blood drained from his face once more. His eyes widened, and his expression turned ghostly pale as he stared at the expanding mist.
It seemed to be the head of a hound emerging.
It had broken through.
It was breaking through.
Its tongue was out.
It was… here.
At this moment, he didn't have time to gather his thoughts. Taking advantage of the fact that the Hound of Tindalos had not fully emerged from the thick white mist, he fled toward Konoha with all his might.
His consciousness had already returned to his body, enabling him to use ninjutsu to counter this demonic hound.
However, even so, he didn't consider fighting back at all.
The Hounds of Tindalos were beings that transcend the dimensions of reality. They originated from an angular space-time realm where death did not exist.
They were eternal, indestructible beings, and none of his abilities or jutsu would have any effect on such entities.
At this moment, the only thing he could do was run as fast and as far as he could before the hound's claws and fangs could clamp down on his throat.
At least he could move his grave a little further away.
Once the Hound of Tindalos unfurled the bat-like wings on its back, it achieved supersonic flight speed.
At such speeds, catching up to Orochimaru was merely a matter of moments. Even though he exerted himself to the limit using the Body Flicker, he still couldn't widen the gap between himself and the hound.
From the hound's dog-like head came a series of low growls and barks, sounding as though it was mocking and ridiculing his desperate escape.
Suddenly, the hound dove down, its sharp claws piercing through Orochimaru's shoulders in an instant.
"Ahh!"
Bang!
A hoarse cry and the sound of an explosive cloud of smoke happened almost simultaneously. When the hound lowered its head again, it saw that the "violator of the laws of space-time" in its claws had turned into a wooden log.
At the critical moment, he had used the Substitution Jutsu to narrowly escape the hound's attack.
But there was no time to relax.
The Hounds of Tindalos were relentless demons of death that would never stop chasing their prey until they tore out their throats.
They do not understand giving up. They will forever pursue their target.
The hound quickly caught up to him again, diving once more and hooking him with its claws.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Bang!
He evaded the attack once more, causing the hound's claws to strike empty air again.
However, before he could catch his breath, the hound's relentless dive attacks continued to come one after another.
"Earth Style: Earth Clone!"
"Water Style: Water Clone!"
"Lightning Style: Lightning Clone!"
"Body Fluid Shedding!"
Orochimaru's extensive arsenal of escape techniques caused the Hound of Tindalos's attacks to fail repeatedly. Each time it caught something, it was either an Earth Clone, a Water Clone, a Lightning Clone, or a skin shed by Orochimaru.
This completely enraged the Hound of Tindalos. Its ordinary growls turned into furious roars.
Yet, despite all of his efforts, he could not shake off the hound.
The Hound of Tindalos tracked its prey by scent, much like a regular hound, which is why these creatures from the city of Tindalos are called Hounds of Tindalos.
However, this scent is not the ordinary physical kind; it is the scent of the soul.
No matter how much time or space separates it, the Hound of Tindalos can track this soul scent with absolute precision.
Therefore, no matter how he altered his appearance or whose body he inhabited, he could not escape the hound's pursuit.
Fortunately, he had numerous escape methods. As long as his chakra didn't run out, the hound wouldn't be able to catch him.
---
Meanwhile, on the rooftops of Konoha, Hayate was leaping over one building after another, his tired body headed toward the Gekkō Dojo after completing his mission.
These past few days, Danzō had assigned him a secret mission: to monitor the Suna team participating in the Chunin Exams, especially Baki.
Baki was a highly skilled jonin from Suna. According to the intelligence, he was deeply trusted by successive Hokages and held a highly important position within Suna.
This time, he was participating in the Chunin Exams as the supervising jonin for Gaara's team.
Danzō believed that if Suna intended to make any moves during the Chunin Exams, Baki would undoubtedly be involved.
For days, Hayate had been secretly following Baki, but so far, he hadn't observed anything unusual in his behavior.
Tonight was no exception. He continued his surveillance until late into the night, only leaving two hours after the lights in Baki's room went out.
The long nights of vigilance had deepened his already prominent dark circles. Exhausted, he now wanted nothing more than to get home and rest.
However, as he moved through the silent, deserted streets, he suddenly heard the sound of rapid footsteps.
The running was unusually swift, mixed with the sounds of ninjutsu being cast and the distinctive rush of the Body Flicker.
Who could it be, this late at night?
Hayate didn't dare lower his guard. He immediately crouched low on the rooftop and activated the Transparency Jutsu, turning his body nearly invisible and erasing his presence almost entirely.
From the distant street, he spotted a figure.
The person was moving at an incredible speed, so fast that they were almost a blur.
Such speed was far beyond what ordinary ninja could achieve—certainly beyond his own abilities.
Peering closer, Hayate caught a glimpse of the person's face. Though he hesitated briefly before confirming his suspicion, once he did, there was no doubt left in his mind.
It was Orochimaru.
His face was twisted in fear and despair, his expression contorted in a way Hayate had never seen before. At first, this made him doubt his identification.
But after observing a little longer, Hayate was sure: this was Orochimaru, the S-rank missing-nin on Konoha's wanted list.
What was he doing in Konoha?
Confused, Hayate continued lying silently on the rooftop, watching Orochimaru's frantic escape.
The Sannin was still fleeing desperately, running from the Inuzuka clan's training grounds all the way to the streets of the village. Yet the Hound of Tindalos showed no signs of giving up the chase.
Meanwhile, his chakra was depleting rapidly. At this rate, he would inevitably fall victim to the hound's claws.
What to do? What to do!
Even someone as composed as he was beginning to panic, his movements growing erratic as his will faltered.
Suddenly, he sensed a faint presence.
Although it was weak, it didn't escape his keen senses.
Like a drowning man grasping at straws, his eyes widened, and he leaped onto the rooftop beside the street. A torrent of snakes poured from his sleeves, instantly pulling the still-transparent Hayate out of hiding.
Impossible! How could he see through my Transparency Jutsu so easily?!
Being discovered and captured in an instant, he was filled with disbelief.
But what happened next was even more shocking.
Without uttering a single word, Orochimaru flung Hayate into the air as though he were tossing a ball.
Hayate, now hurtling toward the Hound of Tindalos, could barely process what was happening. Orochimaru glanced briefly at the airborne Hayate, and for the first time, a faintly relieved smile appeared on his lips.
"Do me a favor."