Chapter 214: Orochimaru
Time passed quickly. Dusk settled over the village as Minato Namikaze signed off on yet another document, stacked it neatly with the rest, and prepared to hand them to his assistant for distribution.
By habit, he would normally stay late at the office, working through the night if necessary. But not these days.
Whenever he thought of the reason, a smile unconsciously spread across his face.
Kushina was pregnant—over a month along now. Outwardly, little had changed, but the thought alone filled Minato with warmth and happiness.
He often felt that Kushina was the greatest gift fate had ever given him. From the very first moment he saw her, that vivid red had been seared into his heart.
Still smiling, he stood up from his desk—but the smile soon faded when his eyes fell on the first document in the stack. It was the proposal for reforming the Uchiha clan, stamped and denied.
Shaking his head, Minato looked out at the dimming sky. Tonight, he resolved, he would still try to carve out some time for himself.
---
Elsewhere, under the canopy of Konoha's endless forests, Uchiha Kei and Imai Kenta were moving through the trees. Kenta didn't look particularly happy about it.
Konoha had far too many forests—whether a natural blessing or a remnant of Hashirama's Wood Release techniques, no one could say. These woods provided the village with fertile land and abundant resources, but also offered perfect hiding places for those who needed them.
Kei had benefited from that fact. So had many others.
"What's wrong? Nervous?" Kei tilted his head with a faint smirk.
"The Third Hokage may have stepped down, but he's still shielding that man. And if you're right about the Fourth's current troubles… well, this lead could finally give us a chance to hit the old man where it hurts. You really want to pass that up?"
"Of course I want to hit him," Kenta muttered bitterly, throwing up his hands. "But this is Orochimaru we're talking about! We don't have solid intel, and you didn't even bring Ayaka along. It's just the two of us—who knows how many subordinates he might have hiding there?"
He was right. Their target tonight was none other than Orochimaru.
The lead had come earlier that afternoon. One of Uchiha Kawa's patrol units had stumbled across signs of activity deep in a secluded section of forest. They'd investigated, but all they found were discarded snake skins. With nothing concrete, they'd reported the finding and moved on.
Kawa hadn't thought much of it—until later, while handing over duties, he casually mentioned it to Kei.
At first, Kei also dismissed it. But when he cross-checked old reports left behind by Fugaku, and reviewed the investigation notes from Uchiha Tsubasa and Uchiha Chisai, something caught his attention.
Those two might have been failures in Kei's eyes, their careers effectively over, but they'd still done thorough work while in the Police Force. In fact, during their pursuit of Uchiha Yuu's case, they had also flagged this same patch of forest for further inspection—though circumstances had kept them from following through.
That coincidence made Kei reconsider.
Normally, he avoided any contact with Orochimaru. But if he could catch the Sannin red-handed, with undeniable evidence, then it might be worth the risk.
After all, Orochimaru wasn't just a former disciple of the Third Hokage. He was also known to have cooperated with Danzo. Bringing proof of his schemes to light could yield enormous gains.
Still, Kei wasn't reckless. Orochimaru's strength was a subject of endless debate.
Some accounts painted him as weaker than he appeared—after all, he had been injured by mere explosive tags before his "rebirth," and later subdued by a single genjutsu.
Yet no one could deny his reputation on the battlefield. He had even endured the Dead Demon Consuming Seal during the Chunin Exams arc, and in later years, he had survived Naruto's berserk transformations.
Most troubling of all was his breadth of knowledge. Orochimaru had delved into countless forbidden techniques—even Sage Arts, a field notoriously unstable and dangerous. And from what Kei could infer, he had already made considerable progress.
When he defected, he had even left Mitarashi Anko a "gift"—one laced with his very soul, and a key to tapping into senjutsu itself.
No, Kei couldn't afford to underestimate him. If it were the future, when Orochimaru had already burned through his ambitions and been defeated, that might be different. But right now? The risk was very real.
That was why Kei dragged Kenta along, whether he liked it or not. And as insurance, he had secretly ordered Uchiha Asahi to inform Fugaku. Kei was certain that the clan head would not ignore a chance to obtain hard evidence against Orochimaru.
Of course, he hadn't told Kenta any of that. If he had, the man would've been far less cooperative.
"Besides," Kei added lightly, "we don't even know if it's really Orochimaru's hideout."
Kenta watched Kei pressing forward without hesitation and could only sigh helplessly.
"Think about it," Kenta muttered. "Even if we fight together, we might not be a match for Orochimaru. And we don't even know if he has subordinates lurking around. If he does, we're dead men."
"Don't be so pessimistic," Kei replied calmly. "I trust your sensory skills. Besides…" He stopped abruptly, pointing toward a nearby thicket. "Isn't it already too late for doubts?"
Kenta followed his gaze. Nestled in the brush was a brown viper, triangular head raised, tongue flickering as it stared directly at them.
His scalp prickled. They had already been discovered. Worse yet, their conversation might have been overheard as well.
Kenta's heart sank. If that was the case, there was no walking away from this—and even if there was, Kei would never let him.
"Meeting you was the greatest misfortune of my life," Kenta muttered bitterly. "So what's the plan? And since we've been spotted, are you even sure we'll find what we came for?"
"I can't guarantee anything," Kei admitted with a shake of his head. "But if we don't at least try, I won't be satisfied. And deep down, neither will you."
Kenta fell silent, then gave a reluctant nod. He had to admit, turning back now would feel worse than moving forward empty-handed.
He wasn't exactly the noblest shinobi himself, but now he steeled his resolve. Still, he vowed to stay on guard—who knew if Kei might abandon him and slip away at the first sign of danger? If that happened, Kenta would make sure he struck first.
Unaware of Kenta's thoughts, Kei stepped closer to the snake, gazing down at it from above.
"Aren't you going to take us to your master?" Kei asked evenly. "Or should I find him myself?"
The snake flicked its tongue again, then slowly slithered forward, deeper into the forest.
Kei adjusted the cloak draped around him, his right hand already resting on the hilt of his blade beneath it. A mere snake wasn't the issue. Its master was.
He glanced back at Kenta, who closed his eyes briefly before opening them again, nodding once. His demeanor had shifted—cold, sharpened, like he was back on the battlefield. Not someone Kei would ever fully trust, but still, reliable enough as an ally in a fight. Kei knew how to handle him. After all, if he hadn't learned that much, Kenta and their other companion would have long since gotten the better of him in the past.
The snake led them deeper and deeper, until nearly ten minutes later, the forest thinned to reveal the entrance of what looked like an underground chamber.
And there, waiting at the threshold, stood a man.
He wore Konoha's standard green flak jacket, but that was the only thing ordinary about him. His long black hair framed a pale face marked by purple eyeshadow trailing from his eyelids to the sides of his nose. His eyes were vertical slits of gold, predatory and cold. A pair of magatama-shaped earrings dangled from his ears, their bluish hue only adding to the chill that radiated from his very presence.
Orochimaru. One of the Legendary Sannin.
"Well, well," Orochimaru hissed, tongue sliding across his lips. "So you found this place. What an honor. Two high-ranking officers of the Police Force—its commander and a squad leader—paying me a visit."
"If I said we were here because of Uchiha Yuu and Uchiha Shuu, what would you say?" Kei's voice was calm, eyes fixed on the man before him. Kenta, beside him, had already shut his eyes again, expanding his senses.
Orochimaru chuckled dismissively. "I'd say it wasn't me. Their fates had nothing to do with me." His grin widened. "And there's no need to keep searching. You'll find no one else here. At this stage, in my… circumstances, there's no one who would dare linger near me unless absolutely necessary."
"Is that so?" Kei nodded lightly. "Then I suppose I can relax. That makes things… simpler."
"Oh?" Orochimaru arched a brow. "It seems the good commander has something else in mind."
"Of course," Kei replied with a faint smile. "I just want to see if your laboratory holds anything of interest to me."