"Orochimaru, go sound him out."
The Third Hokage gave the order.
He did so without the slightest hesitation, pushing his most valued disciple forward as a probing piece on the board. Even Shisui could not help showing a flicker of surprise on his face. Though young, Shisui's experience was deep enough for him to understand just how dangerous the role of a vanguard truly was.
To put it bluntly,
When facing an enemy shrouded in unknowns, it was often necessary to use a sacrifice to peel away those mysteries. And the vanguard was precisely that "sacrifice."
Assignments like this were usually handled either by sending shadow clones or by drawing lots. If the on-site commander personally selected someone… then that person would almost certainly be the one the commander liked least. During battles against Kirigakure, the Uchiha had done this sort of thing more than once.
Not to mention anyone else—
Even Shisui himself had been assigned more than once to deal with Kiri ninja when intelligence was lacking.
This time,
Because the perpetrator was also an Uchiha, Shisui had honestly prepared himself to be the first to rush forward and fight. Yet he never expected the Third Hokage to choose Orochimaru instead…
That was the Third Hokage's most beloved disciple!
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Orochimaru curled his lips into a smile. There was no fear on his face, only barely restrained excitement.
He acknowledged the order at once.
Then—
He stomped down hard.
The giant serpent beneath him immediately raised its head, flicking out its long tongue as it surged forward at increased speed toward the purple-black Susanoo. At the same time, everyone else standing atop the serpent leapt away. Shisui was carried by Minato and appeared on the branch of a nearby tree.
"Shisui, what are you spacing out for?"
Minato looked at him and asked.
Since it was Minato who had recommended Shisui for this operation, and because he had already noticed during earlier interactions that this Uchiha prodigy was unlike most of his clansmen—exceptionally intelligent, kind-hearted, and humble—
And since no matter how talented he was, Shisui was still, by build alone, a boy who had yet to fully grow—
Minato could not help but feel a bit protective toward him.
"…Minato-senpai, I thought the task of probing this unidentified Uchiha would fall to me."
After hesitating for a moment, Shisui quietly explained why he had been lost in thought.
He was not the type to say just anything to anyone.
It depended on the person.
And in his eyes, Namikaze Minato was a senior worthy of trust and closeness—someone with whom certain thoughts… could be shared.
"Why would you think that?" Minato asked in surprise.
With both himself and Orochimaru present, and with the Hokage also bringing along a large number of ANBU elites, there was no way it would be Shisui's turn to take on the role of vanguard. Just what kind of logic was this kid running on?
"Uh… because it's always been like that," Shisui replied blankly, almost reflexively.
"…Orochimaru-senpai is very strong, especially when it comes to staying alive—his methods are nothing short of miraculous. Leaving the task of testing the enemy's depth to him poses no problem at all."
Minato fell silent for a second before calmly offering his explanation.
"So that's how it is…"
Shisui murmured.
His gaze drifted toward the giant serpent charging the purple-black Susanoo, and the lone figure standing atop its head.
As for Minato—
His heart was far from calm.
During the Third Great Ninja War, he had mainly fought against Kumogakure and Iwagakure. Aside from a few individuals like Obito, most of the Uchiha clan had been dispatched to the eastern battlefield to fight Kirigakure. As a result, Minato had rarely fought side by side with the Uchiha and knew little about how they were treated on that front.
Hearing Shisui's words now, he felt a sharp jolt in his heart.
Perhaps… the conflict between the Uchiha clan and the village was not entirely the Uchiha's fault. The village's actions, frankly speaking, did not seem aimed at mending the rift between the clan and the village at all. Instead, they felt more like fuel being poured on the fire, constantly widening the divide and intensifying the conflict.
Minato was extremely intelligent.
He was simply kind-hearted, unwilling to assume the worst of things.
But that did not mean he could not see it. Now that Shisui's words had pierced that obscuring layer of window paper, countless memories immediately surfaced—past remarks and actions by the Hokage, the attitudes of the two elder advisors whenever the Uchiha were mentioned, even Jiraiya's tendency to consciously or unconsciously avoid contact with the Uchiha clan…
All of it made Minato acutely realize, in this moment, that the Uchiha clan's current state of isolation and exclusion was by no means caused solely by the clan itself.
"…This isn't right,"
Minato murmured, staring at the purple-black Susanoo in the distance.
"What isn't?"
Shisui turned back and asked curiously.
"…Just something on my mind."
Minato shook his head, choosing not to voice his thoughts. With an unchanged expression, he said to Shisui,
"Shisui, let's move in closer. Be ready to support Orochimaru-senpai at any moment."
At this moment,
The giant serpent had already reached the Susanoo. It opened its massive jaws and bit down savagely toward the purple-black construct.
However—
In the very next instant,
The purple-black Susanoo automatically collapsed and vanished.
The serpent bit into empty air.
Hatoha's figure dropped to the ground below, and then—right before everyone's eyes—he twisted his body and plunged straight into the earth. At the exact moment his form disappeared, all of the sensory-type ninja simultaneously lost their perception of him.
"…Did he escape?"
Orochimaru frowned, a trace of irritation and frustration appearing on his face.
He leapt down from the serpent's head,
Rapidly formed hand seals,
And likewise used an Earth Release burrowing technique to dive underground.
In truth, he was not the only one who attempted to pursue Hatoha. Several ANBU behind the Third Hokage also employed extremely refined Earth Release techniques and followed him beneath the surface. Unfortunately, no matter how they searched underground, they could not find even a trace of Hatoha.
To be precise, they discovered not the slightest clue of the unidentified Uchiha.
It was as though he had simply evaporated beneath the earth.
Before long, Orochimaru and the ANBU emerged one after another. No words were needed—one look at Orochimaru's darkened expression was enough to know that the unidentified Uchiha had vanished completely, without leaving a single shadow behind.
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