Land of Fire.
Konoha.
Inside the Hokage's Office.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the room was somewhat elusive.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage, calmly smoked his cigarette.
Orochimaru stood below, silent and composed.
The two Hokage advisors sat beside Sarutobi, maintaining the atmosphere.
"You did well on this mission."
"Konoha will remember all you've done for the village."
"Orochimaru."
After a long pause, Mitarashi Anko slowly spoke.
As a Hokage advisor, she was in charge of organizing mission scrolls and evaluating and rewarding missions.
Before Orochimaru's arrival, Sarutobi had already given her a heads-up.
They also knew exactly what reward Orochimaru would receive.
However...
She narrowed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"Of course, about the deaths of Senju Yukika and Senju Shūshū..."
"They didn't die."
Below, upon hearing Anko's words, Orochimaru calmly retorted.
His two disciples were not dead!
They couldn't be dead!
"Of course, we don't rule out that possibility," said Tōkōtō Shōrin, another advisor, adding her input.
"But Orochimaru, according to the mission scroll, it's clear that after the Eight-Tails rampaged, Hidden Cloud Village was in chaos."
"At the same time, the entire Land of Lightning seemed to go on high alert."
"Although we don't know what caused the alert, whether it was the Eight-Tails or something else, you yourself said it was difficult to cross the Land of Lightning's security line to return to the Land of Fire."
"Even you almost couldn't make it back to the village."
She paused and sat upright. "Two newly graduated Genin, why were you so confident?"
"Just because of those two symbols of safety?"
"Don't be naïve."
Orochimaru opened his mouth but ultimately didn't say anything further.
The situation in the Land of Lightning was indeed unique. He didn't know exactly what happened to make the Raikage lose his mind and put the entire country on high alert.
Yes, the village had been attacked, suffering significant losses, but the Eight-Tails had been contained. Shouldn't they be consolidating defenses and reorganizing the village during wartime?
Why were they sending so many ninjas outside to seal off the country?
He had returned.
But it had come at a great cost. However, during his time in the Land of Lightning, he had discovered something else.
And that was something he hadn't mentioned to the higher-ups.
The Two-Tails...
Yukika-kun...
Did you do it?
Before returning, he had gone to that mountain peak to confirm the situation. When he discovered those two symbols, he sighed in relief.
But after returning to the village, Orochimaru couldn't find Yukika and Shūshū. He rushed to the Hokage's office to confirm the situation.
What surprised him was that the two advisors seemed to know something in advance, even declaring that Yukika was already dead!
This didn't make sense.
If there was any explanation, it was that this mission itself was flawed!
It seemed like he had been schemed against again.
The coldness in Orochimaru's eyes deepened, and the sense of belonging he once had to Konoha quickly faded away.
The village?
The teacher?
The higher-ups?
Each one more hypocritical than the last.
For the sake of that little bit of profit, they schemed against two children, willing to discard their faces!
If you're going to plot against my disciples, don't blame me for hiding the truth.
The cycle of fate continues...