Chapter 609: Search.
Later that day.
The sun began to slant westward, and the smell of gunpowder from the battle gradually dissipated.
The battle had ended, and this area was gradually returning to peace.
Suddenly, with a loud boom, a mound of dirt not far from the battlefield was blown open!
Dust filled the air, and two blurry figures slowly emerged from underground.
"Absolutely zero harvest!" an irritated voice sounded. "It was just a simple supply base; I even had my hopes up for a long time."
"It can't be helped. Those important bases definitely have more perfect defensive measures; they aren't that easy to find," another voice said helplessly.
As they spoke, the dust settled, and the two figures gradually became clear. They were none other than Sakura Uchiha and Sasuke.
The young girl taking the lead wore a gloomy expression, puffing up her cheeks while kicking a pebble out of boredom.
They had just defeated Orochimaru and thought they could press their advantage to pursue him, only to find out that the subsequent search operation was the real challenge. Orochimaru, belonging to the snake genus, loved to burrow into the ground. He frequently hid his bases dozens of meters underground and set up barriers, making them extremely well-hidden.
After this insidious man defected from Konoha, he had been able to roam freely and comfortably in the ninja world for so many years. He relied not on his Kage-level strength, nor on those few bizarre, unkillable snake-transformation secret jutsus, but rather on two unique skills—
First, being able to run.
Second, being able to hide.
After toiling for a whole afternoon, Sakura and Sasuke had shockingly only found three or four inconsequential small bases. They were all warehouses storing food, weapons, medicine, and instruments, holding little value.
They had also found an experimental base that exposed its location due to a riot breaking out upon the discovery of Orochimaru's disappearance. Unfortunately, by the time Sakura and Sasuke arrived, the riot was already over. A few ninjas fiercely loyal to Orochimaru had slaughtered the rioters, destroyed most of the data, and then breathed their last in front of the young girl.
Judging from the remaining traces, it should have been a laboratory used by Orochimaru for human experiments involving Kekkei Genkai transplantation. The experimental subjects included Ice Release, Macabre Bone Pulse, Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, and more, and there were even fragments of research regarding the Sharingan.
After seeing this, Sasuke's face turned livid.
In short, they were completely convinced and yielded to Orochimaru's ability to hide.
Walking out of the underground base, Sakura sighed: "We need sensory ninjas."
"We've already relayed the situation to the rear, but it will take time for the frontline command to send the nearest sensory ninjas over," Sasuke said calmly. He was no longer angry; in fact, he was mentally prepared after seeing Orochimaru's Sharingan earlier. "Before that, we can only search on our own."
Sakura Uchiha furrowed her elegant brows slightly, calculating the time needed for the intelligence transmission and for the supporters to arrive: "Who is the closest sensory ninja to us, aside from Hinata who is moving with the 14th Squad and Kakashi?" (Chapter 595)
"There probably aren't any others." The youth was also calculating this question in his mind. "Hinata isn't known for her speed. With her pace, it will probably be tomorrow before she can—"
He suddenly stopped talking.
Sakura Uchiha had already turned her head, looking toward a black dot rapidly enlarging on the horizon.
In the span of a few breaths, that black dot had flown above their heads. It turned out to be a giant eagle carrying a ninja, descending from the sky.
The newcomer flipped and jumped to the ground. He had a delicate face and was wearing a highly flamboyant crop-top outfit.
"Ninja ID 012420, Anbu ninja Sai, reporting for duty under orders to support Haruno Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha! This is the latest directive from Lady Tsunade."
Sai pulled out a scroll and spoke while half-kneeling.
Let us interject a brief explanation here: according to their agreement, Sakura Uchiha was currently operating under the name of the original, Haruno Sakura, to the outside world. (Chapter 586)
Sakura Uchiha took the scroll, unrolled it, and found only a few short lines written on it:
"Defeating and driving Orochimaru away is already sufficient. Orochimaru is a smart person, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to survive for so long in the cracks between Konoha and Akatsuki. This operation serves as a warning, so he will not choose a side easily, which achieves our goal.
Next, destroy Orochimaru's nearby bases as much as possible, and if you find anything of value, bring it back. Burn after reading. —Tsunade."
Sakura silently closed the scroll and burned it with a breath of fire.
She didn't entirely understand some of the logic within it, such as why Orochimaru wouldn't choose a side. This was related to her own life experience, and the original herself was not a person particularly sensitive to politics either.
Of course, she wasn't foolish enough to ask the other two boys.
"Long time no see, Sai!" The young girl turned her head, waving her hand to signal Sai to rise. She examined this ninja—who "she" was theoretically very familiar with, but was actually meeting for the first time—frowned, and said, "Your smile is very fake, don't you think? I told you that before." (Chapter 395 and Volume 14)
"Sorry," Sai forcefully rubbed his face. "It's not a fake smile, the wind in the sky was too cold and froze my face."
Sakura Uchiha: "..."
This was Sasuke's first time cooperating with Sai. He curiously examined the giant eagle on the ground a few times and asked, "You rode this over? Are you the only one, Hinata didn't come?"
"Are you talking about the 14th Squad? I wasn't heading in the same direction as them. Because my speed is fast, I rushed over first."
Noticing that both Sakura and Sasuke looked somewhat doubtful, he smiled—this time the smile was much more natural—and said:
"I am also a sensory ninja."
"A sensory ninja?"
The young girl raised her brow, surprised to find that even the original didn't know Sai actually had the identity of a sensory ninja.
Sasuke didn't have such preconceptions and was full of interest in Sai and his jutsu. He secretly observed that bizarre giant eagle with his Sharingan for a long time but surprisingly couldn't see through the trick. In fact, Sai's jutsu was an application of Yin-Yang Release, tailor-made for him by Root according to his characteristics and abilities. Its profundity was extraordinary, and it was the only one of its kind in all of Konoha, an advanced ninjutsu worthy of being passed down as a family heirloom; it certainly couldn't be deciphered just by glaring at it a few times with the Sharingan.
Sai smiled again.
Having left Root, he was no longer the emotionless mission machine of the past, and emotions were gradually being injected into his dried-up heart. This smile carried a bit of shyness and a bit of confidence, far more dazzling than the mission-oriented fake smiles of the past.
The guy didn't bother to explain. He directly pulled out a scroll, unrolled it on the ground, and then drew out a brush.
"Please watch."
With a grand sweep of his large brush, the brush tip moved rapidly. As his wrist flicked, a lifelike rat was drawn. He drew extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, he had splashed ink to create hundreds of rats, densely arranged on the paper.
"Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitating Drawing!"
A simple hand seal, yet it produced a highly magical effect. The rats on the paper suddenly leaped up, gained physical forms, and scattered in all directions.
"These rats can burrow and are even more capable than real rats. They can find bases hidden underground and can transmit intelligence back to me instantly."
The youth explained.
Sai did not avoid their curious gazes, but the Sharingan obviously couldn't copy this jutsu; it was out of its bounds. Sakura Uchiha, however, managed to somewhat understand the principles of the jutsu without activating her Sharingan. There were at least two difficult points in the jutsu: one was the creation via Yang Release, determining how a two-dimensional pattern transforms into a three-dimensional object, which in turn required the support of Yin Release; the other was using Yin Release to link spirits to transmit intelligence. This shared similarities with the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but while a Shadow Clone can only transmit information once upon dispersing, the rats could transmit information in real-time, representing a massive technological gap. As for imitating it further, she feared that even the original wouldn't dare claim she could do it if she were present.
In short, it was an incredibly wondrous jutsu.
"The area to be searched is very large. To improve efficiency, I'll draw as many as possible." As Sai buried his head in drawing and forming hand seals, beads of sweat quickly appeared on his forehead. He continued, "This will consume a massive amount of chakra, as well as mental and physical stamina, so I'll leave our subsequent safety and operations to you two."
"No problem, that's exactly what we excel at." The young girl nodded seriously in response.
Batch after batch of ink rats crawled off the paper and vanished into the fields.
Soon, intelligence began to pour in.
The first piece of intelligence came from right beneath their feet: the ink rats found a hidden secret door in the base Sakura and Sasuke had just searched. Behind the door lay a safe containing some cash and a small amount of gems and gold. The amount wasn't much, but it could be considered a pleasant surprise.
According to international convention, everyone present got a share, so the three split it equally.
Then, other bases were successively discovered. Through the perspective of the ink rats, Sai could see the situation inside those bases; those without much value were marked down for future investigation.
Just as the sun was about to set, Sai's ink rats suddenly discovered a suspicious base.
"Forty miles to the northwest, fifty meters underground, my ink rats found something!" Sai's spirits lifted, and he spoke rapidly.
"What did they find?" Sakura quickly asked.
"I don't know!" Sai closed his eyes, concentrating fully on sensing through the ink rat's perspective while speaking. "The ink rats can't get in, so they can't see anything. But this base is huge!"
Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a glance.
"There's a barrier!" Sasuke waved his hand forcefully and said excitedly, "This is our first time finding a base protected by a barrier. This is definitely a very important place!"
Sakura Uchiha suddenly stood up, her words brief and forceful:
"Move out!"
Half an hour later, inside the base discovered by the ink rats.
Sakura Uchiha precisely unraveled the barrier and opened the base door flawlessly.
This was an unattended experimental base. The interior had not been damaged; everything remained in the exact state as when its master had last left it.
With feelings of pleasant surprise, Sakura and Sasuke stepped into the base. The instant they turned on the lights, the joy on their faces vanished without a trace.
"Oh god..." the young girl said softly. "They... actually..."
Her voice was extremely soft, as if she were afraid of disturbing everything here.
Sasuke remained silent, his gaze extremely cold, so cold it could almost freeze the air.
Appearing before the two of them were rows of cylindrical nutrient tanks. Floating inside the amber liquid were bodies of flesh.
Some were infants, some were youths, and there were also young adults and middle-aged men. They all had their eyes open, floating lifelessly in the water.
Those pairs of lifeless eyes—some were black, but as they walked further in, the eyes were red, bearing tomoe. At first, it was a single tomoe, then moving forward, two tomoe, and then three tomoe.
Until the final few individuals, whose eye sockets were empty, completely devoid of eyes.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, his hands trembling.