"I'm going to keep going with my mission. I'll leave this to you!" Sasuke said.
"Got it."
Mitarashi Anko obeyed automatically at first. After a moment she snapped back: she was a special Jōnin, and Sasuke was still only a Chūnin. A Jōnin didn't take orders from a Chūnin — normally. But when she looked again, Sasuke was already gone. There was no one left to curse.
Anko shook her head. People with that kind of strength could force Orochimaru back. With that power, they deserved to give orders. The rank on a paper couldn't compete with the force of a fist. That was the ninja world — an old truth that never changed.
"All right. Continue the exam," she said. "And be careful. If you encounter Orochimaru again, send up the signal immediately. Don't hesitate. We don't know if he'll strike again."
Anko warned the Mist shinobi, told Sakura and the others to stay alert, then left. She had to report to the Third Hokage.
"Let's go finish at the central tower," the Mist shinobi said.Changjuro and Toyichiro nodded. Sakura and the others hurried away — the sudden fight had rattled them all. They didn't want to linger in the Forest of Death any longer.
Nearby, Naruto retracted a water mirror and blinked — the scene of Sakura and the others scattering with the Mist shinobi vanished. He watched Orochimaru's attack sequence, the capture of the Mist kids, the clash with Anko, and Sasuke's intervention unfold. He was furious.
"Why did you stop me back there? I wanted to beat Orochimaru to death and show him his place," Tsunade fumed, punching a tree until it cracked.
"If you'd done that, you'd have walked into a trap. Konoha can't afford a thousand days of vengeance; we need to hold a line at the right time. Let them gather — then we crush them at once. That's the optimal move," Naruto replied, eyes cold.
Besides, he added with a small smirk, Orochimaru had made some powerful enemies tonight. Looks like he'd earned himself a beating from others too.
Orochimaru fled into a thicket and halted. Suddenly a man in black wearing a Ox mask stepped out.
"You want Sasuke's eyes? You want his body?" the masked man said in a flat voice.
Orochimaru heard a name in his head: Uchiha Itachi. According to what he'd learned from Danzo, Itachi was the one who'd slaughtered the Uchiha clan — and yet here he was, alive. If this masked figure was Itachi, that changed everything.
"Since you covet the Uchiha eye so much, I'll give you mine," Orochimaru taunted. The masked man calmly plucked an eyeball from his own socket and held it out, blood and all.
Orochimaru froze, trapped by a fixation technique — a single glance had immobilized him. Illusions and paralysis locked him in place. He felt his limbs betray him. "Impossible… Uchiha's Sharingan… even I'm trapped," he muttered, sweating.
The Ox's hand spun; blood still clung to it. Orochimaru pressed a hand to his forehead, clutching his arm — it was broken, cold sweat soaking his robes. He dared not meet the masked man's eyes.
"Too greedy, Orochimaru," the masked man said. His kunai rose slowly and pointed at Orochimaru's brow. A quiet killing intent hummed off him. He had watched the fight with Sasuke and how greed had lit Orochimaru's eyes. It made the masked man want to kill him.
"If Sasuke learned the truth — that Itachi was the real killer of the Uchiha — how would he take it?" the masked man mused, voice low. "What a delicious thing that would be."
Orochimaru laughed oddly. Suddenly he exploded into white smoke, breaking free of the fixation and leaving behind a severed hand as evidence that he'd been wounded. The broken arm on the ground was the only proof he'd been hurt.
"Uchiha Itachi," Orochimaru called after the masked figure, "I told Sasuke where Danzo hides. He'll find out; he'll hear the truth from Danzo's mouth. Imagine what that will do."
"Can't wait," the masked man answered. He burned the severed hand to ash and turned away. For a fleeting second he'd considered killing Orochimaru outright, but decided not to. Orochimaru still had uses for the organization. Today he would be spared.
Word of Orochimaru's appearance spread fast and reached Sarutobi Hiruzen. He stiffened when he heard it.
"Really? He's here?" Hiruzen asked.
Hiruzen's face tightened. Danzo and Orochimaru — two old colleagues and disciples — plotting Konoha's fall? For decades he had tried to smooth over strife, to write off old grievances for the village's sake. But now Orochimaru had actually shown up. Hiruzen's patience wore thin.
"Raise the village alert. Tighten the inside and keep watch on the outside. Anbu will investigate any abnormalities quietly — do not let a single clue slip," Hiruzen ordered. "Keep the Chūnin exams going. Let's see who dares to threaten Konoha. No personal relationship is bigger than the village."
Once again the old leader showed the resolve and ruthlessness of a veteran shinobi: Konoha's safety came first, above any past friendships or debts.
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