The next day, afternoon, in the Root's Laboratory in Konoha Village.
"!"
Orochimaru, with a calm expression, was dissecting an experimental subject when he suddenly sensed something and looked down.
Several small shadows appeared beneath the shadowless lamp, surrounding him.
Nara? His first thought was that the village had discovered his Root-led research, but he dismissed the idea.
Knowing the old man, he wouldn't send an Ino-Shika-Cho team to deal with him after learning about the research he was doing for Danzo and Root. More likely, he would send Anbu to investigate and then come himself.
"Ka~ creak." A black shadow standing up pushed open the door, the lock of the laboratory's iron door twisting like putty.
The shadow placed a note on the ground and then dissolved into countless black liquid droplets, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
Such speed and strength, is it some kind of experimental subject, or a creation of jutsu? The note says, 'If you want to know who you are, come to the Seventh Training Ground.' An invitation?
Orochimaru's face showed an expression of inquiry as a snake slithered from his sleeve to the ground, wrapping itself around the note.
The note and the shadow had no scent, no Chakra reaction, and the handwriting was completely unfamiliar, like a stranger? Those shadows didn't seem to leave, but rather burrowed into my shadow. Looks like they've got me pegged.
His expression didn't change much, but he was very vigilant inside. However, he couldn't think of a way to counter it for the time being.
Using Sealing Jutsu or Barriers might offend the mysterious person, but going to the appointment without doing anything seemed too dangerous.
Should I notify Danzo?
Orochimaru pondered, his body already moving naturally, and an excited smile appeared on his face.
The unknown was fascinating, and more importantly, he couldn't refuse the words on the note.
In the future, he would leave Konoha with Yakushi Kabuto and show his secret Base to him first because they were the same kind of person in a sense.
Not knowing who he really was.
His parents were killed by the village, but the Hokage cultivated him into talent. A ninja's life was full of killing and emptiness. Apart from missions, who was he? Aimlessly seeking the unknown, he became a famous monster in the village, feared and alienated by everyone. Eventually, he lost the competition for the Hokage position to his junior, the Fourth Hokage, and joined Root at Shimura Danzo's invitation, becoming the Root of Konoha.
Thus, life became even more empty.
Doing all sorts of dark things, assassinating anyone harmful to the village, even if they were comrades sent by the village to go undercover, as long as they were deemed a potential threat to the village, they had to be killed without mercy.
Already in the shadows, he quickly fell into the abyss, becoming increasingly thirsty for everything.
No one could understand him.
Then, if he could just understand everything, perhaps he could know who he was.
The suddenly appearing mysterious person said something he couldn't refuse, whether it was an ambush or a conspiracy.
He, Orochimaru, the right-hand man of the Shadow of Shinobi, left the Laboratory in a daze, coming to the Seventh Training Ground as if possessed.
Seeing the small figure appear opposite him, he smiled, "You were the one who defeated Hyuga Hiashi's head of the clan last night."
Small stature, youthful appearance, and a secret technique to manipulate shadows.
"I am Lin Ke." Lin Ke stood on a rock, gazing at the slightly different Orochimaru.
At this time, Orochimaru had not gone further and further down the road of transforming himself after escaping Konoha Village, nor had he become paranoid after being defeated by Itachi, nor had he been influenced by the residual thoughts of others due to Living Corpse Reincarnation. Overall, he was still a chillingly 'normal' person (?).
Or rather, a normal snake?
Anyway, Lin Ke looked at Orochimaru in front of him and couldn't help but feel that Morino Ibiki was right to think of this guy as 'something wearing human skin'.
Pale skin, eyes that disregarded life, an emptiness that went deep into the bone, coupled with a smile that wasn't quite a smile at the corner of his mouth, he didn't seem like a person at all.
"Have we met before?" Orochimaru keenly noticed that the way the other person looked at him was too familiar, and asked with interest.
What an old-fashioned pick-up line.
Lin Ke subconsciously complained in his heart, and then said, "I'm here to recruit you."
"Recruit a member of Root?" Orochimaru asked leisurely.
The Shadow of Shinobi was known throughout the Ninja World, and Root was even more notorious. It wasn't until after the Uchiha clan was exterminated that Root was abolished and gradually faded from the sight of the new generation of ninjas.
At this time, the reputation was not so good.
In particular, the members of Root had all been marked with Cursed Seals, and the difficulty of getting rid of them was not small.
"So, will you join or not?" Lin Ke asked rhetorically without any sincerity.
Orochimaru didn't rush to refuse or agree, but said, "You said that if I want to know who I am, I should come over. So, can you give me the answer now?"
"No." Lin Ke said with confidence, that sentence was purely for fishing.
He had chatted with Orochimaru from the Main World before, who said that if he met himself from other worlds, he could use this sentence to hook up... um, this word is a bit strange, should it be seduce? Even someone as deep as Orochimaru paused for a moment, and then smiled even more happily.
Whether it was the other party understanding him, or someone understanding him and asking the other party to use this sentence to find him, it was a very interesting thing.
"So, what are we going to do?" he asked with a smile.
His voice didn't sound as greasy as it would in the future.
"Probably... um, save the world?" Lin Ke said casually, he didn't think he had the leadership ability to make Orochimaru obediently listen to him.
After hooking him out with a sentence from the person himself, he preferred coercion for the rest, and didn't care whether it was beneficial or not.
He didn't know if he would encounter Ōtsutsuki Kaguya ahead of time without being prepared when he returned to the Main World. He needed someone to provide logistics for him and explore various Naruto Worlds.
Orochimaru at this time was not difficult to deal with. He could directly capture him, force him to work, and summon Senju Tobirama from this world, and then this guy would be out of the picture.
"?"
[It seems he's not a normal person]
Orochimaru had the same thought as someone in the future, and then said, "Since it's about saving the world, then show me the power you have to save the world."
As he said that, he suddenly raised his hand, and several long snakes flew out.
"Don't take out such boring tricks." Lin Ke didn't even look at it, and the Shadow that had broken through its power stood up and punched.
"Boom!"
Under the air cannon, not only did the snakes turn into Bloody Mist, but even the place where Orochimaru was standing was blasted out with a deep gully.
"What a terrifying power."
Orochimaru rose from the ground in the distance, his expression much more serious, his hands flying, however, before the hand seals were completed, a Shadow kicked him into the air with a very standard Shadow Dance Leaf starting stance.
Next was a combo Kankuro was very familiar with, infinite floating.
[Even someone who isn't particularly strong in the Shadow dares to act tough in front of a Super Kage like me.]
Lin Ke crossed his arms, watching the Eight Gates Shadows ravage Orochimaru.
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 180+ fanfic and original translations or request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the RandomTranslator community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------