Chapter 444: The Tomb Chamber

Chapter 444: Chapter 444: The Tomb Chamber

Orochimaru’s terrifying strength had long since been etched into the heart of every Konoha shinobi. Even Kakashi, the most outstanding shinobi of his generation, couldn’t help but feel fear and trepidation when facing Orochimaru.

In the original timeline, during the Chunin Exams, Kakashi’s first reaction upon encountering Orochimaru had been to go all out and take him down with him. It was only after Orochimaru left that Kakashi suddenly realized just how foolish that thought had been.

But that didn’t mean Kurenai would simply surrender without a fight.

As a Konoha ANBU directly under the Hokage, she could accept defeat, but she could never accept cowardice born from the depths of her heart!

Forcing herself to meet Orochimaru’s gaze head-on, Kurenai demanded sharply, "What exactly is your purpose for infiltrating the village?!"

Orochimaru smiled. "Knowing too much won’t do you any good."

Kurenai snapped angrily, "Even if it’s you, you’ll pay a price for underestimating me!"

"Oh, really?" Orochimaru shrugged and asked indifferently, "And what kind of price would that be?"

"Isn’t he afraid I’ll call for help and alert the village’s experts?"

Seeing that Orochimaru seemingly had no intention of attacking immediately, Kurenai became increasingly suspicious.

Konoha was currently under extremely tight security, both inside and outside the village. As a member of the ANBU, Kurenai knew this better than almost anyone.

And it wasn’t merely the Third Hokage who was currently stationed in the village. Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, two of the Three Sannin, had also returned to Konoha.

No matter how powerful Orochimaru was, facing so many formidable opponents at once would undoubtedly leave him at a severe disadvantage.

That was precisely why Kurenai couldn’t understand why Orochimaru would take such a risk to infiltrate the village specifically to find her, yet show no urgency whatsoever in making his move.

"Wait...!"

Kurenai suddenly realized something.

It wasn’t that Orochimaru was in no hurry to make his move—

he had already made it.

But by the time she realized it, her mind had already begun to grow hazy.

After staggering a few steps, she collapsed to the floor and managed to say haltingly, "Poison... poison gas... You’re despicable..."

Orochimaru smiled as he walked over and crouched down in front of Kurenai.

"This is an improved version of my White Phosphorus Snake Poison Mist. How does it feel?"

Kurenai’s consciousness gradually faded.

Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Orochimaru, one of the Three Sannin, would actually resort to poison when dealing with a Special Jonin like her!

In truth, with Kurenai’s abilities, she shouldn’t have made such a mistake.

But Orochimaru’s identity as one of the Three Sannin placed far too much pressure on her. She had focused nearly all her vigilance on Orochimaru himself, causing her to overlook her surroundings.

Watching Orochimaru reach toward her, Kurenai struggled to keep her unbearably heavy eyelids open.

But in the end, unwilling as she was, her vision went black, and she fell unconscious...

...

After finding a clue through the mural, Shisui and Itachi immediately split up and began their search.

Both of them were members of the Uchiha clan and knew the locations of the clan’s various ruins like the backs of their hands. On top of that, both possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, granting them powers of observation far beyond those of ordinary shinobi.

Thus, in just a few short days, they had already searched seven or eight Uchiha cemetery ruins dating back to the Warring States Period.

Most of the remains of their Uchiha ancestors in these abandoned cemeteries had already been relocated by the clan.

The two had opened more than a dozen ancient tomb chambers one after another, yet found absolutely nothing.

But with the safety of the village at stake, neither of them had any intention of stopping.

And so, they continued their grave-robbing journey.

After opening yet another tomb chamber belonging to an Uchiha ancestor, Itachi stepped into the dark passageway with a solemn expression.

Although he had yet to see the coffin inside, merely from the length of the passage and the scale of the tomb chamber, Itachi could already tell that the Uchiha ancestor buried here had been no ordinary figure.

In all likelihood, this person had been one of the Uchiha clan’s former patriarchs.

Reaching the end of the passageway, a stone monument entered Itachi’s sight.

Itachi focused his gaze on the stone monument and immediately found it extremely familiar.

He seemed to have encountered an identical monument while exploring another ruin before. The only difference was that the center of that monument had an obvious circular recess, while the center of this one had a distinct protrusion.

Walking up to the monument, Itachi studied it briefly before reaching out and pressing down on the protrusion at its center.

As he applied pressure, a round stone disk suddenly fell free from the protruding section.

The size and shape of the disk seemed to correspond perfectly with the recess in the monument at the previous ruin!

Picking up the stone disk, Itachi swept his gaze around the area.

At the end of the passage, there was nothing except this stone monument. There was no tomb chamber, nor was there even the slightest trace of a coffin.

"So this is a false tomb!"

The clue provided by the stone disk was far too obvious. With Itachi’s intelligence, he naturally understood that the Uchiha ruin he had searched previously must still contain a secret he had failed to discover.

Thus, while sending a messenger crow to contact Shisui, he immediately rushed toward that ruin.

Shisui’s speed was unmatched throughout Konoha, second only to Hyuga Kagami while he was in Tenseigan Chakra Mode. So before Itachi could even arrive, Shisui had already reached the ruins ahead of him.

After meeting up with Itachi, the two entered the ruins together.

Arriving before the stone monument, Shisui asked, "This is the monument you were talking about?"

Itachi nodded.

He then took out the round stone disk he had obtained from the tomb passage and fitted it into the recess in the monument.

The disk was exactly the right size, fitting into the recess without the slightest gap.

The moment the stone disk was installed, Shisui and Itachi simultaneously sensed a fluctuation of chakra.

Immediately afterward, the ground began to tremble.

Rumble...

A hidden passage leading underground was revealed.

Shisui asked, "Did you feel that?"

Itachi nodded slightly. "Mm. It was an Uchiha genjutsu."

At the exact moment Itachi fitted the stone disk into the recess, a sealing formula concealed within the monument had immediately triggered a genjutsu.

However, such a genjutsu naturally posed no difficulty to Shisui and Itachi, both of whom possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan.

In an instant, the two of them broke through it.

Following the passage downward, the two soon arrived inside a tomb chamber.

At the very center of the chamber stood a coffin, and beside it was an enormous stone sculpture of a gourd. From its appearance, it looked remarkably similar to the gourd depicted in the mural.

After circling the coffin once, Shisui said, "This coffin has never been opened!"

Itachi asked, "What should we do? The Totsuka Blade could very well be inside!"

In the previous tomb chambers they had explored, most of the remains had already been relocated by the clan over the years. That was why Shisui and Itachi had dared to boldly open those coffins.

But the coffin before them had clearly never been disturbed.

There was a very real possibility that the remains of an Uchiha ancestor were still resting inside, so the two of them couldn’t help but hesitate.

After pondering for a moment, Shisui said, "Let’s notify Kagami-senpai. He has the Byakugan. One look and he’ll know whether the Totsuka Blade is inside the coffin."

Itachi nodded and immediately released a messenger crow.

Afterward, the two began searching the tomb chamber.

However, the chamber itself wasn’t particularly large. As they searched around, the two eventually found themselves standing together in front of the enormous stone gourd beside the coffin.

"I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something strange about this stone gourd!"

As he spoke, Itachi reached toward the stone sculpture.

Suddenly, Shisui, standing beside him, felt an ominous premonition and hurriedly shouted, "Don’t—!"

But Shisui’s warning came a step too late.

The instant Itachi touched the stone gourd, both he and Shisui beside him were suddenly sucked into the sculpture...