Chapter 495: The Punishment for Dishonesty

Chapter 495: Chapter 495: The Punishment for Dishonesty

Zetsu of the Akatsuki wasn’t the only one secretly observing the battlefield.

Hidden within the shadows elsewhere, Orochimaru stared at the crimson Susanoo on the battlefield—more specifically, at the gourd it held in its hand—with a gloomy expression.

"Hmph. That bastard Furin played me for a fool!"

Orochimaru snorted coldly.

If he still couldn’t figure out what had happened after things had reached this point, then he wouldn’t be Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin.

By now, he completely understood that his previous encounter with Furin at the Uchiha ruins had not been a coincidence at all. Nor had it had anything to do with his abduction of Yohi Kurenai.

It was simply because the Kamigami’s target had also been the Totsuka Blade!

And that meant the Totsuka Blade had indeed been hidden within those Uchiha ruins!

"Damn it!"

The thought that the divine artifact he had searched so painstakingly for—the Totsuka Blade—had been snatched away right from under his nose by the Kamigami infuriated Orochimaru.

And worse still, the Totsuka Blade’s power was even greater than he had anticipated.

Of course, what Orochimaru didn’t know was that without the Mangekyo Sharingan and the dojutsu Tsukuyomi, obtaining the Totsuka Blade was absolutely impossible.

Even if someone placed it directly into his hands, he still wouldn’t be able to wield it.

Withdrawing his distant gaze, Orochimaru swept his eyes over his surroundings, and an unexpected trace of melancholy appeared on his face.

He couldn’t quite explain why.

He had spent so long yearning to destroy Konoha, yet now that he was actually watching someone else destroy the village right before his eyes, an inexplicable sense of emptiness and loss welled up inside him instead.

Whoosh...

But Orochimaru was still Orochimaru, after all. He quickly suppressed that inexplicable sentimentality, flickered, and disappeared from the spot.

......

Inside the shelter.

When the Deva Path on the surface used another large-scale Shinra Tensei to destroy Kagami’s forest of bones, the shelter was simultaneously rocked by another violent tremor.

Although it wasn’t as severe as the first one, the shaking still caused several sections of the shelter to collapse, worsening the damage even further.

"Cough, cough..."

Choking on the dust, Anko coughed as she felt around in the darkness.

The last electric light on the ceiling of the passage had been destroyed during the latest tremor, leaving the entire corridor pitch-black, so dark that they couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces.

"Is everyone all right?"

Shizune’s voice came from the darkness.

"I’m fine."

"No injuries here."

"I’m okay too."

The others in the passage called out one after another, confirming that they were unharmed.

Anko finally found the flashlight that had fallen to the ground.

As one of the shinobi assigned to guard the shelter, carrying a flashlight was standard equipment. She gave it a shake, and a moment later, a beam of light pierced through the darkness of the passage.

With the flashlight providing illumination, everyone gathered together once more.

Although the latest tremor had caused several more sections of the shelter to collapse, fortunately, this particular passage remained intact. Everyone was safe and sound, and none of the children had been injured.

Rei looked worriedly toward the ceiling above them.

"Just what is happening on the surface?"

At her words, everyone’s expressions grew more solemn.

They were all shinobi, so they knew perfectly well that an ordinary battle could hardly affect a shelter buried dozens of meters underground.

For the shelter to suffer such a violent impact, an unimaginable battle had to be raging on the surface.

Suddenly, the sound of leisurely footsteps echoed through the passage.

Anko immediately aimed the flashlight toward the source of the footsteps and shouted, "Who’s there?!"

Under the beam of the flashlight, Orochimaru’s figure gradually emerged from the darkness, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Anko, is that you?"

"Orochimaru!?"

Anko froze for a moment.

Then, an overwhelming killing intent erupted from her entire body.

"I’ll kill you with my own hands!"

With that, Anko lunged straight at him!

"Multiple Striking Shadow Snake Hands!"

Almost simultaneously, Anko and Orochimaru unleashed the exact same technique.

In an instant, countless venomous snakes shot from their sleeves and collided in midair, viciously tearing and biting at one another.

Whoosh...

Taking advantage of the opening, Anko used the Body Flicker Technique and appeared behind Orochimaru, viciously plunging her kunai into his back.

"Did I get him?"

Feeling blood running down along the kunai, Anko wondered uncertainly.

Suddenly, Orochimaru’s neck twisted a full one hundred and eighty degrees, and he smiled at her.

"You say you want to kill me, yet your kunai deliberately avoided my vital points. Little Anko, you’re really not honest with yourself, are you?"

"You...!?"

Seeing Orochimaru looking at her teasingly despite having been stabbed, Anko was both shocked and furious.

Just then, Orochimaru seemed to think of something, and the corner of his mouth curled upward.

His neck suddenly stretched out, snaking around to the back of Anko’s neck—

And he bit down hard!

"L-Let go of me!"

Anko suddenly felt all the strength drain from her body.

After releasing his bite, Orochimaru retracted his neck and smiled.

"Little Anko, this is your punishment for being dishonest."

Clutching her neck, Anko suddenly felt her vision blur.

Her heart tightened, and she immediately demanded, "Orochimaru, you... what did you just do to me?"

Before Orochimaru could answer, Anko’s vision went black, and she collapsed unconscious.

Clatter...

The flashlight slipped from Anko’s hand and fell to the ground.

Its tilted beam shone upward from below, illuminating Orochimaru’s figure.

Under that eerie lighting, Orochimaru—already sinister and ghostlike to begin with—looked even more unsettling.

"O-Orochimaru... what are you planning to do...?"

Shizune stammered as Orochimaru walked toward them.

As a powerhouse who had once come close to becoming the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru’s reputation in Konoha was simply too formidable. Many Konoha shinobi possessed an instinctive fear of him. Even an elite as powerful as Kakashi could hardly avoid feeling flustered and uneasy when facing Orochimaru.

Orochimaru, however, ignored Shizune, Rei, and the others.

His gaze passed straight over them and settled on Sasuke standing behind them.

His entire purpose in infiltrating the shelter this time was to abduct Sasuke before Konoha had a chance to react.

After witnessing Kimimaro’s earlier match against Sasuke, Orochimaru had realized that although Sasuke’s talent couldn’t compare to Itachi’s or Shisui’s, it was still extraordinarily high.

After all, very few Uchiha could awaken the Sharingan at only eight years old.

Feeling Orochimaru’s burning gaze upon him, Sasuke felt his skin crawl.

It was as though he had truly been targeted by a venomous snake.

The Sharingan in his eyes instinctively activated.

Orochimaru extended his tongue and slowly licked his lips.

"My, my... what a beautiful pair of eyes."

Izumi immediately stepped in front of Sasuke and shouted at Orochimaru, "If you dare lay a hand on Sasuke, our clan head will never let you get away with it!"

Naruto also stepped forward, shielding Sasuke.

Boom!

Just then, an explosion suddenly erupted from another passage.

Immediately afterward, a figure wearing a Takigakure forehead protector and the Akatsuki’s black cloak patterned with red clouds stepped through the blasted opening.

His gaze swept across everyone in the passage.

Finally...

His eyes locked onto Naruto, who was standing protectively in front of Sasuke.