Cautious Eyes: An Uchiha's Path

A few kilometers away from the forest where the confrontation had occurred, Orochimaru staggered forward, clutching his chest, his usually composed face pale and tight with pain.

This was worse than when he had barely escaped from Hiruzen's grasp during the failed ANBU raid years ago. He had been injured—not by explosive tags, but by the chakra blade of a Susanoo, a manifestation of the Mangekyō Sharingan. Its cursed energy still lingered inside him like venom.

Even Orochimaru, a man who had delved into the grotesque for power, felt genuine fear.

"Such terrifying chakra..." he muttered as he pressed onward. "Uchiha... always so gifted. But to produce such a monstrous form... it's almost gratifying, in a twisted way."

He coughed, crimson staining his pale lips.

"With just one pair of Mangekyō Sharingan... not even an Eternal pair... and he still managed to injure me this deeply." Orochimaru chuckled bitterly. "It's a shame. If only I had access to a full-blooded Uchiha for my research..."

He still had the Sharingan given to him by Uchiha Kai, and that alone was enough to push forward some of his most ambitious experiments. His failure to secure a live Uchiha subject was unfortunate, but perhaps not fatal to his plans.

"Still," he murmured, eyes glittering with ambition, "the fact that Kai had access to a full pair of Sharingan... what does that say about his position in the clan? Or what he's already done?"

He licked his lips with an almost serpentine glee.

"I underestimated you, Kai. Was it you who set fire to the Uchiha district in secret, perhaps to hide your trail?" Orochimaru laughed quietly to himself.

Though his plans tonight had changed—he had originally intended to leave a gift for Jiraiya before vanishing from Konoha—this unexpected outcome might be just as beneficial. His core research team had already moved to a hidden facility outside the village, waiting for his arrival.

As for the others?

He had left them behind.

They were loyal, but expendable. With the Fourth Hokage now in power, Orochimaru no longer needed to worry about Hiruzen's suffocating surveillance. Minato might have been powerful, but his idealism made him predictable.

Letting those left behind be discovered might actually serve as a message.

Those captured might simply lose their status as shinobi.

"Such is the curse of being born into this wretched village," Orochimaru murmured. "It would be a waste for them to die without seeing the world's truths."

"Let's talk, Orochimaru."

At the entrance to a sealed, blood-stained corridor beneath Konoha, Uchiha Kai stood with his arms folded.

He turned slightly to address the gathering of village leaders.

"Orochimaru's gone," he said bluntly. "I cannot track him. I'm strong, but not enough to chase down someone like him through these tunnels. However..." His eyes landed on Jiraiya. "He left a parting gift. For you."

"...A gift?" Jiraiya blinked. "What kind of gift would someone like Orochimaru leave for me?"

"Kenta. Lead Jiraiya-sama inside. Show him." Kai nodded to his subordinate, Imai Kenta.

"Yes, Minister," Kenta replied, already stepping toward the entrance.

"Hold it!" Shimura Danzo's voice cut in, sharp and cold. "My people will inspect it first."

Danzo's unease was obvious.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, standing nearby, shared a grave look with his former pupil. This wasn't just about Orochimaru anymore. Uchiha Kai was playing his cards too calmly. And Danzo knew: there was a very real chance that Orochimaru had left behind evidence—evidence that could expose the secrets buried by the village elders.

Secrets like Root, or worse—human experimentation.

"If this 'gift' contains something incriminating," Danzo thought grimly, "then it could undo everything we've built."

"I refuse," Kai said coldly, turning his crimson gaze on Danzo. "As head of the Security Department, I'm in charge here. Maybe the Third Hokage tolerated your interference... but do you have that same excuse now?"

"Uchiha Kai, you go too far—!"

"Danzo. That's enough." Minato Namikaze's voice was sharp. He stepped forward, his face hard. "I gave the order to investigate this facility. Kei is acting under my authority. And I am the Hokage now."

Danzo clenched his fists but said nothing more.

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen, though visibly disturbed, didn't speak.

Minato's rebuke was clear: the era of quiet power behind the scenes was over.

Kai turned back toward the corridor. "Aya. Give your report. Don't embellish it. State the facts."

Hyuga Aya stepped forward. "Yes, Minister."

She gave a respectful nod to her clan head, Hiashi, before turning to the assembled leaders.

"A few months ago, Minister Kai and Captain Kenta began investigating a string of missing persons reports. Their investigations led them to this forest sector, where we conducted a covert search..."

Meanwhile...

Jiraiya and Imai Kenta descended deeper into the base. The air was thick with dust and blood.

Along the walls and corridors lay bodies—some recognizable as Konoha shinobi, others deformed, some with wooden protrusions bursting from their limbs.

"...The hell is this?" Jiraiya muttered.

"These weren't ordinary shinobi," Kenta said. "Many of them were test subjects. We found signs of Wood Release adaptation, failed grafting experiments... and many of them were Root."

He pointed to a chamber ahead. "That's where we found the core data. Orochimaru's final message... for you."

Inside, Jiraiya stood silently before the documents.

Labeled files, test logs, autopsy reports—all with notes in Orochimaru's hand.

What shook him most were the names. Ninja who had disappeared. Some had volunteered. Others had not.

And worse, among the signatures authorizing these procedures were those of Shimura Danzo… and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Jiraiya clenched his fists, trembling.

He had killed men. Faced monsters. But this?

This was betrayal.

Of their own.

Of the very shinobi who had sworn loyalty to the village.

And yet… he also knew Orochimaru.

This wasn't only about Danzo or the Third. This was Orochimaru's madness, fed by the village's blind eye.

Kenta watched him carefully. "These are the 'gifts' he left. To tell the truth, or to let it rot here."

Jiraiya didn't speak at first.

He simply turned the page, then another, and another.

After a long pause, he said quietly, "Let's bring these to the surface."

Kenta nodded.

"Maybe it's time everyone sees what kind of shinobi we really are."