Chapter 365: Chunin Exams: Orochimaru

Author's Note:

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The day started curiously for Orochimaru.

The first thing in the morning he infiltrated Konoha but was left bewildered by the new security standard of the village. Clearly, Tsunade was taking it to a new level of paranoia.

In the end, Orochimaru needed a few hours and Kabuto's help to get into the village unnoticed despite his vast knowledge of secret passages which made him both pissed and impressed at Tsunade's prowess.

The patrol routes now used sensor ninjas with different kinds of sensing abilities in case an infiltrator could negate one of them... and Orochimaru wondered where did Konoha get so many sensors only for Kabuto to inform him Tsunade spent a fortune to nurture medic ninjas and to train every sensor found in the village during the past years.

Getting past that was extremely annoying, especially since he could not kill even one of them as that would cut his visit short and start village-wide lockdown and investigation.

He almost punched Kabuto in that perpetually smug mug of his when he heard that...

But patrols were not the only problem. There were also hidden traps and seals unknown to him that did who knew what. It took great care and slowed his advancement to a snail's pace, hence, instead of the usual ten minutes he spent hours getting into the village.

And even then, in the middle of his endeavor, Orochimaru subconsciously shuddered and the hairs all over his body stood up as if some kind of scan passed through his body. It took him fifteen minutes of hiding in the same spot, using every subtle skill in his arsenal while trying to find out if Konoha found him out or not. When nobody came to intercept him, Orochimaru deemed it safe to continue but inwardly he still felt on edge every step of the way.

Something... definitely happened there and he had no idea what. It made his following hours of sneaking and getting past Konoha's defenses a lot more frustrating as his anxiety refused to disappear.

At least it diminished when he brutally murdered the team from Taki inside of Konoha and stole the kunoichi's skin and still nobody showed up. Konoha would not be letting him murder their guests if they knew about his presence, now, would they?

Well, he certainly would if there was some intricate plan on how to catch his target but... no. Tsunade was too soft to go so far.

Orochimaru was eighty percent sure Konoha had no idea about his presence.

Not that it mattered to him. Being discovered would simply mean he would fail at his objective but it would hardly obstruct his plans. Nor was he afraid of confrontation with Konoha ninjas. At worst, in case both Tsunade and Hiruzen decided to fight him, he could still escape with ease. There was nothing to fear here.

Orochimaru walked into the examination room for the first part of the Chunin Exams and if he needed any proof that Konoha was utterly unaware of his presence, this was it. No village, no matter how daring, would let an S-rank rogue ninja into a room full of the best of the best of their future generation.

Not only that but if he slaughtered every genin in the room... which he surmised he could do in under thirty seconds flat... it would mean a shitload of trouble for Konoha with the other villages.

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Not that he would do it. His plans depended on the continuation of the Chunin Exams so the poor kiddies dodged a kunai.

For some reason, however, Orochimaru's hair still refused to stand down...

Sitting down in the place assigned to the skin he wore, Orochimaru giddily awaited the arrival of his prey.

Imagine his shock when into the room walked... Tayuya.

Orochimaru never gaped! But even he had to admit his mouth slightly opened for a second.

He distinctly remembered activating the kill switch on her Cursed Seal and losing the connection to the girl, after all. Yet, here the girl was. Walking in front of him as if she was not supposed to be dead. How dare she survive that!? The rude girl!

Granting her a peaceful and quick death was clearly a mistake.

Worse yet, her being alive meant somebody found a way to remove the Cursed Seal. Even if it was sealed away, he would still be able to feel Tayuya through it and cause her pain but he simply did not feel the girl anymore. That... was a massive problem.

The Cursed Seals were one of his secret death-prevention measures. He did not tell about their true function even to his closest aides and researchers. Somebody able to remove it would surely discover its true purpose and that was troubling. Someone in the vast world now knew one of his weaknesses and Orochimaru couldn't help but feel a surge of panic run through him.

He could not show it on his face, not in his current position. On one hand, he refused to show panic in a room full of genins because he knew it would be misunderstood as him fearing them which would mean he would have to slaughter every single person in the room to assuage his pride. On the other hand, Orochimaru prided himself at keeping a cool head no matter the situation.

Instead, he started to think about how this was possible.

Orochimaru made sure that the removal of his Cursed Seal was fatal. He intertwined the seal with the recipient's soul and body in such a way, there was no way to survive it.

Yet... the proof that it was indeed possible just sat a few seats away from him.

How very... curious.

And unpleasant.

And enraging.

What made Orochimaru silently seethe even more was what Tayuya's presence in these exams participating as an Uzushio kunoichi meant. He thought every member of the Sound Four was dead but she obviously wasn't. That meant she willingly betrayed him!

Orochimaru did not even notice that his target, Sasuke Uchiha, walked into the room. Nor did he pay any attention to the commotion he ordered to be caused by Kabuto and the Sound Team.. He was too invested in discreetly glaring at Tayuya's back while planning her excruciatingly painful demise.

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