Naruto : Minato back to the past

"Go and find the ANBU personnel and your captain who were stationed at the gate just now, quickly!"

Minato's expression suddenly changed. He raised his eyes and spoke to the ANBU in front of him.

"Yes!"

The ANBU received the order and left as quickly as possible.

Minato stood in front of his desk, his expression becoming increasingly solemn.

Not long after, the Third Hokage came to the Hokage's office.

As soon as he entered the room, he noticed Minato's serious expression.

"Minato, what's wrong?" asked Hiruzen.

Minato handed the registration book in his hand to Hiruzen, and then said: "About half an hour ago, a retainer of an important figure of the Land of Fire came to the village to request a mission."

He then informed Hiruzen about the request.

Although the difficulty of this mission was not high, the level was not low because of the client's identity.

"Even though Orochimaru left the village on a mission without coming to see you, there's no need to make such a fuss, right?"

As Hiruzen finished his words, the door of the Hokage's office opened and several ANBU along with Uchiha Yoruki walked in.

Having said that, Hiruzen's brows were slightly furrowed.

Because Orochimaru's actions did seem a bit unusual, and there were actually two copies of the authorization letter from the Land of Fire official.

One copy was the one Minato saw just now, and the other was handed directly to Orochimaru by another member of the retainer's entourage.

With Orochimaru's status in Konoha and the letter of authorization from an important figure from the Land of Fire, the guards at the gate would not stop him at all.

"Have you seen any trace of Orochimaru?"

Minato's gaze skipped over Hiruzen and looked at Uchiha Yoruki and the ANBU.

Several people shook their heads. There was no useful information.

"Damn it."

Minato secretly thought that something was wrong, because he had previously ordered the ANBU personnel to search for the missing ninja in the village together with the Konoha ninja, so the defense of the ANBU around the village was much weaker than usual.

He pondered that everything that had happened recently and Orochimaru's abnormal behavior were too coincidental.

"Minato, what exactly do you want to say?"

Hiruzen's expression also gradually darkened. He obviously realized that Minato had some unspeakable suspicions.

Looking at Hiruzen in front of him, Minato took a deep breath.

According to the information Hiruzen had access to, he would have noticed these things under normal circumstances.

But he had just disbanded Root, and Danzo was of course unhappy about this.

Therefore, most of the Third Hokage's attention was focused on Danzo.

Although it was just a suspicion and there was no definite evidence, Minato had to say it.

He looked at Hiruzen and said in a heavy voice.

"I suspect that the disappearance of the ninjas in the village is related to Orochimaru-senpai!"

During this period of time, Orochimaru had already traveled quite a distance away from Konoha.

Swish!

He moved forward quickly among the dense woods.

When he landed on a thick tree trunk again, he stopped temporarily.

"Have you followed enough?"

Orochimaru glanced sideways and spoke towards the now empty forest behind him.

As soon as he spoke, a figure suddenly landed on a tree trunk not far away.

Jiraiya looked at the person in front of him with a serious expression.

"Where are you going?" Jiraiya said with a frown.

"You should know that the content of the mission should not be revealed easily, right?"

Orochimaru gave Jiraiya a slightly sarcastic look.

"But no matter what kind of mission it is, you should first go to the Hokage's office and get the Hokage's authorization before you can officially start, right?" Jiraiya said.

"This doesn't seem to concern you."

Orochimaru said calmly, turned around, and moved forward again.

As soon as he took a step forward, Jiraiya behind him followed.

The brown snake pupil suddenly turned to the side at this moment. He formed a seal with both hands and swung his left hand backwards.

"Hiss."

At this moment, his left hand suddenly transformed into dozens of snakes entangled together.

Seeing this, Jiraiya immediately stepped back and landed in a new position, avoiding the attack.

"If you follow me again, I won't be polite!"

Orochimaru's voice sank. He had never intended to hit with this attack in the first place.

Otherwise, even Jiraiya wouldn't have been able to escape so easily.

As soon as he finished speaking, his left hand returned to normal and he turned and left.

"Orochimaru, what on earth are you doing!?"

At this moment, Jiraiya's roar came from behind.

The former paused, but ignored him.

Orochimaru moved forward again, but Jiraiya followed him.

"I told you not to follow me again!"

There was murderous intent in his snake eyes. He swung his left hand again and used the snake hand technique he had used before.

"Rasengan!"

But this time, there was also a blue chakra sphere condensed in Jiraiya's right hand.

"Crash!"

The collision of the two attacks caused the leaves on the trees in the dense forest to fall continuously.

They landed on two tree trunks facing each other again.

"What are you talking about, man?"

Orochimaru stared at Jiraiya with gloomy eyes.

At this time, the latter took out a bloody Konoha forehead protector and several scrolls from inside his vest.

He threw them casually toward Orochimaru.

Orochimaru reached out to take the scroll, then unfolded it and glanced at it briefly. His snake pupils suddenly shrank.

The expression in Jiraiya's eyes was particularly complicated at this moment. He looked at Orochimaru, who remained indifferent, with emotions fluctuating in his eyes.

"You are really capable."

Orochimaru slowly raised his eyes, looked at Jiraiya, and said in a deep voice: "You have actually found my laboratory."

After receiving confirmation from Orochimaru, Jiraiya could no longer control his emotions. He looked very confused and yelled at the person in front of him.

"The disappearance of the ninjas in the village was caused by you. Why?!"

"How did you find out? Even Minato Namikaze should just be suspicious of me now."

Orochimaru did not answer Jiraiya's question, but asked one in return.

He was really curious about how Jiraiya discovered his secret so quickly.

"Orochimaru, when did you become so slow?"

Jiraiya said with a bitter laugh, then shouted loudly: "Because we have been together since we were little. We are the Legendary Sannin!"

He clearly wanted a response from Orochimaru.

However, after a moment's silence, the voice that responded to Jiraiya was extremely indifferent.

"Boring."

Jiraiya's expression suddenly changed, and he roared, "Answer my question! Why did you hurt the ninjas of Konoha—your companions!"

He really didn't want to believe that everything he saw in that underground laboratory was done by Orochimaru.

However, his questioning received no response from the man in front of him.

Orochimaru's expression became more and more solemn. The corners of his slender mouth slowly raised into an arc as sharp as a knife. He suddenly raised his eyes and stared at Jiraiya with a stern look in his eyes.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you try to stop me again, I will kill you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~