The desk lamp cast uneven light, casting slanted shadows from the shelves. Just as Logan's hand was about to touch the scroll, a slender shadow suddenly shot out at an incredible speed!
From extreme stillness to extreme motion, the unexpected movement of the shadow shattered the stable environment. Instantly, a clash ensued, and a black flash followed closely behind, leaving its trajectory like a carved mark in the air.
"Hiss…"
Logan nonchalantly flicked his hand holding the kunai, a few drops of blood splattering on the ground. The thing that attacked him just now was very fast, and he only had time to see clearly that it was white.
Fortunately, he had accumulated enough battle experience, which allowed him to subconsciously cut the attacker in half with a precise strike. He looked at the sneak attacker, and to his surprise, it turned out to be a white snake.
The white snake, which was about one meter long and only as thick as a finger, had its head separated from its body. Its two long bodies twisted incessantly, its severed head still spewing venom as its cruel yellow vertical-slit pupils stared at him.
Logan frowned and looked towards the direction where the other party suddenly burst out. Among the pile of scrolls, this snake should have been motionless and pretending to be dead. Snakes were cold-blooded animals, and it made sense that Logan couldn't sense one deliberately hiding.
The white snake, writhing on the ground, suddenly underwent a strange transformation. The cut-off flesh bubbled like boiling water, and then, with a snap, a tail and a head sprouted out.
Seeing this, Logan's expression changed, 'What is this thing? It actually can regenerate. Is it one of Orochimaru's test subjects?'
The original single white snake turned into two smaller ones. Logan held the kunai in front of him. He had no intention of looking down on the opponent.
The two white snakes circled for a few moments, then stood upright, fearlessly staring at Logan. Just when Logan thought the two white snakes would continue to attack, they hissed twice and slowly retracted.
The white bodies melted into the shadows, and after about ten seconds, when the hissing sound faded into the distance, the room returned to silence, and all traces vanished as if nothing had happened.
"What the hell..."
Logan suddenly felt that this quiet workshop was abnormal. After all, it was a place where Orochimaru, a madman obsessed with human bodies, had stayed. The bizarre appearance and disappearance of the white snake added a touch of spookiness.
Taking a deep breath, Logan turned back to the numerous scrolls within reach, 'I don't care, I'll just grab it and run away...'
So, Logan extended his hand once again.
Bang bang bang!
The sudden sound of broken glass startled Logan in the quiet closed environment, 'It was just fetching a forbidden technique, so why did the commotion keep escalating?'
Bang bang bang...
The fragmented sound didn't come just once but continued in succession, like a glass concert, with cracks spreading and glass shards falling onto the ground. Logan's scalp is numb when he heard this.
Clang, clang, clang, clang…
Shards began to fall to the ground, and the liquid flowed down along the wooden board. In the corner of the shelf where various instruments were placed, various unidentified soft tissues fell wetly to the ground. Logan's mouth twitched, and he can't help but step back several steps.
"Hiss… Hiss… Hiss..."
The dangerous hissing sound from the snake suddenly became intense. Logan pursed his lips as he saw over a dozen white snakes crawled out from the shattered shadows of the potions and jars, their pairs of yellow vertical-slit pupils illuminating the room.
'A snake's den...' A drop of cold sweat broke out on Logan's forehead. Orochimaru's name contained 'snake,' and indeed, in the anime, he has various indescribable connections with snakes.
"Isn't it inappropriate to move someone else's things without asking first?"
A cold, magnetic and hoarse voice echoed.
Logan's body tensed suddenly, and his sharp gaze focused on a certain spot.
Although this is the first time Logan heard this voice in this world, it was not unfamiliar at all. The plain words could send shivers down one's spine, like a chilling breeze brushing over the soul, sending shudders down the spine.
"Oro… chi… maru?" Logan said almost word by word as a trace of electricity couldn't help but crawl onto the surface of his body.
"Hehe…"
It was completely a standard villain's laughter. The smooth body slid across the floor, and a white snake, noticeably larger than the others, slithered slowly towards Logan. It stood upright like a human, its snake tongue flicking out as it spoke human words.
"It seems you're from Konoha's ANBU. That old monkey Hiruzen... is really troublesome." The yellow pupils of the white snake seemed to become even more eerie, and Logan felt uneasy under the gaze of those strange eyes.
It is not unusual for a snake to speak human language in Naruto, but this is Orochimaru's voice, the target of their ANBU mission this time...
Logan's mind raced at this moment. He knew that Orochimaru's pursuit of immortality and his development of Jutsu like the Living Corpse Reincarnation. While Logan wasn't interested in such technique that extended life but distorted the body beyond recognition, he couldn't deny its power, which allow someone to take over other's body.
'Could it be that Orochimaru was having too much fun this time and wanted to transfer his consciousness into a white snake?'
"Orochimaru, you're actually in a white snake's body..." Logan had to feign shock while keeping his guard up. After all, Orochimaru's methods were beyond comprehension.
"Hehe, I don't think I need to explain this to you, right?" It was Orochimaru's trademark husky, magnetic voice as the white snake writhed. Of course, this white snake wasn't Orochimaru's real body. With so many vessels available, wouldn't it be foolish for him to enter a snake's body recklessly? Currently, this situation was merely Orochimaru's latest experiment, with part of his consciousness attached to the white snake's body, and it shows promising results.
'No, during the Konoha Collapse Plan, when fighting the Third Hokage, Orochimaru revealed his true identity, which is a beautiful woman. He even admitted to having fused for seven or eight years, allowing him to fully unleash his power...' Logan's mind raced, trying to assess the situation, 'This creature definitely wasn't Orochimaru's real body, otherwise, it wouldn't present itself in this relatively weaker state. Orochimaru had techniques to alter his form, and he longs for immortality. In addition to experimenting on others, he does not let himself go. In the end, they all turned into white snakes. This makes sense at the moment…'
'Hmm, Orochimaru really didn't regard a lone Jonin highly.'
"Why are you playing tricks and didn't show up before? What do you want now?" Logan asked, 'Damn, is there a way to mention the ring? It's hard to communicate this way.'
The yellow vertical pupils looked at the mask on Logan's face, showing a hint of interest for some reason.
"I was originally going to teach you, the uninvited guest, a lesson, but I overheard some strange things in the data room earlier..." The white snake hissed, surrounded by a group of snake minions.
"The skin is the largest organ, and an ostrich egg is also a cell?"
"Hehe… why?"