Homura, Koharu, Danzo, and Hiruzen, the four elders of the Leaf Village, sit around a sofa set in front of the Hokage's seat. Hiruzen, the third Hokage, was puffing his smoke pipe silently.
Koharu said, "Even with all that force, Orochimaru escaped."
Homura said sternly, "This is a grave mistake, Hiruzen. Allowing Orochimaru to escape has put our village in danger."
Hiruzen said softly, "It's unfortunate, but we must focus on the future. We need to ensure the safety of our village."
Danzo asserted. "Soft-heartedness will not save us, Hiruzen. We must take decisive action. A bounty must be placed on Orochimaru's head."
Homura nodded. "Danzo is right. We cannot let Orochimaru continue his destructive path."
Koharu said, concerned, "But what about our other Sannin? Jiraiya and Tsunade are both away. We could use their strength at this moment."
Hiruzen replied, "I have sent both of them a message regarding what happened. I am waiting for their return. I doubt Tsunade will return, but I think Jiraiya will return soon. I will have him track Orochimaru. Anyone else will not be able to take him down."
Danzo scoffed. "Those two are wasting their time wandering the world. We need to focus on what we can control, not rely on them."
Homura sighed. "Danzo is right. We should not expect much from him even if he is able to find him. They have a personal history."
Koharu said quietly, "I hope we can find a way to stop Orochimaru without causing more harm. Even if we put a bounty on his head, it will just send the message to other villages that we have lost one more S-Rank Ninja."
Homura said sternly, "Orochimaru's obsession with forbidden techniques has always been a concern. His experiments, conducted in secret, have pushed the boundaries of morality and ethics."
Koharu shook her head and said, "It's truly disheartening. His thirst for power has led him down a dark path, endangering the lives of many."
Danzo smirked. "And the worst part? He's a threat to our village's most precious secrets. Our forbidden techniques, passed down through generations, could fall into the wrong hands. And my sources tell me that he was in contact with a secret organisation based on Hidden Rain."
Homura nodded. "We must be vigilant. Orochimaru's network is vast, and his influence is far-reaching."
Koharu said worriedly, "We must also consider the possibility of spies within our ranks. Someone could be aiding Orochimaru, leaking information."
Homura said, "This is a dark time for our village. We must remain strong and united."
Hiruzen sighed and said, "I could not stop him. Even though I knew deep down I always knew that his intentions were evil and sinister, I did not want to believe it. I assumed it was simply my paranoia."
Hiruzen continued, "Today we could have lost one more promising leaf if not for the barrier seal Hamura shared with us."
Curious, Homura asked, "What happened?"
Hiruzen replied, "Orochimaru already knew of our plan to arrest him. When I and other ANBU were caught in the trap laid by Orochimaru, Kakashi confronted him to buy time for us. He would have died and his Sharingan stolen if not for that barrier seal."
Koharu said, "No matter how good Kakashi is, he is no match for Orochimaru. and I don't think any one of us can confront him alone at our age."
Homura said, "Koharu is right. Even if I was at our prime, I don't think I could have stopped him. Maybe you and Danzo could have in the past. It's not your fault entirely."
Koharu said, "That barrier seal was very useful if it can save a Jonin from an S-ranked Ninja. Too bad Dan refused to share his insight."
Hiruzen said, "Kakashi's life was saved, but Orochimaru got his hand on the scroll of that barrier seal."
Homura and Koharu said at the same time, "What!"
Danzo then stated, "It is bad, but unless he wants to spend the next five years of his life focusing only on that scroll, it will not get him anywhere. We can worry about that later and begin looking into everyone connected to him and searching all of his secret lairs."
Koharu said, "First, we must start with his four-man squad. They must have more info on him than others."
Hiruzen replied, "It's a dead end. All his squad is dead already, except for Anko Mitarashi. He must have known our plans in advance. He experimented on them with a new cursed seal to kill them and silence them, and everyone but Anko died."
"I have her questioned also, but she has no information on her that we can use."
Homura asked, "What kind of experiments was he conducting on his own students?"
Hiruzen replied, "From what medical units have told me, he is searching for a way to make bodies compatible with the Senjutsu."
Danzo's eye lit up when he heard that. He intervened and said, "You should give her to me so that we can find out more about what Orochimaru was trying to do."
Hiruzen gave him a side eye and said, "I was not born yet. She has suffered enough under Orochimaru. I won't allow her to be a guinea pig again."
The look Danzo gave was as if he had eaten a sour grape, but he knew there was no use arguing with Hiruzen, so he didn't.
He stood and left as there was nothing more to discuss. He was not planning to exhaust his ANBU-Root's resources in search of Orochimaru, so he left all of it with Hiruzen and other elders. Also because they were silent partners in search of the forbidden, and Danzo did not want their partnership known.
As Danzo was walking, he suddenly stopped and looked at the shadows in front of him. He spoke, "Have a team search all the known bases Orochimaru has in the Fire Country without alerting the Hokage's ANBU. Locate the unidentified bases also and inform me. I will raid them myself. If this kid, Anko, survived, then there must be other survivors as well. I cannot let Hiruzen get to them before me."
"Yes, Lord Danzo," replied the unseen shadow.
Before heading to the Hamura household to inform him about his stolen seal, Hiruzen first stopped at Kakashi's to check up on him. After some more discussion, he left for the Hamura household.
Afterwards, Hirusen reached Dan's house. and stopped just a few steps away from the detection barrier. Hiruzen thought, "Sensing through air disturbance rather than chakra is brilliant, as it avoids alerting the intruders that they have been noticed."
Dan opened the door and warmly welcomed Hiruzen into his home.
"Hiruzen," he said, "What a surprise." Please come in."
Hiruzen entered the house. Ryu was there as well. Dan noticed tension on Hiruzen's face and asked him, "Is something the matter?"
Hiruzen spoke, "Orochimaru has betrayed the village and gone missing."
Ryu thought, "So it happened. Good for me. It will be several years before I have to see his slithering mug again."
The news surprised Dan, but not as much as it should. He asked, "But why did he do that?"
Hiruzen told him, "He was caught doing experiments on imprisoned civilians he kidnapped."
Dan spoke, "I never liked that brat. The way he approached Lady Mito for learning Fuinjutsu still angers me. Good thing she refused. She must have sensed his evil thoughts. But why did you personally come here to tell me that? News would have reached me later."
Ryu heard that and remembered that Mito Uzumaki can sense the evil.
Hiruzen replied, "The seal you gave Kakashi. When Orochimaru escaped after poisoning Kakashi, he stole it."
Dan asked, "Is Kakashi alright?"
Hiruzen replied, "He is fine."
Dan replied, "Do not worry about the seal. It will be useless after some time. Also, Orochimaru won't be able to replicate it, so you don't need to worry about that."
Hiruzen asked, "What do you mean? He is a grandmaster. Even if he doesn't have insight, he can still copy the seal."
Dan replied, "The seal was encoded using an [Encoder seal] that protects the seal. And there is also a built-in time limit for the seal usage. Seal can only be used two times."
"What?" Hiruzen asked with his eyes wide open in surprise, "How does it work?
Dan replied, "A dedicated portion of the seal is first written on a Fuinjutsu paper, and a secret key is set on it that becomes encryption logic. We can call this part an Encoder Seal. After we activate that first seal, the encoder seal encrypts itself. After that, the actual seal we are trying to protect is written on the same Fuinjutsu paper, and every word of it is encoded based on the key we have provided. The seal can be executed by anyone, but its encoder part is designed in a way that a duplicate copy of the seal will never work."
Hiruzen was shocked, and his mouth was wide open.
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