The Rogue Ninja Orochimaru
Is that you, Kinoto?
Lord Danzo, there's an urgent matter…
Hiruzen himself is leading them?
Damn him, he's gone too far.
Kinoe, are you here?
Are you going to kill me?
Are you up to the task… Sarutobi Sensei?
And even with that…
No…it's because of that.
Hiruzen will not be able to kill his student Orochimaru.
Sarutobi, you have to—!
Just for times like this, we have another secret meeting place.
Kinoe, go on ahead and wait for Orochimaru.
Lightning Blade!
You…
I like the look in your eye.
However…I don't need a fake.
So cute…
Do you want to see his blood too?
Lord Third…
So you set this up.
Don't move!
So that's Orochimaru…
This emergency summons was called regarding the capture of Orochimaru
who escaped during the previous mission.
According to intel reports, Orochimaru is seriously wounded.
Considering his condition,
he will not be able to leave the Land of Fire easily.
Listen carefully.
The knowledge, data and jutsu that Orochimaru possesses
are a valuable asset to the Hidden Leaf.
If possible, bring him back alive.
If he leaves the Land of Fire…
…it will be a fatal blow to the Leaf!
And so…
This must be settled before he crosses the nation's borders.
Everyone, do your best.
Scatter!
You must love your pupil very much.
It's hard to believe that you of all people would fail…
I will be happy to cooperate.
For the sake of the Hidden Leaf, I shall do everything I can.
Thank you. I'd appreciate that…
Against those eyes, I…
Next time…I won't fail.
Summoning Jutsu!
What's wrong, Kakashi?
I want you to follow a scent… It's Orochimaru.
Snakes are difficult, they don't sweat.
But leave it to me!
Who are you? How do you know of this place?
Lord Danzo sent me!
I'm here on urgent business regarding Lord Orochimaru!
This is the message from Lord Danzo.
No mistake…
This is Lord Danzo's seal.
What? Lord Orochimaru has…the Leaf?
This isn't a transformation!
His flesh was smoke?!
Give me the details.
I am Gotta of the Iburi Clan.
Oh… I'm… Well…I'm Kinoe
Tenzo!
Yukimi!
Welcome home!
Tenzo!
If unforeseen circumstances befell Lord Danzo or Lord Orochimaru,
it was previously agreed upon that they would come here for help.
Then Lord Orochimaru will come here?
Most likely…
Lord Orochimaru…
The pursuit by the ANBU is under control.
I will take Lord Orochimaru out of the country without fail.
Lord Orochimaru gave us life.
We would do anything for him.
Everyone, get ready to welcome Lord Orochimaru!
Come with me, Tenzo!
What? Umm… I'm…
Stand here for a moment!
Huh?
See!
It's the same!
Ever since then…
I've measured your height!
I see, but…
Yukimi, enough.
He isn't Tenzo…
He is too!
U-Um… Who is Tenzo?
Yukimi's younger brother…
He's no longer here.
We put him in Lord Orochimaru's care three years ago.
In his care…three years ago?
Then this scratch is…
Even though we were apart, I saw what you looked like.
You've returned from Lord Orochimaru's!
I'm sorry…
Yukimi.
Show him around.
Yes.
This is our clan's graveyard.
This forest is…
Instead of using stone headstones, we plant trees.
They say the soul finds refuge in the tree and protects us.
The soul…
Yes… The souls of the dead…
Our ability to transform our flesh was incomplete.
We didn't have total control over the smoke…
Sometimes, we would just turn into smoke without notice…
Sometimes, the smoke would just
dissipate without turning back into flesh…
Members of our clan never lived long.
You didn't see many elders, did you?
No…
So many died…
That's why we planted many trees.
So many…died?
But Lord Orochimaru found us.
This symbol known as the Curse Mark stabilized our ability.
But the Curse Mark wasn't perfect either…
He said much more research was necessary…
That's why Tenzo was sent to Lord Orochimaru
as a research subject.
Research subject…
The younger you are, the greater our power manifests itself.
That's why he wanted a young test subject.
But…that left only you as the child.
It wasn't like he was going to die…
That's what Lord Orochimaru said.
Even if I were to be called up,
I'd be able to see everyone, including Tenzo.
See…everyone.
Everyone…
What is it?!
What's wrong?
This is…
What happened?!
That's strange… Who planted these…
Those children are…
Tenzo is still…
What…
We don't need this one…
Or this one! Or this one!
– Let's go… – Huh?
It seems I'm about to reach my limit.
Just a little bit more…
What is this?
Did you see how the roots twisted around the ceiling and walls?
The inside is a maze of hollow caves like this…
It gets a little tight from here…
But we can still pass through.
Where are we going?
Tenzo and I had a secret base!
There… You can hear it clearly, right?
That crevice connects to the outside.
We used to come here often to listen to that sound.
And we'd talk about the outside world.
Why don't you go out yourself?
Because there's wind.
Wind?
If we turn into smoke while we're outside…
and there's wind blowing at the same time,
we'd be dispersed.
So we're limited to places like caves where there's no wind.
More than anything,
we loved coming here to listen to the sounds outside.
We'd try to guess what the sound was…
What was going on outside…
Tenzo and I used to imagine all the time.
What's wrong?!
It's serious. Someone has come down into our village.
Is it Lord Orochimaru?
We haven't been able to confirm that yet.
If it's Lord Orochimaru, we will welcome him.
If it's someone from the Leaf in pursuit, we will get rid of him!
Everyone, hide and get ready!
Is it true? Are you really going outside
Yes, it's true!
But if you go outside…
Aren't you afraid of the wind?
I just really want to see where these sounds come from, with Tenzo!
What?
Next time on Naruto Shippuden: Orochimaru's Test Subject
The two of us, together.
OROCHIMARU'S TEST SUBJECT
Tune in again!