Chapter 199: Orochimaru's Suspicion
"Cock-a-doodle-doo…"
The rooster crowed—morning had arrived…
Tsunade leapt out of bed full of energy. But when she turned her head, she found Li Jiexuan lying on the bed with an ashen face, dark circles under his eyes as heavy as Gaara's.
"Little Jiexuan, what's wrong with you?" Tsunade instinctively pulled Li Jiexuan into her arms. As a result, Li Jiexuan's face grew even more lifeless: he could smell it, touch it, even taste it—but with the body of a three-year-old, all of it became utterly meaningless…
"Little Jiexuan, are you sick?"
Tsunade held him even tighter with concern. Li Jiexuan couldn't help but widen his eyes: "Heavens! Why treat me like this? I'm still just a child!?"
Just as Li Jiexuan was caught between bliss and torment, Orochimaru's cold voice suddenly came from outside the tent: "Tsunade, the scouts report that the main forces of Kirigakure have already arrived!"
Hearing this, Tsunade's expression immediately turned serious. She set Li Jiexuan down and, in just two seconds, finished putting on her ANBU armor.
"Little Jiexuan, wait here for big sister. Wait until I come back!" Tsunade placed him on the bed, gripping his shoulders with concern. "Don't run around, or I'll get worried…"
After saying that, she lifted the tent flap and walked straight out…
"Finally free!" Li Jiexuan let out a long sigh of relief. He stood up, about to secretly follow behind Tsunade to get a glimpse of that legendary demigod. But just then…
A pale arm suddenly lifted the tent flap. Orochimaru's ghostly white face poked in—meeting Li Jiexuan, who was wearing a completely relaxed expression. After a long silence, Li Jiexuan forced an awkward smile and stretched out his arms: "Big brother, hug…"
"…"
Another long silence passed. Just as abruptly as he had arrived, Orochimaru curled his lips into a cold grin, lifted the tent flap again, and slipped back out.
"…"
"That guy Orochimaru was much cuter when he was younger." Li Jiexuan shook his head helplessly, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "I wonder… did he notice something just now…"
Otherwise, he wouldn't have let me go!
Since Orochimaru knew Tsunade had left and still came into the tent alone, his purpose could only be one—to kill Li Jiexuan.
No reason needed. If he wanted you dead, then you died!
That was Orochimaru's twisted logic. But strangely, for some reason, he seemed to have changed his mind midway…
"How interesting… that little brat!"
Outside the tent, Orochimaru walked along, extending his tongue with a soft "slurp, slurp" sound. "That kind of gaze and behavior—definitely not that of a child!"
"Could it be… rejuvenation?" Narrowing his eyes, Orochimaru slightly lowered his sleeve. Several gray snakes slithered out and swiftly made their way toward Li Jiexuan's tent.
Meanwhile, several hundred kilometers away in a forest…
"Ahhh—!"
The scream of a dying human was always especially miserable. A terrifying man wearing a gas mask slowly pulled a massive black scythe from the chest of a Konoha ninja.
"It seems these Konoha ninjas had already discovered your traces!"
"Lord Hanzō, our search was inadequate. Please forgive us!" In an instant, nearly a hundred Rain ninjas dropped to their knees, begging for Hanzō's pardon.
Seeing this, Hanzō couldn't help but shake his head. He wasn't lamenting that their intelligence had been exposed to Konoha—but rather the cowardice and incompetence of these subordinates!
Even standing at the pinnacle of the ninja world, known as a demigod, there was no way he could survive in this chaotic era while leading such a group of useless fools…