For reasons well known to all, Hagoromo ultimately could not follow Snake-san on his journey.
The legendary pairing of mad scientist Hououin Kyōma and his high-IQ assistant Christina had been strangled in the cradle before it ever had a chance to exist.
Like it or not, Hagoromo was still subject to Konoha's constraints. Openly violating the shinobi system was unwise. He couldn't openly clash with Jiraiya, and while he could "clash" with Orochimaru, his intention to help the latter escape could not be made too obvious.
"Back to the original location!"
After checking the clone only briefly, Jiraiya reacted instantly. In a situation like this, the most likely explanation was already clear to him.
Orochimaru had probably never left the original spot at all.
Until they rushed over here, Snake-san had once again taken advantage of Jiraiya's purity.
But even if they returned immediately, there was no chance of seeing any remaining traces.
Orochimaru had escaped.
Yet this could not be blamed on Hagoromo. There had been nothing suspicious about his actions—on the contrary, he had been rather proactive. At worst, one could say he had acted a bit too hastily.
At this point, it was impossible to confirm when Orochimaru had swapped his real body with a clone. Rather than dwelling on Hagoromo's responsibility, Jiraiya blamed his own carelessness.
Konoha's pursuit of Orochimaru lasted the entire night.
Even after the Hyūga Clan was belatedly mobilized on a large scale, there was still not a single trace of Orochimaru to be found.
In truth, once a shinobi like Orochimaru left one's field of vision for even a minute, the odds of locating him again dropped to near zero.
For the next three days, searches continued around Konoha's outskirts.
Nothing.
And nothing meant nothing.
The Third Hokage was forced to accept reality:
One of The Three Sannin(Legendary Sannin)—Orochimaru—had truly become a missing-nin.
And not just any missing-nin.
He was a genuine S-rank missing-nin, and aside from Uchiha Madara, only the second shinobi in Konoha's history to defect with such overwhelming strength.
Calling this year "unlucky" no longer even came close.
What exactly did I do wrong?
This question was one the Third Hokage likely asked himself more than once.
Missing-nin often possessed classified intelligence from their former villages. Should they seek revenge, the damage they could inflict was immense.
Thus, eliminating such shinobi had always been a top priority for any village.
Even though Orochimaru was his own disciple, the Third Hokage still had to dispatch ANBU to pursue him.
But a decision made too late was a decision already rendered meaningless.
Now, any further pursuit was futile.
...
"You want to personally bring Orochimaru back?"
The issue now lay with Jiraiya's persistence.
He had not given up on Orochimaru.
Facing such a disciple, the Third Hokage could only respond with surprise. For a moment, he found himself at a loss for words.
Bring Orochimaru back?
Was that even possible?
"Orochimaru has been obsessed with ninjutsu since childhood," Jiraiya said.
"This time, his actions were extreme—but I believe it was only a temporary deviation."
"That's precisely why I need to bring him back."
People only ever saw what they wanted to see.
Given the number of Konoha shinobi Orochimaru had disposed of, could "temporary deviation" really explain it all?
Either Jiraiya didn't want to understand the truth—
Or he did, and still chose to think this way.
"It will take a great deal of time," the Third Hokage said.
As Orochimaru's teacher, he knew his strength well. If Orochimaru chose to hide, then despite the shinobi world's size, finding him would require enormous time and effort.
"I've already made my resolve."
"And what about the front lines?" the Third Hokage asked.
Until now, Jiraiya had been responsible for front-line operations. If he left to pursue Orochimaru, what would happen to the war?
"Judging from the overall situation—and the unspoken understanding between us and Kumogakure—the war is already entering its final stage. Both sides are reducing their front-line forces."
"The Land of Rice Fields is gradually stabilizing. There may still be small-scale conflicts, but large-scale warfare is no longer possible."
"In other words, my necessity on the battlefield has dropped to its lowest point."
Jiraiya's assessment wasn't unreasonable—one might even call it correct.
Still, withdrawing from a war to chase another middle-aged man…
No matter how logical it sounded, it still felt oddly uncomfortable.
"This matter… I'll give it serious consideration," the Third Hokage said at last.
What decision the Hokage would ultimately make—or whether Jiraiya would truly pursue Orochimaru—was something Hagoromo did not know.
But as an outsider, the outcome was obvious.
Once Orochimaru left the village, there was no possibility—none—that he would ever return as a Konoha shinobi.
That said, none of this had much to do with Hagoromo.
What bothered him more was Konoha's overall atmosphere.
It wasn't the tension of war.
Nor the calm of peace.
It was something in between—an uncomfortable, oppressive feeling that made his skin crawl.
Thus, even though Orochimaru had only just defected and Konoha was tense both inside and out, whenever he had no mission, Hagoromo would rather remain in the harsh environment of Shikkotsu Forest than stay in the village.
And so—
He stayed in Shikkotsu Forest.
This time, however, he brought Mirai with him.
At this point, he was confident that no matter what he did, the child wouldn't die in his hands—only then did he dare keep her by his side.
As for Naruto?
He wanted to bring him too—but the agreement made that impossible.
At the moment, Hagoromo was inside one of Shikkotsu Forest's wooden towers. Looking out from the doorway, he could see three brown-red canine heads, six curious eyes peering inside.
For once, the Divided Hounds were quietly lying at the entrance.
Hagoromo himself sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by numerous unfurled scrolls spread across the ground.
To his right lay a one-meter-long Katsuyu split body, and Mirai was resting atop it.
The child rarely cried—one of the main reasons Hagoromo had dared bring her along.
"Hagoromo," Katsuyu asked softly,
"what are you planning to feed the child?"
As the only two beings here capable of speech, Hagoromo and Katsuyu occasionally exchanged a few words.
"If you don't have anything prepared," Katsuyu continued,
"what about… my mucus?"
Was this an act of love—
Or an attempt to corrode the baby?
"Please don't," Hagoromo said quickly.
"I've prepared everything properly. Your mucus… the protein content is probably too high. An infant couldn't handle it."
"Feeding babies definitely isn't within its intended use."
He immediately shut down this horrifying line of thought.
Was it just his imagination?
After being rejected, Hagoromo somehow sensed something like disappointment from Katsuyu.
Leaving aside Katsuyu's rare moment of creative thinking—
As a human, Hagoromo's own ideas were far more dangerous.
Long ago, he'd had a thought:
What would happen if Lightning Release and his electrical ability were combined?
Or more precisely—
How could he use his ability while performing ninjutsu?
The experiment itself was simple.
The danger, however, was considerable.
Hagoromo had avoided trying it until now.
But today—
He was going to test it.
The steps were straightforward.
First, he formed hand seals and created a shadow clone.
Then, lightning flared in the clone's left hand, forming Lightning Cutter.
At the same time, his own left hand manifested the tangible electric current of his ability.
Not hand-in-hand.
Not left hand to right hand.
Just a polite, restrained handshake between Hagoromo and his clone.
Before any verification, this kind of experiment was extremely ill-advised.
His arm had only recently healed.
Was he trying to die again?
At least he had the sense to switch hands—
Though that didn't really help.
It just meant taking turns suffering.
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