Orochimaru had once tried to evade Aoba. He was very skilled at it, hidden bases and secret laboratories were scattered all across the shinobi world.
For a time, he did manage to avoid Aoba's surveillance, disappearing to some unknown place. However, that was only because Aoba had temporarily loosened his watch over him.
Once Aoba had the time to focus again, tracking down Orochimaru was never an issue.
Konoha's Anbu forces had grown to an unprecedented level. At this point, nearly every notable shinobi in the world was under the watchful eyes of Konoha's Anbu.
When Orochimaru was finally located, he didn't think much of it at first.
After all, it was only a single squad of Konoha's Anbu jōnin that had found him.
For most shinobi, an Anbu jōnin squad would be an extremely dangerous threat.
But to Orochimaru? He didn't even take them seriously.
The Anbu had been hunting him for years, he knew their capabilities better than anyone.
Sure, Konoha's Anbu were far stronger now than they had been under the Third Hokage. But it still wasn't enough for Orochimaru to fear a single squad.
There were indeed several people in Konoha that he could not afford to offend, aside from Aoba, there were also a few other mysterious figures that he wasn't confident against.
But a mere Anbu jōnin squad trying to capture him?
That was insulting.
Thirty minutes later, Orochimaru stood exhausted in the middle of a ruined forest, staring at the four shinobi before him.
He was in utter disbelief.
After his last transaction with Aoba, Orochimaru had sensed the killing intent directed at him. So, he went into hiding, focusing on his own research.
He had once coveted Itachi's Sharingan and Nagato's Rinnegan.
But the shinobi world had changed too rapidly.
Thanks to Kamigawa Aoba's interference, the world had evolved so much in just a few years that even Orochimaru himself was struggling to keep up.
He had known about Konoha's chakra cloaks.
He had even attempted to replicate one himself.
But due to technical limitations, his version was far inferior.
And now, seeing the real thing in action…
Forget the special abilities, just the sheer endless chakra supply alone was completely unnatural.
The four Anbu shinobi before him were casting jutsu as if chakra cost them nothing.
One after another, they bombarded him with large-scale attacks.
All of them were either wide-range destruction jutsu or area-control techniques.
These jutsu couldn't kill Orochimaru.
But they forced him to waste chakra dodging or defending himself.
Normally, large-scale jutsu were only used in group battles or on the battlefield.
The reason?
The chakra cost was too high.
Without enough teammates, a shinobi would exhaust themselves after just a few uses.
But when chakra was no longer a concern?
That was when things got truly absurd.
In less than half an hour, the entire forest had been flattened.
Orochimaru, of course, wasn't dead. He wasn't even injured.
But he was starting to lose patience, because his chakra was limited. His Soft Physique Modification granted him extraordinary defense, regeneration, and taijutsu enhancements. But it was also a massive chakra drain.
The worst part? He couldn't escape. His opponents had clearly practiced countering him.
Not only were they highly skilled in multiple elemental jutsu, applying constant suppression they were also armed with special ninja tools beyond his expectations.
For example when Orochimaru summoned Manda to assist in the battle, the Anbu threw a single bomb at it.
Just one bomb, and Manda was instantly blasted back to the Ryūchi Cave.
That bomb was a byproduct of Konoha's chakra cloak experiments. Failed chakra cloaks were repurposed into single-use explosives.
Their power? Roughly equivalent to a weakened Tailed Beast Bomb.
They were designed specifically for dealing with large-scale summoning beasts like Manda.
And if that wasn't bad enough the Anbu also carried an arsenal of sealing scrolls, specifically prepared to counter Orochimaru's endless forbidden jutsu.
Orochimaru was furious and even more than that, he was in shock.
"I was only in my lab for one year... And the shinobi world has already changed this much?!"
"Since when could a random Anbu jōnin squad overpower one of the Legendary Sannin?!"
Orochimaru's research had not been fruitless. Aoba had once held great expectations for him. He had even leaked several secret pieces of information to him and Orochimaru, given just a starting point—would naturally dig deeper on his own.
Aoba had deliberately withheld guidance, just to see whether Orochimaru could forge his own path.
And now, Orochimaru was about to prove it. In the next instant... Orochimaru suddenly collapsed to the ground. He was dead!!!
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI