In his basement, Fujin was working intently. What his clones had created was a new seal, a seal that had likely never existed in the history of the ninja world! Fujin was working on developing its seal imprint when his eyes suddenly widened.

He immediately stopped working and looked in the western direction with a grave expression. At the very next second, he disappeared from his basement, leaving only a Shadow Clone behind.

In the Land of Rivers, Orochimaru and Rasa were sitting facing each other. To throw Orochimaru off his game, Rasa casually said, "Orochimaru, you finally decided to meet me. My council were worried that you became fearful after your loss against The Spectral Swordsman."

Kimimaro and the rest frowned but Orochimaru just chuckled and replied, "Your council has a very wild imagination. You should bring them along next time."

Rasa's smile faded away at the indirect threat in Orochimaru's words. He glanced at Jirobo and asked, "Who's that?"

Jirobo was holding a bloodied body with a large hole in his back. The man was already dead, yet a fearful expression was plastered on his face. Rasa was surprised to see someone close to this location. They had carefully selected a location where no one would trespass for their meeting.

Orochimaru chuckled and answered, "Just a rat who was scurrying at the wrong place. I hadn't thought much of him, but he ended up being very interesting. I hadn't expected something to be happening in the dark in this country as well."

Rasa frowned. The Land of Rivers was directly situated between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind and acted as a buffer. As such, both villages were wary of the other village using the Land of Rivers as a forward base to invade the other country, especially at such a critical time.

Rasa couldn't overlook any threat from this country. He asked, "What do you mean?"

Orochimaru replied, "He was barely a Chunin. However, there was a very complicated seal on his body. A seal that would be difficult for even a Grandmaster to see. Even I suffered due to it."

Orochimaru let out a chuckle as he glanced towards his right arm.

Fifteen minutes ago -

Even though the number of ninjas in the Phantom Haven Society was still low, it maintained a large intelligence network that went even beyond the Land of River. The Field Agents had to frequently make trips to collect information from the informants. Unfortunately, one of them happened to pass right through the area where Orochimaru's group was waiting for Rasa to arrive. Needless to say, the poor guy stood no chance. He was easily captured by the Sound Four. They asked him a few questions but he didn't give any answer.

Orochimaru walked towards him as he said, "Interesting. I wonder why you are in such a desolate area at this time. Whose orders are you following?"

Fear appeared on the field agent's face as he muttered in shock, "Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru placed his right hand on his head and said, "Let me see what brought you here."

He inserted Yin chakra into his head. However, at that very instant, Orochimaru's eyes widened. He quickly withdrew his arm and shouted, "Let him go!"

Jirobo and Kidomaru, who were holding the ninja, quickly let him go as several seals appeared on his body. Orochimaru turned his attention to his own arm, which was covered in several curse seals. Both he and his subordinates were shocked. Orochimaru was about to control the seals and stop them from spreading when he instinctively felt a great danger.

He immediately chopped his arm off and wondered, 'What was that? Why did I feel like I was about to suffer heavily? What was in those curse seals? Hmm? My instincts are still warning me. Who is this guy?'

"Lord Orochimaru, are you alright?" Kimimaro asked worriedly. Orochimaru didn't reply but instead attacked his severed arm, which was completely covered in curse seals by then, completely destroying it. He flickered behind the Field Agent, who had fallen lifelessly to the ground and attacked his back, destroying the part where the Phantom Seal was located.

A couple of hundred kilometers away, Fujin appeared in the Land of River. He began sensing his Flying Thunder God marks once again, but a frown appeared on his face as he muttered, "Weird…"

Fujin analyzed, 'The sensation I got earlier… Someone must have tried to mess with the Phantom Seal. Unfortunately, I still can't detect the marks in the Land of River from Konoha. So, I can't say for sure where that incident happened. However, now that I'm here, I can detect all the marks in this country.

Once someone tries to read the memory of my subordinates, the Phantom Seal not only counterattacks with curse seals but also transfers a Flying Thunder God mark on that ninja's body. Considering the mark on my subordinate's body, there should be one stationary and one moving mark very close to each other.

However, I can't sense any two marks close to each other outside of the Phantom Haven Base. Were my marks destroyed?'

Even though the Flying Thunder God marks were permanent and couldn't be destroyed, the same couldn't be said about the objects or people that were marked. To Fujin's knowledge, that was the only way to get rid of the mark. Since Orochimaru destroyed his severed arm and the back of the field agent, Fujin's Flying Thunder God marks, which were on their flesh, were lost as well. As such, he couldn't sense them anymore.

Needless to say, the danger Orochimaru felt was from the Flying Thunder God mark. While Fujin was curious to see who had attacked his subordinate, he planned to first send his Shadow Clone to slam a Rasenshuriken into whoever that person was and investigate it later. If Orochimaru had delayed even for a few seconds, he would have suffered heavily, or even died, irrespective of whether Fujin wanted to harm him or not.

Rasa broke Orochimaru out of his thoughts by asking, "A seal that even a Grandmaster can't detect? Why was it on someone as weak as him?"

Orochimaru replied, "No idea. I'll look more into it after we have dealt with Konoha. Regardless of who it is, they have successfully gained my attention."

A disgusting grin appeared on Orochimaru's face as he thought, 'Let me see who it was that could make me feel such danger. Hehehe…'

His grin disgusted Rasa. He said, "You're right. We can look into this later. For now, focus on the important matter. Baki reported that your colleague, the Toad Sage, has returned to Konoha due to your stunt. Along with Suzuki Fujin's strength, our original plan is useless now. If we continue with the same plan, it'll be us who'll lose our heads!"

Orochimaru replied, "I know. Why do you think I was so busy for the past few weeks?"

Rasa replied in annoyance, "How can I know when you refused to meet up until now? There is only a week left until the final round begins now. It is too late to make any significant changes."

Orochimaru replied, "Don't worry. I have already made arrangements to take care of the matter. However, you're right. We need to change our plans."

Rasa asked, "What changes do you propose?"

Orochimaru answered, "For starters, you won't fight against the Hokage. Instead, I'll fight him alone. You, on the other hand, will stall Suzuki Fujin. With your magnet release and ability to manipulate Gold, that wouldn't be too difficult."

Rasa frowned. He asked, "How strong is the boy? How true is the news propagated by Konoha?"

A smirk appeared on Orochimaru's face as he answered, "Strong, very strong. He might be the strongest ninja at Wind manipulation currently alive. At the very least, he is stronger than you. You won't be able to kill him. Hence, your focus needs to only be on stalling him until I'm done with Hiruzen.

Of course, Konoha has stretched the truth. The main reason for my retreat was to avoid having to face both Fujin and Hiruzen at the same time. However, he was able to fight against me on equal ground and even gain the upper hand a few times. Don't underestimate that boy when you stall him."

Rasa's frown deepened. He didn't like what he was hearing. He snorted internally and thought, 'Stronger than me? Are you implying that you're stronger than me? How presumptuous! However…'

Under normal circumstances, Rasa wouldn't have taken such an insult lying down. However, Orochimaru's belief was advantageous for his plans. So, he kept his calm and said, "Tell me everything about his abilities."