42 Second day

Orochimaru woke up at 5:00 AM the next day.

Completing morning rituals, Orochimaru did a very light breakfast.

Later, Orochimaru could be seen roaming everywhere like a curious tourist.

But what nobody knows was that it was just a clone and the real Orochimaru is already near the valley transforming into another person.

Arriving near the valley Orochimaru's hypersensitivity is already alarming him that someone was staring at him other than the anbu.

As he moves towards the valley the stare becomes more focused. But Orochimaru acted like he didn't notice and acted like a tourist and was enjoying the beauty of the mountains.

The ninja didn't attack him till now. It seems like they did not conduct unnecessary killings. After all, they can manage to hide if only some villagers disappear but it a large number of disappearance will alert the village.

So, maybe they will only kill them if he found danger beast. But as Orochimaru was walking he did not find danger beast.

Orochimaru finally sighed after walking for some time, it was too much to expect for him to find danger beast if he only relied on his luck.

Although he interrogated Retsu yesterday, he was only was a low-rank member of their group and was only tasked with small tasks.

And he did not know anything about the areas one can find the danger beast in.

Moreover, he will not be able to find traces of essence left by the danger beast if he has not already locked on it. After all, there many essences in nature and every living thing has it whether it is stone, forest, or hills.

So, he can only ask nicely ask someone to show him the way, who is more familiar with this valley.

From what he felt his follower has low chunnin level chakra and must be a high-rank member.

As Orochimaru reached a creek he picked up a pebble and made a posture as if he was going to perform stone skipping.

But surprising his stalker suddenly Orochimaru threw the pebble towards his stalker.

The follower didn't expect the middle-aged civilian to throw a stone at him. But what surprised him was the stone had already pierced his hands before he could do anything.

Of course, he can't dodge the stone as it was strengthened by star chakra and spinning at high speed. Moreover, Orochimaru has attacked directly at the nerves of hands calculating his position, terrain, and of course using multidirectional vision.

Before the follower knew four more stones dislocated his shoulders and kneecaps.

As he was falling he saw that the middle-aged person before him. Before he can say anything he was trapped in genjutsu by Orochimaru.

....

Anbu POV

The candidate this time got a valley at the edge of the village while he dispatched his clone.

When he reached the valley I suddenly become alert as I discovered someone following the candidate. It was really easy to find the follower, although it may be easy for most genin and some chunnin to not notice follower.

But the stalker's technique was not high enough to fool an anbu high chunnin ninja like him.

But it seems the candidate didn't notice it. It did not surprise me as most candidates are elite genin or low chunnin and no one would be able to find followers from them.

I was ready to save the candidate as the follower may be mid chunnin at most from his techniques.

The candidate roamed around the valley as if he was a tourist.

Was he here to investigate or is making a picnic at exams?

I would've asked such a question if I did not follow him from the start. Even if I only observed him for some days.

This candidate gave me was the feeling like he was mature, calm, strong and everyone is overcautious and full of plans.

Like most of the candidates would not even care about making a clone of themself as he did the previous night. Even some of anbu might not do it.

Was it the wrong decision? Of course not.

Some might say he is overcautious but as an anbu, he appreciated the decision.

So, maybe he has some plan.

And I was right, he suddenly threw a stone injuring the stalker who was caught of guard and taking the opportunity to immobilize the follower.

But I was really surprised when the candidate performed genjutsu. It was not a big deal as it was low-rank genjutsu, but what was terrifying the follower got trapped in genjutsu even with such injuries.

After all, the feeling of pain should've let him come out of genjutsu.

.....

If Orochimaru knows what anbu was thinking then he would only say 3 words to clarify anbu's confusion:

: 'Kotadama illusion arts.'

Genjutsu can be broken from the feeling of pain. What if he has control over receptors that his mind didn't notice his pain?

Of course, he would remain trapped in genjutsu.

His KIA has finally reached D rank and the new sense tactile has added to it. His mastery over it has already reached 30%. The first receptor he chose to practice was control over receptors for pain.

And with help of a very cooperative ninja, he was able to find out the areas where the danger beasts can be found and even the main base of the group in this valley.

Finally, he killed the ninja.

He has of no use to Orochimaru now.

At starting Orochimaru was silently going to kill the dangerous beast without making any trouble with the group, as it was time-consuming and need a lot of plan.

But after listening to the follower he came to know that the group is walking the treasure trove.

They have been here for more than 1 week and have already collected 15 grade 3 danger beasts. 15 of them is not a small amount.

With such an amount of danger beast in this area, Orochimaru knew that there is a high possibility of finding treasure or a very high-level danger beast. Maybe the group has already noticed it and searching for it.

But he will think about it later. Now he has to steal the carcass of danger beast but he knew that there is a high chance of the group retaliating or chasing him so he decided to kill all of them instead.

He can fight head-on with high chunnin with a trump card but he is not sure to win.

Moreover, he could not use the trump card as anbu was following him.

So, he has to use his wisdom to make up for his strength.

But first, he will see the total strength of the group. After all, he was not going to believe the information given by members of this group.

He would not believe even if the leader of the group told him about his strength himself, let alone some subordinate.

Orochimaru only believes in his own eyes and senses. Of course, firstly he will check if they are alright and not affected by genjutsu or ninjutsu.