Inside the Hokage office of Konoha Village, Orochimaru sat behind the massive desk, surrounded by piles of documents stacked like insurmountable little hills. His brow furrowed slightly as his pen moved restlessly among the paperwork, dealing with these endlessly tedious affairs of Konoha. His slender fingers casually flipped through the documents before him; with each one he read, the irritability in his heart grew a fraction more.
Handling the affairs of Konoha Village was never what he truly desired in his heart. Yet now, as the Hokage, these tedious matters surged toward him like a rising tide, impossible to avoid.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he snapped his head up, his gaze piercing straight ahead. Within his line of sight appeared a pair of eyes—eyes resembling a bottomless abyss, so profound they chilled the bone, as though capable of devouring everything. A shock rippled through Orochimaru; every muscle in his body instantly tensed, and a chill crept up his spine. Yet, in merely a split second, those eyes vanished like a fleeting bubble without a trace, leaving not the slightest hint behind.
Chapter 48