Konoha: Resurrected by Orochimaru at the start

"Damn it, how did it get dark so quickly?!"

At this moment, Karin hid in a small supermarket, her face pale. This was not only because Zero had said that they needed to find an empty room, but also because a supermarket, a crowded place, was clearly not suitable for this purpose.

Furthermore, the meeting point they had agreed upon was quite open, and if Sakura didn't find shelter before it got completely dark, things would be in trouble.

The sound of slippers slapping against the floor came from nearby. A middle-aged woman wearing a black striped apron came to the door, muttering complaints: "This is fucking awful! It gets dark so fast every day! How can anyone do business like this?!"

The middle-aged woman pulled the glass door in front of her and closed it, but she didn't lock it. After all, what if a new customer came in and made a purchase?

At this moment, Karin used the snack shelves around her to hide in the woman's blind spot.

The problem was that the small supermarket wasn't very big. After closing the door, the middle-aged woman started walking towards the direction where Karin was hiding.

Karin's heart sank, and she moved cautiously, like the King of Qin circling a pillar, with only a shelf separating them.

The woman was taking inventory of the goods in the supermarket, taking some out and putting them back every now and then. Before long, she had a lot of expired snacks in her hand.

Looking at the snacks in her hand, a hint of heartache flashed in the woman's eyes. In the end, she shook her head and threw them into the trash can at the front desk.

Just as Karin was about to breathe a sigh of relief after the woman left,

"Hey little sister, do you want to buy something?" The woman sat at the front desk, glancing at the security camera next to her while keeping a ledger in her hand.

Karin, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly felt her heart race. Thinking about what had happened during the day, Karin clenched her fists: "No, I..."

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside, and the door was opened. However, although the person was in a hurry, they were very polite and did not lift the door open directly. After entering, they closed the door behind them.

Ding~ Welcome!

The young man who entered instinctively looked around warily, only to see a middle-aged woman sitting at the front desk looking at him with curiosity.

The proprietress stroked her chin: "Wow~ my goodness, someone actually managed to find this place after dark?!"

The young man sighed, pursed his lips as if he didn't want to say anything more: "Boss, make me two packets of instant noodles."

"OK."

The proprietress opened the cup of noodles, added another packet, and then shuffled off in her slippers into the room behind her. As she left, she called out, "Hey little girl, come out here! I'm not going to eat you alive. It's too dark now, you can wait until it's light before you go."

The young man glanced at the snack shelf with a puzzled look, but seeing no one coming out, he looked away and patiently waited for the proprietress to bring out the instant noodles.

Ding~ The money arrived. The proprietress pointed to two tables by the window: "Sit there."

As the aroma of instant noodles began to permeate the enclosed space, Karin, hiding behind the shelf, couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

"Hey you over there, wanna come out and eat together?"

Hearing the shouts, Karin hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to go outside.

Young man: "Want some instant noodles?"

"Can……"

Karin was about to ask how she could eat with only one instant noodle bowl when she saw the person in front of her put a few bites of noodles into the instant noodle bag, and then push the rest, along with the instant noodle cup and fork, to her.

"..."

Karin fell silent. Although this gesture was genuinely thoughtful and the food smelled delicious, she wondered—should she really eat it?

Unsure how to react, Karin ultimately decided against eating the instant noodles beforehand and cautiously asked, "May I ask who you are?"

The young man slurped his noodles: "You can call me Zhou Qi. Speaking of which, ever since you came out, I've been wanting to ask you, is your red hair natural?"

"?!"

Karin forcibly suppressed the shock that was about to spill over her face. Thinking about what had happened during the day, her legs tensed up, and she had already anticipated the worst-case scenario.

Seeing that Karin hadn't answered for a while, Zhou Qi sighed and gave up in resignation, saying, "Then can you tell me how to address you?"

"...Karin"

"Your surname is Xiang? That's quite a rare surname..." Zhou Qi muttered, slurping down the last bite of noodles.

"Burp~ That feels good~"

Zhou Qi didn't say anything more, took out his phone from his pocket, as if he was sending a message.

As time went on, the aroma of the instant noodles grew stronger and stronger. Finally, Karin's stomach couldn't help but growl in protest. After all, it was just a few steamed buns, not military rations. How could it withstand the consumption of a ninja after such a long time?

In the end, her appetite overcame her reason. Karin took a deep breath, steeled her resolve, and decided to die if necessary.

With a slurping sound, the broth was completely drunk up, and tears welled up in Karin's eyes. As if she had just received a long-awaited rain, the instant noodles were the most delicious food in the world to her.

Strangely, despite eating such a small amount of instant noodles—enough to barely fill a tooth gap—Karin felt less hungry afterward.

"Thanks……"

-

"Where is this?"

Hashirama shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy, and it took a long time for the things in front of him to become clear again.

"This is a projection of the Land of Whirlpools from the past." Tobirama said, as he pulled out some money from somewhere and tried to make a deal with the vendor in front of him.

Tobirama took a bite of the steaming meat pie in his hand and frowned. It had no taste, no feeling of fullness, as if he had eaten air. It wasn't that guy's work...?

"That spot..."

Upon hearing this, Tobirama, who had been pondering, suddenly felt a surge of anger. What kind of time is this to still be thinking about Madara, Madara, Madara all the time! He was the one who saved Madara, and if it weren't for the fact that Madara was his older brother, he would have abandoned him long ago!

Tobirama said with a dark face, "Aren't you going to explain anything to me about how you turned into that grotesque creature before?"

Upon hearing this, Hashirama's brain began to function again. After a moment, he nervously touched the area below his nose and asked, "Huh? What happened? What's going on? I don't remember..."

Tobirama sneered, "Heh..."

Seeing that he couldn't get away with being dazed, Hashirama hung his head, as if shrouded in an aura of despair, and began to recount the events of the past two days.

After some time, Hashirama felt as if his mind was shrouded in something, becoming hazy and confused. Regretful, remorseful, or angry things he had done in the past slowly and irresistibly 'covered' him...

Hashirama had little recollection of what happened after that, only a vague memory that in the last few seconds before his consciousness completely faded, he seemed to see Madara, and perhaps—the two of them even fought…