Stretching his mouth and throat wide with chakra, Orochimaru spewed out the same kitchen knife that he had borrowed from the former guardians of the previous owner of this body.
The knife was then held in place, and Orochimaru reinforced it with the doton Chakra enhanced senjutsu while he began to run wind chakra over the blade, causing the edge of the blade to visually enlarge and take on a bluish hue.
When Orochimaru, sharply increasing the flow of wind chakra, made a broad horizontal sweep, a thin shock wave of chakra came from the knife, which, reaching the wall, easily split the chakra-reinforced stone, leaving a five-meter deep furrow in its wake.
"Pretty decent, considering that the chakra consumption does not exceed the cost of a standard D-rank technique", Hovered Orochimaru, scrutinizing the knife for damage.
"Ordinary steel, even reinforced with Doton, would have cracked immediately from such a load", Thought Orochimaru. "Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't be able to combine the two elemental attributes in an ordinary knife. But senjutsu literally works wonders."
When Orochimaru stopped feeding chakra to the knife, he wanted to deactivate his ideal Sage mode by blocking the appropriate tenketsu near the core, but he immediately changed his mind when he sensed with his newfound sensory perception two people suddenly within his line of sight.
Okay they would have been the usual passersby that occasionally pass over his hiding place.
But the fact that they just suddenly appeared at his entrance without crossing his sensory barrier, and also if you take into account the characteristic swirls of natural energy that clung directly to their chests, the intensity of which was at least several times greater than his, gave them away to be far from ordinary tourists.
"This is going to be interesting", Orochimaru grimaced, putting on his white kimono as he ran to the exit of the training area.
"Why don't you tell me why you took me away from my work on potions for the medical wing?", Snape grumbled, adjusting his robe after the unexpected apparatus.
"Severus, this matter cannot be delayed!", Said Dumbledore in a serious voice, preparing his wand. "Harry is in grave danger! It is possible that he is being held captive by some mad researcher, one of the followers of the Dark Lord, and I am even afraid to guess which one!", He said loudly, trying to get his point across to his perpetually disgruntled interlocutor.
Severus did not have to repeat himself a second time, for he quickly understood the seriousness of the situation, and without delay drew his wand from his waist holster, asking briefly:
"Where?"
Dumbledore was pleased with the result of his conviction, and so he began to wave his wand vigorously around, trying to sense the protective charms.
""I've never seen a configuration like this before"", Thought Dumbledore, as he considered a rather powerful diversion of the eye in one of the areas of the range.
"Over there", He pointed his wand, immediately heading in the direction indicated. "Try to follow my step, for I do not know what enchantments conceal this passageway."
When Albus came close to the illusion, he could finally see exactly what lay beneath it. As he had expected, under the averted eye all along was the supposed entrance to the so-called "underground laboratory".
"Any information on the enemy?", Asked Severus, who was following exactly in Dumbledore's footsteps, coming to the same spot.
"Nothing but a name, and a possible nationality. Orochimaru, do you know him?", Dumbledore asked.
After thinking for a while, Severus answered:
"I haven't heard anything, but it sounds like something Oriental."
"Japanese. Yamato-no Orochi is an eight-headed serpentine dragon with eight tails, from Japanese mythology. No contemporary wizards know if it actually existed, or if it's just another Muggle fairy tale that Japanese wizards have been imbued with."
"Thanks for the lecture on Oriental mythology, Professor." He grimaced sarcastically. "But we are not here to tell each other beautiful foreign fairy tales. We need to find the boy immediately, and preferably apprehend whoever is behind his abduction.
"Yes, Severus, you're right. I got too carried away again", He exhaled ashamedly as he made his way down to the stone barrier.
With a wave of his wand, and finding no charms, Dumbledore pointed the tip of it at the supposed door, and briefly, more on instinct than necessity, said
"Alohomora."
But nothing happened.
"Alohomora!", Dumbledore said it more insistently, but it had no effect.
"Stand back", Snape said irritably, shoving the older wizard with his shoulder. "Bombarda Maxima!"
And after these words, with a loud explosion, more than half a meter in thickness of the barrier turned into a large stone rubble, which immediately scattered throughout leading down a wide corridor.
"Thank you", Albus said dryly as he made his way down the stone stairs.
""I didn't feel any chakra"", Thought Orochimaru, watching the two users of natural energy with his sensory abilities, just a dozen meters away from them, burrowing into the stone with his mole hiding technique.
""It looks very much like a bakuton explosion, but it's probably some kind of local senjutsu technique. Though that old man in his long gray beard looks like the first Mizukage, he either couldn't use it or didn't want to..."", He pondered.
"Or maybe it was just because of his stupidity that he didn't think of it", Orochi grinned.
"That's the main point", Thought Orochimaru as he watched the strange couple finally arrive at the beginning of the main hallway of the dungeon.
"If they go right into the labyrinth I just recently finished setting up, we can have some more fun", Thought Orochimaru, involuntarily flicking out his long tongue. "But if they discover the secret passageway to the lab, that will be the end of all the fun", Immediately he frowned.
But as Orochimaru had expected, the two strange users of senjutsu were unable to discover the passageway he had previously made with the tunnel concealment technique. The same technique that had indirectly brought him to this world.
"Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku", now we can really have some fun. - He laughed, not fearing to be overheard at all.
"Did you hear something?", Snape, who suddenly heard a distant, eerie laugh, perked up.
"Never mind," said Dumbledore, "you can imagine a lot of things in caves like that. - Albus replied, lighting his way with a simple Lumos."
A disgruntled Snape frowned even more, activated his wand's Lumos Solem and began to check the walls carefully with the beam of light, standing ahead of Dumbledore.
Suddenly, Snape, without noticing it, stepped on a strange-looking drawing, which immediately began to glow with a purple light.
"Look out!", Shouted Dumbledore, pushing his companion away with the help of a silent Flipendo.
As Albus had expected, the strange drawing immediately exploded with the power of Snape's recent Bombarda, and immediately, with great speed, shards of stone flew in all directions.
Dumbledore himself managed to cover himself with Protego's shield, which is not the case with Snape.
Because Dumbledore managed to push him away from the blast mark's impact zone, Severus himself was lying face down on the stone during the explosion, which allowed him to avoid most of the splinters, and therefore he only got away with a torn robe on his back.
"Are you alright?", Albus asked worriedly.
"Ph-ne", Severus mumbled, still lying on his bare stomach on the stone.
"That was... Disappointing", Said Orochimaru, looking at the two half-wits who had fallen for the simplest of traps, worthy only of a genin.
"But I have to admit, that instant shield managed to keep me interested", Thought Orochimaru, remembering that brief scene with the explosive tag.
"I need to 'question' them about senjutsu techniques as best we can afterwards", Orochimaru pondered, heading to the farthest room with the throne room, as he realized that nothing that would require his personal presence would happen. And he could observe from there as well, with the help of sensorics.
"Glacius!", The two wizards shouted in unison, pointing their wands at the ceiling, water trickling rapidly from its cracks.
A cold wind from the wands immediately froze the falling mass of water to the ceiling, which began to gush out of the suddenly widened cracks.
But it was clear that the freeze would not last long, for the ice began to crack harshly the very next second.
"Bombarda Maxima!", Said Snape on the run, making a hole in the suddenly closed passage.
Dumbledore and Snape managed to get out of the water trap before the ice finally collapsed, but a rather large wave of water that rushed straight after them still caught up with them, knocking the wizards off their feet.
The two incredibly irritated, soaking wet wizards got up from the cold rock, silently casting a spell of hot air to dry their clothes.
They immediately noticed that they were in a rather large and spacious room, lit only by the two torches behind them.
Suddenly, in the distance, there were monotonous claps, after which bright lights came on all around the walls, coming from thin iron tubes.
"Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku", There was an eerie, woofy laugh that belonged to a small white-skinned boy, with long black hair, and wearing a white kimono, who was sitting on a large for his stature stone throne. "Congrats. The genin exam is passed", He grinned sarcastically.
Snape visibly looked baffled when he saw the unfamiliar boy, not immediately guessing who was sitting in front of him.
But Dumbledore, who had been revisiting Petunia's memories of that very day many times before, still managed by some miracle to see the boy's face in that darkness, and so immediately recognized him as Harry Potter.
"Harry!", Albus exclaimed, hiding his wand in the sleeve of his robe as he slowly began to approach him. "How are you? What happened to you? And where is this Orochimaru?"
The boy clearly looked confused, until after a brief hesitation he answered:
"Harry? I don't know who you're talking about, but since you came to my dungeon, you should know that the name belongs to me. Though I have no idea how you knew it, old man...", The boy stretched out lazily, leaning his cheek with the hand that was on the armrest.
"He doesn't remember his name." - Dumbledore guessed at once, deciding to play along a little.
"So your name is Orochimaru...", Smiling, Dumbledore stretched out. "Excuse me, please. It's just that I know a boy with the same scar on his forehead as you. His name is Harry, that's why I called you that."
"What's your game, old man?", Orochimaru thought frowned, scrutinizing the two intruders.
He immediately guessed that Harry's name belonged to the former owner of this body, but decided to play a little amnesia game as he realized that this white-bearded old man knew the boy.
"Perhaps this is the one who branded him with the cursed seal", The man thought. "But maybe not. Too little information."
Putting those thoughts aside, Orochimaru continued to listen intently to the old man, at the same time creating two mud clones underground.
"That doesn't explain the reason why you two came to my underground base, ruining a lot of traps I spent quite a bit of time creating."
"So those were your traps?", Dumbledore asked in amazement, shrinking a little under the gaze of those piercing serpentine pupils.
"Do you see anyone else here?", Orochi asked in amazement. "It doesn't matter. You have exactly one minute to tell me the reasons for your intrusion before I start getting them out of you by force", Orochimaru grinned, licking his parched lips with his long tongue.
"You see..."
"Dumbledore!", Angrily pronounced Snape, who had been standing behind Albus the whole time, getting in line with him. "Don't you realize that this creature cannot be Harry?" He said loudly, pointing his wand at the boy. "We need to capture him immediately, and interrogate him with Veritaserum!"
"Severus...", But before Albus could continue, the boy spoke dryly and briefly:
"Bad choice", He said, before suddenly vanishing into thin air.
Snape immediately had his back to Dumbledore, trying to cast a detection spell, but he suddenly found that he could not move a single limb as he was suddenly completely enveloped by a mud snake of unknown origin.
Turning his head back Severus saw that Dumbledore was in the same position, so he knew immediately that he could only rely on his own strength.
Snape concentrated, and tried to turn into black smoke, which he did not immediately succeed.
But as soon as he was able to get out of the strong grip of the snake, and to get out of a semi-energetic state, he found that in his direction, at great speed, flew a huge, five meters in diameter ball of fire, and so at all the speed available to him, he tried to put a freezing dome around himself, though he knew that he would not have time.
But suddenly, behind him Dumbledore stood beside him, just as he flew over in white smoke, and with the help of an incredible in its power water jet, was able to somehow put out a giant shaft of flame.
When all the resulting fog had dissolved, Snape turned around and saw the two snakes that had captivated them a moment ago lying on the floor as a lifeless pile of mud.
"Harry!", Dumbledore exclaimed pleadingly. "We only want to help you! We mean you no harm!"
"Help?", Suddenly came from everywhere at once. "And how do you want to help this Harry, and how does that apply to me?", Asked a snide voice from above.
Snape immediately aimed Lumos Solem at the ceiling, and found a pale monster in the form of a little boy standing on it, looking straight into his eyes with a snide grin.
"Harry, no, Orochimaru! Please tell me, what do you remember from before you were ten years old?"