The Temptation of Impure World Reincarnation Lies in Immortality
"This, this is..."
At the entrance to a valley in the Land of Water, Ao and three ninjas hid behind a boulder. A vein bulged slightly around his right eye, and cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.
"Senior Ao, what's wrong?" A Mist Ninja looked at Ao with a serious expression.
Not long ago, Kirigakure received intelligence that foreign ninjas were active in the vicinity and were suspected of making contact with Orochimaru's subordinates.
After much deliberation, Mizukage Mei Terumi decided to send Ao to investigate the matter.
Ao's Byakugan is a precious treasure of Kirigakure and has always been coveted by other countries. Now that Iwagakure and Kumogakure have almost broken ties with Kirigakure, even though Ao has outstanding sensory abilities, Mei Terumi has not sent Ao out to investigate intelligence.
However, the longer the situation drags on, the more dangerous it becomes for Kirigakure.
During this long period of time, Kumogakure and Iwagakure have been operating with impunity, and who knows how much intelligence they have gathered about Kirigakure.
If this continues, more secrets of Kirigakure will be exposed.
Faced with such a perilous situation, no matter how precious the Byakugan is, Qing had no choice but to take action for the sake of the village.
However, Ao didn't expect that when he led his team to the valley and used his Byakugan to scout, he found that there were no foreign ninjas in the valley, nor any of Orochimaru's so-called subordinates.
The person waiting for him in the valley was none other than Orochimaru!
Orochimaru!
Qing decisively ordered, "Retreat! This is not an enemy we can handle!"
"Hehehehe..."
With a low, hoarse laugh, Orochimaru emerged halfway from the ground behind Ao and his companions, his snake-like eyes coldly fixed on them.
"I've been waiting for you for so long!"
Orochimaru was dressed in a beige kimono, his pale face bearing a sinister smile.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
"Ah--"
Hinata heard the next afternoon from the Land of Water when the Jonin meeting ended.
The events in the Land of Water were completely unexpected for Hinata. She had thought that Hinata would suffer the same Orochimaru as Kirigakure and be utterly humiliated by Sunagakure.
Orochimaru tricked everyone.
Yesterday, after receiving the 'action' code from Kabuto Yakushi, the Stone Ninja and Cloud Ninja simultaneously launched an operation against Kirigakure. They brazenly infiltrated Kirigakure and caused destruction, while secretly sending out elite squads to infiltrate the Kirigakure and steal the Impure World Reincarnation.
They all thought Orochimaru would cooperate with them, and everyone thought that Orochimaru's purpose was to provoke a war Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Even though Orochimaru had told the Raikage long ago that he wanted Ao's Byakugan from Kirigakure, the Raikage always believed that Orochimaru was deceiving him.
After all, with the power of the Impure World Reincarnation, Orochimaru could easily summon several Kage Level ninjas, then launch a frontal attack on Kirigakure and kidnap Ao from Kirigakure.
Especially after the Sand Village Collapse Plan, the Raikage felt that if Orochimaru wanted to obtain the Byakugan, he didn't need to cooperate with the Kumogakure at all.
However, in reality, without Hinata's cooperation, Orochimaru's strength was almost unchanged from two years ago.
Let alone a direct attack on Kirigakure, Orochimaru would be lucky to escape being killed by Kirigakure.
No one could have imagined that Orochimaru's real purpose was simply to obtain Ao's Byakugan.
After eliminating three of Ao's teammates, Orochimaru retreated from the Land of Water with the unconscious Ao.
Mei Terumi was also very cautious.
When she discovered that the Cloud Ninja and the Stone Ninja were acting simultaneously, she did not immediately launch a counterattack, but instead focused most of the Kirigakure's strength on defending against Orochimaru's surprise attack.
However, when Mei Terumi realized that Orochimaru hadn't made any move, the Cloud Ninja and Iwagakure who had rushed into Kirigakure like fools were in deep trouble.
They were almost completely wiped out.
Even their attempt to steal the Impure World Reincarnation technique failed.
In fact, the Impure World Reincarnation was indeed stolen by the Stone Ninja.
After witnessing the devastation of Sunagakure and learning about Orochimaru's power, Mei Terumi never intended to continue using the Impure World Reincarnation. She even proactively leaked information about Impure World Reincarnation and Impure World Reincarnation away.
But Orochimaru didn't come at all!
Without Orochimaru, and having reached some kind of consensus with Konoha, Mei Terumi has nothing to fear from Iwagakure and Kumogakure.
Thus, before the Stone Ninja who had stolen the Impure World Reincarnation technique could even leave the Land of Land of Water, they were surrounded by a large number of Mist Ninja.
After all, the Land of Water is the territory of Kirigakure.
At the Hyuga residence, the high-ranking members of the Hyuga Clan gathered once again.
"Perhaps the current situation is much better than what we initially envisioned."
After learning about Orochimaru's actions in the Land of Water, Hyuga Hiashi felt much more at ease.
At least Iwagakure and Kumogakure did not actually fight each other.
Such losses are not crippling for the villages, but they are enough to anger them, especially since they have not yet received what they want.
Hyuga Hiashi analyzed, "The current situation is relatively stable. Next, the villages will hold back and act more secretly."
"However, after this incident, each village suffered a loss, and with the Impure World Reincarnation as bait, the covert struggles will become even more intense."
The Great Elder scoffed, "But it also makes it easier to shift the conflict to the negotiating table!"
Hyuga Hiashi and shook his head, saying, "It shouldn't be that easy!"
"The purpose of each party proposing to keep a copy of the Impure World Reincarnation during the Kage Summit was to prevent Konoha from researching the Impure World Reincarnation."
"Once the Impure World Reincarnation is made public, an Arms Race over Impure World Reincarnation technique will inevitably follow, with major Shinobi Village sending out ninjas to search for the graves of the strongest Shinobi World."
"The Fifth Hokage will never tolerate this happening!"
After a pause, Hyuga Hiashi continued, "But if everything goes back to the way it was, neither Sunagakure nor Kumogakure will be satisfied!"
Sunagakure will not be willing to suffer losses for nothing, and Kumogakure will not be willing to give up the Impure World Reincarnation they have already obtained.
At the same time, the Kumogakure will not be content to maintain the status quo.
After all, they already had two copies of the Impure World Reincarnation.
Hizashi Hyuga said, "Brother is right, the Land of Water will likely continue to be in chaos."
"... If the Mizukage were smart, she should have given the Impure World Reincarnation to other villages so that Kirigakure could extricate itself from this conflict."
Clearly, Mei Terumi was unwilling to give up the Impure World Reincarnation she possessed.
Even if that was only a quarter of the Impure World Reincarnation.
However, the complete version of the Impure World Reincarnation is no less powerful than that of the Tailed Beasts.
Even more so, if the Impure World Reincarnation can revive the dead in their prime, then some people who die of old age or in battle are not truly dead.
Immortality!
Ninjas also grow old, but with the Impure World Reincarnation, those ninjas could simply commit suicide in their prime and have the village's ninjas use the Impure World Reincarnation to revive them.
During the Sand Village Collapse Plan, Impure World Reincarnation revealed his true power to the world.
Many Sand Ninja witnessed Gaara fighting the Third Kazekage while simultaneously conversing with him.
The Third Kazekage's wisdom, power, experience, and self-awareness were in no way different from those of a living person.