He's here!
Orochimaru truly was one of the Sannin, and as the most gifted among them, his reaction speed was quite fast.
That saved me some effort.
Hearing the words within Orochimaru's cold laugh, Hada Ichiba, who had been somewhat troubled, felt a delighted thought flash through his mind.
Orochimaru's question had truly saved him the trouble.
That was right. The Cursed Seal he had mentioned could not prove how he had identified the Sound Village Jonin instructor as Orochimaru's true body rather than that Hidden Rain man in the conical hat.
The Cursed Seal only showed that Orochimaru had appeared in the second exam. It did not mean that the Sound Village Jonin instructor was Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's question had accurately pointed out the flaw in Hada Ichiba's explanation.
"Of course, that wasn't all."
Thinking this, Hada Ichiba said so.
"Then what was it?"
Orochimaru asked bluntly upon hearing that.
At this point, he had effectively admitted his identity, while Hada Ichiba had also admitted that he was Taki Chiba. Since they were laying their cards on the table, Hada Ichiba likely had some purpose or plan for these Chunin Exams.
Moreover, this plan had prompted him to be frank with Orochimaru, so it was probably not entirely in conflict with Orochimaru's own plans.
In other words, Hada Ichiba—or rather, this person suspected of being Taki Chiba—was not standing against him.
Otherwise, he would not have spoken so openly with him.
It was precisely because of this that he had never been able to believe that Hada Ichiba was Taki Chiba.
As someone who understood Taki Chiba so well, he knew that if Hada Ichiba truly were Taki Chiba, he would never be so open with someone like him, someone standing against Konoha, and have this sort of "we are