Is that so?
So that was it?
That was why he saw through my real body?
Hearing Hada Ichiba's words, the stiffness on Orochimaru's face slowly eased.
Clearly, he had already understood where his problem lay.
And once he understood the problem, the tension in his heart subsided as well.
After all, the reason he had revealed killing intent was not simply because something he did not wish to recall—or something he did not want a junior like Hada Ichiba to know—had been brought up. In fact, that was not much of a factor at all.
What had truly caused him to lose composure—or rather, the main reason for it—was that Hada Ichiba had discovered his real body. That was no empty threat.
It was because the intelligence Hada Ichiba possessed was extremely thorough.
He knew his circumstances very well.
Being known so thoroughly by someone else had made him overreact somewhat.
That was right. From Hada Ichiba's words, what he truly cared about was not that Hada Ichiba had guessed his real body, but how this Hada Ichiba had guessed it.
And indeed, he cared greatly about the Sharingan.
After all, those eyes had nearly negated the efforts of countless geniuses, himself included.
With just a single glance, the owner of those eyes, Uchiha Itachi, had cut off one of his arms.
It was also from that time onward that his already considerable interest in the Sharingan gradually caught up to his interest in immortality ninjutsu. He had even collaborated with Danzo again to conduct research on the Sharingan.
Until, during this plan, he heard that the sole surviving descendant of the Uchiha Clan in Konoha had awakened the Sharingan.
Then, almost without regard for the consequences, he had infiltrated these Chunin Exams to test Second Pillar's Sharingan.
And