In the Amegakure, in a dimly lit secret room.
"I heard there are people outside gathering intelligence on the Akatsuki?"
An orange-haired man spoke expressionlessly, his tone equally devoid of emotion, like a puppet.
"It's Orochimaru. He's been making a lot of moves Amegakure these past few days."
In the darkness, a person wearing Swirl Mask was lying on the sofa, looking at the orange-haired man.
To be precise, it was looking at his Rinnegan, which had a slightly eerie blue Rinnegan.
The Sharingan exposed outside the mask also flashed with a faint light.
"Orochimaru? Whatever his plans, we still need to go and check it out!"
Standing on the balcony, looking down at the Amegakure shrouded in rain, this is the highest point in the Amegakure, a place where those in power like to look down on all living beings.
At this moment, Pain already possessed the domineering and imposing aura befitting a leader.
"I remember Orochimaru being quite a troublesome opponent; I think you should go there yourself!"
A hint of apprehension flashed deep within Obito's Sharingan; he had also vaguely seen Orochimaru's figure on the Nine-Tails Attack.
Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, he was certain that the figure was Orochimaru.
He was able to stand up against the Nine-Tails in that situation, and it is said that he even cooperated with Minato to seal the Nine-Tails afterward.
Whether based on his fame or firsthand observation, Orochimaru is indeed a person worthy of attention.
"Fine, he certainly deserves my request!"
Meanwhile, in the Hozuki Castle of the Land of Grass, Orochimaru sat calmly on his throne.
The small Kusagakure has virtually no standing in the Ninja World.
During every major battle, Ōnoki could come and go as he pleased, and the ninjas of Kusagakure wouldn't dare utter a single word.
Besides being subservient to outsiders, the village is in complete chaos internally, with factions divided into the Grass Fruit Faction and the Grass Flower Faction.
The two factions are the pro-war faction and the pro-peace faction. They are quite assertive in the village and fight each other to the death year after year. Even the village chief is frequently replaced.
It's clear that these people are obsequious to outsiders but ruthless to their own people, which is quite bizarre.
Looking down at the blood-soaked figures below, Orochimaru slowly stepped down from the throne.
"Someone like you think you can revive the Kusagakure?"
Orochimaru stomped on Mui's face. This guy was using the guise of reviving the Land of Grass to try and open the Box of Paradise to unify the Ninja World.
He himself doesn't dare to easily talk about unifying the Ninja World, yet the small Kusagakure has such ambitions.
Where do we place the Five Great Nations? Where do we place the Akatsuki operating in the shadows? And where do we place the Kara, whose very existence is uncertain?
"What utter nonsense! Your son is dead. If you want to see him, I'll send you away!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Orochimaru stomped on his neck and snapped it.
Seeing this, the other two, who were also on the Ox Head and Horse Face of death, trembled all over, as if it would be their turn to die at any moment.
The matter is quite simple: Wuwei attempted to open the Box of Paradise through his son, but Mui, his Chakra was insufficient to meet the opening conditions.
After being swallowed by the Box of Paradise, Mui began to organize Teuchi the guise of reviving the Kusagakure, attempting to open the Box of Paradise again to rescue his son.
Orochimaru's plan to attract the attention of the Akatsuki this time was naturally to stir up trouble in the Land of Grass of Amegakure.
It's hard to avoid attracting their attention if you just reveal a little bit of information about investigating the Akatsuki.
As for going directly to the Amegakure, that's another story. In the Original Work, it was Kabuto Yakushi who helped Orochimaru gather information, but he didn't gather anything that specific.
If I head straight for Amegakure, I'll probably get Nagato's apprehension instead of his offer of a recruit.
Orochimaru didn't want to stand out too much. Kabuto was probably only 10 years old this year and had just graduated from the Ninja Academy. Why bother with all that effort?
Since we want to approach this from the side, then the Kusagakure in the Land of Grass is the best target.
Anyway, the Northern Lands army will come to conquer this place eventually.
Orochimaru wouldn't mind taking the first step and wiping out all these high-ranking ninjas, branding those who needed to be branded and killing those who needed to be killed!
Moreover, the legendary ultimate artifact left behind by the Sage of Sage of Six Paths, the Box of Paradise, is also located here.
Orochimaru was also somewhat interested in this divine artifact that had been passed down for over a thousand years.
According to his memory, this box was said to grant people one wish when opened.
That's a bit arrogant; in reality, it's filled with nothing but fear and destruction.
By channeling Chakra into the box, it creates all sorts of powerful and bizarre creatures. The person who created this box intends to use it to uproot cities and destroy countries.
Of course, these are conclusions Orochimaru drew from his memories, and further research is needed to determine the specifics.
Moreover, could any weapon, no matter how powerful, surpass the Nine-Tails? If it were truly that powerful, would the other Five Great Nations have remained indifferent? They would have already come to vie for it.
And then there's the legendary monster created by the box, which even those with murderous intent cannot harm.
There's even less to worry about with Orochimaru. No matter how monstrous he is, can he escape the law of conservation of energy? Can he violate Newton's First Law?
Not to mention Orochimaru, Ōnoki's Dust Release would turn it into dust in no time.
If that still doesn't work, then that's interesting. Wouldn't it be possible to capture and seal him away to make Jinchuriki?
With ten or eight Jinchuriki from the Northern Lands possessing unlimited Chakra, wouldn't it be just a matter of time before they sweep across the Ninja World?
So how could things be so wonderful? Just think about it. The dream of unifying the Ninja World with the Box of Paradise is just a dream. Don't actually do it, or people will die!
"Submit or die! Choose one!"
He kicked Mui's corpse aside and looked coldly at Mui's subordinates.
What powerful ninjas could a tiny place possibly have? If these people don't know what's good for them, Orochimaru wouldn't mind taking them all out.
It might be better to select a few ninjas from the peace faction who are willing to submit at that time.
"I... I am willing to submit!"
"Me too, please, sir, spare my life!"
It was Ox-Head and Ox Head and Horse Face who spoke first; Orochimaru had thought these two ninjas, who had followed Mui for so long, would be more assertive.
Unexpectedly, he was the first to jump out and surrender after the boss died. It's true that no one in this world is loyal!
Orochimaru didn't waste any words. He stepped forward and branded them one by one, breaking the necks of those he couldn't brand.
At this point, you're still thinking about rebelling and avenging your boss? When you're in the underworld, loyalty comes at a price.
And so, over the next few days, Orochimaru successfully branded hundreds of ninjas from the Kusagakure.
A country with fewer than two hundred ninjas dares to call itself a country? No wonder the three thousand ninjas from the Land of Earth didn't dare utter a sound when they passed through.
Among the ninjas who were subdued were the pro-peace faction, and they had almost wiped out the entire Kusagakure.
Now it's even less likely that the Grass Ninja can stir up any trouble, because all their discontent has disappeared.
Orochimaru didn't even need to lift a finger; a hundred disloyal ninjas would be enough to silence any dissenting voices.
He also successfully found the hidden Box of Paradise in the Hozuki Castle.
This divine artifact, which was thrown into the sea by Killer B Eight-Tails than ten years later, has now finally fallen into his hands!