In Konoha's underground chamber, Orochimaru's mad laughter rang out.
"Hehehe, hahahaha... How interesting. Truly interesting..." Orochimaru looked at the people before him—Danzo, the Third Hokage, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and... Kimimaro, whose eyes gleamed brightly. He was nearly laughing himself to tears.
"Orochimaru, after betraying the village for so many years, have you never felt any remorse?" Kimimaro asked.
Faced with Kimimaro's accusation, Orochimaru laughed even more wildly, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"What? Do you have no opinion about Kimimaro's eyes...?" Danzo asked calmly, entirely unaffected by Orochimaru's hysterical laughter.
Orochimaru gradually stopped laughing.
Sweeping a cold glance over those before him, he teased Danzo, "It seems you can't use Shisui's eyes perfectly either... Love Konoha? How laughable. Shouldn't it be loyalty to you, Danzo?"
Danzo fell silent.
If possible, he naturally would have directly twisted Kimimaro's will until he was like the Root members under his command, willing to die for him... But no one understood better than Danzo just how terrifying the willpower of subordinates brainwashed through Root's methods could be. Orochimaru's methods were likely even more refined than his own.
If he used Shisui's eyes to forcibly change the target of Kimimaro's devotion, it might cause Kimimaro's will to collapse... Thus, Danzo could only settle for the next best thing and insert a fragment of "Konoha spy" into Kimimaro's memories.
The current Kimimaro was still the Kimimaro brainwashed by Orochimaru, but above Orochimaru, Kimimaro now had a loftier object of loyalty: Konoha Village.
And when Orochimaru came into conflict with Konoha, Kimimaro chose Konoha.
Of course, that was the choice Danzo had made for him.
At this moment, Jiraiya spoke. "Actually... I once fought someone who truly possessed the Rinnegan. Yes, the person you're thinking of right now... Comparing that with the