Orochimaru's Choice

After Yichen left, Orochimaru pondered for a while before using Earth Release to burrow underground and disappear.

Some time later, at another base in the Land of Land of Whirlpools, Orochimaru appeared and went straight to a room at the deepest part of the base.

Inside the room, a fair-skinned little boy with two red dots on his forehead was training hard.

When the little boy saw his mentor, Lord Orochimaru, enter, his previously indifferent eyes immediately brightened. He quickly walked to Orochimaru's side and said in a tone full of respect and reliance, "Lord Orochimaru, you're back?"

Orochimaru looked at this vessel, the most perfect one he had ever used, his emotions churning.

Kimimaro possesses both exceptional talent and unwavering loyalty, making him a highly suitable vessel for the future. However, Kimimaro has one flaw: an incurable Bloodline Disease.

This body might become useless before it even grows to the level it desires.

However, the Bloodline Disease given Orochimaru a major headache has now become good news.

"Bloodline Disease? It should be the awakening of the ultimate Kekkei Genkai. In that case, the First should have died from Bloodline Disease as well," Orochimaru muttered to himself.

Orochimaru had always had a question: how could someone as powerful First have died in battle? The cells obtained from the First's corpse possessed unparalleled vitality, so why did First die?

Perhaps it was because the First Hokage had developed Wood Release —no, I should say Yang Release —to its extreme that his Bloodline Disease could not be cured, ultimately leading to his death.

Only this cause of death can explain why the First Hokage's Cells contained such astonishing vitality.

"Hashirama Senju, the ultimate Yang Release, the vanished corpse of Madara Uchiha, and the Rinnegan!" Orochimaru's breathing became rapid as he thought of this.

However, he quickly calmed down. Even if what Yichen said was true, it was almost impossible for him to synthesize a pair of Rinnegan. The current Ninja World didn't have Madara Uchiha or Hashirama Senju. Even if it did, Orochimaru wouldn't be able to handle ninjas of that level.

Then I guess I'll have to take it. Akatsuki Organization, interesting. Is he a puppet, or is he actually Madara Uchiha? It seems joining Akatsuki Organization is necessary.

"However, obtaining the Rinnegan isn't guaranteed; otherwise, that guy with the title of 'Fox of Stone' wouldn't have been so blunt with me."

"In that case, we can't give up on the fusion of the Shikotsumyaku and the Byakugan so easily."

Orochimaru looked down at Kimimaro, but his thoughts drifted to the Hyuga Clan of Konoha. Should he choose the Caged Bird or the Main Family?

If it weren't for the secrets Yichen mentioned, Orochimaru wouldn't have taken the Hyuga Clan seriously, and similarly, he wouldn't have valued the Caged Bird from the Hyuga Branch Family.

But now that Orochimaru has learned about the ancient traditions of these ninja clans, he feels that the Caged Bird is probably not simple. That leaves only the Hyuga Main Family.

Moreover, the ultimate Shikotsumyaku naturally requires the ultimate Byakugan to match, and the purity of the branch family's Byakugan is probably not as good as that of the Main Family.

Rumor has it that the Byakugan of the Hyuga Main Family fell into the hands of the Mist ninja. It seems that the Mist ninja only obtained one, and the other is probably with the Iwa ninja. However, these two Byakugan are likely protected by various restrictions, so obtaining them will not be easy.

"Then, Hyuga Hiashi!" Orochimaru recalled his impression of Hyuga Hiashi before he defected.

Kimimaro looked up at Orochimaru with curiosity. He could sense that Orochimaru was deep in thought, and his intuition told him that this matter was related to him.

Is it because of my Bloodline Disease? I've disappointed Lord Orochimaru.

Yichen hesitated before making a deal with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru paid a high price for two seemingly insignificant pieces of information, appearing to have suffered a great loss. However, Yichen knew that Orochimaru had actually gained something. The biggest benefit Orochimaru gained from this maneuver was time and opportunity.

In the original work, Orochimaru only learned the secret of the Sharingan during the Fourth Shinobi War, and during this period Orochimaru wasted a great deal of time on the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the Mangekyō Sharingan, and the First Hokage's Cells. The time cost of this was immeasurable.

As for wasted opportunities, putting aside other matters, the last Shikotsumyaku) in the original story was in Orochimaru 'Orochimaru hands, but he failed to make good use of it. It can be said that Orochimaru lost the easiest opportunity to reach the Path of the Sage because he lacked the information provided by Yichen.

In this life, Orochimaru received this information in advance, and Yichen couldn't guess how far he would go.

However, Yichen wasn't worried. There was no irreconcilable hatred between Iwa ninja and Orochimaru. Even if Orochimaru became truly powerful, he might not necessarily target Iwagakure. Besides, a powerful Orochimaru would naturally be dealt with by Nagato or Konoha. Yichen wasn't the tallest person in the Ninja World, so there was no need for Yichen to step in if anything unexpected happened.

Furthermore, even if Orochimaru finds the right path, traversing it isn't something that can be done in a day or two. How many years did Madara Uchiha spend evolving his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan into the Rinnegan in the original story?

Madara Uchiha himself was the master of the ultimate Yin Release; he only needed to fuse with the First's ultimate Yang Release. Even so, Madara Uchiha's eyes only completed their evolution in his later years.

Orochimaru's Sage Body and Sage Eyes are not his own; he needs to fuse Kimimaro's Sage Body and Hyuga Hiashi's Sage Eyes, which is undoubtedly more Madara Uchiha's. Even if Orochimaru is a mad scientist, Yichen thinks it's almost impossible for him to evolve the Tenseigan before the Fourth Shinobi War in the original story.

Therefore, Yichen wasn't too worried about his actions, which might have been seen as aiding the enemy. After all, the Iwa ninja could also gain a lot from the transaction. The Ninja World was a place where many powerful forces vied for supremacy, and being able to increase the strength of both himself and another side at the same time was a good thing. Yichen hoped that such things would happen more often.

If we make a deal with Orochimaru today, cooperate with Sunagakure tomorrow, collude with Cloud ninja the day after, and then conspire with Danzo the day after that, it won't be long before Iwa ninja becomes the Ruler of the Ninja World.

Yichen's target this time is Uzushio Village.

Yichen once visited Uzushio Village. There Uzushio Village, he met a very interesting ninja Ōiwa Takefumi, who has since joined Iwagakure with his son.

It was from this person that Yichen learned the Ninjutsu of Chakra concealment.

At that time, Yichen also found a very hidden seal in an inconspicuous place on the outskirts of Uzushio Village.

Even with Yichen's skill level at the time, he couldn't break the seal. Yichen judged that the seal should be at least SS-level, if such a level existed in the Ninja World.

Now that Yichen happens to be in Uzushio Village, he plans to give it another try.

Yichen's biggest reliance this time is his Light Release. If he can't break through it with technology, he'll Light Release to fight it head-on.

Yichen led his three disciples to the edge of Uzushio Village and stopped near the seal.

After creating a Shadow Clone to continuously use Sensory Ninjutsu for vigilance, Yichen's main body began the earthwork operation.

The seal was located underground, and Yichen had sensed it by Earth Style: Earth Submergence.

This time, Yichen used Earth Release in Chinese fantasy novels) to directly dig open the soil layer above the seal.

The seal was tens of meters deep, but given Yichen's current mastery of Earth Release is a technique that allows one to escape through earth), the project was not considered large. A few minutes later, Yichen completed the excavation.

Standing on the edge of a huge pit that was tens of meters long, wide, and deep, Yichen and his companions examined the massive seal together.

The seal was pale blue, resembling a hemispherical dome overturned at the bottom of the cave.

Yichen jumped into the cave and circled the entire seal several times, carefully examining each rune that made up the seal.

"Teacher Yichen, there are some runes on this seal that I haven't seen before. They're not recorded in the village books." Atsumi Akino had studied the basics of Sealing Jutsu in order to learn Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Yichen nodded and said, "That's right. Not only are there some runes in this seal that our village doesn't have records of, but even the way the runes connect is something our village doesn't know."

"Riori, your Uzumaki Clan's ancestors were truly amazing. No wonder they are a clan that established a ninja village using Sealing Jutsu," Atsumi Akino exclaimed.

"Really? Haha!" Uzumaki Riori foolishly.

Yichen felt a headache coming on and didn't want to talk to this silly girl.

Yichen took out a scroll and made a detailed record of the new runes encountered in this seal and the new connection methods between the Sealing Runes.

Then Yichen began to deduce the specific functions of these Sealing Runes and connection methods by comparing them with the existing seal.

This research lasted for ten days, during which Yichen and Atsumi Akino studied the seal whose purpose was unknown.

Ten days have passed, and Yichen has noted the functions of many runes, but he still cannot deduce the overall effect of the seal.

However, a new discovery was finally made today.

Atsumi Akino, who had been assisting Yichen, was acting strangely today, constantly comparing Minato Namikaze's Special Kunai with the runes recorded by the two of them.

Finally, at a certain moment, Atsumi Akino let out a cheer. The cheer carried directly from the bottom of the cave to the surface. "Teacher Yichen, I know, I know, these runes are spatial runes!"

Upon hearing the sound, Ishinose Kiyoshi, who was practicing Water Release Ninjutsu on the ground, and Uzumaki Riori, who was practicing Water Walking in a small pool, quickly ran to the edge of the cave entrance.

Although the two of them couldn't understand the Sealing Jutsu at all, judging from Atsumi Akino's words, it seemed there had been progress?

Yichen moved even faster than the two of them. By the time the two reached the edge of the cave and looked down, Yichen had already arrived beside Atsumi Akino.

Atsumi Akino was explaining to Yichen while gesturing, "Teacher Yichen, you see, this rune is one of the ninja characters in the Sword of Ninja Love."

"This is the rune from the character for 'sword,' this is for love, this is for forbearance, and this is the rune from the character for 'zhi'..."

Minato Namikaze's Special Kunai inscribed with the four characters "Sword of Ninja Love," but these four characters are not written on; rather, they are formed from runes.

Yichen can do this too. When he was in charge of the Yichen Chunin Ninja Exams, he used runes to condense numbers.

Because he couldn't understand the Flying Thunder God scroll, Yichen didn't bother to memorize the runes that made up the Sword of Ninja Love.

Yichen took the Special Kunai and examined it carefully. Then he began to use the Special Kunai deduce the function of the runes.