Tricking Orochimaru

The next day, Yichen inspected the graduating class of the Ninja Academy.

After a day of observation, Yichen announced the list of three students in his Team Seven amidst everyone's envious gazes.

Yichen then gave a speech to all the graduating students.

"Students, you are the first graduating class since the village became the dominant power. Many ninjas throughout the entire Ninja World are watching your performance."

"Therefore, you must not let your guard down after leaving school. You must let the entire Ninja World know that Iwagakure became the dominant force not only because of its war victories, nor simply because it had a powerful Tsuchikage."

"You need to tell them that as members of the Iwagakure Genin), you are superior to those of other ninja villages."

"You must prove to them through your efforts that the village deserves the title of overlord!"

"Our predecessors laid the foundation for our village's current status. Whether we can maintain this foundation and achieve even greater success in the future depends on your efforts."

"Back then, I was just like you, graduating from the Ninja Academy and becoming an ordinary Genin."

"Back then, I was proud of my village. I came from Iwagakure), and when we were on missions, ninjas from other small villages were afraid of us."

"Now the village is proud of me; I led the village to become the new overlord of the Ninja World."

"Similarly, today you will be proud to be members of Iwagakure). When you encounter ninjas from other Great Ninja Village on missions, they will look at you with envy."

"I believe that the village will be proud of you in the future. I look forward to seeing what heights the village will reach with your efforts."

After stirring up everyone's emotions, Yichen finally ended his trip to the Ninja Academy.

Just as Team Seven was formed, news reached Yichen that the village's Anbu, sent to contact Orochimaru, had returned empty-handed.

In Yichen's foreign policy, Iwagakure was to maintain a good relationship with Orochimaru.

Therefore, the village has been sending ninjas to the Land of Whirlpools to contact Orochimaru during this period.

However, the ninja sent by the village to cultivate a relationship with Orochimaru didn't even get to see Orochimaru's face.

They didn't even get through the gates of Snake Pit Village, the new ninja village established by Orochimaru.

Yichen wasn't sure whether Orochimaru had chosen to side with Konoha and was determined to oppose Iwa ninja, or whether he was too busy with his research project to deal with the people sent by Iwagakure.

After thinking about it, Yichen felt he should do something to get Orochimaru to take the initiative to keep in touch with him.

So Yichen relayed an order to the intelligence ninja that Iwagakure had planted in Konoha.

A few days later, in Konoha, a person dressed as Konoha ordinary villager arrived at the entrance of the Hyuga Clan's territory.

The Hyuga Clan compound is not a place for outsiders to enter or leave at will, let alone a ninja disguised as a commoner using Transformation Jutsu.

The Transformation Jutsu Ninjutsu a joke in the face of the Hyuga Clan.

Although the Byakugan cannot see through a ninja's appearance before transformation, it can still tell whether Clone Technique has been used.

So the man was stopped by several Hyuga Branch Family members had activated their Byakugan.

This person didn't intend to force his way in, but instead said calmly, "Do you all still remember the day when the Tsuchikage, Kazekage, Orochimaru, and Kakuzu invaded your Konoha?"

"That day, under the cover of the Tsuchikage and others, Orochimaru captured a member of the Hyuga Branch Family and staged his death."

"He's currently researching how to break free of the Caged Bird. Congratulations everyone, maybe it won't be long before he has the chance to break free and soar into the sky."

Yichen coordinated an attack on Konoha that day, but he was unaware of Yichen Orochimaru done.

Yichen didn't witness Orochimaru kidnapping a member of the Hyuga Branch Family; it was purely a guess.

However, it is quite simple to verify the result after guessing it. The intelligence ninjas of Iwagakure can easily find out about the deaths of the Hyuga Branch Family members.

They were buried in the Konoha Memorial Stone area, and Konoha did not hide their deeds.

When Yichen learned that a member of the Hyuga Branch Family had died an Orochimaru 'Yichen purpose in going to Konoha.

After saying this, the messenger ninja vanished. It turned out that the other party had not only used Transformation Jutsu, but was also just a Shadow Clone.

After the man disappeared, the Hyuga Branch Family members present looked at each other, each seeing an unusual meaning in the other's eyes.

The scene suddenly fell silent; for a moment, none of the ninjas present spoke.

After a long silence, an older Hyuga Branch Family sighed Jonin and said, "The Caged Bird isn't so easy to break."

"And even if Orochimaru finds a way to break the Caged Bird, he won't help us break Caged Bird for free."

"We cannot possibly follow a missing-nin just to free the Caged Bird."

The others remained silent, but the atmosphere became increasingly oppressive. The glimmer of hope that had just been ignited was extinguished.

One of the younger Hyuga Branch Family members said, "If only I had helped Orochimaru become the Fourth Hokage back then."

Hearing this, the others felt even more bitter.

The older Hyuga Branch Family Jonin who spoke first said, "Alright, let's go report to the clan head."

No one responded, but everyone silently followed him toward the patriarch's courtyard.

The group walked very slowly, including the senior Jonin, who deliberately slowed down.

It was as if doing so would neither betray the Main Family nor prevent Orochimaru from breaking the Caged Bird Cursed Seal.

Upon arriving at the Main Family's gate, the group paused for a few seconds in perfect unison.

Then, that senior Jonin took the first step.

A moment later, the people who left the main courtyard all looked ashen-faced.

They not only thwarted an experiment by someone trying to crack the Caged Bird, but also indirectly killed a fellow human who shared the same fate.

Just Hyuga Hiashi ago, right in front of them, Hiashi Hyuga used Caged Bird Technique to remotely kill the Orochimaru Hyuga Branch Family ninja who had been taken away by Orochimaru through a feigned death.

Not many Hyuga Branch Family died that night. Hyuga Hiashi tried them one by one and quickly sensed a branch family member who was still alive.

Thus, amidst the terrified gazes of the branch family members, Hyuga Hiashi activated the Caged Bird, using the connection between the Cursed Seal to execute a precise kill from a distance of thousands of miles.

Hyuga Hiashi exuded an air of authority and rarely smiled throughout, perfectly embodying the aloof and unapproachable demeanor of the main branch of the Hyuga Main Family.

Only after those people left did Hyuga Hiashi clench his fist.

Only he himself knew how powerless this so-called Main Family was when facing the branch families, whom he could kill or take away, except when facing outsiders.

The Hyuga, which claims to be the strongest in Konoha, knew that Iwagakure had taken in a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, but dared not make any rash moves.

Hyuga Hiashi still clearly remembers the scene when the Tsuchikage, Kazekage, Orochimaru, and others caused trouble in the village.

Hyuga Hiashi Tsuchikage unaware of the Tsuchikage's purpose in infiltrating the village.

However, before the Tsuchikage left, high in the sky, he contemptuously aimed a Dust Release at the Main Family's house.

Hyuga Hiashi witnessed that scene clearly. Therefore, even during the previous battle between Konoha and Iwa ninja, he dared not entertain any thought of killing Neji.

But now, Orochimaru has also set his sights on the Hyuga Branch Family.

Considering Orochimaru's previous infiltration of the Hyuga Clan's archives and the theft of information about the Caged Bird Clan, it's not hard to guess that Orochimaru had been targeting the Caged Bird for a long time, but he was simply unaware of it and didn't take it seriously.

Thinking of this, Hyuga Hiashi felt a chill run down his spine. He had no idea how far Orochimaru had gone in his research on the Caged Bird.

If it weren't for someone tipping him off, Hyuga Hiashi couldn't imagine how miserable his fate would have been if the Caged Bird had actually been released.

After thinking for Hyuga Hiashi, Hiashi Hyuga took out the family archives and silently used the Caged Bird Technique on each of the branch family members who had died previously.

After a long while, and after confirming that no more branch family ninjas had faked their deaths to escape, Hyuga Hiashi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, this is also because Hyuga Hiashi's father died too quickly, leaving him with many things to explain.

Otherwise, every Hyuga Branch Family ninja dies in battle, the Main Family would secretly use the Caged Bird to finish him off.

Unfortunately, because Hiashi Hyuga died so suddenly, these common-sense facts were not explained to him.

This news quickly spread throughout the entire Hyuga Clan. All the branch family members knew that Orochimaru was researching how to break the Caged Bird, and that the poor branch family ninja had been killed remotely by the clan leader using the Caged Bird Technique.

The terror of the Caged Bird once again gripped the entire Hyuga Branch Family, making the already gloomy Hyuga Clan even more lifeless.

Hyuga Hiashi did not stop the news from spreading; he was happy about the splitting of the family.

Perhaps in his earlier years, he had also been passionate, and had thought about changing the family system and improving the relationship between the Main Family and the branch families.

But now he no longer has that thought.

Seeing the subservient manner of the branch family members in front of him every day, he had become accustomed to giving orders to them instead of speaking to them in a consultative tone.

At the same time that Hyuga Hiashi activated the Caged Bird.

Orochimaru, far away in the Land of Whirlpools, watched helplessly as the Hyuga Branch Family members, whom he had used as experimental subjects, died tragically.

He suddenly covered his head with his hands, shouting in terror, "It's a Caged Bird! Lord Orochimaru, save me..."

The man died under the Caged Bird Cursed Seal before he could even finish uttering a single word.

This Hyuga was terrified when he was captured by Orochimaru.

However, when he learned that Orochimaru was going to research a way to break the Caged Bird, his fear quickly disappeared.

At this point, he became worried that the Hyuga Main Family would discover he wasn't dead.

After the initial few days of anxiety, this Hyuga Branch Family ninja became incredibly cooperative with Orochimaru's research.

He not only cooperated with Orochimaru's research on the Caged Bird Orochimaru, but also participated in some of Orochimaru's human experiments.

Orochimaru 'Byakugan keen insight.

Orochimaru was even considering that after truly breaking the Caged Bird, instead of taking away this person's Byakugan, he would capture another Hyuga Branch Family.

After all, this person was just an ordinary Jonin, with only average talent within the Hyuga Clan and a low Byakugan purity, so he shouldn't be a good match for Kimimaro.

Of course, there's no need to worry about any of that now.

After witnessing the entire process of how this member of the Hyuga Branch Family was killed by Hyuga Hiashi the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, Orochimaru remained silent for a while, then suddenly grinned, revealing a sinister smile.

He had reached a bottleneck in his research on Caged Bird, but after witnessing the entire process of Caged Bird's actions, he gained new insights.

"I see!" Orochimaru felt that if he were given another experimental subject from the Hyuga Branch Family, he would be confident in completing the analysis of the Caged Bird.

But where should they find test subjects now? After this incident, Hyuga Hiashi is unlikely to give himself another chance.

Go to Konoha and secretly cooperate with the members of the Hyuga Branch Family. That's a good idea, worth a try, but the chances of success are slim.

Getting too close to Konoha would make them easy to spot. With Hyuga Hiashi already on guard, Orochimaru felt it was pointless to do so.

In that case, the only remaining target is Neji Hyuga from the Iwagakure Hyuga Branch Family outside the village.

Thinking of this, Orochimaru's body trembled.

"Hehehe, Tsuchikage, so it was you who did it!" Orochimaru said with a laugh. "Interesting."

Iwagakure was aware that the envoy from Iwagakure had come to Orochimaru 'Snake Pit Village. However, he didn't want to pay any attention to Yichen, knowing that Yichen wanted to obtain the results of his research on the Caged Bird from him.

However, Orochimaru didn't lack anything and didn't want to trade with Yichen, so he simply ignored the envoy from Iwagakure.

I just didn't expect Yichen to be so ruthless.