Jiraiya's Infiltration

They had now entered a truly agonizing phase.

If Kashin Koji kept committing crimes while Jiraiya hid in the shadows, and Jiraiya discovered that even though he had restricted himself and continuously recorded all his actions with a camera, victims were still appearing elsewhere...

That would mean he was not the real culprit. There was someone else, and he did not have a second personality.

Then Jiraiya could investigate other leads, eventually discover the problem, and start training hard.

But by a twist of fate, Jiraiya hiding away made Kashin Koji afraid to show himself as well.

When Jiraiya saw that he had restricted himself and the string of cases had stopped, would that not make him suspect himself even more?

After learning of this, Orochimaru felt like doing something as well.

Before his change, Orochimaru's goal had been to master every ninjutsu himself and achieve immortality.

After changing, Orochimaru understood that individual ability had limits, and so did humanity's abilities. He learned to guide others toward gaining power and enjoyed the process.

Thus, Orochimaru took great pleasure in helping Sasuke master the power of the Rinnegan and assisting Nagato in stealing Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan account.

He felt the same way about Jiraiya's situation now.

His goal was to help Jiraiya get back on track, regain the motivation to train hard, and become stronger.

Orochimaru did not simply want to torment Jiraiya.

So, after realizing they had fallen into a dead loop, Orochimaru decided to give things a slight push.

Based on his understanding of Jiraiya, if Jiraiya believed the problem was his own, he would definitely infiltrate Amegakure again and search for materials related to that surgery.

Kashin Koji, on the other hand, had an Ideological Steel Seal implanted deep in his subconscious that prevented him from returning to