Before long, a boy with pale green hair arrived at the ritual site. He was the Genyumaru Orochimaru had mentioned.
In the original timeline, Genyumaru had been the second host for Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation.
At the time, Orochimaru had originally set his sights on Sasuke's body. But the Sound Four had arrived too late, leaving Orochimaru no choice but to settle for Genyumaru's body. He had performed Living Corpse Reincarnation on Genyumaru and successfully taken over his body.
In this timeline, Orochimaru no longer needed anyone else's body after undergoing the ritual. But that hadn't changed Genyumaru's fate. He had still become a test subject in Orochimaru's laboratory, where Orochimaru subjected him to all kinds of human experimentation.
Just as in the original timeline, Genyumaru had stood out among Orochimaru's many test subjects. He had successfully survived two cell-transplant surgeries, making him the best candidate for this ritual.
"Lord Orochimaru!"
Genyumaru came before Orochimaru and bowed respectfully.
Orochimaru asked, "Have you memorized everything I told you?"
"Yes, I've memorized it all!" Genyumaru nodded, then seemed a little uneasy. "Lord Orochimaru, what you promised me..."
Orochimaru stepped forward and gently patted Genyumaru on the shoulder. "As long as you survive this ritual, you'll be strong enough to rescue your people from the Daimyo's oppression by your own strength. So what you need to think about now isn't what will happen to your people if you die, but how to complete the ritual!"
"I understand!"
Genyumaru nodded.
His people were his weakness, and Orochimaru had chosen him as the test subject for this ritual precisely because of that.
Soon, Kabuto Yakushi brought the ritual's sacrifices from the ship to the site.
Unlike Genyumaru, the test subjects selected as sacrifices were all bound in restraints. They were brought to the ritual site