It was precisely because the Overlord of Fear had intervened that the ritual had effectively been monopolized by the Research Institute—or, more accurately, by Shinji. That was also why the other factions in the Shinobi World had tried to replicate the Research Institute's ritual, only to fail without exception.
Only Shinji knew the truth behind it. So when they found Orochimaru's testing ground, everyone else from the Research Institute, including Amado, had only worried that Orochimaru's side might have some unknown experimental subjects. They had no idea what this really meant.
"What is it trying to do?"
Shinji furrowed his brow slightly.
There were many possibilities, but none of them would be good for Shinji or the Shinobi World.
The worst-case scenario was undoubtedly that Orochimaru had become a turncoat and defected to the Overlord of Fear.
But Shinji personally thought that was unlikely. He hadn't hidden the dangers of the Overlord from Orochimaru, so Orochimaru should have understood that defecting to the Overlord of Fear offered no future at all. In the end, the Overlord would simply devour him whole!
Another possibility was that the Overlord of Fear had used Orochimaru.
The Overlord of Fear had once used Fear Projection on Orochimaru, conjuring a fake Itachi Uchiha through the power of an Overlord.
Although that fake Itachi Uchiha had already been sealed by the real Itachi Uchiha, whom Shinji had sent, perhaps the Overlord of Fear had glimpsed the ambitions Orochimaru kept buried deep within him during the process—or something else—and had therefore decided to make Orochimaru its pawn to achieve some goal.
The more Shinji analyzed the situation, the darker his expression became.
When it came to Overlords, he always assumed the worst. He never doubted their power or ruthlessness!
Amado asked, "What should we do next, sir?