Orochimaru's Setback

After finishing the arrangements in the Small World, Hyuga Shin's next task was to make a Summoning Scroll for it.

For someone like Hyuga Shin, who was already its de facto master and had some understanding of spatial rules, it wasn't difficult.

He was mainly making it to serve as a key for members of the Spark Organization.

Otherwise, unless they had one of his directional space-transmission scrolls, Kakuzu, Hidan, and the others wouldn't be able to get there.

Once he was done, Hyuga Shin looked at the alien Small World, slowly brimming with life again, and felt genuinely glad.

It would make a fine hideout for him.

He'd originally planned to build a Small Space Barrier himself.

He hadn't expected to get inspiration from one of Orochimaru's jokes and stumble upon something even better.

Now everything was ready. Hyuga Shin only had to give the Spark members the entry key and instructions on how to use the formation that removed the Will of the Six Paths.

With the Method of Sealing for the Soul Firewall now complete, the Spark Organization had everything it needed for both antivirus and defense.

They no longer had to worry about the dirty tricks of that Old Bastard, the Sage of Six Paths.

Spark was finally poised to spread like wildfire!

After checking once more and confirming there were no problems, Hyuga Shin prepared to leave.

His departure would affect the Small World's recovery, but not much. For now, it was still growing overall, absorbing far more Natural Energy than it lost.

It would only slow the recovery. To speed things up, Hyuga Shin would have to stay there in person.

But he had no good solution for the time being, so he would leave things as they were. Recovery was inevitable; it might just take a little longer.

Through the special passage connecting it to the Shinobi World, Hyuga Shin soon emerged from the dilapidated temple hidden deep in the mountains.

It was the same spot as thirty years ago, but the temple had fallen into even greater disrepair.

This was in the Iron Country. After founding his village, Hyuga Shin had once made a special trip here to test his swordsmanship against the country's powerful samurai.

He had left behind a tale of a swordsmanship master.

The Iron Country was neutral and had never taken part in wars between shinobi.

Though, after the era of village-building, they too had begun practicing the Chakra system under the Sage of Six Paths' deliberate influence, they had never made Chakra a required discipline.

Their country had its own samurai tradition. If it weren't for the fact that mastering it required great talent and immense perseverance, making progress slow, the Six Paths' Chakra system might never have made inroads.

The Iron Country could be called the most tradition-bound nation in the entire Shinobi World.

Hyuga Shin thought of the passage connecting his Small World to the Shinobi World. It was in the Iron Country.

Considering how the Iron Country had clung to its old traditions and somehow avoided being corrupted by the system established by the Sage of Six Paths, he had plenty of suspicions.

The Iron Country likely had secrets of its own.

But he had neither the time nor the inclination to investigate. There were more important things he needed to do.

Hyuga Shin put those thoughts aside, used his ring to check Kakuzu and Sasori's locations, and prepared to take off and meet up with them.

He'd spent more than ten days building the base this time—at least half as long as it would have taken to make a Small Space Barrier as planned.

Having an existing space to work with had saved him a lot of trouble.

He wondered whether Kakuzu and the others had found suitable candidates.

In a Shinobi World shrouded in darkness, finding a promising spark was no easy task.

Hyuga Shin knew that from experience.

He'd been working for more than three months and had recruited only four members, counting Orochimaru, who was still operating independently.

It wasn't that he didn't want Orochimaru to join as soon as possible. The Spark Organization was still in its infancy and couldn't afford to be exposed.

Besides, too many people were watching Orochimaru right now!

If he joined the organization now, he would inevitably draw the attention of the Sage of Six Paths and the White Snake Sage.

That wouldn't be good for Spark at this early stage.

But thinking of Orochimaru made Hyuga Shin realize that he still hadn't taught him the Method of Sealing that would protect his soul from being corrupted.

He'd been so worried about the Sage of Six Paths' threat that he'd rushed off to choose and build a base for Spark, putting it off.

Still, there should be no problem. Orochimaru sent messages on time every day, so Hyuga Shin hadn't been too worried.

But what was meant to happen couldn't be avoided.

Hyuga Shin realized that Orochimaru hadn't sent a message on time today.

A bad feeling immediately came over him.

Orochimaru was a meticulous man. Ever since he and Hyuga Shin had made their agreement, he'd sent a message at the same time every day.

He'd never once changed the time. With today's message missing, Hyuga Shin suspected that something had happened to him!

Hyuga Shin looked through the messages Orochimaru had sent over the past few days again.

He'd been busy and had only skimmed them, checking that Orochimaru was safe without analyzing them closely.

Now, when he looked, he found the problem.

Orochimaru had returned to the village!

"Elder Shin, I've been relieved of my post as commander on the Rock Battlefield. Torifu Akimichi has taken over. Hiruzen Sarutobi wants Tsunade, Nawaki, and me to return to the village as soon as possible. I don't know if there's something going on."

Orochimaru's message was brief. A few lines were enough to explain his current situation and the problem he was facing.

It was clear from his words that Orochimaru had his doubts.

He'd sent this message yesterday.

But when Hyuga Shin used the ring to locate him, he found that Orochimaru had arrived in Konoha in just one day!

As for Tsunade and Nawaki, the ring couldn't locate them, so he couldn't tell where they were.

This wasn't normal!

What could be so urgent? Replacing a commander in the middle of a battle was a cardinal military taboo! Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't possibly be unaware of that.

And even if he wanted to replace the commander, there was no need to recall Orochimaru. Leaving him on the battlefield would still have served as a deterrent to Iwagakure.

The reason for this had to do with Orochimaru.

His slacking had disrupted Hiruzen Sarutobi's plans, leaving him with little choice but to replace the commander.

Meanwhile, the Sage of Six Paths, who was in the Pure Land, had also been keeping an occasional eye on Orochimaru, a pawn who had slipped out of his control.

Orochimaru's actions affected his plans for the future.

He hadn't expected Orochimaru to be so uncooperative. When he realized he couldn't escape the constraints of the script, he'd simply started slacking off.

That had also made the Sage of Six Paths realize that Orochimaru must have learned something. Hyuga Shin, that remnant, really was a blight!

The Sage of Six Paths, who had thought everything was under control, lost control of his emotions again.

He had to stop Hyuga Shin's poison from spreading through the Shinobi World. So he decided to act early, and a perfect pretext had presented itself.

He reached out and influenced Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts, ordering him to bring Orochimaru back to Konoha ahead of schedule and set his plan in motion.

A plan that would completely eradicate Hyuga Shin, that cancer!

Not long after Orochimaru had sent Hyuga Shin a message the previous day, the Sage of Six Paths had made his move.

And this time, the Sage of Six Paths had paid a hefty price. He directly mobilized most of the contingencies he had hidden inside shinobi at the Konoha Camp on the Rock Front.

He condensed them into a small chakra consciousness of the Sage of Six Paths.

Then he forcibly infiltrated Orochimaru, who had already slipped out of his control, influencing his thoughts and interfering with his actions in an attempt to drag Orochimaru's fate back onto its proper track!

Just as the Sage of Six Paths had predicted, although Orochimaru had escaped his restraints, he still belonged to the Chakra system.

He hadn't completely lost himself to the Sage's will, but he didn't have much power to resist its corruption either.

Orochimaru had fallen back under the Sage of Six Paths' control.

This was exactly what Hyuga Shin had always feared and guarded against. He hadn't expected it to happen after one moment of carelessness.