Orochimaru: No Rush, I Will Make My Move

Tsunade roared at Ryobu, "Ryobu, why did you help Madara Uchiha recover his strength?"

Ryobu froze, then reacted. "Tsunade, you're interrogating me now? You do realize you're the prisoner here."

Ryobu charged over and pinned Tsunade beneath him.

"You bastard! What are you trying to do?"

"What am I doing? Hmph. A man and a woman alone in the same room—if nothing happens, it can only mean that man swings the other way."

Slug jumped onto Ryobu's face and desperately tried to stop him.

"Lord Liao Wu, please do not act recklessly."

Ryobu grabbed Slug. "Slug, you really think I can't deal with you, huh?"

Slug threatened, "If you dare harm Lord Tsunade, my main body in Shikkotsu Forest will descend. Even if I have to fight Madara Uchiha to mutual destruction, I will kill you."

Ryobu instantly went limp and hurriedly kowtowed to Slug. "Lord Slug, please just treat this lowly one like a fart and let me go."

Only then did Slug relax.

Ryobu suddenly froze. He sensed that his Ryūchi Cave Contract was being altered.

"That Miyang bastard is modifying the contract?"

Leaf Village, Root's Underground Base.

With Hiruko's help, Orochimaru crawled out from the belly of a white snake, his whole body covered in snake mucus.

Hiruko looked at Orochimaru, who was so weak he barely looked human, and deep fear showed in his eyes.

"Orochimaru, is Madara Uchiha really that strong?"

Earlier, Hiruko had been bound by Ryobu's Pitcher Plant Technique, and he had only escaped by self-destructing to destroy the Wood Style restraints.

Afterward, he had found Orochimaru unconscious in the wilderness and brought him back to the Underground Base in Leaf Village.

Orochimaru found a place to sit, panting weakly from exhaustion as he explained to Hiruko, "The reason I fainted earlier wasn't because of Madara Uchiha. It was because of that dog Uchiha Ryobu."

"I knew he wouldn't keep his word, so while he was signing Ryūchi Cave's Summoning Scroll, I forcibly overtaxed my body, refined chakra, and split off a clone to escape."

Orochimaru sounded somewhat drained even when he spoke, and hatred for Ryobu still lingered in his eyes.

Orochimaru had passed out earlier because his body had overdrawn its chakra. Fortunately, he had previously fused with Ryūchi Cave's White Snake Cells, giving him powerful vitality.

Otherwise, he really would have lost his life from forcibly squeezing out chakra.

"Brat, you really think I can't deal with you just because you signed Ryūchi Cave's Summoning Scroll?"

The more Orochimaru thought about it, the angrier he became. He might not be able to beat Madara Uchiha, but did that mean he couldn't beat you, Uchiha Ryobu?

Orochimaru opened his mouth, spat out Ryūchi Cave's Summoning Scroll, then unfurled it and stopped at the very last row, where "Uchiha Ryobu" was written.

He cast a magic circle and wiped his hand across it, directly erasing Ryobu's name.

Could the contract between a ninja and a summoning beast be forcibly terminated?

Yes. The Uzumaki Clan had a kind of Contract Seal that could sever a summoner's contractual relationship with a summoning beast. In the original work, Minato relied on the Contract Seal to break Obito's control over the Nine-Tails.

The Contract Seal only broke control; it did not permanently sever the Summoning Contract.

If one wanted to break it, they had to start from the source. Orochimaru simply erased Ryobu's name from Ryūchi Cave's Summoning Scroll at the source.

Of the four elements of the Summoning Technique, he directly destroyed Ryobu's first element—signing a contract with a summoning beast on the contract scroll.

After taking a small bit of revenge on Ryobu, Orochimaru felt somewhat better, and only then did he answer what Hiruko had asked earlier.

"Madara Uchiha isn't a question of whether he's strong or not. He has already surpassed the concept of a ninja. I think he has already touched the level of the legendary Progenitor of the Ninja Sect, the Six Paths Sage."

Hiruko was somewhat shaken when he heard this. "The level of the Six Paths Sage? Doesn't that make him unbeatable?"

Orochimaru nodded. "That's right. Jiraiya was killed, Tsunade was captured, and I almost died in the Land of Grass. Madara Uchiha is unbeatable."

Hiruko said angrily, "Damn it. With Madara Uchiha as Uchiha Ryobu's backer, we'll never be able to kill him again."

Orochimaru glanced at Hiruko. "Hiruko, you were dealt with by Ryobu earlier, weren't you?"

"This—"

Hiruko immediately became somewhat evasive. He had already fused with White Snake Cells and could transform into the White Scaled Serpent, yet he had failed to beat Ryobu?

"Right, Orochimaru, I discovered a secret. Ryobu can use the Wood Style Secret Technique!"

"What?!"

Orochimaru was shocked. It was one thing for Madara Uchiha to be able to use the Wood Style Secret Technique, but what the hell was Ryobu?

Hiruko was very certain. He told Orochimaru how he had been bound by the Giant Pitcher Plant earlier. Plant attacks that could absorb chakra—this was the genuine Wood Style Secret Technique.

Orochimaru rubbed his chin and analyzed, "In that case, when Madara Uchiha fought the First Hokage at the Valley of the End, he must have obtained the First Hokage's Cells."

"On top of that, after decades of research, he overcame the compatibility issue of the First Hokage Cells and mastered them."

"Madara Uchiha even understands science!"

Orochimaru became interested. Orochimaru held admiration for anyone who grasped the truth.

In his life, what he looked down on most were those people full of Big Talk, spouting empty slogans about how everything was "for the Leaf Village."

"Wood Style, Sharingan! I have to find a way to obtain these two powers."

Orochimaru revealed his ambition.

Hiruko reminded him, "Orochimaru, I have to warn you, Madara Uchiha's problem is imminent. He'll destroy the entire Ninja World."

The end of the ninja was practically upon them, and Orochimaru still wanted to grind levels. Did he have even the slightest sense of the situation?

Orochimaru waved a hand. "No rush. I'll make my move."

Hiruko looked at Orochimaru in confusion. "Orochimaru, how are you going to make a move? You were beaten by Madara Uchiha like a dead dog before."

Orochimaru pointed at Hiruko. "Hiruko, how did you get here?"

"Impure World Reincarnation?!"

Hiruko immediately realized. "Orochimaru, you're planning to reincarnate the First Hokage?!"

It was a very simple principle. In the Ninja World, only Hashirama Senju could stand against Madara Uchiha, so wouldn't it be enough for Orochimaru to bring Hashirama Senju back to life?

Orochimaru nodded. "Let's go. We're going to the Leaf Village Cemetery!"

Hiruko said urgently, "Orochimaru, do you know what you're doing? You're offending the Heroes."

Although Hiruko was wicked, he had grown up listening to stories of Hashirama Senju, and deep down, he also revered the achievements of the First Hokage.

For Orochimaru to touch the tombs of the Previous Hokage was tantamount to committing ritual suicide before all of the Leaf Village.

Orochimaru looked at Hiruko. "Hiruko, if we don't summon the Previous Hokage, do you think you have a way to deal with Madara Uchiha?"

"..."

Hiruko suddenly fell silent. Looking at it now, Orochimaru's method was the optimal solution.

Liao Wu felt his Summoning Contract with Ryūchi Cave had been severed. He hurriedly bit his finger, drew blood, and activated the Summoning Technique.

With a puff, what Liao Wu summoned was not a snake, but a cat—a white short-haired cat.

It was the Ninja Cat Liao Wu had once adopted—Fried Rice. True to his name, Liao Wu had specifically had him cook in the past, so he had named him Fried Rice.

At this moment, Fried Rice was still wearing a chef's uniform, and he was even holding a spatula.

It seemed he had still been cooking when he was summoned.

Liao Wu's eyes widened as he stared at Fried Rice, his mouth full of disbelief. "Impossible. Impossible. Where's my giant snake? Where's my huge giant snake?"

"I don't believe it. Summoning Technique!"

Liao Wu refused to believe that his Summoning Contract with Ryūchi Cave had been forcibly severed, so he tried again.

Fried Rice was still a little dazed. He had been cooking for the Ninja Cats in the Empty Zone, only to be summoned to this place all of a sudden.