The Eighth Hundred and Tenth Chapter: Working Together

"This power..." Tobirama furrowed his brow. As the Second Hokage and a renowned ninjutsu developer of Konoha, what technique hadn't he seen?

The power that had suddenly emerged from Sasuke felt somewhat familiar to Tobirama. It resembled the Sage Chakra in his brother Hashirama and Naruto, but unlike the Sage Chakra in the two of them, it lacked that pure, harmonious quality. He sensed an evil presence within it.

Turning to see the unusual expression on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face, Tobirama couldn't help asking, "I suppose this is another thing your disciple Orochimaru came up with?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't dare hide anything. He simply nodded. "Most likely." Then he truthfully explained Orochimaru's research, as well as how he had sensed the same Chakra in the Sound Four.

"The younger generation is truly impressive." Tobirama nodded after hearing him out. Deep down, he actually admired Orochimaru overall.

The only thing he regretted was that Orochimaru had once been a rogue ninja. As for the living-subject experiments and other such things Sarutobi Hiruzen had mentioned, Tobirama didn't think much of them.

As a master of ninjutsu development—and even forbidden techniques—within Konoha, how could Tobirama not know that live-subject experiments were unavoidable when developing forbidden techniques?

When he developed Impure World Reincarnation and the other forbidden techniques, hadn't he used live subjects in his experiments? His brother Hashirama had criticized him for it at the time, saying that a Hokage of his stature shouldn't be conducting experiments on living people.

But it hadn't affected Tobirama in the slightest. After all, without live-subject experiments, how could he have successfully developed the forbidden techniques that became so widely known?

If Orochimaru hadn't been forced to flee, Tobirama might even have discussed their research with him. After all, there weren't many people in the Ninja World who