Fifty miles outside Konoha, deep in the forest.
A Spiral Ripple slowly turned, and the figures of Obito Uchiha and Orochimaru twisted into view.
"Lord Madara." Zetsu emerged slowly from the shadowy trees, where he had been waiting for some time.
Obito Uchiha was pleased with Zetsu's form of address. "Have you prepared what I asked for?"
"Of course." It was Black Zetsu who spoke. He controlled White Zetsu's right hand as it pulled a scroll from his robes and tossed it over.
Obito Uchiha handed it to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru eagerly opened the scroll and took out two bottles. Inside them were First Hokage Cells.
"Orochimaru, are you really going to transplant First Hokage Cells?" Obito Uchiha still found it hard to believe.
"What do you think?" Orochimaru asked with a smile, pulling out a syringe. He drew up a syringe-full of First Hokage Cells from one of the bottles and injected it straight into his left chest!
Obito Uchiha's pupils contracted. "You're asking to die!"
Zetsu, watching nearby, felt his scalp go numb.
Black Zetsu in particular knew just how terrifying the power contained in First Hokage Cells was. Even Uchiha Madara had only managed to slowly adapt to them after narrowly escaping death!
And that was without even mentioning ordinary people!
Even a lucky survivor like Tenzo had succeeded only after being immersed in a vat of medicine and gradually transplanted with First Hokage Cells from childhood. How could Orochimaru inject them so recklessly?
He was practically asking to die!
But what shocked Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu was that after injecting a syringe-full of First Hokage Cells into his heart, Orochimaru's face flushed strangely. He seemed... to be enjoying it!
After a while, he even wore a look of lingering satisfaction!
Had he really just injected First