The Living Corpse Reincarnation

Root!

Guo Wang stood at the edge of a training ground, a white bandage covering his eyes. He watched dozens of children pair off and train against their respective opponents. Some fought with Taijutsu, some clashed with Ninjutsu, and others used Kunai and Shuriken, but most practiced swordsmanship.

The swords were all of a standard design, slender as a finger and twenty centimeters long—ideal for assassination. Danzo personally taught the swordsmanship, which traced its origins to the Second.

The famous White Fang had also come from Root. He had combined his family's secret sword techniques with the Konoha-Style Kenjutsu passed down to Danzo by Senju Tobirama, giving him a nearly unbeatable sword style.

Danzo had deeply regretted White Fang's suicide a few years ago.

How could a fine shinobi fail to tell the difference between a mission and personal feelings? How could he forget the Root's oft-repeated creeds: sacrifice one's own for the greater good and put the overall situation first?

Such a fragile spirit was nothing like what Danzo had taught his disciples. What a disgrace!

"That child—is he one of the experimental subjects I left behind?"

Wearing the standard flak jacket of a Konoha Jonin, Orochimaru watched Kinoe, who was surrounded by three much larger children yet remained perfectly calm and handled himself with ease. He couldn't help licking his lips.

"He has recreated the First's Wood Release, but its power is nowhere near enough."

As he adjusted to his complete pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, Guo Wang felt increasingly familiar with this world's power system. He had mastered the nature and shape transformations of Chakra, and had a solid grasp of nearly all the Ninjutsu that the original Danzo knew. He had even secretly tested Summoning Jutsu yesterday.

"He's still a child, but he has great potential for growth. If you let me train him, he could become Konoha's toughest branch in the future."

Seeing Kinoe form Hand Seals and send brown wooden tendrils whipping out to bind all three opponents, Orochimaru's fondness for nurturing promising juniors surfaced.

"Seems the pain I gave you wasn't intense enough."

The icy words reminded Orochimaru of being crushed by Shinra Sei, and the fervor in his eyes cooled a little. At the same time, the Sharingan, which he hadn't thought much of before, moved up to second place on his list, right behind the forbidden technique he was developing.

"Yesterday, the Third passed the armistice with Iwagakure at the Jonin Council. The war should end before long."

Orochimaru wasn't afraid of Danzo in a fight, but the old man had deep roots in Konoha. The war had taken a heavy toll on Root, yet the survivors, such as Aburame Torune, who came from prominent clans, had only grown more seasoned and formidable. With so many people turning against him, Orochimaru needed Danzo and Root's cover to keep his experiments running smoothly.

Not wanting an open confrontation, he deliberately changed the subject, invoking their teacher to bring them onto common ground.

"The vote passed even though you, my Hokage advisor, and I, the head of the Jonin Squad, were absent?"

On certain matters, the Hokage could decide everything with a single word. But major decisions like ending a war required a vote by the advisory council and the Jonin Squad before they could be implemented.

Danzo and Orochimaru together controlled at least a third of Konoha's forces. If they wanted to block the decision, even Sarutobi Hiruzen would have a serious headache, Hokage or not.

"No. I used a Shadow Clone to cast my vote in favor!"

Orochimaru grinned and said something guaranteed to rub Danzo the wrong way.

Beneath his bandages, Guo Wang's eyes turned toward him. An invisible wind began to stir, and the Root shinobi training nearby felt a chill. Their movements gradually slowed to a halt.

"I don't feel like facing that old Ōnoki again, and my experiment is at its most critical stage. I can't leave."

After Orochimaru smiled and gave his reasons, Guo Wang had nothing more to say. He snorted and turned to leave the training ground.

He had come here only to see what kind of person the Wood Release shinobi, who ranked first in Danzo's eyes, really was.

Now that he had seen him, he was nothing special!

Compared with the Mangekyō, which could connect to the world's source and steal the authority of a Deity, he was like a weed by the roadside next to a towering tree.

"Orochimaru, I need you to help me with something."

Following Danzo out of the training ground, Orochimaru finally heard the words he had been waiting for. Ever since witnessing the power of the Mangekyō, he had been curious.

What exactly was "Mirror Flower, Water Moon"?

"Of course, Elder Danzo!"

Three days had passed since Yakushi Nonō had helped Guo Wang replace his eyes. Using his position, Orochimaru had consulted a wealth of Uchiha records and acquired several books about the Sharingan. But only a few vague, unclear lines mentioned the Mangekyō. He might have gotten more answers by asking his teacher, but after working with Danzo for several years, Orochimaru didn't want to trouble the busy Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Though the Mangekyō is impressive, it wasn't cultivated and awakened by me. So I need a pair of eyes that truly reflect my own soul, so I can steal the portion of authority I need from the world's source."

"Oh? If I understand correctly, Elder Danzo has his eye on the Living Corpse Reincarnation I'm researching!"

With Orochimaru's intelligence, Guo Wang had only needed to say the first half before he understood. Their expressions were both quite telling: one said nothing, while the other was brimming with excitement.

"I'm not even sure this technique will succeed. Elder Danzo has so much faith in me?"

As the Third's favored student and head of Konoha's Jonin Squad, Orochimaru remained the leading candidate to take the Hokage Position and become the Fourth Hokage, even with Namikaze Minato at the height of his popularity. Yet ten years ago, he had voluntarily requested to join Root and become one of Danzo's lackeys.

No one understood why he had abandoned the light to enter the darkness.

The reason was simple: only Danzo would tolerate his human experiments and research into Living Corpse Reincarnation—and provide him with test subjects.

"Then may I ask which young Uchiha Elder Danzo has his eye on?"

Taking over Danzo's body had been unavoidable, because Guo Wang, inside the Five-Colored Stone, had only his mental power and couldn't move. Now that things had stabilized, he had begun to find this old body somewhat unsatisfactory.

God-Devouring Technique was, after all, a possession technique from the Dao Realm. It was too powerful, and he feared that using it repeatedly might draw the attention of the owner of those terrifying eyes back to this world.

But the Living Corpse Reincarnation that Orochimaru was researching and developing was a possession technique in keeping with the laws of this world. It wouldn't cause a disturbance in the world's source.

"A young man named Uchiha Itachi!"