Orochimaru in Disguise Departs

After meeting with his family and teasing his niece Ino one last time, Yamanaka Chujiu left Konoha and headed toward the Northern Front.

Uchiha Shisui had departed a day earlier than Chujiu.

The attacks by the Kirigakure Ninja on the Eastern Front were even more ferocious than those of the Kumogakure Ninja—one could even call them insane. The losses suffered by the Konoha ninja were catastrophic, and the front line was on the verge of collapse.

Konoha conducted a massive mobilization of its ninja forces, gathering a reinforcement army of six thousand, composed of ninja clans led by the Uchiha, students graduating early from the Ninja Academy, and ninja who had nearly recovered from their injuries in the hospital.

The vast, surging army of ninja lined up in front of the Hokage Building; the sea of heads and the magnificent momentum sent morale soaring to the heavens.

The high-pitched emotions formed a tidal wave, crashing against the Heart Severing Realm of Yamanaka Chujiu, leaving him feeling restless.

But it was only restlessness.

Within the heart of Yamanaka Chujiu, the Void Elixir Sun hung high in the sky; the tidal wave of emotions from the Konoha oath-taking ceremony crashed against it, unable to shake it in the slightest.

He felt that it couldn't even be described as a breeze brushing his face; it was more like standing outside a concert venue, annoyed by the noise.

Yamanaka Chujiu was even able to observe carefully, finding several distinct sources of emotion within this magnificent emotional tide.

Might Duy, the eternal genin, had emotions that were extremely stable and high, as unshakeable as solidified crystal.

Maruboshi Kosuke, the eternal genin, had no fluctuations in his emotions, as firm as the vast earth.

Fugaku, the Uchiha clan head, had emotions that rose and fell sharply, fluctuating like the heartbeat of a dying man.

Seeing these "paper characters" he knew from the plot appear alive before him, each radiating their own unique emotional fluctuations, gave Yamanaka Chujiu a marvelous sense of witnessing history.

Yamanaka Chujiu couldn't help but think of the most terrifying emotional tide he had ever experienced.

Two years ago in the Land of Rain, during the decisive battle between Iwagakure, Sunagakure, Konoha, and Amegakure, over twenty thousand ninja were crowded into an area of less than two kilometers, killing each other madly.

The emotional tide that erupted on that battlefield was filled with the stench of slaughter, death, and madness; Yamanaka Chujiu, caught in the middle of it, had suffered immensely.

At the height of the battle, the madness, unwillingness, and despair of the dying hit his Heart Severing Realm like a tsunami, wave after wave, and under this terrifying impact, Yamanaka Chujiu had nearly fainted several times.

He didn't even know if he had survived leaving the battlefield purely by luck.

"Master Orochimaru, please slow down; I can't keep up."

Anko's plea jolted Yamanaka Chujiu out of his wandering thoughts.

He turned to look at his junior sister, mimicking Orochimaru's voice and tone: "Anko, I have warned you before: one must not speak words of cowardice on the battlefield."

Anko was startled by his attitude and quickly apologized: "I am sorry, Master Orochimaru."

Yamanaka Chujiu did not comfort Anko, but instead said to everyone: "Increase your speed!"

Four Anbu, four Root ninja, two from the Intelligence Department, and two from the Sealing Squad, plus Anko who had just been promoted to chunin, made up the guard detail for Orochimaru.

The Orochimaru that Yamanaka Chujiu was disguised as was quite convincing; even Anko hadn't noticed, which showed there were no flaws in his appearance.

Orochimaru trusted Yamanaka Chujiu's command ability, but the Third Hokage would not, and the Konoha ninja struggling on the Northern Front would certainly not.

He simply didn't bother explaining, instead having Yamanaka Chujiu take his place and use his identity to serve as commander on the front lines.

Indeed, Yamanaka Chujiu was bold enough to agree with great interest.

The master and disciple didn't even think about reporting it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The disguise on Yamanaka Chujiu was not an illusion, but the Great Snake Skin refined by Orochimaru himself, likely one of the precursor technologies to [Living Corpse Reincarnation].

After Yamanaka Chujiu endured the disgust and put it on, the snake skin squirmed to fit his skin perfectly, automatically transforming into the appearance of Orochimaru, even compensating for the height difference at the heels.

Moreover, Chujiu felt no discomfort; it felt just like wearing a layer of thermal underwear.

Even more miraculously, the Great Snake Skin could emit Orochimaru's chakra and aura, completely masking Yamanaka Chujiu's own chakra fluctuations.

Even a Hyuga ninja could not see through the disguise; at most, they would just remark on Master Orochimaru's strong chakra control, as he appeared to be an ordinary jonin.

Yamanaka Chujiu went to the Northern Front in place of Orochimaru, while Orochimaru himself remained in Konoha.

On one hand, several experiments were at a critical juncture, and he did not want to see his efforts go to waste.

On the other hand, he needed to dispose of unspeakable experimental materials to prevent any sudden reports from the Root.

Since Orochimaru had agreed to Yamanaka Chujiu's request, he naturally had to seriously compete for the position of Fifth Hokage, leaving no openings for Shimura Danzō to attack.

As it happened, Shimura Danzō had been appointed as the commander of the Eastern Front and had left Konoha with a large number of Root ninja, allowing Orochimaru to move freely within the village.

He only needed ten days to clear away all traces of his activities, including the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai fusion experiments conducted in cooperation with the Root.

And this experiment was his primary goal.

Yamanaka Chujiu had told Orochimaru that after sixty failed human experiments, the Root had not stopped.

Because the experiment hadn't been a total failure; one of the sixty subjects had survived and awakened the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.

Orochimaru believed Chujiu the moment he heard it and planned this body-double scheme to retrieve the precious Wood Release Kekkei Genkai test subject.

He didn't even intend to take it for himself directly; he wanted to tear down the Root's secret laboratory and expose all the darkness to the light of day.

Once the atrocities of the Root were exposed, Hiruzen Sarutobi, not wanting to ruin his own reputation, would have no choice but to sever ties between the Root and the Anbu, dumping the blame onto Shimura Danzō.

From then on, if Danzō reported Orochimaru for human experimentation again, Hiruzen Sarutobi would first suspect that he was being framed.

The Wood Release Kekkei Genkai test subject would not be able to escape Orochimaru's grasp.

The Third Hokage had obtained a Wood Release test subject; whether to ensure the subject's health or to prove his own impartiality, he had to hand him over to Orochimaru for treatment.

The entire plan calculated human nature down to the bone. Although it took several detours to obtain the Wood Release test subject, it simultaneously cleared Orochimaru's name and established a psychological defense for him against being framed.

This was not Orochimaru's mode of thinking, but rather the suggestion of Yamanaka Chujiu.

From this point on, the Third Hokage would involuntarily lock his suspicious gaze onto Shimura Danzō.

He would soon experience the taste of being framed, unable to defend himself no matter how he tried.

Thinking of how Shimura Danzō was about to suffer, Yamanaka Chujiu could not help but want to laugh. Fortunately, with the concealment of the Great Snake Skin, Orochimaru's persona remained intact.

After two days of frantic travel, Yamanaka Chujiu and his party arrived at the Northern Front, the Konoha Front Central Camp.

This location was a full three hundred kilometers away from the border of the Land of Hot Water.