After meeting with his family and having one last bit of fun teasing his niece Ino, Yamanaka Chujiu left Konoha and headed for the Northern Front.
Uchiha Shisui had set out a day earlier than Chujiu.
The Kirigakure Ninja attacks on the Eastern Front were even more ferocious than the Kumogakure Ninja attacks—one could even call them insane. Konoha Ninja had suffered terrible losses, and the front line was on the verge of collapse.
Konoha launched a massive recruitment drive. Ninja from the clans, led by the Uchiha, students graduating early from the Ninja Academy, and Ninja in the hospital whose injuries were nearly healed eventually came together to form a six-thousand-strong relief force.
The vast army of Ninja lined up in front of the Hokage Building. The crowd surged, their imposing presence stirring their spirits to the heavens.
Their soaring emotions formed a massive tide that battered Yamanaka Chujiu's Heart Severing Realm, leaving him unsettled.
But only unsettled.
The Void Elixir Sun hung in the sky within Yamanaka Chujiu's heart. The wave of emotion from Konoha's rally could not shake it in the slightest.
He couldn't say it felt like a gentle breeze brushing his face. It was more like being outside a concert venue, bothered by the noise.
Yamanaka Chujiu could even observe the vast emotional tide closely, picking out several unusual sources within it.
The eternal Genin Might Duy's emotions were exceptionally steady despite their intensity, as immovable as a crystal.
The eternal Genin Maruboshi Kosuke showed no emotional fluctuations at all, his resolve as firm as the boundless earth.
Uchiha Clan Head Fugaku's emotions swung wildly, rising and falling like the heartbeat of a dying man.
Ninja who had been mere figures on a page in the story he knew were now standing alive before him, each radiating their own distinctive emotions. Yamanaka Chujiu felt as if he were witnessing history.
He couldn't help thinking of the most terrifying emotional tide he had ever experienced.
Two years earlier, in the Land of Rain, the decisive battle between Iwagakure, Sunagakure, Konoha, and Amegakure had crammed more than twenty thousand Ninja into an area less than two thousand meters wide, where they slaughtered one another in a frenzy.
The emotional tide that erupted on that battlefield had been steeped in slaughter, death, and madness. Caught in its midst, Yamanaka Chujiu had suffered horribly.
At the fiercest point of the battle, the madness, resentment, and despair of the dying crashed into his Heart Severing Realm like a tsunami, wave after wave. Under the terrifying impact, Yamanaka Chujiu had nearly passed out several times.
He didn't even know whether he had survived the battlefield through anything but sheer luck.
"Lord Orochimaru, slow down. I can't keep up!"
Mitaraishi Anko's plea snapped Yamanaka Chujiu out of his wandering thoughts.
He turned to look at his junior, then imitated Orochimaru's voice and tone. "Anko, I warned you. Once you're on the battlefield, you can't say things that sound so cowardly."
Anko flinched at his attitude and hurried to apologize. "I'm sorry, Lord Orochimaru."
Yamanaka Chujiu didn't comfort Anko. Instead, he said to everyone, "Pick up the pace!"
Four Anbu Ninja, four Root Ninja, two Intelligence Department Ninja, two Sealing Squad Ninja, and Mitaraishi Anko, who had just been promoted to Chunin, made up the escort for Orochimaru this time.
Yamanaka Chujiu's disguise as Orochimaru was convincing enough that even Mitaraishi Anko hadn't noticed. His appearance was flawless.
Orochimaru trusted Yamanaka Chujiu's ability to command, but the Third Hokage wouldn't, and neither would the Konoha Ninja desperately holding the Northern Front.
So Orochimaru didn't bother explaining. He simply had Yamanaka Chujiu put on his disguise and use his identity to take command at the front.
That's right—Yamanaka Chujiu was bold enough to accept the offer with eager interest.
Neither teacher nor student had even considered informing Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The disguise Yamanaka Chujiu wore wasn't a genjutsu. It was the Great Snake Skin, a creation Orochimaru had crafted himself, and likely one of the preliminary techniques for Living Corpse Reincarnation.
Yamanaka Chujiu forced down his revulsion and put it on. The snake skin wriggled, fitting perfectly against his own skin as it transformed into Orochimaru's appearance. It even made up for their height difference by altering the heels of his feet.
Chujiu didn't feel uncomfortable at all. It felt like he was wearing a set of long underwear.
More amazingly, the Great Snake Skin could give off Orochimaru's chakra and presence, completely concealing Yamanaka Chujiu's chakra signature.
Even a Hyuga Ninja couldn't see through the disguise. At most, they would marvel at Lord Orochimaru's excellent chakra control and think he seemed no more than an ordinary Jonin.
Yamanaka Chujiu would take Orochimaru's place on the Northern Front, while Orochimaru himself stayed in Konoha.
For one thing, several experiments had reached a critical stage, and he was unwilling to let all his previous work go to waste.
For another, he had to dispose of some incriminating experimental materials and prevent Root from reporting him without warning.
Since Orochimaru had agreed to Yamanaka Chujiu's request, he had to seriously pursue the position of Fifth Hokage and leave Shimura Danzō no opening to attack him.
As it happened, Shimura Danzō had been appointed commander of the Eastern Front and had left Konoha with a large contingent of Root Ninja. That gave Orochimaru free rein in the village.
All he needed was ten days to erase every trace of himself, including the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai fusion experiment he had conducted in collaboration with Root.
And that experiment was his main objective.
Yamanaka Chujiu told Orochimaru that Root hadn't stopped the experiments after sixty failed live trials.
That was because the experiments hadn't failed completely. One of the sixty test subjects had survived and awakened the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.
Orochimaru believed Chujiu as soon as he heard this. He devised the substitution plan to recover the precious test subject who had awakened the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai.
He didn't even plan to simply take the test subject. He intended to expose Root's secret laboratory and drag every bit of its darkness into the light.
Once Root's misdeeds were exposed, Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't want to ruin his own reputation. He would have no choice but to cut ties between Root and Anbu and pin the blame on Shimura Danzō.
After that, if Danzō reported Orochimaru for conducting human experiments, Hiruzen Sarutobi would first have to wonder whether Danzō was framing him.
The Wood Release Kekkei Genkai test subject wouldn't escape Orochimaru's grasp.
Once the Third Hokage got his hands on the Wood Release test subject, whether to ensure the subject's health or to prove his own impartiality, he would have to hand him over to Orochimaru for treatment.
The plan accounted for human nature down to the bone. It would take a few twists to get the test subject, but it would also clear Orochimaru's name and build a psychological defense against future accusations.
This wasn't Orochimaru's way of thinking. It was Yamanaka Chujiu's suggestion.
From then on, the Third Hokage would be unable to stop looking at Shimura Danzō with suspicion.
He would learn what it felt like to be framed and unable to clear his name.
Thinking of Shimura Danzō's impending misfortune, Yamanaka Chujiu couldn't help wanting to laugh. Fortunately, the Great Snake Skin concealed it, preventing Orochimaru from breaking character.
After two days of rushing at full speed, Yamanaka Chujiu and his party reached the Northern Front battlefield, at the Konoha Front Central Camp.
The camp was a full three hundred kilometers from the border of the Land of Hot Water.
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