The Hidden Truth

Only now did Orochimaru realize what was going on.

No wonder that guy had suddenly called him Lord Orochimaru again! He'd wanted him to look at the immobilizing genjutsu in those eyes.

"Uchiha... Qiuyang, how could you..."

Orochimaru gritted his teeth and struggled to move, but in the mental world, three nails had pinned him firmly in place. He couldn't move at all.

This was bad!

When Itachi had used it on him, and when Qiuyang had used it on him the first time, he'd still been able to move a little through sheer force of will.

But this time... he was completely powerless to resist.

It was proof that the guy before him had reached a terrifying level of ocular prowess.

"Don't be nervous. I was just afraid you'd suddenly change your mind and refuse to give it to me. Besides, I never intended to back out of our deal."

Qiuyang reassured him, took several scrolls from his clothes, and sat down where he was. He began inscribing Sealing Jutsu formulas onto the precious scrolls right there.

He had only about a dozen of these special scrolls made from precious materials, but he'd gotten them by trading away goods from several Uchiha Clan shops.

So Qiuyang carefully carved the formulas with his chakra.

Orochimaru's body couldn't move, but his eyes still could. One glance was enough to tell that Qiuyang was inscribing a formula used by the Uzumaki Clan to temporarily seal living beings.

Could he be planning to take these Tailed Beast parts away right now?

Snake Auntie had guessed correctly. Even after ruining one scroll, Qiuyang had prepared all the remaining scrolls he needed in less than three minutes.

He first walked over to the equipment containing the miniature Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, then expertly tapped away at its keyboard.

As he worked, he made sure to chat with the scientist, Snake Auntie:

"I have a lot of faith in Lord Orochimaru. I thought I'd only need to prepare five scrolls in advance, but you've given me such a huge surprise."

The parts of six Tailed Beasts, plus a miniature Demonic Statue of the Outer Path capable of holding Tailed Beast Chakra—it was like a huge gift specially arranged for him by the heavens.

Soon, he changed the liquid that had been promoting the creatures' metabolism into an anesthetic that would put them to sleep.

Once he'd finished, Qiuyang activated the formula and sealed the entire tank into a scroll.

"How do you know how to operate this equipment...?"

Watching the specimens he'd spent so long cultivating get taken away just like that, Orochimaru glared with his snake-like eyes and let out a helpless roar. He deeply regretted bringing Qiuyang to the lab in the first place.

He'd assumed Qiuyang wouldn't understand this kind of technical stuff. No matter what, he'd need the help of someone like him who knew the science behind it.

And yet...

Qiuyang ignored Orochimaru and continued operating the control panel, replacing the liquid in the Tailed Beast parts outside with anesthetic in the same way. Then he told Snake Auntie:

"What's so hard about that? I wanted to check whether you'd tampered with my cells, so I specifically went to talk to a lot of laboratory equipment suppliers. Speaking of which..."

As he spoke, he suddenly remembered the question of whether Snake Auntie had actually tampered with them. While the liquid in the various tanks was being changed, he strolled over to Orochimaru and asked with a grin:

"Tell me, Lord Orochimaru, did you tamper with the Hashirama Cells you gave me back then? Hm?"

Orochimaru felt uncomfortable under the gaze of Qiuyang's red, bloodshot eyes. He forced himself to answer as casually as he could:

"Gahaha... Qiuyang, didn't you successfully assimilate them? That proves the Hashirama Cells I gave you were... were..."

Orochimaru couldn't keep lying. His slit pupils had turned into three Tomoe as well, and he'd gone completely dazed.

While still immobilized, he'd now also fallen under Sharingan Genjutsu.

Seeing how easily it had worked, Qiuyang lamented how useless Living Corpse Reincarnation was. Snake Auntie's resistance to genjutsu after losing part of her soul was probably even worse than Deidara's.

He hadn't used genjutsu to force answers out of Orochimaru when he'd first gotten the Hashirama Cells because he'd considered that he might need to work with him again later.

But now... the new season had begun, which meant Snake Auntie's life was on a countdown. At last, he could ask for the truth:

"Now you can tell me honestly. Did you tamper with the Hashirama Cells you gave me back then?"

"I had Kabuto... inject my Cursed Seal power... into the cells I gave you."

Orochimaru answered with a vacant stare. Qiuyang's eye twitched when he heard that, and he blurted out:

"If the Cursed Seal you planted in them had taken hold, what signs would there have been?"

Qiuyang didn't know that Snake Auntie's Cursed Seal power had already been dispelled while fighting Sasori's poison. He only knew that he still hadn't felt anything wrong with his body.

"The signs would be the same as Sasuke's... a curse-mark resembling a Tomoe would appear on your neck..."

Phew... looks like I wasn't affected.

Hearing that those were the signs, Qiuyang let out a breath, and his taut nerves relaxed.

He was absolutely certain that when he'd checked his whole body for Hashirama's face, he hadn't found any Tomoe-shaped marks.

Still, this confirmed it... working with Snake Auntie really was like making a deal with a tiger. One careless move, and you'd be caught in his trap.

He kicked Orochimaru a few times in frustration, then looked back and saw that the other tanks had finished filling with anesthetic. He hurried over and sealed them into scrolls one by one.

Since Snake Auntie hadn't played fair, Qiuyang decided he wouldn't honor his initial promise to leave some samples for him to study.

The lab fell briefly silent, broken now and then by the "poof" of a successful seal.

Once he'd taken care of everything, Qiuyang finally returned to Snake Auntie and widened his eyes, releasing the immobilization and genjutsu.

Orochimaru abruptly woke from the genjutsu and immediately jumped backward, putting distance between himself and Qiuyang. Cold sweat poured down his face as he asked in a dark voice:

"Uchiha Qiuyang... what exactly did you just do to me? Do you have any idea how angry you've made me?"

As he spoke, Orochimaru clasped his hands together, which had only just regained some feeling, and prepared to use Wood Release to retaliate.

"Orochimaru, how many times have I told you? None of your tricks will work against these eyes."

How could Qiuyang not know what the White Zetsu body he was trading for could do? Before Orochimaru could make a move, Qiuyang had already formed the Wood Release hand seals:

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"

As soon as he spoke, plants began to grow from the ground with a series of cracking sounds. Then two vines, each about as thick as an adult's waist, sprang up and charged toward Orochimaru...

Smack! Smack!

The vines tore apart Orochimaru's newly Wood Release-transformed hands, pierced both his feet, and bound him tightly. Then two flower buds appeared beside him.

Orochimaru let out a furious cry of disbelief:

"Wah, aaah... why is your Wood Release stronger than mine? Why?!"

The Wood Release Orochimaru could use with his reincarnated White Zetsu body was even weaker than Yamato's. For now, all he could do was transform his own body with Wood Release.

He couldn't use techniques like Deep Forest Emergence, Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, or Bringers of Darkness, which caused plants to grow from the ground.

"Hmph. This is what you get for trying to cheat me."

Qiuyang finished speaking and lowered his hands. The flower buds bloomed at the same time, releasing a potent, deadly toxin.

With that done, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to escape the lab—and he didn't take the Shinigami Mask with him.