Seven Years Later

"Alright, brats, take a good rest for the next few days. I will come to find you myself after that, and as for your training, I will personally oversee your development.

In the hands of me, Orochimaru, your astonishing potential and talent will undoubtedly be unearthed without reservation!

As for other matters, I permit you to move freely within Otogakure, but you are not to step one foot outside the village. Otherwise, you know how terrifying I can be when I am angry, so I suggest you do not test my patience.

However, in exchange for staying in Otogakure, I will grant you unrestricted access to the various ninjutsu, genjutsu, secret techniques, and forbidden arts I have collected over the years. I believe you will find these materials quite necessary.

Finally, let me offer you a word of warning: while the Shikotsumyaku of your Kaguya Clan is powerful, history shows that every wielder of this bloodline has suffered from the same Bloodline Disease. You are truly short-lived creatures!

Based on my years of research, I am confident that I have roughly grasped the origin of your Shikotsumyaku Bloodline Disease.

The reasons are too complex for you to understand, so you only need to know this: from now on, whether you are training or fighting, never reinsert any bone you have extracted from your body back into it.

As long as you follow this, I am ninety percent certain that you will never be afflicted by the Shikotsumyaku Bloodline Disease."

With that final remark from Orochimaru, time slipped away like a white horse galloping past a crevice.

In the blink of an eye, seven full years had passed.

During these seven years, the vast ninja world was rocked by major events that left it in a state of constant turmoil.

In the 47th year of Konoha, one of the village's pillars and a member of the legendary Sannin, the Cold Lord Orochimaru, inexplicably turned against Konoha, defected from the village, and became the first S-rank missing-nin in Konoha's history.

That same year, one month after Orochimaru's defection, Sunagakure began an assault on the northern front of Konoha, while Iwagakure seized the opportunity to attack from the south. Simultaneously, Kumogakure and Kirigakure fished in troubled waters, launching a massive invasion of Konoha's borders. That year, the Third Shinobi World War officially broke out.

Facing the combined offensive of Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure, Konoha was besieged on all sides, struggling to hold its ground as the entire Land of Fire descended into chaotic madness.

The fighting lasted for two years until the end of the 48th year of Konoha, when the Third Shinobi World War finally came to a halt. Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure reconciled with Konoha, leaving only Kumogakure still stirring up trouble.

The following year, the Yellow Flash of Konoha, Minato Namikaze, who had rendered distinguished service during the Third Shinobi World War, officially succeeded as the Fourth Hokage, becoming the supreme leader of Konoha.

Of course, Kimimaro, who was training bitterly in Otogakure, knew nothing of these major events occurring in the ninja world. As for Jun Tianlin, although he was well aware of the plot developments of Naruto due to his past life, he did not pay them much mind, instead focusing all his energy on improving his own strength.

After all, this was a cruel world where the strong preyed on the weak; only power was the true logic of this world!

It must be said that Orochimaru was indeed the most suitable teacher in this world, bar none.

Under his cold-blooded yet measured methods, Jun Tianlin and Kimimaro, who once only knew how to use Shikotsumyaku for simple combat, had already undergone a earth-shaking transformation.

Even now, if Orochimaru were to face either Jun Tianlin or Kimimaro one-on-one, he would not be able to win easily without resorting to his true abilities.

Incidentally, over these years, Orochimaru had already developed his so-called eternal forbidden art, Living Corpse Reincarnation. It was precisely because his numerous human experiments were discovered that he had no choice but to defect from Konoha.

Having developed such a forbidden art, Orochimaru, blinded by the obsession with immortality, had already secretly performed the reincarnation process several times in these short seven years.

Although Orochimaru's reincarnation process was highly covert, it did not escape the notice of Jun Tianlin, who had spent all those years in Otogakure.

After all, Living Corpse Reincarnation required Orochimaru to constantly change bodies, and once a body was swapped, even a god would show signs of abnormality—let alone Orochimaru, who was not a god, but merely a relatively powerful individual!

However, although Jun Tianlin saw that Orochimaru's soul was becoming increasingly fragmented and his overall strength significantly diminished due to the frequent reincarnations, he had no intention of pointing it out.

After all, Orochimaru remained an enemy to him and Kimimaro—at least, that was how it appeared for now, as Orochimaru's greed for the Shikotsumyaku had never diminished in the slightest.

In the 50th year of Konoha, Kimimaro and Jun Tianlin, who had come to Otogakure with Orochimaru, were now handsome teenagers. Faintly, one could still see traces of their childhood features on their refined faces.

It was also in this year that, under Orochimaru's strange gaze, the world began to change...