Revisiting an Old Place

Compared to Orochimaru's dedication and talent in research, Mizuki's only real advantage lay in the logic and methods of thought cultivated by the scientific, systematic education of his previous life. In techniques like sealing arts and barrier arts, which required accumulated knowledge and outstanding deductive ability, he possessed uniquely favorable conditions.

Orochimaru's thinking in the study of forbidden techniques and his genius-level creative ideas truly made Mizuki feel inferior.

Although Mizuki had currently gone farther down his path than Orochimaru, that was the result of an overwhelming advantage in intelligence. If the two of them were simply allowed to research freely, it was only a matter of time before Orochimaru surpassed Mizuki.

An adult jackal invading the den of lions that had not yet fully grown naturally held an advantage in strength. But once the lions matured, the jackal's inherently frail nature would inevitably be exposed.

What Mizuki needed to do was strive to go higher and farther while he still held an absolute advantage, reaching the limits of his strength as much as possible and making it harder for others to overtake him.

Relying on an almost godlike perspective in intelligence, he had completed his initial primitive accumulation and reached a height where aptitude had little influence. Now was the time to build a moat, consolidate his gains, and protect his existing advantages.

Now was the time for Mizuki to harvest and taste the fruits he had planted in the past.

This time, the place where Orochimaru would perform the Impure World Reincarnation was not the Uchiha Clan's Naka Shrine from the original story, but the Land of Sea, far out in the ocean and away from the mainland. It was one of the biological weapon laboratory bases Orochimaru had once operated, later abandoned and left under Amachi's guard.