The Experiment Has Succeeded / What a Small World

"But if it allows us to retain more strength, then it's a very powerful Ninjutsu," Orochimaru licked his lips. "This is a very resource-intensive thing. I can cooperate with the Uchiha Clan. Such Ninjutsu would also be very valuable to the Uchiha Clan."

"Orochimaru, this is not like the Cursed Seal. There's no definitive answer as to whether the Impure World Reincarnation is a clone or just a manipulation of souls. How can you be sure your research direction is correct?"

"I will first revive the Senju Muzoku using the original technique, and draw inspiration from him."

I'll give you a Totsuka Blade, do you want it?

"A genius like you, do you really need to borrow the wisdom of the dead?"

"The Senju Muzoku Technique has been improved, and I believe it is necessary to resurrect him."

"Alright." Uchiha Shingen didn't continue, lest he say something inappropriate. "If you can restore the activity of those organizations, come find me again, and I'll assess the situation and see how to proceed."

"Alright, it's settled then." Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with excitement, and he was in high spirits.

After the Cursed Seal, the Uchiha Clan stopped investing in his projects. Although there was still some small revenue as a friendly exchange between the two sides, it was only so much and could only alleviate his financial strain.

Orochimaru fondly remembers the days when money and resources were plentiful, and all he had to do was think about how to conduct research.

The Senju Muzoku were the bait he threw out.

As long as he can successfully get the project approved, everything else will be easy, and he doesn't need to worry about the Uchiha Clan not being interested.

The two sides were having a pleasant exchange. Orochimaru fully demonstrated his hospitality as the host, escorting Uchiha Shingen all the way out of the base. Before leaving, he also gave Uchiha Shingen a small gift—a bottle of snake venom that he had specially prepared.

Specifically designed to paralyze people.

Everyone here is from Ryūchi Cave, so Orochimaru probably wouldn't need to bother giving Uchiha Shingen a special instruction manual for how to use this thing.

Uchiha Shingen accepted the bottle of poison; the snake venom concocted by Orochimaru was bound to be incredibly effective.

He has now largely completed his mission.

Orochimaru personally didn't like the idea of a military observer group coming to the Land of Rice Fields, but since he was currently stuck there, he had no choice but to agree, indicating that he would have his nominal leader cooperate fully.

After all, even if he didn't agree, his men couldn't stop him.

However, in return, Uchiha Shingen gave Orochimaru some face, saying that as long as Kabuto Yakushi Genin peacefully as a genin in Leaf Village and didn't cause trouble, he would pretend he didn't know him.

Not at all. He already had someone keeping an eye on him, and the reason was simple: he just thought this guy was a genius.

Even ninjas can follow the crowd. When Uchiha Shingen said that Kabuto Yakushi was a genius, naturally many people would keep an eye on Kabuto Yakushi, waiting to see when he would finally show his genius.

If he can still cause trouble in this environment, then Uchiha Shingen will have to admit defeat.

He accepted the offer and personally saw him off to his death.

After a perfunctory farewell to Orochimaru, Uchiha Shingen left the base.

Behind him, Orochimaru and Kabuto watched as his figure vanished after taking a single step.

The underground base fell silent again. Orochimaru and Kabuto remained standing in the same spot, and the atmosphere seemed somewhat eerie.

After a while, Dou pushed up his glasses.

"Lord Orochimaru, this Lord Shingen seems to value that Lord Wu Zu very much."

"Kabuto, don't attract his attention too much while you're in Leaf Village," Orochimaru glanced at his assistant. "Also, remember what I taught you? Don't make assumptions you're not sure about."

"Of course, without sufficient information, it is impossible to make a judgment."

"That's good, let's continue the experiment."

Orochimaru turned and walked back, and Kabuto hurriedly followed.

He would periodically return to Orochimaru for a period of time, partly to report on the Leaf Village Orochimaru, and partly to learn.

Although he was just an assistant, Orochimaru taught him everything he knew, and Orochimaru was willing to teach him anything he dared to learn.

However, the subject of this "master and disciple" relationship was not Ninjutsu.

But it was something Orochimaru considered more valuable.

The two continued downwards, heading towards the lowest level.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Experiment Has Been a Success

A buzzing sound echoed in the completely dark space.

Two more people appeared in the darkness.

One of them struck something with a snap, and a flame appeared in the darkness, illuminating his face.

It's Kabuto Yakushi.

He walked to the wall and pressed a switch.

The space brightened up as small lights arranged along the walls came on.

The dim lighting illuminated a long corridor.

The walls were rough, indicating that the space had only been recently created, and apart from the necessary equipment, there was no decoration in the area.

This is the very bottom level of this base.

After the lights came on, Orochimaru walked forward, casting a long shadow behind him.

A shadow that doesn't resemble a human's.

Kabuto Yakushi extinguished the lighter in his hand and followed.

The long corridor slopes downwards, and steps have been carved out in the steeper sections to facilitate walking.

The path became narrower as they descended, until they reached the end, where only one person could walk at a time. Before Orochimaru lay a giant rock with markings representing a seal.

Orochimaru made a hand seal, causing the boulder to sink inwards and then rise up, revealing a passage.

The two went inside.

After passing through this passage, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A large basement, which was extremely "modern" for this world, came into view. However, of all the equipment here, the only one that Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi valued was a rather inconspicuous cultivation tank in the middle.

In the culture medium was a human skin.

It is not complete; it is pieced together from countless fragments, and it is itself severely damaged.

"Orochimaru, it seems it won't be easy to make it usable." Kabuto Yakushi, the person actually in charge of this task, said after a thorough inspection, "It hasn't changed much in recent years compared to when it was in the hands of Kumogakure."

"That's what makes it interesting," Orochimaru said. "The Kumogakure's technology is quite impressive. Just collecting this skin tissue must have taken a lot of effort, not to mention the years it took to restore its vitality."

"Someone who's been dead for so long, and they think they can bring him back to life with this little bit of stuff? The Kumogakure is really rich and powerful."

"Who told them they couldn't handle those things?" Orochimaru stepped forward, placed a hand on the outer wall of the culture tank, looked at the charred, paper-like remnant inside, and praised, "As expected of the man who represented the Senju of the Forest in his lifetime, he truly obtained the 'Sage Body'."

"I wouldn't say that. You did say that even though the First Hokage has been dead for so many years, his cells are still more active than those of an ordinary person."

"Kabuto, you weren't observing carefully enough. The experiment has been a success. From now on, just use this configuration to change the culture medium. It's repairing itself." Orochimaru laughed. "Leaf Village wants the 'power' of the Senju of the Forest, but I'm more interested in 'techniques.' On the path of life and death, no one has gone deeper than Senju Muzoku."

But he's dead.

"Don't be such a spoilsport, Kabuto." Orochimaru routinely inspected his treasure trove, quite pleased. "You've done an excellent job; I'll reward you."

"No, I was just boldly experimenting based on your speculation."

"Heh, you are indeed outstanding. Let's go, it's time to meet with Scorpion."

Orochimaru withdrew his hand from the outer wall and turned to walk back the way he came.

"Lord Orochimaru, isn't it inappropriate for you to meet with the Akatsuki members at this time?"

"Xiao is still useful to me, and Qi, if we don't meet again soon, even Scorpion will start to suspect you."

"I think Lord Sasori should consider what to do if he were to encounter Uchiha Shingen."

Despite saying this, Kabuto Yakushi nimbly followed Orochimaru and left the area.

Sasori of the Red Sands is indeed not a good-tempered person.

Over the years, Nagato and his group, along with Tobi, appeared to be allies, but secretly engaged in numerous underhanded maneuvers and fierce battles. Orochimaru, meanwhile, was conducting intelligence work between the two sides.

The information about Tobi in Kumogakure was basically all sold to Orochimaru by Rain Village.

Orochimaru was also an important "partner" of the Kumogakure, and he had both the channels and methods to gather intelligence on the Kumogakure.

Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi emerged from the ground to the west of Sound Village, in the opposite direction from where Uchiha Shingen had left.

It was a rare treat to bask in the sun, but Orochimaru didn't feel particularly special. After all, among the Akatsuki members, he only had anything to say to Kakuzu.

The fact that they didn't even fight Sasori of the Red Sands was already a huge favor to Nagato.

However, it is worth pondering that Scorpion, with whom he had such a terrible relationship, became the contact person this time.

After traveling some distance westward, Orochimaru arrived at the place where he had arranged to meet Sasori of the Red Sands.

But he did not see Sasori of the Red Sands.

"Kabuto, do you think Sasori of the Red Sands might run into Uchiha Shingen?"

He was late for our appointment, wasting my research time. Should I just kill him?

Human Puppet, though not of much value, seem like there's no harm in studying them.

"Lord Orochimaru, please calm down." Kabuto Yakushi also disliked Sasori of the Red Sands, but he felt it was unnecessary to deal with Sasori of the Red Sands over this matter.

He could tell from Orochimaru's tone that he was about to kill.

"Alright, since we're already here, let's wait for him." Orochimaru smiled wickedly. "Kabuto, you go and talk to him first. Oh, and tell him a lot about Sunagakure. Just say that Sunagakure has been looking for him ever since last time."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

Orochimaru began to plot how to get as much as possible from Sasori of the Red Sands... no, from the Akatsuki.

Over the years, he felt that what he received from Akatsuki was completely unworthy of the time he had invested.

As for Sunagakure, although its size has shrunk repeatedly since the implementation of the elite policy, its combat strength has actually increased in recent years, and its Jinchūriki, an important fighting force, have begun to perform admirably.

He kept collecting information about the five great ninja villages.

As the intelligence expert among the Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru never neglected the intelligence aspect.

Leaf Village, Cloud Village, and Sand Village are his main targets.

He felt that these three organizations were bound to pull off a major, high-profile event.

It's not surprising that Cloud Village and Sand Village teamed up to fight Iwagakure; the real buzz would be if they didn't fight Iwagakure.

The real hot topic will definitely be related to Leaf Village.

Therefore, Orochimaru needed to be prepared, and more importantly, so that his research wouldn't be disturbed by these idle ninjas who loved to fight all the time.

From a convenient standpoint, if there's a good deal, he wouldn't mind snatching it away.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road

As the protagonist awaiting the attention of Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi, each with their own hidden agendas, Sasori of the Red Sands's mood at this moment was far from pleasant.

This is terrible, what a small world!

On the high slope, Uchiha Shingen was smiling as he looked at Sasori of the Red Sands, almost bursting out laughing.

"Uchiha Shingen, I didn't cause any trouble for Leaf Village."

Sasori of the Red Sands looked at the guy in front of him and thought to himself that he was really cursed. Every time he got involved with Orochimaru, nothing good ever came of it.

Uchiha Shingen, the White Ghost of Leaf Village, is now widely recognized as having the ability to overthrow a major country. He is also extremely intelligent. In recent years, he has inexplicably identified and eliminated many people as threats to Leaf Village, mostly from the Cloud Village.

Later, even Hidden Leaf Village itself dared not let him go out on overseas missions casually, and the international mission circle in the Ninja World calmed down for a few years.

But as soon as this person steps out of the country, it will make the neighboring countries very nervous.

For the Akatsuki, this person was the only tough nut to crack who had thwarted their plans more than once, yet they were unable to retaliate against him.

Not long after Nagato conquered Rain Village, he led his ninja army to their village and forced them to sign a contract.

In Sasori of the Red Sands's view, the fact that Nagato could hold back from turning against him meant that Uchiha Shingen's raw strength was already quite formidable.

As a result, the Akatsuki, a military group whose core fighting force is composed of missing-nin of the maximum danger level, acts very cautiously and never goes to the Land of Fire.

However, before coming to the Land of Rice Fields, Sasori had not received any information that Uchiha Shingen had left the village. If he had known, he wouldn't have come.

"Scorpion, do you know how much the Fourth Kazekage has put on your head?" Uchiha Shingen asked instead of answering.

I felt that Orochimaru and his group were hiding something.