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Orochimaru was also a major figure, and he similarly hated Konoha and the Third Hokage. Most importantly, he possessed the Shinobi World's most cutting-edge technology!

Fei Yun secretly thought that Orochimaru might be able to help him become even stronger. After all, scientific technology was the primary productive force!

Besides, Orochimaru should be launching the Konoha Crush Plan soon. Wasn't that exactly what he wanted? Fei Yun had been worrying about not having a chance to return to Konoha and stir up trouble!

At the border where the Land of Grass, Land of Fire, and Land of Earth met stood a mountain, with a secret base at its summit.

A tall man dressed in a black robe patterned with red clouds walked step by step up the staircase.

His long black hair was smooth and flowing, while his golden pupils stood vertically, radiating the sinister coldness of a venomous snake.

His face was deathly pale without a trace of color. Purple eyeshadow stretched to the sides of his nose, and the hook-shaped earrings on his ears swayed lightly with his movements. This person was Orochimaru. As Orochimaru reached the mountainside, just as he had expected, a black-haired youth in the same black robe with red clouds descended from above. As they passed each other, Orochimaru's lips curled slightly, revealing sharp fangs.

Suddenly, a giant python extended from Orochimaru's black robe and tightly coiled around the black-haired youth in the blink of an eye, then lifted him high into the air.

Orochimaru stared greedily at the youth with his golden eyes and smiled. "My friend, do you know what eternal life is?"

Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth and glanced at the giant snake binding him.

Orochimaru's gloomy laughter rang out. "I don't know yet, which is why I need your body to join me in pursuing eternity!"

"My friend, do you know?"

"My friend, you and I are truly a perfect match."

"The same smooth black hair, the same eye markings spreading across your face. You are the perfect vessel for me."

Listening to Orochimaru's rambling, Itachi spoke calmly.

"Ridiculous ambition and desire. This is nothing more than your selfish obsession."

Orochimaru froze, faintly sensing that something was wrong. At that moment, Itachi suddenly opened his eyes. His scarlet Sharingan bloomed, and powerful ocular force swept over Orochimaru.

Orochimaru discovered that he was still standing below, that he had not moved behind Yo, and that Yo had never been bound by the giant snake. His body could no longer move.

"I clearly launched my attack from behind you!"

Orochimaru stopped cold, his body trembling.

"I see. Is this genjutsu?"

"I never thought I would fall for such a powerful illusion. What formidable ocular power!"

"Subarashii!"

Orochimaru wore an entranced yet shocked smile. From his perspective, enormous stone nails formed from tree roots had pinned his body in place. He struggled to move his arm. As long as he could form hand seals, he could use ninjutsu to break the illusion.

However, Yo, standing before him, casually waved one hand. A flash of cold light passed, and Orochimaru's arm was severed.

Blood sprayed as the pale arm fell to the ground.

Orochimaru clutched his severed arm and let out a muffled cry of pain. Yo held up a plain kunai and said,

"No matter how powerful your ninjutsu is, it is useless before these eyes of mine."

Cold sweat covered Orochimaru's forehead, but he still spoke coldly.

"That's quite the big talk!"

The youth, Yo, remained expressionless. "I don't know how to deal with you. Should I kill you here and now, or keep you for some other use?"

"You are far too much. Your ambition and desire have already gone too far."

As he spoke, Yo slowly extended the kunai toward Orochimaru's brow, frightening Orochimaru into crying out.

Orochimaru could not understand Yo's rambling, but he could feel a deadly killing intent.

Yo's eyes were melancholy yet stern. In his view, although Orochimaru was highly useful, he deserved to die.

Orochimaru treated life like worthless grass, freely using human lives for experiments and data. Moreover, he posed a grave threat to Konoha.

If Orochimaru loved the village, then even if he killed some innocent people, Yo could still accept him.

But Yo knew that Orochimaru had become utterly heartless, with nothing in his heart but desire and ambition. Therefore, he wanted to remove this threat for Konoha.

Just as Yo made up his mind to pierce Orochimaru's head, several shuriken shot out from a blind spot and forced him back.

"Lord Orochimaru!"

Yakushi Kabuto arrived alongside the shuriken. He stood firmly in front of Orochimaru, and several explosive tags surrounded Yo before erupting in a series of explosions.

After leaving behind a harsh warning, Orochimaru vanished from the area together with Yakushi Kabuto.

Inside one of Akatsuki's bases, everyone had gathered. They had already learned of Orochimaru's situation.

Leader Pain's magnetic male voice rang out. "Orochimaru has betrayed the organization and fled."

Zetsu spoke gloomily. "I said long ago that he was unreliable. He actually placed his personal affairs before the organization."

Pain knew Zetsu had always disliked Orochimaru and continued, "We need to keep recruiting partners. We still don't have enough manpower."

A comical voice rang out.

"Me! Me! Let me join!"

Tobi, wearing a spiral mask, leaned forward and waved his arms vigorously. Zetsu immediately shouted sternly, "Get lost!"

Tobi instantly fell silent.

"Uh..." Zetsu continued, "Leave Orochimaru to me. His subordinates have long since been controlled by me. I will soon find his hiding place."

Pain shook his head. "We'll discuss this later. I've already found you a new partner. We will act after he joins."

Kakuzu spoke.

"What about me?"

"Will I be carrying out missions with Yo?"

Pain continued.

"No. Kakuzu, act alone for now. I have found a new partner for Yo."

Kakuzu replied calmly.

"Fine. A partner without enough strength would only slow down my money-making."

Konan gave Kakuzu an approving look, clearly thinking highly of him.

Inside an underground base, Orochimaru had somehow restored his arm completely.

"Damn it. I thought I could obtain Yo's body and bring my life to its ultimate transformation. I never expected to fail."

Orochimaru's gaze was gloomy, and he was in a terrible mood. At the same time, he still felt lingering fear.

"Has that brat already become stronger than me?"

Yo's body now seemed impossibly out of reach. How could his mood not be awful?

He could not obtain the Rinnegan, and he still could not obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan.

That feeling of seeing something yet being unable to get it nearly drove him mad.

"It was right there, right before my eyes, yet I was just that tiny bit short."

Yakushi Kabuto said,

"Lord Orochimaru, we can take things slowly."

Orochimaru composed himself, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"It doesn't matter. I heard Yo has a younger brother. I can make a move on him."

"Blood brothers with the same lineage—Yo's younger brother's body surely won't be bad either."

As Orochimaru spoke, he could not help extending his long tongue to lick his lips. His eyes were filled with desire. In his view, Yo was his dream body.

Sasuke was merely the second-best choice he had settled for out of helplessness.

Once he became stronger in the future, Orochimaru still would not let Yo's body go if he had the chance.

"Kabuto, gather every piece of intelligence on Yo's younger brother for me, and send people to monitor his every move."

As Yakushi Kabuto searched through intelligence files, he said,

"Lord Orochimaru, aside from Sasuke, there are other bodies among the Uchiha Clan that you can choose from."

"What do you mean?"

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly. Kabuto finally found the intelligence file and placed it on the table beside Orochimaru.

"This is recent intelligence. This person is another survivor of the Uchiha Clan. It is said that he was an accomplice in Itachi's clan massacre."

"Hmph, how could that be possible!"

"It is merely another trick by those old monsters in the village."

Orochimaru picked up the intelligence scroll and examined it.

Others might not understand Konoha's inner workings and believe the Hokage faction's claims, but who was Orochimaru?

He was one of Konoha's legendary ninja, someone who had nearly become the Fourth Hokage. He knew Konoha's depths very well.

Although Orochimaru did not know the exact causes and consequences of the Uchiha Clan massacre, he knew very well that the matter was far more complicated than it appeared.

That Uchiha survivor was basically incapable of being Yo's accomplice. If he had been, they should have joined Akatsuki together, even if only to work under its banner.

Orochimaru could tell with his toes that Konoha's old fools were behind the Uchiha Clan massacre. They were probably panicking over the existence of a survivor, so they pinned the blame on him.

Kabuto nodded.

"I also think it is unlikely that he is Yo's companion. Their styles of conduct are completely opposed."

Orochimaru frowned as he looked over Uchiha Feiyun's profile. "Sixteen years old and still a Chunin? That aptitude is far too poor. He is not fit to be my vessel at all."

Kabuto smiled and pushed up his glasses, their lenses reflecting the light of wisdom.

"How could someone with a bounty in the tens of millions possibly be at Chunin level?"

"Moreover, according to the intelligence, this kid has already killed many Konoha Jonin who specifically handled intelligence work. He has quite an intelligence network and considerable power under his command."

Orochimaru showed a look of interest. "Interesting. Continue monitoring Uchiha Feiyun and Uchiha Sasuke."

The Land of Hot Water was a tiny island nation, and its most famous feature was its hot springs.

Because it was far from the mainland, it was also far from war. It had remained untouched by war for years, so the Land of Hot Water did not place much emphasis on developing military strength. As a result, it had no respectable ninja forces.

As Fei Yun traveled, he saw all kinds of hot spring establishments everywhere. Since he was already here, he decided to choose a hot spring inn, settle in, and enjoy a good soak.

Naturally, if he was choosing, he would choose a hot spring that allowed mixed bathing.

It was said that mixed-gender hot springs in the Land of Hot Water were where the most stories happened. Fei Yun naturally wanted to experience a romantic encounter himself.

However, when he rushed eagerly into the mixed bathing area, he found it filled with old men harboring the same thoughts. Women did not dare enter and instead chose the women-only baths.

Seeing the pool full of old men, Fei Yun only wanted to roar, "Fuck, give me my money back!"

Unable to swallow his anger in the end, he angrily found the hot spring manager to argue. "This is a scam! You are running a scam!"

The manager looked utterly innocent. "Sir, it is indeed a mixed-gender hot spring. It's just that no female customers entered today. That isn't something we can demand. The Land of Hot Water is a free country. Why don't you wait a little longer? Perhaps some female guests will come by later!"

What a scam. There really were mixed-gender hot springs, but they made no guarantees there would be any girls, huh?

Fei Yun had no choice but to spend another large sum to hire a beautiful young masseuse to scrub his back.

He had thought it was a respectable hot spring establishment, but it turned out to be anything but. Not only were her hands dishonest, she would occasionally expose her enormous peaks on purpose to tease him.

Fei Yun had absolutely no resistance to a baby-faced girl with huge breasts. Finding an opportunity, he directly moved in to feed her little mouth.

"Sir, sir, you can't..."

Fei Yun looked utterly puzzled.

"Quit talking nonsense. I'm really worked up right now."

The beautiful girl held up three fingers.

"You'll have to pay more!"

"No problem!"

After saying that, Fei Yun pressed his collagen-filled lips against hers.

The beautiful young woman had thought she made a profit, but she eventually discovered that she had not.

Fei Yun's combat ability was simply too strong. After thoroughly having his way with her, he bombarded the mountains for over an hour. In the end, she could only sigh, "Money is hard to earn, and shit is hard to eat!"

Early the next morning, Fei Yun received intelligence: Shimura Qiuqu, a Konoha Jonin, was escorting a wealthy merchant from the Land of Hot Water back home and would disembark at Hailin Wharf at around 9 o'clock today.

Fei Yun put away the intelligence scroll, got up and tidied himself, then set out on his hunting path.