Time went back to fifteen minutes earlier.
Just as Qian was reading Danzo's memories, in a laboratory somewhere far away, Orochimaru suddenly stopped what he was doing.
"Hm?"
A soft sound of surprise escaped his mouth.
Then he closed his eyes, raised his hand, and formed a seal, as if sensing something.
A moment later, his eyes snapped open, filled with astonishment.
"He was actually released. What is going on?"
Orochimaru murmured to himself, contemplation flickering through his eyes.
In the end, unable to suppress his curiosity, he stepped out of the laboratory.
Arriving in a spacious underground hall, he took out a brush and swiftly began inscribing something on the ground.
One twisted technique formula after another appeared beneath his brush, eventually forming a complex sensory array.
Then Orochimaru sat cross-legged within it, trying hard to follow the connection of the "Impure World Reincarnation" and project his spirit over there.
However, the distance was ultimately too great, and when Qian had been reading Danzo's memories, he had directly and forcefully suppressed all of the other party's consciousness.
So in the end, Orochimaru still failed. He tried several times, but he was never able to project his Spiritual Power over.
Yet there was not the slightest discouragement on Orochimaru's face. Instead, a hint of interest appeared there.
From long ago, when Danzo first learned about Qian's intelligence from him and then organized Root Ninja to assassinate him, only for the attempt to fail, Orochimaru had developed an interest in Qian.
After all, he knew the abilities of Root Ninja very well.
At the time, Qian had just finished taking part in the Chunin Exams, and his strength had been quite ordinary, yet Root's ambush had still failed.
From then on, he had known that Qian was not as simple as