Orochimaru's Defection

Long Ye studied it for a moment before finally opening the bubble-like container and rescuing Rin from inside.

After examining her, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Just as Orochimaru had said before, he had intended to use Rin as an experiment, so her life had never been in danger. She had merely been afflicted by a technique and fallen into a deep sleep.

"This is actually a good opportunity!"

With a thought, Long Ye took out a crystal.

Sealed within it were the Blood-Origin Cells he had obtained through immense hardship.

Once the transplant succeeded, Rin would definitely gain Ice Release.

If Rin suddenly gained a power like Ice Release, it would undoubtedly draw investigation from many sides. Some might even suspect him.

At that point, the fact that he possessed the ability to perform Cell Transplantation would likely be exposed. That was clearly not a good thing for him.

But with this incident, he could shift the source of the Ice Release power entirely onto Orochimaru. After all, hardly anyone knew what Orochimaru had been researching.

He laid the sleeping Rin flat on the ground and formed a Chakra Scalpel in his hand.

Performing Cell Transplantation on someone else was somewhat more complicated than using it on himself.

After the cells were implanted into the body, the body would reject them. He needed to use the power of his Op-Op Fruit to resolve that rejection and forcibly fuse the two together.

That required a certain amount of time.

Thus, before he had even finished the operation, Konoha's higher-ups, led by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had already gathered in Orochimaru's laboratory.

Seeing Long Ye treating Rin, they did not interrupt him.

Only after half an hour had passed, when Long Ye felt that the operation was