Studying Reincarnators with Orochimaru

Among the Sannin, who was the hardest to deal with?

Tsunade had the strongest taijutsu, Orochimaru the strongest ninjutsu, and Jiraiya possessed senjutsu. All of them were overwhelmingly powerful, but when it came to being troublesome, Orochimaru—the scientist second only to the Second Hokage—was undoubtedly the most difficult of the Sannin to handle.

In the original story, the Third Hokage had already received Jiraiya's message, yet he had still confidently declared that he could deal with Orochimaru and bring this twisted bond to an end.

In truth, he had been Orochimaru's teacher and understood him well. Though age had weakened him, Orochimaru was not in good condition either. By then, Orochimaru had changed bodies an unknown number of times, and both his soul and spirit had suffered irreversible damage. Chakra came from physical and spiritual energy, after all, so it was hardly surprising that Orochimaru, after undergoing reincarnation so many times, had been completely suppressed by the Third Hokage.

But Orochimaru had used the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu to summon two incomplete Hokage, directly overwhelming the Third Hokage and forcing him to use the mutually destructive Reaper Death Seal.

Before that, whether he had faced the Third Kazekage or Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi had always been brimming with confidence.

Yet when faced with an unpredictable and troublesome opponent like Orochimaru, and with himself being targeted, only two people remained. One was Yun Duanyou, the untraceable esper, who had used his replacement ability to replace himself and vanish without a trace. As for Wuying...

Even after exhausting every means at his disposal, Wuying had failed to escape Orochimaru's pursuit. Both of their abilities were suited for fleeing, but Yun Duanyou was undoubtedly better at it than Wuying.

Orochimaru had initially been careless, allowing Yun Duanyou to escape in an instant. But Wuying had used every trick he had, increasingly piquing Orochimaru's curiosity and interest. No matter what, Orochimaru would not let him go.

With Orochimaru's perspective and knowledge, he could naturally see that the so-called [Shadow Style] was completely different from the Nara Clan's techniques. The other man was making use of shadows and wielding them, but it was not the Nara Clan's escape technique. No matter what, he was valuable material. Once Orochimaru caught him...

Wuying had already been deemed unable to escape.

"Mission failed. Reincarnator, eliminated." After that voice sounded in his mind, Wuying, bound by the giant snake, suddenly convulsed. Steam rose from his head as he slowly lowered it.

"Oh?" Orochimaru came to the snake's side in surprise and looked at him. "The signs of life remain, but..." He pinched Wuying's ordinary-looking face, and Chakra flowed from his hand as it instantly analyzed the man's brain.

"His brain has been cooked."

"Some kind of restriction?" Orochimaru looked regretful.

"Was I too late after all?" Oguri Hayashi's voice arrived alongside him and Tsunade.

After entering Konoha, the exchange of information became much smoother. Konoha's intelligence network, built up over nearly a century since the village's founding, was constantly at work. Once Tsunade entered Konoha, information traveled with extreme speed and efficiency, making it practically a different world from Takigakure. It was through this intelligence network that they had found Orochimaru so quickly, and it was also because of this network that anyone invading Konoha would suffer the consequences!

"Orochimaru-sama." Oguri Hayashi smiled at Orochimaru.

"Lin-kun!" Orochimaru did not hold a grudge over Oguri Hayashi kicking him away three years ago. Instead, he admired Oguri Hayashi's ability to act and was full of curiosity about his abilities.

In his eyes, Oguri Hayashi was very strong. At twelve, he had been able to send the Third Hokage and the Sannin flying with a kick. Three years later, reaching Kage-level was well within reach. He was someone worthy of speaking with on equal terms.

"Tsunade." Orochimaru turned and nodded to Tsunade. His expression did not change, but his eyes softened somewhat. They had been teammates, after all. When Tsunade had been taken away by Oguri Hayashi, they had worried about her. Later, however, Tsunade's slug had been summoned back to deliver a message. Since it was a Summoned Beast, it represented its owner, so no one doubted Tsunade's words.

Most importantly, Tsunade had been telling the truth—her hemophobia required a place and time for her to recover. That place was Takigakure, and the reason for her disappearance was fitting as well. So many ninja had witnessed it that it was impossible for the information not to leak, but it had also provided the perfect opportunity and excuse.

Thus, Tsunade disappeared for three years.

During those three years, Orochimaru had remained utterly loyal to Konoha. He was Konoha's most gifted scientist and researcher since the Second Hokage. His sponsor was not the Third Hokage, but Danzo of Konoha's Root.

But even so, all of them were acting "for Konoha."

"Is he dead?" Oguri Hayashi and Tsunade both looked at Wuying, who was wrapped in the giant snake. He was the man Tsunade had pursued and who had escaped.

But compared to Tsunade, a formidable taijutsu ninja, Orochimaru was undoubtedly much harder to deal with. This time, Wuying was not so lucky.

"Judging from his vitality, he is not dead. But biologically speaking, he is completely dead."

Orochimaru flicked out his tongue, as though giving some kind of signal. The giant snake, thicker than a man's thigh, released Wuying.

"Brain death?" Oguri Hayashi strode forward without hesitation. Unafraid of the snake, he began examining Wuying.

Wuying was different from the four people he had encountered and killed the first time.

Those four had died fighting fiercely, their bodies riddled with holes. There had been no information whatsoever about the Infinite Hall. But this one... the Infinite Hall had likely sensed danger and acted on its own, cooking his brain.

To cook someone's brain without Orochimaru noticing, their technology had either surpassed the twenty-first century as he knew it, or they truly possessed incomparably great power.

"Impressive. There are no signs of external injury." There was clearly no sign that the man's skull had been opened, yet his entire brain had been cooked through like brains placed in a microwave. Apart from some cerebrospinal fluid running from his nose like snot, there was not a single visible injury on his body. This also showed Orochimaru's strength—if he said he would capture someone alive, he truly captured them alive. Aside from some scrapes, there was astonishingly little damage on the man's body!

But the fact that they had not taken the corpse away revealed some issues.

Though the man was clearly dead, a smile appeared on Oguri Hayashi's face.

He felt that he was drawing closer, step by step, to the truth behind the Infinite Hall.

"Orochimaru-sama, you know Impure World Reincarnation, right?" Oguri Hayashi turned to ask Orochimaru.

"I think it is time to use the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu."

That was right. The Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu had originally been created to interrogate the dead!!