But the next second, the fallen body suddenly opened its mouth wide.
Another Orochimaru crawled out from inside, covered in slime. It was utterly disgusting.
"Oh, my~ You really can't take a joke, Teacher Sarutobi."
After his "rebirth," Orochimaru climbed to his feet, coated in sticky fluid. His face had returned to its original appearance.
"Never mind. It's easier on the eyes if I use this face to talk to you."
Orochimaru smiled casually, but his next words suddenly took a different turn. "Still... I did prepare a new gift for you."
Clap!
Orochimaru slammed his palms together. The earth before him suddenly bulged, and two coffins rose out of the ground.
"What is this?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed drastically.
As a former Hokage and the keeper of the Scroll of Seals, how could he fail to recognize this technique?
Even within the Scroll of Seals, the Second had classified this technique as forbidden among forbidden techniques.
Its use was absolutely prohibited.
How did Orochimaru know it?
There were only two possibilities-
First, he had secretly read the Scroll of Seals while he was in Konoha.
Second, someone had shown him the Scroll of Seals after he defected.
"You... you've been colluding with Konoha's higher-ups all along?!"
Something suddenly occurred to Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he roared through gritted teeth.
"Heh~"
Orochimaru chuckled and spread his hands.
"You really have gone senile, Teacher Sarutobi. It took you this long to think of that."
"Did you think I could infiltrate this place so easily with secret techniques alone?"
Not just Hiruzen Sarutobi, but the surrounding Sarutobi clansmen and Shimura Clan ninja also remembered what had happened twelve years ago-the last time Orochimaru ambushed the two clans.
Back then, they had always assumed Orochimaru had struck during the chaos of the Nine-Tails' Attack.