" The Living Corpse Reincarnation, and this... woman's body you're in now, is it another forbidden technique that comes at the cost of a living person... Orochimaru, I don't even know how to scold you anymore."
Tsunade looked at the effeminate Orochimaru with a headache. As the legendary Konoha Sannin, they naturally had plenty of blood on their hands, but Orochimaru's practice of randomly experimenting on living people and using Ninjutsu still made Tsunade, as a human, feel somewhat nauseous.
"Heh, there's no point in mourning the dead. If death has any meaning, it only exists when it can be used. If it weren't for this body, I might be the one truly facing death."
When Orochimaru talks about life and death, his fake and sinister smile disappears, and he becomes incredibly serious.
Seeing this, Tsunade stopped trying to correct Orochimaru's ninja way. Unless she chopped Orochimaru into minced snake meat, he would never give up his ninja way, or rather, change his unique understanding of life and death.
"You'll die? Impossible! The new Mizukage of Kirigakure and most of the Anbu are busy hunting me and Naoki. Who has the ability to kill you?"
Tsunade frowned. She didn't doubt the truth of Orochimaru's words, but if there was a master of this caliber in Kirigakure, then the process of extorting the Three-Tails was like walking a tightrope over a cliff. A slight mistake could result in death.
Naoki Senju was equally curious. As far as he knew, Kirigakure only had a handful of top-tier ninja: the Mizukage Mei Terumi, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki Utakata, and the future Chōjūrō, all of whom had already made their appearance. The only one left was Byakugan...
Although Ao was later jokingly called Six Paths Ao, it would have been better to give him a quick death rather than have him fight Orochimaru, so he wouldn't have been beaten up by Orochimaru.
"It has nothing to do with Kirigakure; it's someone else. After I was injured, I hid in a safe base, and I handed over all the plans for Kabuto Yakushi Kirigakure."
Orochimaru's expression was more serious than ever before, but such an expression seemed particularly incongruous on her delicate face...
However, Orochimaru himself didn't seem to feel anything. Even after losing his penis and becoming a delicate, busty girl, he maintained his usual calm demeanor. He truly lived up to his nickname, Aunt Snake... Naoki Senju admired him immensely.
So that's how it is. No wonder Orochimaru chose to leave alone when he left Kirigakure. It turns out he wasn't the real Orochimaru back then... Tsunade finally understood some of the details of this plan.
Orochimaru continued, "After entering Kirigakure, by chance, I discovered the wielder of Samehada, one of the Seven Ninja Blade. However, his whereabouts were very strange. After knocking out several patrolling Kirigakure Ninja, he left Kirigakure."
Missing-nin!
The thought appeared in both Tsunade's and Naoki's minds at the same time. Those who need to leave the village using such violent means are obviously not those who need to leave the village for a mission. Those who forcibly leave the ninja village are the missing-nin that the major ninja villages want to get rid of as soon as possible.
Although this rule is somewhat domineering, it is a necessary measure to prevent the leakage of their village's secrets, and all Five Great Shinobi Villages do the same.
"After leaving Kirigakure, I only followed him for about ten miles before I realized I had been discovered, but he just pretended not to know."
While Tsunade was still pondering who in Kirigakure possessed such strength, Naoki Senju had already guessed that the person Orochimaru was referring to was Kisame Hoshigaki, known as the Tailless Tailed Beast.
However, there was one thing that Naoki Senju couldn't understand: Kisame Hoshigaki was indeed very strong, ranking among the top in the Akatsuki. Defeating Orochimaru was possible, but killing or even seriously injuring Orochimaru was impossible.
Orochimaru, the cunning snake of the Shinobi World, the immortal Orochimaru —these titles aren't given lightly.
Orochimaru, completely unaware of Naoki's offensive intentions, continued:
"After realizing this, I still couldn't help but take action. The Seven Ninja Blade of Kirigakure are always kept under strict guard, and this was a rare opportunity. It wasn't until the battle that I recognized his identity—Kisame Hoshigaki, Tailless Tailed Beast with shark teeth Chakra Kisame Hoshigaki comparable to those of Tailed Beast."
Tsunade head, indicating that she had never heard of this name. In fact, the name of the Tailless Tailed Beast was only slightly known in the Land of Water and the Land of Earth. Kirigakure, which was implementing the " Bloody Mist " policy, obviously wouldn't be so eager to praise its own ninjas; it was all thinking about how to kill and how to backstab them.
Kabuto Yakushi nearby, promptly handed Tsunade a stack of documents and explained:
" Kisame Hoshigaki is now an S-rank missing-nin of Kirigakure, and his bounty on the black market has soared to 80 million yen, of which 50 million yen is for Kirigakure, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Samehada."
Naoki Senju glanced at Kisame Hoshigaki's information, which was quite comprehensive, recording everything except for the fact that Kisame Hoshigaki had wet the bed a few times as a child.
This made Naoki Senju wonder if Kabuto Yakushi had secretly visited Kirigakure's Intelligence Division or archives, otherwise how could he have such detailed information?
After reviewing the information, Orochimaru continued the previous topic, his expression growing increasingly serious.
" Tsunade, do you remember what I told you before, that there was a man in the Akatsuki who called himself Madara Uchiha, secretly controlling the Akatsuki?"
"Hmm, but didn't you say his identity was uncertain? Wait... you mean Madara Uchiha was involved this time too? Even your injuries were caused by him..."
Tsunade's expression was solemn. If there was anyone in the Shinobi World today that Sannin, one of the Tsunade, could fear, it would probably only be Madara Uchiha, who lived in legend.
Orochimaru nodded somewhat gravely, confirming Tsunade's guess.
"He did indeed make a move this time. Kisame Hoshigaki knows him, and he even addresses him as Madara Uchiha."
It's practically confirmed: Madara Uchiha has actually survived since that great battle...
"How strong is Madara Uchiha? He's lived for so long, his strength shouldn't be much left." Tsunade herself wasn't sure if she was intimidated by the sheer power of Madara Uchiha's name...
"It's hard to judge, but Madara Uchiha's right eye's Mangekyō ability is Space-Time Ninjutsu. It doesn't require spatial markers like the Flying Thunder God Technique, and it can make parts of the body intangible, but it can't be intangible when attacking. I was caught off guard by his Space-Time Ninjutsu. If I were prepared, I might be able to fight him."
Before Tsunade could process this information, Orochimaru's next words made Tsunade heart sink again.
After glancing at Naoki Senju, Orochimaru said thoughtfully:
" Madara Uchiha used Wood Release in the battle."
Tsunade's heart skipped a beat, Naoki Senju quickly caught Tsunade as she nearly collapsed.
" Orochimaru, are you sure you're not mistaken? How could Madara Uchiha possibly know Wood Release? He's Uchiha, he has absolutely no connection to the Senju."
"It's not like only the Senju Clan possesses Wood Release. I've even cultivated a flawed Wood Release bloodline..." Orochimaru thought to himself, while simultaneously stating incisively:
" Hashirama Cells. If Madara Uchiha possessed a certain number of Hashirama Cells, then as long as he could suppress the backlash from those Hashirama Cells, it wouldn't be surprising if he could use Wood Release."
Wood Release combined with the Sharingan —these two of the strongest Kekkei Genkai in the Shinobi World —are incredibly powerful; even Orochimaru nearly lost his life...
However, at this critical moment, Tsunade became even calmer. As a qualified medical-nin, one must remain absolutely clear-headed, especially in crucial situations. Medical-nin must never give up on saving the injured until all hope is confirmed.
"Calm down... We can confirm more than 70% that Madara Uchiha is still alive. Moreover, the issue of Wood Release needs to be taken even more seriously. We absolutely cannot let the Wood Release bloodstains fall into the hands of that madman."
"And the simplest way to achieve all this is to utilize Konoha's immense size, or even the power of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!"
With this in mind, Tsunade's gaze gradually hardened. Given that her individual strength was no match for Madara Uchiha Madara Uchiha, this was currently the best way to deal with him.
" Naoki, Shizune, go and prepare. We need to get back to Konoha ahead of schedule."
Orochimaru nodded approvingly. One of his goals was to use Konoha, this behemoth, to fight against the increasingly powerful Akatsuki. However, he had no one he could trust until Tsunade and Naoki appeared.
However, Orochimaru, whose plan was already complete, unexpectedly stopped Tsunade. Faced with Tsunade's puzzled look, Orochimaru explained:
"There's no need to rush. Even if you return to Konoha now, you won't be able to seize power Konoha anytime soon. A better opportunity will come in time."