Not long after, Genji Ryōma, along with Rin Takakura and Kōki, arrived at Orochimaru's office. As mentioned before, Orochimaru's office had now been moved to the medical camp, which made it easier for Genji Ryōma to report.
" Lord Orochimaru, good news! We have successfully developed the antidote!" Genji Ryōma barged into Orochimaru's office without even knocking.
He was so excited that he forgot about this basic etiquette.
Fortunately, Orochimaru wasn't the kind of person who followed the rules too closely. After hearing that Genji Ryōma had developed an antidote, he simply ignored Genji Ryōma's reckless behavior.
" Genji, is everything you're saying true? Just a few hours ago you said you had absolutely no clue, and now..."
Orochimaru was initially delighted upon hearing Genji Ryōma's words, but his expression immediately turned suspicious.
It's not surprising that Orochimaru would show such an expression, after all, he had just come out of the instrument room where Genji Ryōma had been a few hours ago.
Back then, he heard Genji Ryōma say that he had no way to deal with the Sunagakure poison for the time being and that he should make other plans. Now, he comes to tell him that there is an antidote. This inconsistency makes him very suspicious.
" Lord Orochimaru, I forgot to mention. The antidote has been developed, but I wasn't the one who developed it; it was Kōki."
After Genji Ryōma finished speaking, he smiled and pushed Kōki behind him in front of Orochimaru.
Kōki, who was pushed forward by Genji Ryōma to face Orochimaru directly, was somewhat flustered. He did not expect Genji Ryōma to suddenly do such a thing. Orochimaru's fearsome reputation as a research maniac was still terrifying.
However, remembering that he had already come into Orochimaru's sights because of his Wood Release, this only made Orochimaru pay more attention to him. Therefore, he calmed his panicked heart and looked at Orochimaru with a calm expression.
"It's Kōki -kun. No wonder he's a medical genius personally selected by Teacher Sarutobi."
After hearing Genji Ryōma's words, Orochimaru looked at Kōki with great interest.
He had initially thought that Hiruzen Sarutobi's claim of being a medical genius was just an excuse to hide Kōki, but now it seemed that this kid who had successfully inherited Wood Release was truly extraordinary.
First, he has Wood Release, then he has a talent for medicine; he's a kid so gifted that it makes people envious.
After hearing Orochimaru's praise, both Rin Takakura and Genji Ryōma patted Kōki on the shoulder with delight.
In their eyes, it was an extraordinary honor for Kōki to receive praise from Sannin, one of the Orochimaru.
However, Kōki, who was being stared at by Orochimaru, felt a chill run down his spine. He knew what kind of person Orochimaru was. Even if his strength was not inferior to Orochimaru's, being constantly targeted by a pervert was not a good thing.
"I'm just an ordinary ninja with a little talent, not worthy of Lord Orochimaru's praise. Lord Orochimaru is the true genius; the Lord Hokage has always praised Lord Orochimaru's talent highly." Despite feeling somewhat flustered, Kōki replied to Orochimaru with an unchanging expression.
" Kōki- kun is really modest. At least I wasn't that capable at your age. Besides, Kōki and composed demeanor is far beyond what people your age can achieve."
Orochimaru wasn't stupid; Kōki's modesty didn't fool him at all. He was even a little curious as to why this young Kōki possessed such an extraordinary temperament.
You know, a genius from an ordinary family with Wood Release and extraordinary medical talent would have been arrogant long ago, but Kōki was unexpectedly precocious.
This situation is completely illogical, unless something extraordinary happened to Kōki that changed his Kōki nature.
Orochimaru did not believe that anyone was born with a precocious personality. As far as he knew, most precocious geniuses in the Shinobi World had suffered trauma in their childhood.
For example, he himself became mature because he lost his parents when he was young, and another example is Kakashi, the famous new generation genius in the village.
Anyone who knows Kakashi knows that Kakashi's personality was completely different before and after his father 'Kakashi death.
Therefore, Orochimaru guessed that Kōki must have some unusual secret, otherwise he could not have developed such a mature personality.
After deducing this conclusion, Orochimaru became even more interested in Kōki, and he was eager to uncover the secrets behind Kōki.
"Perhaps it's because the Lord Hokage taught me better. I was fortunate enough to train under the Lord Hokage for a period of time. Besides, wasn't Lord Orochimaru also trained by the Lord Hokage?"
Kōki originally intended to dispel Orochimaru's suspicions by saying these words, but unexpectedly, they only piqued Orochimaru's interest even more.
Because the information Orochimaru received contained absolutely no information about Kōki training under Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Although he knew that Kōki's status as the successor of Wood Release would attract Hiruzen Sarutobi's close attention, he never expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to personally teach him. This was because Hiruzen Sarutobi had told him that he would not teach anyone else unless there were exceptional circumstances.
It can be said that Kōki's words reaffirmed Orochimaru's belief that Kōki harbored a huge secret.
Just as Orochimaru was about to say something, Genji Ryōma spoke up, " Lord Orochimaru, don't you think we should announce the antidote now? There are still many poisoned ninjas waiting for us."
These words immediately interrupted Orochimaru's attempt to continue investigating. "You're right, the most urgent task now is to detoxify our people."
Although Orochimaru was somewhat eager to know about Kōki's situation, he was aware of his position as commander and wouldn't abandon his crucial mission to delve into Kōki's affairs.
Besides, after he defeats Sunagakure, he will have plenty of time to study Kōki.
"Since Genji says that Kōki has already developed an antidote to counteract the Sunagakure poison, then let's not delay. Let me see the effects of the antidote so I can arrange for people to make the antidote and formulate a new battle plan more quickly."
It's important to understand that the speed at which the antidote takes effect influences Orochimaru's decisions. If the antidote is highly effective and the ninjas recover well, then he will need to abandon his previous plan to fight Sunagakure and devise a new strategy to defend against the enemy.
Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, Genji Ryōma personally led Orochimaru to a patient who was severely poisoned, and then injected him with the last antidote made by Kōki in front of Orochimaru.
With the injection of the antidote, the poisoned ninja recovered his health. Although he was still somewhat weak, it did not affect his combat ability.
After witnessing the true effects of the antidote, Orochimaru immediately ordered his men to begin preparing the antidote with Kōki.
Following Orochimaru's order, batches of antidotes were produced and quickly administered to all the poisoned ninjas. With the injection of the antidote, all the poisoned ninjas were freed from the toxins and recovered their health.
As many ninjas' bodies were detoxified, Kōki's name began to spread widely on the Konoha front.