Land of Grass, Kusagakure.
"Orochimaru!" Jiraiya's voice was filled with rage.
After five years, he had finally found the murderer who had killed Hiruzen.
Orochimaru chuckled. "Jiraiya, Konoha has been destroyed by Hiromi. Instead of looking for him, you come looking for me?"
"Konoha..." Jiraiya's expression was pained.
Konoha was his teacher's life's work, and now it had become a field of volcanic rock.
But...
"The village is just a symbol. As long as the people are safe, that's all that matters."
Yes, the villagers were all living in the so-called Imperial City, so as long as they were fine, it was okay.
Orochimaru laughed even more delightedly.
"So you have no resentment toward Hiromi for killing the Daimyo, destroying the village, and triggering the Fifth Great Ninja War?"
"Orochimaru! Don't change the subject. I will definitely kill you today!"
A Rasengan appeared in Jiraiya's hand.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, "Do you really think I was the one who killed sensei?"
Jiraiya's expression changed slightly, his gaze terrifying. "What do you mean!"
Orochimaru laughed hoarsely. "I did want to kill sensei, but in the end, the one who killed him wasn't me."
"Then you were an accomplice!" Jiraiya's resolve remained unshaken.
Orochimaru's smile grew even wider. "Do you know what the cause of Sunagakure's Konoha Crush Plan was?"
Jiraiya frowned. "What are you trying to say!"
"Hehehe, the cause was the Uchiha capturing Sunagakure's Jinchuriki."
"What exactly are you trying to say!" Jiraiya was getting irritated.
"Do you know what the cause of the Uchiha capturing Sunagakure's Jinchuriki was?" Orochimaru laughed, very happy.
Before Jiraiya could roar in frustration, Orochimaru considerately said, "The cause was Hiromi coming to me, asking me to cooperate with him on the Konoha Crush Plan."
Jiraiya stared at Orochimaru with eyes nearly bursting with rage. "Do you think I'll believe your words!"
"Believe it or not, but you, who wanted to take Naruto away, were stopped by him and could only slink away. Tsk, tsk."
Orochimaru's words caused Jiraiya to completely explode.
"Orochimaru!!!"
Furious, Jiraiya charged forward with a Rasengan. Orochimaru naturally fought back, snakes hissing as they lunged from his sleeves.
The two clashed fiercely.
As they summoned Manda and Gamabunta, summoning beasts as massive as Tailed Beasts, they began an earth-shattering battle.
But in the end, Jiraiya didn't use Sage Mode.
Consequently, the two ended the fight in a sorry state and went their separate ways.
—
Underground experimental base.
Orochimaru returned and looked at the masked man sitting in the main seat. His face was dark, yet he chuckled weirdly. "It seems you aren't satisfied."
"No."
Obito watched Orochimaru steadily and gloomily. "Jiraiya is going to join the Allied Shinobi Forces. This is the result I wanted."
Orochimaru fell silent.
Dozens of seconds later.
"Hehehe." Orochimaru laughed. "Killing me won't be easy."
"It's not hard."
As soon as Obito spoke, Orochimaru spun around abruptly. He saw a fat man wearing a rogue Kusagakure headband, with purple ripples in his eyes, about to grab him.
"Hehehe, even leader has come. You really think highly of me."
Orochimaru reacted quickly, immediately retreating and attacking Obito but Obito sat motionless.
Orochimaru suddenly felt something was wrong. In the next moment, he was back in his original position, as if time had rewound. But this wasn't time reversal, it was...
"Genjutsu?! You have the Mangekyo!" Orochimaru's face was very pale.
A Three-Tomoe Sharingan couldn't control him, only a Mangekyo could leave him so powerless to resist.
At this moment, Deva Path Pain, who had previously dodged, had already grabbed him and was rapidly absorbing his Chakra. Orochimaru could not move.
Obito did not answer. He stood up, a Kunai appearing in his hand. He walked up to Orochimaru and easily plunged it into his heart. Orochimaru's body trembled, and he couldn't stop blood from spilling from his mouth.
Finally, Deva Path Pain let go. Orochimaru collapsed and died a miserable death, silent and still.
Obito took one look and withdrew his gaze.
"This is the price of going against me."
He took a step, intending to leave. But the next second, a white snake with a human head suddenly lunged out of the dead Orochimaru's mouth, screeching with excitement.
"Your body is mine!"
Orochimaru lunged forward, but he lunged into empty air, passing right through Obito's body.
"This ability... I like it very much!" Orochimaru was overjoyed.
He had thought it was just a substitute, but he hadn't expected it to be a rare treasure.
Deva Path Pain tried to grab him again, but he dodged it. In Orochimaru's eyes, there was only the masked man before him.
Ninjas, Kunai, Explosive Tags, poison gas...
Through constant testing, Orochimaru understood Obito's ability and reached a conclusion—even if he used Edo Tensei to summon the First Hokage, he would be unable to do anything against the masked man before him.
"Hehehe, I look forward to our next meeting." Orochimaru fled.
He had to prepare, and then he would obtain this magnificent body. Thus...
Six days later, while being pursued by Obito, Orochimaru was captured, his soul ripped out by Human Path Pain.
"So this is the power of the Rinnegan? Hahahaha!"
Before he died, Orochimaru seemed to see the truth of the world, filled with excited madness.
Then, he died.
—
Several days later.
Orochimaru's experimental base, southern stronghold. This was a rocky island.
A red-haired girl wearing glasses sat on a rock, resting her chin in her hand. Listening to the familiar sound of the waves, she looked toward the Land of Fire, feeling very bored.
"Three more days..."
—
Land of Rice Fields, Otogakure.
Underground experimental base.
In the gloom, blood dripped from a funnel into a glass canister, making a faint sound.
A white-haired man with round-rimmed glasses stood there, expressionless. His eyes were fixed only on that canister of blood. He didn't even look at Orochimaru's corpse in its white snake form on the funnel above. He picked up the blood canister, poured it into an IV bag, and inserted the needle into his arm.
"If you cannot accept the original, then look for a substitute and make up for it little by little."
The blood quickly dyed the white, transparent tube red, slowly flowing like a thin stream into the arm of the seated white-haired man, entering his body and taking over his form.
Cold sweat poured down the white-haired man. Enduring intense pain, his body twitched and he groaned. But his eyes were filled with determination and madness.
"Not enough! Still not enough!"
—
Land of Fire, border.
Carrying Tonton, Shizune looked worriedly at the voluptuous beauty before her—the legendary Sannin of Konoha, Tsunade.
Now, Konoha had truly become a legend.
Regarding this, Tsunade only had a complex expression, as if she had long anticipated that Konoha would meet such an end.
Tsunade looked solemnly at Rin before her.
Ten-plus days ago, the following conversation had taken place between them.
"You say you can resurrect my younger brother, why should I believe you?"
"Because I was once a dead person. As long as you teach me about poisons, I will resurrect your brother."
The act of resurrecting the dead went against common sense. But the Rin before her was a living example. No matter how contrary it was, it had now become common sense.
Shizune was conflicted, her reason told her this was wrong.
But if it was wrong, Rin shouldn't be alive. Was she supposed to kill Rin, then?
Thus, with a complex expression, Shizune stood to the side without speaking. No matter what Tsunade chose, she would not oppose it.
That day, Tsunade neither agreed nor opposed. Perhaps she was hoping Rin had no talent, or perhaps she was hoping someone would come out to stop it.
But she was also hoping her brother could be resurrected, hoping she could hold Nawaki again, hoping she could see his smile again, hoping she could ruffle his hair again.
Now, after more than ten days of spending time together, Tsunade knew that Rin had talent, and no one had come out to stop them.
It had even gone so smoothly that not even the Fifth Great Ninja War had brought anyone to look for her.
The Uchiha, the Allied Shinobi Forces, the Akatsuki, and even rogue ninjas had not gone to cause her trouble.
And now, it was time for her to give an answer.
"I agree." She decided to take Rin as her student.
"Thank you." Rin bowed with solemn gratitude.
Immediately after, she told Tsunade everything.
Hiromi had resurrected her, Obito had killed Minato and Kushina, and she wanted revenge to kill Obito...
Hearing this, both Tsunade and Shizune felt a bit of heartache for Rin. She had done nothing, yet she was covered in scars.
"Please, do not spread this. Hiromi... he does not want his clan members to know that he can resurrect the dead. Once it is known, it is highly likely that after he fulfills his promise, he will kill Nawaki."
Tsunade and Shizune's pupils constricted.
Resurrect him, then kill him him? Is Hiromi so ruthless and heartless?
This was the first time they had a profound realization about Hiromi, who made the entire Ninja World wary.