Orochimaru lay quietly in a small underground cave he had dug out with his bare hands.
But looking closely, you would find that this damp, middle-aged man's eyes were hollow and dull, and his appearance was inexplicably strange –
Orochimaru had an eye and a mouth growing on his left cheek. His neck had torn flesh, and a white venomous snake's tail was deeply embedded in his spine, with half its body exposed, coiled around Orochimaru's neck like a scarf.
The ones arguing were the mouth on his left cheek and the white snake hanging on his neck.
"Stop arguing, both of you."
'Orochimaru' spoke.
His voice was hoarse, no different from the real Orochimaru, but the tone of his speech carried the rawness of a young man.
This was Orochimaru's former subordinate, Yakushi Kabuto.
The two arguing were naturally Hidan and White Snake Sage… more precisely, one of the snakes carrying White Snake Sage's memories.
To talk about how these three came to be together, it was mainly due to White Snake Sage.
Back when Orochimaru died, many factions set their sights on his legacy.
Forbidden jutsu, biological research, even a little bit of anything could provide a lifetime of comfort.
Thousands of ninjas and bounty hunters rushed into Otogakure Village.
But when they arrived, they only saw scorched earth everywhere.
Yakushi Kabuto took most of the inheritance, then he set a fire and burned everything he couldn't take.
He knew Orochimaru had left many fallback plans, and as long as he tried hard enough, he was sure he could find a way to revive Orochimaru.
After that, Yakushi Kabuto researched alone for a long time.
Unlike the Snake Sage Kabuto in the original story, who could cultivate Senjutsu and Edo Tensei countless powerful figures, perhaps because he lacked years of tempering under Orochimaru.
Even though Yakushi Kabuto now possessed the Curse Mark and knew the Akatsuki's method to revive Orochimaru, but…
He just couldn't do it.
His technical ability wasn't up to par.
Just when Yakushi Kabuto was at his most desperate, a White Snake Sage found him.
To reach the peak once again, White Snake Sage needed Orochimaru's power.
It and Yakushi Kabuto hit it off immediately, and with White Snake Sage's technical support, Yakushi Kabuto successfully revived Orochimaru.
However, what came back was only a vegetative state, without consciousness, without memories, a blank slate for a brain.
This was natural, because the memories and Ninjutsu discs had been extracted.
No matter how many times they revived him, as long as these two discs weren't put back, the revived person would only be an empty shell without a soul.
Just as the plan seemed to be at a standstill, another White Snake Sage (referred to as White Snake Sage II for ease of distinction) brought Hidan.
Unlike the first one, the second one didn't choose to find Yakushi Kabuto.
Ryuuchi Cave, as one of the Three Great Sages, held a status in the world of summoning beasts equivalent to Baidu, Tencent.
Even though it had fallen now, White Snake Sage, as a CEO, could still seek resource exchanges with other summoning beasts and gain capital for a comeback.
With this goal in mind, the second one wandered around the summoning beast community.
Given its current state, it couldn't possibly approach overly strong summoning beasts. It had to find weaker ones and slowly build its power.
For example… those silly insect-type summoning beasts.
It was at this time that it met Hidan.
In order to heal Hidan and borrow the power of the Evil God, the second one took Hidan to find Yakushi Kabuto, wanting to borrow Orochimaru's equipment, and coincidentally ran into the first one.
Thus, this alliance of failures was assembled. Considering they all wanted revenge on Linto, they called themselves –
'Evil God Great White Snake'
"I still think 'The Avengers' sounds better," said the second one, hanging on his neck.
Hidan retorted, "That's too narrow-minded. Will our brotherhood dissolve after we kill Linto?
We brothers gathered because of hatred, but we can't be blinded by it.
We can't be so focused on killing Linto out of hatred that we forget there are many more people waiting for us to kill. That wouldn't be fair to them."
The second one rolled its Byakugan, too lazy to argue with this cultist, and turned to say,
"Number one, after the operation, don't forget our agreement."
Among the people carrying out the operation, Hidan only had his mouth and one eyeball. If they were lost, so be it.
Yakushi Kabuto was remotely controlling, and Orochimaru's revived body was just an empty shell.
Only the second one came in its original form.
Because only the original form could utilize Senjutsu.
Risks naturally came with rewards.
Before they set out, the second and first ones made an agreement: if the second one could return alive, it would devour the first one and merge their powers.
The first one naturally wouldn't refuse.
Seeing that the two had finally quieted down, Yakushi Kabuto, who was controlling Orochimaru's body, sighed softly.
Their plan was to infiltrate the research institute, steal Orochimaru's memories, Ninjutsu discs, and Hidan's body, and then carry out true revenge on Linto!
Although they hadn't figured out exactly how they would get revenge, but… Orochimaru was cunning and resourceful, so by using his trickery, they were sure to come up with a method.
Using Hidan as an anchor, Yakushi Kabuto remotely controlled Orochimaru's body and continuously dug forward.
The research institute discharged research wastewater daily, and their infiltration plan was to find a drainage pipe, dig a hole, enter, and then go upstream into the institute.
"But Hidan, I understand keeping your head, but why didn't you keep your arms? That way, you'd at least have some combat power?" Yakushi Kabuto asked.
"What kind of question is that?"
Hidan asked in surprise:
"Would you leave your asshole and your dick for others to play with?"
Upon hearing this, White Snake Sage one, two, and Yakushi Kabuto all fell silent.
After a long while, the second one finally said, "I always thought there was something wrong with your brain, but now I see…"
"Great wisdom is often disguised as foolishness."
A few minutes later, they broke through the drainage pipe and, transforming into a snake, swam upstream.
At first, it was normal water flow. Further up was the wastewater treatment facility, containing various corrosive liquids. If it were anyone else, with Orochimaru's body and White Snake Sage's Senjutsu, they would have died inside long ago.
Even so, by the time they infiltrated the research institute, they had lost a layer of skin.
After a few minutes of shedding their skin, Orochimaru regained human form.
They stole a researcher's uniform, changed their face, and walked around the institute as if they belonged.
Yakushi Kabuto, controlling from behind, had his heart in his throat. This was their only chance.
To support Kolin City, the research institute had cut back on many security personnel. Furthermore, in a little while, Sunagakure Village's surveillance technology would be installed in the institute.
By then, invading would be even more difficult.
Hidan whispered, "Hurry up! Samui is taking two brats to see my body. While they're not paying attention, quickly get Orochimaru's discs!"
At close range, Hidan could sense other parts of the body.
They wound their way through the corridors, avoiding passing researchers, and arrived at the deepest server room of the institute.
Twelve massive central computers operated twenty-four hours a day, providing computing power for the researchers.
Orochimaru's memory discs were located within these computers.
Dozens of fiber optic cables hung from the ceiling, connected to the memory discs.
All researchers ranked C and above could access parts of Orochimaru's memories through the computers.
"We finally found it!"
Yakushi Kabuto smiled.
As long as they obtained Orochimaru's memories, the Ninjutsu discs were optional. With White Snake Sage's technology, an external device could entirely replace them.
He manipulated Orochimaru's body and was about to reach for it when, suddenly, the second one stopped him.
"Wait, you can't take it."