"Orochimaru!" Tsunade stared at Orochimaru with a conflicted look in her eyes.
Just as Orochimaru had said, she desperately longed to see those two people. They meant the world to Tsunade.
But these two didn't just mean a lot to Tsunade, they were equally important to Orochimaru.
Nawaki was Orochimaru's first and favorite disciple, and Orochimaru was incredibly sad when Nawaki died, leading him to personally retaliate against Kumogakure by releasing Eight Tails in their village. It was witnessing the deaths of Nawaki and Dan Kato with his own eyes that made Orochimaru lament the fragility of life, setting him on the path to seek eternal life.
And now, Orochimaru was actually using these two to threaten Tsunade.
Over the long river of time, Orochimaru had gradually changed. It wasn't just Orochimaru, many people change with time. Like Danzo from initially wanting to be a partner for survival of the village to eventually becoming an old bug just trying to prolong a wretched existence by backstabbing his best friend.
"Don't you believe me? Tsunade." Seeming to think Tsunade doubted his ability to do it, Orochimaru emphasized again, "I have already mastered that forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage, Impure World Reincarnation."
"You should know the effect of that forbidden technique, it can summon the dead to the living world."
Tsunade asked with grim look, "Orochimaru, are you going to desecrate the dead?"
Orochimaru replied with smirk, "Don't you want to see them?"
Not want to see them? How could she not want to see them?
They were her beloved.
"Tsunade-sama, you absolutely must not agree," Shizune hurriedly said from the side, seeing Tsunade waver slightly.
Shizune was the niece of Dan, and she also wanted to see her uncle, but she was more clear-headed than the current Tsunade.
"Shizune!", Tsunade shouted, stopping Shizune.
"Hahaha," Orochimaru laughed at the sight, as if he could already see the scene of Tsunade healing his arms.
It was a pity.
"I refuse," Tsunade said decisively. "I've heard about what you've done. I cannot heal someone as dangerous as you, so I refuse."
Immediately infuriating Orochimaru making him glare at her.
"Hahaha, Orochimaru, I told you long ago. Tsunade would not agree." A laugh that felt very familiar to Tsunade rang out.
A man with red eyes and white hair, wearing an oversized high-collared coat, slowly walked out from one side of the wall. The mole in the center of his forehead, in particular, undoubtedly revealed his identity.
"Knowing her for so many years, do you still not understand her stubbornness?"
That familiar appearance and attire, unseen for so long, made Tsunade exclaim in surprise.
"Hiruko?"
It was Hiruko, or to be precise, a Hiruko who had restored his youth.
After capturing Orochimaru's third minion, Mizuki, Hiruko, who intended to leave Konoha, coincidentally ran into Orochimaru fleeing with his sealed arms. Thus, the two ended up mixing together.
To make up for his own deficiencies and surpass the Sannin of his generation, Hiruko developed a fusion ninjutsu based on human experimentation, the Chimera Technique. It was precisely because of this technique that he became a missing-nin of Konoha and was wanted.
Now, he had completed the Chimera Technique, perfectly fusing five types of Kekkei Genkai. Not only did he gain extraordinary power, but he also restored his youth.
In his words, he was now an Ultimate Life Form.
Just like Shinno, another person claiming to be an Ultimate Life Form.
"Orochimaru, give up your unrealistic dream of eternal life and become an ultimate existence with me." The current Hiruko had completely changed from the submissive way he acted around the Sannin back then, his immense power had inflated his ego to the extreme.
Five types of Kekkei Genkai did indeed give him the capital to be arrogant.
Hiruko had always wanted to surpass the Sannin, not just in strength, but in every aspect, especially Orochimaru, the most dazzling genius among the Sannin.
If he could make Orochimaru use his technique, it would be tantamount to an implicit admission that he had surpassed the Sannin.
Unfortunately, the path Orochimaru wanted to take was different from his. He had no interest in becoming some ultimate creature, he only wanted to achieve eternal life.
If Orochimaru knew there were magical items like Dragon Ball that could grant wishes, he would pay any price to collect the Dragon Balls with first wish being immortality.
"Since you are unwilling to heal me, Tsunade, let's go, Karin."
Orochimaru ignored Hiruko, directly signaling Karin and preparing to leave without looking back, without a hint of hesitation.
"Wait," Tsunade called out to stop Orochimaru. "What exactly do you want to do?"
Tsunade couldn't figure out for a moment what the other party intended to do.
"Hahaha... nothing," Orochimaru said faintly without looking back. "If you have time, you should go back to Konoha. You might not know, but the current Fifth Hokage of Konoha is definitely someone you would absolutely never guess."
"Who?" Tsunade thought back to all possible candidates she knew.
"Danzo Shimura!"
After saying this, Orochimaru disappeared at the end of the road.
It was as if Orochimaru had come specifically to tell Tsunade this news.
"Tsk," Hiruko spat, and left together with Orochimaru.
Leaving only Tsunade standing there in a daze.
"Actually, Orochimaru-sama cares a lot about Konoha, doesn't he?" Back at the Base, Karin said faintly. "Even though there was already a method to heal your body, you insisted on meeting Tsunade-sama and offering such tempting conditions."
In the huge Incubation Tank behind her, a white vegetative person lay quietly inside. This was a White Zetsu, and one infused with Hashirama Cells at that.
The most important point was that his eyes were already three-tomoe Sharingan.
This was the method of healing the body that Karin spoke of.
"Were you testing whether Tsunade-sama has changed?"
"I am a Konoha S-rank Missing-nin who killed the Third Hokage," Orochimaru emphasized.
"But in your plan, only the Third Hokage was supposed to die," Karin refuted Orochimaru with a single sentence. "It's just that an accident occurred, and far more people died in Konoha than planned."
"Whether it's you, Tsunade-sama, or Jiraiya-sama, you actually all care very much about Konoha."
"It's just that because of certain people and certain things, you are unwilling to go back."
"You are very smart, Karin." Orochimaru forcibly interrupted Karin, his pair of amber snake eyes staring at her. "But sometimes, knowing too much is not good."
"Don't forget, you have already betrayed Danzo, betrayed Root. There is no place for you in the ninja world, only I took you in. And I gave you everything you wanted."
"Of course I won't forget, Orochimaru-sama." Karin reverted to her previous respectful attitude, though a trace of smirk flashed past when Orochimaru couldn't see.
'It's a pity I was never a ninja of Root to begin with, Orochimaru-sama.'
"Let's conduct the Ritual in two days," Orochimaru continued. "From Mizuki, it can be seen that the Cloned Sharingan is no different from a normal Sharingan. Implanting White Zetsu Cells and Hashirama Cells makes the cloned eyes even better. With no abnormality in transplantation, and they can also be deactivated normally like those of the Uchiha clan."
"So you intend to?" Orochimaru's words made Karin pause slightly.
This was earlier than expected.
"It is time to switch to a new body." Orochimaru looked at the White Zetsu body in the Incubation Tank in fascination. This was the perfect Body Transfer.
A body capable of accommodating any genes without any rejection reaction.
"I will let that idiot Hiruko see what true perfection is."
After all, as fellow researcher types, there was more or less a competitive mindset, especially since these two had not only known each other for years, but Hiruko had also been frequently showing off in front of Orochimaru recently, which was starting to grate on his nerves, if he could've have used his hands he would have already attacked Hiruko.
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Karin said respectfully, while adding a sentence in her heart.
'I will take everything from you, Orochimaru.' Karin's acting was so good that even Orochimaru couldn't detect any anomaly.
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