After hearing Feiyu's request, Orochimaru showed a hint of genuine trouble for the first time.
"You mean the Second Hokage?" he said slowly. "Feiyu… it's not that I'm unwilling. Alright—I am a little unwilling."
He paused, eyes flicking with a strange caution.
"And if you want him to help you, we'd need to ask for the Second Hokage's own willingness first."
Feiyu froze, then lifted his head sharply.
"Sensei… don't tell me you didn't keep him sealed in a coffin."
"…You let him out?"
Orochimaru's smile turned awkward.
"There was… a minor accident." He coughed lightly. "I didn't expect the Second Hokage to have a contingency that could counter the Edo Tensei formula."
"Imagine that—while alive, he already considered the possibility that after death, someone would dig him up and summon him back."
He clicked his tongue in reluctant admiration.
"That Second Hokage… really was deep."
"Honestly, when he broke free of Edo Tensei, I thought I'd have to fight him to the death." Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "But in the end, we settled into… peaceful coexistence."
Feiyu's mouth twitched.
The Second Hokage of Konoha… in this village obsessed with lofty ideals and sentimental slogans, Tobirama was practically a "clean stream."
Not because he was noble or selfless.
But because he was the real thing—an actual ruthless statesman.
For Tobirama, "Will of Fire" was a banner you waved for the masses. What he cared about was cold interest, structure, and outcomes.
Feiyu's gaze sharpened. "And after he regained freedom, he didn't return to Konoha?"
He had to admit—mad scientists understood each other's needs better than anyone else. Maybe Orochimaru believed working under Tobirama would be far more efficient than serving under the Third Hokage.
Still, Feiyu trusted his own instincts more.
These two were currently smiling to each other's faces while drooling over each other's research.
A fallout was inevitable.
They were just in the honeymoon phase.
Orochimaru's lips curled into a faint smile.
"The reason the Second Hokage stayed to help me instead of returning to Konoha is simple."
"He wants to be revived."
Feiyu blinked, then let out a slow breath—half amused, half exasperated.
So even Tobirama had set his sights on soul-based reincarnation.
That… actually made perfect sense.
Tobirama was currently an Edo Tensei body. Even if he went back, he couldn't openly appear in Konoha.
But if he reincarnated into a living body?
He could return to power as the Hokage.
Orochimaru continued, a little too pleased with himself.
"And the improved Living Corpse Reincarnation—fused with the Lich Reincarnation Ritual—is the best path for him."
Then he added casually, as if discussing the weather:
"The Second Hokage also promised me something. Once he becomes Hokage again, I can return to Konoha as well."
"No restrictions. Full access. Funding and research results will be opened to me."
Feiyu rubbed his forehead.
In essence, Orochimaru was like a "failed Tobirama."
Not identical, but close enough—eight or nine parts out of ten.
The difference was that Tobirama had a brother above him: a world-breaking monster with a generous heart. Tobirama eventually inherited the Hokage seat smoothly.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, had a teacher who was hypocritical, stubborn, and indecisive… and in the end, that teacher drove him into defection.
Feiyu was increasingly pessimistic about whether Tobirama and Orochimaru could truly coexist long-term.
Two old schemers like them? Ninety percent chance they were both planning to stab the other the moment the value ran dry.
Feiyu sighed.
"Well… looks like I'm not getting the Second Hokage's soul anytime soon."
His tone was resigned, but his mind was already recalculating.
In the grand scheme, letting Tobirama and Orochimaru live and research wasn't necessarily bad. Two research-type shinobi alive could create an endless stream of new techniques and forbidden arts.
Sometimes, that was more profitable than owning Tobirama's soul outright.
As for whether Tobirama could be "held down"…
Feiyu had some confidence.
Tobirama had more of a moral line than Orochimaru—but not by much.
And most importantly…
Feiyu still had the Dushen Art Genjutsu.
Orochimaru was still his teacher, after all. Their relationship was transactional, yes, but Orochimaru had never betrayed him.
Feiyu judged actions, not intentions. As a teacher, Orochimaru had done more than enough.
So Feiyu wouldn't casually slap a genjutsu chain around him.
Tobirama was different.
Feiyu didn't even know the man. If Tobirama tried anything, Feiyu would simply use Dushen Art to wash his brain clean and call it a day.
That said, Tobirama still hadn't fully revived yet—and Feiyu wasn't sure how genjutsu would interact with an Edo Tensei body.
He decided to shelve that question until Tobirama was reborn as a living person.
For now, Feiyu shifted targets.
"If I can't bring him over," Feiyu said, "then at least hand over the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"I've been drooling over that one for a long time."
Orochimaru nodded smoothly.
"Flying Thunder God? I do have it."
"But only the original version. The improved version that Jiraiya's student developed later—I don't have that."
"The original is fine," Feiyu said. "At least it works for travel and emergencies."
The biggest difference between Tobirama's Flying Thunder God and Minato's was the chain casting.
Minato's could jump continuously in an instant—practically unrestricted blinking, a true combat teleport.
Tobirama's version had a brief cooldown after each use. Only a few seconds, but for a technique that lived and died by speed, that downgrade mattered.
It turned Flying Thunder God from a flexible combat skill into more of an assassination opener—an "instant kill on first contact" technique.
But what Feiyu wanted wasn't just killing power.
It was mobility.
He didn't care much about the original version's combat limitations.
With Feiyu's current strength, even without Flying Thunder God, he could sweep the shinobi world clean.
Minato's version would be icing on the cake—but not having it wouldn't change anything.
Orochimaru ordered a subordinate to bring a sealing scroll. Once unsealed, he handed it to Feiyu.
Flying Thunder God.
Feiyu read through it once, then nodded thoughtfully.
"As expected… Flying Thunder God has a strong connection to summoning techniques."
"In a sense, it's basically a remote-controlled reverse summoning."
Orochimaru shook his head.
"The logic is simple, yes."
"But shinobi with the spatial talent and perception to execute it? You can't find many in the whole world."
"I've studied this space-time ninjutsu myself…" His voice turned sour. "But I could never grasp it. Without sufficient space-time talent—"
He cut off.
Because Feiyu had already moved.
Feiyu casually took out a kunai.
A strange marking crawled across the metal like living ink.
He tossed it.
The kunai flew more than ten meters—
And Feiyu vanished.
A flicker.
A clean blink.
He reappeared beside the kunai as if he'd always been there.
Orochimaru stared, utterly dumbstruck.
"…What in the name of the Sage of Six Paths?"
Too fast.
Too smooth.
Too effortless.
Feiyu had practically mastered Flying Thunder God in a heartbeat.
But that was simply what happened when the foundation was terrifyingly strong.
After absorbing countless ninja physiques and using countless ninja souls to lay down an unshakable base, Feiyu's ninjutsu aptitude had become downright monstrous.
Flying Thunder God might be the most profound and obscure space-time ninjutsu—but it still fell within the realm of chakra control and transformation.
And that meant Feiyu could learn it.
After a long while, Orochimaru finally stabilized his breathing.
Then, without another word, he hurriedly dismissed Feiyu.
The stimulation was too much.
Orochimaru needed to go research reincarnation immediately—find a better body, and climb back up again.
With Flying Thunder God in hand, Feiyu left behind a Flying Thunder God marker in Sound Village, took Orochimaru's intelligence scroll, and headed for Konoha.
Orochimaru had spent thirty years growing in Konoha. His influence ran deep.
Before his defection, he'd been the acknowledged top candidate for Fourth Hokage. He'd built ties with nearly every clan.
A man like that—even if he defected—couldn't have his entire network purged.
If the Third Hokage tried to wipe out Orochimaru's people completely, Konoha would lose at least a third of its shinobi.
Not all of them were loyal.
But many had close connections to Orochimaru. Back then, he was the sole "natural successor." People gravitated toward him as if it were common sense.
Unable to cleanse Orochimaru's shadow, Sarutobi Hiruzen could only pretend magnanimity—refusing to pursue Orochimaru's former subordinates, hoping time would wash it all away.
Whether he planned a later reckoning after the war…
Only heaven and earth knew.
Because of that, Orochimaru's spies and informants inside Konoha were still plentiful.
Some ninja weren't willing to defect with Orochimaru.
But providing intelligence? Offering cover?
Plenty were happy to do that.
Feiyu—Orochimaru's disciple, once the famous new-generation Kage-level figure of Konoha—didn't even need to do much.
Just showing his face was enough to make certain old contacts lower their guard.
And with Orochimaru's written authorization in hand, trust came even easier.
Silently, Feiyu infiltrated Konoha, located Orochimaru's former people, and quickly obtained the latest picture of the front lines.
And all he could think was—
Konoha is in trouble.
Not "a little trouble."
Not "manageable trouble."
Very bad trouble.
Facing Iwagakure's overwhelming numbers, Konoha had already been forced to mobilize children—ten-year-old rookie shinobi—straight onto the front lines.
Kids who had just graduated the Academy, trained for half a year at most, and were thrown into war.
The casualties were exactly what you'd expect.
Those children were Konoha's future.
For Konoha to throw its future into the grinder meant only one thing:
If they didn't fight like madmen now, they were finished.
Worse still, as Konoha's battle against Iwa continued to tilt toward collapse, even Kumogakure—once badly mauled—began massing troops again along the border.
Konoha was forced to split its already strained forces just to defend, leaving them even more stretched.
In theory, Kumo shouldn't have been able to rejoin the war at all. If they truly committed again, one of the Five Great Villages might well fracture from the inside.
But everyone also knew one thing about Kumogakure:
Those barbarians were famous for having heads made of iron.
If they decided to sacrifice their own village just to bite Konoha hard one last time, Konoha would be in real trouble.
So the defensive deployment couldn't be ignored.
And then there was Kirigakure.
The Mist hadn't officially joined the war and remained isolated overseas—but it was clearly restless.
They had repeatedly harassed Konoha's coastline.
Exhausted, Konoha could only keep withdrawing and shrinking its coastal defenses…
which only made the Water Country shinobi bolder.
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto