Chapter 312: Meeting Orochimaru Again

Chapter 312: Chapter 312: Meeting Orochimaru Again

After leaving the hospital, Hyuga Kagami strolled along the streets.

Since several districts needed to be rebuilt, Konoha had once again turned into one massive construction site. The streets were filled with vehicles coming and going, transporting building materials.

Fortunately, the Third Hokage had declared a state of emergency in time that night and evacuated a large number of villagers. As a result, although quite a few buildings had been destroyed, casualties were extremely limited.

Of course, Kagami deserved some credit for that as well.

If he hadn’t dealt with Shinno in time, then no matter how thoroughly the villagers had been evacuated, they still wouldn’t have escaped the pursuit of those tireless, death-fearing puppet soldiers.

After wandering around the streets for a while, Kagami quietly made his way to his secret laboratory.

Hiruko carrying out his Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual more than ten years earlier than in the original timeline had completely thrown Kagami’s plans into disarray. These past few days, he’d been running himself ragged, and it had been nothing short of miserable.

What worried Kagami the most, however, was that as Hiruko’s fame continued to rise, more and more people would inevitably set their sights on the Chimera Technique.

After all, the potential of this technique was simply too enormous. Anyone with even the slightest bit of insight would have to admit that it was a technique capable of changing the entire shinobi world.

"I have to find a way to get my hands on the Chimera Technique as soon as possible!"

Previously, Kagami hadn’t been in much of a hurry because he could use Shinno as an intermediary and have Shinichi pay a certain price to obtain the Chimera Technique through a transaction.

But now, using his Fire Release clone, Kagami had severely wounded Shinno and prevented him from devouring Shion. It could be said that the two of them had formed an irreconcilable blood feud.

Shinichi had most likely been dragged into Shinno’s hatred as well, so that avenue was clearly no longer viable.

"Looks like Orochimaru is my only option!"

After thinking it over for a long while, Kagami realized that this was the only choice he had left.

Otherwise, he would have to plan an ambush against either Hiruko or Shinno and capture one of them alive.

But doing so would not only take a great deal of time and effort, it would also be extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake could result in him being surrounded and attacked by Akatsuki. Unless he was truly left with no other choice, Kagami had no intention of resorting to such a forceful method.

Having made up his mind, Kagami left a Shadow Clone behind in the village before quietly slipping out of Konoha.

A few days later, Kagami arrived in a dense forest within the Land of Rice Fields.

At that moment, Kabuto Yakushi stepped out from behind a large tree. He bowed to Kagami and said, "Lord Orochimaru is waiting for you, Senpai. Please follow me."

Kagami nodded and followed him.

Before long, Kagami met Orochimaru inside an underground palace.

Orochimaru’s entire body was wrapped in bandages.

Even without activating his Byakugan, Kagami could sense an extremely conspicuous feeling of disharmony coming from Orochimaru’s body.

It might have been difficult for others to notice, but for Kagami, who frequently had to acclimate himself to his various clones, the sensation couldn’t have been more familiar.

Because that feeling of disharmony was none other than the sensation of a body and soul that did not properly match.

"Could Orochimaru have switched bodies again?"

After a brief pause, Kagami continued pondering.

"Looks like his injuries were even more severe than I expected!"

"Cough, cough..." After coughing lightly twice, Orochimaru spoke in a hoarse voice. "Kagami, surely you didn’t come all this way just to visit your Sensei, did you?"

Kagami probed, "Your body...?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Heh. That Uchiha brat got the better of me!"

He was clearly laughing, yet coming from Orochimaru, it somehow sounded sinister and chilling.

"Uchiha Itachi..."

After a brief pause, Kagami said, "He’s no ordinary Uchiha!"

Kagami’s words seemed to remind Orochimaru of something. An indescribable emotion flickered through his eyes, but it disappeared in an instant, and his expression once again returned to its previous coldness.

Orochimaru said, "Tell me why you’re here."

Kagami went straight to the point.

"The Chimera Technique!"

Orochimaru smiled. "I knew it. For you to come looking for me in such a hurry, it had to be because of that technique."

Kagami smiled as well and asked, "You’ve already gotten your hands on it, haven’t you?"

From what Kagami knew of Orochimaru, whenever a new technique involving human modification or Kekkei Genkai appeared, there was absolutely no chance he would let it slip through his fingers.

And Hiruko’s Chimera Technique could fuse multiple Kekkei Genkai into a single body all at once.

No matter how much Orochimaru might look down on Hiruko with his words, when it came to actually obtaining the technique, there was no way he would slack off in the slightest.

This much could be seen from the fact that Orochimaru had even gone so far as to assume the form of a woman in order to observe Hiruko’s Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual.

After weighing his options for a moment, Orochimaru said, "I do indeed have Hiruko’s original Chimera Technique. But I can tell you this—Hiruko’s success relied on far more than just the Chimera Technique!"

Kagami asked curiously, "He developed another forbidden technique?"

Orochimaru said disdainfully, "With Hiruko’s abilities, developing the Chimera Technique was already the absolute limit of his intellect! I heard the old man subdued him with a single move this time. How utterly laughable!"

After mocking Hiruko for a few more moments, Orochimaru finally continued, "The reason he was able to endure the rejection reaction and survive until the Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual was completed wasn’t solely because of the Chimera Technique. He had also mastered a Dark Medical Ninjutsu that he obtained from the Yomi Cult in the Land of Demons."

Kagami thought to himself, "Dark Medical Ninjutsu, huh? No wonder I kept sensing traces of Medical Ninjutsu on him back then."

Because Kagami’s Kekkei Mōra Project involved absorbing clones created from his own cells, the physical rejection between them would be extremely minor. As such, he wasn’t particularly interested in the Dark Medical Ninjutsu.

After thinking it over for a moment, Kagami asked, "What price would I have to pay to obtain both the Chimera Technique and the Dark Medical Ninjutsu?"

...

In the Land of Rain, inside Akatsuki’s base.

Pain gazed into the distance and asked, "So, you’re saying this operation failed?"

Obito shrugged.

Pain said calmly, "Put an end to these meaningless operations."

In Pain’s eyes, Obito’s actions served no real purpose. His philosophy was simple—use absolute power to suppress anyone who refused to submit, and bring peace to the world through overwhelming force.

Obito said, "That Shinno is hiding something from us. This operation failed because he acted on his own as well."

Pain replied, "I’ll have Hiruko investigate it thoroughly."

At the mention of Hiruko, Obito said, "Hiruko is seriously lacking in combat experience. You’d better send him out on more missions. The way he lost this time was downright ridiculous!"

Standing atop the tower, Pain slowly raised both hands and said coldly, "They’re nothing more than tools. There’s no need to concern yourself too much with them. Once the Gedo Statue is ready, the shinobi world will be ours!"

Obito reminded him, "Don’t forget—we still have that troublesome Kamigami to deal with!"