[The other side, in the mountains behind the Hidden Sound Village, a concealed cave.]
Orochimaru was researching the Reanimation Jutsu. Especially after he learned that someone suspected to be Uchiha Madara had appeared in the Hidden Cloud Village.
Even if the person wasn't him, it was still a newly-emerged powerful force in the ninja world. Ordinary people wouldn't dare to claim to be Uchiha Madara.
It felt like the ninja world was about to fall into chaos, so of course he couldn't afford to fall behind. With his current strength, he was still far from being able to stir up the ninja world.
But if his Reanimation Jutsu could become even more perfected, allowing the reanimated ones to have the strength they had when alive, then his combat power could be said to increase explosively.
Those past strong people of the ninja world could be used by him, how many strong ones could he summon?
Just thinking about it was terrifying. As long as he summoned enough, he could even overturn the entire ninja world.
Of course, he had also collected quite a number of corpses of strong individuals. He had naturally also tried summoning some reanimated people, but in terms of strength, they were far from their original power when alive.
At most, their strength was only about sixty to seventy percent, and the stronger the person, the more their strength in reanimation dropped to only thirty to forty percent.
With such a huge drop in strength, it was naturally useless. He had to summon people stronger than himself, only then would it be useful.
Otherwise, how could he take that Uchiha Ryosuke's eyes and body?
Now, naturally, he was researching how to make the reanimated strong display the strength their original bodies had.
At this moment, a subordinate ran into the cave in panic.
"Orochimaru-sama, something big has happened. That Uchiha Madara who attacked the Hidden Cloud's Tailed Beast Jinchuuriki has come to the village, and he is looking for you."
When Orochimaru heard these words, his eyes, like a snake's pupils, stood upright.
Toward this name, he truly felt a bit of fear. Ordinary people couldn't possibly live that long.
But he, Orochimaru, could regain youthful bodies through the Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique. According to his own calculations, he should be able to live for a very, very long time through this technique, giving him enough time to become stronger and master more jutsu.
If he could do it, then someone terrifying like Uchiha Madara surely could too.
That was someone much stronger than himself, maybe he faked death back then and is now revived, it wasn't impossible.
Thinking of this, he shuddered all over, feeling his whole body tremble. He still remembered when he collected the corpses of the village's strong for use in Reanimation Jutsu. Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, he had acquired the corpses of such strong people.
Of course, regarding Uchiha Madara's corpse, he had really wanted it too. That person's body held many secrets. But he just couldn't find it. He searched for a very long time, almost searching all over the village.
Now he finally understood, this guy never died, so how could there be a corpse left?
With his current abilities, facing that guy, there was no way to win, even if the world saw him as already very strong.
He was very clear about how terrifying Uchiha Madara was. He had once been a Konoha ninja and had read many records about Uchiha Madara.
Moreover, he held Hashirama Senju's cells, and after so many years of division and cultivation, they still had such powerful vitality and corrosiveness.
Then there was even less need to say how strong Uchiha Madara was.
Besides, he had just completed the Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique, and his soul was too weak, facing those eyes, he probably had no chance.
Genjutsu was his weakness. He couldn't even hold on long under those eyes.
Because Uchiha Madara's eyes weren't ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan, but Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Those were terrifying eyes. They were truly heart-stirring, but he wasn't suicidal.
His body turned into a snake and went straight toward another hidden passage inside the cave.
He was preparing to escape.
That subordinate who had come to report was even more shocked. 'Orochimaru-sama heard the name Uchiha Madara and was going to run? Not even taking the experimental equipment?'
These were all things he had painstakingly helped Orochimaru collect, he couldn't help but ask, "Orochimaru-sama, you're not taking this experimental equipment?"
From afar, Orochimaru didn't look back but still responded, "Leave it."
'What a joke, now is still the time to worry about equipment?'
Experimental equipment could be collected again later. Besides, this wasn't his only base.
Uchiha came this time targeting him, and although he didn't know the reason, he had a feeling, it definitely wasn't something good.
Facing that guy, he might not even be able to escape. He didn't know when he could gain such powerful strength. Maybe only after he possessed Uchiha Ryosuke's body could he accomplish it.
At that time, not only would he possess Mangekyo Sharingan, but with his ability, he could surely evolve them into Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Moreover, Uchiha Ryosuke's physical body was very powerful, abnormally strong.
He was truly tempted. Maybe only after he reincarnated into Uchiha Ryosuke's body could he gain the power to face Uchiha Madara, possessing Mangekyo Sharingan, he naturally wouldn't fear that man's eyes.
Even more importantly, through collecting those ancient texts and books, he learned that Uchiha Madara seemed to have some sort of wicked plan.
Back then, the First Hokage thought killing Madara would make his conspiracy vanish like smoke. But now that Madara had returned, he would certainly continue carrying out his plan.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru even felt a little excited. 'Such a powerful man's plan, it must be very interesting.'
The subordinate who had come to report heard Orochimaru's reply, and was a bit shocked.
He had never seen Orochimaru like this, deciding to escape without even seeing the enemy's face.
Since Orochimaru-sama decided to flee, and even left the equipment behind, then why should he still stay here?
He immediately started running, chasing after Orochimaru. The escape tunnel was something he had dug himself, so of course he knew it.
Not long after, that Uchiha Madara would probably arrive here, if he found out he had informed Orochimaru, he'd definitely take action against him.
When he returned to the cave, that Sound ninja was instantly killed by Uchiha Madara's single glance, collapsing to the ground.
Faced with a life-or-death crisis, the probability of revealing Orochimaru-sama's location was extremely high.
After all, he wasn't a loyal subordinate of Orochimaru-sama.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/ZenonTL
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.