Chapter 99: Orochimaru's Analysis
"Hehe... the Sound Four and Kimimaro have indeed become your stepping stones."
Looking at Izayoi who had appeared before him, Orochimaru didn't show any panic, but let out a hoarse laugh. The yellow, snake-like pupils in his bandaged face were filled with a burning desire and greed as he said, "I guessed you were a descendant of the Uzumaki or Senju, with a bloodline awakened across generations, but I didn't expect you to be even more outstanding than I imagined. You not only possess ninjutsu talent that rivals the Second Hokage but have also awakened the bloodline limit of the First Hokage."
"What surprises me even more is that you clearly awakened Wood Release long ago, yet you knew to hide it. After Tsunade took over, you immediately used this opportunity to quickly become Konoha's hope... this is beyond mere precociousness and deep cunning. I suspect that in addition to the Senju bloodline, you are also a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, awakened the Kagura Shingan, and have personally witnessed much of Konoha's darkness."
Orochimaru's tone was filled with certainty in his last sentence.
Having planted many spies in Konoha, Orochimaru had easily obtained more detailed information about Izayoi.
The first six years were unremarkable, but in the following six years, he was inseparable from the main family's young lady of the Hyuga clan, a Minato-esque commoner genius.
Initially, Orochimaru had thought that Izayoi was pursuing the Hyuga clan's young lady to climb the social ladder and achieve a class leap.
But he never expected that all of this was just a facade.
Izayoi had awakened Wood Release long ago, knew his own special nature, yet endured without revealing or showing off, instead biding his time. Only when his strength reached the level of a trump card did he slowly begin to display his talent.
He waited until a member of his clan became Hokage, someone who could be his backer, before completely revealing his true trump card.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen this time to reveal Wood Release. He should have used Wood Release during the Chunin Exams to subdue the Sand Village's One-Tail Jinchuriki.
That would have been the most suitable stage.
Having understood all of this, Orochimaru's evaluation of Izayoi in his heart far surpassed Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake, and even the young Orochimaru himself wouldn't have been worthy of carrying Izayoi's shoes.
So, without waiting for Izayoi to speak, Orochimaru smiled and voiced his guess, "You've come to find me alone to take my head and pave the way for yourself to become the Sixth Hokage, haven't you?"
Izayoi had no idea that in Orochimaru's eyes, he had already become a highly scheming and calculating individual.
After listening to Orochimaru's analysis, Izayoi couldn't help but clap his hands, sincerely praising, "As expected of Orochimaru-sama, you guessed that I possess both Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines with just this little bit of information."
Whoosh—
Just then, an afterimage appeared behind Izayoi, the green light so glaring in the dimly lit room.
"Orochimaru-sama, run quickly!"
Kabuto Yakushi's voice rang out, the chakra scalpel in his hand heading straight for the back of Izayoi's neck.
Unfortunately, he didn't know just how terrifying a Wood Release ninja who didn't need hand seals could be.
Izayoi didn't move at all. Suddenly, his back wriggled, and then several wooden vines extended out, like octopus tentacles, binding Kabuto's limbs and body.
Blue chakra immediately flowed along the wooden vines towards Izayoi's body.
Seeing this scene, Orochimaru's expression became fanatical, "Absorbing chakra, it really is legitimate Wood Release!"
Wood Release was an all-around bloodline limit.
It was not only integrated with offense and defense but also had scene-wide techniques with exaggerated ranges, as well as abilities for flying, burrowing, and sealing.
However, this was just the common perception.
Only the old monsters from the First Hokage's era, the higher-ups of Konoha, and Orochimaru, who had conducted Wood Release experiments, knew that the true strongest ability of Wood Release was actually chakra absorption.
Once entangled by the branches, chakra would be rapidly absorbed, becoming nutrients for the trees to grow and increase their resilience.
The greater the enemy's chakra, the stronger the Wood Release's power would be.
Fighting a Wood Release ninja meant that you would become weaker the more you fought, while the opponent would become stronger. How could you possibly win?
It was precisely because of this that the tailed beasts became the First Hokage's playthings.
Seeing that Izayoi's Wood Release also had the ability to absorb chakra, Orochimaru immediately confirmed that the other party was definitely not an experimental subject created by Konoha but a true descendant of the Senju.
At this moment, Izayoi became an even more perfect reincarnation vessel than Sasuke Uchiha in Orochimaru's eyes.
If he could seize Izayoi's body, with his knowledge, Izayoi's talent, and bloodline limit, not to mention Itachi Uchiha, even the Akatsuki leader with the Rinnegan, Orochimaru would not fear at all.
However, Orochimaru also knew that with his current strength, he was no match for Izayoi.
But fortunately, he still had a backup plan.
Orochimaru quickly calmed his emotions and looked at Izayoi, who had effortlessly subdued Kabuto without moving, and smiled, "Izayoi-kun, Kabuto was just anxious to protect his master and had no malicious intent. My current body is already on the verge of collapse, and it seems I can't reincarnate either. How about we make a deal? I'll give you my head, and you spare Kabuto's life."
"Orochimaru-sama..." Kabuto's eyes widened, and he shed tears of gratitude, his acting skills superb.
If Izayoi hadn't known why Orochimaru wasn't afraid of death, he might have really been fooled by these two guys.
After quickly draining Kabuto's chakra and using the wooden vines to tie him into a rice dumpling, Izayoi was just about to speak.
Another afterimage appeared out of thin air beside him, it was Sasuke Uchiha.
"Sasuke-kun..."
Looking at Sasuke Uchiha, who had suddenly appeared with three-tomoe Sharingan eyes, Orochimaru was slightly stunned, then his gaze became fervent once again.
Two perfect reincarnation vessels appearing before his eyes at the same time had an impact on Orochimaru no less than throwing two unconscious nude beauties in front of a starving lecher.
If he hadn't lost all his ninjutsu and his body wasn't on the verge of collapse, unable to exert even one-tenth of his strength, even if Izayoi was a Wood Release ninja and Sasuke Uchiha had evolved his genjutsu eyes, Orochimaru would have taken a gamble.
"What disgusting eyes..."
Noticing Orochimaru's gaze, goosebumps rose all over Sasuke Uchiha's body, and he said with a disgusted expression, "Is this guy really trustworthy?"
"Don't worry, Orochimaru-sama is still very trustworthy," Izayoi said with a smile.
Hearing this conversation, a glint flashed in Orochimaru's eyes, and he smiled, "It seems Izayoi-kun isn't here to kill me."
"I never said I was here to kill you, Orochimaru-sama," Izayoi smiled. "Although I don't know why you have such thoughts, you should be very clear that Wood Release has already paved the way for me. Your head is at most just the icing on the cake."
"Hehe... you're right," Orochimaru nodded in agreement and smiled, "So, you brought Sasuke-kun to find me. Is there something you need my help with?"
"That's right, I've come to make a deal with Orochimaru-sama."
Izayoi nodded and then took out two scrolls from his body, handing them to Sasuke beside him.
Sasuke Uchiha instantly understood, took the scrolls, opened them, performed hand seals, and took out the items inside.
With two 'poof' sounds and the dissipation of smoke, a White Zetsu clone and a metal safe appeared.
Orochimaru's gaze focused on the White Zetsu clone, his expression surprised as he said, "This is... Zetsu!"
"It seems Orochimaru-sama also knows of this creature. Is this thing called Zetsu?" Izayoi feigned ignorance, saying, "This guy's abilities are very special. He can merge with the earth, plants, and trees. If I didn't have Wood Release and he wasn't hiding in the dark spying on me, I wouldn't have been able to find him either."
"Hehe... this is a clone of a member of Akatsuki called Zetsu," Orochimaru replied, looking at Sasuke Uchiha with a smile, "Akatsuki is the mercenary organization that Itachi Uchiha joined after defecting."
Sasuke Uchiha's brow furrowed slightly, a hint of killing intent flashing in his eyes as he memorized the organization's name. "This guy's body is a bit special. It's my welcoming gift to Orochimaru-sama."
Izayoi squatted down, pried open the White Zetsu clone's mouth, and smiled at Orochimaru, "Orochimaru-sama's current body should completely collapse in a few more days. Would you like to reincarnate into this body in advance?"
"..."
Orochimaru fell silent.
However, looking at the smiling Izayoi, he knew he had no choice.
Thus, the bandages on Orochimaru's face instantly snapped, and he opened his gaping maw, spitting out a White Snake that shot towards Izayoi and Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke Uchiha was startled and subconsciously took a few steps back.
Izayoi, however, pried the White Zetsu clone's mouth even wider, his smile unwavering.
After quickly scanning Izayoi and Sasuke Uchiha with his yellow, snake-like pupils, the White Snake obediently burrowed into the White Zetsu clone's mouth.
Immediately, the White Zetsu clone's body wriggled, and its skin turned into human skin color at a visible speed, with clothes appearing out of nowhere.
Before long, the White Zetsu clone transformed into Orochimaru's appearance.
"This body..."
Orochimaru, having successfully reincarnated, slowly stood up, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Apart from Izayoi, no one knew Orochimaru's current feelings.
As the saying goes, there are no perfect ninjutsu in this world.
The Living Corpse Reincarnation also had very obvious weaknesses.
When seizing a body from a vessel, the vessel would generally resist. At this time, Orochimaru needed to fight it in the spiritual realm, weakening both his spirit and soul.
Even if the vessel didn't resist, Orochimaru would fall into a period of weakness after a successful reincarnation as his soul adapted to the new body.
But now, Orochimaru felt no side effects at all.
His spirit and soul hadn't weakened, and his soul didn't need to adapt to the new body, as if... this corpse was Orochimaru's original body before he learned the Living Corpse Reincarnation.
What was even more unbelievable was that this body was just a clone.
There was a great secret on Zetsu's body!
Orochimaru instantly realized this, couldn't help but flick his tongue, and smiled playfully.
As expected of an organization with the Sage's eyes, it seemed there were still many unknown secrets.
At this moment, Izayoi's laughter entered his ears.
"It seems Orochimaru-sama likes this body very much."
Turning around to look at Izayoi, who was calm and collected, or rather, completely disregarded him, Orochimaru first narrowed his eyes slightly, then said with a hoarse laugh, "Hehe... I like this welcoming gift from Izayoi-kun very much. So... what kind of deal do you want to make?"
But Izayoi's next words caused Orochimaru to instantly lose control of his emotions.
"Does Orochimaru-sama want to undo the Reaper Death Seal?"
"Hoo..."
Orochimaru breathed rapidly, "Does Izayoi-kun know the method?"
"I didn't know originally, but not long ago, I found a member of the Uzumaki clan, and then I found out," Izayoi lied without batting an eye. "The Reaper Death Seal is a sealing jutsu of the Uzumaki clan, sacrificing one's own soul to summon the Reaper to seal the target's soul, a forbidden jutsu for a one-for-one exchange at the limit."
"Then what's the method to undo it?" Orochimaru asked quickly.
"The method is to find the legendary Reaper Mask, let a guy be the sacrifice to summon the Reaper, sacrifice his own soul, and retrieve the souls inside the Reaper's stomach," Izayoi reeled in Orochimaru like a hooked fish and said with a shrug, "As for where the Reaper Mask is, I have no idea."
"So that's how it is..."
Orochimaru nodded slightly, half-believing and half-doubting.
However, Izayoi's words gave him a direction.
Next, as long as he investigated the secrets of the Uzumaki clan, he would know if it was true or false.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru's mood improved, and he couldn't help but smile, "This information is very important. So, what do you need me to do for you, Izayoi-kun?"
"I want one thing, and... help me perform an operation on Sasuke."
Izayoi entered the password and opened the metal safe.
"This is... Hashirama cells!"
Orochimaru recognized the item at a glance, subconsciously ignoring the previous words, and looked at Izayoi meaningfully, "If I remember correctly, most of this stuff is in Danzo's hands, right? That guy was killed by the Akatsuki leader, wasn't he? Izayoi-kun, do you really not know Zetsu?"
"I don't know him. I found this in the Hokage Building," Izayoi still lied without blinking, smiling, "Thanks to that guy with the Rinnegan. If he hadn't destroyed the Hokage Building's sensory barrier and caused such a ruckus inside, I wouldn't have been able to sneak in and get the Wood Release ninjutsu scroll and this thing."
"I see."
Orochimaru nodded again, finally understanding why Izayoi, this genius who awakened his bloodline across generations, could use Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees.
It wasn't inheritance but something he stole by sneaking into the forbidden jutsu library.
Sasuke Uchiha also understood where Izayoi had gotten those genjutsu scrolls, fire release scrolls, and forbidden jutsu like the Dark Release.
Looking at the Hashirama cells and then at Sasuke Uchiha, who possessed the three-tomoe Sharingan, Orochimaru smiled, "It seems Izayoi-kun knows quite a lot."
"Yes, so don't try any funny business, okay?" Izayoi showed a gentle smile, saying words that filled Sasuke Uchiha with a sense of security, "If I find out you're up to something, I'll kill you all."
Although there was no chakra aura erupting, Izayoi's words made the underground room, already gloomy and cold due to the dim light, instantly become even colder.
Especially Kabuto, who had been instantly defeated, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead.
He could maintain his confidence even in front of Kakashi Hatake and Tsunade.
Orochimaru also felt a strong sense of oppression.
He had only felt such oppression from Itachi Uchiha and Tendo Pain.
This brat had indeed grown his wings.
However, on the surface, he also showed a gentle smile and nodded, "No problem, it's just a small matter."
(End of this chapter)
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