Water bears at the beginning, wet bone forest eating old people

Chapter 226 The 4th Hokage and Orochimaru join in!

The country of the sea.

Probably on the sea southeast of the Land of Fire.

A deserted island.

It's called a country, but its actual area... is probably not even as big as Konoha Village.

In a cave connected to the coastline, countless mechanical equipment are operating.

Orochimaru's face was pale as he stood in front of an incubator. The lavender culture solution shone on his face as the light shone through the glass of the container.

He looked at the little girl in the container with indifference. There was not a trace of pity in his snake eyes, only exploration and desire for the unknown.

Some rare fish scales have appeared between the little girl's temples, which looks very much like the product of a hybrid between humans and some scaly creatures, but in fact, this is a monster created by artificial experiments.

Besides, Orochimaru was not happy with her.

The experimental subject successfully survived, but the experiment failed.

"Lord Orochimaru, Konoha is looking for you."

A subordinate walked in, knelt on one knee behind Orochimaru, and reported to him.

"Hehehe..."

With a hoarse laugh, Orochimaru raised the corner of his mouth, his face full of disdain.

"Old man, are you getting impatient so soon? Who are you going to clear the obstacles for... or are you going to die?"

In Orochimaru's opinion, it seemed a little too early now.

The Third World War has not yet ended completely, and Konoha is also in turmoil. Orochimaru feels that even if Sarutobi Hiruzen wants to settle accounts with him, he should wait until the war is completely over, the Fourth Hokage is promoted to the throne, and the village is stabilized before taking action.

Moreover, the way to act should not be to trick Orochimaru into killing him, but to take advantage of the residual heat of the competition with the Fourth Hokage, make some unpresentable remarks, poke at Orochimaru's sins, and then drive Orochimaru away openly.

This is consistent with Orochimaru's understanding of his teacher.

The sudden early liquidation is likely because Sarutobi Hiruzen's deadline is approaching, and he has to take more radical measures to deal with the hidden threat of Orochimaru and pave the way for the new Fourth Hokage.

"No... Lord Orochimaru, Konoha... As far as I know, the first nomination for the Fourth Hokage is you."

"It's Minato Namikaze, if I'm not mistaken...what did you say?"

"It's you."

The subordinate lowered his head and repeated it.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Orochimaru suddenly widened his eyes, his expression full of disbelief.

Thirty years! A full thirty years! For someone like Orochimaru, who had been precocious since childhood and could see through other children's minds when they were a little more mature, seeing through a person in thirty years was too easy.

Sarutobi Hiruzen! His teacher! That old man couldn't possibly pass on the Fourth Hokage to him. He had known this for a long time!

Before the Third Shinobi World War began, Orochimaru had already seen through this matter, so he slowly separated from the Root and replicated all his experiments from the Root to the outside world.

Then, while the war was going on here, on the other side, his laboratory had already been moved out of Konoha.

This laboratory in the Sea Country is just one of them. As the saying goes, a cunning rabbit has three burrows, and a cunning snake has planted secret bases in uninhabited places in the ninja world.

"what is going on!"

Orochimaru didn't care much about who would become the Fourth Hokage. What he cared about was where he had made a mistake and what had caused Sarutobi Hiruzen to change his personality so drastically!

Konoha, is it being controlled by someone?

That's impossible. If even Konoha is controlled, then there will be no safe place in the ninja world!

"It is said that the Third Hokage did nominate Minato Namikaze, but a child named Kawazo was seriously injured, causing a great blow to the prestige of the Third Hokage. Then a summoned beast named Kozo went to negotiate with the Third Hokage, and finally confirmed that you are the first nominee."

The subordinate briefly described the basic situation, while Orochimaru stood there in a daze.

He murmured to himself, "Is Chuan Zang... not dead?"

It's a mess, everything is a mess.

Orochimaru has a very interesting but incredible guess, that is Sichuan-Tibet, maybe Xinjiang!

Shinzo found a way to replace his body, and he happened to discover Kawazo who had the Wood Release bloodline, or perhaps this coincidence was just something that had been arranged long ago.

In short, Xinjiang-Tibet died very suddenly, and Sichuan-Tibet grew very quickly.

Inspired by this, although Orochimaru has been working on the research of Wood Release and natural energy, on the other hand, Orochimaru has also slowly developed a technique that can replace the body.

But now, this technique is not mature enough and has obvious drawbacks.

Moreover, he is in his prime and is not in a situation where he needs to change his body, so Orochimaru is still developing this technique.

When in the Land of Grass, Kawazo's lively appearance and that familiar feeling made Orochimaru feel that although his guess was unrealistic, it was very likely.

He felt that during or after the Third Shinobi World War, Kawamizo might very likely die, and Shinzo might have a new and better body.

Combined with the fact that he himself was also able to research a similar body-swapping technique, this meant that his guess was eighty percent correct.

For the remaining 20%, he needs to find Shinzo's new identity and see what the differences are in his new body before he can confirm it.

Although there was no evidence, Orochimaru's guess was slowly growing in his mind.

Until now, the probability of 80% has dropped directly to 10%.

Because Chuan Zang was only seriously injured and unconscious, but not dead!

What went wrong?

Orochimaru was confused.

For a wise person, it is normal for something to go astray and lead to an unknown and unnoticed path.

But everything goes wrong and exceeds his expectations. He will no longer doubt the reliability of things, but will start to doubt himself.

am I wrong?

What went wrong?

Or was my initial thinking completely wrong?

In fact, my brain power and wisdom seem ridiculous to others?

My research, my inventions, my ninjutsu, everything about me, are they all ridiculous?

I am just a common ninja. Is it wrong for me to try to climb the mountain that is difficult for ninjas to reach by myself?

Orochimaru's eyes gradually lost focus, but a voice came from the other side.

"Teacher? What's wrong with you? You don't look well..."

Somewhat timidly.

It's red beans.

She didn't dare to look up at the strange scene in the laboratory, but she still respected her teacher enough. After all, after her mother died, it was her teacher who always took her with her, wherever she went, and even completed the tasks together. She also used the task bonus to buy meatballs and red bean soup for her.

Orochimaru took Hongdou to the laboratory in the Sea Kingdom, and prepared to use the Heaven's Curse Seal, which had been gradually improved, on her.

Her strength is too weak. Even with Orochimaru's personal teaching, Red Bean's mastery of ninjutsu is quite poor. It seems that all her talent is spent on eating.

Just like Mitarai Toumaru back then, apart from her half-baked snake ninjutsu, Red Bean only knew the Dragon Fire Jutsu, which Orochimaru forced her to practice. As a result, she still couldn't reach the level of Toumaru facing the Rain Ninja, roaring with pride, and performing the last dance.

So as soon as the Heaven's Curse Seal was formed, Red Bean was the first person Orochimaru wanted to transform.

Don’t feel sorry for Hongdou being used as an experimental subject. You should know that there were only two people who were planted with the Heaven’s Curse and survived from beginning to end. One was the second male lead, Bi Wang Erzhuzi, and the other was Hongdou!

Red Bean was just unwilling to use the power left by Orochimaru who became a traitor, but looking at how Hashira was able to beat up the prince after getting the curse seal, you can see how much this thing can improve the strength in the early stage.

It is no exaggeration to say that after being injected with the Heaven's Curse Seal, even a pig can gain the strength of a Jonin.

It can be seen how much thought Orochimaru put into Red Bean.

There is almost no need to consider that if Hongdou cannot withstand the side effects of the Heaven's Curse Seal and is on the verge of death, Orochimaru will definitely cancel the injection and save Hongdou's life.

She replaced Nawaki as Orochimaru's disciple and the only descendant of a friend who was once recognized by him!

Orochimaru's recognition is of great value. Apart from Toumaru, there is only one person he recognizes, the deified Uchiha Itachi.

Even when facing the two Senju brothers, Orochimaru only respected Hashirama for his extraordinary cultivation, and was even more sarcastic towards Tobirama.

To Orochimaru, Red Bean is like a toy that can be discarded at any time, but that is just an appearance.

Orochimaru survived to the end because he bet on Anko, and at the same time, he also ensured that Anko survived to the end.

Hongdou's call of "teacher" brought Orochimaru back to his senses.

His eyes quickly focused, his snake eyes returned, and he began to think confidently again.

I can become the Fourth Hokage...Kawazo is seriously injured and in a coma...are these two things necessarily related?

Have.

Orochimaru breathed heavily.

He doesn't care about his image in front of his subordinates.

"Please repeat yourself. You are saying that Mr. Kozo went to the Hokage's office and discussed with the old man. He finally decided to choose me as the first nominee for the Fourth Hokage, right?"

"......Yes."

Orochimaru staggered back two steps and chuckled.

"Hehehehe...how scary, Mr. Kozang."

"Toying with the entirety of Konoha, the Shodaime's goal...is it really the Shodaime's will that you are upholding..."

Ninety percent.

Orochimaru became even more certain.

The secret art of body-swapping that he studied was partly derived from the observation and development of snakes in the Longdi Cave, and it can be basically confirmed that the secret art of Xinzang is related to Guzang.

After all, what is there in the Dragon Land Cave may be different in the Wet Bone Forest, but how can it be less?

There are also rumors about Xin Zang that he had contact with and studied with Gu Zang.

Orochimaru stood there quietly, his mind frantically thinking, not realizing that he had taken another detour.

No one would have thought that Xinzang was the insect Guzang.

Hongdou was a little scared when she saw Orochimaru appearing distracted, crazy, and fragile.

In this laboratory, Orochimaru is the only one she can rely on. If Orochimaru goes out, she dare not even step out of her own little house, for fear of seeing some strange monster.

If anything happened to Orochimaru, Anko wouldn't know how she would get back to Konoha.

"Teacher, are you okay, teacher?"

"Heh... Anko, I'm fine."

Orochimaru touched Red Bean's purple hair and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

What’s the point of guessing it?

Even if it's ninety, so what?

Chuan Zang was seriously injured and in a coma, so it was almost impossible for him to change his body. This must have been the work of Mr. Gu Zang.

Perhaps he touched Mr. Gu Zang's bottom line, so Chuan Zang's secret technique was banned. Perhaps he had already changed his body, but he would not appear in Konoha and escape from Mr. Gu Zang's control, because Chuan Zang was not dead.

In short, Orochimaru could not verify the last ten percent.

As for the Fourth Hokage...

"Red Bean, remember I asked you a question in the Land of Rain?"

"Ah? Is it the Dragon Fire Technique? Teacher, I've been practicing very hard, but... but this technique doesn't obey. It can't grow bigger and longer, and become what you said... Please don't use me as a test subject..."

Hongdou sounded aggrieved, her voice getting smaller and smaller, and finally she even shivered with fear.

"No, that's another question. Do you think I, your teacher, can become the Fourth Hokage?"

Orochimaru looked at Red Bean's aggrieved look, chuckled, and turned around to look outside the cave.

The scenery outside was completely different from that inside the cave.

The road inward leads to conspiracy and experimentation, and the road outward leads to the sea and sunshine.

"The Fourth Hokage? Sensei says it will work! I believe in Sensei Orochimaru!"

When Hongdou heard that it was not about practicing the Dragon Fire Technique, he immediately chuckled and shouted encouragement.

"Come on, Anko, follow me back to Konoha."

"Okay~"

When she heard that they were going back to Konoha, Hongdou was so happy. It had been a long time since she had eaten the three-color meatballs from the shop at the entrance of Konoha Village!

"But Orochimaru-sensei, why are we going into the cave..."

Holding Orochimaru's hand, Red Bean followed him in a daze.

"Of course, I'll become a test subject. The desire for knowledge and strength is something you can never give up. Red Bean, the teacher is going to become the Fourth Hokage. As a disciple of the Hokage, you should have some decent strength, hehe..."

Red Bean's frightened face was reflected in Orochimaru's eyes, making him curl the corners of his mouth.

Hongdou actually has a similar obsession as Toumaru, but he protected it too well and it has not been discovered.

However, the heart of a strong person is cultivated slowly. It is not too late to have the strength first and then cultivate it.

......

From the moment Orochimaru took Red Bean's hand and stepped back into Konoha, the entire Konoha burst with powerful vitality as if welcoming the return of the new king.

"Orochimaru, I have already sent a letter of recommendation to the Daimyo. The Daimyo fully agrees that you will be the Fourth Hokage and take charge of Konoha."

Although Hiruzen was more optimistic about Minato, when Orochimaru stood in front of him as the Fourth Hokage, there was only relief in his eyes.

This is my most outstanding and versatile disciple.

Hiruzen took off the Hokage hat on his head and put it on Orochimaru.

Orochimaru leaned over gently, taking into account Hiruzen's height, put on the Hokage hat, then raised his body and looked at Hiruzen's old face.

Even though he had never cared about the position of Hokage, Orochimaru knew that he had a responsibility and was carrying the expectations of thousands of people.

Power will change a person from the very beginning.

"Hehe... Old man, you can rest assured that Konoha will stand tall in the ninja world again."

......