Orochimaru quietly lay in a narrow underground cave dug out by hand.
But if you looked carefully, you would find that this gloomy middle-aged man had hollow, lifeless eyes, and his appearance was unspeakably bizarre,
On Orochimaru's left cheek grew an eye and a mouth. His cervical spine was torn open, and a white poisonous snake's tail was deeply embedded into his spine, half its body exposed, coiling around his neck like a scarf.
The ones arguing were precisely the mouth on his left cheek and the white poisonous snake hanging around his neck.
"Stop arguing."
"Orochimaru" spoke.
His voice was hoarse, no different from the real Orochimaru, but the tone of his speech carried the immaturity of a young man.
It was none other than Orochimaru's former subordinate, Yakushi Kabuto.
The two arguing, of course, were Hidan and the White Snake Sage… to be precise, one of the snakes carrying the White Snake Sage's memory.
As for how these three ended up together, it mainly had to do with the White Snake Sage.
Back then, after Orochimaru's death, many forces set their eyes on his inheritance.
Forbidden jutsu, biological research, just taking out a bit of it could guarantee a lifetime of prosperity.
Thousands of ninjas and bounty hunters rushed into the Sound Village.
But when they arrived, they only saw scorched earth.
Yakushi Kabuto had taken away most of Orochimaru's inheritance, and afterward, he set a fire and burned everything he couldn't take.
He knew Orochimaru had left many back-up plans. As long as he worked hard, he would surely find a way to resurrect Orochimaru.
After that, Yakushi Kabuto researched alone for a long time.
Unlike in the original story, where he mastered Sage Mode and could use Edo Tensei to summon countless powerful people, maybe because he lacked the tempering of years spent following Orochimaru…
The current Yakushi Kabuto clearly possessed the Cursed Seal and knew methods to revive Orochimaru, but,
He just couldn't do it.
His technical ability still wasn't enough.
Just when Yakushi Kabuto was in his deepest despair, a White Snake Sage came to him.
To once again reach the peak, the White Snake Sage needed Orochimaru's power.
It hit it off with Yakushi Kabuto immediately, and with the technical support of the White Snake Sage, Yakushi Kabuto succeeded in reviving Orochimaru.
However, what came back was only a vegetable, without consciousness, without memory, a blank brain.
This was natural, because the memory and jutsu discs had been extracted.
No matter how many times they resurrected him, as long as those two discs weren't put back, what came back would only be a soulless shell.
When their plan was stuck, another White Snake Sage (for convenience, let's call it White Snake Sage No. 2) brought Hidan.
Unlike No. 1, No. 2 hadn't chosen to seek out Yakushi Kabuto.
Ryuchi Cave, as one of the Three Holy Grounds, had a status among the summoning beast circle.
Even though it had now collapsed, as a CEO, the White Snake Sage could still find other summoning beasts to exchange resources and gain capital to rise again.
With this purpose, No. 2 wandered within the summoning beast circle.
Given its state, it couldn't seek out too strong of a summoning beast. It had to find weaker ones, and slowly accumulate power.
For example… some stupid insect-type summoning beasts.
It was at this time that it met Hidan.
In order to heal Hidan and borrow the power of the Evil God, No. 2 brought Hidan to Yakushi Kabuto, wanting to use Orochimaru's equipment. That's how it bumped into No. 1.
Thus, this alliance of failures was assembled. Considering they all wanted revenge against Ryosuke, they were a group of avengers, so they called themselves,
"Evil God Great White Snake."
"I still think 'Avengers' sounds better," said No. 2, who hung around the neck.
Hidan argued, "That's too narrow. What, after we kill Ryosuke, our bond just ends?"
"We brothers truly gathered because of hatred, but we can't let hatred blind us."
"We can't just want to kill Ryosuke because of hate and forget that there are plenty more people waiting for us to kill. That wouldn't be fair to others."
No. 2 rolled its eyes, too lazy to argue with this cultist, and instead said, "No. 1, after the operation, don't forget our agreement."
Among the group taking action, only Hidan's mouth and an eyeball were present, if something was gone, it was gone.
Yakushi Kabuto was controlling remotely. Orochimaru's resurrected body was just an empty shell.
Only No. 2 came with its true body.
Because only by coming in person could it use Sage Art.
Taking risks naturally came with rewards.
Before departure, No. 2 and No. 1 had made an agreement, as long as No. 2 could return alive, it would devour No. 1 and merge their power.
To this, No. 1 naturally didn't object.
Seeing the two finally quiet down, Yakushi Kabuto, who was controlling Orochimaru's body, let out a light sigh.
Their plan was to infiltrate the research institute, steal Orochimaru's memory, jutsu discs, and Hidan's body. Afterward would come their true revenge on Ryosuke!
Even though they hadn't figured out exactly how to take revenge yet, still… Orochimaru was cunning. With his twisted thinking, he'd surely come up with a way.
Using Hidan as the anchor, Yakushi Kabuto remotely controlled Orochimaru's body to keep digging forward.
The research institute discharged research wastewater every day. Their infiltration plan was to find the drainage pipe, dig a hole, crawl inside, and then go against the flow to enter the institute.
"But Hidan, I can understand keeping your head, but why not at least keep your arms? That way you'd still have a bit of fighting power," Yakushi Kabuto asked.
"What kind of question is that?"
Hidan asked in surprise, "Would you keep your private parts for others to play with?"
Hearing this, White Snake Sage No. 1, No. 2, and Yakushi Kabuto all fell silent.
After a long while, No. 2 finally said, "I always thought you were a bit mentally unstable, but now it seems…"
"Profound wisdom in foolishness."
A few minutes later, they broke through the drainage pipe, transformed into a snake, and swam against the current.
At first it was normal water flow, then further up was the wastewater treatment facility, filled with all kinds of corrosive liquids.
If it were anyone else, they'd have died inside already, only Orochimaru's body, reinforced with the White Snake Sage's sage art, could endure it.
Even so, by the time they slipped into the institute's interior, they had still shed a layer of skin.
After a few more minutes of molting, Orochimaru barely regained human form.
They stole a researcher's uniform, changed faces, and walked through the institute pretending.
In the rear, Yakushi Kabuto's heart was hanging in his throat. This was their only chance.
To support Gorin City, the institute had reduced many security personnel. At the same time, after some time, Sand Village's surveillance technology would be installed here.
By then, infiltration would be even more difficult.
Hidan whispered, "Hurry up! Samui is leading two brats to look at my body. Before they notice, grab Orochimaru's discs!"
At close range, Hidan could sense his other body parts.
They turned corner after corner, dodging researchers, and finally reached the deepest machine room of the institute.
Dozens of huge central computers operated twenty-four hours, providing computing power for researchers.
Orochimaru's memory discs were right there among them.
Dozens of optical cables hung from the ceiling, connected to the memory discs.
All researchers above C-rank could access parts of Orochimaru's memory through the computers.
"Finally found it!"
Yakushi Kabuto smiled.
As long as they got Orochimaru's memory, even without the jutsu discs, with the White Snake Sage's technology, they could completely replace them with external devices.
He controlled Orochimaru's body and was about to reach out, when suddenly, No. 2 stopped him.
"Wait. We can't take it."
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