"Hoo... hoo..."
Deep within a dark, damp underground cave, a pale-skinned man with black hair suddenly appeared in the center of the empty space, gasping for breath and collapsing exhaustedly on the ground.
Orochimaru covered his forehead with one hand, enduring the tearing pain that came from the depths of his soul, while clenching a palm-sized box in the other. He struggled to prop himself up and leaned against the cave wall to stand.
"Did it fail?"
Despite sighing like this, his tone didn't convey much regret.
Or rather, it was as if he had anticipated it.
If a man like Aizen Sōsuke could be defeated by a single move, Orochimaru would truly look down on him.
However, despite making so many preparations, not even a memory could be transmitted back through the soul fragment, which still made him feel a little startled.
The only thing worth celebrating was that he had left a contingency.
Orochimaru looked down at the box in his hand, a slight smirk playing on his lips, then turned around and began searching among the surrounding spare storage.
Before long, he found a puppet object shaped like a human head.
Almost as soon as the box was embedded into the puppet head, a network of fine Chakra threads connected the two, fixing it with a click.
The puppet head first trembled slightly, then began to whir, and its eyes suddenly opened.
Even though it was a puppet, and its eyeballs were made of stone, Orochimaru clearly saw endless rage in those eyes.
"Sasori!"
Sasori's voice quickly rang out from the puppet head's metallic throat, his tone urgent: "You bastard, how dare you scheme against me!!"
"Don't say such unpleasant things, Sasori-kun." Orochimaru seemed to have anticipated his reaction, speaking calmly, "I should have warned you before the mission began."
"We are dealing with someone even I find troublesome."
"How could I know what would happen when I don't even fully understand his abilities? I also died once.
"What's more, I brought back your Heart Core with me."
"Nonsense!"
Sasori's voice was hard and cold, staring straight at him: "You clearly knew what kind of monster that was!"
"My puppets, my body, and years of accumulation were all left behind in that spacetime."
"The Third Kazekage's body was in there too!"
That was one of his most important trump cards, not to mention his other possessions, which included over a hundred puppets.
"But at least you survived, didn't you?" Orochimaru looked down at him, his tone still unhurried.
Sasori, reduced to just a head, posed no threat to him.
"Bastard..."
Sasori cursed twice more, unwillingly, but also recognized the current situation.
In the Ninja World, the most important thing was to know when to be pragmatic.
Clearly, Orochimaru bringing back his Heart Core was certainly not out of kindness.
"Please tell me about the information that guy left behind."
"If I remember correctly, your Heart Core should also have the ability to perceive the outside world, right?"
Seeing him gradually calm down after venting his anger, Orochimaru finally spoke.
Evidently.
From the very beginning, Orochimaru had prepared numerous contingencies.
If he could eliminate Aizen Sōsuke in one go with the help of the Three Great Sage Regions and the powers behind them, that would naturally be for the best.
But if not, he would at least destroy his own body, which had been completely eroded by Hashirama cells, and the soul fragment that Aizen Yūsuke had left as a contingency.
At the same time, Sasori, this madman who had completely transformed himself into a puppet, was also one of the contingencies he had left for himself.
No one in this world understood better than Orochimaru how terrifying Aizen Yūsuke's genjutsu truly was.
Only someone with a special body structure like Sasori could possibly record some information with his Heart Core.
This was also what Orochimaru needed most right now.
"Hmph."
By now, Sasori could easily see through Orochimaru's little schemes and snorted coldly: "You're not planning to make me talk to you like this, are you?"
"Even if you kill me, there are others in the Akatsuki."
"Don't think a stray dog like you can escape."
Although his tone sounded utterly defiant, Orochimaru could easily discern Sasori's bargaining. The smile on his pale face became even more placid and natural, as he said: "That's only natural."
"There's a spare warehouse nearby, and I'll also join your organization later."
"However, you must have seen Aizen Yūsuke's power.
"That's a power none of us can resist."
"So, we'd best cooperate wholeheartedly."
"Understood."
"I will report this matter to my superior. You can just tell that guy directly then."
Sasori's tone was flat.
However, contrary to his seemingly calm tone.
His Heart Core had long replaced the function of his brain, becoming the central core of his entire body.
Even now, Sasori's Heart Core still recorded the information left behind in the Land of Towers.
He was still shaken.
The quality of Konoha's successive Hokage was known throughout the Ninja World.
However, this time, the three Hokage, from the Second to the Fourth, all died at that guy's hands.
When did a monster of this caliber appear in this world?
Regardless, they had to be vigilant.
Upon receiving this reply, Orochimaru's smile deepened: "Good to hear."
At the same moment Orochimaru returned to the present.
Various anomalies also appeared in the Great Sage Regions.
Mount Myōboku.
The secret space, stable for a thousand years, suddenly shook violently, and a massive amount of natural energy was abruptly drawn from the depths of the entire space, its destination unknown.
Fukasaku and Shima, as Sages, immediately noticed the abnormal changes in the space and went to visit the Great Toad Sage's residence at once.
However, when they arrived, they were met with a closed door.
"Huh?!"
"At a time like this, that old geezer is still sleeping?"
"Look at what's happening outside!"
Sage Shima complained loudly and unhappily, pointing her short arm towards the mountain bottom behind her.
The once abundant stream had suddenly dried up, even the waterfall was reduced to a trickle, and the temperature had dropped significantly, severely impacting countless plants and animals living in the jungle, leading to widespread deaths.
Even the toads who hadn't yet become Sages clearly felt the anomaly in Mount Myōboku and gathered together, discussing worriedly, with many even running to the foot of the mountain.
"I'm sorry, Sage Shima."
Gamaura, who was being scolded, also explained repeatedly with a helpless tone: "Two days ago, the Great Toad Sage suddenly woke up once and instructed me that some bad changes might occur, but he couldn't solve them and needed to enter a deep slumber for an important prophecy preparation."
"As for what exactly happened, how could a junior like me know?"
"That old geezer..."
Sage Shima frowned and muttered, but her worry grew even stronger, and she instinctively glanced at her old partner beside her.
Sage Fukasaku, however, did not speak immediately. Instead, he raised his head and looked towards the distant sky, as if he had thought of something.
As Sages who had lived for seven or eight hundred years, they both clearly knew far more secrets than ordinary people.
Almost upon seeing the Great Toad Sage's reaction, they already understood some things.
"Let's go, Shima."
After a long while, he sighed softly: "The old man rarely gives instructions before falling into slumber. It seems this time, things won't be easily brushed aside."
"Let's first organize the children and stabilize order before anything else."
"This time, it's probably not just our family that's going to suffer."
Just as Sage Fukasaku had predicted.
At the same time the Great Toad Sage suddenly fell into slumber, the two Sages of Ryūchi Cave and Shikkotsu Forest also fell into slumber concurrently.
As if pulled in by some force.
Not only that, but a large portion of the massive natural energy accumulated by the Three Great Sage Regions over a thousand years was suddenly drained, its destination unknown.
Only the Priestess of the Land of Demons seemed to sense something suddenly, abruptly raising her head to look at Ashisuke beside her.
"Priestess-sama?"
Ashisuke, the guard, noticed the young girl's change and asked in a low voice: "Did you see something again?"
Shion, the current Priestess of the Land of Demons, was still an eight-year-old girl.
As a Priestess passed down through generations in the Land of Demons, she naturally possessed the ability to "see" the deaths of others.
But this time, what the young girl saw was a completely different scene than before: "No... that's not right."
She murmured softly, her expression somewhat bewildered.
"The ways of death suddenly decreased by two... as if they were erased."
"What's going on?"
?
Meanwhile, in Konoha.
After a brief skirmish with the Six Paths Sage, Aizen Sōsuke returned to the Village with Uchiha Itachi and Yakushi Kabuto.
As he expected.
Even though he had killed the Second, Third, and Fourth Hokage, when he returned, the world still showed no changes, as if everything was proceeding along its original timeline.
This also confirmed to him.
What the Dragon Veins connected were not different nodes on a single timeline, but multiple intersecting parallel worlds.
However, the price the Six Paths Sage had to pay to erase the "anomalies" that occurred in the other two worlds was something he did not know.
He had more important things to do now.
Since the concept of "Hollow" had been embedded into this world, he naturally had to prepare for the drastic changes that were about to occur in this world.
"Beep, beep, beep—"
Just as he was busy, a slight notification sound came from the healing tank nearby.
Aizen Sōsuke looked up from his desk and saw Yakushi Kabuto, his body fully recovered, sitting up from the healing tank with a bewildered expression, looking around.
"Aizen-sama?"
Even as he spoke, Yakushi Kabuto's tone carried a sense of unreality.
He had thought he was doomed when the cursed seal activated.
"Kabuto-kun, are you awake already?"
"How do you feel?"
Aizen Yūsuke took a sip of the black tea beside him and spoke to him gently.
"I am terribly sorry."
Yakushi Kabuto first stood up from the healing tank, then hastily began: "Aizen-sama, I, I did not know that such a contingency was left on me, it was not..."
Clearly, the young man was incredibly frightened at this moment.
After such a long time, he had completely understood the power disparity between Orochimaru and Aizen Yūsuke and dared not harbor any disloyalty.
Who would have thought such a blunder would occur during such an important operation?
If something truly went wrong and caused Aizen-sama to fail, he wouldn't know where to run.
That was Aizen Yūsuke, who had effortlessly dealt with several Hokage as if slicing melons and dicing vegetables.
"It's alright."
"That wasn't your fault."
Aizen's smile was as refreshing as ever: "Orochimaru has countless tricks up his sleeve. Kabuto-kun, you must be careful yourself in the future."
"Yes."
However, as he responded, Yakushi Kabuto suddenly knelt on one knee, pleading: "Aizen-sama."
"If such an error occurs again in the future, your subordinate can only repay it with death."
"To be able to help you, please bestow upon me the power of Hashirama cells."
The young man knelt on the ground, looking up imploringly, utterly sincere: "I also want to... become your right-hand man, Aizen-sama."
Aizen Sōsuke glanced at him and suddenly asked in return: "Kabuto-kun."
"Do you know why I have always been unwilling to use external objects to modify my body to gain greater power?"
"Because... Aizen-sama yourself is already the embodiment of the supreme power in this world?"
Yakushi Kabuto spoke these words from the bottom of his heart.
In his eyes, no one could compare to Aizen Sōsuke's power anymore.
Not even the Third Hokage.
"Not so."
"Compared to the pinnacle of this world, I am still far behind." Aizen Sōsuke said calmly: "The reason I didn't choose Hashirama cells, nor did I implant Sharingan into myself, is because body cells themselves are part of one's will."
"Hashirama cells themselves are also part of the fusion of soul and body that Senju Hashirama forged through countless trials."
"Therefore, the more one integrates external objects, the more one's will and body will tend to evolve in the direction of the original owner."
"In the end, whether it's the body, Chakra, spirit, or soul, they will all take on the color of others."
"In a sense, after integrating Hashirama cells, you will become another Senju Hashirama with some of Yakushi Kabuto's characteristics."
"Temperament, preferences, aesthetics—everything will undergo certain changes."
"Even so, are you willing to accept these changes for the sake of power?"
This was the first time Yakushi Kabuto had learned the cost of acquiring such power, and he stood stunned in place.
However, after recalling the helpless situation he had been in before, the young man finally hardened his resolve and said firmly: "Yes, Aizen-sama."
"As long as I can be your aid, I am willing to pay any price."
Aizen Sōsuke looked down at him, observing those fervent eyes, as if seeing through all his disguises.
However, he ultimately smiled with interest and rose from his seat: "Then, come with me.