Orochimaru felt a sense of greed toward Female Orochimaru, as her current body was composed of Ryou's power.
If he devoured her, it would be equivalent to Orochimaru obtaining Ryou's power.
Female Orochimaru also saw the greed Orochimaru held for her; she clasped her hands together, forming the preparatory stance for weaving hand signs.
Anko glanced at Orochimaru and Female Orochimaru.
Compared to the main body who treated her as a sacrifice, Anko trusted the clone, Female Orochimaru, who genuinely cared for her.
Anko also placed her hands in front of her chest, ready to weave signs and perform Ninjutsu at any moment.
Yamato looked left and right, and suddenly his gaze landed on Tobirama, his pupils shrinking slightly.
The Second Hokage?!
Yamato was a Shinobi from the Root; he had previously accompanied Danzo to meet Orochimaru and had seen Sakumo and Hiruko.
He understood a bit about the Edo Tensei, but seeing the Second Hokage still left Yamato incredibly moved.
This was the embodiment of the Will of Fire, one of the founders of the Server.
With the Second Hokage on the opposite side, should Yamato go over and stand with him?
Yamato hesitated for a moment.
He had already learned of Orochimaru's cruelty from Anko; Orochimaru hadn't implanted the Cursed Seals in him and Anko to give them greater power.
Rather, he wanted them to serve as sacrifices for reincarnation.
Should anything happen to Orochimaru's main body, he would be resurrected through the bodies of these reincarnation vessels.
This was Possession.
Orochimaru saw Yamato's wavering gaze and stared directly at him, his eyes filled with deception and greed.
"Yamato, have you forgotten your identity? You are a Shinobi of Konoha's Root."
"The Roots that protect the leaves of the great tree at all costs within the darkness."
"The place you are standing now is Uchiha Ryou's territory. Hurry over and pay your respects to the Heroic Spirits who protect the Village!"
Indeed, Yamato was a Shinobi indoctrinated with the Will of the Root, the sharpest blade of Konoha; how could he stand on the side of the enemy?
Tobirama, Kagami, and Dan—these Heroic Spirits of Konoha—watched Yamato with interest.
They all wanted to see how he would choose.
Orochimaru was a villain, but one couldn't help but choose him, because this was a matter of political alignment.
There was no right or wrong, only correctness.
Yamato had only taken two steps when Anko slapped him across the face: "Yamato, you idiot, do you think you're still a free man?"
"Both of our bodies have been implanted with spores by Uchiha Ryou; we've already become his slaves!"
That's right! Yamato snapped out of it; he was already controlled by Ryou.
He already had a master!
Yamato cried out to Orochimaru for help: "Lord Orochimaru, please save me!"
Anko slapped Yamato again, then grabbed his hand to weave signs.
Wood Release hand signs?
Tobirama's pupils constricted.
"Yamato, weave the signs!"
"Yes!"
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The ground where Orochimaru and the others stood suddenly shuddered as countless thick tree Roots burst through the earth like wild pythons, spreading frantically in all directions.
In an instant, towering giant trees rose from the ground, their branches growing and intertwining wildly, while vines coiled and flipped like massive serpents.
Tagorihime wove signs: "Senjutsu: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Tagorihime performed her Senjutsu, controlling the surrounding rocks to transform into stone snakes that clashed with the tree Roots; the two groups thus began their battle in front of the White Snake Sage's temple.
Tobirama watched with some shock as Anko and Yamato wove signs together to perform Wood Release.
"Orochimaru, what is going on? Why can these two disciples of yours use Wood Release?"
With a dark expression, Orochimaru explained the Hashirama cells experiments to Tobirama, Kagami, and the others.
Because of the Shinobi World War, Konoha had wanted to deploy the Nine-Tails into battle.
But the Nine-Tails's power was too great; simply stabilizing the Jinchuriki required massive manpower and resources, so how could they possibly control the Nine-Tails's power?
In truth, the power to control it did exist.
One way was the Uchiha's Sharingan, as the ocular power of the Sharingan possessed a very strong hypnotic effect.
However, due to the Konoha high-ranking officials' policy of isolating the Uchiha, they were unwilling to let the Uchiha get involved with the Nine-Tails.
That left only the First Hokage's Wood Release, which could control Tailed Beasts.
Since none of Hashirama's direct descendants had inherited the Wood Release, the Konoha high-ranking officials decided to conduct experiments to fuse Hashirama cells and obtain Wood Release.
Specifically, the project was spearheaded by the Root—who always took the blame—and led by Orochimaru.
They kidnapped sixty children from the wild and injected them with Hashirama cells; in the end, only one survived, and that person was Yamato.
However, Yamato only inherited Hashirama's techniques; he did not inherit Hashirama's massive chakra or his array of auxiliary abilities.
Later, Orochimaru injected Anko with White Zetsu cells, allowing her to inherit Hashirama's massive chakra.
With Yamato's techniques and Anko's chakra, the two of them working together could unleash a Wood Release comparable to Hashirama's.
Although they couldn't manifest a Wood Golem, this Wood Release that could clash with Sage Arts was not to be underestimated.
Tobirama's expression darkened: "Orochimaru, you mean to say—these two disciples of yours had already inherited my brother's Wood Release before you sent them to participate in the Ryūchi Cave trial?"
Orochimaru nodded: "Yes, why?"
Tobirama truly could not fathom Orochimaru's stupidity; he used a Body Flicker to close in on Orochimaru and sent him flying with a single punch, smashing him directly into the rock wall where he remained embedded!
WHAM!
"Orochimaru, you idiot! You drove away two children who could inherit my brother's Wood Release and forced them to defect!"
"How is someone like you supposed to change? Huh?!"
Embedded in the wall, Orochimaru felt rather irritated.
By using fists to change, of course!
You've just shown me that through your own actions!
Everyone watched the overbearingly powerful Tobirama in shock.
Tobirama, who was supposed to be a puppet, was actually beating his controller—what was going on?
Dan and Kagami were stunned; they could only be Orochimaru's puppets, yet Tobirama could turn around and thrash Orochimaru.
This was the difference in their caliber!
Female Orochimaru, on the other hand, could understand; Tobirama had been strengthened by the Cursed Seal Orochimaru implanted, and Tobirama was incredibly fast.
Orochimaru had likely only just started weaving signs to control Tobirama when his hands were cut off by him.
Orochimaru had no way to control Tobirama.
Tobirama crossed his arms and looked at Anko and Yamato, saying, "The two of you are Shinobi of Konoha; you shouldn't follow an evil Uchiha."
"Come over here. I guarantee that I won't let Orochimaru harm you."
Female Orochimaru stepped forward, blocking the way in front of Anko and Yamato: "Lord Second, don't you think it's a bit late to be saying this?"
"My main body pushed them into the abyss, and now they've climbed back up using their own strength. Do you really think they can still trust people like you, who stand with their abuser?"
Yamato had something to say; he was unwilling to trust Orochimaru anymore, but Orochimaru and the Lord Second weren't bound to each other.
Judging by the Second Hokage's stance, it was clear he would value him and Anko.
Yamato wanted to speak, but Anko slapped him again.
"Go play somewhere else; do you think you have a say here?"
Yamato went to a corner and crouched down, weeping silently.
"They all laugh at me, but it turns out I'm the biggest joke of all!"
"Gold will always shine, but unfortunately, I'm just scrap iron."
Tobirama looked at Female Orochimaru, his erupting chakra creating a wind pressure that suppressed her: "In other words, you truly intend to be enemies with Konoha?"
Female Orochimaru retorted, "Lord Second, don't put it like that. I won't be an enemy to Konoha; I simply cannot trust your guarantee."
"You yourself are a puppet of my main body, so how can you guarantee that the main body won't harm my two disciples?"
"..."
Tobirama fell silent.
The next second, Orochimaru validated Female Orochimaru's words by rapidly weaving signs where Tobirama couldn't see.
Tobirama's body suddenly began to twitch, as if being controlled by a technique, and his face contorted violently.
It was as if there were something in his backside.
Orochimaru jumped out while maintaining the hand gesture for control, sneering: "Tobirama, you've forgotten who's in charge here. It seems I really do need to control you properly!"
"Orochimaru!!"
Tobirama released the Cursed Seal; the patterns of the seal on his neck spread out, and all the natural energy in the surroundings began to converge toward him.
Orochimaru's Cursed Seal had powerful side effects; if active for too long, one would lose their humanity and eventually be eroded by natural energy, turning into a monster.
But the Edo Tensei Tobirama was unaffected by this, because he was already dead!
The immortality of the Edo Tensei body allowed him to be immune to the Cursed Seal's side effects.
In the original work, Kimimaro seemed a bit underwhelming after being brought back by Edo Tensei, but if he were placed on the front lines, his limitless Dance of the Seedling Fern would have been a nightmare for the Shinobi Allied Forces.