Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 409 Danzo: The Impure World Reincarnation Technique!
"Do not worry,"

Orochimaru smiled and said calmly, "Perhaps this war waged by the five great nations against Akatsuki is the perfect opportunity to return the Gedo Mazo to its rightful owner."

He wasn't lying, or at least not entirely.

He did intend to seize the Gedo Mazo, but not for Obito's sake; rather, he needed the Gedo Mazo himself.

The tree's shell was, in his estimation, one of the essential elements for completing the "third stage" of evolution.

Obito wanted it to implement the "Eye of the Moon" plan, while Orochimaru wanted to use it to verify his final crazy conjecture.

"Just remember."

Obito didn't say anything more; he was well aware of Orochimaru's thoughts.

Their alliance was fragile in nature, based on mutual exploitation and each taking what they needed.

At least for now, their goals are aligned.

When the time comes, we'll see who has the better methods.

With that thought in mind, Obito's figure twisted and was drawn into the invisible vortex, disappearing before Orochimaru and Pakura's eyes.

"Go get ready."

Orochimaru turned his gaze to Yekura, who was standing quietly to the side, and said in a hoarse voice, "You and Ebizo will accompany us to this Five Kage Summit."

“…Yes.” Ye Cang replied with his head down, his expression unreadable.

Without asking any further questions or lingering, she turned around decisively, her figure quickly disappearing at the end of the dark passage.

Her relationship with Orochimaru was also one of mutual exploitation.

Once Yekura's footsteps had completely faded into the distance, Orochimaru slowly turned around and walked towards the heavy stone door.

clack clack...

The stone door slid open slowly in front of him, revealing an even deeper darkness behind it.

He stepped inside, and the heavy stone door slowly closed behind him, emitting a dull creaking sound that shut out the last ray of light and sound from the outside world.

The room was not completely dark; a few lamps flickered on the wall lampstands, casting distorted and dancing shadows that illuminated the spacious area.

Almost at the very instant the stone gate closed completely.

"hiss!"

A huge black shadow, accompanied by a foul stench, suddenly darted out from the shadows in front of us.

The enormous mouth, large enough to swallow Orochimaru whole, opened wide, its pale white fangs dripping with viscous saliva, and with lightning speed, it bit down on Orochimaru's head as he approached.

It was a myriad of snakes.

However, Orochimaru did not even pause in the face of this attack that was powerful enough to tear steel apart.

He simply raised a pale hand, fingers spread wide, and gently pressed it down on the onrushing beast.

hum!
A subtle, dense vibration could be heard in the air.

In an instant, countless iron sands shimmering with a dark metallic luster surged forth, like a black tide, instantly coiling around the massive bodies of the 10,000 snakes!
These iron sands quickly solidified into an indestructible seal, binding the snake from head to tail, making it impossible for it to budge no matter how frantically it twisted and struggled.

"Roar!" Manda's enormous serpentine eyes stared intently at Orochimaru, and it roared furiously, "Orochimaru, you bastard! I'll kill you! I..."

"Shhh."

Orochimaru raised his other hand, put his index finger to his lips, and laughed, "Be quiet, Manda."

As he finished speaking, the hand that had been reaching out to Manda slowly clenched into a fist.

Click, click, click!
The iron sand wrapped around the giant mouth of the serpent suddenly tightened, emitting a sickening metallic squeezing sound, forcefully silencing all the subsequent roars and curses.

Its enormous body was forcibly compressed, and large pieces of its scales fell off.

Having subdued the restless Manda, Orochimaru turned his gaze to the other side of the secret chamber.

There, pressed against the cold ground, lay a "skin" quietly.

A complete, semi-transparent human-shaped molted skin.

It retains the physical outline of Orochimaru before, and you can even see the blurry traces of facial features.

However, the inside was empty, and the surface was covered with some mucus, reflecting a wet sheen under the light, just like the empty shell shed by a snake.

This is the old body that Orochimaru shed not long ago after completing an "evolution".

Just like snakes grow by shedding their skin.

He also combined the abilities of the 'Snake Princess' to repeatedly peel away his frail body in this chilling way, climbing towards a more perfect life form.

In this cold and cruel world, the lack of talent is a sin, and those without talent will be ruthlessly rejected.

But it doesn't matter.

So what if you don't have talent?
As long as one can plunder from talented people, taking their power, knowledge, and even their very existence for oneself.

Then one day, he will have everything!
Plunder, evolve, plunder again, evolve again!
This road has no end!
Before long, he will shed his snake skin and transform into a dragon, and even...

god!
Thinking of this, Orochimaru raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the stone walls of the secret chamber, crossing mountains and rivers, locking onto the direction of the Land of Fire, and onto his "kindred spirits".

"Whatever you want to do..."

Orochimaru's face twisted into a smile as he whispered, "Come on, Hyuga Kumokawa."

"Let's see who will be the first to reach the end of this world!"

Having said that, he lowered his head, looked at the ten thousand snakes crawling in front of him, stuck out his tongue and licked his lips, his eyes greedy.

call!
A few flames on the wall flickered a few times in the cold wind and then went out all at once.

The entire secret room was plunged into absolute darkness, where one could not see their own hand in front of their face.

In this deathly darkness, sight loses its meaning, and the other senses are magnified infinitely.

"Um..."

Manda seemed to sense something, and its huge mouth, sealed by the iron sand, let out a fearful whimper. Its massive body writhed wildly, and its scales rubbed against the iron sand, making a piercing sound.

But soon, in the darkness, some tentacled shadows flashed by, wrapping around the struggling outline, slowly enveloping and swallowing it.

The sobs and struggles turned into other sounds.

Click click... Pfft...

The sounds of flesh being forcibly torn apart and bones being crushed echoed in the darkness.

Interspersed throughout were gurgling sucking and swallowing sounds, which were quite chilling.

But at that moment, the faint sound suddenly stopped.

call!
The torches on the wall lit up on their own, and the dim light instantly dispelled the darkness, illuminating the scene inside the secret room once again.

"Wow."

A slightly exaggerated, playful, curious voice came from the ceiling.

From the top of the sealed room, a pitcher plant grows out, its leaves unfurling to reveal the upper half of the black and white creature.

"Did we disturb your 'feast'?" Bai Jue asked with a strange expression on one half of his face, tilting his head to look down. He spoke in a flippant tone.

"I remember, I've said it many times," a cold voice rang out.

The firelight flickered, and Orochimaru, who was crouching on the ground, slowly raised his head. His eyes were devoid of warmth as he looked at Zetsu, and he said in a cold tone, "Don't disturb my meal."

Beneath his feet lay a scene of utter devastation, a dark red mess with countless broken purple scales scattered across the ground.

Several pale, fragmented bones, vaguely recognizable as snake skeletons, lay scattered amidst thick pools of blood and unrecognizable soft tissue remains. On the ground, a trail of slime, left by the forced dissolution of some enormous object, stretched all the way to Orochimaru's feet.

Amidst the chaos lay a massive head of a myriad of snakes, its vertical pupils staring blankly at the ceiling, still bearing the lingering fear of its impending death, but utterly devoid of life.

"Don't be angry, Lord Orochimaru."

Bai Jue seemed completely unconcerned by the chilling killing intent, and continued to chuckle, "This time, we've brought you back an 'old friend'."

He deliberately drew out the words "old friend," as if he were watching a good show.

“Your old friend is no ordinary person,” Black Zetsu said in a hoarse voice. “When we were operating in the Land of Fire, he discovered us while we were in the ‘Mayfly Technique’ state.”

"In order to avoid him disrupting our plans at that time, we had no choice but to agree to his request and bring him back to see you."

Orochimaru narrowed his long, narrow eyes slightly, and asked in confusion, "An old friend?"

------

In the desert outside Sunagakure Village.

The desert at night sheds the daytime heat, leaving only a biting cold.

The pale moonlight, like frost and salt, poured down on the undulating sand dunes, turning the boundless sea of ​​sand into a deathly gray.

The wind howled tirelessly, whipping up sand and dust that blurred the view, making it seem as if only sand and desolation remained between heaven and earth.

A figure stood there quietly.

His entire body was shrouded in a large black robe, which billowed in the wind, vaguely outlining the rugged, twisted, and even ferocious contours beneath the robe.

The outline was not the lines of a normal human body; it was as if what was hidden beneath the robe was a body pieced together from twisted branches and strange bulges.

"I thought it was someone else."

A voice, tinged with a mocking laugh, pierced through the sandstorm.

The man in black robes slowly raised his head upon hearing the sound, and the moonlight illuminated his face.

It was a face that would give ordinary people nightmares.

The right half of his face still retains Shimura Danzo's original sinister appearance, but his skin has an unhealthy grayish color and is covered with fine cracks.

The left half of his face, however, was completely distorted.

His skin was unusually rough, with layers of wrinkles, and a dark, blackish color, like the bark of an old tree. Several bulges of varying sizes, like tree knots, protruded from his cheekbones and jaw.

"So it's Lord Danzo."

Orochimaru stopped a few steps away, a half-smile appearing on his pale yet alluring face.

"Lord Danzo is not in charge of the overall situation in Konoha, so he has come all this way to find me, a rogue ninja. Is he trying to capture me and bring me back to Konoha?" he said sarcastically.

When Danzo went berserk in Konoha, and Hyuga Kumokawa publicly sentenced and executed him, Orochimaru, disguised as "Rasa," was present.

How could he not know that Danzo had gone from a powerful advisor to Konoha to a homeless dog who had lost everything and whose body was deformed?

How could Danzo not hear the undisguised sarcasm and irony in Orochimaru's words?

His current wretchedness and ugliness clearly made the dead snake gloat.

On Danzo's face, where the other half was not deformed, the muscles twitched slightly, and a violent killing intent flashed in his eyes.

But he took a deep breath and forced himself not to lash out.

At this moment, he had lost the ability to retaliate.

"Orochimaru," Danzo said in a hoarse voice, "I want to make a deal with you."

"trade?"

Orochimaru's fake smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold sneer: "Are you talking in your sleep, Lord Danzo?"

"Transactions are based on equality between the two parties."

Do you think you're qualified to talk to me about the word 'deal' right now?

He tilted his head slightly and said with a contemptuous tone, "Or do you think that just because you know my hidden identity, you can use it to blackmail me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Orochimaru suddenly raised his pale hand, his five fingers spread wide!
呲呲!

Countless iron sands, shimmering with a dark luster, appeared out of thin air and instantly coalesced into hundreds of hair-thin yet incredibly sharp needles.

The next second, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, these iron sand needles shot out like a deadly swarm of bees towards Danzo's vital points!

However, almost at the same moment Orochimaru raised his hand, Danzo's hands, hidden under his black robe, moved, forming hand seals so fast that they left afterimages.

Yin! Si! Xu! Chen......

“That mark is…” Orochimaru’s narrow eyes narrowed.

Snapped!
Danzo clasped his hands together sharply, making a crisp clapping sound, and shouted, "Impure World Reincarnation Technique!"

*Pfft!* *Ding ding ding!*
With a series of sharp cracking sounds, the sand in front of Danzo suddenly rose up without warning, and a wooden coffin burst out of the ground, blocking Danzo from the senbon field.

Orochimaru used iron sand needles to test the waters, and all of them were nailed into the coffin lid and pierced through it.

boom!
The heavy coffin lid collapsed forward with a loud crash, slamming heavily onto the sand and kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the smoke and dust dissipated slightly, Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils narrowed involuntarily when he could make out the figure in the wooden coffin by the dim moonlight.

He stared intently at the face in the wooden coffin, nearly half of which was covered by pale bones.

“…You must be joking.”

Orochimaru's voice lost its composure as he slowly turned his gaze to Danzo, narrowing his eyes as he said, "Danzo, what have you done?"

Danzo did not answer Orochimaru's question. On his deformed and ugly face, the corner of his mouth was slightly pulled to one side, forming a stiff and twisted smile that was not quite a smile.

“Now,” he looked at Orochimaru and asked again, “am I qualified to make a deal with you?”

Orochimaru was silent.

The desert fell into a deathly silence, with only the wind and sand howling tirelessly.

Orochimaru's pale, effeminate face shifted with changing expressions. A few seconds later, he slowly grinned, revealing a smile.

"Heh, interesting." Orochimaru licked his lips and chuckled, "This is really interesting."

"No wonder you risked appearing in the capital of the Land of Fire while being hunted. It turns out you were trying to steal the experimental results from Kazuma. It seems you two have been in secret contact all along."

Orochimaru slowly lowered his hand seals, looked at Danzo who had also abandoned morality and ethics, and laughed: "Danzo, you're a madman too."

"It seems I have no reason to refuse this deal."

"So what do you want from me in exchange?"

As soon as Orochimaru finished speaking, Danzo suddenly raised his head.

Intense hatred and murderous intent erupted forth as if they were tangible, twisting his half-distorted, ugly face to the extreme, making him look like a demon crawling out of hell.

In the shadow cast by the hood, the right eye was completely stained with blood, and three jet-black tomoe spun wildly within it, instantly transforming into a scarlet kaleidoscope pattern.

"I want……"

Danzo gritted his teeth, as if squeezing out words of utter resentment from between them: "Let Hyuga Kumokawa die without a burial place!"

"I want him to be at my beck and call, even after death, kneeling before me until his very soul perishes!!"

(Please vote for me QAQ)

(End of this chapter)