The stars were faint, the moonlight like water. Even though they were only a few hundred miles apart, the sky seemed completely different.
The night sky was deep and dark, making the stars and moon shine even brighter.
Orochimaru leaned against a tree trunk. A mysterious smile appeared on his face. A white snake suddenly appeared from his sleeve and lazily wrapped around his arm.
'Tail-eater' poked its head out from the white snake and slipped back into Orochimaru's body.
A temporary place just isn't as comfortable as your own home.
Orochimaru didn't force the thing to get used to it. He leaned against the big tree and looked up at the stars.
Tonight, he destroyed Danzo's Root group, which Danzo relied on, and also made fun of Jiraiya quite a bit. The first one was a big gain, and the second was just a bonus, but it made him feel very good.
"Tsk, tsk… It's been so long, and Konoha hasn't sent you any messages. It seems they don't want to interrupt your peace talks with Kumogakure."
The Genie poked his head out from behind and smiled. He changed the subject, "They're planning to settle the score with you after you return to the village."
"These are just small things. I already have ways to deal with them."
Orochimaru glanced at the Genie and said with his mind, "Compared to that, how's Kabuto doing?"
"Fine, fine. He left some harsh words and was immediately reverse-summoned to Ryuuchi Cave."
The Genie shrugged. "Obito suspects Kabuto a bit, but for now, he can't do anything about him. Once Kabuto's background gets out, Obito's attitude will probably change."
Orochimaru nodded slightly.
People who are hurt and desperate attract each other. When they gather together, the one with the deeper wounds will unconsciously be more tolerant of the other.
Obito might not necessarily do that, but having the same experiences and suffering similar pain can reduce a lot of bad feelings. On the contrary, their past conflict might even be a plus.
"There's still some cleanup work to do regarding Kabuto."
The Genie pondered for a moment and then said, "At Ryuuchi Cave, you need to cut off their support for Kabuto. At least, you need to let Obito know that Kabuto can only use blood pact summoning from now on."
"…But if that's the case, Kabuto won't be able to escape if Obito takes him to the different space again."
Orochimaru frowned and asked suspiciously, "Didn't you say that Ryuuchi Cave always stays neutral? Even if they help Kabuto, it won't make outsiders think too much about it."
"About that, I was a bit shallow in my thinking before."
The Genie shrugged. "The others are fine, they can't change Ryuuchi Cave's attitude. But you're Orochimaru. You've used the snakes of Ryuuchi Cave like that before. If you say there's nothing you can do, wouldn't that seem strange?"
"Although you can explain it with words like 'cost' and 'not worth it', it will still give people the impression that you didn't put in the effort."
A subordinate's betrayal isn't a small matter in the ninja world, especially for someone like Orochimaru, whose ruthless and vengeful personality is well-known. Now that he's lost so much face, but his reaction is so small, it would really make people think it's strange.
Orochimaru thought for a while and realized that was true. Generally, he doesn't care about what others think. Other than eternal life, he does things as he pleases. But other people don't think that way.
Ryuuchi Cave is easy to deal with. It's just acting, a simple thing to say. But if Yakushi Kabuto can't reverse-summon, he can't be as casual with Obito as before. He can't do many things boldly.
The Genie saw Orochimaru's hesitant expression and silence. He rolled his eyes and knew what he was worried about. He couldn't help but smile,
"About that, you don't need to worry too much. If you can't escape after entering the Kamui space, then just don't let him take you in there."
"Tonight, when you were fighting, I had some interesting ideas about how to use 'Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation'…"
The Genie chattered on, telling all the flashes of inspiration he had.
Orochimaru pondered for a moment and then suddenly made hand seals and entered Sage Mode.
Under his control, fine dust on the ground gathered into piles and surged onto the treetops.
The other Konoha ninjas were startled by the movement, but when they saw Orochimaru practicing ninjutsu, they went back to their positions, sleeping if they needed to, on night watch if they needed to.
Kakashi crossed the campfire in the woods, being wary of his surroundings while also paying attention to Orochimaru's movements.
Time passed by, and in the blink of an eye, half the night had gone by. The ninjas on shift had all changed.
On the treetops, Orochimaru opened his eyes. Layers of dust were like extra skin, fitting closely to his body.
He took out a kunai from his ninja pouch and stabbed his arm forcefully. The dust immediately broke open, revealing a bloody wound. But when he pulled back the kunai, the layer of dust returned to its original state.
During this process, Orochimaru didn't make any movements. He was just using his mind to control it.
"Defense, weight, skin-friendliness… and so on. I can try again later."
The Genie smiled. "As long as Kabuto can maintain this layer of separation at all times, Obito won't be able to get his hands on him so easily."
The right eye, Kamui, needs to make contact to activate. This protection might be useless for Gaara in the original timeline, but Kabuto is different. In Sage Mode, even with such a small time gap, he can react.
"It's too difficult to get what you call 'Sage Power Saving Mode'. It needs extremely delicate Senjutsu Chakra control."
Orochimaru shook his head. The dust on his body instantly broke apart and fell back to the ground.
And to defend against Obito, you can't control it on purpose. It needs to be done subconsciously, unconsciously. Turning ninjutsu into instinct sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult.
"Small problem, small problem," the Genie raised his eyebrows. "Ordinary bloodline ninjas can do this. There's no reason Kabuto can't."
Although he also knew that Gaara had that automatic sand armor for many reasons.
His own talent, the special sand quality, the unconscious influence of One-Tail Shukaku, his mother Karura's influence…
But you know, there are always more solutions than problems. He's responsible for raising the problems, and Orochimaru is responsible for solving them. With a clear division of labor, they can definitely do it.
"There's no need to be anxious. Just treat it as an attempt to practice Senjutsu in your spare time. Kabuto won't have any problems for a while."
The Genie shrugged. "There's a small resource in Sunagakure Village. If you go to the Land of Wind in the future, you can stop by and take a look, and use it for reference."
Orochimaru nodded slightly. He's actually very interested in this kind of ninjutsu. If he wasn't busy with other research projects, he would really want to spend a few months studying it.
There are other ways. Putting together the framework of ideas and letting others develop it is also a good choice.
But that involves Ryuuchi Cave Senjutsu. Besides himself, the only people who are qualified are the snakes of Ryuuchi Cave.
"Konoha still has too few talents."
Orochimaru couldn't help but sigh.
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