Orochimaru rose from the floor, lips curling into a faint smile. Even after being resurrected and standing face-to-face with Senju Haruto again, his expression remained calm, steady—utterly unafraid.
"Orochimaru."
It was Kakashi, not Haruto, whose entire body was tense. His lone eye followed Orochimaru's every subtle movement, prepared for the possibility that he might unleash some forbidden jutsu, slip away, and throw this new world into chaos.
"Kakashi," Orochimaru replied smoothly, his serpentine gaze shifting to the man known as Konoha's foremost technician. "There's no need to be so nervous. I no longer have any interest in destroying the Leaf."
Orochimaru wasn't ignorant of the current state of the shinobi world. Even before his resurrection, fragments of his chakra had resided within Mitarashi Anko. Through her body, he had seen everything unfold—the chain of events, the upheavals, the shifting of worlds.
He knew they were no longer in the original shinobi world but in an entirely new one. And a new world meant one thing: the unknown.
The unknown, to Orochimaru, promised endless intrigue. Entire realms to dissect, mysteries to unravel. To him, it was exhilarating.
If anything, he felt a flicker of displeasure that Haruto had waited this long to bring him back.
"And why," Kakashi pressed sharply, "should we believe a single word you say?"
To him, Orochimaru was still the same ruthless, cold-blooded traitor—one who had even slain his own teacher, the Third Hokage. In Orochimaru's heart, there had never been anyone he truly cared about.
"Because there's no need to lie anymore."
Orochimaru spread his pale hands in an almost theatrical gesture, then refocused his attention on Haruto.
"From inside Anko's body, I saw everything. To think… Uchiha Madara, once hailed as the strongest of his clan, was resurrected. Black Zetsu. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself.
"But all of them are the past now. And I've never been one to cling to the past. Why waste my time destroying Konoha… when there's an entire new world waiting?"
He gave a soft chuckle, his ambition unmasked. "The world is vast. I want to see it for myself."
Haruto, however, showed not the slightest concern that Orochimaru might betray him. From the first time they had crossed paths in the Land of Grass, he had been capable of killing Orochimaru outright. The only reason he had spared him then was because he had secretly planted Kotoamatsukami, the ultimate genjutsu.
Even during the Chūnin Exams, when Orochimaru had attacked Konoha, summoning the First and Second Hokage through Edo Tensei, every step of his actions had been subtly guided by Haruto's genjutsu.
Through Orochimaru, Haruto had eliminated the Fourth Kazekage Rasa and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi from the stage of history—then turned around and played the role of Konoha's savior, sealing away Hashirama and Tobirama.
In other words, Orochimaru had merely been an actor in Haruto's carefully scripted play.
"Haruto… you truly believe what Orochimaru says?" Kakashi still couldn't suppress his doubts. To him, resurrecting a man like Orochimaru was reckless.
"The unification of the shinobi world is inevitable," Haruto said without hesitation. "If Orochimaru tries anything, I'll erase him instantly. It's no trouble at all."
There was a reason Kotoamatsukami was called the most powerful genjutsu of the Hokage. It could rewrite a person's will without them ever realizing it. Under its influence, Orochimaru simply could not betray Haruto.
Why wouldn't Haruto use someone like that?
Of course, he had no reason to share any of this with Kakashi.
"You're right," Orochimaru said smoothly, inclining his head. "Your power now far surpasses even the Sage of Six Paths… even Kaguya herself. In this world, there is no one who can rival you."
Though his tone carried no fear, Orochimaru understood perfectly. Techniques, cunning, forbidden arts—none of it mattered before absolute power. If Haruto wished to kill him, it would be quick, effortless.
But as long as he didn't provoke Haruto, as long as he didn't cross that invisible line, he would be safe. And with the body-hopping forbidden technique of Living Corpse Reincarnation, his own immortality was all but assured.
He was even curious—how far would Haruto go? What would his endgame look like? Orochimaru wanted to witness it with his own eyes.
"Kakashi," Haruto said, turning away from Orochimaru, "I'll be taking him somewhere. If the Three Kage Summit concludes before I return, use this to contact me."
He pulled a sleek device from his robe and tossed it to Kakashi—a smartphone, something utterly foreign to this world. Calmly, he explained how to use it.
The shinobi world wasn't devoid of technology—radios, monitors, even some crude communication tools existed—but their reach was limited, their sophistication lacking. Phones like this simply didn't exist.
After crossing into this new reality, Haruto had investigated and confirmed the shinobi world's primitive communication systems. So he had brought back two phones from New York—one for Kakashi, one for himself.
Kakashi, with his keen intelligence and Sharingan, needed only a quick demonstration before mastering it.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, examined the strange object with childlike fascination.
"Tell me," he said with a smile that barely concealed his hunger for knowledge, "what exactly happened to you in this new world?" He was eager to hear Haruto's story firsthand. After all, until his resurrection, he had only been able to observe through Anko—her senses, her experiences. Once Haruto had left the shinobi continent, she had known nothing of his journey.
"Of course," Haruto said evenly. "But first, we need to go somewhere."
He raised the Sling Ring, drawing a glowing circle in the air. A shimmering portal blossomed open.
Without hesitation, he stepped through.
Though Orochimaru had never seen such a jutsu before, he followed closely behind. After all, this was no ordinary destination—it was one of the rare sites in the Naruto world where history and legend had intertwined.
The ruins of the Uzumaki clan.
It was here Orochimaru had once released the Shinigami's grip, restoring his arms, and performed Edo Tensei to summon the Hokage of old.
To witness such a place again stirred something deep within him.
He did not hesitate. Whatever Haruto intended, Orochimaru would follow. Compared to Haruto, disciples like Kimimaro, Kabuto, even the Uchiha brothers paled in significance. None could offer him the kind of revelations Haruto could.
As long as Haruto did not cast him aside, Orochimaru would gladly stay by his side—watching, studying, waiting.
"This… doesn't look like ninjutsu," Orochimaru murmured, eyeing the glowing ring of light as he stepped through.
On the other side, the portal slowly shrank, flickered, and vanished.
By the time Orochimaru adjusted, he realized they had traveled far from Konoha. The land around them was scarred, broken—a graveyard of a nation.
The Land of Whirlpools.
Long ago, it had been annihilated, erased from history. Now, only ruins and ashes remained.
But within those ruins lay secrets still intact—among them, the method to undo the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
...
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