After speaking, Ichikishimahime suddenly floated to Uchiha Yoichi's back and extended her pink tongue to tap his ear.
"You've picked up... Fine, quickly teach me Immortal Technique."
If Ichikishimahime wasn't about to teach him Immortal Technique, Uchiha Yoichi would certainly give her a good lesson.
Once he successfully mastered Immortal Technique, Uchiha Yoichi planned to practice Wood Release here too; even the Secret Technique Ninjutsu True Thousand Hands from the Sealing Book was included, though achieving the thousand-meter height like the First Generation Hokage might be very difficult.
While Uchiha Yoichi was practicing Immortal Technique and Wood Release at Ryuchi Cave, nothing had gone wrong in Konoha.
He often stayed at home to practice, and since the Security Team had established comprehensive disciplinary rules, they hardly needed him anymore.
The Chunin Exam was still in its second stage, and there had already been quite a few casualties in the Forest of Death, even Konoha's Genin were not exceptions.
This time, not only Genin recommended by Jonin participated, but also Genin who graduated several years ago, hoping to fight for a promotion to Chunin.
However, these people lacked information and believed this was a grand Chunin Exam, overlooking the dangers within, and their skills completely paled in comparison to those of the Genin from Jonin Class.
Before the Daimyo, nobles, and merchants from various regions arrived, the Security Team's pressure wasn't that high, they only needed to keep an eye on the foreign village ninjas participating in the Chunin Exam.
Since rejoining Itachi's life, Mikota's satisfaction was completely fulfilled; after finishing the clan business in the morning, she sometimes watched Itachi practice in the afternoon.
However, there was still a small regret, she always yearned for another child, the birth of Sasuke.
Whenever she thought of Sasuke, Mikota felt a bit regretful; she had never taken any measures yet, so much time had passed, but she still hadn't conceived Mr. Yoichi's child.
If Sasuke were born, Mikota believed her life would be complete.
Sometimes Mikota even thought about consulting a medical ninja, but the strongest medical ninja in the village was by her side, and that petty Uzumaki Minami surely wouldn't tell her.
On the other side, Jiraiya, who had nothing to do, started to act upon something he had been pondering.
"That fellow Orochimaru, not at home, suddenly came to the Forest of Death? Could it be for his three students participating in the Chunin Exam?"
Jiraiya tracked Orochimaru all the way to the vicinity of the Forest of Death, only to find he lost track of him.
So he began searching around, ultimately finding a snake hole beneath a secluded giant tree.
"He should be inside, that Orochimaru guy...."
Just as Jiraiya planned to enter, Orochimaru suddenly walked out, directly asking upon seeing Jiraiya: "Jiraiya, are you tracking me?"
"That's right, you walked so fast, I wanted to ask you something, but couldn't catch up."
Jiraiya said confidently, then moved close to Orochimaru and asked cheekily: "Orochimaru, what were you doing inside? It can't be something shady."
"It's my research base for Ninjutsu, nothing much to see inside, you probably wouldn't be interested, but if it's you, feel free."
Orochimaru turned and walked inside, Jiraiya just found it after secretly following, if he refused entry, Jiraiya might return at night.
There was nothing shady inside, even if there were human experiments, the subjects were all death row prisoners.
Following Orochimaru, Jiraiya looked around as he walked, then upon entering a more expansive room, his pupils suddenly contracted.
There were several corpses inside, one bound to a surgical table, and a boy tidying the room.
This is human experimentation!
Jiraiya instantly recognized it, surprised to realize Orochimaru secretly engaged in such activities.
Thinking of the many lives possibly lost here, Jiraiya clenched his fists, furiously shouted at Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, what are you...."
Halfway through shouting, Jiraiya suddenly saw Orochimaru handing him a booklet, interrupting his righteous questioning.
"Orochimaru, what's this?"
"Have you become unable to read on your own?"
Seeing the disdainful expression on Orochimaru's face, Jiraiya directly took the booklet and opened it.
"Names? Prison roster, what are these..... Kyoto Prison executed criminals, Iwagami Kouta, Shimomura Kota, Muroi Kazusaburo....."
Seeing this, Jiraiya was puzzled, not knowing why Orochimaru showed him this, but then glanced at the corpses in the room, noticing two faces appeared on it, realizing instantly.
"Orochimaru, all these are death row prisoners?"
"That's right, death row prisoners from all over the Land of Fire, they were going to die anyway, better to contribute to my Ninjutsu research.... At a not-so-cheap price, recently there have been fewer death row prisoners."
Orochimaru said casually, causing Jiraiya's righteous anger to suddenly be suppressed.
He felt human experimentation shouldn't exist, but Orochimaru used death row prisoners, purchased even.... Making it hard for Jiraiya to know what to say to criticize.
"....Such things shouldn't be done by Konoha Ninja."
Orochimaru saw Jiraiya took a long time to squeeze out this sentence, and couldn't help but laugh: "Jiraiya, do you know how many lives the Second Generation Hokage's Forbidden Techniques cost? Now, over half of the Forbidden Techniques in the Sealing Book were provided by the Second Generation Hokage....."
"At that time, Konoha's finances likely didn't support buying death row prisoners, I guess the Second Generation Hokage used prisoners from hostile ninja villages; after all, experimenting on ninjas benefits more than ordinary people...."
The Second Generation Hokage was someone Orochimaru admired, naturally, he knew things about him.
These words left Jiraiya speechless, to criticize Orochimaru meant criticizing the Second Generation Hokage first.
But why criticize the Second Generation Hokage?
His achievements, contributions, and status were far superior, if he dared criticize the Second Generation Hokage, the first to teach him a lesson would likely be Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Alright Jiraiya, let's get to the point, what did you come to find me for?"
Orochimaru asked, "You can see, I need to be busy soon, if there's something, just say it."
"Alright."
Thinking of Mount Myoboku's prophecy, Jiraiya suppressed it, planning to mention it to the old man after leaving.
"Orochimaru, how many contractors does Ryuchi Cave have?"
Orochimaru asked with confusion: "Why ask this? Technically just two, me and Uchiha Yoichi."
"Does Ryuchi Cave have a grudge with Mount Myoboku?"
"I don't know, they exist for over millennia as Summoning Sacred Lands, whether there's a grudge, how would I know, and the snakes at Ryuchi Cave have bad tempers, I wouldn't ask such things."
Orochimaru glanced at Jiraiya, continued: "The toads at Mount Myoboku have good temper, why don't you ask them?"
"They... also won't tell me..."
Seeing Jiraiya's appearance, Orochimaru knew he wasn't telling the truth, then said: "Snakes eat toads, if there's any animosity, you can infer from the Three-Way Deadlock."
Snake, toad, and Katsuyu, folk's Three-Way Deadlock, precisely corresponding to the three Holy Lands in the Ninja World.
Snake eats toad, toad eats Katsuyu, while Katsuyu isn't afraid of snake, the Three-Way Deadlock also restrain each other, alongside corresponding beast fighting game.
Thinking of the Three-Way Deadlock, Jiraiya felt even more certain of the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, but he felt that figure wasn't likely to be Orochimaru, so he asked
"Orochimaru, how do you think Uchiha Yoichi's relationship with Ryuchi Cave is?"
"Jiraiya, you have many questions today, and they're all related to Ryuchi Cave...."
Orochimaru squinted, asking eyes narrowed: "Did you notice something? I'm not interested in other contractors' affairs, but if you have intelligence, you can share with me...."
"Ah haha, I'm just asking randomly, how could there be anything."
Jiraiya scratched his head and laughed, intending to leave here.
He greeted Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, I'll leave first, invite you for a drink another day...."