Chapter 132: The End of the Ninja World War and News of Orochimaru

The young female ninja in the Hokage Office, besides her status as Pakura's Shadow Guard and the Hokage's secretary, had an even more primary identity: she was a Cauldron for Uchiha Feiyu.

Therefore, even when Uchiha Feiyu was acting recklessly in the Kazekage Office, he never needed to have any worries, and could even receive the most meticulous service.

The midday sun gradually set, and the dim yellow light shone into the Kazekage Office; inside the office, Pakura, draped in a torn Kazekage robe with a face full of weariness, was currently curled up in Uchiha Feiyu's arms like a small cat.

Uchiha Feiyu, meanwhile, had his hands tucked into Pakura's embrace, sitting on the seat exclusive to the Kazekage, listening to her report with a trembling voice.

"Tsk... So that means, the so-called Ninja World War has finally come to a complete end?"

"Yes, Konoha and the Rock Ninja ultimately couldn't keep going, so they signed a Peace Agreement."

"It is said that now, the number of remaining ninjas in Konoha is barely over 2,000, not even comparable to some small Ninja Villages..."

"If it weren't for the deterrence of the Nine-Tails and the Yellow Flash, Konoha would probably really fall out of the ranks of the Great Ninja Villages."

"It sounds truly tragic; I didn't expect the other few Ninja Villages to be able to push Konoha to this extent."

However, Uchiha Feiyu was very clear that Namikaze Minato had likely mastered the Flying Thunder God Guiding Thunder, which was why he dared to directly bring the Nine-Tails to bombard the opponent; if they really fought to the death, the ones to suffer would definitely be the Rock Ninja.

It must be said that although the Grass Ninja Village was called a fence-sitter, it was able to grow in the cracks between the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and not only was it not destroyed by them, it even gradually developed and grew stronger.

In the standoff between the Rock Ninja and Konoha, although their strong individuals didn't suffer much loss, the lower-level ninjas were truly ravaged quite badly by Namikaze Minato, especially toward the end when even the Nine-Tails jinchuriki took action, directly bombing the Rock Ninja camp and causing massive casualties.

"Also... the Grass Ninja Village should have fattened up quite a bit in this war; shouldn't we also harvest the Grass Ninja Village?"

For the current Uchiha Feiyu, his bloodline and physical strength had already reached a limit that ordinary ninjas could no longer enhance, but pure chakra energy and Soul energy still held no small amount of help for him.

The fact that the Grass Ninja Village could even surpass the Rain Ninja Village, which had produced a Demigod of the Ninja World, and the Waterfall Village, which had once obtained a tailed beast jinchuriki, during these years of development, already showed that those high-level officials had a knack for the way of survival.

Uchiha Feiyu chuckled lightly; regarding this matter, as the mastermind behind the Grass Ninja Village himself, he undoubtedly knew the details even better.

Otherwise, once a gap appeared in the top-tier ninjas, the entire Ninja Village would very likely fall into a crisis.

"Speaking of which, the Black Qi on the Book of Demonic Inheritance Altar has already accumulated four or five thousand people over these two years; subtracting the ninjas I killed in Sunagakure, Orochimaru and the Grass Ninja have sacrificed at least 3,000 ninjas..."

"It's been two years, and the Hunyuan Treasure Box has likely harvested quite a lot; it seems I should find some time to go and retrieve the bait I cast out."

After this Ninja World War, who knows how many ninjas were captured by the Grass Ninja Village and refined into Pills; I believe the strength of this Ninja Village is definitely much stronger now.

Looking purely at ordinary lower-level ninjas, the Rock Ninja aren't much stronger than Konoha; out of an army of tens of thousands of ninjas, it would be good if seven or eight thousand remained now.

As for the remaining Cloud Ninja, Uchiha Feiyu killed the Third Raikage and his successor; although their base strength didn't suffer much loss, the high-level only has the Eight-Tails jinchuriki as a top-tier combat power and the Two-Tails that hasn't fully grown yet, so before a new Shadow-level combat power appears, they will inevitably act with extreme caution.

Uchiha Feiyu originally thought that with his help, the Grass Ninja Village would definitely slaughter wantonly and refine Pills, but he didn't expect these guys to actually keep a low profile, joining the Ninja World War as mercenaries, gaining many benefits while shifting most of the blame onto the Rock Ninja.

When all is said and done, these great medicines cannot escape Uchiha Feiyu's palm, so there is no need to be so impatient right now.

It was fortunate that Onoki ultimately swallowed this insult and didn't truly start a tailed beast war, otherwise the two great Ninja Villages might have ended up destroying each other.

Human greed is not so easily satisfied; even if the Ninja World returns to peace in the future, these Grass Ninja will definitely continue to engage in this work of plundering ninjas in the dark, and as long as this greed does not stop, death will naturally follow like a shadow.

After thinking for a while, Uchiha Feiyu gave up the idea of harvesting the Grass Ninja Village right now; anyway, having consumed the Pills from the Hunyuan Treasure Box, as long as these Grass Ninja die, the power within their bodies will automatically dissipate and enter the Hunyuan Treasure Box.

Besides... to be honest, this Ninja World War truly ravaged all the ninjas quite badly; Konoha only has 2,000-plus old, weak, sick, and disabled left, and the other Ninja Villages are no better off.

"This isn't just the work of the Rock Ninja; it is said that the Rock Ninja spent a great price to bribe the Grass Ninja Village, causing major damage to Konoha."

Furthermore, because of the Ninja World War, there were so many volunteers for Orochimaru's experiments that they were lining up; the Hunyuan Treasure Box over there should have also collected quite a bit of chakra and Soul energy.

Not to mention Sunagakure, Uchiha Feiyu's current lair; if it weren't for Uchiha Feiyu usurping the nest, this Ninja Village would likely be in a state where only Pakura remained as a top-tier power, with its base ninjas continuously being weakened.

Finally, the Mist Ninja Village, which seemingly didn't participate in the Ninja World War—however, because Uchiha Feiyu killed Madara Uchiha, it led to the rampage of the Three-Tails jinchuriki who was being controlled within the village, and at the same time, the massive scandal of the Third Mizukage being manipulated by Genjutsu was exposed.

According to the intelligence received, the entire Mist Ninja Village has not yet recovered from its chaotic state.

With all the major Ninja Villages not wanting to fight, the Ninja World naturally gradually returned to peace.

After thinking carefully, Uchiha Feiyu also intended to let the Ninja World recover some of its vitality; otherwise, if he kept harvesting like this, it would be counterproductive, and even the roots of the leeks would be dug up.

At that point, the vitality of the Ninja World would likely recover extremely slowly, and in the long run, the harvest would instead become smaller.

"That's fine; during this period of peace in the Ninja World, I should also make more arrangements, create some chess pieces, and it would be best if I could control all the Great Ninja Villages of the Ninja World!"

Once his plan succeeds, the future wars of the Ninja World can be manipulated in his own hands, and when the Ninja World recovers its vitality and those large and small Ninja Villages are fattened up again, he can wave his sickle and harvest them once more.

"Teacher Orochimaru sent me information a while ago that the Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu has already been developed quite well..."

"But with my teacher's shrewdness and temperament, how could he possibly tell me about such a matter concerning his own life so easily?"

"If my guess is correct, it is likely because of that Second Hokage..."

While the Second Hokage and Orochimaru might cooperate briefly because of the Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu, they could never truly regard each other as their own!

Therefore, once the Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu is completed and the Second Hokage is resurrected, it will inevitably be the moment the two turn against each other.

In this regard, Uchiha Feiyu really didn't think highly of his cheap teacher; even though he obtained quite a bit of data provided by him, the current Orochimaru is a bit stronger than in the original work, but facing that true master of Forbidden Techniques, Senju Tobirama, he is likely still not quite enough.

Moreover, although there are few ninjas in the entire Ninja World who can defeat Orochimaru, there are still some, but the person who can definitely kill Orochimaru—not counting himself, a cheater, or some *deus ex machina* like the Sage of Six Paths—is most likely the Second Hokage.

Just like the saying that only magic can defeat magic, only Forbidden Techniques can best deal with Forbidden Techniques, and in the entire Ninja World, there is probably only one person whose talent in this area is stronger than Orochimaru: the Second Hokage.

Not to mention that this Second Hokage and Orochimaru have been learning from each other for such a long time, and both must have prepared quite a few contingency plans; however, judging from how Orochimaru was handled by the Reanimated Second Hokage back then, the Second Hokage's skill is likely a bit higher than Orochimaru's.

"Since this cheap teacher has already left information, it would be a bit cold to ignore his good intentions if I don't go and stir things up."

"It just so happens I can observe the resurrection of this Second Hokage... Hehe, the latest version of the Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu, I am actually quite interested."

Land of Fields, Orochimaru's base.

At this moment, in a secret laboratory in the base, a cold-looking ninja with a head of white hair sat in the middle of a room covered in Sealing Formula, seemingly closing his eyes to rest.

A faint, indistinct Black Qi rose from his body, only to be suppressed back down by the endless Sealing Formula; a moment later, the ninja opened his eyes and raised his hand to look at his palm, where the cracks belonging to the Reanimation were now barely visible.

"Lord Second Hokage, you look like you are in better and better spirits!"

A voice with a hint of a chuckle rang out in the room, and a small white snake crawled out from a corner of the room, emitting Orochimaru's voice.

"Why don't you come out and see me in your true form? Are you afraid, Orochimaru?"

The Second Hokage slowly stood up and spoke in a cold voice.

"I just don't want to have a pointless conflict with you... Didn't we cooperate quite well when conducting research on the Living Corpse Reincarnation?"

"Quite well? Are you referring to secretly tampering with the original research data, or are you referring to wanting to control my Reanimated body through the Cursed Seal?"

"Hehehe... Lord Second Hokage, don't just talk about me! Could it be that you didn't deliberately guide me into the wrong research direction, nor did you inquire about the timing of my Soul transformation through the research progress?"

Orochimaru's voice remained cold and stern, yet one could still detect a hint of gnashing teeth. "I set a trap for you, but didn't you set one for me? We're both thousand-year-old foxes, why are you playing these games with me?"

Come to think of it, if it weren't for the fact that both men were geniuses in research and both had profound studies into the Soul itself, they might truly have been led into a pit by the other.

Even though it was called collaborative research, neither let their guard down against the other in the slightest; fortunately, their mutual wariness was high, and facts proved that both of their precautions were correct.

Of course, although they laid traps for each other, they held nothing back in their exchange of research, and only traps laid during such unreserved exchanges could truly have a chance of ensnaring the other.

Orochimaru knew very well that although it appeared they were evenly matched in their research, parrying each other's moves, he was actually at a disadvantage because Living Corpse Reincarnation was something he had started researching himself, and he had even obtained all the data on the Lich Reincarnation Ritual, whereas the data he gave the Second Hokage was merely an outline without any detailed filling.

Under these circumstances, the fact that the Second Hokage could keep up with his research already demonstrated that his research ability was superior to his own.

Orochimaru was astonished by Senju Tobirama's talent, little knowing that Senju Tobirama was also secretly surprised; despite the fact that the Forbidden Techniques Senju Tobirama researched filled the entire Scroll of Seals, in reality, there were still some even darker Forbidden Techniques that this Second Hokage had not left in the Scroll of Seals.

Just like the counter-curse to break the Reanimation, the Second Hokage treated it as a trump card, never showing it to others easily, and not even leaving it in the Scroll of Seals, all to guard against Konoha rogue ninjas like Orochimaru.

Naturally, research in this area was basically related to the Soul; after all, as a dead man, what he had to guard against was certainly Soul Ninja Technique.

The Second Hokage was able to keep up with Orochimaru's research pace partly because of his original foundation in Soul Ninja Technique research, and partly because he was already a dead man, making him more professionally suited to researching the Lich Reincarnation Ritual than Orochimaru, a living person.

To Orochimaru's words, the Second Hokage gave no answer, merely letting out a cold snort:

"There is no need to say any more of such meaningless words! Orochimaru, have you come to have a showdown with me today?"

"It should be Lord Second Hokage, you are the one who couldn't wait, aren't you?"

"I truly thought you wanted to be resurrected by changing bodies, until recently I discovered... you want to use the Reanimation body to directly transform into another form, don't you!"

Originally, Orochimaru had not thought of this point at all, until recently when he discovered that the traces of Reanimation on Senju Tobirama's body were gradually disappearing, and at the same time, his chakra, which should have been impossible to increase after Reanimation, was constantly rising, which made him suddenly realize the truth.

The other party did not need any vessel at all; he was transforming his own life form!

Regardless of whether this method counted as resurrection, after transforming his life form, Senju Tobirama would inevitably be able to shed the various flaws of the Reanimation Jutsu and regain the potential to become stronger, as well as the sensory abilities of a living person.

By then, what difference would Senju Tobirama be to Orochimaru compared to being resurrected? Perhaps after transforming his life form, he would become even more troublesome.

(End of chapter)