Chapter 41: Orochimaru in a Skin Suit Sets Out

After meeting with his family and teasing his niece Ino one last time, Yamanaka Chujiu left Konohagakure and headed toward the North Front battlefield.

Shisui Uchiha had departed a day earlier than Chujiu.

The attacks by the Mist Ninja on the East Front were even more fierce than those of the Cloud Ninja—one could even call them insane—and the losses suffered by the Konoha Ninja were so heavy that the front line was on the verge of collapse.

Konohagakure conducted a massive mobilization of ninja, including ninja from clans led by the Uchiha, students who had graduated early from the Ninja Academy, and ninja whose injuries in the hospital were nearing recovery, ultimately gathering a reinforcement force of six thousand ninja.

The vast army of ninja lined up in front of the Hokage Building; the crowd was surging, the momentum was magnificent, and morale instantly soared to the heavens.

The high-pitched emotions formed a tidal wave, crashing against Yamanaka Chujiu's Mind-Heart Boundary and making him feel restless.

But it was merely restlessness.

Within Yamanaka Chujiu's soul, the Virtual Elixir hung high like a great sun, and the tidal wave of emotions from the Konohagakure oath-taking ceremony crashed over him, unable to shake him in the slightest.

He felt it wasn't so much like a breeze brushing his face, but rather like being outside a concert venue, bothered by the noise.

Yamanaka Chujiu was even able to observe carefully, finding several distinct sources of emotion within this magnificent tidal wave of feelings.

The eternal Genin Might Dai, whose high spirits were extremely stable, as unshakeable as solidified crystal.

The eternal Genin Kosuke Maruboshi, whose emotions were without a single ripple, as firm as the vast earth.

Uchiha clan head Fugaku, whose emotions rose and fell sharply, fluctuating like the heartbeat of a dying man.

Seeing the paper-thin ninja he knew well from the story appearing in the flesh before him, radiating their own unique emotional fluctuations, gave Yamanaka Chujiu a strange sense of witnessing history.

Yamanaka Chujiu couldn't help but think of the most terrifying emotional tidal wave he had ever experienced.

Two years ago in the Land of Rain, during the decisive battle between Iwagakure, Sunagakure, Konohagakure, and Amegakure, over twenty thousand ninja were crowded into an area of less than two thousand meters, slaughtering each other madly.

The emotional tidal wave that erupted on the battlefield at that time was filled with the stench of slaughter, death, and madness; Yamanaka Chujiu, caught in the middle of it, suffered immensely.

At the height of the decisive battle, the madness, unwillingness, and despair at the moment of death were like a tsunami, crashing wave after wave into his Mind Severing Realm, and under this terrifying impact, Yamanaka Chujiu nearly fainted several times.

He didn't even know if it was pure luck that allowed him to leave the battlefield alive.

"Orochimaru-sensei, your speed is too fast, I can't keep up."

Mitarashi Anko's plea startled Yamanaka Chujiu out of his wandering thoughts.

He turned his head to look at his junior sister, imitating Orochimaru's voice and tone: "Anko, I have warned you, one cannot speak cowardly words when going to the battlefield."

Anko was startled by his attitude and hurriedly apologized: "I'm sorry, Orochimaru-sensei."

Yamanaka Chujiu did not comfort Anko, but instead said to everyone: "Increase speed!"

Four Anbu ninja, four Root ninja, two Intelligence Department ninja, and two Sealing Squad ninja, plus Mitarashi Anko who had just been promoted to Chunin, made up the escort lineup for Orochimaru this time.

The Orochimaru that Yamanaka Chujiu was disguised as was quite convincing; even Mitarashi Anko hadn't noticed, which showed there were no flaws in the appearance.

Orochimaru trusted Yamanaka Chujiu's command ability, but the Third Hokage would not, and the Konoha Ninja struggling on the North Front would trust it even less.

He simply didn't explain, instead letting Yamanaka Chujiu step into his shoes and use his identity to serve as commander on the front line.

That's right, Yamanaka Chujiu was also bold enough to agree with great interest.

The master and apprentice didn't even think about reporting it to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The disguise on Yamanaka Chujiu's body was not Genjutsu, but a great snake skin refined by Orochimaru himself, likely one of the prerequisite technologies for 【Living Corpse Reincarnation】.

After Yamanaka Chujiu endured the disgust and put it on, the snake skin wriggled and adhered perfectly to his skin, automatically changing into Orochimaru's appearance, even compensating for the height difference at the heels.

Moreover, Chujiu felt no discomfort at all, feeling as if he were just wearing a layer of thermal underwear.

Even more miraculously, the great snake skin could emit Orochimaru's chakra and aura, completely masking Yamanaka Chujiu's chakra fluctuations.

Even a Hyuga ninja wouldn't be able to see through the disguise, at most remarking that Lord Orochimaru had strong chakra control, making him look like an ordinary Jonin.

Yamanaka Chujiu replaced Orochimaru on the North Front, while Orochimaru himself stayed in Konohagakure.

On one hand, several experiments were at a critical juncture, and he did not want to abandon his previous efforts.

On the other hand, he needed to dispose of unspeakable experimental materials to prevent sudden whistleblowing by Root.

Orochimaru had promised Yamanaka Chujiu's request, so naturally, he had to seriously compete for the position of Fifth Hokage, leaving no flaws for Shimura Danzo to attack.

It just so happened that Shimura Danzo was appointed as the East Front commander and had left Konohagakure with a large number of Root ninja, allowing Orochimaru to move freely within the village.

He only needed ten days to clear away all his traces, including the Wood Style Bloodline Limit fusion experiment conducted in cooperation with Root.

And this experiment was his primary goal.

Yamanaka Chujiu told Orochimaru that after sixty failed live-body experiments, Root had not stopped the experiments.

Because the experiment hadn't been a complete failure; one of the sixty test subjects had survived and awakened the Wood Style Bloodline Limit.

Orochimaru believed Chujiu as soon as he heard it and planned this body-double scheme to retrieve the precious Wood Style Bloodline Limit awakened test subject.

He didn't even intend to get it directly, but rather to tear down Root's secret laboratory and expose all the darkness to the sunlight.

Once Root's evil deeds were exposed, Sarutobi Hiruzen, not wanting to ruin his reputation, would have no choice but to sever ties between Root and the Anbu, dumping the blame on Shimura Danzo.

From then on, if Danzo reported Orochimaru for conducting human experiments again, Sarutobi Hiruzen would first suspect him of framing others.

The Wood Style Bloodline Limit test subject would not escape Orochimaru's grasp.

Once the Third Hokage obtained the Wood Style test subject, whether to ensure the subject's health or to prove his own impartiality, he would have to hand him over to Orochimaru for treatment.

The entire plan calculated human nature to the bone; although it took a few turns to get the Wood Style test subject, it simultaneously cleared Orochimaru's name and established a psychological defense line against being framed.

This was not Orochimaru's mode of thinking, but Yamanaka Chujiu's suggestion.

From then on, the Third Hokage would involuntarily lock his suspicious gaze onto Shimura Danzo.

He would experience the taste of being framed and unable to defend himself.

Thinking of Shimura Danzo being about to have bad luck, Yamanaka Chujiu couldn't help but want to laugh; fortunately, the cover of the snake skin prevented Orochimaru's persona from collapsing.

After two days of sprinting, Yamanaka Chujiu's group arrived at the North Front battlefield, the central camp of the Konoha front line.

This place was three hundred kilometers away from the border of the Tang Country.