In Sunagakure, a young man stood in front of an elderly woman, pressing her with a question.
"Have you made your decision, Lady Chiyo?"
It was Yang Tao. He had brought his group to the secluded home of Chiyo and Ebizō in Sunagakure.
Chiyo looked troubled as she spoke. "I've thought it through. They're already gone. Let them rest in peace."
Yang Tao still wore a smile as he looked at her. "I came here with sincerity. If you agree, I'll begin preparations to bring your son and daughter-in-law back to life immediately."
Chiyo shot him a glare and pointed at the unconscious Ebizō. "You call this sincerity?"
Yang Tao put on an innocent face. "You can't blame me for that. He attacked us the moment he saw us. We were just defending ourselves! Besides, I even healed him afterward."
The moment they stepped into Chiyo's home, Ebizō had attacked without hesitation. However, he ended up seriously injured after Yang Tao's Thorn attribute reflected the damage. Orochimaru had then knocked him out with a swift series of attacks.
And Chiyo?
The broken puppet fragments scattered around the room spoke for themselves. No puppet could withstand the nano blade's attacks.
That was the only reason they were able to have a "civil conversation" now.
Chiyo shook her head. "No, just leave." Her expression was filled with hesitation.
But then, Yang Tao's voice whispered like a devil in her ear. "What if I include your grandson?"
Chiyo's eyes shot up. "What happened to Sasori? Is he dead too?"
Yang Tao smirked like a true villain. "Not exactly dead, but you can't really call it living either. So, what do you say, Granny Chiyo? If you give me the Reanimation Jutsu, I won't just tell you about Sasori—I'll bring him to you in perfect condition."
Chiyo glared at him with fury. "You win. You'd better keep your word!" She turned back into the house, grabbed the Reanimation Jutsu scroll, and tossed it to Yang Tao.
Yang Tao took the scroll and was surprised that it wasn't poisoned. He had expected Chiyo to resist in some way. He had even prepared an antidote, but she had given in so easily.
He handed the scroll over to Orochimaru to study.
At that moment, Chiyo spoke up. "You have the scroll now. Tell me about Sasori."
"Alright, since we've made a deal, I'll keep my word." Yang Tao had no intention of deceiving such a pitiful old woman.
"Sasori has turned himself into a human puppet. Only his core remains."
Hearing this, Chiyo collapsed to the ground, as if all strength had left her. "So, in the end, Sasori still chose this path… It's my fault for not protecting him."
"And the Third Kazekage was also killed by Sasori and turned into a human puppet."
By now, Chiyo was completely numb. She had already suspected it—when both the Third and Sasori disappeared together, either they had perished together, or Sasori had killed the Third and defected.
"Where is Sasori now?" Chiyo asked in a low voice.
"He joined a pyramid scheme."
Chiyo looked confused. "Pyramid scheme? What's that?"
Yang Tao chuckled. "Just kidding. But I'm not entirely wrong—it's a group of people working toward a fake goal."
"The organization is called Akatsuki. Right now, it's the most powerful group in the world. Most of its members are S-rank rogue ninja from various villages. And, of course, that includes your dear grandson."
Just then, Orochimaru walked over. "Leader, I've mastered the Ninjutsu. It's a powerful healing technique—it uses life energy to heal any injury, with no theoretical limit."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "But if you want to bring someone back to life, you don't just need a massive amount of life energy and chakra. You also have to sacrifice your own soul—one life for another."
As expected of Orochimaru. He had fully grasped the technique in such a short time. The technique itself wasn't complicated—the hard part was finding someone willing to make that kind of sacrifice.
Hearing that Orochimaru had mastered the Reincarnation Jutsu, Yang Tao's excitement grew.
"Orochimaru, let's test it out! Bring Uzumaki Kushina back first!"
Finally, he was halfway to fulfilling his promise to Naruto.
Orochimaru pulled out the materials he had prepared before coming to Sunagakure.
Kushina's remains—Yang Tao had secretly taken Orochimaru to Konoha to retrieve them.
A White Zetsu—found through the minimap while snooping around Konoha. It was caught peeping on someone using the toilet.
White Zetsu wasn't strong, but its ability to stay hidden was exceptional. However, with the minimap, capturing the perverted White Zetsu was an easy task for Orochimaru.
Before long, Orochimaru had completed the Edo Tensei summoning circle and placed White Zetsu inside it.
"Edo Tensei!" Orochimaru pressed his palm onto the formation. The ground trembled as a mass of clay wrapped around White Zetsu. Moments later, a young woman emerged from the summoning, none other than Uzumaki Naruto's mother—Uzumaki Kushina.
Kushina slowly opened her eyes, staring at Orochimaru in surprise. "Orochimaru-sama? Didn't I die? What's going on?"
Orochimaru had defected after the Nine-Tails attack. Back then, he had even competed with Minato for the Hokage position. But Minato had only been Hokage for a year before meeting his end, leading to the Third Hokage taking power again and uncovering Orochimaru's forbidden experiments.
So, Kushina had no idea that Orochimaru had already defected.
Yang Tao spoke up. "Kushina, Naruto asked me to bring you back to life."
Kushina was stunned. "Naruto? My child? Where is he?"
Yang Tao explained, "Naruto is still in Konohagakure, preparing for the Chunin Exams!"
Hearing this, Kushina was shocked. "Chunin Exams? Naruto has grown that much already?"
"Let's not waste time. Orochimaru, get ready!"
Orochimaru nodded and placed his hand on Kushina, his palms glowing with blue light.
A moment later, he stopped.
"What's wrong? Did something go wrong?" Yang Tao quickly asked when he saw Orochimaru stop his jutsu.
Looking slightly exhausted, Orochimaru replied, "Group leader, the calculations were off. Kushina is from the Uzumaki clan, so she needs a huge amount of life force. On top of that, I also need to use life force to create a new body for her. Even if I used all of my life force, it wouldn't be enough to restore even a tenth of her!"
Yang Tao was stunned. He hadn't expected to run into a life force shortage.
But he had come prepared. He pulled out several enchanted golden apples and bottles of milk, placing them beside Orochimaru. Then, he handed him a few Totems of Undying.
Orochimaru's pupils shrank when he saw the Totems of Undying. Such rare treasures—and there were so many of them. It seemed like these things were nothing more than consumables to Yang Tao.
"These golden apples can continuously restore a large amount of life force, and this milk can remove all negative effects. Eat a golden apple first and see how it works," Yang Tao explained.
Orochimaru picked up a golden apple and took a bite. Almost instantly, the exhaustion on his face disappeared, replaced by shock.
Feeling the life force surging through his body, he no longer hesitated. He immediately used his Edo Tensei technique to transfer life force into Kushina.
Yang Tao stood by with splash potions of instant healing, ready to throw them at any moment if something went wrong.
Ten minutes passed. The effects of the second enchanted golden apple were about to wear off.
Kushina now looked like a normal human again. She no longer had the cracked, clay-like appearance of an Edo Tensei summon.
"It's done!" Orochimaru could feel that Kushina's body had started generating its own life force. Completely exhausted, he collapsed.
With a loud *bang*, the Totem of Undying on Orochimaru was activated.
That meant he had technically died just now.
But with his resurrection, Orochimaru was now fully recovered.
"Group leader, it looks like we succeeded," Orochimaru said, his face full of excitement. As someone who had spent his life researching immortality, he had finally broken the boundary between life and death. How could he not be thrilled?
"Am I… alive again?" At that moment, Kushina opened her eyes and regained consciousness.
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