Comparison of the two Hokage: Both ninja worlds are devastated.

Chapter 38 The Three Ninja's Puzzle Game: The Cruel Truth

Half a minute later, Orochimaru, who had shed his skin after expending a huge amount of chakra, dug Jiraiya, who was spitting out mouthfuls of blood, out of the ground.

The two now understood that Tsunade's rage wasn't due to those mere few dark insects.

But there are other, much more serious issues.

"Has something happened to the Fourth Hokage?"

Orochimaru's expression turned solemn.

Over the years, not only Tsunade and Jiraiya's feelings for him have also become extraordinary.

Although he addressed him as a fellow Daoist.

But in his heart, the Fourth Hokage was already at the level of a god or a pioneer.

His magnanimity, ingenious thoughts, keen insight, and understanding of all things in the world often brought him sudden enlightenment and extraordinary surprise.

As early as the third generation,

The two of them, through their frequent exchanges and discussions, had already accelerated the original research progress by a great deal.

After successfully becoming Hokage,

With the unwavering support of those in power, the achievements and results made in the past five years are several times greater and stronger than all the previous achievements combined.

In particular, after transferring many unimportant or non-core research projects to others,

I focused solely on tackling key projects, and the depth of my research was nowhere near what it used to be.

Compared to the old days of sneaking around and fighting alone, this is far superior.

If something really happens to Uehara Siming, he will definitely be one of the most anxious and worried people.

Orochimaru was worried, and Jiraiya, as Uehara Shimei's teacher, was certainly not indifferent either.

However, he did not believe that a prodigy who could cultivate immortal arts to a perfect state at the age of twelve would be easily defeated.

He said, somewhat incredulously:

"No way? What could possibly happen to a ninja of his caliber?"

Tsunade's eyes dimmed.

"He was using methods that pushed his limits to cultivate physical skills, completely breaking through those limits to the point that all the muscles in his body were torn apart and bleeding profusely."

I asked Mikoto privately, and she said it's once a week, and has been going on for three whole years, never stopping since her body reached full development.

"Wouldn't that consume life force?"

Jiraiya was startled, and Orochimaru's pupils and expression also changed.

Many people know the cultivation methods for breaking through limits.

It's no secret that damaged and then regenerated body tissues are strengthened to some extent.

But very few dare to try.

The reason is simple: people who do this usually don't live long.

Even in the chaotic Warring States period, few people would make such a choice.

After the ninja village era began, Danzo was the only one who trained his subordinates in this way.

"Does Uehara really need to do this? His mastery of ninjutsu, genjutsu, sage techniques, and even forbidden techniques, sealing techniques, and cursed seal techniques is extraordinary. Why is he so obsessed with taijutsu?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? How can you be a teacher? You didn't even notice something this important. If I hadn't suddenly barged in, I don't know how long we would have been kept in the dark."

"Tsunade, stop blaming Jiraiya. If Uehara-kun wanted to hide something, no one else would be able to find out."

The most important thing now is to find out exactly what happened and help him resolve the problem.

Tsunade turned her head, her gaze suddenly sharpening as she stared intently at Orochimaru.

"Do you know anything?"

"Tell me everything you know. Even if I die, I want to die knowing why."

Orochimaru hesitated for a moment before revealing his guess.

"Shangyuan Jun is very concerned about the nature of chakra; perhaps he has discovered something."

Of the research assignments issued in the past five years, 70% are related to the analysis of the nature of chakra, 20% are about taijutsu, and the remaining 10% are other things.

Furthermore, all experiments concerning the analysis of the nature of chakra, regardless of whether they yielded results, were classified as S-class top secret.

Not to mention the results, even the fact that someone is researching chakra is strictly forbidden from being leaked to the outside world.

This is clearly unusual.

As Orochimaru spoke, Jiraiya suddenly perked up.

"When you say that, I suddenly remember something."

For a while, Uehara seemed very depressed, especially when talking about peace-related topics. He would become like a wilted eggplant, either falling silent or abruptly changing the subject.

On one occasion, he even got drunk, which was quite unusual for him.

You all know him. Although he likes to drink, he has extraordinary self-control and rarely gets drunk.

When I went to comfort him, he asked me a strange question.

"what?"

"what?"

He asked me, "Do you know what chives are?"

After saying that, he burst into laughter, and then refused to say another word no matter how much I pressed him for an answer.

I don't know why, but this incident left a very deep impression on me, and I think about it from time to time.

As Jiraiya finished speaking...

Orochimaru suddenly frowned and muttered to himself.

"Chakra, leeks, taijutsu; chakra, leeks, taijutsu; chakra...leeks...taijutsu?"

He felt as if something had flashed through his mind just now, but upon closer examination, he couldn't quite grasp its essence.

With so much crucial information missing, trying to deduce the whole picture from such fragmented pieces is like the blind men and the elephant—extremely difficult.

"If there's a problem with chakra, then taijutsu is practically the only way to deal with it, which makes sense."

But what about the chives? Are they cultivated with chakra to grow faster, more vigorously, and more delicious?

Jiraiya, too, put his not-so-bright brain to work and began racking his brains.

Upon hearing this, Tsunade couldn't help but roll her eyes. How could it be that simple?

However, upon hearing this, Orochimaru's pupils contracted sharply in an instant.

Then, his entire body began to tremble violently, to the point that he lost control and collapsed to the ground.

His startled state immediately caught the attention of the other two.

"what happened?"

"Orochimaru, what are you thinking about?"

"Jiraiya is right. Using chakra to cultivate leeks does indeed make them grow faster, more vigorously, and more delicious."

But the "leeks" here don't refer to actual leeks; rather, they represent ninjas. The lineage of ninjas continues from generation to generation, just like leeks—endless and inexhaustible.

This is why the fourth generation has painstakingly cultivated his physical techniques, even at the cost of sacrificing his life force; he intends to take action against the being who reaps the benefits.

"No...it can't be right?"

Jiraiya's face turned pale.

Even someone as oblivious as him was taken aback by Orochimaru's speculation.

Tsunade was also skeptical.

Treating ninjas like韭菜 (leeks, a metaphor for exploiting or exploiting them), harvesting them generation after generation, is too crazy, too cruel, too horrifying, and too unbelievable.

However, Orochimaru's single sentence shattered their last struggle.

Do you know about... Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation)?

Chapter 39 One stone stirs up a thousand waves, the reactions of the crowd

Do you know about... Edo Tensei (Impure World Reincarnation)?

Orochimaru's words were like a bolt of lightning exploding in the dark and silent night sky.

Instantly, the pupils of the other two people contracted sharply.

The reaction was almost exactly the same as Orochimaru's before.

His whole body was trembling violently, and large beads of sweat kept seeping from his forehead.

As one of the legendary Sannin and a disciple of the Hokage, Tsunade was also a princess of the Senju clan, so they were certainly aware of the existence of the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

This technique can not only summon the spirits of the dead from the underworld to the mortal realm, resurrecting them in physical form,

Moreover, it possesses an almost immortal body and unlimited chakra, making it one of the most evil S-rank forbidden techniques.

In the past, neither of them had felt anything was wrong.

After all, chakra has been passed down for thousands of years, giving birth to countless geniuses and outstanding figures. Heroes throughout the ages have continuously enriched and expanded this system.

It can be said that there are all sorts of strange and bizarre ninjutsu, forbidden techniques, sealing spells, and incantations.

However, at this moment, with Orochimaru's words,

Tsunade and Jiraiya felt a deep chill rising from the depths of their hearts, as if it were about to completely engulf them.

What could be more convincing than the Impure World Reincarnation that ninjas are essentially just leeks being cultivated in a nursery?

The evidence is irrefutable; there is no room for escaping it.

Not only the Three Ninjas,

As Orochimaru presented his speculations and evidence to everyone,