Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 123 The Flying Thunder God Technique Acquired

Upon learning of Uchiha Tou's request, Orochimaru's face showed a hint of distress for the first time:

"That Second Hokage? Touya, it's not that I'm reluctant, well, I am a little reluctant. Not only that, if you want him to help you, you have to ask the Second Hokage for his own consent."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Touyu paused for a moment, then looked up at Orochimaru:

"Orochimaru-sensei, don't tell me you didn't put the Second Hokage in a coffin, but released him instead!"

Orochimaru gave an awkward smile and said:

"There was a slight mishap... I never expected that the former Second Hokage would have a countermeasure against the Impure World Reincarnation technique."

"While still alive, he was already thinking about being exhumed and reborn after death. This Second Hokage... he really is far-sighted."

"To be honest, when the Second Hokage broke free from the Impure World Reincarnation, I thought I was going to have a big fight with him, but in the end we got along peacefully."

Uchiha Touyu's lips twitched slightly. The Second Hokage of Konoha was practically a breath of fresh air in the village.

It's not that he was a particularly virtuous, great, upright, or selfless person, but rather that this Second Hokage was a true ruthless and cunning figure who treated the Will of Fire and similar things merely as a facade.

In Konoha, a village that pursues ideals, dreams, and world peace, the Second Hokage pursues naked self-interest and reality.

Given the Second Hokage's personality, it wasn't surprising that he could get along with Orochimaru. To put it bluntly, if Orochimaru had been born a decade or more earlier, the position of Third Hokage would definitely not have been held by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

In essence, Orochimaru is like a failed Second Hokage. Their personalities are not exactly the same, but they are at least 80-90% similar.

The difference is that the Second Hokage had an invincible and kind-hearted older brother who later inherited the position of Hokage, while Orochimaru only had a hypocritical, stubborn, and indecisive Hokage teacher, who ultimately tricked him into defecting from Konoha.

However, even so, there was one thing that puzzled Uchiha Touyu:

"Given the Second Hokage's personality, it's normal that he gets along with you, but you're a rogue ninja from Konoha. Can he really forgive that?"

"And after the Second Hokage recovered, didn't he return to Konoha?"

"Hehe, well..."

Orochimaru smiled slightly and said:

"The Second Hokage stayed to help me instead of returning to Konoha because he also wanted to be resurrected!"

"And the Corpse Reincarnation technique, which incorporates the lich reincarnation ritual, is the best option for his resurrection!"

Hearing this, Uchiha Touya was speechless. He never expected that the current Second Hokage would also be eyeing this soul reincarnation ninjutsu, just like Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's original Reanimation Jutsu was riddled with flaws and could only be performed by living people, because the souls of the living and the dead are different, with distinctions between living and dead souls.

However, there's no need to worry about that with lich reincarnation. Reincarnated liches are inherently undead creatures, so they can use both living and dead souls.

Furthermore, in this world, the barrier between life and death is extremely easy to break. Once you have a living body, it is also easy to transform a dead soul into a living soul, so resurrection is definitely not a pipe dream.

It was for this reason that the Second Hokage began researching soul ninjutsu with Orochimaru. He was currently in the form of an impure world resurrected, so even if he returned to Konoha, he could not appear openly. However, if he were reborn as a living person, he could naturally take over Konoha again.

"Furthermore, the Second Hokage promised me that once he becomes Hokage, I can rejoin Konoha without any restrictions, and all kinds of funding and research results will be available to me."

These conditions seem to be no different from what Orochimaru would have gotten if he had stayed in Konoha. After all, given Orochimaru's situation at the time, even if he couldn't become Hokage, he could have become a Danzo.

The only difference was that Orochimaru's superior changed from the Third Hokage to the Second Hokage.

It can only be said that these mad scientists understand each other's needs better than anyone else. Perhaps Orochimaru believed that working under the Second Hokage was much better than working under the Third Hokage.

However, Uchiha Touyu believed that the two were currently just playing along, each coveting the other's research results, and that they would definitely fall out in the future; they were just in a honeymoon period right now.

"Tsk... Well, it seems I'll have a hard time getting the Second Hokage, that great guy, to come over."

"However... Orochimaru-sensei, you should also be careful. After all, I've heard that the Second Hokage, hmm, is quite similar to you."

Uchiha Touyu sighed helplessly. It seemed he wouldn't be able to obtain the soul of Konoha's number one forbidden technique master.

As for whether these two will eventually achieve genuine peace, Uchiha Touyu is pessimistic. Those two cunning old foxes are probably thinking of using each other and then stabbing each other in the back.

However, this has nothing to do with me. Thinking about it carefully, the Second Hokage and Orochimaru are both research-oriented ninjas. While they are alive, they can create endless ninjutsu and forbidden techniques. From this perspective, it is more beneficial than simply obtaining the soul of the Second Hokage.

As for whether he could handle the Second Hokage, Uchiha Tobirama was somewhat confident. Even if Tobirama Senju's sense of justice was stronger than Orochimaru's, it wasn't by much.

Most importantly... he also knows the Divine Transmission Illusion Technique!

Orochimaru was, after all, his teacher. Although they were mutually exploiting each other, Orochimaru had never done anything to betray him.

Judging by actions rather than intentions, Orochimaru had been quite good to him as a teacher, so Uchiha Tou wouldn't have used a genjutsu to control him directly.

The Second Hokage is different. Anyway, Uchiha Touyu doesn't know this guy. If he really has any ideas, Uchiha Touyu can just use the Divine Transformation Technique to brainwash him and that's it.

However, the Second Hokage has not yet been resurrected, and Uchiha Touyu is not entirely clear about the effects of genjutsu under the Impure World Reincarnation state. Let's wait until the Second Hokage is resurrected before discussing these matters.

"If I can't get anyone to come over, could you teach me the Flying Thunder God Technique? I've been eyeing this ninjutsu for ages!"

Unable to find anyone to meet him for the time being, Uchiha Touyu figured the Second Hokage probably didn't want to see him either, since he was an "evil Uchiha," so he had no choice but to settle for second best.

The Flying Thunder God Technique requires extremely high talent, but Uchiha Touyu is now very confident in himself. Having absorbed the physiques of so many ninjas using the Devouring Heaven Demon Art, Uchiha Touyu is absolutely outstanding in any ninjutsu talent.

While space-time talent is rare in the ninja world, most ninjas actually possess some degree of it. If someone had absolutely no space-time talent, they probably wouldn't even be able to use Spirit Link.

After absorbing so many ninja physiques, Uchiha Tou's space-time talent is definitely far beyond that of ordinary ninjas, and learning the Flying Thunder God Technique shouldn't be a problem for him.

"Flying Thunder God Technique? I do have it here, but only the original version. I don't have the version that Jiraiya's student later improved."

Orochimaru nodded. For Orochimaru, whose dream was to study all the ninjutsu in the world, he would naturally not let go of the Flying Thunder God Technique, a space-time ninjutsu. As for the problem that he did not have space-time talent at the moment—when he got a body with talent, wouldn't he be able to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique?

"The original version? Oh well, it's enough. At least it can be used for traveling and emergencies."

The biggest difference between the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique and Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique is that Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique allows for continuous jumping in a very short time, making it a kind of teleportation technique without any restrictions.

The Flying Thunder God Technique of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, requires a certain cooldown time after each use. Although the cooldown time is only a few seconds, it has greatly reduced the Flying Thunder God Technique, which relies entirely on speed, from a flash skill that can be used in actual combat to a sneak attack skill that kills at first sight.

However, Uchiha Hiu's covetousness for the Flying Thunder God Technique stemmed more from its superior mobility than from the shortcomings in combat power of the original version.

In any case, with Uchiha Tou's strength, he could sweep across the entire ninja world even without using the Flying Thunder God Technique. Therefore, the Minato Namikaze version of the Flying Thunder God Technique would be a bonus for him, but it wouldn't have any impact if he didn't have it.

Orochimaru ordered his subordinates to bring a sealing scroll. After the seal was broken, he handed it to Uchiha Hiyu, which was the Flying Thunder God Technique in his possession.

After opening the scroll and looking through it, Uchiha Tou nodded:

"As expected... the Flying Thunder God Technique and the Summoning Technique are quite related. In a sense, the Flying Thunder God Technique is a remote-controlled type of reverse Summoning Technique."

Orochimaru shook his head:

"The reasoning is indeed very simple, but there are probably only a handful of ninjas in the entire ninja world who possess this kind of spatial and temporal talent and perception ability."

"I've also studied this space-time ninjutsu, but unfortunately, I've never been able to grasp its essence. Without sufficient space-time talent... uhhh!! It's like meeting the Sage of Six Paths!!"

Uchiha Hiyu casually took out a kunai, a strange curse mark crawled onto it, and he tossed it away. The kunai flew more than ten meters away, and then he appeared next to the kunai in a flash.

"He learned it so fast, so smoothly!" Orochimaru was stunned and speechless when he saw his disciple master the Flying Thunder God Technique in an instant, almost instantly.

There's no way around it; that's what happens when you have a good foundation. Having absorbed the different constitutions of numerous ninjas and borrowed their souls to lay a solid foundation, Uchiha Tou's ninjutsu talent is almost astonishing. No ninjutsu poses any difficulty for him.

Although the Flying Thunder God Technique is the most profound and obscure space-time ninjutsu, it can never exceed the scope of chakra's form and nature transformation, so it was easily learned by Uchiha Hiu.

It took Orochimaru a long time to calm himself down, and then he bid farewell to his cheap disciple. He was so shocked that he decided to study the Reincarnation Technique as soon as possible and get a powerful body to improve his strength again.

After obtaining the Flying Thunder God Technique from Orochimaru, Uchiha Hiu left a Flying Thunder God mark and then took Orochimaru's information scroll to Konoha.

Orochimaru spent 30 years growing up in Konoha, and his influence was deeply rooted. Before leaving Konoha, he was almost universally recognized as the next Hokage and had connections with all the ninja clans.

Even if such a person defected from Konoha, the Third Hokage could not possibly wipe out his entire force—if he did, Konoha would probably lose at least a third of its ninjas.

Not all of those ninjas were necessarily loyal to Orochimaru, but they all did have close ties with him. After all, he was the only candidate to become the Fourth Hokage at that time, so it was only natural for the ninjas to gravitate towards him.

Unable to eliminate Orochimaru's influence, the Third Hokage could only feign magnanimity and not pursue any of Orochimaru's subordinate ninjas, hoping that time would heal all wounds.

Of course, whether there was any intention to settle scores after the war is something only heaven and earth know.

However, precisely because of this, Orochimaru had quite a few informants and spies in Konoha. While some ninjas were unwilling to defect from Konoha with Orochimaru, there were far too many willing to provide intelligence and cover.

As Orochimaru's disciple, Uchiha Hiu was once a renowned new generation Kage-level shinobi in Konoha. Just by showing his face, he could gain the trust of some of Orochimaru's former subordinates, not to mention that he also had Orochimaru's warrant.

After silently infiltrating Konoha, Uchiha Touyu found Orochimaru's former subordinates and quickly learned about the current situation on the front lines in Konoha.

All I can say is... Konoha's current situation is very bad, extremely bad.

Faced with the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Iwa ninja, Konoha had no choice but to send its young ninjas, who were just over ten years old, to the front lines. These young ninjas had only graduated from school and trained for half a year before going to the battlefield, so the heavy casualties were predictable.

This is Konoha's true future. For Konoha to disregard its future and send young ninjas to the battlefield, it must be because they're doomed if they don't fight to the death.

Moreover, as the battle between Konoha and Iwa ninja gradually showed signs of decline, even the Cloud Ninja, who had been severely damaged, redeployed heavy troops to the border between the two countries, forcing Konoha to divert some of its forces to defend against them, making it even more stretched thin.

Although the Cloud Village suffered heavy losses, it was theoretically impossible for them to participate in the Ninja World War again; otherwise, one of the five great ninja villages might have fallen apart.

However, all the ninjas in the ninja world know that the most famous ability of those barbarians from the Cloud Ninja is their stubbornness. What if these guys were willing to risk abandoning their own ninja village to give Konoha a hard time? Wouldn't Konoha be in trouble? Therefore, necessary precautions are of course indispensable.

In addition, the Hidden Mist Village, which had been isolated overseas and had not joined the Ninja World War, was also restless and repeatedly harassed the coastline of Konoha. Faced with the harassment of the Hidden Mist Village, the exhausted Konoha could only keep shrinking its defenses, which only made the ninjas of the Land of Water more rampant.

(End of this chapter)