Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Orochimaru has clearly begun to go astray.

Very good, that's good.

These are the kind of Konoha ninjas that Madara Uchiha needs.

"Tell me in detail how he was tricked by the White Snake Immortal."

Madara Uchiha wanted to learn more about Orochimaru, so he asked.

Black Zetsu then briefly recounted the conversation he had overheard between Orochimaru and Jiraiya discussing Sage Mode:

"This guy obtained a simplified version of Sage Mode from Kirito Tohsaka. However, this simplified version of Sage Mode requires the use of Sage Blood. By integrating the Sage Blood into the body, one can gain the power of Sage Arts."

Instead of using Kirito Tohsaka's Sage Blood, he chose to use the White Snake Sage's Sage Blood, which caused his body to begin to mutate, gradually turning him into a snake and resembling a monster.

That's why he's now isolated by most of Konoha.

"Ha~, so that's how it is. This guy is quite bold, daring to incorporate the White Snake Immortal's blood into his own body. No wonder he got tricked."

Madara Uchiha asked sarcastically about the reason for his discovery.

The White Snake Immortal is a top-tier evil being; her possessions are not so easily exploited. There are most likely some kind of trap hidden inside.

Orochimaru was probably just being clever, thinking he could solve everything with his abilities, but this time he ended up digging his own grave.

Just as Madara Uchiha said, Orochimaru was in an underground laboratory outside Konoha, regretting his past cleverness. Looking at his face covered with white snake scales in the mirror, he angrily punched the mirror and shattered it.

"Damn it, why is this happening? Is there really no way to stop my body from becoming alienated?"

Orochimaru ignored his hand, which was bleeding profusely from being cut by shards of mirror, and said with a pained expression.

Since the war between Konoha and Kumogakure ended, he returned to Konoha and found that his body was abnormal. More and more white snake scales appeared on his body, and his blood gradually became cold like snake blood instead of human blood.

Furthermore, his eating habits are also changing; he increasingly prefers raw food, preferably alive.

In short, his behavior became increasingly snake-like.

Orochimaru understood that this was because the blood of the White Snake Sage within him was constantly corroding his body. He never expected that the blood's corrosive power was so strong that even after being separated from his body, it could still turn the tables and take control.

Orochimaru certainly didn't want to be corrupted by the White Snake Sage's blood and become a true monster.

He likes snakes and longs for the power of the White Snake Immortal, but he is not ready to become a snake or a monster. He still prefers to be human.

In order to stop the mutation of his body, Orochimaru worked hard to study the blood of the White Snake Sage, trying to solve the terrifying corrosive ability of the other party from the source.

So he found many creatures and implanted the Orochimaru-style curse seal mixed with the blood of the White Snake Sage into them.

As a result, most creatures were not even qualified to have the cursed mark implanted, and they died shortly after it was implanted.

Only a few creatures survived, but without exception, they all quickly showed signs of serpentification and began to experience bloodline rejection. When these creatures serpentified to a certain extent, their bodies could not withstand the bloodline rejection and they exploded and died.

Orochimaru was shocked and terrified by the fate of these creatures. For the sake of his own life, he had no choice but to speed up the pace of his experiments. The consequence of doing so was that he needed more test subjects and began to target humans.

He knew that only by treating humans as physical entities, and by being a human being himself, could he obtain more accurate experimental data.

At first, he was quite resistant to this, so he only used some damned bandits and death row inmates as test subjects. But as a large number of test subjects died, his mindset changed unconsciously, and he no longer resisted using humans for experiments.

When bandits and death row inmates became insufficient, he naturally turned his attention to ordinary people, and even ninjas.

After Orochimaru's body underwent a transformation, there were some benefits. His physical abilities improved significantly, and his body's self-healing ability was greatly enhanced. In just over ten seconds, the wound on his hand was completely healed.

At this moment, Orochimaru, whose face was still filled with anger, quickly regained his composure. He flicked out his snake-like tongue, then turned his head and stared at the shadowy figure in the room with his cold, snake-like gaze, and said in a cold voice, "Come out, I've already seen you."

"Orochimaru, you're becoming more and more pleasing to the eye. I really look forward to the day when you become the real White Snake."

The next second, a pair of scarlet eyes lit up from the shadows, and a small purple snake crawled out of the shadows, speaking in a mocking tone.

Before he could finish speaking, Orochimaru grabbed the purple snake with his outstretched, white snake hand, pulled it in front of him, and said viciously, "Speak your mind, or shut up. Don't think I won't kill you, Manda."

"Hmph, you're welcome to try."

Manda said coldly, and a powerful chakra began to emerge from his body.

Although he has shrunk his body, he can revert to his original size at any time. Moreover, he has already mastered a portion of the power of Sage Mode. Even though Orochimaru has now obtained the blood of the White Snake Sage and can activate Sage Mode, he is not afraid.

However, Orochimaru is still very powerful now, and he seems to be going crazy. So he didn't want to offend him too much and continued, "The White Snake Sage sent me to inform you to go to Ryuchi Cave immediately. She wants to see you."

"The White Snake Immortal wants to see me? What does she want with me?"

When Orochimaru heard Manda mention the White Snake Sage, he felt a chill run down his spine and said with great apprehension.

He now undoubtedly hates the White Snake Immortal intensely, hating the other party for turning him into this damned state. But it is precisely because of this that he also deeply understands the terror of the White Snake Immortal. The other party made him into his current state, so there is a possibility that the other party has left some unknown tricks on him, which could take his life at any time.

Upon hearing Orochimaru's question, Manda, who had previously appeared arrogant in front of Orochimaru, immediately showed a look of fear on his face, as if he had remembered something terrible. He then cautiously said, "Orochimaru, this place should be safe, right?"

"Of course, if your Ryuchi Cave hadn't signed a contract with me, creating a special connection between your Ryuchi Cave's summoned beasts and me, even you wouldn't have been able to discover me here."

Orochimaru said confidently.

He knew better than anyone that the human experiments he was conducting were something that couldn't be done in the open, so when he was building the laboratory, he set up various powerful shielding seals from the very beginning.

In order to deal with someone whose soul perception was terrifying, he even set up a sealing barrier that could block soul perception.

"That's good. If that horrible human finds out that it was the White Snake Immortal who was looking for you, I'll be in big trouble delivering the message."

Seeing Orochimaru's confidence, Manda finally felt much more at ease and said with lingering fear.

He was also one of the spectators during Kirito's great battle with the White Snake Sage. At first, like many of the great snakes in Ryuchi Cave, he thought that the White Snake Sage could easily defeat Kirito, a human ninja who dared to trespass into Ryuchi Cave.

Who would have thought that the loser would be the White Snake Immortal?

Although the battle was not truly decided, all the great serpents of Ryuchi Cave knew in their hearts that the White Serpent Immortal had lost.

Otherwise, given the White Snake Immortal's personality, how could he possibly back down?

Since the birth of Manda, he had never seen the great White Snake Sage so bewildered by humans. It was always the White Snake Sage who devoured those humans who ventured into Ryuchi Cave in search of immortal arts.

But today he deeply realized how terrifying humans are. That Konoha ninja named Kirito Tohsaka was so powerful that even the great White Snake Sage was no match for him.

"What exactly are you talking about? Explain yourself clearly."

Orochimaru forcefully threw Manda to the ground and shouted.

He hates guys who tell riddles.

Enraged by Orochimaru's forceful throw to the ground, Manda opened his mouth, intending to deliver a powerful kick to Orochimaru's foot. However, he was instead kicked away by Orochimaru, his body crashing heavily into the solid rock wall.

"It's only been a short time since I last saw him, but his strength has improved a lot. His brute force is almost comparable to mine now."

The ten thousand snakes struggled to emerge from the rock wall, thinking in shock.

The summoning beast that Orochimaru often summoned to assist in battle knew best what Orochimaru's strength was like before. Although this guy's physical attributes had been specially modified and were not bad, they were far from being as strong as they are now.

Now, Orochimaru gives him the feeling of being a humanoid Ryuchi Cave serpent.

“Say it, stop testing my patience.”

Orochimaru grabbed Manda again and interrogated him.

He wasn't interested in Manda's newfound respect for his strength; he just wanted to know who the human Manda had mentioned with fear was.

"Kirito Tohsaka, it's Kirito Tohsaka, that guy just fought with the White Snake Sage."

After realizing that he was no match for Orochimaru, Manda naturally backed down and replied.

"Who's winning?"

Orochimaru asked in surprise.

Kirito actually got into a fight with the White Snake Sage. Why did he get into a fight with the White Snake Sage?

In an instant, Orochimaru was filled with curiosity and wanted to know why Kirito went to find the White Snake Sage.

"A draw."

Manda immediately replied.

As a member of Yongji-dong, he is more inclined to uphold the reputation of Yongji-dong.

Of course, he didn't want the White Snake Sage to know that he was talking badly about her behind her back. If the White Snake Sage found out that he said she lost her battle with Kirito Tohsaka, he would definitely not have a good ending.

Orochimaru was even more shocked when he heard Manda's answer.

He knew Manda's bullying nature and how he feared the strong, and judging from the guy's performance just now, Kirito had most likely won the battle.

"I never imagined your strength had grown to this level. Even the White Snake Immortal is no match for you."

Orochimaru thought bitterly to himself.

He is still working hard to eliminate the side effects of the White Snake Sage's blood in his body, while Kirito has already been able to defeat the White Snake Sage.

Unbeknownst to him, the gap between him and Kirito had grown so large.

He had thought that after mastering Sage Mode, the gap between him and Kirito had narrowed considerably, but now he realized that Kirito's rate of progress far surpassed his own.

Then, thinking that Kirito was not only far stronger than him, but also deeply respected by the villagers, while he himself had fallen into such a state of being shunned and hated by the villagers, a feeling called jealousy quickly grew in Orochimaru's heart.

Orochimaru was also a hero of Konoha, and he made contributions to Konoha. Why did he suffer such a fate? Is it because he has become such a horrible sight?

A flame of anger also ignited in Orochimaru's heart.

"Tell me, why did the White Snake Sage come to me after losing to Kirito Tohsaka?"

Orochimaru subconsciously clenched his fist, causing Manda in his hand to scream in pain. He immediately came to his senses and said in a cold voice.

Chapter 314: Body Swap and Myths

"How would I know what the White Snake Immortal is planning? But I doubt it's anything good. You should be prepared."

Manda, seeing that Orochimaru in front of him was truly somewhat insane, honestly explained.

He shouldn't bother arguing with a madman.

Moreover, he knew that Orochimaru's life was over. Who told him to be so clever as to incorporate the White Snake Sage's blood into his own body? He was really asking for trouble.

To be honest, he was quite surprised that Orochimaru had survived until now and was even getting stronger.

Normal people who absorb the immortal blood of the White Snake Immortal would have died long ago. Even if they were awakened and survived, they would be completely transformed into snakes and become slaves of the White Snake Immortal.

In fact, the human-snake immortals that appeared in Ryuchi Cave were actually products of the White Snake Immortal mixing his own blood and injecting natural energy. Most of them would die when the tree turned into a snake, and only a very few lucky ones would survive and truly obtain the immortal's power.

Although Orochimaru's current situation is not the orthodox Ryuchi Cave Snake Sage Technique inheritance mode, it is similar in some ways. As long as he doesn't die, he will eventually become the kind of humanoid monster that Orochimaru remembers, neither human nor snake, or even become a crazy snake that has lost its mind.

"Manda, I hate your disgusting eyes. I really want to gouge them out."

Orochimaru suddenly said.