A New Snake In The Shinobi World-Chapter 356:

Why had Orochimaru taken pity on her?

Was this some kind of joke?

After all, just earlier, he had mercilessly beaten her down using Limbo: Border Jail.

Then, after ripping the Tailed Beast from her, he had shown zero hesitation not the actions of someone inclined to show mercy.

And yet, despite all that, he was now saving her?

For Yugito, a nineteen-year-old Jinchūriki who had always struggled to form meaningful friendships, Orochimaru's mocking tone caught her completely off guard.

She had never heard someone talk to her like that before.

"D-Don't… joke around!" Yugito protested weakly.

Truthfully—

She couldn't understand anything about Orochimaru.

How was he so powerful?

How had he not only easily defeated her, but also overwhelmed both the Fourth Raikage and Killer Bee as if it were nothing?

And more importantly—

Why had he saved her after taking her Tailed Beast?

She had fully expected to be dead by now.

This feeling…

It was utterly baffling.

---

"Save your strength," Orochimaru's hoarse voice interrupted her thoughts.

At that moment, his hand rested over her left chest, directly above her heart.

Orochimaru himself seemed completely unaware, but Yugito who was slowly regaining consciousness felt an unexplainable unease.

Yet, she said nothing.

Because despite the strangeness of it all, she could feel that Orochimaru was actually healing her.

---

"…It's really working?"

Watching the color return to Yugito's face, Konan's eyes widened in surprise.

Was it really possible to save a Jinchūriki after their Tailed Beast was extracted?

Orochimaru hadn't been joking?

When the sealing ritual had concluded and the others had left, Orochimaru had claimed he could save them.

At the time, Konan had doubted him.

But now, she realized it wasn't impossible after all.

---

"…Incredible."

Even Pain was surprised.

To rescue someone from certain death, without using the Rinne Rebirth Technique should have been impossible.

And yet, Orochimaru had done it.

---

"My theory was correct after all," Orochimaru muttered.

"When a Jinchūriki loses their Tailed Beast, their life force is extracted along with it. The key to saving them is simple, use Yin-Yang Release to recreate that lost life force and replenish their body."

Having confirmed this, Orochimaru withdrew his hand from Yugito and placed it over Killer Bee's chest instead.

A Jinchūriki without their beast suffered symptoms similar to chakra exhaustion but far more extreme.

It wasn't just chakra depletion.

It was as if every single cell in their body had been drained dry.

Their bodies had essentially lost trillions of active cells all at once.

A normal person would never survive such trauma.

But—

If massive amounts of life force were injected quickly enough, it was possible to save them.

Then, by using Yin-Yang Release to generate new cells, the Jinchūriki's body could stabilize before it collapsed entirely.

"…You might be the only person capable of creating that level of vitality with Yin-Yang Release," Pain admitted.

He could use Yin-Yang Release as well, but clearly, Orochimaru's mastery was on a completely different level.

Orochimaru simply smirked.

"This is nothing," he said.

"This power is only useful in moments like these."

"If their injuries had been fatal or if they had already died, I'd have to use a different method."

"W-Why…?"

Now able to speak, Killer Bee asked the same question as Yugito.

His voice was weak, but his confusion was genuine.

Why had Orochimaru captured them alive?

Why had he taken their Tailed Beasts?

And then why had he saved them?

It made no sense.

Orochimaru's response was casual.

"No particular reason. Just preserving resources."

"…Preserving resources?"

Both Killer Bee and Yugito exchanged bewildered glances.

What was he even talking about?

But clearly, Orochimaru had no intention of explaining further.

After finishing Bee's treatment, he stood up and dusted off his hands.

"Alright, you're both out of danger now. With some rest, you should be back to full strength in a few days."

"As for your Tailed Beasts?"

His lips curled into a smirk.

"…Forget about them."

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Then, turning to Pain, he motioned for them to leave.

"Let's go."

And with that, they departed, leaving behind the still-recovering Yugito and Killer Bee.

One Month Later

The extraction of the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails had taken a full month to complete.

During this time, a lot had happened.

But the biggest event was the rampage of the Fourth Raikage.

---

With his Lightning Chakra Mode enhancing his already incredible durability, ordinary attacks had no effect on him.

And Kumogakure's medical ninjas weren't incompetent either.

However—

Even with advanced medical care, it had taken him three full days just to wake up after being hit by the Truth-Seeking Orb.

And seven days before he could stand again.

By the time he had regained mobility.

Killer Bee was gone.

And when he realized he had failed to rescue his brother.

He exploded with fury.

Gathering his forces, he marched toward Konoha, demanding an explanation.

Why had their Jinchūriki been taken?

---

At this point, the entire Ninja World was watching.

Everyone knew that Tsunade was Konoha's Hokage.

And everyone knew that Orochimaru was her husband.

Would Tsunade really be unaware of what Orochimaru had done?

Of course not.

This wasn't just a conflict between Kumo and Akatsuki.

It was now a test of Konoha's stance.

How Tsunade responded could determine whether or not a world war would erupt.

---

For Tsunade, this situation was frustrating.

In her view, Konoha should have already made peace with Kumo.

But thanks to Orochimaru, the state of war had been sustained.

And now.

With Kumogakure demanding answers, she was left with no choice but to stall for time.

She couldn't make any decisions without hearing from Orochimaru first.

Because if she made one wrong move, the entire Ninja World would be thrown into chaos.

---

But of course, Orochimaru had anticipated all of this.

With Zetsu feeding him intelligence, he quickly reached out to Tsunade with his response.

When Mikoto handed her the letter, Tsunade's eyes widened in shock.

"What?! He wants to start a war?!"

Mikoto, just as stunned, snatched the letter and read it.

Orochimaru's intentions were crystal clear.

He was ready to go to war with Kumo.

His plan was simple.

He would lead his forces to crush Kumogakure and annex the Land of Lightning.

All Tsunade had to do was deploy Konoha's forces to the border, applying pressure to Kumo.

The rest—Orochimaru would handle.

At the very end of the letter, he had written a single line:

> "Trust me. I'll keep the casualties to a minimum."

---

Tsunade took a deep breath, her hands clenched into fists.

Finally, she made her decision.

"Pass down the order—First-Level Combat Readiness."

"Yes, ma'am!"

***

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