Chapter 91: Moonlight, Oh Moonlight

Shishou raised an eyebrow as Orochimaru appeared before him. He hadn't expected his theory to be correct. Orochimaru, when implanting a curse mark on a target, also injected fragments of his soul and his cells into the target’s body. The purpose was to leave a backup for his resurrection.

During the Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke had resurrected Orochimaru using Kabuto’s cells and the curse mark on Anko. Based on this, Shishou had formed his hypothesis. He believed that Kabuto's cells provided a physical vessel, while Anko's curse mark supplied Orochimaru’s soul and chakra.

With this in mind, Shishou located Orochimaru's cells within Anko’s curse mark and used his Linbad Bugs to infuse life energy, successfully cultivating a new body for Orochimaru. After performing a release jutsu, Orochimaru emerged.

What had started as a mere experiment for Shishou turned into a surprising success.

"Ohohoho, Anko, it’s been a long time," Orochimaru said, looking at Anko on the bed, a smile curling on his lips.

"Lord Orochimaru..." Anko was stunned, completely caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. She had no idea how to react.

"Orochimaru, we meet again," Shishou said, his eyes narrowing at the figure before him. Orochimaru looked extremely weak, not even possessing the strength of a chunin.

If Shishou could control this version of Orochimaru, he could potentially acquire all of Orochimaru’s forbidden jutsus: the curse mark, Edo Tensei, and Living Corpse Reincarnation. Additionally, he could have Orochimaru work as his researcher, eliminating the need to cooperate with Orochimaru's main body.

"Ohohoho, I never expected..." Orochimaru began, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Suddenly, his expression changed as he looked down at his body.

"The main body..." he muttered.

The next second, Orochimaru’s body dissolved into a puddle of flesh and blood.

"What..." Anko was bewildered.

Shishou frowned, removing his contact lenses and activating his Sharingan to examine the remains. Orochimaru was indeed dead.

So, this was just a clone of Orochimaru? A protective mechanism to prevent his clones from being exploited by others while his main body was still alive? Truly thorough planning!

As Shishou pondered this, he heard a scream from Anko. Her body began to swell and mutate; white scales sprouted across her pale skin, and her legs fused into a snake tail, transforming her into a half-human, half-serpent creature.

Is this curse mark transformation? No! This is the result of the senjutsu energy injected by Orochimaru going out of control without his suppression!

Anko's tail thrashed wildly, breaking all the lamps in the room, plunging it into darkness and allowing moonlight to filter in through the windows, casting an eerie glow on her mutated form.

Dodging her tail, Shishou moved to her side and placed his hand on her flailing tail. He released his Linbad Bugs to devour the rampaging senjutsu energy within her. Gradually, Anko’s transformation ceased.

A few minutes later, she returned to her normal self and fell unconscious on the bed.

"Phew," Shishou sighed in relief. With Anko stabilized, he watched as the Linbad Bugs absorbed the senjutsu energy, converging into a fist-sized black-purple orb in his hand.

These bugs, now rich with senjutsu energy, would be invaluable for his future training in curse mark transformations or senjutsu. He decided to keep them in his body for potential use as a secret weapon.

The sun was already up... No, it was the moonlight. Moonlight, oh moonlight, you are truly treacherous!

Shishou glanced at Anko’s tattered clothing, which had been torn apart by her transformation. He covered her with a blanket.

"Disgusting," he muttered, turning to the remains of Orochimaru. He collected some samples before using his Linbad Bugs to devour the rest, leaving no trace.

After ensuring Anko was safe and had no life-threatening injuries, Shishou left a note for her and turned to leave.

Initially, he had only intended to torment Anko into submission. The unexpected resurrection of Orochimaru had set off a chain of events.

Though he failed to control Orochimaru’s clone, he gained valuable senjutsu energy from Anko’s curse mark, achieving his initial goal.

He left a note threatening Anko to keep his secrets from the Hokage and others, promising to attack Konoha if she didn't comply. He trusted her loyalty to Konoha would make her think twice.

This was also a test. If Anko tried to leave, Shishou planned to stage a "silencing" scene, with Danzo as the fall guy. Danzo had to live up to his nickname as the Shadow Hokage.

Yawning, Shishou arrived outside Mikoto Uchiha’s room, stretched, and walked in.

Barely a moment after entering, he rushed back out and fled.

"You pervert! Don’t let me see you again!" Pakura, her face red with fury, chased after him. "Why were you in Mikoto’s room instead of your own?"

"Can you blame me?" Shishou retorted, hiding in a tree in the courtyard. Pakura's presence had prevented him from getting close to Mikoto for some time now.

"Like I care!" Pakura hurled a fireball at him. She had to vent her anger after being caught in such an awkward situation.