Hearing Renya's icy words, the person hidden in the ruins of Rōran subconsciously tensed up.
He had clearly never exposed his presence—so how had Renya discovered him?
After speaking, Renya did not make a move. Instead, he coldly looked toward a section of the ruins.
As if sensing Renya's gaze, the person hiding behind the rubble knew he had truly been exposed.
"I really didn't expect you to notice me, sir."
Soon, a figure in a dark red cloak slowly walked out from the ruins.
The face beneath the cloak was pale and crisscrossed with cracks. He wore round glasses, and a pair of snake-like pupils were strikingly conspicuous.
The newcomer was none other than the ninja world's master of fulfilled dreams, Yakushi Kabuto!
The moment Renya saw him, he recognized who it was.
In the original story, after Orochimaru died, Yakushi Kabuto fell into confusion, then transplanted Orochimaru's cells and cultivated Sage Mode.
He felt that the stage of the Fourth Great Ninja War could both display his own value and allow him to find the meaning of his existence amid the chaos.
He even once hoped that the genjutsu world of the Eye of the Moon Plan would let him understand himself!
So he went around the ninja world searching for corpses, making preparations for the coming war.
Because of Orochimaru's influence, Yakushi Kabuto wanted to get Sasuke—either to continue Orochimaru's unfinished reincarnation experiment, or because he valued Sasuke's potential for his own research.
Thus, he sought out Uchiha Obito to propose cooperation and reached an agreement to trade using Sasuke.
In the end, under Uchiha Itachi's [Izanami], he came to understand himself and found the meaning and value of his existence again.
It could be said that this guy's talent in research and ninjutsu was no weaker than Orochimaru's.
He even learned Sage Mode at Ryūchi Cave!
If Yakushi Kabuto in this timeline had grown up, Renya would have already sweet-talked him into going to the lab to do research.
Such rare talent couldn't be allowed to go to waste.
"Yakushi Kabuto, why are you following me?" Renya looked at the Kabuto in front of him and said with some displeasure.
From the second day after they left the Iron Country, Renya had noticed someone tailing him in secret.
But since the other party never showed any hostility, he couldn't be bothered to care.
Maybe it was Black Zetsu or White Zetsu following him in secret.
As for using the Dragon Vein to travel through time, he wanted to keep it hidden, but he knew it couldn't be completely concealed!
After all, things like White Zetsu are hard to detect.
Yakushi Kabuto hadn't expected Renya to actually know him, and he was a bit surprised, but he quickly returned to calm.
"I want to seek cooperation with you."
His greedy gaze fell on the chunk of flesh in Shimura Danzō's hand.
The person in front of him could use Edo Tensei to summon Uchiha Madara, which meant he definitely possessed Madara's flesh, as well as the flesh of other powerful figures of the ninja world!
During this time, Yakushi Kabuto had been searching the ninja world for dead powerhouses. Summoning them one by one to verify things was far too troublesome.
Since Renya had the flesh of deceased powerhouses on him, there was no need to Edo Tensei all of them.
He could obtain the flesh of powerhouses directly from Renya!
"You want the flesh of powerhouses for Edo Tensei, right?"
Renya noticed the fleeting look in Yakushi Kabuto's eyes and immediately understood his purpose in coming here.
"That's right," Yakushi Kabuto did not deny it. "I want to cooperate with you."
Calling it cooperation was, in reality, just a transaction.
He had originally only planned to follow Renya to obtain some flesh, but by accident he discovered the secrets on the two of them.
Those could just be used as bargaining chips!
"Cooperate?" Renya showed a look of surprise. "Is there any need for us to cooperate?"
Facing Renya's question, Yakushi Kabuto smiled and explained:
"You give me the flesh of powerhouses, and I'll help you seal the Dragon Vein."
"No need, I can use Edo Tensei..."
Renya was about to refuse when he was interrupted.
"Please don't rush to refuse. I can give you the improved Edo Tensei."
He knew that Renya's Edo Tensei was the most primitive version, and he could absolutely use this as a condition for exchange.
He believed the Uchiha powerhouse before him would not refuse!
Sure enough, just as he had expected, Renya was somewhat tempted.
Because Senju Hashirama hadn't died, Senju Tobirama never dared to research forbidden techniques, and Edo Tensei had always remained in its most primitive version.
The key was that Renya hadn't even fully mastered it—he was only half-baked.
If he could use a bit of flesh to obtain the improved Edo Tensei from Yakushi Kabuto, it would definitely be a very worthwhile deal.
After all, Edo Tensei was first improved by Orochimaru, and later further improved by Yakushi Kabuto.
It was certainly more powerful than the most primitive version!
"Alright, I can cooperate with you!" Renya didn't hesitate and agreed directly.
Seeing this, Yakushi Kabuto secretly let out a breath of relief. He had been worried that Renya wouldn't be willing to trade flesh.
"This is the improved Edo Tensei." He took out a scroll and asked with some anticipation, "As for what you promised..."
"Here." Renya also tossed out a scroll and said generously, "Inside are the flesh of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, Uchiha Madara, the Second Raikage, the Third Raikage, the Third Mizukage, as well as other powerhouses."
Shimura Danzō: "..."
He had known that Renya learning Edo Tensei was no good thing.
If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he wouldn't have known that Renya had actually collected the flesh of so many powerhouses!
Yakushi Kabuto's eyes lit up as he carefully took the scroll.
He had thought Renya only had Uchiha Madara's flesh, but he didn't expect there to be the flesh of so many other powerhouses as well!
This deal was a huge profit!
If he had to search for them one by one, he had no idea how long it would take.
Now he could get all of this just by agreeing to help seal the Dragon Vein and handing over the improved Edo Tensei!
Renya likewise felt that he had made a killing.
Just using some negligible flesh, he could have someone help seal the Dragon Vein and get the improved Edo Tensei for free.
Both of them were very satisfied and felt that they had gotten the better end of the deal.
"Wait, give me your research materials from these past years too," Renya suddenly said, as if he had thought of something.
Orochimaru and Kabuto in this timeline had been researching the human body for so long—they must have had huge gains.
He could take them back for Senju Tobirama and Orochimaru to use as reference!
Let them take fewer detours...
Yakushi Kabuto was slightly taken aback, but quickly reacted and took out another scroll and handed it to Renya.
Although he didn't know what Renya wanted the research materials for, such things were not worth mentioning compared to the flesh of powerhouses!
"Alright, we're going to activate the Dragon Vein. Remember to seal it then, or it will be very dangerous."
Having obtained what he wanted, Renya's mood improved quite a bit.
Looks like he didn't come up empty-handed in this timeline after all.
Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan, the improved Edo Tensei, and a large amount of research data.
"No problem."
Yakushi Kabuto watched the two of them activate the Dragon Vein and become enveloped by energy, a flash of excitement passing through his eyes.
So the Dragon Vein can be used like this!
After the matters of the ninja world war are over, he will also use the Dragon Vein to head to other worlds!
...
Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu, hidden in the dark, immediately realized what was happening when they saw this.
So they aren't people of this world!
Who would have thought the Dragon Vein had such a marvelous use...