Seeing that Tsunade seemed to be "moved" by his proposal, Orochimaru continued, his voice a silken whisper. "Not only can I resurrect those two, but I can also promise you that from now on, I will never harm Konoha Village again."
"How about it? Do you agree to my proposal?"
Tsunade's body trembled slightly as she listened to Orochimaru's promise. She lowered her head, her hands clutching the necklace on her chest so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"Tsunade! Don't believe him!" Jiraiya's voice came from behind her. "Orochimaru is lying to you!"
"Shut up!" Tsunade yelled at Jiraiya, then looked up at Orochimaru. "Fine. I promise."
"Hehe…" Orochimaru smiled with satisfaction. "That's wonderful, Tsunade. Let's start now. After you heal my hands, I will immediately resurrect those two."
Tsunade gathered chakra in her hands, a soft green glow enveloping them, and slowly approached Orochimaru. Jiraiya, who had been about to stop her, suddenly closed his mouth after seeing the look in her eyes and the subtle gesture she made. He understood Tsunade. This chakra was not meant to heal Orochimaru, but to kill him.
Orochimaru, desperate for a cure, saw nothing amiss. The extreme, unceasing pain in his arms left him no room to think about anything else. His only hope now was Tsunade, the greatest medical ninja in the world. He felt he understood her completely. She had two great weaknesses, and one of them was that the mere mention of those two names would cause her to lose all rationality, to become like a puppet on a string.
"Come on, that's it, Tsunade. Heal me…"
"As long as you heal me, I will immediately let those two come back to life and see you… hehe."
Just as Tsunade was about to reach Orochimaru, a kunai suddenly shot between them, embedding itself in the ground. Sensing the danger, both of them quickly leaped back, their eyes turning to the direction the kunai had come from. There, standing on a tree branch, was Kabuto Yakushi, looking at them with a cold, unreadable expression.
Orochimaru's own expression turned serious. With the immediate threat gone, his mind began to clear from the frantic haze of pain. "Kabuto… I never thought that at this critical moment, you would actually betray me."
"Wait, that's not right…" Orochimaru's pupils dilated as he came to a sudden realization. He looked at Tsunade in disbelief. "Tsunade… how did you come to this decision? You actually intended to kill me?"
Orochimaru finally understood why Jiraiya had been watching from the sidelines, why he hadn't tried to stop her. He had seen through Tsunade's plan from the very beginning.
"Tsunade, don't you want to see those two people?" he tried again, his voice laced with a desperate edge. "My patience is limited. If you miss this opportunity, there won't be another." He truly wanted his hands back.
Tsunade was silent for a moment, then whispered, "Orochimaru, I know that everything you said is a lie. I'm a medical ninja. I know that the dead cannot be resurrected."
"Just as you lost your judgment and naively thought I could heal your hands, I was also naively thinking you could bring the dead back to life."
Orochimaru looked at her with an almost innocent expression. "Hmph, your vision is still too short-sighted. I can indeed do it."
"Just now, I resurrected the First Hokage and the Second Hokage."
"Your grandfather, and your grand-uncle."
__________________________
"Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider donating Power Stones and joining our patreon
[patreon.com /coolperry]
for early access to future chapters.(+30 chapters)