Actually, Hero Water is just a mix of Chakra and natural energy, so Orochimaru wasn't very interested.
What he needed was the natural energy itself, before it was changed by the Holy Tree.
Luckily, even though this Holy Tree had lived for a long time, about a thousand years, compared to the real thing, its functions were damaged and lacking. It only gathered a lot of natural energy, but its ability to change the energy, and how deeply it changed it, were much weaker.
This was perfect. It used to be good for those Takigakure ninja, but now, it was good for him.
Seeing that Orochimaru was about to get ready for surgery, the Genie reminded him,
"When you do the mixing surgery, it's best to put the small white snake into your body. That thing is still part of you."
Orochimaru paused, then nodded slightly, "You're right."
He had left the Devourer in the Pure Land, completely trusting the Genie to train it. He had been too busy lately and had kind of forgotten about it.
"Summoning Technique!"
Orochimaru put his hands together, not even needing to make hand signs. The connection between them strengthened many times over with the help of Chakra.
The next moment, a big white ball appeared out of nowhere, floating in the air like a balloon.
Orochimaru's eyes twitched. "It's like this again?"
What can he say, it really was a part of his soul, just as greedy. Even if it can't digest it, it has to stuff it into its belly first.
Orochimaru licked his lips and put the Devourer into his body. Instantly, a clear stream filled his body, making him feel lighter.
Pure soul energy is always a great boost, no matter when. His golden eyes shone brightly. These special organs, directly connected to his mind, were almost about to change.
"Hehe... want to try it out?"
The Genie floated in the air and laughed, "With your current state, you might be able to get the Sharingan or Byakugan without paying a price."
"Let's talk about that after this is over. I want to save it for when I put in the First Hokage cells."
Orochimaru shook his head. He used to be obsessed with changing his body, but now, he was much more careful.
"Okay," the Genie didn't push him, even though he really wanted to see the process of copying eye techniques.
A moment later, after getting used to his current state, Orochimaru made hand signs and shouted, "Summoning Technique!"
Bang!
After a puff of white smoke, Tagorihime stepped out, looked at Orochimaru, and said with a sweet laugh, "What do you want me to do this time?"
"I need to do a very important surgery. If anyone tries to stop me, block them."
Orochimaru glanced at the snake woman and added, "You can do whatever you want with those people."
"Ah, then I won't hold back."
Tagorihime stuck out her forked tongue and licked her lips, "I can try out some sealing techniques."
It had only been a few months, and this snake had already learned sealing techniques with its intelligence?
Orochimaru's eyes flashed with surprise, but he didn't ask much. These were just small things.
The important thing now was to set up the surgery environment. The natural energy inside the 'Holy Tree' was good now, but it wasn't at its limit.
When this tree was just roots, it was used to pull natural energy from the earth and send it to the Divine Tree.
After the Divine Tree became the Ten-Tails, and was sealed by the Sage of Six Paths, the roots lost contact with the real tree. Over time, they started to grow on their own. Instead of sending energy, they stored it. The pipes became small storage places for extra natural energy.
The so-called 'Hero Water' was just what overflowed when the 'storage places' were full.
Orochimaru flipped his hand and summoned two piles of iron sand from a scroll. He put his hands together and shouted, "Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
Instantly, the two piles of iron sand turned into sharp spikes, like woodpeckers, constantly piercing the inside of the tree, scattering wood chips.
The structures of the small 'storage places' broke, and natural energy escaped immediately. In a short time, the concentration was no worse than a sacred place like Ryuuchi Cave.
"This is a pretty good place, you're good at picking them."
Tagorihime's eyes shone, a bit of greed flashing, but it quickly disappeared.
She was a snake from Ryuuchi Cave, like a subordinate of the White Snake Sage, with no chance to start her own place.
"Such a big commotion, those people outside are probably coming. Block them for me."
Orochimaru reminded the snake woman and started getting the experiment equipment ready.
"Leave it to me."
Tagorihime's expression changed slightly, she chuckled, "They're here pretty fast."
She moved and disappeared from in front of Orochimaru.
...
Suien was annoyed.
As a Jonin, he looked down on Takigakure Village, this poor village. He wanted to travel around like Senior Kakuzu, and be called 'Great Kakuzu' wherever he went.
But life outside wasn't so good.
Compared to Takigakure Village, a peaceful place, the ninja world was too harsh, especially for ordinary ninja without any background.
Even though he was pretty strong, trying to rob people or bully merchants would quickly bring big ninja villages, or even bounty hunters who took jobs from the black market, to kill him.
Suien wasn't discouraged by this, or blame it on others. Instead, he looked for problems within himself, thinking it was because he wasn't strong enough.
So, he not only became a rogue ninja, but also worked with the great senior Kakuzu to sell Takigakure Village for a good price.
He thought he could keep traveling around the ninja world with most of a bottle of 'Hero Water', but he didn't expect the Kusagakure Ninja to be interested in Takigakure Village, and take over this broken village directly.
Taking over the village was fine, but they had him stay in this poor village to manage it.
Suien refused, but even with 'Hero Water', his strength was still too small compared to Kakuzu and them.
So, he shamefully gave in.
Of course, that didn't mean Suien had really accepted his fate.
Seeing that the Land of Iron's samurai village was coming back to life in the hands of those bloodline ninja from Kirigakure, Suien thought that this could be a way to rise up.
As far as the environment went, the Land of Waterfall was a bit better than the snowy Land of Iron.
As long as he brought in some talented kids, there might be a chance in the future.
But... just as Suien was imagining the future, something went wrong with the 'Holy Tree'. There were loud noises coming from inside.
Suien got worried right away.
Others might not know, but he knew that this tree was the foundation of Takigakure Village.
Destroying this thing was destroying his hope of rising up again.
Who was it? It must be the remaining people of the former leaders.
So, Suien immediately took his ninja into the Holy Tree.
However, as he got closer to the altar, he was stopped by a woman wearing court clothes.
Suien angrily said, "Who are you? What's going on inside?"
"Hehe... you've grown up pretty well, you could be used as experiment material."
Tagorihime looked Suien up and down, a smile on her face.
---
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