In the original storyline, Orochimaru had indeed defected.
The reason made public was also that Orochimaru had been secretly conducting human experiments. It would have been one thing if he had only used people from outside the village, but he had even reached his hand into Konoha itself.
That was something Hiruzen Sarutobi could not tolerate. He personally took action.
Orochimaru defected and fled the village.
But the current situation was different from the original storyline.
In the original plot, even after suffering the Nine-Tails' rampage, Konoha still retained a considerable foundation.
Jiraiya. Tsunade.
And Hiruzen Sarutobi himself.
The Uchiha clan had not yet rebelled.
The Hyuga clan remained loyal and devoted to Konoha.
But now, Jiraiya was heavily injured and missing. The Uchiha clan and the Hyuga clan had both left Konoha. And they had not simply left—they had become Konoha's enemies, madly attacking Konoha's sailing groups.
Even among the younger generation of shinobi, there were hardly any with visible potential.
Kakashi had defected. Asuma was dead.
Konoha's current situation could be called extremely terrible.
And yet Hiruzen still expelled Orochimaru.
Was such a choice truly wise?
"Without Orochimaru, Konoha's strength will inevitably plummet."
First, there was no need to even mention Orochimaru's personal strength.
Because he had immersed himself in research and neglected his "proper work," Orochimaru's strength had actually stagnated for quite some time. Even so, within Konoha, he was still an extremely top-tier shinobi, firmly among the strongest.
Especially after Jiraiya was severely injured and disappeared.
Moreover, Orochimaru, as one of the long-established Sannin, was not alone.
Many shinobi were connected to him.
After Orochimaru's defection, what would happen to those shinobi?
For a time, the news shocked the entire shinobi world.
Some people cursed Orochimaru furiously.
"I never expected Orochimaru to be this kind of person. Human experiments? To do something so terrifying and disgusting—heaven and earth both should condemn him. Someone like that doesn't deserve respect."
"He was playing with life. He had no respect for other people's lives."
"He didn't just target people outside Konoha. He didn't even spare people inside Konoha."
"Being around someone like that is terrifying. Who knows when misfortune might fall on you?"
"He looked so approachable on the surface. Who would have thought he was like this behind people's backs?"
"Just thinking about the scenes inside that laboratory makes me shudder."
Orochimaru's reputation across the entire shinobi world turned foul in an instant.
The words "human experiments" carried far too much weight.
No one wished for something like that to happen to themselves.
People naturally felt resistance and disgust toward such a person.
"No wonder Orochimaru couldn't inherit the Hokage position. Hokage-sama must have sensed something wrong with Orochimaru long ago. Only now did he finally find evidence."
"If someone so evil became Hokage, how terrifying would that be?"
When Uchiha Yashiro heard the news, he could not help but snort coldly.
Recently, Uchiha Yashiro had actually been in a fairly good mood.
Uchiha Itachi was a genuine genius with a bright future ahead of him.
And during this period, the Uchiha clan had carried out no small amount of revenge against Konoha. They killed Konoha shinobi and seized the silver ore mined by Konoha's sailing groups. Whenever Yashiro imagined Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression upon hearing those reports, he could not stop himself from laughing.
"Toying with the human body. Just like that evil Senju Tobirama."
"The true source of all evil is Senju Tobirama!"
"Senju Tobirama deserved to die, and every one of Senju Tobirama's disciples deserves to die as well!"
Hyuga Hiashi felt a lingering trace of fear rise in his heart.
Previously, Hyuga Hiashi had even considered whether he should have some clan members draw closer to Orochimaru. After all, with Minato Namikaze dead and Jiraiya severely injured and missing, the only remaining future Hokage candidate seemed to be Orochimaru.
But now, Hyuga Hiashi felt that if he had truly done that back then, he would have been pushing his own clansmen into a pit of fire.
Perhaps they might even have ended up on an operating table, treated as experimental materials.
"I never expected Orochimaru to be this kind of person. To think he was doing such things in secret."
Kirigakure.
Mizukage's Office.
As the Fifth Mizukage, Chukichi felt that his fate was bitter.
The moment he took over, he inherited a rotten mess.
Kirigakure had directly fallen from its status as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
And internally, all kinds of problems had appeared.
Factions stood everywhere.
As Mizukage, he did not possess absolute authority at all.
He could not compare to Hiruzen Sarutobi or Onoki in their control over power, nor could he compare to Rasa's prestige in Sunagakure.
He held the name of Mizukage, yet only half the power.
Moreover, Kirigakure's once close and firm cooperative relationship with the Land of Water had been severed. It had become merely one of many partners the Land of Water cooperated with.
Now, Orochimaru's incident allowed Chukichi to see hope.
"Human experiments? So what?"
"Can they compare to the Bloody Mist Village?"
"If I can recruit Orochimaru, then Kirigakure's strength will inevitably increase tremendously."
"With Orochimaru assisting me, taking control of the entire Kirigakure should not be a problem."
Chukichi summoned two shinobi.
"Go to the Land of Fire at once and find Orochimaru. Tell him that Kirigakure is willing to recruit him. As long as he comes, he will be the Mizukage's assistant. What Konoha could give him, I can give. What Konoha could not give him, I can also give."
"If he comes to Kirigakure, I will give him the greatest preferential treatment."
The two shinobi exchanged a glance, then nodded.
"Yes, Mizukage-sama!"
A strong look of anticipation appeared in Chukichi's eyes.
In his mind, he had already begun imagining the scene after successfully recruiting Orochimaru—leading Kirigakure back to greatness, restoring its position as one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, completing his revenge against Sunagakure, and becoming the strongest Mizukage in history.
"Orochimaru shouldn't refuse, right?"
"After all, for Orochimaru, this should already be the best possible destination."
"Konoha expelled him."
"Iwagakure is allied with Konoha. They probably won't accept Orochimaru, and Orochimaru himself would worry about being sold out."
"Rasa won't accept Orochimaru. It would affect his own reputation."
"Orochimaru does not get along with Kumogakure."
"Other than Kirigakure, only small shinobi villages remain. But how could those small shinobi villages compare to my Kirigakure?"
Chukichi felt very confident.
Kumogakure.
The Fourth Raikage grinned.
"With something like this happening in Konoha, their situation has become even worse. Perhaps at some point, there will be another chance to obtain something from Konoha."
"Their strength isn't great anymore, but their foundation is still deep."
"Many things still possess extremely high value."
"The Flying Thunder God Technique—Kumogakure must obtain it."
The Fourth Raikage remained deeply fixated on the Flying Thunder God Technique.
After all, back then, he and Killer B had lost to Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God.
"As for Orochimaru, conducting human experiments makes him no different from Senju Tobirama back then."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi was Senju Tobirama's disciple. He must have known what Tobirama did."
"Expelling Orochimaru solely for that reason—is that reasonable?"
"Or is there another reason?"
A guess surfaced in the Fourth Raikage's mind.