'So this is what he was meaning with "Make one of Orochimaru's folk betray him"? It wasn't that bad of an idea if Kabuto and Sasuke managed to kill Orochimaru there, but unfortunately, it didn't work out...but why is he saving Kabuto? Since it failed, why don't Eiji just let Kabuto and Orochimaru fight while he focuses on taking one opponent done so that we have the advantage?" - Jiraiya was glancing at the bridge while he was on top of Gambunta was jumping into the air to dodge Hanzo's attack coming from underwater.

Saving an opponent under a Genjutsu was unheard of.

First of all, there was always the chance that the opponent might be able to break out of it - and you wouldn't want to be next to him when this happens.

And secondly, this is still an opponent you had to deal with later anyway!

But what Jiraiya didn't know was that this wasn't just any Genjutsu Kabuto was under.

It was the Kotoamatsukami.

Back then when Eiji had the idea that Sasuke should learn Sage Mode too, Sasuke's body wasn't able to withstand the natural chakra the White Snake Sage injected into him, so he transformed into a snake and was eaten by her.

Thankfully Eiji taught Sasuke about Izanagi beforehand, so a completely intact Sasuke appeared again.

Using Izanagi came however with the price of the eye which used it to go blind - though they still had Shisui's eye as loot from the Danzo fight, so Sasuke decided to replace it with for his unusable eye.

Problem was that they couldn't ask for a medic-nin to do it, since they could only ask someone outside of the Five Shinobi villages for obvious reasons, but those outside weren't trustworthy enough for such an operation.

So Eiji had to do it.

...

It was a complete disaster.

Eiji wasn't a surgeon and he certainly didn't enjoy gore, so he messed up and completely butchered Sasuke's face.

He was sure that if Sasuke wasn't under narcosis that he would have killed him on the spot, but with Ukon's help who used his ability to "transfer" Eiji's regeneration-ability to Sasuke the operation somehow managed to be a success.

But why did Eiji place such importance on Kabuto?

Wouldn't he be glad if he died considering that he killed Hayate?

Eiji didn't forgive him and certainly didn't forget his grudge towards Kabuto, but it would be a waste to kill Kabuto when he is fully under Sasuke's control.

That was because of the Edo Tensei.

Sasuke could have used the Kotoamatsukami on Orochimaru to end the fight instantly, but he currently wasn't able to perform the Edo Tensei himself.

But the more important part was that it was Kabuto who would perfect the Edo Tensei - not Orochimaru.

And Eiji wanted to obtain the perfect Edo Tensei, not Orochimaru's weaker version.

With that, Eiji would start walking the path of a villain in this world, but he grew a bit paranoid with his experience of the unreliable fate and wanted to fully maintain control over the flow of things.

Plus, he promised Sasuke that he would help him to get Itachi out of Akatsuki and therefore he needed a good bargain chip.

Eiji might be shameless and piss people off, but he wasn't someone who broke promises without a really good reason - especially to important figures like Sasuke with who he wanted to maintain a good relationship.

Mu looked in front of him.

Hidan was reduced to nothing else than dust!

Orochimaru made the right call by letting Mu fight Hidan.

There was simply no worse match-up for Hidan.

Other than his ritual, Hidan was using mostly his scythe for battle and with his overall reliance on his immortality, when Mu used his Dust Release to form a cube which then suddenly expended at a tremendous speed, engulfing Hidan, it was over, just like that.

Hidan was by no means weak but compared to such a legendary character who not only climbed to the rank of Tsuchikage but even fought Madara and survived, Hidan lost just like that, uneventfully with nothing of him remaining.

Fugaku gulped: 'So this is the power of a Tsuchikage?'

Orochimaru's tactic worked out and his side gained a huge advantage!