Because Orochimaru himself was one of the higher-ups of the Research Institute and had completed much of the ritual's optimization work, the Research Institute, even if they noticed something, wouldn't get to the bottom of the private experiments he conducted.
After all, Orochimaru wasn't the only one in the Research Institute conducting private experiments.
Coupled with the fact that Orochimaru handled the loose ends very cleanly, especially erasing everything related to Gen'yūmaru, no one except his trusted aide Yakushi Kabuto knew that he not only privately cultivated an experimental subject who awakened Shinjutsu but also stole that subject's Shinjutsu.
In the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
After a round of preparation, the Research Institute officially began the fifth ritual.
The location of this ritual was still atop a snowy mountain in the Land of Snow, a good place easily bathed in celestial light.
Because of the failure of the fourth ritual, the researchers setting up the site this time were all serious and unsmiling, conducting the setup methodically.
Observation Area.
Amado, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Sasori, and other research group leaders were all gathered, observing this ritual.
Around the ritual site, and even on several adjacent peaks, the Barrier Team tirelessly set up large-scale barriers one after another to prevent interference from external forces.
Before long, everything was ready, and the fifth ritual officially began.
The one selected to conduct the ritual this time was a death row inmate named 'Yamada Juichi'. Not only did he have numerous crimes like Owl before him, but more importantly, he was a guy with nerves of steel and a firm will. Even during the Hashirama cell transplantation surgery, he didn't utter a single cry of pain.
Obviously, the Research Institute was guarding against something.
There were no surprises in the first half of the process. After devouring all the sacrifices, the 'Chimera' buds were quickly retracted and fused into Yamada Juichi's body.
"Heh!"
Yamada Juichi chuckled lightly.
He had witnessed Owl's rise and fall, so he knew what this ritual meant.
As the power of the sacrifices fused within his body, Yamada Juichi felt an inexplicable fire, a heart-burning flame, suddenly surge from the bottom of his heart.
"Not good!"
He secretly thought something was wrong.
The Research Institute had long informed him how the previous experimental subject went berserk, so while controlling the 'Chimera', he tried to restrain his emotions.
In the air.
Shinji looked down at the ritual site below, a hint of mockery appearing on his face.
Exactly as he expected, the one playing tricks behind the scenes was none other than the Fear Hegemon, who was eroding the Shinobi World from outside the spatial barrier every moment.
Its power turned into a wisp of black smoke, silently approaching the ritual site, attempting to pour into Yamada Juichi conducting the ritual.
Since he discovered it, Shinji naturally wouldn't let the Fear Hegemon succeed again. Thus, he immediately used the power of the 'Lamp', preparing to purify the power the Fear Hegemon had infiltrated into the Shinobi World.
Instantly, the light emitted from Shinji's 'Lamp' mixed with the colorful celestial light and sprinkled onto the ritual site.
Hiss hiss hiss...
The originally invisible black smoke, illuminated by Shinji's 'Lamp', instantly emitted a corroding sound and retreated rapidly.
"Eh..."
"What is that?"
"Gone?"
Because it wasn't far from the ritual site, it attracted the attention of some researchers. But when everyone looked intently, they found nothing there.
Everyone thought it was caused by the celestial light and didn't pay much attention, withdrawing their gazes one after another and focusing on Yamada Juichi in the center of the ritual again.
However, on a level invisible to everyone, countless black smokes abruptly surged around the ritual site. Except for a small portion attacking Yamada Juichi in the center, all other black smokes tumbled and flew high into the sky, heading straight for Shinji.
Undoubtedly, these black smokes were all power infiltrated by the Fear Hegemon.
For the Fear Hegemon, destroying the ritual and preventing powerful individuals from appearing in the Shinobi World was just something done in passing. Its real purpose was to find the 'Lampbearer' hiding in the Shinobi World who opposed it everywhere.
Shinji's action just now undoubtedly exposed his position.
Discovering Shinji's trace, the Fear Hegemon was overjoyed immediately. Disregarding everything else, it gathered the infiltrated power and pounced on Shinji, the 'Lampbearer' of the Shinobi World.
In the air, Shinji smiled slightly.
His exposure this time wasn't a mistake. He had long guessed that the Fear Hegemon must have infiltrated a lot of power. Instead of playing hide-and-seek and finding the opponent's hidden hands bit by bit, it was better to use bait to draw out these powers directly and solve them all at once.
But before that, he had to deal with Yamada Juichi who was attacked by the black smoke.
Because too much black smoke surged up at that time, one wisp, under the cover of other black smokes, drifted towards Yamada Juichi without a trace. Even Shinji didn't have time to stop it.
However, even if the black smoke had invaded Yamada Juichi's body and even started to amplify the fear in his heart, Shinji didn't panic at all. He directly activated the pupil technique 'Aya' on Yamada Juichi, who was at the critical moment of 'cocooning'!
Considering that the person behind the scenes might be the Fear Hegemon, Shinji had long used 'Susanoo Tomoshibi' to control Hiruko's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
'Aya' is the pupil technique contained in the right eye of Hiruko's Mangekyō Sharingan. Unlike 'Omota' contained in the left eye which can output extreme emotions, 'Aya's ability is to absorb the target's extreme emotions to restore pupil power.
So the fear stirred up by the Fear Hegemon invading Yamada Juichi's body was instantly absorbed completely by Shinji using 'Aya', making Yamada Juichi, who was anxious and felt like disaster was imminent a moment ago, become fearless.
After dealing with Yamada Juichi in the ritual, Shinji's figure flashed and sped away into the distance. And those black smokes rising into the air naturally wouldn't let it go, chasing after Shinji recklessly.
Observation Area.
"Vital signs normal..."
"Chakra fluctuation normal..."
"Experimental subject normal..."
The assistant staring at the instruments loudly reported Yamada Juichi's situation.
Seeing that Yamada Juichi had completed the 'cocooning' step and all data were normal, the group leaders in the observation area who had stern faces finally smiled.
Orochimaru smiled: "It seems successful this time!"
"En!"
Amado nodded, secretly relieved.
Tsunade said: "I really don't understand why it failed last time. Could it be because of the experimental subject?"
"Who knows?"
Orochimaru shrugged. Anyone doing research would more or less encounter some inexplicable phenomena and problems.
Obviously, including Orochimaru and Amado, no one present knew about the fierce confrontation that had just occurred here...