Exerting force with his hand, Orochimaru secretly circulated the Shinjutsu 'Absorption'.
From the probing just now, he discovered that Yamada Juichi didn't seem to realize what he had awakened. Or rather, Yamada Juichi was concealing something from the Research Institute, but he wasn't clear about what exactly he was concealing.
It was precisely after confirming this point that he dared to act directly.
However, even so, he didn't activate 'Absorption' with full force. Instead, as the strength in his hand increased, he urged 'Absorption' bit by bit. Because he still needed to observe Yamada Juichi's final reaction. If the opponent sensed something, he had to stop immediately to avoid being discovered by the Research Institute.
"D-Damn it!"
Yamada Juichi, being choked by the neck, flushed instantly.
Not only did difficulty breathing make him unable to exert strength, but it also made his brain feel dizzy, and his thoughts gradually became sluggish.
Orochimaru chuckled: "Look, isn't this an interesting thing?"
Yamada Juichi tried to pry open Orochimaru's hand: "Interesting my ass! I'm going to... twist your head off!"
Orochimaru continued to provoke: "Didn't you have great strength before? Why no strength now? Did you run out of chakra?"
"Bastard!"
Ashamed and angry, Yamada Juichi struggled even harder.
As Yamada Juichi struggled with all his might, the sensing of Orochimaru's Shinjutsu 'Absorption' became clearer, so he gradually became certain: "His Shinjutsu is in the process of awakening!"
How to awaken Shinjutsu had no definite conclusion so far. Even surviving the ritual only meant possessing certain conditions for awakening Shinjutsu; there was still a step away from truly awakening it.
Compared to top ninjas like Orochimaru, both Owl before and Yamada Juichi now could only be considered laymen who switched professions halfway. Whether in terms of chakra control and understanding or mastery of ninjutsu, they belonged to the unrated level among ninjas.
The reason they had such terrifying combat power now was purely because the ritual brought them to a height that didn't belong to them.
The Research Institute actually knew this point well, or rather, this was exactly the result the Research Institute wanted.
The Research Institute didn't want experimental subjects who successfully survived the ritual and obtained 'Six Paths Level' combat power to also possess matching combat experience and skills. This was why the Research Institute only arranged tests and not training afterward.
So Owl and Yamada Juichi were in the same situation. If their bodies were compared to machines, they belonged to those with strong hardware but poor supporting software, so they couldn't fully display the machine's performance.
Owl was slightly better because the Shinjutsu 'Conversion' he awakened was a passive type, controlled by body instincts. So after being stimulated in the test, he completed the awakening instinctively.
Yamada Juichi's Shinjutsu should be some kind of active Shinjutsu, which required Yamada Juichi to have certain chakra control capabilities. But an unrated wanted criminal obviously didn't possess such control over chakra, leading to the situation where he couldn't fully awaken the Shinjutsu for a long time.
And now, being choked by Orochimaru, Yamada Juichi's survival instinct was completely triggered, so the Shinjutsu began to awaken.
Feeling Yamada Juichi's strength to pry his hand becoming greater and greater, Orochimaru was not angry but delighted.
"This guy doesn't realize at all that he is awakening a Shinjutsu. Now is the best time for me to absorb his Shinjutsu!"
Orochimaru's brain began to operate crazily.
If he absorbed Yamada Juichi's Shinjutsu now, it would be difficult for Yamada Juichi to notice because he hadn't fully awakened yet. Afterward, even if the Research Institute investigated, they would only think that Yamada Juichi failed to awaken a Shinjutsu.
As long as he could find an opportunity to dispose of Yamada Juichi later, he could completely cover up this matter and keep the Research Institute in the dark.
Immediately, he glanced at the direction of the Research Institute in the distance from the corner of his eye.
Because the commotion of the fight here was too big, shaking the heaven and splitting the earth, it had long alarmed the entire Research Institute. However, also due to the fight being too fierce, to avoid being affected, the Research Institute didn't send personnel to observe closely but only watched from afar through airships.
Orochimaru grinned.
He could feel the gazes of Amado, Tsunade, Sasori, and others on the airship, and could also feel Eida's gaze on him. But these gazes actually had no impact on him, because his Shinjutsu 'Absorption' showed no trace from the outside. Unless observed with precision instruments or sensed by ninjas using sensory ninjutsu at close range, it was impossible to detect the operation of the Shinjutsu.
Feeling assured, Orochimaru circulated 'Absorption' without hiding it so much anymore.
Yamada Juichi instantly fell into a weird state where he was awakening a Shinjutsu on one hand, while the newly awakened Shinjutsu was being sucked away by Orochimaru's 'Absorption' on the other.
Since he hadn't truly awakened the Shinjutsu yet, and was being choked by Orochimaru at this moment, his brain severely lacked oxygen, and his thoughts were in chaos. So he didn't notice what Orochimaru was doing. He could only vaguely feel his strength draining away bit by bit, while Orochimaru's hand gripping his neck tightened more and more.
Feeling that death might really descend, Yamada Juichi had long lost the thought of confronting Orochimaru, struggling to say: "Sp... spare me!"
Orochimaru grinned hideously: "What are you saying? I didn't hear clearly?"
Disregarding his dignity, Yamada Juichi begged again: "Pl... please spare me!"
Orochimaru laughed loudly.
In the distance.
Amado on the airship felt something was vaguely wrong. Because Orochimaru had been hiding his capabilities before; even facing Owl's direct provocation, he didn't fight Owl.
In contrast, Yamada Juichi was much lower-key than Owl. He didn't understand why Orochimaru would fight Yamada Juichi to this extent.
Things out of the ordinary must have a demon behind them!
Tsunade beside him, seeing the outcome was decided, frowned: "Orochimaru wouldn't be thinking of killing him, would he!"
Sasori, however, said with interest: "If he can't awaken Shinjutsu even like this, it doesn't matter if such trash dies!"
Amado didn't intervene immediately, actually harboring the thought of seeing if Yamada Juichi could awaken Shinjutsu under the threat of death.
However, he also knew that whether Yamada Juichi could awaken Shinjutsu was secondary. His existence itself was what Shinji needed. So seeing Orochimaru about to strike with lethal intent, he had to order Delta beside him: "Go quickly and make Orochimaru stop!"
Delta snorted coldly, then flew towards the distant battlefield, ordering Orochimaru in the ruins of rocks: "Stop!"
At this time, Orochimaru had already completed the absorption of the Shinjutsu. However, to prevent Yamada Juichi from noticing, he punched heavily on Yamada Juichi's heart.
Bang...
Yamada Juichi's eyes widened, and he fainted!