novelhk Chapter 135 The Second Deal with Orochimaru [4K]
Chapter 135 The Second Deal with Orochimaru [4K]
Chapter 136 The Second Deal with Orochimaru [4K]
Orochimaru smiled, a smile tinged with cunning.
"Price? I never expected to get this word from Shura." Clearly, Orochimaru was still holding a grudge against Menma and Gouya from before.
"But it's true, I've provided such valuable results, so naturally I need you to provide something that interests me." Orochimaru slowly walked to Menma's side, his snake eyes fixed intently on him, his voice lowered again, carrying a hint of probing and seduction.
"Have you ever heard of the 'Eyes of God' of Amegakure?" Orochimaru's gaze turned fervent, and deep within his vertical pupils surged a longing for the legendary Sage's Eyes.
"Those eyes are said to be the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, capable of seeing through all ninjutsu in the world, mastering the cycle of life and death, and possessing the power of creation and destruction—the Rinnegan." Orochimaru pronounced the name word by word, as if he were chewing on some forbidden fruit.
His snake-like eyes were fixed on Shura's white three-eyed fox mask, hoping to get from Shura more information about the Rinnegan that he had been dreaming of.
Orochimaru probably thought that since Shura came from the future, he should know some secrets of the Rinnegan, and even know his purpose.
"So Orochimaru has his eye on Nagato's Rinnegan." Beneath the white three-eyed fox mask, Menma's lips curled into a slight smile.
Given Orochimaru's current condition, let alone Nagato, even Obito Uchiha might not be able to handle him.
Menma's thoughts raced, and he was fully aware of Orochimaru's probing.
He knew that Orochimaru must have learned about the appearance of a pair of Sage Eyes in the Land of Rain from Danzo, but he might not be aware of Nagato's current situation.
Moreover, according to the storyline, Orochimaru did indeed join the Akatsuki organization. Apparently, he was trying to gather information about the Akatsuki when Pain and Sasori, who were being manipulated by Nagato, came to him. Orochimaru attempted to take Pain's Rinnegan, but was repelled by Shinra Tensei. After that, he expressed his desire to join the Akatsuki organization.
Pain, or rather Nagato, also recognized Orochimaru's strength and was very confident in his own abilities, so he agreed to let Orochimaru join the Akatsuki organization.
Later, after Itachi Uchiha joined the Akatsuki, Orochimaru coveted Itachi's Sharingan and launched an attack, only to be instantly defeated by Itachi with a single glance, and then escaped from the Akatsuki.
After considering the situation, Menma felt that the best strategy at this moment was not to cover it up, but to go with the flow and lead the knowledge-hungry Orochimaru to the Akatsuki organization, so that he would suffer a bit.
"Rinnegan—" Menma murmured softly, his voice carrying a hint of ethereal distance.
When Shura spoke, Orochimaru also became secretly expectant, as if he wanted to hear information about time travel!
"Those are indeed the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. The power they display far surpasses that of ordinary people, even exceeding the Sharingan and Byakugan, and they have mastered the secrets of the cycle of life and death." He paused for a moment, and the eye holes of the white three-eyed fox mask seemed to sweep over Orochimaru almost imperceptibly, with a hint of profound meaning.
Orochimaru's breathing became rapid, and his snake-like eyes were filled with a fanatical light.
Shura's words undoubtedly confirmed his guess about the Rinnegan, suggesting it was even more powerful than he had known.
"The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths!" These few words alone were enough to ignite Orochimaru's thirst for knowledge and greed.
"However, such power is not something that ordinary people can control, and those who possess it are by no means ordinary people." Menma's tone suddenly became serious.
With a hint of admonition and a touch of sarcasm, he said, "Orochimaru, let me give you a piece of advice: you'd better be careful when facing the wielder of those eyes. With your current strength, you won't gain anything by fighting against those eyes."
Orochimaru's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.
He recalled his past encounter with Shura, who had only released two summoning beasts to protect the Ibri clan, and had defeated him with the Flying Thunder God Technique and a ninjutsu he had never seen before, which resembled the Rasengan developed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
According to the information relayed by the spies he left in Konoha, Shura had once again pierced the Byakugan of the Hyuga main family a few months ago, and even the Jonin troops led by his own teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, could not stop him.
This demonstrates its formidable strength.
For Shura to utter such words, Orochimaru did indeed feel a sense of unease about the owner of those eyes.
Menma, seeing Orochimaru's excited face, continued, "Of course, you're welcome to give it a try."
"With your abilities, even if you find things are hopeless, you can always escape unscathed, right?" Menma's words made his implication quite clear.
Menma knew Orochimaru's personality; he was both greedy and fearful of death. Even if she tried to stop Orochimaru, he would definitely try to test him himself.
His combination of temptation and warning can be seen as support for Orochimaru's plan.
Orochimaru's face revealed an extremely complex smile, a mixture of excitement at receiving guidance and a strong desire for the unknown.
"I heard that you attacked the Hyuga clan's territory a few months ago and even dug out four pairs of Byakugan from the clan elders. Does the Byakugan have similar power to the Sharingan?" Orochimaru suddenly changed the subject.
This not only highlights his intelligence network in Konoha, but also demonstrates his curiosity about the Byakugan.
When he was in Konoha, he paid attention to the Byakugan and Sharingan. However, because the Uchiha clan had produced a powerful ninja like Madara Uchiha in recent decades and had a clear path of evolution, he paid special attention to the Sharingan.
In contrast, the Byakugan is restricted by the Caged Bird Seal for branch family ninjas. Obtaining a pair of Byakugan without any constraints is much more difficult than obtaining a pair of Sharingan.
Moreover, the Hyuga clan has never produced any great figures, but Shura "visited" the Hyuga clan twice. The second time, he even gouged out four pairs of Byakugan from the main Hyuga family. Orochimaru was naturally curious about eyes that could make a ninja from the future like Shura take action.
"I advised you not to get too close to Danzo." Menma warned him first. Orochimaru was able to know precisely that Shura had gouged out four pairs of Byakugan from the Hyuga main family elders, which must have been information given to him by Danzo. Otherwise, given the pawns Orochimaru left in Konoha, even if they knew the details of the battle, it would be unlikely that they would know the exact number of four pairs.
Then, Menma said, "The four families with dojutsu bloodline limits that still exist are all related to the Sage of Six Paths. If you are interested, you can exchange items and technology for the Byakugan when I clone it later."
Four families with eye techniques? All related to the Sage of Six Paths? Orochimaru's vertical pupils narrowed as he carefully pondered the information revealed in Shura's words.
Orochimaru was getting more and more excited. Every conversation he had with Shura was full of information he didn't know!
This further highlights Shura's understanding of the ninja world and Orochimaru's extent of exploration of it.
"Well then, since we've come to a deal, I think my sincerity is sufficient." Menma changed the subject and returned to the main topic of the deal: "I want one copy of the cloned cells of the letter, and those ten pairs of single-tomoe Sharingan, as well as the related cloning technology, are all part of the last deal."
"The cells from a powerful Uchiha ninja will be sent to you in a while." Menma doesn't have any Uchiha ninja cells on hand right now, so he'll probably have to go back and ask Uchiha Hikaru for some skin tissue or something similar.
"No problem." Orochimaru licked his lips and agreed without hesitation.
"By the way, the White Zetsu cells are almost depleted. I need an adult-sized White Zetsu." Orochimaru's gaze turned fervent again.
After a year of research, he had only scratched the surface of leukemia.
Those humanoid life forms that can multiply indefinitely and are highly adaptable are invaluable for his human experiments.
It was precisely because of the White Zetsu cells that Orochimaru's experimental progress skyrocketed.
Next, he planned to try transplanting Leukemia cells into Xin's body, but the Leukemia cells had already been almost completely depleted.
This is one of the few things he cannot clone. You should know that even Orochimaru has mastered some cloning technology for Hashirama cells!
"You used it all up so quickly?" The brows beneath the pockmarked mask furrowed slightly, showing some surprise.
In less than a year, Orochimaru has already consumed one White Zetsu; that's quite fast.
"Hehe, after all, that stuff is just too suitable for experiments. As long as there's a possible research direction, I can't help but try some White Zetsu cells." Orochimaru licked his forehead with his tongue, which, combined with the woman's face, looked a bit eerie.
"Use them sparingly, one a year. These things are hard to catch." Mianma shook his head helplessly.
He took out a storage scroll and tossed it to Orochimaru.
The current number of White Zetsu should not exceed one hundred. I captured four when I was clearing them out, gave one to Orochimaru, and I am currently using one in my research lab in the Land of Stars. I only have two left in my storage scroll.
Although he knew that 100,000 White Zetsu were sleeping somewhere in the Land of Iron, Menma did not want to activate them at this stage, nor did he want to attract too much attention from Black Zetsu.
This old cunning bastard is too good at hiding. If he arouses Black Zetsu's suspicion, he will simply flee and abandon the current plan. It will be really troublesome for Menma to find Black Zetsu.
Most importantly, the plot will also be greatly affected.
The reason for handing the White Zetsu to Orochimaru was mainly to ensure that Orochimaru's research would develop in the direction he envisioned, and that Orochimaru would become his "outsourced research" and "laborer" in the future.
Orochimaru took the storage scroll and eagerly opened it, placing one of the White Zetsu inside on the experimental table.
Then, Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and took out a storage scroll containing a cloned cell sample of Uchiha Shin and cloning technology from his throat, and handed it to Menma.
"Pfft, that's your habit." Menma took the scroll covered in slime, shook it, and then put it away.
Having completed this important transaction, Menma prepared to leave.
"By the way, I've recently been researching a very interesting forbidden technique—the Impure World Reincarnation Technique." Orochimaru's snake-like eyes flashed with an unusual light once more, his voice filled with seduction.
Orochimaru's voice carried a hint of inexplicable anticipation as he said, "To be able to summon departed souls back to the mortal world..."
And to restore his former strength—are you interested?
Menma's heart stirred slightly; the Impure World Reincarnation.
He knew all too well the power of this forbidden technique.
Judging by the timeline, Kabuto was able to summon the Impure World Reincarnation army using Orochimaru's "legacy," which likely started around this time when Orochimaru began collecting the flesh and blood tissues of ninjas from various countries and digging up their graves.
Menma's mind conjured up images of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki.
When the Fourth Shinobi World War was launched in the "Limited Tsukuyomi World", in order to prevent his parents and his friends who he cared about from participating in the war, he attacked Miha in advance and injured Kushina, Hinata and others.
In that world, Minato Namikaze prioritized family over the village, so after the Fourth Shinobi World War broke out, he chose to stay in the village to take care of Kushina.
Although Menma believed that world was fake, he could never let go of those feelings.
Menma also had some questions he wanted to ask Kushina and Minato Namikaze about this world.
Why did they choose to die without leaving a message for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others? Was it because they didn't have time? Or...?
Besides the Impure World Reincarnation technique, Menma also knew of several other ninjutsu that could revive people.
For example, the Rinnegan's Rinne Rebirth Technique, the Sunagakure's Rebirth Technique, and the Kusagakure's Dragon Life Rebirth Technique.
However, he wasn't sure if Minato Namikaze would stop him after learning of his ambition to unify the ninja world, so a complete resurrection of Minato was not an option for the time being. He could try using the Impure World Reincarnation technique, though; he could summon Old Man Deng and have a talk first.
Test the waters.
"Huh? Wait a minute, it seems like Minato Namikaze's soul has been taken away by the Grim Reaper." Menma suddenly remembered this important matter.
That means we need to find the Grim Reaper mask first.
Thinking of this, Mianma's face beneath the white three-eyed fox mask also showed a hint of worry.
Where is the Grim Reaper mask again?
I can't figure it out right now, I'll look into it slowly later.
Menma turned his white three-eyed fox mask to look at Orochimaru, without revealing much emotion.
"Impure World Reincarnation—"
He said calmly, "If you can successfully improve it, we can make another deal."
"Hehehe, then I'm really looking forward to our next trade." Orochimaru let out an excited, hoarse laugh.
Without saying anything more, he packed up the ten single-tomoe Sharingan eyes, carefully stored away all the items he had obtained from the ranking list, and left them there.
With a slight nod, he turned and instantly left the underground laboratory filled with the forbidden aura of electricity.
They came without a sound and left without a trace, as if they had never existed.
Orochimaru looked at the spot where the Shura had disappeared. The Flying Thunder God Technique had left no trace, but it only made Orochimaru's expression more excited.
That school possessed the Rasengan, a mysterious ninjutsu, and was also adept at the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Orochimaru raised his hand and tucked a strand of long hair behind his ear, his red lips bearing an enigmatic smile.
"Even the Asuras want to revive the top-ranked people?!" Orochimaru excitedly stuck out his tongue.
He muttered to himself, "So, who is it?"
Orochimaru felt as if he were getting closer to the true face beneath the Shura mask, and his brain seemed to be trembling.
"The real rankings are so hard to guess—the Fourth Generation."