In a narrow, dark room, located no one knew where, Orochimaru sat in a corner, his figure completely shrouded in deep shadows.
Although nothing could be seen here, one could always feel a pair of slender snake-like eyes gleaming with a chilling light.
Originally, Orochimaru had sought out Habara to compare the similarities and differences between his completed Cursed Seal and the "Cursed Seal" used by Habara. But he hadn't expected to receive such unexpected information.
To explain briefly, although Jiraiya had felt that Habara was a promising talent at the front-line camp and wanted to get in touch with him further, Habara wasn't actually suitable for practicing senjutsu at this time. Habara had an extremely high affinity for natural energy; this was his advantage. However, a more obvious shortcoming restricted him from learning orthodox senjutsu… It was still the issue of chakra volume. Those who practiced senjutsu needed to have a considerably high base chakra level.
Clearly, Habara didn't meet this condition. In many cases, the natural energy in his body was far greater than his chakra. Therefore, when he mixed natural energy into his chakra pathways, he was often very extravagant… It wasn't mixing natural energy into chakra; it was mixing chakra into natural energy.
...
Orochimaru had already returned to his dwelling. His exchange with Habara had been very brief, but those few words held infinite meaning for him. Based on intuition alone, Orochimaru didn't think Habara was lying, because everything Habara said aligned with some of his own research… Many times, appearance and truth are separated by only a thin layer of paper. Once it's pierced, he would naturally obtain a thorough understanding of the facts.
However, some other questions also arose.
First, why did someone like Habara know the ultimate secrets of this world? This was completely unreasonable. You should know, in the eyes of ordinary ninja, the so-called "Sage of Six Paths' Creation Myth" was just a legend. Ninja who believed that the Sage of Six Paths was a real person, not a myth, were few and far between. Yet Habara was very certain about such things. How did a ninja like him obtain such core information?
"'Inji no Jutsu' (Attraction Technique)… A secret ninja clan that was wiped out… It seems the reason for their annihilation wasn't just Magnet Release…"
Naturally, Orochimaru's train of thought went astray, but this line of thinking was very natural. That kind of information couldn't have been obtained by Habara through his own investigation. Therefore, it could only have come from some secret inheritance. This was the most reasonable explanation, even the only explanation.
Orochimaru decided to devote some effort to re-investigating Habara's background. Regardless, he increasingly believed that letting Habara go so easily at the time was a tremendous loss.
The next question was the "power of all creation." Actually, there was no need to be so mystical. The power of all creation referred to the power that could both create and destroy everything, or simply put, the power that the Sage of Six Paths once possessed.
So Habara's words meant that combining the body of the Sage and the eyes of the Sage would grant the power of the Sage of Six Paths. So, what were the body of the Sage and the eyes of the Sage? The former needed no explanation; Orochimaru had been researching this for years.
The body of the Sage, Orochimaru believed, should be the trinity of the Senju clan, Wood Release, and senjutsu. The legendary power of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who pacified the world fifty years ago, if it was inherited from the Sage of Six Paths, then it made perfect sense… Therefore, as for the power of the body of the Sage, although Orochimaru couldn't say he had completely mastered it, he had indeed grasped it in his hands.
Then what about the eyes of the Sage?
"The Uchiha clan," a hoarse voice whispered softly in the darkness.
If anyone had ever possessed power comparable to Hashirama Senju's, it was only Madara Uchiha. Combining the power of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha could be said to be the power of the Sage of Six Paths. It made perfect sense. Originally, the strength of these two was beyond the norm. Combining the two, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it truly "godly."
"Sharingan—Mangekyo Sharingan—Rinnegan," Orochimaru then said.
Habara hadn't explained to Orochimaru what the Mangekyo Sharingan was, but Orochimaru had already deduced this developmental progression himself. And he almost immediately understood something deeper… From Sharingan to Mangekyo Sharingan should require the Uchiha clan's self-evolution, and from Mangekyo Sharingan to Rinnegan should require the body of the Sage.
As mentioned before, Orochimaru had collected enough random secrets of the ninja world. Therefore, with just a little hint, he could immediately sort and organize the jumbled information.
"Uchiha clan… Uchiha clan…"
Orochimaru began to murmur this word repeatedly. If a member of the Uchiha clan heard his voice at this moment, they would definitely feel their hair stand on end.
At this moment, a normal-sized white snake hissed, spitting out its tongue, and coiled around Orochimaru's body. This temporarily pulled Orochimaru's consciousness out of his complex thoughts. He reached out and gently stroked the white snake's head, then stuffed a scroll into the snake's mouth.
The white snake swallowed the scroll in one gulp and then slowly slithered away.
Compared to the information Orochimaru had received, Fushi Tensei was indeed insignificant. He had made a huge profit from this transaction, so he readily handed over the most complete version of the Fushi Tensei data.
He held nothing back, truly handing over this life-or-death forbidden technique. But it really didn't matter, because…
Orochimaru no longer needed this technique anyway.
A short while later, this "snake express courier" traveled across mountains and rivers, traversing more than half of Konoha, and then accurately delivered the package to the recipient… The white snake arrived in front of Habara, retched a few times, and then spat out the scroll, which was covered in various fluids.
Habara: "…"
How should he account for this external damage?
He could only carefully pick up the scroll with two fingers and quickly place it on the table in front of him. After he took the scroll, the white snake very humanely nodded, then poof, the summoning was released.
Habara could only find a towel first and carefully clean the surface of the scroll.
He had told Orochimaru such important information, although it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, he didn't think there was any major problem with it. He hadn't lied, but the power of the Uchiha and Senju alone wasn't enough to awaken the Rinnegan. It required the highest quality combination of Uchiha and Senju… namely, Asura and Indra's chakra.
After Orochimaru obtained this information, he wouldn't casually spread it around. He wasn't a blabbermouth, so the spread of this information would be very limited.
Taking a step back, even if Orochimaru really researched something, or even if he could obtain the Rinnegan, would that be a bad thing? Of course not. This would introduce new variables and new power into the future crisis of the ninja world.
One thing was actually quite comical: Madara Uchiha hoped that after his death, the world would still develop as he had envisioned it when he was alive. Honestly, this idea was even more arrogant than the Otsutsuki clan… Just ask one question: why should it?
So, if one could ignore some of Orochimaru's cruel research processes, Habara would one hundred percent support his research. Speaking of which, Jiraiya had spent his entire life searching for the so-called "Child of Prophecy." At first, he believed the "Child of Prophecy" was Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan. Later, he believed the "Child of Prophecy" was Minato Namikaze. Finally, he believed the "Child of Prophecy" was Naruto Uzumaki. However, none of these three changed the world.
So, hadn't Jiraiya noticed that the person most likely to change the world had always been by his side? This was definitely a case of overlooking what was right in front of him.
The Child of Prophecy, Orochimaru. Habara thought that sounded really good. He just didn't know if Jiraiya actually said to Orochimaru, "You are the Child of Prophecy I've been looking for all this time," whether Orochimaru would immediately reply, "Who are you calling names? I'm your father…"
Habara laughed silently, then unrolled the scroll and began to re-study the new version of Fushi Tensei. In the following days, his life became regular: during the day, he participated in the establishment of the new organization, "Akakammuri," and at night, he studied Orochimaru's Fushi Tensei.
Orochimaru's forbidden techniques were basically as complex as they could be. Obviously, Habara wasn't good at interpreting such things. Fortunately, he had studied the previous version of Fushi Tensei before, so after a few days of research, he figured out some clues.
Unfortunately, the news Habara obtained through his research wasn't good.
First, assuming that the conversion technique he had previously performed on Daigo was successful, then Daigo's spirit body was currently in a state awaiting reincarnation. If he wanted to unseal that sealing scroll, he needed to prepare a body for reincarnation in advance… In other words, he needed a living sacrifice.
But there were several problems here. The body required for Fushi Tensei needed to be carefully selected. The new body had to be compatible with the original spirit body, otherwise the technique wouldn't succeed. But now, Habara couldn't confirm what kind of body Daigo needed.
Second, Daigo's spirit body needed to devour the spirit of the sacrifice to occupy the new body. However, her spirit body was undoubtedly in a weakened state with low activity. How could she devour someone else's spirit?
Finally, killing someone to save someone else presented ethical and moral problems. Where could Habara find a young, previously evil, now senile, physically compatible ninja whose spirit matched Daigo's?
Honestly, it felt like this was going to be difficult.
Perhaps he should just support Orochimaru in researching the Rinnegan, and then, after he finished his research, have him perform Rinne Tensei no Jutsu on Daigo. It felt like that would be less difficult.
Would Orochimaru readily agree?
Okay, Habara needed to find another way.
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