Support me by leaving a comment, review and vote
visit my Pat**on at belamy20
you can read lots story
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."
Even if he didn't fully understand the reasoning, Kabuto Yakushi never hesitated when it came to executing orders. He bowed immediately and responded.
"Also, how is the reconnaissance for that matter coming along?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow slightly, a faint, cold glint flickering within his seemingly indifferent gaze.
Hearing this question, Kabuto suddenly came to a realization.
'So that's what this was about?'
While secretly noting this in his heart, he responded with a respectful tone, "The specific location has been confirmed. It is indeed in the western outskirts of the Leaf. The area is currently unguarded and appears to be completely abandoned. However, the analysis of the jutsu formula isn't complete yet. The most critical issue is that Danzo still has no intention of handing the formula itself over to us."
The Reaper Death Seal.
In the original timeline, Orochimaru had to rely on his own analysis and research, taking two or three years to successfully figure out the correct method to undo it. In this life, however, with Menma's reminders and some research materials provided as aid, Orochimaru had fully grasped the core of this jutsu in just three or four short months.
The solution was indeed exactly as Menma had described. However, because it hadn't undergone systematic, complete verification, Orochimaru couldn't easily rush into human trials. It was best to have the original jutsu formula as a reference.
This required Danzo to hand over the original scroll of the Reaper Death Seal.
But that old geezer, Danzo...
He obviously intended to hold onto this point as his bargaining chip.
Others might not know the danger and terror of this jutsu, but as a high-ranking official of the Hidden Leaf, how could Danzo not know?
The only reason he hadn't used it was that the requirements for the caster were too high; Danzo simply couldn't learn it. Otherwise, given Danzo's personality, he absolutely wouldn't have passed up a technique that could be used for mutually assured destruction in a final stand.
It was just like how he had inscribed the Reverse Four Tetragrams Sealing on his own body.
In this regard, Danzo did possess a certain level of resolve.
Therefore, how could he easily let Orochimaru obtain the core of this jutsu? Leaving aside the fact that Danzo was naturally wary of Orochimaru, he was currently shielding Menma—a rogue ninja whom Danzo believed deserved to die ten times over.
It would be a cold day in hell before Danzo obediently agreed to Orochimaru's request.
Without this step...
While it didn't mean the research couldn't proceed, they would inevitably have to shoulder corresponding risks. For a forbidden jutsu of this magnitude, even a research fanatic like Orochimaru needed to verify it multiple times.
Because of this, Orochimaru was granting every request Menma made. In his view, this boy who was shrouded in secrets must still be holding something back regarding this matter, keeping the full truth from him.
Unfortunately, on this specific point, Orochimaru was truly wronging Menma. Menma really had told Orochimaru everything he knew about the Reaper Death Seal.
But Orochimaru didn't know that.
After all, in a relationship like theirs, it was only rational to assume the other party was holding something back.
"Danzo... hmph. Let's not be hasty for now. The analysis of the formula still requires further theoretical proof. Go and bring back all the masks from that location first. If there are no issues, we will then inspect them one by one," Orochimaru said with a cold snort, his voice chilling.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."
Kabuto bowed again in response.
Reverse engineering the Reaper Death Seal.
Having reached the final step, Orochimaru had roughly realized that the price for undoing the seal was one's life. Generally speaking, the best approach would be to select a subordinate to execute it.
However, the difficulty of this jutsu ranked among the highest in the ninja world.
It wasn't something just anyone could learn.
Even Kabuto would find it extremely difficult to pull off.
In other words, within Orochimaru's current faction, he was the only one capable of doing it. But this created a paradox: sacrificing his life just to regain his hands?
That would be complete nonsense.
However, Orochimaru was different from others.
To ensure his survival, he had prepared quite a few escape routes.
The Eight Branches Technique.
The Curse Mark.
These were special secret jutsu already demonstrated in the original story.
However, they weren't fully perfected yet. Orochimaru definitely needed to conduct multiple verifications before he could rely on them for this.
Until then, he had to hold off.
At any rate, his current body could still last for quite a while. Although the eroding body was suffering some effects, there were no fundamental issues.
Orochimaru could endure for a bit longer.
"Oh, right. How is the preliminary testing going for the fusion experiments between the various cells and the Sharingan?"
The Sharingan and the Rinnegan.
This was one of the most critical conditions agreed upon when Menma and Orochimaru first established their partnership. Unlike his openness regarding the Reaper Death Seal, on this topic, the intelligence and data Menma provided were extremely ambiguous.
It wasn't that the information was useless, but compared to the former, the intel Menma provided was very difficult to verify.
Most importantly, Menma hadn't told Orochimaru about the standard evolution path: Madara Uchiha's progression from Sharingan to Mangekyo, to Eternal Mangekyo, and finally to Rinnegan.
Including the true essence of "All Creation."
Menma had spoken very vaguely about it.
As a result, Orochimaru couldn't easily find the correct direction for his research.
He only had a general hypothesis to work with; the rest relied entirely on his own experimental verification.
But Orochimaru didn't feel the least bit discouraged.
This was a normal part of the process.
Previously, Orochimaru hadn't understood the relationship between the Sharingan and the Rinnegan. Now that he knew the Rinnegan could be evolved based on the Sharingan foundation, he had already taken the most critical step.
This was the foundational step from 0 to 1.
The rest simply required proposing countless hypotheses and conducting multiple verifications. Even if it required thousands or tens of thousands of experiments, Orochimaru would persevere.
After all, he had witnessed the existence of the Rinnegan with his own eyes!
The moment he thought of Pain's Rinnegan, a look of fanaticism floated in Orochimaru's eyes.
Originally, Orochimaru thought those eyes were innate, like the legendary Sage of Six Paths. But now that he knew they could be evolved from the Sharingan, he would naturally exhaust all means to pursue them.
"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. The initial tests are complete. Here is the experimental data. The deviation from our initial estimates is... quite significant."
Kabuto pulled a scroll from his robe, stepped forward, and handed it to Orochimaru.
When Orochimaru unrolled it and saw the data inside, his brow furrowed instantly.