Orochimaru eagerly continued flipping through the documents in his hands, and as he read deeper, his expression shifted from initial shock to puzzlement and finally to profound suspicion.
For he had come across an even more astounding record, that Amado had apparently obtained what appeared to be the remains of a god.
"A god, does one truly exist, and he was able to derive so much technology from this divine body?"
Orochimaru murmured under his breath, his eyes flickering with a complex light.
In his worldview, a god had always been something nebulous and intangible, and to suddenly hear that someone had obtained the remains of a god was something he found difficult to accept all at once.
At this moment, Senju Hashirama and Sarutobi Hiruzen stood nearby, watching Orochimaru's agitated and complex expression with looks of complete bewilderment.
Although they knew Orochimaru had achieved an extraordinarily high level of mastery in scientific research, they clearly did not understand enough about these complex technologies.
Senju Hashirama scratched his head, a good-natured smile on his face, while Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and looked at this student of his.
Only Senju Tobirama, the Ninja World's foremost master of forbidden techniques, was able to follow Orochimaru's line of thinking to some degree, drawing on his own knowledge of various mystical jutsu and forbidden research.
He stood quietly to one side, a faint note of admiration in his gaze, thinking inwardly, 'This fellow is also a genius.'
In this era, the Ninja World needed to unite all available forces.
Senju Tobirama understood clearly both Orochimaru's strength and his potential, and since the Ninja World was to band together and establish a foothold across the various realms, Orochimaru might well be worth drawing over to their side.
At Roy's request, Amado led the group toward the deepest part of the base.
They arrived at a place surrounded by layer upon layer of barriers, with complex runes flowing across their surfaces, clearly a powerful defensive mechanism that had been carefully arranged.
Amado walked slowly up to the barrier and rapidly entered a long sequence of complex codes with both hands.
Senju Hashirama, standing to one side, was filled with amazement.
"Oh oh oh, so the Ninja World has already developed to this point."
With his movements, the light on the barrier grew brighter and brighter, and the barrier slowly opened, revealing the mysterious room hidden behind it.
The moment it opened, a musty aged scent washed over them, carrying the smell of years long accumulated.
The group walked into the room, and there in the center they saw an enormous container filled with a pale blue liquid, inside which floated a tall body.
This body emitted a strange radiance, as though it had been formed from the convergence of countless stars, and mysterious markings faintly surfaced across its skin.
"Look!" Amado's voice rose sharply.
"This is the body of a god, the true Ōtsutsuki God!"
As he spoke he quickly circled around to the side of the container and reached out a trembling hand, lightly stroking the outer wall, his touch so gentle it was as though he were handling a priceless treasure, and it carried with it an almost devout reverence.
"This body holds within it endless mysteries and power, and from the moment it was discovered I knew the fate of the entire Ninja World would be rewritten."
"The knowledge and power we could obtain from this body."
"As long as we can fathom the mysteries within, we can become existences that transcend ordinary people and become masters of the Ninja World."
"All these years I have studied day and night, forsaking sleep and food, all for the sake of uncovering its secrets."
Orochimaru's eyes lit up in an instant, and a twisted, greedy smile spread across his face.
"Amado, your luck really is something else!"
His voice was filled with excitement he could barely contain, and even carried a tinge of envy.
'First encountering Jigen, and then discovering the body of this Ōtsutsuki God, I searched so desperately for so many years, traveled to every corner of the Ninja World, and never so much as brushed against anything Ōtsutsuki,' Orochimaru thought inwardly.
Senju Hashirama stood to one side, and as for these complex scientific studies, it was to him like listening to a foreign language, leaving him completely at a loss.
But the moment his gaze landed on that body, a powerful and ancient aura rushed over him, causing him to shudder involuntarily, and a deep sense of dread welled up inside him.
"This, this aura is too terrifying!" Senju Hashirama murmured, his eyes betraying a sense of alarm.
Roy's brow was knit so tightly it creased into deep furrows, and danger signals flashed continuously through his mind, as though countless alarms were sounding in a frenzy.
From this single remnant body alone, a surge of intense fear rose from deep within his subconscious, an instinctive and uncontrollable fear.
'Something is wrong, something is definitely wrong.'
Roy turned this over in his mind, his gaze fixed hard on Amado as he tried to find some crack in the other man's expression.
"Tell me, does this body have a name?" Roy stared intently at Amado.
"Yes, it is called Ōtsutsuki Shibai." Amado answered promptly.
"How were you able to learn its name?"
Roy immediately pressed back.
Amado was mildly taken aback and explained, "This was sensed from the body by Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, it is likely an ability unique to the Ōtsutsuki clan, and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki told me at the time that this body was something extraordinary and that its name was Ōtsutsuki Shibai."
The sensing ability of the Ōtsutsuki clan?
Roy turned this over in his mind, his expression growing increasingly grave.
It seemed the information Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had obtained from this body was likely considerable.
This body was like a mysterious treasury, and Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had presumably already extracted no small amount of precious things from it.
Roy was deeply wary.
The power of this body was simply too immense, immense beyond what Roy could have imagined.
For a presence so powerful, even granting that it had truly left this world as Ōtsutsuki Isshiki claimed, how could its body have been left lying here so casually?
Could there be some unknown trap concealed within all of this?
Roy did not dare make a hasty judgment.
Roy's gaze slowly moved away from that mysterious body and turned toward Amado, a man who appeared unremarkable yet harbored enormous secrets.
The modified humans this man would later create possessed many abilities that defied all comprehension, and according to Amado's own account, these abilities had all been transplanted from the body of the Ōtsutsuki God.
"Omnipotence, the ability to materialize and make real whatever one conceives, the ultimate power that only a divine being could wield," Roy murmured under his breath, his tone laden with doubt.
Could a power this thoroughly heaven-defying truly be cloned so casually?
Roy could not bring himself to believe it no matter how he considered it.
If these abilities truly derived from this body of the Ōtsutsuki God, then the secrets behind this body were likely far more staggering still.
In the end, after careful deliberation, Roy decided to have Orochimaru seal this place away.