Inside a gloomy laboratory.
On the operating table lay a corpse. The body's condition was gruesome — and across from it, a man with a distinctly sinister cast to his features stood frowning, staring down at the remains as though lost in thought.
The Wood Style experiment had failed again.
Not that it was any surprise. Once more, the test subject had ended up in exactly this state... No matter how many attempts were made, the Wood Style experiments showed zero progress. One could even say that aside from the single infant who had survived in the very beginning, there had been absolutely no other survivors.
...Guess it's time to go find new test subjects again.
The thought flickered through Orochimaru's mind. He withdrew his gaze and glanced around the room.
Let's clear my head. Do something else for a bit.
He was thinking this when he raised his eyes — and saw something that gave him pause.
His books were flying.
"...?"
For a moment, Orochimaru was finally forced to acknowledge that some things in this world defied explanation.
Just as the success or failure of Hashirama Cell transplantation was difficult to understand, he currently could not understand why his books were flying.
And then — almost as if they had noticed his gaze — after a brief hesitation, one of the books traced a looping arc through the air.
The book was waving hello at him.
After thinking it over for a moment, Orochimaru arrived at this conclusion, which nearly made him laugh out of sheer irritated disbelief.
A book was waving hello at him?
Was this some kind of joke?
He immediately reached out to snatch the book back — he wanted to take a good hard look at what was going on — but the book instantly dropped back onto the shelf. By the time Orochimaru had processed what happened, it had gone completely inert, returning to its perfectly ordinary state.
All that remained was Orochimaru staring at the tome recording his own research with a look of blank confusion — which only deepened with each passing second.
Then, blazing to life in his eyes: intense, burning curiosity.
Was it a ninja from another village? Some kind of similar technique?
But then — how was this being done without any trace of chakra usage?
There were no mechanisms or contraptions in the vicinity either...
He raised his head and scanned the room again. Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the laboratory, Anthony — who had been gleefully playing poltergeist using Soul Attachment — slid a sideways glance at Orochimaru, then carefully drew on his Soul Force once more.
Honestly, though. Honestly.
Upgrading Soul of Solidity was absolutely the right call!
If not for the bonus from Soul of Solidity, Anthony's Soul Attachment wouldn't be nearly this convenient to use... And the Soul Strength upgrade had brought benefits beyond just that one perk.
First and foremost, what Anthony noticed was that his control over souls had grown considerably sharper.
On a practical level, this meant he could now actively conceal his own soul — because without that ability, Orochimaru might very well have spotted him by now.
At the same time, as his Soul Strength increased, Anthony could clearly feel that his capacity to interact with and influence the physical world had also risen. In a sense, his soul's Perception of reality had sharpened. For instance, he could now clearly sense the flow of chakra through Orochimaru's body — and the location of his soul.
Even the ambient chakra in the surrounding environment had become remarkably crisp and legible to him.
And paired with The Angler... Anthony had a feeling that once his Soul Strength reached ten, he'd be able to actively use The Angler to hook onto things.
Or rather — to Lock On to things.
The thought crossed his mind, and his fingers shifted slightly. He extended the fishing line toward the test subject lying on the operating table.
The fishing line — composed of pure soul energy — hooked onto the body on the operating table. Then, as Anthony moved the hand holding it, a tiny fragment of flesh and blood lifted into the air.
"Hm?"
Orochimaru caught the change with razor-sharp awareness and turned around almost instantly, making Anthony freeze again.
But in that same moment, The Angler had already teleported that tiny scrap of flesh and blood directly onto the Styx Boat.
"...An illusion? But it does seem like something's... missing here..."
Orochimaru pondered for a moment, then ultimately turned away and looked back at the massive collection of books on his shelves.
Seizing the opportunity, Anthony quickly spent a few points and used Soul Attachment to manipulate several more books, sending them sailing through the air — and in passing, he arranged them into the shape of Konoha's leaf symbol for Orochimaru's benefit.
How do you say "loyalty"? How indeed.
For some reason, Anthony suddenly felt like he was playing a game of Red Light, Green Light.
Sure enough, Orochimaru's attention was drawn back to the fluttering books — and Anthony, seizing that window, happily went back to pilfering more flesh and blood from the operating table.
This stuff contained trace amounts of Hashirama Cells. Not a huge quantity, sure — but hey, some was better than none!
Looking at the notification that appeared in the group chat interface, Anthony couldn't help the corners of his mouth curling upward.
[You have obtained: Hashirama Cells · Trace Amount]
[This material can be used to weave The Angler's Casting Net. Current material stock is sufficient to weave a relatively small-scale Casting Net. Forge now?]
Hah — he'd originally come here to get the Reanimation Jutsu, and then he'd spotted the Hashirama Cells and just... couldn't help himself.
Sure, Obito further down the line was basically a walking Hashirama Cell bank — but that didn't stop Anthony from skimming a little off Orochimaru, the small-time dealer, first. Right?
Then, when Orochimaru turned back around again, Anthony sensed through his soul's Perception that the high-vitality cells had already been removed from the corpse on the table — and chose to quit while he was ahead.
Right... time to get down to the actual business at hand. Grab the Reanimation Jutsu.
The books he'd just skimmed through on the shelf didn't contain any of Orochimaru's Reanimation Jutsu research.
The thought flickered through Anthony's mind. He raised his head, faced the shelves packed full of books, and mulled it over for a moment.
Then he made his decision — almost immediately.
And so, in the next instant, Orochimaru witnessed a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Every single book on his shelves took flight.
Just like entering some kind of anti-gravity field — every last one of them abruptly, absurdly, all rose into the air at once!
These were his life's research. All of it!
In an instant, Orochimaru's pupils contracted. The shock in his chest surged to a whole new level. He even briefly wondered whether he'd run into an actual ghost.
But in the next moment, driven by pure instinct to protect his research, Orochimaru lunged forward —
— whatever was happening, whatever had caused this, protecting the key studies first!
He grabbed one of the swirling books almost immediately — and Anthony, following his motion, glanced at the title.
Wood Style research. So, unless he was mistaken, the next one would be...
And so, amidst the storm of airborne books, Orochimaru's sharp eyes darted and he reached out again.
Anthony tracked his movement in kind, his gaze landing on the second book Orochimaru's hand shot toward.
Then, without a moment's hesitation, he activated the screenshot function in the group chat — and powered by Soul Attachment, the entire book flipped through in an instant, the group chat capturing every single page.
Looking at the crisp, clear photos now sitting in the group chat, Anthony's face broke into a grin of pure harvest-season joy.
Got it!
In that moment, Anthony hit Return without a second thought. The Primordial River swept him back eagerly, and his true body reappeared on The Angler's Bronze Throne — fishing rod in hand, the hint of a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
Before he'd left, he'd given Orochimaru a little parting gift...
And so Orochimaru watched as the research books before him began moving in that uncanny way once more — until finally, they arranged themselves into two characters:
"Goodbye."
"?"
When that strange force vanished and all the books came crashing to the floor, Orochimaru could only try to work out what, exactly, had just happened.
It wasn't until more than half an hour later — once he'd confirmed that the force had truly disappeared — that a peculiar expression finally crossed his face.
So...
He really had run into a ghost?
Meanwhile, inside Konoha Village.
[You have obtained: Forbidden Jutsu Research Manual · Reanimation Jutsu (Orochimaru Version)]
[Added to Ability Tree scope.]
[You have used One-Time Item: Skill Adaptation Device on it.]
[Please wait while adaptation completes.]
Having read through Orochimaru's research manuscript in full, Anthony — controlling Smith's avatar while strolling through Konoha Village — slowly pressed the button.
Just like that, without a single moment of hesitation, the use of the Skill Adaptation Device was confirmed.
This one's on you, Snake Uncle. Thanks for the donation!
He'd been eyeing this for so long — and now it was finally his!
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: OK, got the Reanimation Jutsu. Running the skill adaptation now — should be usable in a bit.]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: That was fast.]
[Let Night City Burn: Wait, already? But why does this thing need a Skill Adaptation Device?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Because without it, it'd be garbage.]
After typing that, Anthony let out a quiet sigh.
Honestly speaking — if it were the late-stage version of the Reanimation Jutsu, it wouldn't be quite so rough... but the problem was, that version required Zetsu as its material! That was Zetsu — the one and only top-tier vessel material for the Reanimation Jutsu — and right now, just cobbling together bodies for his group chat companions was already a massive headache. There was no way he could afford to run the proper version.
Not to mention, this version of the Reanimation Jutsu wasn't even fully perfected yet. Calling it garbage wasn't wrong — right now, that was genuinely what it was.
But hey, no need to worry. He had the group chat's divine power on his side.
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: Oh, right — @Lord of the White Holy Throne — there's something else I think I need to tell you.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Hm? What is it?]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: I just discovered this — probably because you came to this world — but one of the originally hidden items in my resurrection conditions has now unlocked.]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: So my resurrection conditions are now fully confirmed. On top of the existing 150,000 points and a physical body, there's one more condition.]
[AAA City Ghost: What is it?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What is it?]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: Uh... let me check. The specific requirement is: be freed from the Shinigami's hold, such that it no longer pursues one's soul.]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: I don't fully understand the details — it's probably still related to the Dead Demon Consuming Seal...]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What does that even mean.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: So what you're saying is — once you beat the Shinigami, you can win your resurrection match?]
What was this supposed to be? Your pal Namikaze Minato: currently fighting his way out of the afterlife?
Staring at Minato's resurrection conditions, Anthony felt a wave of something complicated wash over him.
But then, his mind started turning.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Hey — actually, now that I think about it, if I'm not misremembering, the Shinigami in the Dead Demon Consuming Seal is connected to that mask somehow, right?]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: That should be correct — though I can't say for certain whether that Shinigami is the original or not.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Doesn't matter. Whether it's the original or not — can't I just go check?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: I'll go take a look later. For all we know, it might just be a spirit-type entity.]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: Won't that be too dangerous? The condition for using that thing is handing your own soul over to the Shinigami.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What's there to be scared of?]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: What — is it going to come all the way to the Primordial River to steal my soul?]
That was the kind of confidence that came from having absolutely nothing to fear.
Reading Minato's message, Anthony couldn't hold back the grin spreading across his face.
Please. Steal his soul? Did it even know where this soul came from?!
Try stealing the soul of a spirit bound to the Primordial River. Did it have a death wish?
And besides — who'd be stealing from whom was still very much an open question.
Truthfully, looking at the Shinigami's described state, Anthony had always had a feeling that it was something closer to a spirit-type entity. If it was a spirit, then the room for manipulation opened up considerably.
The only complication was that the thing inside the mask might not be the original — but regardless, given Minato's resurrection conditions, he was going to have to make a trip to check sooner or later...
He was just about to get moving when a new message arrived in the group chat.
The Reanimation Jutsu's skill adaptation had completed.
[Skill Adaptation Complete.]
[You have obtained: Ability · Reanimation Jutsu (Modified)]
[Reanimation Jutsu (Modified)]
[Description: Group Chat Certified — Quality Guaranteed.]
[Effect: By expending points, you may affix an existence with a complete soul onto an object, performing a Reanimation Jutsu. The point cost required for reanimation scales based on the soul's condition.]
[A soul that has undergone Reanimation may persist indefinitely, so long as the host object remains undamaged.]
[By expending additional points, an object subjected to the Reanimation Jutsu may briefly restore to a state closer to its original form, drawing on a portion of the subject's living strength. The specific level of strength is determined by the number of points invested.]
[The effectiveness of the Reanimation Jutsu (Modified) may be partially diminished based on the number of a target's fulfilled resurrection conditions.]
The moment Anthony saw the effects of the Reanimation Jutsu (Modified), his eyes lit up instinctively.
His first thought: a lot of his group chat companions might just have been saved.
His second thought...
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: @Konoha's Yellow Flash — stand by.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: The modified Reanimation Jutsu just came through. I'm going to go fight the Shinigami right now.]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: ?]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: Wait, hold on?]
____
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