On the border of the Land of Wind, atop the desert sands connecting to the Gobi plateaus.
Ren Uchiha, lying paralyzed on the ground, stared wide-eyed at Orochimaru, who had just finished crawling out from the mouth of the small white snake.
The atmosphere froze in an instant.
"Orochimaru-sensei?!"
Ren was genuinely stunned. He had drained his chakra in a desperate gamble, hoping the natural energy of Ryuchi Cave would trigger a mutation to save him. He never expected to summon "off-site assistance."
On second thought, it made sense. The Cursed Seal was, in another form, the Cursed Seal Body Possession Technique—one of the immortality arts Orochimaru pioneered, containing a fragment of his soul. In the future battle between Sasuke and Itachi, Orochimaru would use this very method to emerge when Sasuke was weakened, attempting to seize his body.
But Ren realized something was off. In this era, Orochimaru hadn't yet set his sights on taking Ren's body. So why had he crawled out?
Orochimaru stood on the sand, his serpentine eyes narrowed to slits as he glared at the half-dead youth before him. Ren's body was already half-covered in the jagged black markings of the Cursed Seal.
Truthfully, Orochimaru hadn't intended to come out. He had been forcibly expelled by the sheer volume of natural energy Ren had demanded.
Because the original Orochimaru was still alive in the world, this version was merely a state similar to a Shadow Clone—a safeguard of the forbidden jutsu to prevent the paradox of multiple souls existing simultaneously for too long.
This fragment's memory ended back at the underground cavern in the Land of Hot Water, right after he had injected Ren with the seal, dissected him, and decided to take him as a disciple.
In Orochimaru's eyes... How much time has even passed? How is this kid already dying again?
And why did I say "again"?
Orochimaru felt a headache coming on, but he quickly forced himself to remain calm. He pressed a hand onto Ren's shoulder, his cold gaze probing the internal state of the boy's body.
"I see... the brat used the Cursed Seal," Orochimaru hissed, his eyes gleaming with scholarly intrigue. "It must have been a long time—six months? A year? My theory was correct; with his help, I must have mastered the Cursed Seal in the future."
"But it's still imperfect. The difficulty of merging Senjutsu chakra through the seal remains."
"Fortunately, this brat is sturdy. Natural energy cannot warp a soul-bound body hardened by immortality. It couldn't turn him into a snake instantly, so it's taking a detour, reconstructing his physical structure instead."
"In other words, he subdued the violent natural energy of Ryuchi Cave through sheer physical endurance."
"The only problem left..." Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, looking at Ren as if he were a fascinating test subject. "...is how to actually use that energy."
Orochimaru looked up at the sky, where the Thousand-Faced Wind Blades were raining down like a storm of death. He frowned slightly.
"Sand ninjutsu? To use Wind Style of this caliber... is it Ebizo?"
He wanted nothing more than to stay and study the changes in Ren's body, but the coverage of this jutsu made research impossible.
"Hmph. Annoying. I'll have to leave the studying to my main body," Orochimaru muttered. He reached into Ren's Cursed Seal, siphoning a portion of the natural energy, and exhaled a heavy breath.
"First... I have to make sure this brat survives."
His hands moved in a blur of seals before slamming onto the ground.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation!"
"Secret Technique: Snake Body Hardening!"
The desert floor beneath them suddenly dipped. A massive volume of sand was pulled upward, forming a crater. Under the influence of Senjutsu, the sand transformed into thick, monstrous pythons that coiled together to form a cage-like wall of snakes.
Then, under Orochimaru's control, the mindless giant snakes hardened their bodies into steel-like structures.
Orochimaru knew Senjutsu; he simply couldn't enter Sage Mode himself. Inorganic Reincarnation wasn't a skill exclusive to the future Kabuto. Orochimaru was far more proficient—he could use it almost without seals.
Unlike Kabuto, who used it like simple Earth Style, Orochimaru's version was true Ryuchi Cave Senjutsu. He truly breathed life into inorganic matter!
Ren watched, stunned. From his perspective, Orochimaru had given him a sinister smirk, muttered something about "making sure the brat lives," and then proceeded to showcase the skills of a top-tier ninja.
Looking at the wall of iron pythons roaring toward the sky, Ren was dazed. Wait, I was supposed to be the one triggering a power-up! I didn't press the button to call for a striker! How did it turn out like this?
Orochimaru stood with his hands behind his back, calmly watching the rain of death fall from the night sky.
Ren could see it clearly: as the jutsu was maintained, a massive amount of chakra was being drained. Orochimaru's body was shriveling at a terrifying rate, his flesh melting away until he looked like a skeleton covered in skin.
Ren's pupils shrank. He realized with a jolt of panic that the Orochimaru before him wasn't the one who had perfected the Living Corpse Reincarnation or the immortality arts. This fragment didn't have a backup body.
If he drained this much chakra... he would truly vanish.
"Wait, Orochimaru!" Ren cried out. "What are you doing?!"
"Heh..." Orochimaru gave a raspy chuckle. He didn't turn around, looking up at the sky with fading golden eyes. "Ren Uchiha... I don't know what happened in the future."
He tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk touching his lips as he glanced back. "But that title you used... 'Sensei.' Heh. It wasn't bad."
Orochimaru turned back, his voice distant. "Then let me give you one final lesson!"
"You—" Ren's heart tightened. This felt hauntingly familiar—like back in the boiling seas of the volcano, being protected by old man Setsuna Uchiha.
Orochimaru took a deep breath, his voice returning to a cold, commanding rasp. "Listen well!"
"This Body Possession technique is imperfect. I haven't stored enough chakra here to kill that old man outside for you."
"But to reach the edge of our shared dream... you must save yourself."
By now, Orochimaru's body was like a candle in the wind—nothing but skin and bone. Yet he stood tall against the gale. After forming a final 'Ram' seal, he vomited a colossal white-scaled snake from his mouth.
The white snake surged into the sky, coiling its body to form the final, innermost wall above Ren!
The giant snake lowered its head, enduring the thousands of wind blades that carved deep gashes into its flesh, spraying blood everywhere. It stared directly at Ren.
One last raspy voice echoed from its open jaws:
"Remember... raw natural energy is not unusable."
"Follow your body—and find the answer!"