Chapter 136
The Second Deal with Orochimaru [4K]
Chapter 136 The Second Deal with Orochimaru [4K]
Orochimaru smiled, a smile tinged with cunning.
"Price? I never expected to hear that word from Shura." Clearly, Orochimaru was still holding a grudge about being taken advantage of by Menma a few times before.
“But it is true, I have provided such valuable results, so naturally I need you to provide something that interests me.” Orochimaru slowly walked to Menma’s side, his snake eyes staring intently at him, his voice lowered again, carrying a hint of probing and seduction.
"Have you ever heard of... the 'Eyes of God' of Amegakure?" Orochimaru's gaze turned fervent, and deep within his vertical pupils surged a desire for the legendary Sage's Eyes.
"Those eyes are said to be the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, capable of seeing through all ninjutsu in the world, mastering the cycle of life and death, and possessing the power of creation and destruction... the Rinnegan." Orochimaru pronounced the name word by word, as if he were chewing on some forbidden fruit.
His snake-like eyes were fixed on Shura's white three-eyed fox mask, hoping to obtain from Shura the more information he longed for about the Rinnegan.
Orochimaru probably thought that since Shura came from the future, he should know some of the secrets of the Rinnegan, and even know his purpose.
'So Orochimaru has his eye on Nagato's Rinnegan.' Beneath the white three-eyed fox mask, Menma's lips curled into a slight smile.
Given Orochimaru's current condition, let alone Nagato, even Obito Uchiha might not be able to handle him.
Menma's thoughts raced, and he was fully aware of Orochimaru's probing.
He knew that Orochimaru must have learned about the appearance of a pair of Sage Eyes in the Land of Rain from Danzo, but he might not be aware of Nagato's current situation.
Moreover, according to the plot, Orochimaru did indeed join the Akatsuki organization. It seems that he was looking for information about the Akatsuki when Pain and Sasori, who were manipulated by Nagato, came to him. Orochimaru tried to take Pain's Rinnegan, but was repelled by Shinra Tensei. After that, he expressed his desire to join the Akatsuki organization.
Pain, or rather Nagato, also recognized Orochimaru's strength and was very confident in his own abilities, so he agreed to let Orochimaru join the Akatsuki organization.
Later, after Itachi Uchiha joined the Akatsuki, Orochimaru coveted Itachi's Sharingan and launched an attack, only to be instantly defeated by Itachi with a single glance, and then escaped from the Akatsuki.
After considering the situation, Menma felt that the best strategy at this moment was not to cover it up, but to go with the flow and lead the inquisitive Orochimaru to the Akatsuki organization, so that he would suffer a bit.
"Rinnegan..." Menma murmured softly, his voice carrying a sense of ethereal distance.
When Shura spoke, Orochimaru also became secretly expectant, as if he wanted to hear information about time travel!
"Those are indeed the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. The power they display far surpasses that of ordinary people, even exceeding the Sharingan and Byakugan, and they have mastered the secrets of life and death." He paused for a moment, and the eye holes of the white three-eyed fox mask seemed to sweep over Orochimaru almost imperceptibly, with a hint of profound meaning.
Orochimaru's breathing became rapid, and his snake-like eyes were filled with a fanatical light.
Shura's words undoubtedly confirmed his guess about the Rinnegan, which was even more powerful than he knew.
"The eyes of the Sage of Six Paths!" These few words alone were enough to ignite Orochimaru's thirst for knowledge and greed.
"However, such power is not something that ordinary people can control, and those who possess it are by no means ordinary people." Menma's tone suddenly became serious.
With a hint of admonition and a touch of sarcasm, he said, "Orochimaru, let me give you a piece of advice: you'd better be careful when facing the wielder of those eyes. With your current strength, you won't gain anything by fighting against those eyes."
Orochimaru's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.
He recalled his past encounter with Shura, who had only released two summoning beasts to protect the Ibri clan, and had defeated him with the Flying Thunder God Technique and a ninjutsu he had never seen before, which resembled the Rasengan developed by the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
According to the information relayed by the spies he left in Konoha, Shura had once again pierced the Byakugan of the Hyuga main family a few months ago, and even the Jonin troops led by his own teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, could not stop him.
This demonstrates its formidable strength.
For Shura to utter such words, Orochimaru did indeed feel a sense of unease about the owner of those eyes.
Menma, seeing Orochimaru's excited face, continued, "Of course, you can give it a try."
"With your abilities, even if you find things are hopeless, you can always escape unscathed, right?" Menma's words were clearly implied.
Menma knew Orochimaru's personality; he was both greedy and fearful of death. Even if she tried to stop Orochimaru, he would definitely try to test him himself.
His combination of temptation and warning can be seen as support for Orochimaru's plan.
Orochimaru wore a complex smile, a mixture of excitement at receiving guidance and a strong desire for the unknown.
"I heard that you attacked the Hyuga clan's territory a few months ago and even dug out four pairs of Byakugan from the clan elders. Does the Byakugan have similar power to the Sharingan?" Orochimaru suddenly changed the subject.
This not only highlights his intelligence network in Konoha, but also demonstrates his curiosity about the Byakugan.
When he was in Konoha, he paid attention to the Byakugan and Sharingan. However, because the Uchiha clan had produced a powerful ninja like Madara Uchiha in recent decades and had a clear path of evolution, he paid special attention to the Sharingan.
In contrast, the Byakugan is restricted by the Caged Bird Seal for branch family ninjas. Obtaining a pair of Byakugan without any constraints is much more difficult than obtaining a pair of Sharingan.
Moreover, the Hyuga clan has never produced any great figures.
However, Shura visited the Hyuga clan twice, and the second time he even stole four pairs of Byakugan from the main Hyuga family. Orochimaru was naturally curious about the eyes that could attract the attention of a ninja from the future like Shura.
"I advised you not to get too close to Danzo." Menma warned him first. Orochimaru knew precisely that Shura had gouged out four pairs of Byakugan from the Hyuga main family elders, which must have been information given to him by Danzo. Otherwise, given the pawns Orochimaru left in Konoha, even if he knew the details of the battle, it would be unlikely that he would know the exact number of four pairs.
Then, Menma said, "The four families with the bloodline limit of eye techniques that still exist are all related to the Sage of Six Paths. If you are interested, you can exchange things and technology for it when I clone the Byakugan later."
'Four families with eye techniques? All related to the Sage of Six Paths?' Orochimaru's vertical pupils narrowed as he carefully pondered the information revealed in Shura's words.
Orochimaru was getting more and more excited. Every conversation he had with Shura was full of information he didn't know!
This further highlights Shura's understanding of the ninja world and Orochimaru's extent of exploration of it.
“Well, since we’ve come to a deal, I think my sincerity is enough.” Menma changed the subject and returned to the main topic of the deal: “I want one copy of the cloned cells of the letter, and the ten pairs of Sharingan with single tomoe, as well as the related cloning technology, are all part of the last deal.”
"The cell tissue of a powerful Uchiha ninja will be sent to you in a while." Menma doesn't have any Uchiha ninja cells on hand right now, so he'll probably have to go back and ask Uchiha Hikaru for some skin tissue or something similar.
"No problem." Orochimaru licked his lips and agreed without hesitation.
"By the way, the White Zetsu cells are almost depleted. I need an adult-sized White Zetsu." Orochimaru's gaze turned fervent again.
After a year of research, he had only scratched the surface of leukemia.
Those humanoid life forms, capable of infinite proliferation and possessing extremely high adaptability, were invaluable for Orochimaru's human experiments. It was precisely because of the White Zetsu cells that Orochimaru's experimental progress accelerated like a rocket.
Next, he planned to try transplanting Leukemia cells into Xin, but the Leukemia cells were almost depleted.
This is one of the few things he cannot clone. You should know that even Orochimaru has mastered some cloning technology for Hashirama cells!
"You used it all up so quickly?" The brows beneath the pockmarked mask furrowed slightly, showing some surprise.
In less than a year, Orochimaru has already consumed one White Zetsu; that's quite fast.
"Hehe, after all, that stuff is just too perfect for experiments. As long as there's a possibility of a research direction, I can't help but try some White Zetsu cells." Orochimaru licked his forehead with his tongue, which, combined with the woman's face, looked a little eerie.
"Use them sparingly, one per year. These things are hard to catch." Menma shook his head helplessly and took out a storage scroll, tossing it to Orochimaru.
The current number of White Zetsu should not exceed one hundred. I captured four when I was clearing them out, gave one to Orochimaru, and I am currently using one in my research lab in the Land of Stars. I only have two left in my storage scroll.
Although he knew that 100,000 White Zetsu were sleeping somewhere in the Land of Iron, Menma did not want to activate them at this stage, nor did he want to attract too much attention from Black Zetsu.
This old cunning bastard is too good at hiding. If he arouses Black Zetsu's suspicion, he will simply flee and abandon the current plan. It will be really troublesome for Menma to find Black Zetsu.
Most importantly, the plot will also be greatly affected.
The reason why the White Zetsu was given to Orochimaru was mainly because he hoped that Orochimaru's research would develop in the direction he expected, and that Orochimaru would become his "outsourced research" and "worker" in the future.
Orochimaru took the storage scroll and eagerly opened it, placing one of the White Zetsu inside on the experimental table.
Then, Orochimaru opened his mouth wide and took out a storage scroll containing a cloned cell sample of Uchiha Shin and cloning technology from his throat, and handed it to Menma.
"Tsk tsk, your habit." Menma took the scroll covered in slime, shook it, and then put it away.
Having completed this important transaction, Menma prepared to leave.
"By the way, I've recently been researching a very interesting forbidden technique... the Impure World Reincarnation Technique." Orochimaru's snake-like eyes flashed with an unusual light once more, his voice filled with seduction.
Orochimaru's voice carried a hint of inexplicable anticipation as he said, "Able to summon departed souls back to the mortal world and grant them their former strength... are you interested?"
Menma's heart stirred slightly; Impure World Reincarnation...
He knew all too well the power of this forbidden technique.
Judging by the timeline, Kabuto was able to summon the Impure World Reincarnation army using Orochimaru's 'legacy,' which likely means that Orochimaru began collecting the flesh and blood tissues of ninjas from various countries and started digging up graves in those countries around this time.
Menma's mind conjured up images of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, in order to prevent his parents and close friends from participating in the war, he attacked Konoha in advance, injuring Kushina, Hinata, and others.
In that world, Minato Namikaze prioritized family over the village, so after the Fourth Shinobi World War broke out, he chose to stay in the village to take care of Kushina.
Although Menma believed that world was fake, he could never let go of those feelings.
Menma also had some questions he wanted to ask Kushina and Minato Namikaze about this world.
Why did they choose to die without leaving a message for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others? Was it because they didn't have time? Or...?
Besides the Impure World Reincarnation technique, Menma also knew of several other ninjutsu that could revive people.
For example, the Rinnegan's Rinne Rebirth Technique, the Sunagakure's Rebirth Technique, and the Kusagakure's Dragon Life Rebirth Technique.
However, he was unsure whether Minato Namikaze would stop him after learning of his ambition to unify the ninja world, so a complete resurrection of Minato was not an option for the time being. He could try the Impure World Reincarnation, summon Old Deng, and have a chat to test the waters.
'Huh? Wait a minute, it seems like Minato Namikaze's soul was taken away by the Grim Reaper.' Menma suddenly remembered this important matter.
'That means we still need to find the Grim Reaper mask first.'
Thinking of this, Mianma's face beneath the white three-eyed fox mask also showed a hint of worry.
Where is the Grim Reaper mask again?
I can't figure it out right now, I'll look into it slowly later.
Menma turned his white three-eyed fox mask to look at Orochimaru, without revealing much emotion.
"Impure World Reincarnation, is it...?"
He said calmly, "If you can successfully improve it, we can make another deal."
"Hehehe, then I'm really looking forward to our next deal." Orochimaru let out an excited, hoarse laugh.
Menma didn't say anything more. He packed up the ten pairs of single-tomoe Sharingan, put away all the items he had obtained, nodded slightly, and turned around, instantly leaving the underground laboratory filled with a forbidden atmosphere.
They came without a sound and left without a trace, as if they had never existed.
Orochimaru stared at the spot where Shura had disappeared. The Flying Thunder God Technique had left no trace, yet Orochimaru's expression grew increasingly excited.
That mysterious ninjutsu that looks exactly like the Rasengan, and that skillful Flying Thunder God Technique.
Orochimaru raised his hand and tucked a strand of long hair behind his ear, his red lips bearing an enigmatic smile.
"Even Asura has someone who wants to be resurrected..." Orochimaru excitedly stuck out his tongue.
He muttered to himself, "So, who is it?"
Orochimaru felt himself getting closer and closer to the true face beneath the Shura mask, as if his brain was trembling.
"This is really hard to guess... Fourth Hokage..."
(End of this chapter)