Chapter Twenty-Nine: Developing New Ninjutsu

Orochimaru is dead?

Orochimaru’s body could be seen sprawled on the ground, motionless, a stillness and pallor settling over him that spoke of utter lifelessness. Some sensory-type ninja checked him and ultimately concluded that there was not the faintest chakra fluctuation left in Orochimaru.

As descendants of the shinobi sect, everyone possessed at least some chakra; as long as a person lived, their chakra would ebb and flow. Only in death would that cease. Orochimaru seemed every bit a corpse.

Kabuto and Kimimaro were shocked. The sight of Orochimaru in this state truly unsettled them, yet neither believed he was truly dead.

Kimimaro’s faith in Orochimaru was pure and unwavering; to him, Orochimaru was a god—how could a god die?

Kabuto, on the other hand, remembered that not long ago, Orochimaru had inhabited Hinata’s body, then resurrected himself through a cursed mark. Kabuto glanced at Kimimaro’s chest, where the cursed seal left by Orochimaru’s serpent’s kiss remained; as long as the seal endured, Orochimaru could not die.

Kimimaro’s clothes were loose, and as the wind stirred his garments, Kabuto caught sight of the seal, and let out a quiet sigh of relief. Orochimaru was perfectly fine.

With his confidence restored, Kabuto glanced at Pain and the others—and at Guren, who seemed to be wavering—his eyes narrowing, a flash of light glinting across his glasses.

...

In the realm of the dead, Orochimaru was working to develop new ninjutsu, delving deeper into the mysteries of immortality. He opened his eyes; veins bulged at the corners, and in his usually pale golden vertical pupils, three tomoe had appeared.

It was the fusion of the Byakugan and Sharingan.

Orochimaru’s recent experiments had yielded numerous results, including the combination of Sharingan and Byakugan. Though there were still certain drawbacks, they were now usable, and he had grafted these new eyes onto himself.

At this stage, only he could withstand it. The Byakugan posed little strain, but the Sharingan placed an immense burden on the body. If not for the fact that most of his cells were from Hashirama, he would never have survived it.

Orochimaru was using himself as a test subject, personally experiencing the effects of fusing the Byakugan and Sharingan—and the experience was far from pleasant.

Yet, precisely because he experienced it firsthand, his insights deepened.

"Open!"

With a low command, Orochimaru’s chakra surged violently. The three tomoe in his pupils suddenly forced out another, becoming four.

This fourth tomoe only appeared after the Byakugan and Sharingan were combined.

The two eyes shared a common origin. As long as that genetic lineage could be traced, the two could be connected, and once linked, their powers would fuse, producing the fourth tomoe.

"Open again!"

It wasn’t over. Orochimaru’s body contained Hashirama’s cells, which were powerful because they inherited the Sage’s body from the Sage of Six Paths. The Byakugan, Sharingan, and other dojutsu were derived from the Sage’s eyes.

The Sage’s body had a great influence on the Sage’s eyes.

With a soft sound, the four tomoe squeezed out another, becoming five.

The five-tomoe Sharingan was vastly more powerful than the three-tomoe version. Though it lacked the special abilities of the Mangekyō, it excelled even further in perception and genjutsu.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "The Sharingan is a cursed eye. Only after experiencing the pain of losing loved ones does it awaken its true power."

Grief was also a condition for the Sharingan’s evolution. Orochimaru had long prepared for this and was in the process of materializing ‘grief’ into a potion.

Those who took it would directly experience the emotion of grief, aiding in the opening of their eyes.

This experiment, however, was still underway and not yet complete—he couldn’t use it for now.

He was also conducting experiments on the Blood Dragon Eye. Once he fully understood it, he would graft those eyes onto himself as well, which might trigger further evolution—perhaps even to the Rinnegan.

"But I still need a real Rinnegan for comparison and research. Only then can I truly master it," Orochimaru mused.

He was on the verge of becoming the first to replicate the Rinnegan, and the one who understood it best.

Those who possessed the Rinnegan—Nagato, Madara Uchiha, even the Sage of Six Paths—were only its wielders. They knew how to use it, but not how it worked. They circled endlessly around the ‘eye’ itself, never daring to innovate or develop further, content in their stagnation.

From this perspective, Orochimaru regarded them almost as barbarians.

...

With his new eyes open, Orochimaru could now perceive the energy fluctuations of the entire realm of the dead with piercing clarity.

He saw how the power of immortality and the Rinnegan’s unique force merged in this world to form a cycle throughout heaven and earth. This cycle allowed the realm of the dead to serve as a resting place for souls. Souls consumed this power, and due to the Rinnegan’s influence, it was reconstituted and expelled anew, perpetuating a self-sustaining balance.

Though the power of immortality was finite and could be exhausted, this self-sustaining cycle ensured its continuous existence.

This might be one reason why the souls of the dead had to remain dormant—once awakened, they might disrupt the cycle, and the realm of the dead would cease to exist.

Orochimaru focused on observing how the power of immortality affected souls. With his five-tomoe Sharingan-Byakugan, he could see the most intricate details.

Unconsciously, he created seven shadow clones to assist in his observations and research.

With strong foundations and extraordinary talent, his progress surged forth, and the prototypes of new ninjutsu took shape in his mind—not just one, but two!

Besides developing a technique that used the power of immortality to influence souls, Orochimaru also considered the First Hokage’s Sage Mode.

For years, Hashirama Senju’s Sage Mode had been a mystery, and Hashirama himself had always been vague, never revealing where or how he’d learned it.

Previously, Orochimaru speculated that Hashirama’s Sage Mode came from the Shikkotsu Forest, one of the three great sacred places alongside Ryuchi Cave and Mount Myoboku.

He had once asked Tsunade about it; she’d been to Shikkotsu Forest many times, but never found any place to train in Sage Mode.

Now, Orochimaru had a new theory.

"The First Hokage once stole the gate of the Rashomon mansion from Hell Valley and created the summoning technique: Rashomon. There’s no way he wasn’t aware of the power of immortality. Even if he didn’t study it, the original Rashomon gate must have contained traces of that power.

"Those fragments were accidentally absorbed by the First Hokage, allowing him to develop his own unique Sage Mode. Because this Sage Mode couldn’t be passed on—and because it was obtained through less-than-honorable means, stolen from the gate itself—the First Hokage never spoke of it."

Orochimaru believed he had uncovered the truth. The power of immortality could absorb natural energy, form markings, and allow the body to utilize it directly.

He had studied cursed seals in depth and was an expert in this field. So, the application of immortality and natural energy was now nearly within his grasp.

Orochimaru and his seven shadow clones sat cross-legged on the ground, closing their eyes in unison.

With a series of soft pops, the seven clones vanished. Orochimaru opened his eyes once more, a flash of light passing through them.

The new ninjutsu was complete.