Chapter Forty-Six: The Resurrection of Orochimaru

Otsutsuki Sheren stood before the colossal Tenseigan, gently caressing its surface. The enormous puppet battle armor he wore disassembled, reverting into several small girl puppets that gathered around him.

"Following the will of our ancestors, bestow peace."

Sheren sat cross-legged before the Tenseigan, his palm pressed against its surface. Closing his hollow eyelids, his consciousness entered the Tenseigan. Through this method, he could control the Tenseigan.

A deep rumbling echoed as the moon, which had always followed a fixed trajectory, began to shift, moving closer to the Earth. At that moment, humanity remained oblivious. Most were still focused on the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War, paying no heed to the moon above.

Unbeknownst to Sheren, beside him, Orochimaru—whose body had been reduced to molecules by laser fire—was beginning to slowly reconstitute. His severed head lay nearby, eyes locked on Sheren. Suddenly, Orochimaru blinked.

He was not dead.

"So this is how one controls the Tenseigan," Orochimaru mused. He had intentionally lost the battle of speed to witness this very moment.

From the stump of his neck, eight tiny legs sprouted, octopus-like, propelling his head with a rapid pattering sound toward his regenerating body.

…

Meanwhile, in another asteroid belt, Otsutsuki Momoshiki raised his palm toward Obito. The red Rinnegan embedded in Momoshiki's hand made Obito's pupils contract.

"A red... Rinnegan," Obito thought grimly. He sensed the peril and instantly activated his space-time power, hoping to escape. But Otsutsuki Kinshiki stomped heavily, freezing the entire space.

Kinshiki wielded space-time power as well, far surpassing Obito.

Obito struggled, attempting to use his ninja techniques, but his body was suddenly immobilized—unable to move in the slightest.

"Genjutsu: Manipulation."

With the red Rinnegan, Momoshiki cast his technique. Obito’s expression went vacant, his arms fell limp, and he ceased all movement.

Though Obito's body was now controlled, his consciousness remained trapped within his mind. He could see and sense everything, yet he was powerless to act.

"Kamui!"

He watched as his body, unresponsive, unleashed the Kamui power at the space before him. Blood streamed from his eyes, blinking not once, opening the spatial passage.

Obito finally understood the true reason Momoshiki and Kinshiki had rescued him.

"They intend to use my body to reach the world I came from," Obito realized, silent.

Fixed-point spatial travel differed from random traversal. The former consumed enormous energy, requiring the maintenance of a stable link between two spaces; the latter simply opened a door, disregarding what lay beyond, so the cost was much less.

Momoshiki now controlled Obito to perform fixed-point space-time travel, carrying both himself and Kinshiki.

Obito possessed only a single Sharingan, insufficient to return with passengers—unless his eye exploded and his body was drained dry.

"They lack spatial coordinates and cannot traverse on their own. They plan to use my death to open a spatial passage," Obito understood.

…

On the moon, within the Tenseigan chamber, Orochimaru’s body—once scattered to molecules—finally reassembled, flesh visible once more. The surrounding girl puppets noticed and quickly reported to Otsutsuki Sheren.

Sheren sat cross-legged before the Tenseigan, suddenly opening his eyes. Within his black holes, two yellow eyes briefly flashed, identical to the giant Tenseigan—miniature replicas. Yet, a moment later, they vanished.

"Go. Kill," Sheren commanded the puppet girls.

He was absorbing the Tenseigan’s ocular power, allowing him to briefly condense temporary Tenseigan in his eye sockets—but the process was not yet complete.

Sheren was not surprised by Orochimaru’s resurrection. Someone who, rather than resist, extended his neck just to take a bite of the Tenseigan was unlikely to truly die.

He believed Orochimaru’s desperate bite at the Tenseigan must harbor some scheme.

"Foolish, though!"

Sheren deemed it a foolish act; once he absorbed enough power from the Tenseigan, any scheme would be futile before absolute strength.

The puppet girls advanced, surrounding Orochimaru. Though his body was not fully reconstituted, he dodged nimbly with remarkable agility.

Meanwhile, his head climbed higher, surveying the scene from above.

As his headless body approached, Orochimaru’s head leapt down, landing squarely atop the neck with a slap. The tiny legs swiftly merged into the skin.

Orochimaru was fully revived.

The girl puppets unleashed various chakra weapons against him, but repeating the same technique twice was useless—Orochimaru had seen through them all.

"Summoning: Formation of Ten Thousand Serpents!"

Seizing an opening, Orochimaru pressed a single hand to the floor. Instantly, a vast horde of serpents erupted, engulfing the puppet girls.

Orochimaru had prevailed, yet he frowned.

"Summoning techniques consume a great deal of chakra on the moon."

That single jutsu had drained a fifth of his chakra—a waste, especially since he had other techniques that could have dealt with the puppets more efficiently.

Suddenly, Orochimaru’s frown vanished, replaced by a smile.

"Summoning techniques… truly remarkable!"

Orochimaru now appreciated the summoning arts. With a contract, one could wield space-time power; so long as there was sufficient chakra, distance became irrelevant. Nearly anyone could master it—a feat indeed.

He committed the technique to memory, seeing it as a shortcut in his study of space-time powers, something worthy of deep contemplation and analysis.

"You are a step too late," Sheren spoke from his seat before the Tenseigan.

He opened his eyes, revealing two dazzling yellow lights, identical to the grand Tenseigan.

"No matter what schemes you hatch, you earth-dwellers are destined to fail."

Sheren rose, facing Orochimaru. His eyes narrowed, their yellow glow intensifying, the Tenseigan shining in response, its light echoing his own.

He was about to wield the Tenseigan’s "erasure" ability—to erase Orochimaru.

"Perhaps you think your undying body is impressive, but the Tenseigan’s power of erasure has never failed."

This technique had once wiped out the entire clan’s main branch—no exceptions, regardless of strength.

It bore another name: Tenseigan Cannon!

"Is that so?" Orochimaru smiled, saying nothing. Sheren did not know the truth of the realm of death.

Was death truly the end?

A character appeared on Orochimaru’s forehead, the mark of his undying power.

The undying power could affect the soul. Orochimaru, with his surplus time, had developed a minor spiritual technique—spiritual clone jutsu.

Through the serpent’s bite, he implanted a new curse mark, within which his consciousness resided, able to awaken independently, thoughts and awareness linked to his true self.

Earlier, the Tenseigan had already been bitten by Orochimaru.

"The erasure ability—I’d like to witness it. But whom should it erase?"

As Sheren used the Tenseigan’s erasure, Orochimaru’s spiritual clone, hidden within the Tenseigan, could instantly influence it, altering the target of the erasure.

But the target could not be Sheren himself—he could control the Tenseigan, and if he cancelled the erasure, the demonstration would be lost.

So, not Sheren. But if not Sheren, who else could be erased?

…

Elsewhere in space, under Momoshiki’s control, Obito’s body aged rapidly. His Sharingan grew redder, blood streaming like a river, the Kamui power surging at full strength.

Before him, the embryonic shape of a spatial gateway was forming.