Chapter 306: Hokage Meeting
"Take these actors away," Uchiha Douhuan waved his hand casually, his gaze sweeping over the group of successive Kage who were exuding a powerful and cold chakra. "Arrange them well. Make sure Lord Madara can have his fun. This grand feast, meticulously prepared for him, cannot be allowed to get cold."
"Yes! Mission guaranteed to be completed!" The crowd of White Zetsu below was exceptionally excited. They raised their hands in a salute in unison, their voices loud and clear, their faces brimming with the excitement and pride of being able to participate in a "big project." Their gazes towards the reincarnated Kage were not like looking at awe-inspiring powerhouses, but rather like sizing up a batch of precious props about to be sent onto the stage.
Uchiha Douhuan nodded slightly and, without another word, his figure flickered and silently disappeared from the Kamui dimension.
...
When he reappeared, he was already back at Orochimaru's underground base. Orochimaru, as if having already anticipated his return, was standing quietly in the shadows of the laboratory.
There seemed to be a tacit understanding between the two that required no words. With just a brief exchange of glances, Orochimaru silently began to walk, soundlessly following Uchiha Douhuan's steps.
The two left the base one after the other, quickly concealing their figures and chakra fluctuations. Like two phantoms merging into the night, they sped towards the Land of Water.
Half a day later, under the complete cover of night, the two arrived at their destination—the former land of the Land of Whirlpools.
The former settlement of the Uzumaki clan had long since lost its prosperity, leaving only ruined walls. This place, due to its special historical significance, had been designated as a protected area, and ordinary people were not allowed to enter. It was only waiting to be returned to the Uzumaki clan as their clan land in the future. The desolate moonlight sprinkled on the broken buildings and overgrown weeds, filled with a lingering sense of loneliness and sorrow.
The two did not alert any guards. Relying on their superb infiltration skills, they silently entered the core of this forgotten land—an ancient building that was relatively well-preserved, the Mask Storage Temple.
The light inside the temple was extremely dim, and the air was filled with a thick smell of dust and the sense of accumulated time. The walls were densely hung with countless masks of various expressions, ferocious and bizarre, seeming as if they would come to life at any moment in the flickering shadows.
If it were only Uchiha Douhuan alone, he could have entered openly and honorably with his status as Hokage. But the reason this operation was so secretive was entirely because of Orochimaru. This former S-rank rogue ninja, his identity still could not be exposed to the public eye. If possible, Uchiha Douhuan did not even want to appear with him in any situation where they might be detected.
But unfortunately, the matter of "glitching the Reaper Death Seal" that was to be done next, in the entire current ninja world, perhaps only Orochimaru, this "immortal body" who had continuously changed bodies and played with the soul transfer technique to the point of perfection, could ensure its flawless completion. And it also required Uchiha Douhuan to provide crucial Sage Art chakra support from the side.
Inside the gloomy Mask Storage Temple, there were only the slight sounds of the two's breathing. Uchiha Douhuan's gaze was like lightning. From the hundreds of dazzling masks, he accurately identified and took down that one—the material was ancient, the color was dark, the expression was a mixture of crying and laughing, and it exuded a cold and deathly aura completely different from the other masks. That was the ultimate embodiment of sealing jutsu, the medium to summon the Shinigami—the Reaper Death Seal's corresponding Shinigami mask.
He handed the mask to Orochimaru beside him.
Orochimaru took the mask with a smile. His cold fingers brushed over the ancient patterns on the mask, his golden snake pupils flashing with a light of inquiry and amusement. He raised his head, looked into the deep darkness of the temple, and suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and with a hint of philosophical sigh:
"Lord Douhuan, do you think... what is the meaning at the very end of ninjutsu's development? The ultimate forbidden jutsu that once required the offering of a life in exchange for sealing an enemy can now be so... analyzed, utilized by us. Even the 'god' who holds sway over death and reaps souls can be fooled by the rules made by mortals and played in the palm of their hands."
His tone was ambiguous, it was unclear whether it was admiration or mockery, perhaps both.
"The meaning at the end of ninjutsu?" Uchiha Douhuan chuckled upon hearing this, shook his head, his tone flat but carrying a thoroughness that saw through the essence. "Orochimaru, you're overthinking it. Ninjutsu, this thing, from the moment it was created, its most core, most primitive purpose was to more efficiently kill enemies and protect oneself. It is not essentially different from a shuriken, a kunai, or an explosive tag. It is merely a more powerful and more exquisite tool. Would you go and ponder the 'meaning' of a shuriken's existence after it has been forged to its limit and thrown with incomparable precision?"
He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over those ferocious masks, finally landing back on the Shinigami mask in Orochimaru's hand, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible contempt:
"As for the so-called 'god'... heh, an existence whose operating mechanism can be thoroughly studied by mortals, and can even be fooled by exploiting loopholes in its rules, what is there truly worthy of praise and reverence? It may be powerful, but it is by no means incomprehensible, let alone invincible. In our eyes, it is less of a 'god' and more of a higher-level... energy body or phenomenon that operates based on rules."
Orochimaru listened quietly, the smile on his face seeming to deepen a little. He nodded slightly, "Lord Douhuan is right. It seems... I was being shortsighted for a moment. A tool is a tool, no matter how much it looks like a miracle." Orochimaru seemed very satisfied with this answer. It was consistent with his lifelong creed of pursuing truth and deconstructing everything.
After sighing with emotion, Orochimaru collected himself and carefully examined the Shinigami mask in his hand.
Subsequently, his hands began to slowly and steadily form one complex and obscure seal after another, while at the same time drawing the unique summoning incantation of the Reaper Death Seal on the ground.
As the last seal was completed, Orochimaru gently pressed the mask onto his face.
In an instant, the temperature in the temple plummeted! An indescribable, bone-chillingly gloomy aura surged out of thin air, as if it could freeze one's soul. A huge, translucent phantom slowly emerged from behind Orochimaru—it was dressed in a white kariginu, its long purple hair scattered, and a short sword held in its mouth. Its face was ferocious and terrifying, especially its pair of emotionless eyes, which were only a piece of void and desolation.
The Shinigami has descended!
After the Shinigami's phantom appeared, it first mechanically lowered its terrifying head, sized up the Orochimaru who had summoned it with its gloomy and unwavering gaze. Immediately after, its gaze seemed to be attracted by something more appealing and suddenly turned to Uchiha Douhuan on the side!
That gaze seemed to carry an instinctive covetousness for powerful life force and a cold scrutiny.
Uchiha Douhuan sneered without any avoidance, raised his head, and met the eyes of the legendary Shinigami. There was not a trace of fear in his eyes, only a calm to the extreme observation and a condescending scrutiny, as if evaluating the performance of a tool.
The vast chakra in his body slowly flowed, like a volcano waiting to erupt, faintly forming a state of confrontation with the Shinigami's cold aura.
However, before this strange standoff could continue, Orochimaru had already made a move.
He was expressionless, as if what he was about to do was as ordinary as eating and drinking. He slowly drew the short sword held in the Shinigami phantom's mouth—a spiritual weapon that exuded an ominous cold light. Then, without any hesitation, he gripped the short sword with his backhand and, with a precise and neat slash, cut open the abdomen of his current body!
Almost at the same instant, the Shinigami phantom hovering above Orochimaru's head, as if forcibly controlled by an invisible force of rules, let out a silent roar. Extremely unwillingly, yet unable to resist, it raised its huge scythe, which symbolized reaping, and mimicked Orochimaru's action, fiercely cutting open its own illusory stomach!
"Weng—!"
A dark light burst from the Shinigami's breached abdomen! In the next instant, two blurry, struggling soul light clusters, mixed with a large number of wailing, incomplete soul fragments that were released along with them, as if finding an outlet, shot out fiercely from the Shinigami's ruptured abdomen!
And at this very moment, Uchiha Douhuan moved!
He had long been prepared. He instantly summoned a pale, humanoid body from the sealing scroll at his waist—a White Zetsu body that had not been activated, like a blank canvas. At the same time, he clapped his hands together, and natural energy frantically gathered. A majestic, golden torrent of Sage Art chakra was precisely injected by him into the core of this White Zetsu body!
"Hgh—!"
The White Zetsu body trembled violently. An extremely complex and arcane curse mark on its neck, which had been planted by Orochimaru in advance, suddenly lit up, emitting a dark purple light! The curse mark, like living black tadpoles, instantly crawled all over the White Zetsu's body, constructing a channel for soul transfer.
And Orochimaru's original body, the moment its abdomen was cut open and its soul left its body, its life force rapidly drained away, its eyes dimmed, and it fell softly to the ground, completely losing all signs of life.
According to the absolute rule of the Reaper Death Seal, the caster exhausts all their life force to cast this jutsu. The Shinigami should, at the moment of the caster's death, mercilessly reap their soul and swallow it into its stomach, as an eternal prisoner and price.
However, at this moment, the situation became extremely strange!
Orochimaru's soul did indeed leave its original body, but it did not float towards the waiting Shinigami for reaping. Instead, through that glowing curse mark channel, like a stream of data, it was accurately injected into and activated that new White Zetsu shell filled with Sage Art chakra!
The Shinigami's huge phantom was clearly frozen. On its expressionless face, for the first time, there seemed to be an emotion called "confusion" and "lag." It waved its scythe, trying to reap, but found that the target had not stayed in that dead body, but had disappeared and appeared in a new container full of life and yang power.
A loophole in the rules had been exploited.
The Shinigami's simple operating logic, based on the rule of "a life for a life," had encountered an unprecedented BUG.
It could not understand this operation, let alone execute the subsequent reaping. It waved its scythe in vain, letting out silent roars on the spot. Its phantom began to flicker violently. The energy that constituted its body became extremely unstable.
In the end, in an extreme "logic error" and "rule conflict," the Shinigami's huge phantom, as if its program had crashed, with strong unwillingness and incomprehension, was unable to maintain its form and completely dissipated into the air, leaving only the still-cold aura in the Mask Storage Temple and the Shinigami mask that had fallen to the ground, its light dimmed.
A moment later, the White Zetsu body lying on the ground opened its eyes. It was a pair of familiar eyes with golden snake pupils. He moved his new hands and feet, feeling the abundant, fresh power mixed with Sage Art chakra in his body, and the corner of his mouth hooked into a satisfied smile.
He stood up, looked at Uchiha Douhuan, and bowed slightly in an elegant manner, "Well then, Lord Douhuan, I will leave the rest to you. This new body still needs a little time to fully adapt. I will return to the base first."
"Yes, thank you for your trouble this time," Uchiha Douhuan nodded at Orochimaru, his tone carrying a trace of approval. "New research materials will be sent to your base soon."
The smile on Orochimaru's face became more obvious. He said no more, formed a seal with his hands, and his figure, with a "poof," transformed into a puff of white smoke, using the Body Flicker Technique to leave this ancient hall filled with the secrets of death and rebirth.
Inside the Mask Storage Temple, silence returned. Only Uchiha Douhuan was left, and the two slightly dazed soul light clusters floating in front of him, which had just been liberated from the Shinigami's stomach.
Uchiha Douhuan took out another White Zetsu, then took out the DNA left behind by the Fourth Hokage, placed it on top, and then formed the seals for the Impure World Reincarnation.
In no time, the Fourth Hokage returned to the world in the form of the Impure World Reincarnation.
The revived Minato Namikaze looked at his body, somewhat at a loss. Then he raised his head and looked at Uchiha Douhuan.
"You are? Uchiha... Douhuan?" Because Uchiha Douhuan was only in his early teens when he died, it took Minato Namikaze a little while to recognize this super genius of the Uchiha clan who had once suppressed an entire village on the Mist's front line.
"Long time no see, Fourth," Uchiha Douhuan said with a smile.
"I am... reincarnated by the Impure World Reincarnation?" Minato Namikaze asked.
"Yes, Impure World Reincarnation," Uchiha Douhuan nodded. "We'll talk about the specifics later. For now, please come back to the village with me. The village is currently facing a huge crisis, which is why I wanted to gather the power of the successive Hokage. In order to free you from the hands of the Shinigami, I have spent no small amount of effort."
"The power of the successive Hokage?" Minato Namikaze was somewhat surprised.
"Yes. I forgot to introduce myself. I am now the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, Uchiha Douhuan," Uchiha Douhuan said.
(End of chapter)