After resting for a few hours, Orochimaru turned the Snake Princesses' experiences with Sage Art: Body Transformation into helpful information. He spent several days barely managing to develop a version suitable for humans.
The actual effect was just passable. At least, connecting with Manda failed, making it unsuccessful.
This wasn't just because the Sage Art wasn't perfect. It was also because Orochimaru himself wasn't a snake. Trying it on humans might be better.
Now that he had learned the Sage Art, Orochimaru had no attachment to Ryuuchi Cave. He directly said goodbye to the White Snake Sage.
With the White Snake scales, being in Ryuuchi Cave or not didn't affect his training of Sage Techniques or using breathing methods to improve his physical fitness.
The White Snake Sage had no objections to this. It was better for her if Orochimaru hurried back to the village to study the transfer of the Divine Tree's power.
After all, humans' lives are so short that they disappear quickly.
...
The next day, around noon, after rushing all the way, Orochimaru returned to Konoha.
He slept at home until evening, regaining his energy. Then, Orochimaru took out a scroll from a hidden compartment in the room.
This scroll sealed Chakra souls summoned from the Pure Land and a part of his own soul.
Orochimaru played with the scroll in his hand, his expression serious.
When he was training Sage Techniques in Ryuuchi Cave, he had a faint feeling that the upper limit of Sage Technique Chakra was so low. He would run out after using Sage Techniques once or twice. This wasn't just because he was a beginner. The main reason was probably that his Chakra soul wasn't complete.
He clearly had a lot of Chakra in his body, and he controlled it easily. But when the Sage Technique Chakra in his body exceeded a certain limit, it would leak out.
It was like there was a hole in the side of a bucket. You could never make the water level higher than the hole.
He couldn't delay completing his Chakra soul any longer.
Orochimaru turned his head to look behind him. "Lamp spirit, I'm leaving the investigation to you."
The seal on the scroll couldn't be undone without care. Otherwise, the soul would be taken away by the Pure Land. Orochimaru wouldn't let it leave before checking the degree of Curse Mark damage.
"No problem."
The lamp spirit poked its head out from behind Orochimaru and dove into the seal. After only a few breaths, it came back out.
Its expression was strange. It said, "Just undo the seal. The Chakra soul inside has disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
Orochimaru looked at the lamp spirit in surprise. Without hesitation, he made a hand sign and pressed it onto the scroll.
The black curse marks receded like the tide. A ball of white light floated out of the scroll.
Orochimaru took it into his body and immediately understood that the soul of that ninja had been completely used up. Now, only the Curse Mark was left in the seal.
He didn't know why, but the consciousness in his Curse Mark almost watched the ninja's consciousness get worn away and then gradually dissipate.
"Why did this happen?"
Orochimaru thought for a long time, but he couldn't find the reason. He couldn't help but look at the lamp spirit.
"Maybe the reason is surprisingly simple."
The lamp spirit shrugged. "For example, that ninja was dead, and you're alive. That's why the soul in this Curse Mark didn't dissipate as well."
"That's it?" Orochimaru couldn't accept it.
"Chakra amount, soul strength..." The lamp spirit ticked off several traits on its fingers.
"From what I can sense, the Chakra soul you split off and that ninja's aren't that different, and the amount is even slightly weaker. But his still disappeared..."
"Besides the difference between being alive and dead, I can't think of anything else."
When Orochimaru heard this, he frowned.
He already knew that the lamp spirit wasn't all-knowing. Otherwise, it wouldn't need to use him to gather knowledge.
But he still couldn't help but feel a little regret.
He wasn't afraid of difficulties in ninjutsu research. He was afraid of being completely confused, unable to find what the difficulty was.
Like now.
"Actually, I've wanted to ask this before."
The lamp spirit thought for a moment and suddenly said, "Why don't you use a Curse Mark to damage a ninja and then kill him? That way, you can hitch a ride, right?"
"Curse Marks aren't that strong."
Orochimaru shook his head. "Ninjas don't take Curse Marks with them when they die. Like Shadow Clones, the Curse Mark will undo itself after the ninja dies, and the Chakra in it will return to the original body."
"So, the Curse Mark damages the physical body, or rather, starts with the physical body as the base for damaging..."
The lamp spirit asked, "Then why did you want to use a Curse Mark to damage a soul in the first place?"
Orochimaru's expression didn't change. He said calmly, "It was just an attempt."
The soul area was unknown to him, and the lamp spirit seemed to treat souls as another form of life, even mentioning a world called the Soul Society that was just like this one. Naturally, he would try to explore this area.
But it seemed that this attempt would end without progress. The soul from the Pure Land couldn't last until the damage was done.
As for whether the Curse Mark could damage Chakra souls, it couldn't be tested yet.
Perhaps, he should do more research and fully use Impure World Reincarnation to extend the existence of souls from the Pure Land with a host body.
After hearing Orochimaru's idea, the lamp spirit suddenly said, "Maybe there's another way. Damage the souls of living people. In other words, damage the souls of people who have learned the Spiritual Transformation Technique."
Orochimaru's eyes lit up. This was a good idea.
Compared to the first idea, damaging the souls of people who have learned the Spiritual Transformation Technique would test whether Curse Marks could damage souls before doing anything else.
He wouldn't waste a lot of effort to create an Impure World Reincarnation host, only to find that Curse Marks couldn't damage Chakra souls.
That would be ridiculous.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy to find a ninja who could use the Spiritual Transformation Technique. S-rank ninjutsu wasn't something that anyone could learn.
But for Orochimaru, the difficulty of learning ninjutsu was secondary. He was confident in teaching well. The key was the ninja's talent.
"..."
Knock knock knock...
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door outside.
Orochimaru came back to his senses from his thoughts. He turned his head to look at the door. The person's energy was very familiar. It was Uchiha Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha Clan.
After successfully training Sage Techniques, his senses had improved. Within a certain range, he could even match the Byakugan.
Orochimaru put away the scroll on the table, opened the door, and brought Fugaku in. He smiled and said, "Clan Head Fugaku, I didn't expect you to come so soon after I got back. What's the rush?"
Hearing this, Fugaku's expression was a little awkward. After all, it was inappropriate to have people watching a 'Legendary Sannin's' residence.
But he couldn't care about that anymore. The new eye bloodline in Uchiha Jinsuke's eyes was too important. It was the hope for the clan's prosperity. He had to ask and find out.
Just as he was about to speak, Orochimaru stopped him. "It seems that what Clan Head Fugaku wants to talk about will have to wait."
As soon as he finished speaking, a ninja wearing the clothing of the Anbu landed in the courtyard.
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