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Night had fallen over the Sound territory, casting a pale silver light over the jagged mountains. Kirito crouched on a ridge, concealed beneath a thin veil of Earth Style camouflage jutsu. The wind whispered faintly through the jagged rocks, carrying with it a metallic tang—chemicals, blood, and the faint, nauseating scent of forbidden experiments.
He had spent weeks mapping the area with his clones, scouring merchant trails, patrol patterns, and abandoned ruins. Finally, they had pinpointed the heart of Orochimaru's operation: a hidden lab built deep into a mountainside, surrounded by chakra sensors and minor sealing wards. To the average shinobi, the place would have been impossible to infiltrate. But Kirito had spent years mastering fuinjutsu, and his chakra core pulsed with the concentrated energy of a thousand lessons.
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Infiltration
He approached slowly, hand over a scroll of sealing suppression. A faint flick of chakra neutralized the sensors around the lab's entrance. Transformation Jutsu layered over his skin altered his chakra signature, masking him from even the most sensitive detection. One by one, his shadow clones dispersed to guard escape routes, forming an invisible perimeter.
The lab itself was a monstrosity of light and shadow. Kirito's eyes scanned through the open cracks in the walls: rows of jars filled with suspended organs, racks of preserved Sharingan and Byakugan, and tables littered with half-finished experiments—human subjects immobilized with kunai and binding arrays, faint gasps echoing as their bodies were infused with foreign chakra.
Every step was a dance. Kirito moved silently, every breath calculated. The moment he crossed the threshold, he activated his chakra core stabilization seals, ensuring his presence remained imperceptible.
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Recording Orochimaru's Knowledge
At the center of the lab lay the forbidden manuscripts and jutsu scrolls. Kirito's eyes gleamed as he flipped open the first tome: it contained the Living Corpse Reincarnation (Fushi Tensei)—Orochimaru's foundation of immortality. He meticulously transcribed every symbol, every line of incantation, and layered his own seals over them so they could be duplicated and analyzed without revealing the originals.
Next, he moved to the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique, committing the intricate chakra flow patterns to memory while sealing them into scrolls that could instantly reconstruct the jutsu's mechanics in his lab. He copied Cursed Seal experiments, carefully documenting how they enhanced host chakra and altered personality thresholds.
Summoning techniques followed: Rashomon, Reanimation (Edo Tensei), and the Seal Destruction forbidden jutsu. Each scroll was carefully counter-sealed with a layer of suppression tags, preventing accidental activation, while copies were stored in his chakra-linked memory system.
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Sample Collection
Kirito's attention shifted to the biological specimens. His gloves, inscribed with instant sealing arrays, allowed him to lift samples of Hashirama cells, Sharingan, and other kekkei genkai tissues without disturbing the surrounding wards. Each sample was immediately placed into a chakra-stabilizing jar, preventing degradation or detection by the lab's sensory systems.
He paused at a containment unit marked with "Fushi Tensei Prototype", where a half-completed host body shimmered faintly with unnatural energy. His hands, guided by years of fuinjutsu training, extracted the chakra matrix without leaving a trace. The energy hummed in his palms, restrained by a layered sealing tag of his own design.
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Perfect Stealth
As he moved through the lab, Kirito deployed temporal sealing arrays, preventing the staff monitoring the lab from perceiving any disturbance. Sound-nin patrolled outside, but his clones masked his signature with faint echoes of village shinobi and wandering merchants. Even the most sensitive of sensory techniques were misled.
He spent hours meticulously cataloging jutsus, scrolls, and samples. Every detail of Orochimaru's research—from forbidden reincarnation to summoning spells—was copied, sealed, and recorded. He layered suppressor tags across all physical evidence to ensure that even if a clone were intercepted, the information could not be traced back to him.
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Denotation and Escape
Finally, Kirito prepared his exit. Along the walls, he placed chakra-tagged explosives—not crude bombs, but delicate fuinjutsu constructs designed to disintegrate structural seals and vaporize the lab without harming the surrounding terrain. Each tag linked to a master switch that only he could trigger, ensuring total control.
Before leaving, he paused, scanning the laboratory one last time. His reflection rippled across a pool of preserved fluids—a reminder of the cost of ambition. With a deep exhale, he triggered the sequence. The lab erupted in a silent cascade of collapsing walls and sealing explosions, erasing the physical proof of his intrusion entirely.
Kirito retreated to the ridge, his cloaked shadow blending into the night. The mountains hummed with residual energy as the lab disintegrated beneath him. Not a single guard suspected a thing.
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Analysis and Reflection
By dawn, Kirito had returned to his hidden workshop. Hundreds of scrolls now lined the tables, each containing the essence of Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu and experiments, complete with diagrams, seals, and annotations. Chakra-stabilized jars preserved Hashirama cells, kekkei genkai tissue, and samples of Cursed Seals for study.
He activated a purification seal over the entire room, eliminating lingering traces of foreign chakra. Then he sank into meditation, letting his chakra core pulse gently. Each new layer of stolen knowledge strengthened it further, stabilizing it against both physical and spiritual strain.
Knowledge is power… and poison, he thought. Orochimaru sought immortality, but he left his secrets exposed. I will use them to grow beyond even him.
No sound came from the forest outside, only the wind through the trees. Kirito's eyes glowed faintly blue as he studied the jars, scrolls, and chakra matrices. Each piece was a step closer to mastering sealing, mastering life and death, and mastering himself.
The Shadow Hunter had claimed yet another prize, unseen and untouchable, leaving only whispers and legends in his wake.
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