Lucian had not deceived Orochimaru.
A powerful, pure-blooded Quincy could live for a thousand years without blinking.
As long as he had enough soul energy, Lucian was virtually immortal.
And a pure-blooded Quincy who had been granted a 'Schrift' by Lucian could be resurrected at any time, even after death.
For Orochimaru, it didn't matter if it was true or false.
Even if there was only a one in a hundred million chance, he would still try.
There are too many truths in the world, but how can one pursue infinite truth in a finite lifetime?
Therefore,
Orochimaru's first goal was eternal life!
Only by living, only by living forever, would he have the chance to analyze the truth of all things.
"Truth is what I pursue!"
"But to follow... how could I not present a grand gift?"
The words 'refuse' and 'doubt' never appeared in Orochimaru's mind. From the moment the words 'eternal life' appeared, there was nothing else in his eyes.
Konoha had only been established for a little over thirty years.
He himself was only in his early twenties.
Why should he give up an infinite life for the sake of a mere few decades in Konoha!
"A grand gift... I must choose it carefully."
The future king... I am ready.
Please leave behind your coordinates, so that I may find you.
...
Konoha, beneath the shadows!
This was where Lucian currently was.
His seemingly effortless and instantaneous disappearance was, in fact, Lucian using the Schatten Bereich to enter a shadow space.
"I can't stay in the Schatten Bereich for long, so..."
"Construct a spirit particle space!"
Lucian manipulated the spirit particles.
Undetected by anyone in Konoha, within the shadow of a building, he constructed a small spirit particle space.
A pure spirit particle space, an independent small world.
In the world of Shinigami, the so-called Invisible Empire was formless and shadowless.
Who would have thought that such a kingdom could exist within the shadows?
The small space was completely white, with nothing in it. Lucian didn't need to put much effort into building it.
After all, it was only a temporary stop.
"Hah, I almost lost control."
Lucian did his best to soothe his spiritual power and spiritual pressure.
Jiraiya was right. The energy within his body after the evolution was too violent. An inexperienced person like him had almost failed to control it.
However, the pressure the Konoha ninja felt was mainly spiritual.
Lucian's spiritual pressure had a great suppressive effect on ninja who did not primarily cultivate their souls.
If he were to convert his energy level, without considering his abilities, Lucian estimated that his current spiritual power level was around the mid-to-late Kage level.
And that was just his spiritual power level!
Lucian also had spiritual pressure, which referred to the density and strength of his soul.
Against those ninja who basically didn't cultivate their souls, Lucian could kill most of them with his spiritual pressure alone.
Even without spiritual pressure, combat power didn't just depend on the amount of energy. Ninja battles were battles of intelligence, and no one understood Lucian's abilities.
Take Hidan, for example. His taijutsu was that of an ordinary Jonin, but given the right conditions, he could kill the God of Shinobi.
After all, it had been less than an hour since Lucian had regained his ability to move.
He had fought by growing stronger through battle, but his foundation was too shallow. The evolution had not only increased his potential.
He hadn't had time to master and develop his abilities. "The Almighty" had still not awakened; it would probably only appear at the next stage.
"Sakumo Hatake, Might Duy..."
Lucian hadn't seen either of them. They were clearly not in the village.
One wielded the White Light Chakra Sabre, a Kage-level powerhouse whose strength surpassed the current Sannin!
The other was a currently unknown taijutsu master who could explode with power at any moment... No, wait, Might Duy had only barely mastered the Eighth Gate during the Third Shinobi World War. He couldn't even kill all of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, a far cry from Guy.
Right now? He definitely hadn't mastered the Eighth Gate.
Not enough to make Lucian wary!
"My abilities are also a little different. Is it because of the Hōgyoku..."
Setting aside the Hōgyoku for now, which Lucian needed to explore slowly.
But he could feel that the abilities of the Quincy Progenitor were different.
For example, Yhwach had to continuously absorb human souls, or he would revert to the weak state he was born in, and even wither and die.
But Lucian didn't feel this. He no longer had any physical defects.
His other abilities, such as the Quincy Cross and Sankt Altar, also seemed to be different.
These were things Lucian would have to realize one by one.
"Next, I'll stabilize my strength, master my skills, and find a place to settle..."
"And build the Invisible Empire!"
And so, Lucian silently trained in the spirit particle space.
He had killed a total of several hundred Konoha ninja.
If he absorbed all their soul energy, converted to the ninja world's ranking system, even if he couldn't become a super-Kage, he would at least be at the peak of the Kage level.
No one could have known.
The great demon king who had destroyed Konoha was right under their noses, in the shadows.
...
In a world of different dimensions, news travels at an incredible speed.
While the Konoha ninja were still cleaning up the battlefield, and the villagers of Konoha had not yet recovered from the chaos.
The news of what had happened in Konoha spread throughout the ninja world.
What?
Someone invaded Konoha?
Crippled Danzo, that old schemer?
Killed several hundred Konoha ninja?
Declared war on Konoha and got away unscathed?
One piece of news after another, though lacking in detail, was confirmed to be true. It struck the entire ninja world like a meteorite.
It was unbelievable.
Even if they didn't want to admit it, in the eyes of most nations, Konoha and the Land of Fire were the strongest.
The village built by the God of Shinobi and the Asura of the Ninja World was number one.
The idea of a single person taking on Konoha was too fantastic to be true.
The major ninja villages were shaken.