Chapter 140: Signing the Yamata Summoning Contract
After Orochimaru retracted his killing intent, the black giant serpent of materialized killing intent slowly dissipated into nothingness. He folded his arms, watching the faintly blue Yamata no Orochi Soul that was trembling and prostrate on the ground with a composed look.
The small Yamata flickered its scarlet, slender tongue in satisfaction.
Suddenly, Orochimaru felt a great flash of light before his eyes.
The small Yamata revealed its pale-golden, two-headed, two-tailed Yamata avatar. As soon as the immense avatar appeared, it occupied the entire corridor. Apparently sensing the narrow space, the two-headed, two-tailed golden avatar suddenly shrank its form to the size of a lion or tiger. It slowly slithered in front of the faint blue, eight-headed, eight-tailed snake soul.
The noble and powerful pale-golden Yamata avatar constantly flexed and writhed its two heads and two tails. The mysterious, profound markings covering its body emitted a gentle golden light every moment. An air of elegant nobility, combined with a fierce dominance, naturally radiated outward, pressing down upon the faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul.
Feeling this noble aura, the eight-headed, eight-tailed soul trembled with fear, its eight heads plastered deeply against the ground like a vassal seeing his emperor on a procession.
The two massive snake heads on the small Yamata's pale-golden avatar suddenly opened, inhaling deeply toward the faint blue Yamata no Orochi Soul on the ground.
The soul, utterly powerless to resist, instantly condensed into two faint blue streams of air and rushed into the small Yamata's golden avatar. After consuming the soul, the golden avatar couldn't help but turn its head, stretching and dancing excitedly toward Orochimaru, as if expressing its inner joy.
The pervasive golden light slowly disappeared, and Orochimaru focused his eyes.
Where the pale-golden avatar had stood, the slender, adorable small Yamata was gone. In its place was an oval, pale-golden cocoon the size of a large bowl, appearing to be woven from golden threads.
Orochimaru's eyes lit up. He knew that this state meant the small Yamata was about to undergo another astonishing metamorphosis.
Feeling invigorated, Orochimaru carefully picked up the pale-golden energy cocoon from his shoulder and placed it inside his inner clothing.
The Contract
After safely securing the small Yamata, Orochimaru looked at the relief door. The eight-headed, eight-tailed snake carving was still there, but a closer look revealed that it lacked a specific, elusive charm and spirit.
Orochimaru bit his finger, drawing blood, and pressed it onto each snake head on the relief in turn.
When the last snake head was marked with Orochimaru's crimson blood, a dazzling, deep-blue chakra radiance suddenly appeared. It spread across the entire relief door like flowing water.
Rumble! The ancient, heavy relief door split down the middle and slowly opened.
The familiar, half-human-sized altar reappeared before Orochimaru's eyes.
Thinking of the immense power he was about to gain, Orochimaru couldn't help but feel excited, constantly licking his slightly dry lips.
Orochimaru solemnly picked up the ancient scroll, which was about the length of an adult's forearm and the width of two palms. He slowly unrolled it, examining the rows of ancient ninja world characters one more time. After confirming everything was correct, he used the still-wet blood on his fingertip to write his name in the blank space: Yamata Orochimaru!
The moment Orochimaru wrote his name on the Yamata Summoning Scroll, and before the crimson blood could dry, a powerful suction came from the scroll, as if it were a terrifying black hole instead of a summoning contract.
The powerful suction from the scroll instantly passed through Orochimaru's body and into his chakra system. The surging, pure chakra stream—which was several times greater than that of a typical Jōnin—was sucked completely into the ancient and mysterious Yamata Summoning Scroll.
At that moment, an ancient, weathered voice, seemingly having traveled through the river of time and conveying the vicissitudes of history, echoed softly in Orochimaru's ears: "After such an immense passage of time, someone has finally signed the contract of our clan!"
The voice appeared and vanished instantly, as if it had never existed. Yet, Orochimaru's soul was now connected to an ancient place.
Deep within his soul, a profound and mysterious contract formula slowly appeared, forcefully pushing aside the summoning contract that Orochimaru had previously signed with the other snake clan, the Great Snake Clan's summoning contract.
The entire Yamata Summoning Scroll instantly transformed into a stream of ink-black light, entering Orochimaru's right hand and manifesting on his forearm as a vivid, lifelike, eight-headed, eight-tailed black snake tattoo.
Orochimaru pulled up the sleeves on both arms. Seeing that the ink-black snake mark of the Great Snake Clan was still on his left hand, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He now knew that the claim on the Yamata Summoning Scroll—that the Yamata Summoning Jutsu could sign a contract with all snake-type summoned beasts—was not false.
Just then, a massive stream of information poured into Orochimaru's mind from the Yamata tattoo on his right arm. Already feeling incredibly weak from having most of his spiritual energy drained, Orochimaru's face paled further. Helpless, he could only close his eyes and endure the massive influx of information.
After a long time, Orochimaru finally opened his dark-golden eyes. Every question in his mind was now answered.
His goal for this trip accomplished, Orochimaru left the secret room. After restoring everything to its original state, he and Chi returned to their respective rooms.
Departure
Leisure time always passes quickly. Three days passed since Orochimaru returned from the Land of Rice.
During these three days, Orochimaru drafted a proposal, which he had long planned, suggesting that medical ninja be a fixed configuration within every squad—a strategy that Tsunade wouldn't propose until the Third Great Ninja War in his previous life. He submitted it to Hiruzen.
As expected, this excellent suggestion, which was capable of tipping the scales of victory on the battlefield, was quickly adopted by the far-sighted Hiruzen, bypassing the Konoha Elder Advisory Council and the Jōnin Council with an immediate green light.
Furthermore, a corps of Konoha's medical ninja would be deployed with Orochimaru to the Western Front to fight the Sand Ninja of the Land of Wind.
The notification and assembly of the medical ninja took about a day.
On the fifth morning after Orochimaru's return, Hiruzen sent over the official letter of appointment and all the relevant data regarding the Western Front's battle situation.
The next morning, clad in a sleek and well-fitting Anbu combat uniform, with the ink-black cursed sword Muramasa slung across his back, Orochimaru, accompanied by Chi, said goodbye to Maji and set off toward the Konoha gate amidst the crisp morning wind and bright light.
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