Toneri believed this was the best way to eliminate Satoshi.
Black Zetsu believed this was the best opportunity for his mother's revival.
Black Zetsu knew Satoshi was an extremely greedy individual who would never pass up an opportunity to gain an advantage.
As expected, Satoshi stood still beneath the Tenseigan, examining the gigantic eyeball, which resembled a small sun, with great interest. He even extended a finger, seemingly wanting to feel the swirling golden halo.
Black Zetsu's heart was in his throat and a joyous shout nearly broke through his seal.
'It's done! Eye of the Moon Plan 8.0!'
Just as Satoshi's finger was about to touch the Tenseigan, he suddenly pulled his hand back.
"Forget it, this thing is too big. It would take up too much space to take back."
Toneri and Black Zetsu nearly fainted from anger.
Are you deliberately trying to provoke us, kid?!
It was so close, why didn't you just touch it? Please, just touch it!
Satoshi looked down at Toneri. "Awake?"
Toneri snorted coldly and turned his face away.
Satoshi spread his hands. He wasn't very capable, but he had quite a temper.
He stroked the walls of the temple. "This place is nice, you just stay here obediently."
"What do you mean?!"
Toneri struggled to get up but found he couldn't move at all. He could only watch as Satoshi walked out of the temple's main door.
Satoshi clapped his hands together.
Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei!
...
In a certain unknown corner of the Ninja World, a monk with a long braid behind his head sat on a chair. He held a glass of red wine, looking surprisingly elegant.
He was Jigen, or rather, Isshiki, residing in this body.
He had been lurking in the Ninja World for over a thousand years, priding himself on having seen through the cunning of these lower beings. For this reason, he made a habit of gathering intel to ensure foolproof action.
His recent efforts had been focused on analyzing the battles of Kinshiki, Momoshiki, Urashiki, and between Toneri and Satoshi.
"Momoshiki devoured Kinshiki, gaining immense Chakra, but was terminated before he could even activate that form."
Isshiki drained the red wine from his glass. "Intel shows that he didn't even have time to display his true power."
"Could it be that this Satoshi possesses some strange ability that can suppress, or even prevent, Momoshiki from undergoing his final evolution?"
He put down the empty glass, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on the smooth tabletop.
"If that's the case, then it's going to be troublesome."
Isshiki's choice of Jigen's body was out of necessity. However, the quality of this body was too poor to unleash his full power.
"I need to find a more suitable body."
"That Konoha rogue ninja named Kabuto seems to have fused multiple powerful bloodlines and has considerable research into vessel modification."
"I wonder how much his body can withstand?"
Isshiki's efficiency was far beyond normal imagination. Finding Kabuto's whereabouts did not take too long.
—
Deep within a gloomy underground cave, a strong smell of chemicals and blood permeated the air.
Kabuto pushed his signature round-rimmed glasses up. A flicker of astonishment crossed his snake-like pupils behind the lenses, immediately replaced by a fervent thirst for knowledge.
He had never dreamed that it wouldn't be Satoshi who would come knocking, but the legendary Isshiki.
"An Ōtsutsuki body." Kabuto's voice trembled with excitement, and he licked his somewhat dry lips.
"I haven't had the chance to perform such a perfect dissection and modification experiment yet."
Kabuto charged forward.
And then—
He was crippled, his body riddled with black rods.
Isshiki curled his lip.
Indeed, a lowly, inferior creature, unable to even make him sweat.
Should he really choose this body?
Isshiki slowly walked up to Kabuto, looking down at the almost unconscious failure. He uncharacteristically paused just before implanting the decisive mark into Kabuto's body.
Kabuto's physical constitution was far superior to Jigen's, but there was still a considerable gap from the ideal vessel he envisioned for perfectly containing the Ōtsutsuki's power.
After a brief moment of indecision, he made up his mind. Ultimately, the apprehension of Satoshi's unknown threat, and the urgent need to acquire greater power, outweighed that minor pickiness.
"I'll choose you for now." Isshiki branded Kabuto with the Karma.
"Once that brat is taken care of, you won't be of much use anyway."
Isshiki's Karma transference process went relatively smoothly. After some time, he had taken control of Kabuto, a rather decent vessel.
Although it couldn't perfectly contain his vast power, it was a qualitative leap compared to Jigen's decaying shell of a body.
After a period of time, his consciousness completely replaced Kabuto's.
Isshiki slowly opened his eyes. He flexed his new fingers, feeling the power flowing within him, and was quite satisfied.
However, what he didn't notice was that when Kabuto's Chakra was exhausted, a small white snake slithered out of his body. It then silently burrowed underground.
Deep within a corner of the Ninja World, completely buried by time and oblivion, an ancient laboratory, long abandoned for many years, lay hidden. This was once Orochimaru's secret hideout. Now, only cold instruments and bottles and jars emitting strange odors remained.
A sudden sharp crack broke the silence that had reigned here for countless years.
A dust-covered culture jar rolled off a precarious shelf, fell to the ground, and shattered into pieces.
After a moment of deathly silence, a pale hand gripped the edge of a cabinet door. Following that, a figure slowly crawled out from the mountain of old experimental materials.
Orochimaru leaned against the wall, looking extremely weak. "I never thought I would see the light of day again in such a way."
That's right, our scapegoat king Orochimaru has been revived yet again.
It turned out that Orochimaru had not completely died. He had been waiting for an opportunity to seize Kabuto's body, but he had always been suppressed by Kabuto's Chakra.
Until recently, Isshiki approached Kabuto, and the two engaged in battle. To resist Isshiki, Kabuto squeezed out the last drop of Chakra from his body.
Orochimaru's consciousness, with all its remaining power, broke through that final restraint.
Indeed, you can defeat Orochimaru, you can seal him, but you can never truly kill him.
Not only that, relying on his pervasive intelligence network, Orochimaru quickly pieced together the shocking changes that had occurred in the Ninja World during this period.
"Wait a minute..."
Orochimaru, who was always bloodthirsty and without morals, had a complex expression on his face.
What the hell is this Ōtsutsuki clan, and that lunatic from the moon, Toneri?!
Does this have anything to do with me?
"You naturally despicable Uchiha brat, I will definitely kill you!"
...
"Immortality! Immortality! Immortality!"
Inside Kabuto, or rather, Isshiki's body, unconscious voices continuously echoed.
"This perfect body is mine, you can't take it away."
"I want to master all the Ninjutsu in the Ninja World, I want immortality."
Isshiki rubbed his temples fiercely. "Damn it, what the hell are you?"
Isshiki was very angry. He had clearly taken Kabuto's body, but why could Kabuto still retain some consciousness and occasionally let out a roar?
He didn't understand. Kabuto wasn't Orochimaru, as they called him, so why was he also so hard to kill?