"The Sage of Six Paths… was the common ancestor of the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan?"
Compared to the names Hagoromo Otsutsuki and Hamura Otsutsuki, which had barely been passed down through history, Orochimaru felt that the fact the Uchiha and Senju had been one family a thousand years ago was far more shocking.
He frowned, looked seriously into Rei Kaguya's eyes, and asked in a low voice, "How much evidence supports this information?"
"Very little. Even in the Kaguya clan's historical records, there are only a few fragmented mentions that the Senju and Uchiha should not have had their current relationship. If you want to find more detailed information, you would probably have to search the Hyuga clan's side. After all, the Hyuga clan is definitely much more enthusiastic about recording history in writing than the Kaguya clan."
Rei shrugged and gave an answer that made Orochimaru raise an eyebrow.
But he quickly smoothed out his emotions and asked in a low voice, "I will find a way to verify that later… However, since you have mentioned the Sage of Six Paths, the Uchiha clan, and the Senju clan, then the blood relationship between the Hyuga clan, the Kaguya clan, and that Hamura Otsutsuki should be similar to the one above?"
"That is correct."
Rei nodded and continued explaining to Orochimaru.
"I have not yet found the reason why the Senju and Uchiha parted ways in the beginning, but I did find some interesting records regarding Hamura Otsutsuki…"
"According to those records, Hamura was the common ancestor of the Hyuga clan and the Kaguya clan. He was an existence who defeated a certain terrifying monster together with the Sage of Six Paths. He was the strongest inheritor of the Byakugan. But in order to fulfill a certain promise whose specific contents are unknown, he divided his descendants into two groups. One group remained on the earth and later became the Hyuga clan and Kaguya clan. The other group went with him to the moon and settled there."
"The moon!?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru, whose brows had been tightly furrowed because of the many ancient secrets Rei had revealed, suddenly widened his eyes. An expression of intense interest appeared on his face.
"Are you certain, Rei-kun? That Hamura Otsutsuki… truly went to settle on the moon?"
"Only one ancient book recorded this matter, and even there, the wording was vague, evasive, and unclear… However," Rei paused slightly, narrowed his eyes, and chuckled at Orochimaru, "that does not prevent us from developing a sufficiently great interest in this matter, does it, Orochimaru?"
"It would be impossible to say I am not interested…"
Orochimaru took a deep breath.
On his gloomy, deep face, there was now a kind of curiosity that could almost be described as clear and pure.
"Who has never looked up at the starry sky? Who has never wanted to know what that sea of stars shining in the darkness truly looks like? If someone truly mastered every ninjutsu in the world and understood the mysteries of life and death, then that boundless starry sky above their head would probably be the only thing still capable of awakening curiosity in them once more."
After revealing a little of his own thoughts, Orochimaru exhaled and looked at Rei, who showed a look of understanding toward his words.
Then he asked directly, "So, Rei-kun wishes to obtain the qualifications to search for traces of your ancestor named Hamura Otsutsuki by obtaining a Byakugan that perfectly matches you?"
"If those who follow me can stand on the moon and look down upon this land, then perhaps they will understand why I want the shinobi world to complete its unification as quickly as possible."
Rei did not answer Orochimaru's question directly. Instead, he gave another reason.
"The current them do not understand many of the ideas I intend to implement. They are only willing to obediently carry out the orders I give because they admire or fear my strength… But that is not enough. Far from enough."
"What I want is a world that can still stumble forward even after I leave. Not a world that, the moment it loses my deterrence, immediately falls back into that boring cycle of schemes, calculations, disputes, slaughter, and war."
"Your ambition is truly astonishingly large, Rei-kun… You want to permanently brand your thoughts into the spirit of this world and make later generations inherit your ideals and continue moving forward? That is not something as simple as unifying the shinobi world can accomplish…"
Listening to Orochimaru's evaluation of him, Rei smiled faintly and responded with an indifferent expression.
"Your dream of mastering every ninjutsu in the world and understanding the mysteries of life and death is not small either, Orochimaru."
"Likewise."
Orochimaru put away the test tube containing Rei's blood and once again returned to his usual cold, sinister expression.
He said in a low voice, "I will complete the matter of analyzing the Hyuga clan's genes and using your cells to cultivate a Byakugan that belongs to you as soon as possible… However, if I am the only one responsible for the research, the progress will not be very fast. I need qualified and talented assistants to cooperate with me."
"Simple. I can transfer Anko Mitarashi over from the Curse Mark Development Department. Recently, she has been relying on the Body-Shaping Curse Mark I just finished developing and spending all day in the Curse Mark Development Department's office eating and drinking as much as she wants. It is time to find her something to do and consume some of the excessive nutrition that has accumulated on her chest."
Hearing Rei mention Anko Mitarashi's name, Orochimaru could not help licking his lips. He sneered and said, "Ah, Anko? It seems she has been living quite well under you, Rei-kun. I wonder how much of the seriousness and rigor she had as my disciple remains…"
"If you ask her to fight and kill, she is probably not very capable anymore. But if you ask her to handle research, she can still be considered a relatively convenient tool. And considering that she has so many different curse marks with different uses on her body, having her work more than sixteen hours a day should not be much of a problem…"
The corner of Orochimaru's eye twitched.
Clearly, he had remembered the unbearable work intensity he had suffered through over the past two years.
Fortunately, his mental state was tough enough. He quickly adjusted his expression, licked his lips, and continued, "If Anko has not become too wasted by your side, she can barely be considered a decent assistant candidate… However, I also want an assistant with stronger potential for molding. I wonder if you have a suitable candidate, Rei-kun?"
"You want Kabuto Yakushi, right?"
Rei casually said a name that made Orochimaru's gaze freeze.
"…How do you know that?"
Orochimaru's body tensed. He made a meaningless gesture of caution and questioned him in a cold voice.
"Then why do you think a child who was only five or six years old and had not received sufficient spy training could continue to perfectly play the role of a spy without revealing any flaws after losing long-term contact with his superior, Orochimaru?"
Rei withdrew his smile.
He looked meaningfully at Orochimaru's tense face and slowly said, "Stop using the way of thinking you learned from that piece of trash Danzo to face this era, Orochimaru… unless you want to become like him and be swept into the garbage heap of history."
Join my Patreon to read public release chapters and get 1 chapter ahead for free. Paid members can read more advanced chapters.
Continue reading here
patreon.com/Inkveil_