After leaving behind the words that they were to clean up the laboratory and have Orochimaru prepare compensation, Rei Kaguya calmly left.
Within that scene of devastation, the five research personnel and experimental materials from Konoha fell silent together.
After a long silence, Orochimaru was the first to move.
He walked toward the dead summoned snakes, crouched down, and carefully observed the gray, disintegrating wounds on their bodies.
Looking at those hollows where flesh, bone, and scales had completely turned into ash and scattered, as if the holes had naturally existed there from the beginning, he narrowed his eyes.
Like a research lunatic seeing his hypothesis verified, he laughed without concealing it in the slightest.
"So that is it. This is the true power you obtained after surpassing the Kaguya clan's bloodline, Rei-kun?"
"Orochimaru… sama?"
Anko Mitarashi looked at Orochimaru, who kept letting out strange laughter, and asked with discomfort all over her body, "Did you… discover something?"
"Some interesting facts that would get me immediately silenced by Rei-kun if I dared speak of them outside this place."
Orochimaru raised his head.
His face carried an incomprehensibly joyful expression as he looked toward the pile of ash that had once been the half-tree, half-bone monster.
"However, on that point, everyone present here is the same…"
Kabuto Yakushi and Anko Mitarashi's faces darkened at the same time.
Neither of them wanted to know something so troublesome. They had only been sent here to assist Orochimaru and accumulate research experience. They had never intended to learn fatal top-secret information because of it.
Unlike the two researchers, Shisui Uchiha, who was experimental material, developed no small amount of interest in this matter.
He placed the unconscious Hyuga Makoto to the side, then looked at Orochimaru and asked, "The fact you mentioned… is about the Fourth's physical condition?"
"Smart. It seems you truly are qualified to be valued by Rei-kun."
Orochimaru smiled.
He turned toward the large culture tank beside him that contained Hashirama Senju's cells. Pointing at the face that looked as if Hashirama Senju were merely asleep, he spoke with unconcealable excitement.
"Among the history we can recognize, only three shinobi have ever possessed power close to myth. Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, and Rei Kaguya.
"All three are possessors of Kekkei Genkai. All three are said to be direct descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. And all three displayed special abilities far beyond their own clan's inherited power.
"The power Hashirama Senju possessed was Wood Release, which had never appeared before among the Senju clan, or even the entire shinobi world. It could move mountains and shake the earth, suppress Tailed Beasts, create endless seas of trees through one person's power alone, and even grant terrifying self-healing ability that surpassed all medical ninjutsu.
"Even decades after his death, his 'body' still has not truly died…"
"Madara Uchiha's power was the Mangekyo Sharingan. Or rather, some power even higher than the Mangekyo Sharingan, one that allowed him to control the Nine-Tails and fight evenly against Hashirama Senju, who possessed an almost undying body. Even though Madara was ultimately defeated and killed, he still caused Hashirama Senju to die early as a result…"
"Then, as the surpasser of the Kaguya clan, what is Rei Kaguya's power?"
At this point, Orochimaru paused.
With some emotion, he said, "I originally thought that after Rei-kun surpassed the limits of the Dead Bone Pulse, the power he obtained was an unmatched physique, one capable of supporting his reckless use of the Dead Bone Pulse that injures the user before injuring the enemy…
"But now, it seems I made a mistake. A preconceived mistake."
"It is not that Rei-kun obtained his terrifying physique, one that now stands above the Tailed Beasts, after surpassing the limits of the Dead Bone Pulse.
"Rather, because he possessed such unparalleled vitality, he was able to withstand the power of destruction he obtained after surpassing the Dead Bone Pulse."
"However, judging from the current situation, even with Rei-kun's physique, he has not completely endured the power of that gray bone. Otherwise, he would not need to deliberately search through the Kaguya clan's ancient records, then hand me the task of cultivating a pair of Byakugan perfectly suited to him, along with the information that the Kaguya clan and Hyuga clan share a common ancestor."
Hearing this, Shisui Uchiha could not help asking, "But if the Fourth truly needs to obtain a pair of Byakugan to balance his power… could he not simply take Hyuga Makoto's Byakugan directly? Just taking Hyuga Makoto's Byakugan should not affect the efficiency of using him to obtain the Hyuga clan bloodline, right?"
"Do you think the eyes of this kind of brat can match Rei-kun's power?"
Orochimaru looked deeply at Shisui Uchiha and shook his head.
"Most likely, they cannot… Never mind that no one currently knows how to awaken the Byakugan's true power. Even if that method were mastered, eyes taken from someone else are still someone else's eyes in the end. They cannot unleash their full power.
"And what Rei-kun needs is a pair of Byakugan capable of matching his body, which has surpassed the limits of the Dead Bone Pulse.
"Even if every member of the Hyuga clan throughout history were revived, such powerful eyes probably could not be found."
"Then does that not mean… if our experiment never makes progress, the Fourth will…"
Anko Mitarashi covered her mouth, her face full of disbelief.
"I will not let Rei-kun die."
The moment those words came out, the entire laboratory fell silent.
Orochimaru looked around at the dumbfounded people around him. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as he asked, "Why do all of you look so surprised? In your eyes, am I the sort of person who hopes Rei-kun will die young as soon as possible?"
Are you not?
Anko Mitarashi, Kabuto Yakushi, and Shisui Uchiha each had different expressions, but their instinctive reactions gave the same answer.
"Hehehehehe. That is why I say you are all still brats who require more experience…"
Orochimaru shook his head with a gloomy laugh.
With a flip of his hand, he summoned his giant snakes and commanded them to begin cleaning up the mess in the laboratory.
Orochimaru had indeed thought before that if Rei Kaguya were to suddenly die early because of some special reason, perhaps the shinobi world without him would be more favorable for Orochimaru to stretch his own limbs.
But now, after learning secrets about the Sage of Six Paths from Rei Kaguya, and after personally witnessing the new power Rei possessed beyond the Dead Bone Pulse, his thoughts had completely changed.
Rei Kaguya could not die.
At least until Orochimaru found a way to awaken the Byakugan's true power, and until he used the true powers of the Hyuga, Kaguya, Senju, and Uchiha clans to touch the true progenitor of chakra—
Rei Kaguya absolutely could not die.
"Hmhmhm. Rei-kun, if the information you gave me is not wrong, then the Sage of Six Paths, who died of old age, and his younger brother, who ascended to the moon, absolutely cannot be the true progenitors of chakra…
"Above them, there should be an even more perfect existence. An immortal existence that simultaneously contains the Wood Release power of life and the gray Dead Bone Pulse's power of death, while fully unleashing the true powers of both the Sharingan and Byakugan."
"I will definitely find him—or her—and truly unravel the secrets of chakra, life, and death."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
On his gloomy face, a blazing, fanatical light of thirst for knowledge flickered.
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