Chapter 109: Whitesnake
Everyone's eyes were like iron filings drawn to a magnet, deathly fixed upon that last person.
Yahiko's slender fingers gently rotated the golden arrow. Its sharp tip traced a cold, shimmering light under the candlelight before coming to a steady halt, pointing at the pale-faced man.
"What's this? One of the Sannin who once shook the Ninja World, deterred by this small 'Biological Screening Mechanism'?"
A smile played on Yahiko's lips. "Or are you worried that your special soft-body structure won't be able to bear the weight of evolution?"
"Hehehe..."
A low laugh, sounding like sandpaper grinding against bone, squeezed out from the depths of Orochimaru's throat.
He rose slowly, his signature long tongue sliding across the corner of his mouth. There wasn't a hint of fear in his golden vertical pupils; instead, what burned there was the morbid excitement of a gourmet seeing a peerless delicacy.
Deterred?
What a joke.
Orochimaru glanced at the pathetic Kakuzu and Jūzō in the corner, a flash of disdain in his eyes that only a top scholar might have for a brute-force butcher.
These crude fellows only saw this arrow as a stimulant to enhance their strength.
But in his eyes, this arrow represented the rewriting of life's underlying code—it was the skeleton key to unlocking the ultimate puzzle of 'death'!
"Yahiko-kun must be joking."
Orochimaru walked to the table, not snatching it crudely like Jūzō.
He reached out both hands, his movements as gentle as if he were cradling a still-beating heart of a god. His slender fingertips twitched slightly from excessive excitement.
"Since it is a ticket to the truth, I would welcome it even if it were deadly poison."
Orochimaru took the arrow, his thumb stroking the cold metal surface, his gaze dreamy.
In the next second, his actions caused the air in the room to come to a sudden standstill.
He didn't stab his heart, nor did he plunge it into his stomach like Jūzō.
Puchi!
Gripping the golden arrow in a reverse hold, he drove it ruthlessly through his own throat with a resolute and precise angle!
If he was to evolve, he would start with the organ that'swallowed and breathed the world'!
"Ugh—!!"
Orochimaru jerked his head back, the veins in his neck bulging like green snakes about to burst.
However, black gas didn't erupt from his wound as it had with Kakuzu.
What emerged was an eerie, ghastly white foam that bubbled as if from a chemical reaction.
"Ugh... gurgle..."
Orochimaru clutched his neck tightly. The white foam, like living acid, poured frantically down his esophagus and trachea. The'sizzling' sound it made was a thousand times more piercing than the dissolution of hiruko earlier.
Pain!
It wasn't physical pain, but the sensation of collapse as his genetic sequence was forcibly dismantled and violently restructured.
At this moment, Orochimaru felt as if his Soul was being tossed into a high-speed centrifuge and stirred frantically.
"Since the old hardware is incompatible... then I'll just change to a new set!"
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Orochimaru's eyes.
As the progenitor of the life-preserving playstyle in the Ninja World, he had absolute confidence in exploiting bugs.
Vomit—!
Accompanied by a nauseating, slippery sound, Orochimaru's mouth stretched wide to the human limit. A pair of wet, large hands reached out from deep within his throat, followed by a perfectly intact head.
Orochimaru-Style Substitution Technique!
As long as I discard this infected skin, I can escape with the dividends of evolution like a golden cicada shedding its shell... "What?!"
The composure of having everything under control instantly collapsed on Orochimaru's face as he only managed to crawl halfway out, replaced by the terror of seeing a ghost.
He discovered to his horror that the ghastly white foam hadn't stayed on the old body. Instead, like a virus that had locked onto an IP address, it ignored physical boundaries and clung tightly to his newborn Soul!
"No... this is impossible!!"
For the first time, Orochimaru let out a panicked scream.
No matter how many times he shed his skin, that Soul-burning agony followed him like a shadow; he couldn't shake it off at all!
This was a hard control on the level of the Soul!
Thud.
In just two seconds.
Orochimaru's entire being was like a wax statue under the scorching sun, completely melting into a puddle of ghastly white viscous liquid that writhed and rolled in agony on the obsidian floor.
"Hmph, throwing away his life just to pursue so-called knowledge."
Sasori of the Red Sand, standing nearby, commented coldly, the tail stinger of hiruko swaying uneasily. "It seems the legendary Sannin is nothing more than this level of fool."
"Hehe... hehehehe..."
Just when everyone thought he was finished, Orochimaru's cold laughter suddenly echoed from that pile of ghastly white sludge.
Though weak and distorted, that greed filled with malice toward the world was even more intense than before.
In his mental world, Orochimaru stopped all his struggling and evasion.
He looked at the viral code that was frantically devouring his consciousness, and an unprecedented fervor erupted in his golden pupils.
Does it hurt? It's right that it hurts!
This virus is trying to analyze me? Then I will analyze you in return!
"You want to eat me?"
The sludge surged wildly, actually forming the blurred outline of a human face that roared at the Void Realm.
"Then let's see whose appetite is bigger!!"
Greed.
A greed sufficient to swallow heaven and earth.
Orochimaru abandoned his firewall as a 'human' and opened his Soul. Like a giant abyss serpent, he proactively opened his maw and swallowed all those lethal viruses into his belly!
Using them as food, using them as a foundation!
I want it all!
Boom—!!
A wave of extremely cold, viscous Chakra, carrying a strong sense of religious ritual, suddenly erupted.
The sludge on the ground instantly contracted, solidified, and reshaped.
In the blink of an eye.
An Orochimaru stood up once again.
His skin was even paler than before, even possessing a cold, hard texture like marble.
"This feeling... is simply exquisite."
Orochimaru slowly clenched his fist, feeling the completely different power within his body.
This was no longer the crude energy flow of Chakra, but a more precise, more Advanced rhythmic law.
Whoosh... a cold wind blew.
Behind Orochimaru, a ghastly white, slender humanoid Stand slowly emerged.
It wore a black mask resembling a medieval executioner's, and its entire body was covered in 'GΔCT' symbols representing genetic bases. Its pupil-less white eyes gazed coldly at the world.
Both holy and evil.
Both rational and insane.
Stand—[Whitesnake].
"Is this the end point of evolution..."
Orochimaru took a deep, intoxicated breath. The Whitesnake behind him slightly raised its hand and made a gentle swipe through the air.
A wonderful tactile feedback returned to his brain.
In that instant, Orochimaru'saw' it.
He saw the spiritual bodies of everyone present. They were no longer a blurry mass, but a precision database stored in layers like optical discs.
Only he could feel that as long as [Whitesnake] reached out its hand, it could pull out the memories and even the Souls of these people, just like pulling a book from a shelf!
This is... Plunder!
This was a divine technique that could steal others' lives, techniques, and even Kekkei Genkais!
Orochimaru's heart pounded violently, but the expression on his face became incredibly humble in an instant, even a bit subservient.
I can't say it.
I absolutely cannot expose this ability.
This ability, which could directly threaten everyone and even that 'god,' must be hidden as the ultimate trump card.
This is the 'King Bomb' for a future betrayal.
"Congratulations, Orochimaru."
Yahiko sat in the main seat, gently swirling his wine glass, his gaze playful as if watching a farce.
"Thank you, Leader, for the new life."
Orochimaru immediately bowed, that habitual fake smile hanging on his face, his tone so sincere it was sickening: "What an interesting power... my Stand seems to be able to greatly enhance my perception and analysis, allowing me to more clearly 'dissect' the principles of this world's Ninjutsu."
"Just an auxiliary observation-type ability?"
Kakuzu, standing nearby, curled his lip in disdain. "I thought you'd make some big commotion, but it turns out to be a high-end telescope? Truly not worth it."
Orochimaru lowered his head, an imperceptible cold smile curving his lips.
Fools.
Just keep thinking that.
When I finish analyzing all your weaknesses and drain your Souls to turn them into a disc collection, I hope you can still be so stubborn.
"Observation-type?"
Yahiko suddenly laughed.
The laughter was light, yet it was like an ice pick driven straight into Orochimaru's skull.
"Whether it's analysis, or... 'Plunder'."
Yahiko slowed his pace, every word like a heavy hammer striking Orochimaru's tense nerves:
"As long as it is used for my sake, I don't mind whose brain you pulled it out of."
Boom!
Orochimaru jerked his head up, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.
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