Naruto: Kurotsuchi Mayuri

Orochimaru allowed Nara Kagetsu to use his reputation and authority in the Technology Development Department to conduct various experiments. He even supported and endorsed him, just to see how far Kagetsu could go down the path he had chosen.

Even though Orochimaru understood that Kagetsu's research did not align with his own pursuit of eternal life.

Orochimaru sought eternal life as his ultimate goal.

Kagetsu, however, viewed eternal life only as a side product of his greater research.

Immortality of the soul?

This was what shocked Orochimaru after he studied Kagetsu's research and uncovered its hidden secrets. To Orochimaru, physical death was equivalent to complete death.

And the soul?

Although there were legends of the Pure Land and the Shinigami, and even the Second Hokage developed the forbidden technique Edo Tensei to summon the souls of the dead back to the living world, indirectly proving the existence of souls and the Pure Land...

The Pure Land was not a place Orochimaru desired to go! Before Kagetsu, he had never considered immortality through the soul as a viable path. 

But after Kagetsu exposed him to this concept—a path he had avoided and rejected—Orochimaru's perspective began to shift. He no longer saw himself bound by the limitations of the physical body. A new possibility had cracked open before him.

He wouldn't abandon the path of physical immortality he had chosen, but he was curious to see how far Kagetsu could travel on his own chosen road. The scenery along that path was something Orochimaru also yearned to see and experience.

Of course, while Orochimaru remained steadfast in his pursuit of physical immortality, he did not ignore the value of Kagetsu's research. 

He sought to learn from it and incorporate its strengths into his own forbidden techniques for immortality.

At the very least, the insights from Kagetsu's research could help Orochimaru refine and enhance his own methods of achieving immortality.

At the same time, Orochimaru had developed a strong interest in the Tailed Beasts, these beasts regarded as natural disasters.

Compared to the Three Sage Regions where summoning beasts lived for a thousand years using special natural energy and senjutsu, the tailed beasts seemed like evidence that the research of Kagetsu was not mere fantasy.

They are sentient chakra aggregates!

This is what Orochimaru confirmed after studying Kagetsu's research on the tailed beasts. 

So, if we trace the origins of the tailed beasts, could we possibly find the origin of the so-called chakra bodies and their immortality?

Orochimaru, who was now in the vicinity of the Ryūchi Cave and had always leaned toward Kagetsu's research on the tailed beasts, had many unsolved mysteries to explore. 

In the past, he may not have cared about these things, but now, he found himself deeply curious about and eager to uncover the hidden secrets of the ninja world.

And the one who would most likely know these secrets was instantly thought of by Orochimaru—a gigantic figure with a pipe in its mouth, surrounded by smoke.

The White Snake Sage!

The owner and the strongest being of the Ryūchi Cave!

It was also the powerful existence that all those who trained in the Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu and sage mode had to face.

However, the White Snake Sage was not an easy one to deal with. It had all the typical traits humans associate with snakes. It had no particular care or concern for its summoners.

If the relationship between the summoners and Mount Myoboku could be described as a mutually beneficial cooperation, and the relationship between the summoners and the Shikkotsu Forest was one of casual giving, where both sides maintained a peaceful and harmonious bond, then the relationship between the Ryūchi Cave and its summoners was a bit more complicated.

At least, many summoners had become food for the snakes of the Ryūchi Cave, and the White Snake Sage didn't care about those summoners' deaths.

Unlike Gamamaru, who always wanted to intervene in the future of the ninja world, the White Snake Sage was more of an observer, interested only in watching the spectacle. 

The summoners weren't that important to it, but it was happy to see them cause trouble for the toads in the other place.

Mount Myoboku needed summoners because of the great toad sage's prophetic abilities. It would choose the right person at the right time to guide and influence the events foretold in the prophecies.

Perhaps, this was a form of training.

The Ryūchi Cave doesn't require such things. It only needs to cut off the contract holders, and the White Snake Sage can record everything that happens in the ninja world. 

The only thing that bothers and irritates it is that behind every noteworthy event, there's always the shadow of Gamamaru.

Orochimaru had met the White Snake Sage and asked it about senjutsu and immortality. In his memory, the White Snake Sage was very knowledgeable and aware of many hidden things.

Unfortunately, even though its human form seemed kind and approachable, its true nature wasn't so understanding or gentle. Even with Orochimaru's questions, the White Snake Sage didn't always answer them.

If Kagetsu continued to grow like this, perhaps the White Snake Sage would start focusing on him, just like it did with Orochimaru once! During one of his visits to the Ryūchi Cave, he was guided deep into the cave to where the White Snake Sage resided.

Shaking his head, Orochimaru brought his wandering thoughts back to the scroll in his hands.

The scroll contained a collection of notes and records that had been gathered by Shinnō. These writings may seem profound to others, but they were the result of Shinnō's life's work in medical ninjutsu and the human body.

From the message Kagetsu had left him, it seemed Shinnō had made significant progress on the path to immortality. 

The data and knowledge recorded in the scroll proved that Shinnō had indeed created a forbidden technique to keep his body and state at their peak for long periods.

Shinnō's level of medical ninjutsu made his body almost like clay, able to be shaped and controlled at will.

Turning back to youth and adjusting his appearance to a certain age wasn't just a fantasy.

At least, Orochimaru had never imagined that medical ninjutsu could reach this level! After all, the medical ninja system, which Tsunade had compiled and showcased on the battlefield, only gained recognition from the various villages after that.

Before that, the idea of the ninja village system already was a groundbreaking one.

In the thousand years of the ninja era, most of it was marked by the bloodshed between ninja clans. During that time, it's safe to say that medical ninjutsu and medical ninjas weren't considered mainstream at all.

At that time, all ninjas were skilled in how to kill efficiently using ninjutsu, not in how to save lives with ninjutsu.

Tsunade must have already reached this point by now, right?

Orochimaru thought about Tsunade, whom he had not seen in years. Even though her fear of blood prevented her from continuing her work in surgery, she had clearly established her own medical forbidden jutsu system before she left. 

Even if she followed the process step by step, he believed that Tsunade would still find success.

If it weren't for the war, he would've loved to find Tsunade, travel with her, and try his best to persuade her to join him in the development of his forbidden jutsu.

But now, unable to get away, the forbidden jutsu scroll along with the medical knowledge obtained from Shinnno given by Kagetsu, were enough to help Orochimaru fill in his gaps and inspire new ideas.

What a precious gift!

Looking at the scrolls scattered across the table, some opened and some not, Orochimaru couldn't help but repeat to himself. His hands were itching to test out the new ideas he had in a lab. 

Unfortunately, as the leader of the Iwagakure battlefield, he couldn't leave and didn't have the time to carefully study the precious materials Kagetsu had sent him.

With a sigh, Orochimaru rolled up the scattered scrolls, sealed them, and summoned a white snake. The precious scrolls were carefully shoved into its mouth and into its stomach, watching as it turned into a puff of white smoke and disappeared from the table.

The Ryūchi Cave and Mount Myōboku regions always had strange beasts that weren't good at combat but played important roles for their summoners in other ways. For example, summoning beasts with special spaces inside their bodies for storing items.

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