"This creature gives a really disgusting feeling…"
Standing beside Yakushi Kabuto, Jūgo looked at him examining the White Zetsu up and down and couldn't help speaking.
"I'm wondering whether this kind of strange lifeform can be used as a sacrifice for Impure World Reincarnation."
"Lord Orochimaru once considered using the snakes of Ryūchi Cave as sacrifices for Impure World Reincarnation. Unfortunately, I don't know whether he ever completed that line of research."
When preparing to use Impure World Reincarnation, Kabuto had first tried using a White Zetsu as the sacrifice.
After making contact with Black Zetsu, Kabuto already knew everything about Uchiha Chizumi. And unfortunately for Black Zetsu, while Kabuto was certainly a spy, he really hadn't gone around slaughtering innocents.
Even in the lab, it had usually been Orochimaru doing the cutting.
Kabuto's personality ant he would never put all his chips on Black Zetsu alone. He was already thinking ahead—thinking about what would happen if Uchiha Chizumi killed Black Zetsu, wiped out the Akatsuki, or even spread Absolute Justice across the entire shinobi world.
Under normal circumstances, continuing research on Impure World Reincarnation would have inevitably required killing innocents.
But the appearance of White Zetsu imdiately gave Kabuto the idea of leaving himself a way out—a path of retreat in case every one of Black Zetsu's plans failed.
For White Zetsu, stealing Ōnoki's corpse really wasn't difficult.
After all, no one in Iwagakure would ever imagine that soone would be interested in the old man's body. So even after two White Zetsu carried Ōnoki's corpse out of the village, all of Iwagakure remained completely unaware.
"You actually stole Ōnoki's corpse just like that?"
Jūgo looked at the two White Zetsu carrying Ōnoki's body and couldn't hide his surprise. The two of them had gone into Iwagakure and co back in only a few minutes.
"This kind of creature has a huge advantage when it cos to infiltration. It can even stay underground for long periods of ti."
"I think I'm starting to understand where the Akatsuki gets its intelligence from."
Kabuto deftly began taking tissue samples from Ōnoki's body. He had no intention of this being a one-ti deal. As long as he collected enough of Ōnoki's cells, he would always have a Bloodline Selection user ready to fight for him.
"Should we leave here and move sowhere else?"
Jūgo wasn't surprised by Kabuto's behavior. Back in Orochimaru's base, he himself had been one of the experints too.
"Leave?"
"Why would we leave?"
"We're the Akatsuki, aren't we?"
"Just imagine it—the Tsuchikage who died protecting Iwagakure cos back to life and personally destroys his own village…"
Kabuto unconsciously licked his lips the way Orochimaru used to. At this point, he had already thrown aside his earlier idea of rely preserving himself a fallback option. Right now, all he wanted was to test how much of Ōnoki's forr strength his Impure World Reincarnation could reproduce.
"This…"
Hearing Kabuto say that, Jūgo's expression changed.
For just a mont, he felt as though he had seen Orochimaru's shadow in Kabuto.
After Kabuto drew out a proper amount of tissue and prepared a White Zetsu as the sacrifice, a coffin rose out of the earth. With a dull thud as it opened and dust billowing everywhere, Ōnoki—dead for half a month—opened his eyes once more.
"Wasn't I dead?"
Feeling that his body couldn't move at all, the resurrected Ōnoki looked around blankly.
He could tell that he definitely wasn't in the afterlife. This place was still near Iwagakure.
"So my current Impure World Reincarnation still isn't perfected. All it can really do is restrain the movents of the revived."
"The earliest version of Impure World Reincarnation was even worse. The resurrected didn't just lack complete awareness—they couldn't even be controlled by the caster."
"The version Lord Orochimaru improved could at least bind the revived target. It's just that if the target is too strong, even Impure World Reincarnation has trouble keeping them under control."
Kabuto paid no attention to Ōnoki's muttering. He efficiently slit open the old man's neck and implanted a special seal there. That seal would let Kabuto force Ōnoki to obey his commands.
And if Ōnoki refused, Kabuto could directly seize control of his reanimated body himself.
"His chakra reserves aren't abundant. Is that because he completely exhausted his chakra before dying?"
At this point, Kabuto was acting so much like Orochimaru that it was eerie. After implanting the seal, he even began examining Ōnoki's chakra. From what he could sense, the chakra in this resurrected Ōnoki was far from full.
"According to Lord Orochimaru's theory, a truly perfect Impure World Reincarnation should grant infinite chakra, and even bring back a shinobi at the peak of their life."
"The Ōnoki I've brought back now probably only has about thirty percent of the strength he had when alive?"
After taking full control of Ōnoki, Kabuto shook his head in dissatisfaction. He had to admit that compared to Orochimaru, his own experience was still lacking.
"But thirty percent should be enough."
Even if he wasn't satisfied with Ōnoki's current state, Kabuto still wanted to test what that level of power could do.
"Go."
"Let Iwagakure see their Third Tsuchikage one more ti."
With Kabuto's order, Ōnoki—now fully understanding everything—glared at Kabuto with eyes that looked ready to skin him alive, slowly stepped out of the coffin, and then floated into the air.
Even though the resurrected Ōnoki wasn't at full strength, Kabuto had no intention of being careful with him. He wanted to see just how much power an all-out Ōnoki still possessed.
With his eyes wide open, the reanimated Ōnoki began moving steadily toward Iwagakure.
Iwagakure was already under martial alert, so the mont he approached, the sentries noticed him.
"What is that?"
One of the guards saw a dark figure in the distance and instinctively thought of the Deva Path of Pain.
"Why does that chakra feel so familiar?"
One of Iwagakure's sensory-nin muttered in confusion. In their perception, the figure flying toward the village felt exactly like the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
"No—enemy attack!"
The sensory-nin were still confused as to why the chakra of that distant figure felt so much like the Third Tsuchikage's when, in the very next instant, a brilliant white light exploded into existence.
~~~
Thank you and You're Welco!
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