Nagato was working hard.
But... there was soone working even harder than him.
Orochimaru.
He had co knocking again.
The past couple of days, Orochimaru hadn’t shown up, so Kyoichi assud he’d gone off to study the question of immortality. Yet it turned out this snake still hadn’t given up his obsession.
Or rather...
He was simply too good at playing his gas.
He had left his clones to research immortality, while his true body kept digging into Nagato’s situation.
Though the data he gathered was limited, it was all highly valuable.
And so...
He wanted to give it a try.
"Kyoichi, if we implant Hashirama’s cells, he’ll adapt to the Rinnegan much faster. Besides, even outsiders like us can use the Sharingan if we add a bit of the right cells."
Orochimaru’s excitent was palpable.
Though it all remained only a possibility, he was certain the chances were high. After all, the Rinnegan had already proven itself as an evolution of the Sharingan.
Kyoichi sighed helplessly.
"You’re not wrong. Unfortunately, we can’t go down that road. And even if soone had a three-tomoe Sharingan, it would still be useless against Madara."
He didn’t elaborate further.
He trusted Orochimaru would understand.
Madara knew the Sharingan inside and out.
A normal Sharingan granted perception, enhanced visual tracking, chakra detection, and decent genjutsu utility. But that was the limit.
And Uchiha Madara? He understood those limits better than anyone.
Simply possessing Sharingan eyes would never be enough to defeat him.
On the contrary...
Moving against the Uchiha now, when they were already gripped by terror, would only be disastrous.
"They have no choice."
Orochimaru sneered coldly, his tone cutting.
The Uchiha were trapped, ostracized inside and out. They had no options—whatever the village dictated, they had to obey. Besides, wasn’t this for their own good? To strengthen everyone and defeat Uchiha Madara?
From that perspective...
Orochimaru even saw it as helping them.
Kyoichi shook his head. "The Uchiha can’t be judged like normal people. They’re... eccentric. Their thinking isn’t like others’. I’m not worried they’ll rebel—I’m worried one of them awakens the Mangekyō."
Because the Mangekyō Sharingan was a whole different beast.
Especially at Madara’s level.
Once awakened, it was like plug-and-play—nothing too extre for it to handle.
If soone really pulled out a Mangekyō...
Madara would probably laugh himself to death.
"Wouldn’t that be even better?"
Orochimaru licked his lips.
This man...
He never tired of stirring the pot.
Kyoichi ignored him, pulling out a scroll and turning to other matters.
Puppet techniques. Magnet Release.
He had the Third Kazekage’s corpse on hand, and his clones had already cracked part of the Kazekage’s techniques over the past days.
Magnet Release...
That was tricky.
Even with Kyoichi’s experience, it was still hard to master—it wasn’t sothing he had any foundation in.
Fortunately, he had a living puppet to experint on.
After repeated trials, he was beginning to grasp so clues.
But the fastest progress lay in the heart of puppet arts—
Chakra threads.
That was the key. Kyoichi was now drafting notes on their use and applications.
Orochimaru sidled closer. He’d originally co to push Kyoichi about asking Tsunade for Hashirama cells. But seeing Kyoichi writing a scroll on ninjutsu, his curiosity was piqued.
He glanced down—
"You’re researching puppet techniques? What’s the point?"
Orochimaru couldn’t see the necessity.
—To him—
Puppet jutsu was hardly beyond Konoha’s reach to replicate. The reason no one pursued it was because...
No matter how strong puppets were, they had never defeated Hashirama or Tobirama.
Konoha already had countless ways to counter puppets.
Why neglect their own arts to waste ti learning foreign tricks?
Orochimaru wasn’t exactly opposed for that reason.
He simply thought...
Such basic arts weren’t worth his precious ti.
"You’d be better off helping analyze Nagato’s data."
"It’s not the sa..."
Kyoichi shot him a glance and kept writing.
"I’m not studying puppets—I’m studying chakra threads. They’re not limited to puppets. Combined with other techniques, they can evolve into sothing new."
"Manipulated tools, then?"
Orochimaru’s mind jumped there imdiately.
Konoha’s manipulated tools was already top-tier in the shinobi world, especially when combined with the Third Hokage’s Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. On the battlefield, one man could overwhelm multiple squads with tool barrages.
But ninja tools mostly worked for early suppression.
If combined with chakra threads...
Flying Thunder God?
Orochimaru’s eyes narrowed.
That could indeed yield so nasty surprises.
Still, he wasn’t convinced it was as miraculous as Kyoichi suggested.
"Not only tool manipulation. dical ninjutsu too. For instance, if a patient has fragnts lodged inside the body, chakra threads could remove them without large incisions."
"As for ninjutsu... I’m still experinting."
Kyoichi exhaled softly on the scroll.
It was just sothing he did in passing—but the real goal was to rge chakra threads with Sage Chakra and other techniques, to create counters even against Madara and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
For example...
Incorporating the Wild Lion’s Mane Jutsu.
But there was no need to explain all that to Orochimaru.
"So, any other discoveries on your end?"
"Mm... I found soone. And uncovered a few secrets about the tailed beasts."
Kyoichi shared briefly.
Orochimaru frowned, then froze as a realization struck. His face shifted through several expressions.
Kyoichi gave him a puzzled look.
Just as he was about to ask—
A grin spread across Orochimaru’s lips.
"Kyoichi-kun, you really are my lucky star. I’d been wrestling with a problem, and your words just now solved my doubt. With this... my jutsu may finally succeed!"
"Oh..."
"Ugh..." Orochimaru wanted to curse.
What did "oh" even an?
Couldn’t he at least ask what it was?
If it were anyone else, Orochimaru would have walked away in disdain. But Kyoichi was different—he truly had substance. After a mont’s struggle, Orochimaru asked, "Aren’t you curious?"
"Heh. It’s chakra and consciousness, right?"
Kyoichi smiled faintly.
If you figured it out, how could I not?
After all, he’d brought up reincarnation before, and this was just a continuation of that thought.
"You’re thinking of using tailed beast chakra as a model—to make yourself into a similar kind of lifeform, achieving immortality, aren’t you?"
"Ah!!"
Orochimaru froze for a mont, then fell silent. At last, he let out a long sigh.
As expected of Kyoichi.
To think...
He had already reached the sa conclusion.
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