"Orochimaru, come out and play!"
Nagi stood brazenly at the entrance to the Village Hidden in the Sound, shouting and waiting for Orochimaru's response.
Soon, he sensed several snakes slithering away through the forest, no doubt off to inform their master. For some reason, Orochimaru had a fondness for building his bases underground, and he always dug them out into sprawling, labyrinthine networks. Of course, this was likely related to his personality. Orochimaru had a deathly paranoia; he was constantly worried that he would suddenly die one day—from a meteorite falling from the sky, from the Akatsuki's pursuit, from Konoha's bounty hunters. Only by hiding underground could he feel at ease, even though he had already distributed his soul among several curse marks.
"It's been a long time, Nagi-kun. I trust you've been well."
In less than a moment, a pale man in his perpetually unchanging kimono appeared before Nagi.
It was Orochimaru. But Nagi keenly sensed that Orochimaru's aura was a bit chaotic, his spirit somewhat... off.
Body-switching. Orochimaru has already changed bodies.
Nagi's mind raced. The Konoha Crush was four years away. Calculating the timeline, it was about the right time for him to have switched bodies. The current Uncle Snake was, in fact, Auntie Snake.
"Such sharp intuition. Have you noticed that my body is somewhat different, Nagi-kun?" Orochimaru chuckled, making no attempt to hide the fact that Nagi had noticed the abnormality.
"Yes. You must know, Orochimaru-san, that the Mangekyo Sharingan is particularly sensitive to spiritual matters," Nagi said with a smile. "Your spiritual energy seems a bit... disordered. That jutsu of yours has significant side effects. If you continue to use it, you'll probably go completely mad one day."
Body-switching wasn't so simple. Every time he entered someone's body, devoured their soul, and took over their vessel, did he really think there were no side effects? Of course there were. Each time Orochimaru possessed someone, a part of their soul's lingering resentment was absorbed into his own. The longer this went on, the more darkness and negative energy would accumulate in his soul. One day, he would either go mad or his soul would collapse and he would die. Every soul was unique. Orochimaru knew this, but besides his jutsu, he had no other way to achieve immortality. But to live for a hundred years... this was his third body in less than ten years. It was too frequent.
Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration struck Nagi. The Waterfall of Truth he now possessed... wasn't that exactly what Orochimaru needed? It would allow him to excise the negative aspects from his soul after each possession. Even if it couldn't completely eradicate them, being able to eliminate a large portion of the corruption would be a life-saving remedy for him.
Nagi knew what he could use to bargain.
"I wonder, Nagi-kun, what brings you to me this time?" Orochimaru smiled, leading the way into his base.
Along the way, Nagi saw many glass jars containing all sorts of deformed human and animal specimens, all preserved in formalin. One of the largest jars held a single horn. From the chakra emanating from it, it belonged to the Eight-Tails.
"Orochimaru-san, I'd like to make a trade with you. I want to exchange something for the Hashirama Senju cells you have in your possession. What do you think?" Nagi stated his purpose directly.
"Oh, interesting. How did you know I have the First Hokage's cells? And what do you plan to trade for them?" Orochimaru looked at Nagi with keen interest. Very few people should know that he and Danzo had Hashirama's cells. Where did he get his information?
Poof!
Nagi didn't waste any words. He opened a storage scroll and tossed out a test tube. Inside were White Zetsu cells.
Orochimaru took the test tube, a curious smile playing on his lips. "And what is this? Another novel material? You always manage to bring me surprises, Nagi-kun."
"It's a type of cell similar to the First's. The difference is that this is a weakened version. Its advantage is that it's much less likely to be rejected upon transplantation, and it's not as aggressively potent as Hashirama's cells."
"Heh heh. Interesting. Wait a moment, Nagi-kun. Let me have a look at its true nature."
Orochimaru took the test tube with great interest, extracted a small tissue sample, placed it on a slide, and then put it under a microscope to observe.
Nagi wasn't concerned. Since their first trade, their relationship had been fairly amicable. Orochimaru craved eternal life, and as long as he hadn't found a way for that material to survive in the daylight, he wouldn't turn on Nagi. Because even if that material couldn't move in the sun, it was still a great asset to Orochimaru. He had even developed a "cannon fodder" serum. It was a potion containing blood from the world of Demon Slayer. After being injected, a ninja would become immortal. Of course, they would also be unable to ever appear in the sunlight again, and the side effects were severe. The more they fought on the night of the injection, the more likely they were to lose their minds and go on a cannibalistic rampage. But was Orochimaru the type to care about human life? To him, his subordinates were only divided into "useful" and "useless." And this group of immortal cannon fodder would be of great use in the Konoha Crush a few years from now.
Nagi didn't yet know that Orochimaru had already developed the test subjects he'd given him into a type of disposable weapon. Right now, Orochimaru was carefully observing the White Zetsu cells. Although he had been a member of the Akatsuki, he apparently didn't know that White Zetsu's body was made of a weakened version of Hashirama's cells. And in the Akatsuki, it was clear that White Zetsu would never have voluntarily offered his own cells to Orochimaru for research.
Orochimaru occasionally frowned, then took out some strange test tubes from his lab, added some liquid, and continued his observation.
Nagi didn't mind. While Orochimaru was busy, he wandered around the lab, looking left and right. His knowledge was based on the memories of two lifetimes, but in terms of scientific talent, he couldn't compare to Orochimaru or Kabuto. Not to mention Tobirama Senju or Tsunade. In terms of combat, it was one thing, but their scientific talent completely crushed his.
Nagi stared at the giant horn, observing it closely. Orochimaru's cloning technology was arguably the best in the ninja world. He could even clone the body of a Tailed Beast. And he had done so with just a small fragment of the Eight-Tails...
"Heh heh. That belongs to the Eight-Tails. Did you figure it out, Nagi-kun? I acquired it by chance back when I infiltrated the Land of Lightning on the Third Hokage's orders to cause some disruption."
"If you're interested, I can give you a piece."
As for Tailed Beasts, Nagi already had one on hand, the Three-Tails. "I appreciate the offer, Orochimaru-san, but what I'd like to trade for is your cloning technology."
Rather than having the Eight-Tails' tissue, it would be much more convenient to have Orochimaru's cloning technology and just clone a Tailed Beast himself.
"Heh heh. I've examined the cells you've given me. While they are similar to Hashirama Senju's cells, they are indeed a weakened version. They have great value. Compared to Hashirama's cells, they are much gentler. In terms of practical application, they may even be better."
At this, Orochimaru gave a strange smile. "But just this, in exchange for Hashirama's cells and my cloning technology... is not enough."
"Because, if I wanted to create a weakened version of Hashirama's cells, I could do it myself."
Hmph. If he didn't know the origin of White Zetsu, Nagi might have actually believed him. Orochimaru's scientific skills were indeed formidable; he could even clone a Tailed Beast. But that didn't mean he could turn Hashirama's cells into White Zetsu cells. White Zetsu cells were cultivated by Madara from Hashirama's cells using the Gedo Statue; they weren't something that could be easily created through scientific research.
"Orochimaru-san, let's not beat around the bush. The value of these cells is more than enough to trade for Hashirama's cells," Nagi said flatly.
"Heh heh. Then I'll take a small loss. We'll do a one-for-one exchange. But what about the other thing? You want my technology for cloning Tailed Beasts. The value of that technology is not low. I wonder what you plan to trade for it, Nagi-kun?" Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. "Or perhaps... the method for allowing that test subject to overcome the sunlight?"
Nagi laughed. "You must be joking, Orochimaru-san. If I knew how to overcome the sunlight, I would have already found a way to give myself that kind of body. An immortal and ageless body... who wouldn't want that?"
"I plan to trade something else. How about I help you remove a portion of the darkness from your soul?"
Remove the darkness from his soul? Orochimaru's eyes lit up. Although he had never feared the vessels he had possessed, that didn't mean there were no side effects. He often had nightmares when he slept; it was a result of his soul being too disordered.
"Oh? And what method would that be?"
"The Waterfall of Truth," Nagi said simply.
"The Waterfall of Truth?" Orochimaru looked puzzled. Evidently, this was a top secret of the Land of Lightning, and he was unaware of it. But that was normal. Every hidden village had countless secrets of its own; it was impossible for Orochimaru to know them all.
"That's right. I'm sure you've heard about the Fourth Raikage, A, causing a ruckus in the Land of Iron recently. The reason is that I stole their Waterfall of Truth. This waterfall allows a person to face their own inner darkness. As long as you defeat your dark side and sever it, your soul and spirit will be greatly purified and enhanced. And since your soul is so disordered, Orochimaru-san, I thought you might have a great need for the Waterfall of Truth."
Orochimaru's expression grew serious. "I had heard that the Land of Lightning had a method for creating perfect jinchūriki. I once infiltrated the Hidden Cloud but couldn't find any relevant data. I suppose this Waterfall of Truth is one of the conditions for becoming a perfect jinchūriki."
"Yes."
"I accept this trade. My complete cloning technology in exchange for training at the Waterfall of Truth."
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