Orochimaru was fully immersed in his research within the base.
Thanks to White Zetsu's body, all of Orochimaru's experiments had made tremendous progress.
Take for example the Impure World Reincarnation technique.
According to Orochimaru's findings, normally reincarnated individuals restored through this technique couldn't display their former strength—the gap was enormous.
However, if White Zetsu's body were used as the vessel for reincarnation, this discrepancy would be drastically reduced.
There was also Orochimaru's research into immortality techniques.
Orochimaru believed that to achieve eternal life, he needed to solve the problem of bodily aging.
Every body's cells have limits to how many times they can divide. Once those limits are reached, the division rate slows down, causing aging until death occurs when cells stop dividing altogether.
However, human consciousness did not age along with the physical body.
So Orochimaru conceived a method—transferring consciousness into another person's body repeatedly, changing vessels—to acquire an ever-lasting life jutsu.
Yet during his research, Orochimaru discovered that once transferring consciousness into another body, the cells within that body would accelerate their division before reaching their limit and dying off suddenly.
This process skipped aging entirely because there was no gradual slowdown of cellular division—the acceleration stopped abruptly without experiencing normal aging processes.
The reason behind this phenomenon lay in both human bodies and souls being unique.
Just like a special sword requiring a specially designed scabbard.
Changing the sword meant having to modify the scabbard for proper containment.
Similarly, humans functioned the same way.
Souls matched with their bodies; bodies aligned with their souls.
Suddenly replacing one's soul with another would cause the body to go to great lengths to accommodate this new soul.
That was why cells accelerated their division—the body rushed to transform itself to fit the new soul.
Cellular division, however, has limits. Eventually reaching its maximum capacity, cells ceased dividing, leading to bodily collapse and death.
Orochimaru had been striving to suppress this accelerated cellular division.
Initially managing merely one week of suppression, then extending it to a month, later reaching a year.
The longer he tried to suppress the cellular division, the more difficult it became.
Without White Zetsu's body, perhaps even now Orochimaru would still struggle with suppressing cellular acceleration and prolonging usable body lifespan.
Nevertheless, White Zetsu's corpse provided Orochimaru with numerous insights.
His research showed that by transferring his spirit into White Zetsu's body, this vessel could last at least ten years.
Because Hashirama Cells inside White Zetsu's frame supplied vitality, enabling prolonged endurance against rapid cellular division.
This White Zetsu body was practically a miracle material.
This revelation brought Orochimaru fresh inspiration.
Orochimaru had long known about those sixty infants experimented on back then—only one survived from the Hashirama Cell transplantation trials. That survivor was Yamato.
This meant his genetic modification technology had succeeded.
If he used White Zetsu's body as a template and combined it with techniques such as genetic engineering, cell transplantation, and cloning, he could create a physical vessel perfectly suited for his soul. Wouldn't that mean achieving unrestricted immortality?
Perhaps the first body he created wouldn't be perfect, but Orochimaru was confident. Given enough time, he believed he could overcome every obstacle and eventually achieve perfection.
However, the current Orochimaru did not yet possess this ability.
Because some of his technologies remained unrefined, and he had never officially tested [the Immortality Ninjutsu] by transferring his soul.
Therefore, Orochimaru planned to test this immortal jutsu once.
Only through firsthand experience could he discover its flaws and improve them accordingly.
Of the original five White Zetsu bodies, only two remained now.
One would serve as an experimental subject, while the other would become a reincarnation vessel using [the Immortality Ninjutsu].
Still, these weren't quite sufficient. Orochimaru intended to later ask Chinya for help to obtain several more White Zetsu bodies for research.
Orochimaru stepped out of his lab. A snake was already waiting at the entrance.
As soon as Orochimaru appeared, the snake twisted its belly open, vomiting forth a ring and a piece of paper.
Both the ring and the paper were slimy, yet Orochimaru didn't mind in the slightest as he picked them up.
Written on the paper was a single line:
["We will move against you tomorrow night. Use the ring to reach me. Until then, my dear Teacher Orochimaru."]
A faint smirk curled at Orochimaru's lips.
Orochimaru hadn't left Konoha because he'd been waiting for Hiruzen Sarutobi to make his move. That day had finally arrived.
Hiruzen had raised him, so Orochimaru hoped this battle would end with him, allowing him to sever all attachments completely.
Once he left Konoha, Orochimaru would have complete freedom—to conduct whatever experiments he pleased without needing to hide or cover up his work.
Though both [Living Corpse Reincarnation] and [Impure World Reincarnation] were nearly perfected, Orochimaru had not used either yet due to concerns about causing unnecessary trouble within the village.
Finally, this day had come. Orochimaru had waited long for it.
He pocketed the ring, burned the note, and began gathering his things from the lab.
...
That evening.
At the Anbu base, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already dressed in full combat gear.
Behind him stood five elite Anbu shinobi, including Kakashi.
Hiruzen gazed at the darkening sky. "Follow me," he ordered. "Move out!"
Leading the team himself, Hiruzen swiftly set off toward Orochimaru's hideout.
Shortly afterward, Sarutobi and company arrived outside Orochimaru's base.
Just as Hiruzen moved to enter, Kakashi stopped him. "Please wait a moment, Lord Third. Orochimaru has placed a barrier around his base—if triggered, he'll sense it immediately. I previously observed Chinya forming hand seals to remove this barrier, and I've memorized how to do it myself."
Hiruzen nodded. "Alright then, Kakashi, you handle removing the barrier."
Kakashi was certain that Chinya had already informed Orochimaru.
Since Orochimaru had originally planned to leave Konoha, Kakashi decided not to waste this opportunity. He would do his best to impress Hiruzen and gain even more of his trust.
Kakashi's hands swiftly formed hand seals, then struck the ground.
A sealing formula appeared on the surface.
After forming the seal again, Kakashi muttered forcefully, "Release!"
The barrier around Orochimaru's hideout faded away.
With the barrier lifted, Hiruzen led the team into Orochimaru's base, following Kakashi's lead straight to the sealed room's door.
Faint sounds still drifted out from inside the room. Hiruzen suspected Orochimaru was still performing experiments within.
Without hesitation, Hiruzen forcefully broke through the sealing technique guarding the door, kicked it open, and rushed inside with his team.
Orochimaru turned to face Hiruzen. His eyes were calm; though smiling, there was no warmth in his smile.
"Sensei Sarutobi, have you come to kill me?"
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