Anya silently departed after obtaining the key. Although Orochimaru had many hideouts, he had only truly established four major strongholds with great effort. These strongholds contained extensive infrastructure and were so vast they could easily surpass many villages, serving as facilities for various experiments.
The northern stronghold was one of them.
Anya now stood right here.
The hideout was located in the north of the Land of Fire, close to the sea. The interior of the stronghold appeared eerily desolate. Without drawing any attention, Anya slipped in unnoticed.
Inside a prison room, whispers occasionally drifted out. Upon closer listening, the voices carried tones of constant plotting—when to kill, eagerly waiting for the moment the prison door would open again.
This place had become practically off-limits—no one dared come near.
Approaching the prison door, Anya easily sensed the violent, highly unstable aura coming from within.
When meeting Jugo for the first time, he had still been unfamiliar with this power—but now it had become all too familiar. This was natural energy.
Sliding the key into the thick iron keyhole, he gave it a light turn, and the heavy door creaked open.
"Haha, I'll kill you," came an evil laugh from behind the door. Jugo's face twisted viciously, like a beast. His skin turned a lifeless gray hue, his massive body nearly two meters tall charging forward at Anya like a war cart brimming with savage force.
[Myoboku Sage Art] activated. Anya didn't dodge or retreat—he simply raised his palm and blocked Jugo's charging punch head-on.
"Boom..."
A tremendous shockwave surged through the air upon impact, rippling outward. The surrounding walls cracked repeatedly, and the floor beneath both men collapsed into a deep crater.
Seeing his attack blocked, Jugo's eyes burned with killing intent. Just as he tried to press forward, a Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in his mind. At the same time, the wild power ravaging his body quickly faded. Soon enough, the deathly pallor disappeared from his skin, and his facial expression returned to normal.
"This body can naturally absorb natural energy, but the soul cannot control such wild power, resulting in madness—and even a second personality?"
Having just made contact, Anya already analyzed Jugo's physical condition.
"What are you? How can you so easily absorb natural energy?"
Jugo exclaimed, vaguely recognizing something familiar about the man standing before him.
"That's something you don't need to know." Anya activated his own sage art, and immediately a suction force emanated from his body, drawing Jugo's chakra into his palm.
Drained of chakra, Jugo's body weakened and dropped to the floor, yet his face showed unprecedented relief.
He exclaimed, "You actually have perfect control over natural energy. Even Orochimaru couldn't manage that."
Without responding, Anya closed his eyes and focused deeply on this energy.
A moment later, Anya let out a soft breath and opened her eyes, murmuring to herself, "So this is where the cursed seal comes from. I understand now—it's a simplified version of Sage Mode that ordinary people can cultivate. Unexpectedly, your cells can attract other people's bodies and cells, transforming them into your own. You could be considered a naturally-born Sage Body. Pity..."
Her voice trailing off, Anya looked at Jugo with regret. His willpower wasn't strong enough, his soul not powerful enough, causing mental fragmentation, capping his potential and limiting his room for growth.
"I remember now—you're the one who cooperated with Orochimaru. Why did he send you here?"
"Now that you've remembered," Anya said, "let me explain a bit. He's preparing for [Living Corpse Reincarnation]. Success was never guaranteed. I plan to use the cursed seal on your body to stimulate his remaining chakra and revive him."
"I see," Jugo replied gloomily. "Are you replacing Kimimaro? I remember—his name was Sasuke."
"Let's go. We're heading to the laboratory. I need to create a clone body, and I'll need your cursed seal chakra to activate it."
Jugo answered, "Okay."
A quarter-hour later, a newly-bodied Orochimaru appeared before the two of them. Deprived of his cursed seal power and having overexerted himself, Jugo collapsed unconscious to the ground.
Orochimaru stretched his limbs slightly and said discontentedly, "How weak! This shell can't do anything except retain consciousness. Anya, are you certain I'll fail by rushing my appearance so urgently?"
Anya responded bluntly, "Even if you have massive amounts of chakra, your hands remain sealed—you won't be of much use."
Orochimaru gritted his teeth and muttered bitterly, "That wretched old man."
"Let's go. Take me to where Minato's body is. I'm taking him with me."
"You really don't beat around the bush. Follow me then. Actually, his body is within this stronghold," Orochimaru led the way forward.
Walking along the long corridor deeper inside, when they passed a room, Anya suddenly paused and stopped.
"What's wrong?" Orochimaru turned back and asked.
Anya pointed toward a room on the left side, asking, "What's inside this room? Why does such tremendous chakra fluctuation come from there?"
"Haha, your sensing ability really is sharp, even detecting this deeply hidden energy after mastering Sage Mode. If you're curious, why don't we go take a look?" Smiling, Orochimaru approached and proactively opened the door.
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
As soon as they entered, bubbling sounds could be heard. In the center of the grand hall stood a container filled with green liquid, inside which floated a massive bull-like horn.
"This is the Eight-Tails," Anya immediately recognized. "When did you obtain it?"
With pride in his tone, Orochimaru replied, "During the Second Battle, I wasn't just sitting around doing nothing either."
Anya suddenly understood, "So Satori, the previous Eight-Tails Jinchuriki from Kumogakure, died because of you?"
Nodding, Orochimaru said, "You could say that. As concentrated sources of immense chakra, I couldn't pass up the chance to study them. It took a tremendous amount of effort to develop him into what he is today."
Anya couldn't help but admire, "You're truly a genius, you know. You've studied the Nine-Tails quite extensively too, right?"
Orochimaru replied casually, "The Nine-Tails' chakra is much harder to control than the Eight-Tails'. Combined with the complicated situation inside Minato Namikaze's body, my research has progressed slowly."
Slow didn't mean nonexistent. Last time Yugao stabbed Orochimaru, she had already tested it out—their snake-faced adversary could use a portion of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
You had to admit it—science and tech really were humanity's number one productive force. No arguing with that.
Anya stared at the horn before her and asked, "How much of the Eight-Tails' chakra can this horn hold?"
After a moment's calculation, Orochimaru answered, "Not certain. It depends on the user. At the very least, techniques like [Tailed Beast Ball] and [Partial Transformation into Tailed Beasts] shouldn't be problematic."
In other words, this was on par with a Kage-level fighter—seriously insane. It totally blew my mind.
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