While Orochimaru and Sasori were deep in discussion over their findings, a sudden knock rattled against the laboratory door.
With a casual flick of a button on the table from Sasori, the sealed door unlocked with a heavy clack and slid open.
The blond, rebellious youth, Deidara, came bursting into the room. His voice carried a frantic edge as he shouted, "Master Sasori, Orochimaru! Something's gone wrong with Diarmuid! You guys need to come look right now! Is he about to die?!"
Orochimaru: "???"
Sasori: "???"
Come to think of it, Deidara had been a part of the Yorozuya for a few months now.
When Diarmuid initially designated him as an apprentice member, the boy had been thoroughly displeased. Though he had suffered a crushing defeat at Diarmuid's hands, he stubbornly maintained that it was only because Diarmuid was freakishly strong, not because he himself was weak.
Thus, according to his wager with Diarmuid, if he could defeat any official member of the Yorozuya, his 'apprentice' status would immediately be upgraded to full membership.
Naturally, upon settling into the Yorozuya, he began ruthlessly challenging the official members like Orochimaru.
The results spoke for themselves. He was sequentially and utterly thrashed by Kakuzu, Jūzō, Orochimaru, Sasori, and even Kabuto.
He had nearly spiraled into deep self-doubt because of it.
The only person who had given him even a glimmer of hope was Kabuto. As for the others, Deidara was painfully aware that he stood absolutely zero chance of defeating them anytime soon.
Yet, to make matters worse, Kabuto was a non-combatant in most scenarios; the man specialized in intelligence gathering.
Deidara possessed far too much pride to use someone like that as a stepping stone once he realized the truth. After all, he knew perfectly well that he wasn't cut out for intelligence work. According to his own self-evaluation, he was an artist first, and a combatant second.
As for being an artist... there was no point bringing that up in the Yorozuya.
But as a combatant, if he kept targeting Kabuto... it just felt entirely unseemly.
Consequently, during this recent period, Deidara had resigned himself to playing the part of a compliant apprentice within the Yorozuya. As for his specific duties... well, they could essentially be summarized as acting as an 'errand boy.'
Even though his standing within the Yorozuya was merely that of an errand boy, he genuinely felt that this environment suited his tastes perfectly, so he had no intention of leaving.
More importantly, it was here that he had encountered a kindred spirit, another self-proclaimed artist, Sasori of the Red Sand.
Granted, the two stood at complete polar extremes when it came to the appreciation and pursuit of art. Sasori chased the concept of eternal art, whereas Deidara firmly believed that a fleeting, ephemeral flash of beauty was the only true form of art.
Nevertheless, both possessed a mutual obsession with the concept of art, allowing them to find plenty of common ground and get along remarkably well.
Deidara's abrasive personality meant that despite being a mere apprentice, he routinely addressed the other 'seniors' directly by their names, including the big boss, Diarmuid.
Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he always appended 'Master' to Sasori's name, almost as if he were the puppet master's loyal lackey.
It was entirely bizarre.
Fortunately, the members of the Yorozuya were all eccentric individuals in their own right, so no one bothered to waste energy taking a kid's petty quirks to heart.
"What kind of nonsense are you spewing? A monster like Diarmuid, dying?" Sasori mocked him without a shred of courtesy.
"I don't know what the hell is happening either, but his condition is definitely bizarre! Just hurry up and look for yourselves!" Deidara replied rapidly, completely brushing off Sasori's harsh words.
Orochimaru nodded, then chimed in, "Let us go. It is a perfect opportunity to share our recent breakthrough with him anyway."
Before long, Deidara, Sasori, and Orochimaru hurried into Diarmuid's quarters.
By the time they arrived, Jūzō and Kakuzu were already present in the room. Both men were scrutinizing Diarmuid's condition with looks of sheer curiosity and bewilderment.
Even Shiramu Ameri and Nohara Rin were present. However, huddled alongside this gathering of powerhouses, neither girl dared to utter a word, instead casting deeply anxious glances toward Diarmuid.
As far as Ameri was concerned, because the heavyweights of the Yorozuya harbored absolute zero interest in the mundane administrative affairs of Amegakure, she had effectively become the designated tool for managing those tedious tasks.
As for Rin, when Diarmuid had initially rescued her, it was partly due to a genuine fondness for the bright, kind-hearted young girl, and partly a calculated move regarding Obito, retaining her as a contingency card to manipulate him down the line.
But those were choices and judgments born of the political climate back then.
Given the current state of affairs, it was blindingly obvious that no matter how much Obito chose to stir up trouble, he could scarcely exert any meaningful impact on Diarmuid. Consequently, the Uchiha rogue had long ceased to occupy much of Diarmuid's concern.
Whether Rin proved useful in the future had become entirely inconsequential.
Still, with Diarmuid's vast assets and influence, maintaining a single idle dependent was of no consequence. Furthermore, after spending years under the same roof, the group had naturally developed a degree of fondness for her.
Thus, Rin now existed within the Yorozuya as a harmless, minor presence, akin to a mascot of sorts.
"What exactly is going on here?" Kakuzu demanded the moment he spotted Orochimaru entering the room.
To Kakuzu's mind, since Orochimaru and Diarmuid were constantly tinkering with these experimental subjects, the Sannin ought to have the clearest understanding of the situation.
Orochimaru was currently fixing an investigative gaze upon Diarmuid. The shift in Diarmuid's physical state was glaringly apparent.
One could distinctly observe that his exposed forearms were actively phasing out of reality, as though transforming from a tangible mass into an incorporeal state.
Not only that, but this encroaching spiritual corrosion seemed to extend even to the garments draping his frame.
His pristine white haori and hakama were fading into intangibility right along with him!
Even the hilt of his beloved blade, Kokorowatari, which rarely left his side, was being drawn into this spectral dissolution.
However, the rate of this fading process was remarkably sluggish. Without meticulous, sustained observation, it was practically imperceptible to the naked eye.
After pondering for a brief moment, Orochimaru spoke with a note of uncertainty, "I cannot say for certain. I have never witnessed such a phenomenon before... However..."
"However what? Boss Diarmuid cannot afford to have anything go wrong! If you know something, spit it out already and quit dragging your feet!" Jūzō was clearly the most frantic among them, his tone ringing out with sharp aggression.
Orochimaru knew full well that this man was fiercely loyal to Diarmuid. In his current state of panic, a rough tone was only natural, so Orochimaru didn't take the offense to heart.
After a slight pause to gather his thoughts, Orochimaru explained, "This appears to be a manifestation of the Spirit Transformation Jutsu. Long ago, when he first commenced his training in this technique, we deduced that once the mastery of the Spirit Transformation Jutsu accumulated to a specific threshold, it could very well trigger a phenomenon known as 'Spiritualization.' If my hypothesis holds true, he should currently be undergoing... Spiritualization."
"What does that imply?" Kakuzu probed once more.
"The precise implications remain obscure to me as well. Yet, judging by the active symptoms, I suspect... this so-called Spiritualization is the process of converting physical matter, or rather, the mortal vessel, into a spiritual form..." Orochimaru muttered, his gaze locked onto Diarmuid's partially translucent arm.
"Meaning, he will transition from a body of flesh and blood into a pure spiritual entity?" Sasori asked, a trace of astonishment coloring his voice.
"The power of the soul is a deeply esoteric domain, saturated with the miraculous. If an individual's spiritual energy scales to an overwhelming degree, it does not seem entirely impossible for it to bleed over and warp both its physical anchor and reality itself," Orochimaru noted with a nod.
Diarmuid had been refining the Spirit Transformation Jutsu for years. He possessed an innate, monstrous talent for the craft, compressing years of ordinary progression into a single twelve-month cycle.
Later, he had taken the radical step of diving straight into the Pure Land to conduct his training, accelerating his growth rate to an absurd degree. Orochimaru was practicing the Spirit Transformation Jutsu himself, but his results paled in comparison to Diarmuid's strides.
At this point, claiming that he had advanced to the exact echelon of 'Spiritualization' once envisioned by Tobirama was entirely plausible.
"Regardless of the mechanics, we should prioritize waking Diarmuid first," Sasori suggested after a brief deliberation.
Orochimaru nodded in concurrence, and the rest raised no objections. However, just as Orochimaru prepared to weave the hand signs for the Reanimation Jutsu to recall Diarmuid's soul from its training in the Pure Land…
Diarmuid's eyes suddenly snapped open. "There is no need. I am already awake," he spoke smoothly.
A flicker of surprise crossed Orochimaru's features, prompting him to ask directly, "You can awaken yourself now?"
"To be precise, the moment my physical form underwent this anomaly, I gained the ability to traverse between the living world and the Pure Land solely through my own volition. Not only can I snap myself awake, but I suspect that going forward, I will no longer require death-row convicts to serve as a catalyst whenever I wish to enter the Pure Land," Diarmuid murmured, lowering his head to examine his ghostly limb.
Orochimaru pondered the revelation for a moment before offering, "Perhaps it is because your core has already inherited certain properties of a spiritual body, causing the Pure Land to recognize you as 'one of its own'?"
"That is a distinct possibility," Diarmuid agreed with a nod.
"What on earth are you guys even talking about?" Deidara asked, his curiosity piqued.
Sasori caught the drift immediately and offered a blunt explanation, "To put it in layman's terms, the Pure Land likely mistakes Diarmuid for a corpse."
"Huh?" Deidara remained thoroughly perplexed.
However, Sasori had no intention of wasting further breath expanding on the topic for him.
"Boss Diarmuid, what exactly is the nature of this condition? Are you experiencing any discomfort?" Jūzō pressed anxiously.
"None for the time being. It is precisely as Orochimaru deduced; this state is the so-called 'Spiritualization.' My physical vessel is slowly... very slowly converting into a spiritual form," Diarmuid stated, raising his arm to inspect it.
Truth be told, he had mentally prepared himself for the emergence of this state years ago. Still... casting a glance at the garments on his arm and the Kokorowatari secured at his waist, Diarmuid couldn't help but feel a twinge of surprise. He hadn't anticipated that this Spiritualization would warp even the tangible matter in his immediate contact.
Then again... it made perfect sense. Otherwise, if only his physical flesh turned spiritual, wouldn't he be left stranded stark naked?
Furthermore, every spiritual form of the deceased he had encountered invariably possessed pristine, intact attire.
Naturally, it was highly improbable that they had actively spiritualized their wardrobe at the exact moment of their demise. There was likely some underlying metaphysical principle tying it together, but those were mere details that required no immediate breakdown.
The absolute priority right now was to investigate exactly how this spiritualized state would impact his combat capabilities.
Though he lacked concrete proof, Diarmuid harbored a strong intuition that this was by no means a detriment, but rather an immense boon.
In his memory, though Tobirama's research logs offered no explicit breakdown or commentary on the matter, the Second Hokage seemed to believe that while this tier of Spiritualization carried catastrophic risks, the ultimate harvest would be nothing short of extraordinary.
With that thought in mind, Diarmuid looked up at the gathered crowd, his gaze ultimately settling on Sasori and Orochimaru. These two were the academics of the group, while the rest were pure brawn.
Thus, he spoke, "Alright, let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. I am perfectly fine. Go on and attend to your own duties. Orochimaru, Sasori, you two stay behind. Help me break down the mechanics of this situation."
"How fitting. I happen to have some excellent news to share with you as well," Orochimaru smirked.
Seeing that Diarmuid had given his word, the rest finally let their anxieties rest. They nodded one by one before dispersing to resume their respective tasks.
Once the room cleared, Diarmuid prompted, "What excellent news?"
"Our research into the Sharingan is, for all intents and purposes, basically a resounding success!" Orochimaru revealed with a smooth smile.
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