In the empty room, Uzumaki Naino stood nervously in the center of the room, looking at Orochimaru and asking, "When does it start? Don't I need to do any preparations? Like drawing Sealing Technique formulas or something..."
"Um, do you want me to help draw the Sealing Technique formulas? I've made great progress in drawing Sealing Technique formulas recently! Chief Chigusa even praised me!"
Uzumaki Naino confidently patted her chest, frantically making excuses to stall for time.
"Give up. You don't need to do anything. Just stand there calmly."
Orochimaru saw that Uzumaki Naino wanted to stall for time. How could she let her have her way?
"Mio!"
Orochimaru tossed the scroll into the air and formed hand signs.
"Byakugan!"
Veins bulged around Hyuga Mio's eyes as she concentrated on using her Byakugan to observe Uzumaki Naino's physical condition. If any abnormality occurred, she would immediately call for a halt.
"Imu, prepare for emergencies."
"Yes, Lady Orochimaru!"
Imu prepared to give Uzumaki Naino emergency aid, taking out a bottle of rebirth pill, a bottle of blood-replenishing pills, and a bottle of soldier pill from her pocket, and then successively taking out various other medicines.
After all, it was the first time Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint was being used on a person, so thorough preparations were necessary.
What have you learned from Lady Orochimaru?!
Setsuryu looked in shock at Imu, who kept taking out medicines.
The scroll tossed into the air automatically opened, and a scarlet-glowing Sealing Technique formula flew out from it, heading towards Uzumaki Naino.
"Ah!"
Uzumaki Naino let out a startled cry as she saw the scarlet-glowing Sealing Technique formula flying towards her, instinctively wanting to dodge.
"Don't move!"
Orochimaru let out a low growl, and her elongated white snake tail wrapped around Uzumaki Naino's body. The Sealing Technique formula quickly covered her entire body.
"Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint! Life Reversal!"
Her dark hair floated without wind. Orochimaru slapped her hand on the ground, and Sealing Technique formulas surged from her hand, surrounding Uzumaki Naino. The scarlet-glowing Sealing Technique formulas on her body burst forth with dazzling scarlet light, and the vitality within the Sealing Technique formulas continuously poured into Uzumaki Naino's body.
Uzumaki Naino felt warm currents flowing into her body, and she couldn't help but let out comfortable sounds. The weakness she had felt ever since performing the Forbidden Technique slowly disappeared, and her dull hair returned to its vibrant red color from root to tip.
Her skin also became rosy, recovering its healthy color from its slightly pale state.
Everyone looked in shock at Uzumaki Naino, who now had a healthy, rosy complexion and vibrant red hair.
"It succeeded?"
Imu tried hard not to let others see her disappointment as she put away the medicines she had taken out.
"Orochimaru, the Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint is perfect."
Hyuga Mio breathed a sigh of relief, and the bulging veins around her eyes receded.
"Yes, it was indeed very successful."
Orochimaru looked at Uzumaki Naino's hair, which had returned to its former vibrant red, and was very satisfied with the effect of the Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint. She retracted the snake tail wrapped around her.
"Orochimaru, thank you!"
Uzumaki Naino, with a radiant smile, pounced on Orochimaru and hugged her tightly. "Orochimaru, you're truly amazing! A great genius! A super amazing great genius!"
At the same time, Tsunade, who was training in Shikkotsu Forest, suddenly felt an itch in her fists, and an inexplicable feeling of extreme displeasure arose in her heart.
"Tsunade?"
Katsuyu, a split of the Slug Sage, looked at Tsunade in confusion. Even when speaking in a questioning tone, its voice was incredibly gentle.
"No, it's nothing... Maybe it's my imagination. I just feel like something annoying has happened."
Tsunade didn't know what that feeling was about.
"Katsuyu, let's continue training! I want to finish my training as soon as possible and return to Konoha to show Orochimaru my training results!"
Tsunade's face broke into a mischievous grin at the thought of surprising Orochimaru.
In the deserted corridor, Uzumaki Chigusa looked at Orochimaru with a serious and stern expression.
"Orochimaru, tell me honestly, where did the vitality replenished for Naino come from?"
Others might not have noticed, but she couldn't possibly miss it. The Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint was a very evil Forbidden Technique that absorbed others' vitality to form special Sealing Technique formulas.
"Chigusa, I hope you can trust me. The vitality injected into Naino doesn't belong to anyone. Perhaps you'll have a chance to know in the future." (Or perhaps you won't have a chance to know.)
Orochimaru placed her hands on Uzumaki Chigusa's shoulders, meeting her beautiful red eyes.
Zero-Tails Cells were too important to her, and she couldn't reveal them to Uzumaki Chigusa yet.
"I… I believe you."
Uzumaki Chigusa looked into Orochimaru's clear golden eyes, sensed her sincerity, and her expression softened. She apologized, "I'm sorry, Orochimaru… I just…"
"It's fine. You were worried I'd go astray."
Orochimaru said indifferently, understanding Uzumaki Chigusa's thoughts.
"Chigusa, whether a Forbidden Technique is evil depends on how the user employs it, not on the Forbidden Technique itself being inherently evil. I hope you can view the Reverse Cursed Seal Blood Imprint I developed with an open mind…"
Orochimaru glanced at Uzumaki Chigusa meaningfully. "Thinking about it, the name does sound evil. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the names of the Forbidden Techniques developed by your Uzumaki Clan are evil."
"Orochimaru, you wouldn't want Lady Mito to know about your Forbidden Technique writing, would you?"
Uzumaki Chigusa smiled brightly.
"You terrible person! Aren't you the one reading the Forbidden Technique I wrote?!"
Orochimaru's face flushed hot, and she glared at Uzumaki Chigusa.
"No, I'm reading it with a critical mindset!"
Uzumaki Chigusa said with a serious expression, as if everything she did was righteous.
"Tch!"
Orochimaru gave Uzumaki Chigusa a look of disdain, not bothering to speak to her.
Finance Office
Kakuzu's mind was completely off the ledgers. He thought about how Orochimaru had developed even more powerful Forbidden Techniques through her research. What about his Jiongu? Was there room for improvement?
He remembered that Orochimaru had done research in biotechnology; even the Chimera Bug was cultivated by her based on the Kikaichu.
After Orochimaru's research, could Jiongu allow him to have more hearts, making his vascular tentacles more flexible and less prone to damage?
After a period of mental fantasizing, Kakuzu decided to go find Orochimaru.
He had always been a person of strong initiative; once he decided on something, he would go all out to do it, just like when he accepted the Village's assignment to assassinate the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
"Huh? Jiongu?"
Orochimaru looked at Kakuzu in surprise, not understanding what kind of fit this money-obsessed person was throwing. She shrugged and said, "Honestly, I don't think there's much to research about your Jiongu. You currently have five hearts with no rejection symptoms, isn't that good enough? Barring any accidents, your life will be very long."
Jiongu seemed to transform all of Kakuzu's flesh and bones into vascular tentacles, allowing him to have five hearts without rejection and perfectly possess the Chakra nature transformations of the heart's owner.
From its portrayal in the original work, it seemed to be this way. So, did Kakuzu's current body still contain flesh and blood? Or was blood flowing through the vascular tentacles?
Jiongu, rather than being a secret technique, was more like a Forbidden Technique for body modification.
What if Jiongu was combined with Zero-Tails Cells? Could the vitality of Zero-Tails Cells strengthen the vascular tentacles?
Despite saying she wasn't interested, Orochimaru couldn't help but imagine the various possibilities of Jiongu, staring at him with an gaze that made Kakuzu's hair stand on end.
"You're not thinking of dissecting me, are you?"
Kakuzu saw from Orochimaru's eyes that she wanted to dissect him.
"How could I? You were the one who voluntarily suggested I research Jiongu. If you regret it, then forget about it."
Researching Kakuzu's Jiongu might not yield any gains for her, and Orochimaru didn't want to transform herself into a tentacle monster like Kakuzu.
"I don't regret it, Orochimaru. What do you need me to do?"
"Go to the infirmary for a body check-up. I need all your data, your body structure, and a portion of your vascular tentacles."
Orochimaru thought for a moment and stated her requirements.
Kakuzu, this chosen one, had worked diligently at the company for several years. Researching his Jiongu to see if it could make him stronger wasn't out of the question.
"No problem."
Kakuzu readily agreed.
"Imu, go check Kakuzu's body."
Orochimaru didn't have time to operate the instruments to examine Kakuzu's body. She was thinking about how to persuade the Three Snake Princesses to help her.
"Yes, Lady Orochimaru."
Imu respectfully responded and went to the infirmary with Kakuzu.
Soon after, Imu returned with documents containing Kakuzu's body data.
"Lady Orochimaru, please take a look."
"Hm."
Orochimaru carefully read the documents. She discovered that there were no longer any bones in Kakuzu's body; the vascular tentacles generated by Jiongu had replaced everything within him, even his brain had been transformed into vascular tentacles.
This meant that Kakuzu was now a tentacle monster wearing human skin, with five hearts. The source of his vitality came from those five hearts connected to the vascular tentacles.
The vascular tentacles themselves did not possess vitality; they relied entirely on the hearts to provide it.
Therefore, if all five hearts were destroyed, Kakuzu would die.
After separating the masked monsters, if the main body's heart was destroyed, it could be replaced with a masked monster's heart.
This also meant that Kakuzu's strength depended on the hearts he acquired. If he obtained the heart of a powerful individual, his strength would increase accordingly.
If he obtained the heart of a Genin, his strength would be greatly reduced, perhaps even preventing him from fully utilizing some of his abilities.
"Orochimaru, these are Jiongu tentacles. Without a heart to provide vitality, they cannot leave the culture solution."
Kakuzu pushed open the door and entered the president's office, holding a small culture tank which he placed on the coffee table. Inside were living vascular tentacles.
Hyuga Mio went over and put the small culture tank into a briefcase.
"I'll make time to research it."
Orochimaru glanced at the small culture tank, handed the documents in her hand to Imu, stood up, and said, "Kakuzu, I already have an idea. Once I confirm its feasibility, I will tell you."
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