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The fact that Orochimaru's collected ninjutsu were not at the Northern Stronghold was a bit of a letdown for Midorima.
After all, ever since meeting Kimimaro, most of his time had been wasted on the road, with very few actual tasks accomplished.
However, with Jūgo joining the team, the "heavy responsibility" of looking after Kimimaro was handed over to him.
Jūgo was tall and sturdy, carrying Kimimaro wasn't a strain for him. Therefore, the trio didn't spend much time on the road, taking only two days to reach the location of Orochimaru's ninjutsu collection—a cleverly disguised mountain cave.
From the outside, it appeared completely ordinary, but after Kimimaro performed a specific ninjutsu, a massive circular stone appeared on the mountainside, blocking the cave entrance.
Using the immense strength of his arms, Jūgo moved the giant rock aside, and the three entered one after another.
Kimimaro lit the torches on the walls, finally providing some light to the stone cave. Midorima then saw shelves lining the cave walls, filled to the brim with ninjutsu scrolls, even more than what he had seen in Orochimaru's laboratory before.
He walked to a shelf, casually picked up a scroll, and was thrilled to find it was "Impure World Reincarnation."
Even in the later stages of the Naruto storyline, this technique could still shine brilliantly, arguably the most practical forbidden jutsu. Its main shortcoming was that to perform it, one needed a part of the deceased's body, making the process rather cumbersome. Only someone like Kabuto would perform Impure World Reincarnation so many times.
However, this technique had numerous uses, and learning it certainly wasn't a bad thing.
Seeing Midorima enthusiastically browsing through the scrolls, Kimimaro mentioned his intention to leave.
Midorima was taken aback, but then realized that once he started learning these techniques, he wouldn't have time to attend to Kimimaro, which would be extremely detrimental to the terminally ill Kimimaro.
As for Tsunade, no matter what, she was the Hokage, burdened with countless duties. She couldn't possibly spend more time on Kimimaro.
Even if Midorima wanted to ask Tsunade for help, she probably wouldn't say anything outwardly but would feel dissatisfied inwardly.
"Are you planning to return to Orochimaru's secret base?"
"That place won't work anymore. I intend to go back to Otogakure first. No matter how powerful Akatsuki is, they can't just raze Otogakure to the ground, can they?" Kimimaro clearly had a plan in mind.
Midorima gave an awkward smile.
They can't raze Otogakure to the ground?
That's not necessarily true, is it?
Akatsuki attacked Konoha, nearly wiping the entire village off the map.
If it weren't for Naruto being the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki and possessing exceptional "talk-no-jutsu," that battle alone would have been enough to knock Konoha out of the ranks of the Five Great Shinobi Villages—countless died in that battle, including a large number of young ninja like Kakashi. The entire village was flattened, its losses even greater than Kirigakure's in the Third Shinobi World War.
However, due to Midorima's sudden departure from Akatsuki, and Konoha also starting to pay attention to Akatsuki and Amegakure, Akatsuki had become more cautious. Before Akatsuki was truly confident of victory, they probably wouldn't take action against "Otogakure."
After considering everything, Midorima agreed to Kimimaro's request and had Jūgo accompany him back to Otogakure. Midorima himself began organizing the ninjutsu Orochimaru had collected.
In his habit of collecting ninjutsu, Orochimaru wasn't much different from ordinary people; he had a severe case of collector's obsession.
On Earth, some people collect stamps, some collect books, some collect games, others collect figurines...
Orochimaru's collection of ninjutsu wasn't any different from those.
Midorima took a general look; Orochimaru had collected at least three to four thousand scrolls. Among them were many techniques Midorima had already mastered, like the Great Fireball Technique.
Consequently, Midorima spent an entire day sorting through these scrolls, finally selecting over a hundred ninjutsu he had never encountered before. Wood Release techniques accounted for a significant proportion.
Some Wood Release techniques used only by Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, like "Advent of a World of Flowering Trees"—arguably the strongest Wood Release technique—were also among the collection. Additionally, it included Wood Release Sage Techniques and Sage Techniques of the Ryūchi Cave.
The Ryūchi Cave Sage Techniques were one thing, but the Wood Release Sage Techniques were more troublesome. Even if Midorima could use Sage Mode, he might not be able to perform these Wood Release Sage Techniques—they exceeded his chakra capacity.
And Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees required using one's own chakra as nourishment to perform the technique.
Before reaching a chakra volume comparable to Hashirama Senju's, performing such a technique wouldn't be much different from suicide.
Therefore, how to increase his own chakra was the key to performing these techniques.
Aside from some Wood Release techniques, Sage Techniques, and some forbidden jutsu, Midorima also singled out sealing techniques, like the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Four Symbols Seal... These were also areas where Midorima was deficient.
Seeing these scrolls containing the essence of ninjutsu, Midorima even had a fleeting thought—had Orochimaru "transferred" the scrolls from Konoha's archives?
Considering Orochimaru's obsession with learning ninjutsu, Midorima believed he was perfectly capable of doing such a thing.
After categorizing the selected techniques and safely storing away those he couldn't learn yet—like Advent of a World of Flowering Trees—Midorima shifted his focus to Jūgo's cells.
Jūgo's cells were different from the First Hokage's cells or the Mangekyō Sharingan. These cells themselves contained immense energy, being the source of Orochimaru's many Cursed Seals, and could even have unpredictable effects on Midorima.
But to increase his own strength, Midorima still added the cells to the [Cell Research Room]. He then activated Jūgo's cells, carefully perceiving the changes they brought to his body.
A surge of power flowed into Midorima's body.
This power was different from his own chakra; it was in a state of disorder, even making Midorima feel restless, with a rising sense of unease in his heart.
Realizing something was wrong, Midorima immediately stopped activating Jūgo's cells, but his forehead was already covered in sweat.
That was just an attempt, but in an environment rich with natural energy, a massive amount of energy still flooded into his body.
'No good... this isn't the result I wanted.'
Midorima's original intention was to use Jūgo's cells to absorb natural energy, then utilize the [Conversion Chamber] to convert that natural energy into chakra.
To be honest, he wasn't sure if this conversion was possible, as this was natural energy, not his own. But he had been marked with the "Cursed Seal of Heaven" by Orochimaru before. At that time, the [Cell Laboratory] had converted the chakra possessed by the "Cursed Seal of Heaven" into his own chakra.
Now, the [Cell Laboratory]'s functions were basically all unlocked, and with the addition of the "Ecology" function, Midorima was also very hopeful that the natural energy absorbed by Jūgo's cells could be converted into chakra.
However, after spending a day trying, things didn't go as planned. Not only was there no progress, but he nearly lost control due to absorbing too much natural energy.
After weighing the pros and cons, Midorima decided to focus on learning the selected ninjutsu first.
As for utilizing Jūgo's cells, that would probably have to wait until he truly understood Sage Techniques before attempting again.
Just as Midorima began practicing the new techniques, Obito arrived in Amegakure to meet with Pain.