In the hearts of Orochimaru's followers, every act of their revered master was beyond question. Whatever Orochimaru-sama chose to do was, by definition, correct.
They didn't even know why they believed this so firmly. If Orochimaru had read their minds, he would have been amused—he'd never bothered to brainwash them. Their loyalty was a mystery even to him.
---
A blinding flash burst across the horizon, followed by a towering wall of water that rose from the sea toward the darkening sky.
Orochimaru stood at the shoreline, pale eyes reflecting the explosion's brilliance. Instead of triumph, a pang of regret twisted in his chest.
My money… he thought with a silent sigh. The cost of that single test detonation was enough to drain the coffers of a minor village.
Far beneath the Mountain Graveyard, tremors shook the earth. Loose sand cascaded from the cavern ceiling as if the mountain itself were shivering.
Uchiha Madara stood unmoving, arms crossed, a vein pulsing angrily on his forehead. He glared at the widening cracks above. He had repaired the chamber only days ago—and now it was fracturing again.
It felt as though the mountain mocked him, threatening to split open along with his own patience.
The force of this new experiment was far greater than anything Orochimaru's team had attempted before. Madara had once believed the aftershocks would never threaten this underground fortress. Now, he wasn't so sure.
Outside, on the restless sea, Black Zetsu surfaced like an ink-black shadow. He watched the spiraling plume of water and chakra with quiet calculation.
The chakra bomb's destructive potential was obvious—even from here.
If this continues, will Madara even survive his own ally's experiments? Black Zetsu mused, his golden eyes narrowing.
The woman called Mi, Orochimaru's assistant, had clearly achieved something astonishing.
"For this stage," Zetsu murmured to himself, "that power is already… impressive."
---
Orochimaru, meanwhile, was delighted by the results.
The chakra blasters had exceeded expectations, and he already envisioned ways to magnify their strength. Not only could he refine the chemical formula, but by exploiting the principle of Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags, he could summon a continuous storm of chakra-infused paper bombs—each detonation feeding the next in an endless barrage.
Returning to his subterranean base, Orochimaru briefed his assistants with a rare glint of excitement. The next phase of research would focus on modifying the explosive materials to hold even denser concentrations of chakra, amplifying the blast radius and destructive power.
Outside the laboratory, a slick of black seeped through the soil, forming a shapeless mass—Black Zetsu again, observing in uneasy silence.
This was no ordinary hideout.
If discovered, he might not survive the encounter; his frail combat ability was barely on par with a low-level chūnin. The thought of being caught by Orochimaru's deranged scientists chilled even his ancient blood.
Black Zetsu's true mission was far more important: the resurrection of his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Compared to that, a few chakra bombs were meaningless. Kaguya's return would render such weapons trivial.
Caution won over curiosity. He sank back into the earth, abandoning any idea of investigating further.
---
Had Orochimaru known who had been lurking outside, he might have screamed in frustration.
Even a single tissue sample from Black Zetsu would have been priceless.
Despite Zetsu's claim of being Kaguya's "son," he was in fact a creation of pure Yin–Yang Release, a fragment of Kaguya's consciousness given flesh just before her sealing. For over a thousand years he had endured. To dissect such a being could reveal the key to true immortality—regeneration without the usual cost of life force.
But the opportunity was lost.
---
The Hidden Technique
Days later, the quiet of Konoha's grand library was broken only by the faint rustle of turning pages.
Orochimaru sat alone in a corner, dwarfed by stacks of heavy history tomes. Whispered voices drifted from nearby tables.
"Orochimaru-san looks so serious… he's kind of cute when he's focused."
"Should we ask for an autograph?"
"Shhh! You'll disturb him."
Orochimaru exhaled softly. Centuries of war, and still people act like gossiping children.
He scanned another brittle scroll. The history of this world was fragmented and thin, as if time itself had been erased.
Of course, he knew the reason: Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's cataclysm had cut civilization's timeline in half. After her battle with the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura, the land had been devastated so thoroughly that it was a miracle society had not collapsed entirely.
As he sifted through forgotten chronicles, a different clan name caught his eye: Tsuchigumo.
Though the records were brief, they stirred a memory—of a forbidden technique whispered in old legends: Rappa Ten.
A single jutsu capable of absorbing chakra directly from the natural world and releasing it all at once.
In other words: Sage Chakra.
The concept was crude but brilliant.
Aside from Jūgo's unique biology, only those who mastered Sage Mode could hope to harness such natural energy. Yet Rappa Ten promised a shortcut: to gather and store nature energy without the usual years of training.
Orochimaru's lips curved in a rare smile. If perfected, it could solve the greatest limitation of sage techniques: insufficient sage chakra. Imagine—compressed into explosive payloads…
The Tsuchigumo Clan had never aligned with any hidden village. A free agent clan with a power like that was well worth pursuing.
---
The chair beneath him creaked as he rose, ready to re-shelve the scrolls.
Before he could move, a cluster of eager onlookers hurried over.
"Allow us, Orochimaru-san!"
"We'll put the books back for you!"
"…Thank you," he said dryly, watching as they whisked the texts away and returned with notebooks, shyly asking for signatures.
By the time he stepped outside into the evening air, he let out a quiet breath of relief.
---
Consultation with Danzo
At the Root headquarters deep beneath Konoha, Orochimaru presented a sketch of a strange emblem to Danzo Shimura.
"Danzo-sama, have you ever seen a ninja village that uses this symbol?"
Danzo studied the paper, his single visible eye narrowing. "No. Certainly not within the Land of Fire. It must belong to a hidden village we've yet to encounter."
Orochimaru explained where he'd found it: painted across the hull of a mysterious airship he had glimpsed near the ruins of Uzushiogakure.
"A zeppelin?" Danzo mused. "So these could be the so-called Sky Ninja. An investigation is warranted. Air superiority could pose a serious threat."
He tapped the table thoughtfully. "What's your assessment?"
"Uzumaki Nano reported that the wrecked ship bore battle damage," Orochimaru replied. "It likely clashed with either a merchant convoy or perhaps shinobi from the Land of Water's island nations before crashing and drifting to Uzushiogakure's coast."
Danzo's eye gleamed. "Then we focus our intelligence work on island territories known for aerial techniques. Smart."
---
But Orochimaru had brought more than a mystery emblem.
He placed a small square box on the table and opened it to reveal two dark crimson pills.
"These," he said, "are experimental Rebirth Pills—designed to accelerate wound healing."
Danzo leaned closer, intrigued. "Rebirth… how complete is the regeneration?"
"Don't imagine miracles," Orochimaru replied. "They won't regrow severed limbs. The pills simply stimulate rapid cell division, drastically speeding the natural healing of serious injuries."
Danzo's mind flashed back to the carnage of the First Shinobi World War, where countless ninja bled out from untreated wounds. Such a medicine could save entire platoons.
"What injuries can they treat?" he asked.
"Anything short of instantly fatal trauma," Orochimaru said. "But there is a cost. Because the pill forces rapid cell division, repeated use will shorten the user's lifespan."
Danzo raised an eyebrow. "That's all? For a ninja, a shortened life is a small price for survival."
He chuckled darkly. "This could change the survival rate of every mission."
---
"Have you shown these to Hiruzen yet?" Danzo asked in a low voice.
"Not yet. I planned to present them soon," Orochimaru answered.
"Leave that to me," Danzo said quickly, his tone almost gleeful. "I'll deliver the research to Hiruzen personally."
Orochimaru studied the older man's sly smile and suppressed a sigh. Danzo-sama, always scheming for petty victories.
The man who once aspired to be Hokage now seemed more interested in one-upping old rivals than leading the village.
---
As Orochimaru departed Root's underground halls, his mind returned to the Tsuchigumo legend and the strange airship drifting over the ocean.
Secrets layered upon secrets: a forbidden sage technique, a mysterious aerial clan, the ever-present shadow of Kaguya.
Each puzzle piece promised power—and Orochimaru intended to claim them all.
---
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