"Eternal?!"
After hearing Orochimaru's words, Fugaku's face filled with shock.
Human life barely lasted a hundred years. Even the Sage of Six Paths back then had been unable to achieve something like "eternity"…
With that thought in mind, Fugaku knew full well that prying into another ninja's techniques was extremely impolite. Even so, he couldn't help asking, "Orochimaru, I know this is a bit rude, but could you explain the Reanimation of the Living Corpse to me?"
"Of course."
Orochimaru himself had a strong desire to talk about it, so he didn't bother hiding anything.
After all, it had always been Yuzuru showing off in front of him. Now, he finally had a chance to return the favor.
Surely even Yuzuru wouldn't be able to remain indifferent in the face of eternal life.
With a faint sense of smugness in his heart, Orochimaru began explaining, "The Reanimation of the Living Corpse uses another person's body as a vessel, transferring one's own soul into a new body to obtain eternal life."
"The soul does not perish. One becomes truly immortal."
"Not only do you gain a new body, you can also take another person's power for yourself."
"This… is the most perfect lifeform."
After finishing, Orochimaru smiled at Yuzuru. "If Yuzuru-kun is interested, we could exchange ideas sometime."
Yuzuru immediately shook his head. "No need. I have no interest in that kind of thing."
"However, as a reward for the progress you've made with the White Zetsu cell transplantation experiments, there is something I can remind you of."
Orochimaru was a little surprised.
By his reckoning, Yuzuru didn't seem like the type who would be uninterested in immortality.
Still, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is it?"
"Your forbidden technique has several risks."
"First, when taking over another person's body, if the other party's soul is stronger than yours, there's a high chance you'll be devoured instead."
"Second, devouring other people's souls will cause your own soul to become fragmented. Over time, you could permanently lose yourself."
"Third, much like rejection reactions, another person's body can never be one hundred percent compatible with your soul. There will always be one problem or another."
Hearing Yuzuru's words was like having a bucket of cold water poured over him. Orochimaru's expression dimmed instantly.
Although he had never seriously considered these issues before, based on his understanding of the Reanimation of the Living Corpse, he could clearly tell that Yuzuru's analysis made perfect sense.
Just from a brief description, Yuzuru had identified so many risks in such a short time…
As expected of Yuzuru-kun.
"Yuzuru-kun, how do you know that devouring other people's souls would cause one's own soul to become fragmented?" Orochimaru asked.
"The Uchiha clan's eyes are closely tied to soul power, so I've read records within the Uchiha clan about this," Yuzuru explained calmly.
Orochimaru fell silent. After a moment, he asked unwillingly, "Yuzuru-kun, then do you have any solution?"
He had invested enormous effort into the Reanimation of the Living Corpse.
If it failed, wouldn't that mean his hope of eternal life was completely shattered?
Did that mean he could only follow Kakuzu's path, cultivating Earth Grudge Fear and turning himself into something neither human nor ghost?
Yuzuru didn't hide anything and spoke bluntly. "Solving this isn't actually that difficult. You just need to find a body that has no soul and is perfectly compatible with your own."
Hearing that, Orochimaru gave a bitter smile.
"Yuzuru-kun, isn't that the same as saying nothing?"
"A body with no soul that perfectly matches your own… even if you searched the entire shinobi world, you probably wouldn't find such a vessel."
As he spoke, he noticed the faint smile on Yuzuru's face, and something suddenly stirred in his heart.
"Yuzuru-kun, don't tell me you already have a solution?"
Ever since becoming Yuzuru's subordinate, Yuzuru had repeatedly cut straight to the core of many problems with astonishing precision.
Could this time be no exception?
Meeting Orochimaru's expectant gaze, Yuzuru spoke lightly. "Orochimaru, don't you have many organs you've cultivated yourself in your laboratory?"
Orochimaru nodded. "That's right. It's a technique I mastered while researching rejection reactions."
"Using the appropriate tissue cells, it's possible to clone and replicate identical organs."
"So…" Yuzuru smiled, "since you can clone individual organs, you should also be able to directly clone an entirely new body."
"If the target of the Reanimation of the Living Corpse is a body cloned in the laboratory using your own cells, then all the side effects I mentioned would no longer exist."
Orochimaru froze, then said uncertainly, "Yuzuru… can something like that really work?"
Based on his current understanding, different cells could only be cultivated into different organs or tissues. There was no way to directly cultivate a complete body.
"Maybe others can't do it, but you definitely can," Yuzuru said seriously. "You're the most outstanding research ninja I've set my sights on."
In his previous life, speculation about human cloning had never ceased. Even though he wasn't especially knowledgeable about it, that didn't stop him from providing Orochimaru with the relevant line of thought.
In the original story, Shin had been able to mass-produce his own clones. Orochimaru would be even more capable.
As long as the idea existed, it should only take a few years to master the technology.
After thinking in silence for a while, a smile returned to Orochimaru's face.
Looking at Yuzuru, he sighed with emotion. "Yuzuru-kun, you really are too well-rounded."
"I only gave a simple introduction to the Reanimation of the Living Corpse, yet you laid out all its side effects and concrete countermeasures."
"Sometimes I can't help wondering—how do you manage to have such unique insights into so many things…?"
From childhood to adulthood, there were very few people he truly admired from the bottom of his heart.
Yuzuru was definitely one of them.
Not only was he overwhelmingly powerful, his vision in every other aspect was equally sharp.
If Orochimaru didn't know Yuzuru's background so well, he might have thought Yuzuru was one of those protagonists straight out of a novel.
Hearing this, Yuzuru laughed loudly and said, "Orochimaru, it's all just knowledge. You can learn it too."
"I still have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."
After speaking, Yuzuru left together with Fugaku.
"Yuzuru, who are you planning to let me experiment on first?" Fugaku asked curiously.
For their plan to "cultivate the Mangekyō," the choice of the first test subject was extremely important.
Yuzuru rubbed his chin and said slowly, "I already have someone in mind…"
"Who?"
"Shisui."