Chapter 38: Black Zetsu, Want to Save Your Mother?
"That's correct." Yasushi nodded frankly.
"The two great clans of Konoha are actually both descendants of the Otsutsuki clan."
"The Uchiha clan's ancestor is the Sage of Six Paths, Otsutsuki Hagoromo, while the Hyuga clan's ancestor is Otsutsuki Hamura."
"The Hyuga clan was originally very powerful. They only needed to fuse together the eyes of many clan members to naturally synthesize the 'Tenseigan.' But precisely because it was too easy, it often led to internal clan conflict."
"So to prevent such tragedies from recurring, the Hyuga clan developed the 'Caged Bird' seal to prevent forced eye extraction from clan members."
"But if they truly faced the danger of clan annihilation, the Hyuga main family could reverse-use the 'Caged Bird' to force branch family members to take out their eyes, synthesizing the 'Tenseigan' in one stroke to turn the tide and resolve the crisis."
"This 'Tenseigan' is extremely powerful with no side effects, even superior to an ordinary Mangekyo Sharingan, and can be compared to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in strength. Even compared to the 'Rinnegan,' it's not far behind."
"Otherwise, what do you think allows the Hyuga clan to be called one of the two great clans alongside the Uchiha?"
"Just based on their broken Gentle Fist style?"
"I see!" Orochimaru nodded thoughtfully, completely believing Yasushi's words.
"So, Orochimaru-sama, my objectives are indeed as you described, but I haven't lied to you about the Tenseigan synthesis method. You can try it and see for yourself."
"The current problem is that I don't have a method to break the 'Caged Bird' curse seal. Without breaking it, just relying on those few Hyuga main family Byakugan isn't enough to synthesize the 'Tenseigan.'"
"Hehe..." Orochimaru greedily licked his lips, laughing: "That problem isn't difficult to solve."
"Although I don't have a method to break the 'Caged Bird' curse seal either, the Hyuga main family definitely has one!"
"As long as I know this thing exists, I naturally have ways to obtain it."
"Rest assured, after obtaining it, I'll share a copy with you too."
"That won't be necessary." Yasushi directly refused. "My eyes' future evolution path is the 'Rinnegan,' like the ones in Pain's eyes. The 'Tenseigan' isn't suitable for me."
"I see!" Orochimaru nodded with satisfaction, his confidence in Yasushi's words increasing considerably.
"The Mangekyo Sharingan can also evolve into the Rinnegan?"
"This is quite remarkable intelligence!"
"But in that case, you and Pain have conflicting objectives!"
"Pain wants to capture Tailed Beasts and revive the Ten-Tails. He must also want to combine the Rinnegan with Ten-Tails jinchuriki status to achieve the 'Sage of Six Paths' immortality technique."
"To dominate the shinobi world and bring permanent peace, immortality is essential. Otherwise, when he dies, his policies die with him, and war will return."
"But there's only one Ten-Tails. Who should it go to?"
"This truly is a difficult choice!"
"Hehe..."
Orochimaru made no effort to hide his malicious smile, looking at Yasushi with playful eyes.
"Yasushi, I can tell you're a very ambitious person. You absolutely won't give up the Ten-Tails."
"In other words, you already have a method to deal with Pain, right?"
"Also, your Mangekyo Sharingan possesses 'prophecy' abilities that can see many future events. You must know Pain's intelligence inside and out, correct?"
"That's not for you to worry about, Orochimaru-sama." Yasushi shrugged indifferently.
Orochimaru's snake-like vertical pupils locked onto Yasushi's face, scrutinizing him carefully for a long time. Seeing his unconcerned expression, he flicked his long tongue, licked his lips, and laughed again.
"Tsk tsk, this 'prophecy' ability truly is unreasonable!"
"Forget it, this is between you two. It has nothing to do with me."
Seeing his probing unsuccessful, Orochimaru stopped chatting and returned to his original seat.
"Now then, can we discuss compensation?" Yasushi asked with a smile.
"Yes!"
Orochimaru nodded, very generously saying:
"Yasushi, speak. What do you want to obtain from me?"
"Your intelligence is very valuable. As long as I can provide it, I definitely won't refuse."
"Haha..." Yasushi laughed, head held high. "Orochimaru-sama is indeed straightforward. Then I won't be polite."
"I need you to help me transplant Hashirama cells."
"I also need the Impure World Reincarnation jutsu, and you need to help me make some targeted modifications and optimizations."
"I also need the Snake Sage Arts training method. You need to help introduce me to Ryuchi Cave's sage."
"I also need..."
Yasushi made outrageous demands, rattling off a long list. Orochimaru listened silently before very readily nodding:
"Fine, I can agree to all these conditions. Some things I can give you right now, but some things I'll need preparation time for."
"No problem!" Yasushi was equally straightforward.
Moments later, Yasushi walked out of Orochimaru's room with great satisfaction.
Actually, he didn't know whether the "Caged Bird" curse seal had a solution or not. But it didn't matterâ€"Orochimaru believed it did, and that was enough.
As for whether Orochimaru could obtain the curse seal solution from Hiashi Hyuga or other main family membersâ€"if he couldn't, it only meant the Hyuga main family was too stubborn, refusing to surrender it even unto death. That couldn't be blamed on Yasushi.
Orochimaru was also very satisfied.
Besides learning about the "Tenseigan" immortality technique from Yasushi, he'd also learned much intelligence about his own future.
For instance, curse seal development!
His curse seal development was currently just a prototype, but Yasushi told him that in the future, through research, he'd transform curse seals into an alternative "immortality technique" and even used this method to resurrect after death.
This made him even more interested in curse seals, deciding to invest more time in them going forward.
With research, what's often lacking is direction.
Most research often wastes enormous time and effort before finally concluding: this path doesn't work!
But Yasushi could tell him which jutsu he'd successfully develop in the future and which ones were never seen.
Based on this intelligence, Orochimaru could naturally adjust his future research directions accordingly, avoiding wasted time and effort.
However, Yasushi didn't tell him about "Karma"â€"after all, "Karma" was also an "immortality technique." If Orochimaru knew about it and changed to researching "Karma" instead of massacring the Hyuga clan, that would be problematic.
Yasushi returned to his room with the benefits obtained from Orochimaru. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a black-and-white figure emerging from beneath the ground.
"Yasushi..."
Before Zetsu could finish speaking, Yasushi asked with a grin:
"Well, Black Zetsu, do you want to save your mother?"
"I'll help you!"
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