Chapter 46

As a teacher, having to accept a secret technique from a disciple made even Orochimaru feel somewhat embarrassed.

But, dignity?

Right now, there was no such thing in Orochimaru's heart; he couldn't wait to grab the scroll and immediately opened it to read.

"Good, let me see!"

"I see, it's actually this line of thought; indeed, the path of natural energy is correct!"

"Hiss!! According to the theory, once the body completes the Sage transformation, the strength will possess the potential to surpass the First Hokage..."

Orochimaru looked at the scroll excitedly, muttering to himself.

After a long while, Orochimaru finally finished reading everything, let out a long sigh, raised his head, and looked at his disciple with a complex expression.

"Ishihara, you have surpassed me!"

Being surpassed by his own disciple.

As early as when Ishihara brought out the Body Tempering Art, he had already prepared for this.

But Orochimaru didn't expect this day to return so quickly.

His feelings were indescribably complex.

Originally, being surpassed by a disciple as a teacher was an extremely worthy thing to be proud of.

Because in reality, he had only provided Ishihara with an environment for learning and had not truly guided him in any meaningful sense.

Rather than master and disciple, Orochimaru felt more like he had been surpassed by a competitor.

It made him feel somewhat unwilling, yet also somewhat at peace.

In this moment, Orochimaru accepted reality; he was indeed not as good as Ishihara.

"Teacher, isn't this what you have always expected?"

Ishihara still maintained his smile!

Seeing Orochimaru's reaction, he was very satisfied.

The Sage Art he gave had no modifications; it was real!

He had said he would not let Orochimaru down, so he would not let him down.

But Ishihara also truly wanted Orochimaru to be his test subject and clear the mines for him.

After all, with only three thousand years of life, immortality was still far away.

Orochimaru shook his head with a wry smile, then took out a blank scroll and began to write.

Ishihara raised an eyebrow; he had already seen the first few characters and couldn't help but feel some anticipation.

【Impure Body Reincarnation Technique!】

After finishing writing, Orochimaru handed over the scroll and said with a complex expression:

"This is the forbidden technique I have been researching, the Impure Body Reincarnation Technique!"

"I hope it can be helpful to your research!"

With the Sage Body, he could already obtain the strongest body, so naturally, he no longer considered changing to other bodies.

The Impure Body Reincarnation Technique was of no use to him anymore.

This made Orochimaru feel somewhat lost in his heart.

Ishihara opened the scroll and looked at the content inside, and his eyes immediately lit up.

"Indeed, this is knowledge about the soul and spirit!"

【You have read the Impure Body Reincarnation Secret Technique, the experiences of Senju Tobirama and Orochimaru; you have created the Soul Seizing Secret Technique!】

【Soul Seizing Secret Technique: After use, it allows your soul to transfer into a new body, with extremely minimal damage to the soul; the usable lifespan of the new body can reach up to the age of natural death.】

"Useless!"

Ishihara merely glanced at the secret technique and then cast it aside.

For him, what was more important was the knowledge within this secret technique; there were many things that required further research and deduction by him, so he would put it away for now.

Seeing this, Orochimaru immediately asked, "What happened here?"

Ishihara briefly explained, and Orochimaru immediately sneered:

"This is too coincidental; I was stopped by people from the Akatsuki organization on my way back!"

"I'm afraid they were the ones who leaked intelligence to Konoha."

Immediately after, Orochimaru also mentioned the Red Sand Sasori and the Heavenly Devastation Pain he had encountered.

"No need to worry about them for now; the most important thing now is to proceed with the next step of the longevity research!"

Ishihara thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"You already have a lead?!"

Hearing this, Orochimaru's eyes immediately lit up.

He had also read the Sage Body cultivation method and naturally knew about the three-thousand-year lifespan.

But what he wanted was agelessness and immortality, so he wanted to go a step further!

"I think the next step should be researching Kekkei Genkai, and at the same time, I need to conduct some experiments; barring accidents, it should be beneficial to the Sage Body!"

"So we need people who possess Kekkei Genkai and corpses!"

Ishihara did not mention information related to the Ten-Tails.

After all, the source of intelligence was hard to explain; using experiments to explain it was more reasonable and more advantageous for him.

Hearing this, Orochimaru immediately smiled coldly.

"Perfect; I recently received intelligence that the Mist Village's Bloody Mist policy has reached the moment of most intense resistance."

"I heard that the Hozuki clan and the Taketori clan are both preparing to rebel!"

"And the Mist Village also has a large number of corpses of people possessing Kekkei Genkai!"

At those words, Ishihara's eyes lit up at once. "Great, then let's head to the Mist Village!"

Most of the subordinates Orochimaru would recruit in the future came from the Mist Village — it was fate that they were destined to be experimented on.

Unbeknownst to them, the positions of the two had quietly reversed.

Yet neither felt it was inappropriate; on the contrary, they both took it as a matter of course.

Everything had been sealed the moment Ishihara produced the Sage Body cultivation method!

……

Konoha Village.

After Kakashi and Itachi returned to Konoha, they immediately went to the Hokage Building to report.

At this moment, the Hokage's office was deathly silent.

Just now, Kakashi and Itachi had recounted the entire process of this mission, and the Third Hokage's trusted Anbu had even probed Kakashi's memories to confirm its truth.

The Third Hokage's face was dark and grim. He took drag after drag on his pipe, grinding his teeth as he said:

"I never expected there would be someone in this world with such terrifying talent — and to think he's Orochimaru's disciple!"

"What a cruel twist of fate! He should have belonged to Konoha!!!"

"We must find a way to bring him back to Konoha!"

The Third Hokage was extremely unwilling to let it go.

Kakashi and Itachi exchanged a glance, their faces full of bitterness.

They had already tried to dissuade him several times, but the Third Hokage simply wouldn't listen.

Lord Hokage, please don't do anything foolish — that would be courting death!

Ishihara — the entire Konoha can't afford to provoke him!