"..."
Genie Lamp looked speechlessly at Orochimaru, feeling like he had been tricked after waiting so long.
Was the Otsutsuki clan the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?
Of course, he knew that to some extent, that was true.
The Ten-Tails, the Divine Tree, and Otsutsuki Kaguya who had eaten the Chakra fruit... the relationship between these three was extremely close, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were a unified entity.
"Don't tell me, this is all you saw within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?"
"Sorry, it seems I was a bit unclear just now..."
Facing Genie Lamp's question, Orochimaru seemed to realize his statement was problematic. After considering for a moment, he said again, "It's not just Otsutsuki Kaguya, it should be said that all Otsutsuki bloodlines are the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path..."
He emphasized, "The same Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
"The same one? Are you serious?"
Genie Lamp immediately frowned, his expression becoming serious. "What exactly did you see within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?"
Orochimaru didn't answer directly, or rather, he felt that explaining it directly was impossible. Instead, he asked, "Do you think it's difficult for me to become who I am now among the ninjas of the ninja world, or is it difficult for everyone to reach Jiraiya's level?"
"Individual evolution versus mass ascension? That's obvious, of course the latter is more difficult."
Genie Lamp said without hesitation. "After all, the former only requires 'chance encounters,' while the latter requires turning those 'chance encounters' into something easily obtainable by everyone. How can it be simple to make everyone a dragon!"
In theory, even if he hadn't appeared in the ninja world, perhaps someone in the future might have overcome these challenges through various fortuitous encounters and reached the Six Paths level.
Being born with powerful chakra and the ability to practice Senjutsu... Naruto, if nothing else, had this potential.
"What are you trying to say by bringing this up?"
"I'm wondering, what would happen if I died now due to some accident?"
Orochimaru still didn't answer, instead posing another question, emphasizing, "Not changing my form of existence, like existing as a soul, but consciousness annihilation, complete annihilation of life."
"What, are you planning to commit suicide..."
Genie Lamp made a joke. Seeing Orochimaru's serious expression, his eyes rolled, and he began to deduce.
"If consciousness dies, your body will definitely be preserved... First Hokage's cells have strong vitality, and your body will only be stronger."
"And since your breathing technique has already entered the 'Total Concentration Breathing: Constant' state, with natural energy as a supplement, this body of yours will probably be preserved for a long time..."
Genie Lamp rubbed his chin, his eyebrows raised slightly. "Will it then reanimate... Natural energy is no different from sunlight and moonlight..."
Having said that, Genie Lamp explained to Orochimaru, "'Reanimation' is different from resurrection; it's not the original you coming back to life, but the flesh nourishing spiritual power and giving birth to a new will..."
"I understand that..." Orochimaru interrupted Genie Lamp, his gaze looking extremely peculiar. "As expected, you are very knowledgeable."
"Not at all..." Genie Lamp thought for a moment and then said, "Of course, there's a second possibility. For example, if your corpse were left in the wild, and bitten by this wolf or that dog, your cells could spread into their bodies, forming new groups, which isn't impossible..."
He looked at Orochimaru. "So, what exactly did you see? My mind is quite broad, I can accept anything."
Orochimaru frowned. "I saw the memories of a powerful being..."
There was nothing specific to mention about the content. It was like various cliché "overpowered protagonist" novels, the growth story of an unparalleled genius of a certain race on a certain planet.
The only difference was that these stories could only be considered the prologue, or rather, the prequel. This genius grew to a godly level, controlling planet-level natural disasters and thunderstorms with a wave of his hand. Interstellar travel and draining an entire planet's natural energy with a single breath were just ordinary matters.
Compared to that, Nagato's self-proclaimed superiority was just child's play. Such a being could truly be called a "god-level" existence.
But He died, died in the prologue of His memories.
And just as Genie Lamp had deduced one of the possibilities, His corpse was preserved. The only difference was that in this extremely vital corpse, not just one will was born, but a group that would later be known as the 'Otsutsuki clan.'
"Apart from the original corpse, the Otsutsuki clan has never had an original body..."
Orochimaru narrated the memories to Genie Lamp, his eyes showing surprise. "Their current bodies, without exception, were obtained by using indelible spiritual energy to corrupt other species."
"...This is truly hard to imagine."
Genie Lamp rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "The universe is vast and full of wonders. I thought the Otsutsuki clan was just a race talented in spiritual power, I didn't expect them to have such an origin."
Skilled in spiritual power, they could exist even without a physical body, yet they possessed secret spiritual techniques, relentlessly searching for suitable hosts. Furthermore, seemingly insignificant bodies were the key to their evolution.
From a basic biological perspective, such a race is full of contradictions. From a sociological perspective, they are strangely backward.
But if the greatness of this entire race stems from scavenging, and was not developed by themselves bit by bit, then this abnormality makes some sense.
Born from the corpse of a 'god,' they inherently possessed data-like traits, their spiritual energy was inextinguishable. However, due to their own incompleteness, they couldn't control the god's corpse, so they had to find a host to complete their lives and achieve the possibility of evolution.
"I see. With such an origin, their instinct for evolution is practically etched into their bones..."
Genie Lamp pondered for a moment, and a flash of inspiration crossed his eyes. "Then, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path of the Otsutsuki clan..."
"That's right, exactly as you imagined."
Orochimaru was amazed by Genie Lamp's quick thinking and nodded slightly. "The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path is a replica of that great being, the 'god.'"
The Otsutsuki clan's control over the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was as natural as a mind controlling a body.
"The Otsutsuki clan might have also tried to inhabit the replica, wanting to become gods through this convenient method, but the results were clearly not very good..."
Golden light flickered in Orochimaru's eyes. "However, the outcome wasn't entirely bad. They didn't become gods, but they obtained the Divine Tree."
An existence that could give birth to the Otsutsuki clan even after death, by exerting even a fraction of its power, the effects would naturally be astonishing. The newly born Otsutsuki used this power to absorb terrestrial energy, driving the evolution of each individual.
"They might have also made many attempts and finally discovered the method of creating the 'Chakra fruit.' For this purpose... they even needed an original Otsutsuki as a sacrifice."
Although controlling the body with the mind was natural, conversely, the body would also give birth to a new mind.
Therefore, the Otsutsuki clan dared not directly plant the cultivated Divine Tree seedling. Instead, they needed to implant an Otsutsuki's consciousness into it, allowing it to replace the original and grow into a new Divine Tree.
This process was clearly not beneficial for that Otsutsuki, and their original consciousness would even be annihilated into a chaotic form, only able to revive through the data backup of the 'Karma.' However, for the Otsutsuki who harvested the Chakra fruit, it was quite good.
Just like Kaguya, she obtained the Chakra fruit and the fully formed Divine Tree.
Since the Otsutsuki clan shared the same origin, after the sacrifice lost its consciousness and will, they didn't even have to worry about the Divine Tree losing control. It was practically perfect.
And the entire affair also revealed why Otsutsuki Kaguya had betrayed them.
Not wanting to be a sacrifice, the desire for evolution... these were just minor internal reasons. The true root cause was that the Otsutsuki clan was still in the earliest stage of civilization development... chaos and disorder were the norm.
She wanted to do it, and she didn't have enough restraint, so she did it.
Indeed, this betrayal occurred over a thousand years ago. The other members of the Otsutsuki clan only arrived belatedly, their reaction was so slow.
And Isshiki, who luckily survived, is also very interesting. After regaining some of his strength, he didn't think of asking for help from his clan. Instead, he continued to wait, appearing to want to solve this matter with his own abilities, with no intention of relying on his clan.
No matter what considerations he had, it at least proved that the Otsutsuki family was not as tightly knit as imagined.
Genie Lamp thought for a moment and smiled. "If that's the case, it seems like a good thing for you."
When sniping Otsutsuki in the ninja world, the biggest fear was that after defeating the lesser ones, the elder ones would come.
Of course, they would still come now, but there wouldn't be any overwhelming powerhouses appearing.
"That's not all..."
Orochimaru showed a thoughtful expression. "I even suspect that Otsutsuki Kaguya's strength at her peak was among the top tier even within the current Otsutsuki family."
There was no fundamental difference between one Otsutsuki and another. They were all inextinguishable consciousnesses born from the corpse of that 'god.' The only difference was the degree of evolution caused by the accumulation of energy.
Although the universe seems vast, in terms of life, it is a barren wasteland. Planets like the ninja world are not necessarily unique; in reality, they are only a very small part. And the planets the Otsutsuki clan encountered were even fewer.
Otsutsuki Kaguya, although not as high in status as Isshiki, was not low in the family. Yet, upon seeing the ninja world, she couldn't resist her greed and directly backstabbed Isshiki. This shows the preciousness of the ninja world.
Genie Lamp's face broke into a smile upon hearing this. "Good news, it just keeps coming..."
Although Otsutsuki Kaguya was far superior to Orochimaru at this time, the difference was not insurmountable.
"This is indeed good news..."
As Orochimaru thought of this, his heart suddenly stirred. "Speaking of which, given the form of existence of the Otsutsuki clan, how did Kaguya give birth to the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura?"
"..." Genie Lamp raised an eyebrow. "There's a theory that the 'Goddess of Rabbits' produced offspring due to the 'blessings and prayers' of the people. Another theory talks about an alien princess who came to Earth, married a native prince, and then had offspring..."
"Of course, in my opinion, neither of these is very reliable."
The former is too religious in nature, while the latter completely deviates from the character's persona and is merely human fantasy about things they cannot understand.
"I actually think the former, while not necessarily the complete truth, has some logic to it."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly. "From Black Zetsu's situation, Kaguya could give birth to offspring by splitting her spiritual energy. If she were to then inject this spiritual energy into gifted children in the ninja world..."
"Indeed, that's a possibility..."
Genie Lamp raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and continued to deduce along this line of thought.
"Moreover, the significance of Hagoromo and Hamura's existence was certainly not just because Kaguya was lonely, so she created offspring. In a sense, they were also created to deal with the Otsutsuki clan's powerful subordinates."
Referring to Otsutsuki Momoshiki's subordinate Kinshiki, Hagoromo and Hamura could even be considered quite powerful, especially after learning Sage Mode.
Thinking this, Genie Lamp suddenly smiled. "From the perspective of ordinary humans, are Hagoromo and Hamura, or Black Zetsu, considered Kaguya's children or siblings?"
Orochimaru also smiled at this. A moment later, he said, "It's meaningless to measure them with human ethics. Strictly speaking, they are still considered offspring."
"...We're getting sidetracked, sidetracked. Let's continue talking about what you saw in the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
Genie Lamp brought the conversation back on track. "Besides the origin of the Otsutsuki clan, what else did you learn? For example, about interstellar travel?"
Orochimaru shook his head. "It's regrettable that although there are some memories related to that, they are mostly blurry and incomplete, making them difficult to decipher."
Knowledge is different from experiential memories. For the latter, even if a part is missing, the general content can be inferred from the context. But for the former, even the slightest omission can lead to completely wrong,颠覆性的 (world-changing/subversive) cognitive errors.
"However, even so, there are some directions to explore."
Orochimaru wasn't very disappointed; instead, he wore a relaxed smile. "In exploring knowledge, direction is the best guide."
Genie Lamp smiled at this. "Well, then that's that. After all, learning the origin of the Otsutsuki clan is already the biggest gain."
The two of them tacitly did not mention connecting with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path again...
That was a 'replica of a god' that could annihilate even pure-blooded Otsutsuki. Even if Genie Lamp pulled him out, even if he had recovered now, he couldn't guarantee there were no hidden injuries.
The harvest was not worth the risk.
"Oh, right. While you were asleep, I had already made a deal with Nagato, and he found some bloodline ninjas for me."
Genie Lamp raised an eyebrow slightly. "Although I didn't find the Ice Release ninja I wanted to see, there was one from the Kaguya clan with the Corpse Bone Pulse, who is also an interesting fellow."
"According to him, you might be able to figure out the principle of 'Shikotsumyaku,' which is a complete Six Paths-level Ninjutsu."
"Is that so? Then I should indeed take a look."
Seeing Genie Lamp praise him so highly, Orochimaru licked his lips, a hint of interest rising in his eyes.