Chapter 160: Repairing Orochimaru's Damaged Soul.
Meanwhile, at Orochimaru's experimental base in the Sound Village.
That body, which had fused Naruto's cells with Kimimaro's cells, had collapsed; the reason, naturally, was that the half-evolved Shikotsumyaku had completely devoured the vitality within it.
Orochimaru, having swapped bodies twice in a short period, was mentally very weak; each transfer of his Soul caused it to weaken by a fraction.
Although the clone had no independent consciousness and the flaws of the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu could be minimized, it did not completely avoid the damage this forbidden jutsu caused to the Soul.
Naruto clearly would not allow Orochimaru's Soulto continue weakening like this.
The weakening of the Soul had many aftereffects; it was not just reflected in one's resistance to genjutsu, but would also have varying degrees of influence on a person's personality and intelligence.
Clearly, Orochimaru's intelligence had been weakened to a certain extent at this moment; although it was not very obvious, the progress of Orochimaru's research projects had slowed down slightly, at a pace visible to the naked eye.
The matter of Bloodline tracing still had to rely on Orochimaru. Although Naruto also thought that Orochimaru being weakened would allow him to be influenced by Kotoamatsukami for a longer time, after weighing the pros and cons, Naruto still drew his zanpakutō.
In the bleach world, Naruto's zanpakutō had stripped away a vast amount of Soul power during the Shinigami's war to subjugate Hueco Mundo; after all, the predecessors of Hollows were also Souls, just ones that had fallen into becoming Hollows due to the influence of negative emotions.
Of course, accompanying that massive amount of Soul power were the negative emotions of the Hollows; they could completely turn an extremely kind person into a terrifyingly fallen villain on a Soul level.
This was one of the reasons why the Seireitei had effectively exiled Naruto at the time; they were also afraid of the power absorbed within Naruto's zanpakutō.
"Lord Naruto, what are you trying to do to Lord Orochimaru!"
Yakushi Kabuto stood in front of Orochimaru, who was lying on the hospital bed adapting to his new body. The nervous expression on his face did not seem fake, and at the same time, he gripped a Kunai, displaying a determination to fight to the death to protect Orochimaru.
"Kabuto, step aside..."
Orochimaru's weak voice rang out. Yakushi Kabutolooked back at Orochimaru, hesitated for a moment with unwillingness in his heart, but still moved to the side, clearing a path.
"Naruto-kun, when did you change your ninja sword?" Orochimaru asked with a curious expression, not worried in the slightest that Narutowould harm him.
"An unexpected gain." Naruto brushed it off with a simple sentence. "Aren't you curious why I appeared before you holding this sword?"
"What is there to be curious about? It's just an ordinary ninja sword, and besides, if Naruto-kunwanted to kill me, you wouldn't need this." Orochimaru chuckled, "And my intuition tells me that Naruto-kun doesn't have a shred of malice toward me."
"Did the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu give you a woman's sixth sense..." Naruto teased Orochimaru nonchalantly, then returned to the main topic. "You are quite right; not only do I not have any malice toward you, but I am also going to treat the injuries on your Soul."
"Oh?" The smile on Orochimaru's face deepened. "Is it that sword in your hand? It doesn't seem to have anything unique about it..."
"You'll know in a moment." Naruto didn't waste any words and instead recited the Shikai incantation of his zanpakutō.
The bright blade of the zanpakutō began to change; the familiar black and white colors reappeared, but the Spiritual Pressure, which was equivalent to a normal captain-level Shinigami's Bankai, had vanished without a trace.
This was the Ninja World; the power known as reishi naturally could not appear here, so Spiritual Pressure naturally ceased to exist as well.
Naruto had also considered using Chakra to replace reishi over these past few days, but it had failed without exception. Although the two different power systems had some commonalities, wanting to fuse their differences was still a massive undertaking.
After suffering repeated setbacks, Naruto even thought about going to the Ninja World's Pure Land to observe it...
After the zanpakutō's Shikai, when it transformed into the non-killing blade Ashura, Naruto's temperament also underwent a slight change.
Naruto, whose Sage Body evolution was already four-fifths complete, already possessed a temperament that made people feel at ease and submissive just from his appearance; this was the most natural form for a righteous disguise.
No matter how suspicious a person was, the first time they saw Naruto, they would definitely think he was an absolutely good person.
But now, this unique temperament of the Sage Body was mixed with a bit of awe-inspiring dignity, much like Acala; beneath the kind and righteous exterior, a violent and murderous heart was hidden, as if it wanted to cut down all who were insubordinate.
The pitch-black back of the blade lightly struck Orochimaru's shoulder, and the Soul power, which had been stripped of all negative emotions by Naruto, rapidly poured into Orochimaru's body.
After three breaths, Orochimaru, with a look of enjoyment, opened his eyes. A look of lingering desire flashed by and vanished; the warm feeling all over his body just now was truly too wonderful!
It was just like an infant still in the womb; all physical indicators had reached the highest standard, and along with them, his Soul had also been repaired to its initial state.
"Is it an unknown Divine Artifact in the Ninja World?" Orochimaru was truly curious; a ninja sword with this kind of effect shouldn't be unknown.
"Yes and no." Naruto still did not answer directly. "How does your body feel?"
"Better than ever before!" Orochimaru nodded, unable to contain his joy; the feeling of his Soulbeing unimpeded was truly too wonderful. "I feel like this is the most perfect state of the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu; a new body, a new Soul..."
Lifting the sheet that had been covering him, Orochimaru rolled over and jumped off the hospital bed. He reached out and clenched his fist, feeling the body that was perfectly compatible with his Soul, and he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"I knew that Naruto-kun, the only one to receive my complete approval, would constantly give me surprises one after another; you are the most precious gift in my life!"
"Tch, stop being so cheesy; you know I don't buy that!" Naruto said with great disdain.
The effect of Kotoamatsukami was unexpectedly good, and at the same time, it proved that a genjutsu that was subtle and very logical was the true strongest in the Ninja World.
"I can use this body for a very long time." Orochimaru composed his expression, becoming calm once again. "The Soul and the body are truly the two greatest mysteries of the human body!"
"It's good that you're fine; I think you should continue with your research projects."
"Indeed, although I also want to immediately throw myself into research, hearing it come from Naruto-kun's mouth, I really feel a bit sad and disappointed." Orochimaru's temperament had changed quite a bit, at least when facing Naruto, this was the case.
"Alright, that's not like you!" Naruto turned and walked away. "The aftermath in Konoha has already been completely quelled by Jiraiya, and as for setting out to find one of the Sannin, Tsunade, Jiraiya will execute it in a few days."
"Jiraiya, huh..." Orochimaru remembered something. "He is still as free-spirited as ever."
Naruto naturally knew what Orochimaru was talking about, and he nodded along. Jiraiya was indeed the most free-spirited of the Sannin and was someone who could truly be called a hero of his time.
Although he seemed unreliable at ordinary times, when something truly happened, you would discover that the only person you could really rely on was Jiraiya.
I wouldn't dare say for the future, but at least for now, that is the case.