Chapter 143: The Road to Godhood

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: The Road to Godhood

Orochimaru carefully scrutinized Hyuga Kagami for a while, seemingly trying to judge something. Finally, he turned his head away and said, "Not long ago, Hiruko also joined the organization I’m part of."

Kagami deliberately replied in a casual tone, "I never expected him to join too."

Orochimaru gave a soft snort. "He didn’t exactly have the right to choose. Besides, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing for him."

After thinking for a moment, Kagami tentatively asked, "Lord Orochimaru, I heard that Hiruko has mastered an extremely practical forbidden technique. Is that rumor true?"

Orochimaru glanced at Kagami and said with interest, "So that’s what you’re interested in!"

"Heh, I really can’t hide anything from you!" Since Orochimaru had already seen through him, Kagami stopped trying to conceal his intentions and said frankly, "That’s right. I’m very interested in that forbidden technique of his."

Orochimaru stopped walking and gazed into the distance, seemingly recalling something.

Only after a moment did he slowly begin to speak.

"Hiruko and I were classmates. I’m sure you already knew that. Among everyone in our generation, his talent was the most mediocre. That’s why the forbidden technique he developed is one that allows him to plunder the kekkei genkai of others."

Orochimaru paused before continuing, "Something like that shouldn’t hold much appeal for a genius from a prestigious clan like you, should it?"

In a certain sense, Orochimaru and Hiruko were the same kind of person.

However, compared to Hiruko, whose mediocre talent caused him to often be overlooked, Orochimaru possessed extraordinary talent in ninjutsu. Later, Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were chosen by the Third Hokage to become his disciples.

As for Hiruko, who had been close friends with the three of them since their days at the Academy, he gradually drifted further and further away from them.

Yet even Orochimaru, someone blessed with exceptional talent, eventually reached a level where he came to recognize the seemingly insurmountable gulf separating ordinary shinobi from those who possessed kekkei genkai.

It was precisely because of this that Orochimaru became obsessed with forbidden techniques, personally developing the Living Corpse Reincarnation, a technique that allowed him to seize the bodies and kekkei genkai of others.

At the same time, he also began to understand the ambition and struggle that Hiruko had once hidden beneath his feelings of inferiority!

Whenever genuine geniuses called him a "genius," Kagami always felt a little uncomfortable.

He smiled and said, "I think his forbidden technique has tremendous potential for further development."

Orochimaru pulled himself from his thoughts and asked, "You want the Chimera Technique?"

Kagami gave a slight nod.

Although a casual smile still hung on his face, the look in his eyes was exceptionally resolute.

He needed the Chimera Technique.

It was his opportunity to become a god!

"That technique is only half-finished. No human body could withstand the burden it places upon it." Orochimaru paused before chuckling softly. "And if someone possessed a body capable of enduring such a burden, they wouldn’t need such a malformed technique in the first place."

Kagami agreed with half of Orochimaru’s assessment.

As for the other half, he didn’t think much of it.

With a method as crude as Hiruko’s, there truly was no human body capable of enduring the burden brought about by the fusion. Even though Hiruko had modified his own body beforehand, he had ultimately still transformed himself into something neither human nor monster.

So on that particular point, Orochimaru’s assessment was fair.

But Orochimaru had clearly underestimated Hiruko’s abilities.

Hiruko might not have possessed much talent as a shinobi, but as a researcher, he was undoubtedly every bit Orochimaru’s equal.

From what Kagami remembered, Hiruko had successfully used the Chimera Technique to absorb four different kekkei genkai. Although he had fallen at the final step and failed to absorb Kakashi, possessing four kekkei genkai had already elevated his combat strength beyond that of an ordinary Kage-level shinobi.

Even elite ANBU couldn’t withstand a single move from him, while an elite jonin like Kakashi—someone qualified to be considered a candidate for Hokage—had been completely helpless against him.

Thinking of this, Kagami asked, "What if he solves the problem of the burden on his body?"

Orochimaru answered with absolute certainty, "Every forbidden technique has its limits. He’ll never be able to complete the final step!"

Kagami thought to himself, "That’s true... but who could have imagined that he would actually harness the power of a celestial phenomenon and use a ’Ring of Gold Solar Eclipse’ to complete that final step?"

By now, Kagami could already tell that Orochimaru didn’t think particularly highly of the Chimera Technique.

Part of that was naturally due to the technique’s inherent flaws, but perhaps an even greater reason was Orochimaru’s arrogance.

Perhaps, in Orochimaru’s eyes, Hiruko would forever remain beneath him—a minor figure whom he had left far behind long ago.

But Kagami knew better.

Hiruko was a research genius no less brilliant than Orochimaru. Just like Orochimaru, the only thing he truly lacked was a broader vision.

Take the Chimera Technique, for example.

Brutally fusing different kekkei genkai together could indeed achieve the goal of plundering another person’s bloodline abilities to a certain extent, but that was merely a quantitative fusion.

Even after paying the price of transforming his body into something monstrous, all Hiruko had accomplished was an accumulation of quantity.

There had been no qualitative transformation.

And that was precisely why Hiruko, despite possessing four different kekkei genkai, had ultimately lost to Naruto.

His Dark Release was practically unbeatable against ordinary shinobi, but the moment it encountered an overwhelmingly powerful ninjutsu like the Rasenshuriken, its shortcomings immediately became apparent.

And in the shinobi world, there was no shortage of techniques even more powerful than the Rasenshuriken.

Without a qualitative transformation, once one encountered an extraordinarily powerful enemy, forget four kekkei genkai—even adding another four would make no difference.

But there was no denying that the original concept behind Hiruko’s creation of the Chimera Technique was an ingenious one.

And from that concept, Kagami had gained an inspiration of his own.

The most extraordinary aspect of the Chimera Technique was its ability to fuse kekkei genkai.

In other words, it could fuse chakra natures.

Its flaw was simply that the fusion process was far too crude and forceful.

For any living being, the compatibility between the body and the soul was of vital importance.

Take Impure World Reincarnation, for example. Depending on the physical sacrifice used, the strength that a reincarnated shinobi could display would vary enormously.

That was precisely why, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the four Hokage reincarnated using White Zetsu clones containing First Hokage cells as sacrifices were able to display strength close to what they possessed at their peaks.

The Chimera Technique, however, not only destroyed the compatibility between the body and the soul, it even disrupted the balance within the body itself.

That was why Hiruko had failed to achieve a qualitative transformation even after fusing four different kekkei genkai into himself.

But Kagami had thought of a way to circumvent this fundamental flaw of the Chimera Technique.

Since the Chimera Technique’s method of fusion was too crude, then he would use cloning technology to create clones that were completely compatible with himself.

Then, through the Chimera Technique, he would fuse together those clones that fundamentally belonged to him in the first place, thereby bypassing the technique’s otherwise unsolvable flaw.

And that...

was precisely why Kagami needed to build such an enormous laboratory.

Because he needed to clone six perfect bodies for himself:

A Water Release clone, a Fire Release clone, an Earth Release clone, a Wind Release clone, a Lightning Release clone, and finally, a Yang Release clone representing the Sage Body.

Then, using his original body—the Yin Release body possessing the Tenseigan—as the core, he would fuse all six perfect clones into one.

With that, he would achieve the perfect fusion of all seven chakra natures—

Yin, Yang, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning!

And through that perfect fusion, he would make his attempt at attaining the supreme pinnacle of bloodline evolution...

Kekkei Mōra!