Chapter 84: Orochimaru, Will You Follow Me?
"Who exactly are you?"
Facing Orochimaru's doubt, Menma didn't explain, instead turning his head to look at Uchiha Shin.
"Shin possesses a very special physique; he shows no rejection reaction to any tissue transplanted onto him."
Menma smiled meaningfully: "Danzō's right arm was transplanted just like that, wasn't it?"
Orochimaru frowned tightly, then relaxed.
"So it was you."
In the letter Danzō sent some time ago,
It already mentioned this powerful and mysterious masked man.
However, he hadn't paid it much mind at the time. Only now, after being reminded, did he finally recall.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly, a faint smile on his face: "Your Excellency must be that mysterious powerhouse who killed Uchiha Shisui, and took both his Mangekyō Sharingan and Danzō's right arm."
Able to kill Shisui of the Body Flicker in such a short time, his Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu must all be formidable.
Plus that exceptionally powerful ninjutsu...
This is a bit tricky.
Orochimaru pondered countermeasures, simultaneously saying jokingly: "Why not let Shin himself decide whether to leave?"
Uchiha Shin was an experimental material he valued greatly.
He originally intended to transfer Shin to another base after this Cursed Seal experiment ended.
Unexpectedly, just this one step late, and he was targeted!
Hearing Lord Orochimaru's words, Uchiha Shin also snapped back.
"Even if I die, I will not leave Lord Orochimaru!!"
He shouted forcefully, his face filled with fanatical devotion.
Only Orochimaru can grant him more Sharingan, can bring him even greater power.
The reason he willingly became Orochimaru's experimental material was to learn cloning technology, to become stronger!
Seeing that Lord Orochimaru was already beginning to trust him,
He absolutely would not leave Lord Orochimaru at a time like this!
"Is that so? A bit troublesome then."
Menma scratched his head, speaking with a troubled tone: "Seems you really don't want to leave with me. In that case..."
Instantly, his voice turned ice-cold and deep.
"Then, as you wish. I'll send you to your death."
Bang!
As his voice fell, Menma stomped his foot. The ground erupted with web-like cracks, and his figure vanished from the spot.
Chakra gathered in his hand, and he smashed a fist fiercely towards Orochimaru.
"Damn it!"
Orochimaru reacted, grabbing Shin and flashing backwards to dodge.
BOOM!!
Instantly, the spot where Orochimaru had just stood was blasted apart, earth and stone shattering.
"Where on earth did this guy pop out from? Such powerful chakra control!"
Feeling the fierce wind generated before him, beads of sweat appeared on Orochimaru's forehead.
This force was all too familiar to him.
Identical to Tsunade's Superhuman Strength Fist.
Both relied on superb chakra control to instantly unleash power far exceeding one's own.
However, I've only been in this base for a few months.
How did a top-tier powerhouse skilled in all three areas (Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu) suddenly appear?
"This masked man strikes without mercy. Does he only need Shin's corpse?"
As doubts rose in Orochimaru's heart, he bit his finger, about to form seals for summoning again.
"Shin, fall back!" he said without turning his head.
But the voice that came from behind made Orochimaru freeze.
"Lord Orochimaru, you..."
This voice... isn't Shin's?
Orochimaru turned his head, his pupils instantly contracting.
"Jūgo? Why is it you?!"
He saw "Shin's" terrified expression, his figure gradually blurring and distorting.
Finally, transforming from the short Shin into the taller Jūgo.
"Lord Orochimaru, I... I don't know either!"
Jūgo said, somewhat panicked: "Just now, you suddenly abandoned Uchiha Shin nearby, then grabbed me and retreated here."
Hearing this, Orochimaru instantly realized he had fallen under genjutsu again.
Simultaneously, he vaguely understood the effect of this genjutsu.
"Genjutsu that can modify the senses of touch and sight... isn't this the Kekkei Genkai ability of the Kurama clan?"
But according to records, aren't all Kurama clan members sickly invalids?
And this guy before me...
"Flower in the mirror, moon in the water; worldly forms, born of the mind's thought."
A sighing, poetic voice came.
Menma then said disdainfully: "Orochimaru, your fear of death prevents you from seeing the reality of the world."
The Tsukuyomi World itself was a world built upon genjutsu.
So Menma had long possessed a deep understanding and cognition of genjutsu.
Other normal people use genjutsu in this way to make the target lose their will to fight, fall into an abyss of despair, causing varying degrees of mental damage.
But after Menma researched the Kurama clan's Kekkei Genkai, his understanding of genjutsu deepened further.
Everything the human five senses perceive is fed back to the brain's central nervous system in the form of electrical signals via the relevant nervous system.
Human thought, judgment, memory, execution, and dreams are also presented by the brain in the form of brainwaves.
And so-called genjutsu, though seemingly mysterious and profound,
Is essentially interfering with the target's nervous system's chakra, thereby influencing their brain's central nervous system's brainwaves and the transmission of electrical signals throughout their entire nervous system.
Causing the target's brain to generate erroneous information and images.
This is genjutsu.
That's why Menma said, "Even the strongest eyes are, in essence, merely tools."
He understood the essence of genjutsu.
So naturally, he could selectively interfere with Orochimaru's nervous system using Yin Release Chakra.
"Orochimaru, will you try following me?"
Menma extended his left hand towards Orochimaru: "I will let you see the essence of the world. I will let the hurricane of truth sweep across the entire world."
"Oh?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, a string in his heart actually being lightly plucked.
The essence of the world, and a hurricane sweeping the ninja world?
"This guy... did he see through me? Quite an interesting fellow."
Meanwhile.
Uchiha Shin, held by the neck in mid-air by Menma, still flailed his limbs, struggling frantically.
"Let go of me! Bastard!"
But Menma's arm was like a steel bar; no matter how he struggled and flailed, he couldn't budge it one bit.
As Menma's grip gradually tightened,
His face grew increasingly flushed, his neck even turning somewhat bruised.
Uchiha Shin, struggling, slightly lowered his head. His body suddenly stiffened.
He saw the eyes within the two deep orifices of the mask.
The indifference and coldness within them were as bottomless as an abyss, soul-stirring.
Uchiha Shin suddenly realized something.
"This man... doesn't care at all about the life or death of an ant."
And he, in those eyes, was that ant.
Instantly, an immense fear of death filled Shin's heart.
"Gurgle... cough!"
Uchiha Shin, snot and tears streaming, his bloodshot eyes looked towards Orochimaru.
He reached out a hand far towards him, his voice full of terror: "Lord Oro...maru... save me! Cough cough... ugh!"
Although Orochimaru didn't hear Uchiha Shin's voice, he understood Shin was begging him for help.
Unfortunately...
He didn't have 100% confidence in snatching Shin back from this masked man's grasp.
Then there's no need to stay.
"Although it feels very interesting, I don't want to ask a tiger for its skin."
Orochimaru slowly retreated, eyes lowered, a sneer on his face: "My experimental material is yours then. We'll meet again if fate allows."
Though somewhat regretful, it was more helplessness.
He was very wary of this masked man's bizarre genjutsu.
If hit again, he probably wouldn't even know how he died.
Orochimaru bit his finger, then slapped his single hand on the ground.
BOOM!!
Black summoning formulas spread out. A large black snake appeared out of thin air.
It directly swallowed Orochimaru and Jūgo, then vanished on the spot, leaving only a dispersing cloud of smoke.
"That guy Orochimaru escaped to Ryūchi Cave?"
Menma thoughtfully lowered his left hand.
Ryūchi Cave...
Mount Myōboku, Ryūchi Cave, and Shikkotsu Forest – these are the Three Great Sage Regions of the ninja world.
Each Sage Region has a Sage, the ancestor of all creatures in that region, possessing an extremely long lifespan and powerful Sage Art Chakra.
"Wonder how those three Snake Princesses will torture Orochimaru."
Menma shook his head with a chuckle, complaining inwardly: "I never intended to do much to Orochimaru, but he's simply too afraid of death."
Honestly, he really did appreciate this guy Orochimaru.
One of the few sober individuals in the ninja world, and also mastered its core biotechnology.
Unless absolutely necessary, Menma would rather recruit Orochimaru for his own use.
Just as he was still pondering,
He suddenly felt Uchiha Shin in his right hand begin to struggle again.
"No... No no no!"
Seeing Orochimaru abandon him and flee directly, Uchiha Shin's expression turned stunned, murmuring in disbelief.
"No! It can't be! Lord Orochimaru, why!?"
I... I am Lord Orochimaru's most cherished, most successful experimental subject!!
How could Lord Orochimaru abandon me!
But the increasingly strong feeling of suffocation made Uchiha Shin understand.
This was reality.
That guy Orochimaru... actually really ran away!
Shin's features gradually twisted as he roared unwillingly: "Liar! Orochimaru! Ah!!!"
The resentment of being abandoned by someone he revered, the fear of impending death, coupled with hatred for his own weakness.
All sorts of complex emotions tangled like threads.
Intense emotional fluctuations continuously stimulated his brain.
"Hmm?"
A look of surprise also appeared on Menma's face.
He keenly sensed a slightly gloomy and familiar chakra fluctuation appearing on Shin's body.
"Interesting. Under the collapse of faith and fear of death, his pupil power actually strengthened?"
Although he felt it was very interesting, Menma's grip tightened somewhat.
"Ugh... cough cough!!"
Then, under Menma's intrigued gaze,
Within Uchiha Shin's bloodshot eyes, the single tomoe spun rapidly, his pupil power growing stronger and stronger.
Finally, Uchiha Shin's eyes rolled back, and he fainted completely.
But before he fainted, Menma looked at those two eyes, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly.
The one tomoe in Uchiha Shin's left eye had already become two tomoe.
And the one tomoe in his right eye...
"Actually turned directly into three tomoe?"
(End of Chapter)
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