Inside Orochimaru's underground palace.
"Ah!"
Orochimaru, who was absorbing Shinjutsu, groaned in pleasure.
The Shinjutsu awakened by the experimental subject of the second ritual he prepared was named 'Marking'. This was another conceptual Shinjutsu.
Simply put, as long as the target was hit by the Shinjutsu 'Marking' activated by the user, any subsequent directed ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even taijutsu released by the user would inevitably hit!
When Orochimaru learned about this Shinjutsu, he was also secretly surprised.
Because once this Shinjutsu was mastered, combat would become very simple. Means of dodging attacks that ninjas excelled at, such as 'Body Flicker Technique', 'Shadow Clone Technique', and 'Body Replacement Technique', would all become ineffective. So without delaying for a moment, he immediately laid his hands on the experimental subject.
The experimental subject, choked by Orochimaru, begged for mercy: "Please, spare me!"
Orochimaru came back to his senses and said with a smile: "How could I kill you? Endure a little longer, it will pass soon!"
Helpless, the experimental subject could only continue to beg.
Orochimaru remained unmoved, continuing to greedily absorb the Shinjutsu awakened by the experimental subject.
A moment later, Orochimaru tossed the unconscious experimental subject aside and stretched his muscles on his own.
Yakushi Kabuto, who was waiting on the side, went up: "Lord Orochimaru, is it over?"
Orochimaru nodded: "En, dispose of him!"
Kabuto wasted no words and silently took the unconscious experimental subject away.
Orochimaru felt the surging power in his body, his face full of smiles.
His Shinjutsu 'Absorption' could not only absorb others' Shinjutsu into his own body but also enhance his various basic abilities while absorbing Shinjutsu.
Initially, having only awakened the Shinjutsu 'Absorption', his combat power was actually comparable to Owl, who had also awakened Shinjutsu. Because 'Absorption' was not a combat-type Shinjutsu, his comprehensive combat power was slightly inferior to Owl, who had awakened the Shinjutsu 'Conversion'.
But after absorbing the Shinjutsu 'Claw Marks', his combat power surpassed that of ordinary experimental subjects.
For example, in the battle with Yamada Juichi, Yamada Juichi, who was awakening the Shinjutsu 'Immense Strength', was led by the nose almost throughout the whole process. In the end, he didn't even know his Shinjutsu was absorbed and lost in a muddle.
And after absorbing the Shinjutsu 'Immense Strength', with the number of mastered Shinjutsu reaching three, Orochimaru completely surpassed the level of experimental subjects. Considering that ordinary experimental subjects roughly possessed 'Six Paths Level' combat power, Orochimaru, mastering three kinds of Shinjutsu, could be regarded as surpassing 'Six Paths Level'.
Now, Orochimaru absorbed the Shinjutsu 'Marking', bringing the number of mastered Shinjutsu to an astonishing four, causing his strength to soar again.
Orochimaru thought to himself: "Current me should be able to fight him now!"
Whenever he thought about this question, he felt confused because until this moment, he didn't know Uchiha Shinji's true strength. So it was difficult to accurately judge who was stronger between him and Shinji now.
"Must act now!"
With a change of thought, Orochimaru made up his mind.
Regardless of whether he could beat Shinji now, the current situation was clear. The Research Institute suspended the ritual and began to thoroughly investigate the oddities in the ritual, so his secret was likely to be exposed. Because Yamada Juichi was a fool, but Shinji and Amado were not. In his view, as long as the Research Institute investigated deeply, the matter of Yamada Juichi's Shinjutsu being secretly absorbed by him certainly couldn't be hidden.
Plus, Fūma Ichirō also concealed Shinjutsu from the Research Institute. If the Research Institute found out, he, as a fellow experimental subject, would likely be implicated and monitored.
Since exposure was only a matter of time, he decided to rush straight to the Research Institute, absorb Fūma Ichirō's Shinjutsu first, and then find an opportunity to absorb the Shinjutsu of the siblings Eida and Daemon. As long as he could absorb the Shinjutsu of these three, the number of Shinjutsu he mastered could reach an astonishing seven.
If he wasn't sure whether he could beat Shinji with four kinds of Shinjutsu, then with seven, he was confident he could easily defeat Shinji.
Orochimaru was a man of action. Having made up his mind, he didn't hesitate and directly activated 'Claw Marks' to quietly return to the Research Institute.
Arriving at the testing area, he saw Fūma Ichirō sparring with Sasuke on the testing ground.
Perhaps because the impact of Fūma Ichirō's last contest with Naruto was too large, damaging a large number of instruments and airships, not to mention the Research Institute failed to collect much effective data, this time, under Amado's repeated warnings, both Fūma Ichirō and Sasuke suppressed their chakra and simply competed in taijutsu on the testing ground.
Logically speaking, this kind of contest should be very advantageous for Sasuke, who possessed the 'Six-Tomoe Rinnegan', because the insight of Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai ninjas crushed ordinary ninjas. However, Fūma Ichirō fought back and forth with Sasuke, even suppressing Sasuke with advantages in speed and strength.
"So powerful!"
"Fūma Ichirō seems stronger than Yamada Juichi!"
"As expected of a ninja from a ninja clan!"
The testers whispered on the sidelines.
Listening to the testers' conversation, Orochimaru chuckled lightly.
Fūma Ichirō was more than just a little stronger than Yamada Juichi. Under normal circumstances, experimental subjects shouldn't be matches for true 'Six Paths Level' beings. But the strength displayed by Fūma Ichirō completely suppressed Naruto and Sasuke. In Orochimaru's view, he was almost at the level of himself after absorbing the Shinjutsu 'Claw Marks', or even higher.
Bang...
Accompanied by a muffled sound, Sasuke took a punch on the shoulder, and Sasuke also kicked Fūma Ichirō's arm.
Subsequently, both sides retreated separately.
It looked like both sides hit each other, a draw. But Sasuke was hit on the shoulder, while Fūma Ichirō was only kicked on the arm. The degree of injury was completely different. So Sasuke spat lightly, looking very annoyed.
Ending the test, after greeting the testers, Fūma Ichirō returned to the underground rest area alone.
With a gloomy face, Orochimaru followed.
Fūma Ichirō's strength was somewhat unexpected, so he had to go all out. Because if something went wrong, let alone absorbing Fūma Ichirō's Shinjutsu, it would be hard to say if he could escape himself. After all, besides Fūma Ichirō, there were four 'Six Paths Level' combat powers in the Research Institute: Sasuke, Naruto, Eida, and Daemon.
Although he was very confident in himself, facing the siege of five people, he really didn't have much assurance.
Trailing all the way, Orochimaru followed Fūma Ichirō towards the underground rest area. At the corner of the passage, just as Orochimaru prepared to sneak attack, he found Fūma Ichirō waiting quietly for him at the other end of the corner, with a weird smile on his face...