"Oh? The Cursed Seal of Heaven has mutated? What is this on your body."
As Orochimaru observed Uchiha Yujin up close, Yujin was calculating in his mind.
At this distance, what were the chances he could use his Sharingan to hypnotize Orochimaru and kill him while he was still this weak.
But after a moment, he decided against it.
Orochimaru being instantly defeated by Itachi made people think he had weak resistance to genjutsu.
In truth, without Sage Arts, secret arts, or outside interference, most Kage-level shinobi still couldn't defend against Itachi's illusion techniques.
Even if Orochimaru could be hypnotized by the Sharingan, killing him would still be extremely difficult.
Whether Orochimaru could even be truly killed was another story entirely.
And Orochimaru dying brought no benefits to Uchiha Yujin at all.
As long as Orochimaru didn't go crazy and think about reincarnating again right after reincarnating, Yujin didn't want to risk his life fighting him.
"Hehehe." Orochimaru seemed to sense Yujin's thoughts, glancing at his eyes. "Such courage, little brat. You were thinking about making a move against me?"
Yujin glared back. "Cowardice is not a trait a genius should have."
"Excellent! As expected of the vessel I've chosen." Orochimaru coughed lightly, his gaze landing on the feather-like and tail-like Kagune spreading from Yujin's back. His soft and cold hand brushed across the wings.
"What an incredible mutation. I've never seen such a structure before."
"So." Yujin clasped his hands together. "Are you planning to keep my body here for research?"
"Of course not." Orochimaru quickly withdrew his hand from the tail Kagune. "The mutation in your body will make me even stronger. You are my vessel, after all. I would never be that short-sighted."
The meaning was clear. He already saw Uchiha Yujin as something he owned.
If it were anyone else, they might already be kneeling and bowing their head to Orochimaru.
This was Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin. For him to take interest in you, to want to seize your body, would be considered the greatest honor.
But Uchiha Yujin? He had seen far too much to be impressed by that.
Even getting acknowledged by Orochimaru didn't matter to him.
Even if the Ancestor of all shinobi stood in front of him — so what?
Could the Ancestor of shinobi split their body into countless souls and travel across multiple worlds?
Uchiha Yujin let out a cold snort.
Under Orochimaru's surprised gaze, he forcefully tore off half of his own tail-like kagune!
Seeing it fall to the ground and twitch wildly like a lizard's broken tail, Orochimaru bent down and picked it up.
"You're planning to…"
"Use it for research." Uchiha Yujin's expression was firm. "Something like this should be mass-produced."
Orochimaru's face lit up with a wide smile, his praise unreserved.
"Excellent! Such boldness! Your personality… it's truly fascinating. If I didn't intend for you to become my vessel, I would love to have you work by my side."
"I definitely can't stay with you. I still need to return to Konoha."
Uchiha Yujin spoke his honest thoughts directly.
He had already realized that before Orochimaru's sly, gleaming eyes, there was no point in trying to hide anything.
"That's fine."
Orochimaru didn't care about such things at all.
Whether it was Sasuke or Uchiha Yujin — for a confident scientist like him, he had full belief that eventually, they would willingly abandon their bodies and come to him, becoming his vessel.
If Orochimaru truly wanted to seize Uchiha Yujin's body right away, he would have already acted.
Kakashi wouldn't have had any chance to escape.
With endless life, Uchiha Yujin was merely one of Orochimaru's many outfits — just a particularly unique color.
Orochimaru was great in every way… except he was far too confident.
Facing this self-assured scientist, Uchiha Yujin raised a new question.
"You can appear suddenly through this, right?"
He pointed at the curse mark's fang imprint on his neck.
"A remarkable deduction."
Orochimaru indirectly admitted it.
"I don't know how you figured it out… but rest assured, I won't sneak into your home while you're sleeping."
"I'm not very interested in making you my vessel right now."
"You…"
Orochimaru sized up Yujin's body shape with a gesture.
"You're still too small."
A skinny frame belonging to a child who never knew where his next meal would come from.
If not for those eyes, Orochimaru would never have considered Uchiha Yujin as a candidate for the Living Corpse Reincarnation Jutsu.
Uchiha Yujin didn't let Orochimaru's pitiful gaze affect him.
He swallowed, excitement gleaming in his eyes. "What if! I mean, what if…"
Uchiha Yujin rubbed his hands together. "If there were two Cursed Seals of Heaven, could you use one of them to travel to the target of the other?"
Orochimaru immediately shook his head. "Of course not."
Seeing Uchiha Yujin's disappointed expression, Orochimaru explained, "The principle of the Cursed Seal of Heaven is to fragment the soul…"
"After years of my research, I can use the soul fragments sealed within a Cursed Seal to resurrect, but I cannot use it for transportation."
"The so-called sudden appearance? That's just me resurrecting through that Cursed Seal."
Uchiha Yujin nodded. "So the only way to test it… is if you die?"
Orochimaru couldn't help but laugh at Uchiha Yujin's audacity. "Yujin-kun, you don't need to say such things out loud."
"Right, I have another question."
Uchiha Yujin pointed at the tail on the ground, his expression full of anticipation. "Could you send this through Cursed Seal A to Cursed Seal B?"
"Though I don't know why you want to do this, if the two Cursed Seals were identical, I think it might work. But—"
Before Orochimaru could finish explaining that two identical Cursed Seals cannot exist in the world, Uchiha Yujin suddenly shouted with excitement, "Can we try it now?"
Inside the eerie and terrifying Impel Down, there was a place that felt like a nightmare itself: the Blazing Hell.
Stepping into Blazing Hell, an intense heat, as if capable of igniting one's very soul, surged toward anyone who entered like a raging tidal wave.
Within this blazing hell, there were also prison buildings and facilities.
The walls and fences were constructed from a special high-temperature-resistant material, emitting a cold metallic sheen that sharply contrasted with the surrounding inferno.
However, even these solid structures seemed slightly warped and deformed under the endless heat, as if even they were struggling under the oppressive blaze of this terrifying hell.
A figure gritted his teeth, walking on steel bars so hot that only one foot could stand at a time, glowing red from the heat.
Beneath his feet was the source of this hellish heat—a massive boiler occupying a quarter of this floor!
The steam made Pirate Yujin's vision blur.
As he glanced around, he suddenly scratched his itchy neck in surprise!
He felt an unbearable itch where the curse mark was and scratched it hard twice.
To his shock, a half of a tailed beast suddenly appeared in his hand!
"Ah?"
Staring at the thing that had suddenly appeared, Pirate Yujin was completely stunned.
At that moment, Uchiha Yujin's memories synchronized with him. Yujin instantly understood the situation!
Looking at the half-tail kagune in his hand, an idea he had been planning for a long time could finally be realized.
He opened his mouth and bit down on Uchiha Yujin's half-tail kagune!
****
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