Sasuke has left Konoha.
With his current strength he ranks near the top of the entire Ninja World; as long as he doesn't run into the very peak experts he won't die, but without Karin as his blood-bank he's lost his safety net.
Hinata collected her thoughts. Gaara hasn't been in danger yet, the Shippuden timeline hasn't begun, and although Sasuke has awakened the Mangekyo it will still take him some time to find Itachi.
Several days later, when Hinata once again stepped into Orochimaru's base—reeking of strange instruments and preservatives—she could clearly sense a research atmosphere far more feverish than before.
Orochimaru almost impatiently led her to the deepest biological laboratory.
'Heh-heh-heh… you've come at the perfect moment!' Orochimaru's serpentine pupils blazed with excitement as he pointed to a huge cultivation tank filled with pale-golden nutrient fluid in the center of the lab.
'Look! Our first-phase "masterpiece"!'
Hinata's gaze fell on the tank. Suspended inside was the body of a young man—pale skin, long grass-green hair, a symmetrical and powerful frame; every line of muscle looked precision-engineered, containing explosive force.
Most striking of all, extending from the base of his spine was a tail of pure white bone—the trademark of the Kaguya clan's Bloodline Limit, Shikotsumyaku.
'Kimimaro?'
The body matched every memory she had of the boy called Kimimaro—his shape, musculature, even the subtle Chakra-pathway simulations—yet it was more perfect, brimming with vitality, as though merely asleep.
'Hmph, you actually recognize him,' Orochimaru chuckled.
'Your theories inspired me. Combined with my years of data on Kimimaro's cells, Shikotsumyaki, and cultivation techniques…'
'I've successfully grown this near-perfect replica!' Orochimaru's tone was proud. 'It replicates every trait of the original and eliminates the hereditary illness and all unstable factors; its life-energy activity even surpasses Kimimaro's in life—an artistic masterpiece!'
Hinata studied the body, admiration flickering in her eyes.
Orochimaru's mastery of biology was indeed supreme; as a vessel for a Soul this body was practically flawless.
'Then comes the crucial step, Orochimaru-san.' Hinata turned to him.
'We must verify whether the Soul can fuse perfectly with this new body. According to our plan…'
'First we summon Kimimaro's Soul with Edo Tensei!' Orochimaru cut in eagerly, a dreadful, excited grin on his face.
'Then you strip his Soul from the Edo shell and guide it into this brand-new vessel! Heh-heh-heh… ripping a Soul back from the realm of the dead and granting it new life—what a magnificent experiment!'
Everything was ready; together they entered the sealed chamber.
Inside, Hinata saw the Edo Tensei array carved into the floor and a living, freshly captured Ninja offered as the sacrifice.
Sacrifice: How can you be so selfish? Ptooey! Ptooey!
Orochimaru smoothly activated the array, using a preserved sample of Kimimaro's cells as the medium and channeling Chakra into the pattern.
Clear light flowed, spiritual dust gathered, and soon a dust-formed Edo body with Kimimaro's face and empty eyes stood at the center of the array.
'Success.' Orochimaru licked his lips and looked at Hinata.
'Now it's your turn, Miss Hinata. Severing a Soul bound by Edo Tensei is a field even Senju Tobirama never delved into.'
Hinata said nothing. She stepped up to the Edo Kimimaro and extended her hands; soft, pure spiritual power glowed at her fingertips.
The power shifted from soothing guidance to countless threads finer than hair, slipping like the most precise scalpels into the Edo body's energy core, coiling around the Soul-link forcibly bound by the jutsu and peeling it away.
It was an extremely delicate and dangerous process, requiring the severing of ties to the Edo shell and the sacrifice without harming the Soul's essence.
Hinata's Divine Sense and spiritual power worked at full capacity, controlling the innumerable threads as though untangling an impossibly complex knot.
She could "see" the Edo Tensei formula glyphs quiver and unravel beneath the touch of her Soul threads; the adhesive binding Soul to Dust Release shell was being stripped away, layer by layer.
The Edo Kimimaro's body began to tremble, the dust forming his frame showing signs of instability.
Orochimaru stared unblinkingly, even holding his breath, afraid to miss the slightest detail.
At last, Hinata's eyes sharpened; she made a grasping-and-pulling motion with both hands.
"Sever!"
Buzz!
A soft hum rang out as a hazy Soul-phantom, glowing with faint white light and carrying an icy aura, was forcibly "drawn" from the Edo shell by Hinata. The Edo body instantly collapsed into ordinary dust that spilled across the floor; the prisoner used as the sacrifice had already lost his life the moment the jutsu activated.
The extracted Soul-phantom of Kimimaro looked bewildered, instinctively drifting toward some summoning pull—or perhaps dissipation—but Hinata held it immobile with an unseen force.
"Now!" Orochimaru hissed, pointing to the new body in the adjacent cultivation tank.
Without hesitation Hinata guided the Soul-phantom, wrapping it in pure spiritual power that nurtured and fused, guiding it like a fledgling back to its nest, and "pressed" it into the perfect physical vessel.
The instant Soul met flesh, the nutrient fluid in the tank surged; the previously inert body jerked violently.
Hinata kept channeling gentle spiritual force, building a bridge and buffer, smoothing any microscopic rejection between Soul and new flesh.
Her Divine Sense monitored every instant of the Soul Fusion, guiding the resonance and docking of Soul energy with the body's life force.
Seconds crawled past. The turbulence in the tank gradually stilled; the body regained calm, but its chest began the faintest autonomous rise and fall.
On the vital-signs monitor, brainwaves appeared—regular, the pattern of a living being.
Orochimaru, staring at the screen, could hardly stay seated; his tongue flicked repeatedly over his lips.
"Hahaha! Success… we did it! A miracle that leaps past death itself!!"
Yet Hinata's brows drew together slightly.
She could sense that although Kimimaro's Soul had entered the body, its consciousness had not fully awakened; it lay in deep slumber.
Moreover, the Fusion of Soul and flesh seemed to lack one last spark—something to ignite awareness completely and truly rouse the Soul.
"It's not complete. The Fusion has only taken the first step; his mind is still asleep."
Hinata continued her analysis.
"It may relate to the Soul's stay in the Pure Land, or the new body needing more time to adapt. We must keep observing."
Orochimaru, sobering from his elation, nodded.
"True. Bringing a Soul back and sustaining vital signs is already an unprecedented Breakthrough. Consciousness can return gradually. Hmph-hmph… Kimimaro, my most loyal subordinate, I await the day you truly return!"
He gazed at the slumbering form in the tank, eyes shining with utter satisfaction.
This first success had greatly bolstered his confidence in the "resurrection" project.
Hinata also studied the body, pondering the next optimization steps.
The experiment had exposed the problem of consciousness revival; the stronger the Soul, the harder it seemed. Their earlier trials with weak, low-level Souls had been too simplistic.
[Ding! host and Orochimaru jointly completed the "Soul Extraction and Transference" experiment, achieving a milestone Breakthrough and touching the world's core Law!]
[Evaluation: Congratulations, host and Orochimaru, you are jointly awarded the title "Ninja World's Grave-Rob— ahem, Soul Engineers"! Although the finished product is still a sleeping beauty, this is the first lever moved against the Law of life and death. Reward: 15,000 points! (Milestone Breakthrough Award)]
[Current points: 100,550.]
"Finally past the hundred-thousand mark; I can exchange for something good,"
Hinata murmured.
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