"Senior Kabuto, Ninja Ninjutsu is powerful, but our bodies are too fragile. If a Ninja wants to break through existing limits…" Ino patted the severed arm. Jirobo's severed arm seemed to have a will of its own, and even shook her hand.
"This, perhaps, is the future direction of development."
If Ino had said this to an ordinary Ninja in the Ninja World, they would have certainly thought she was crazy, and Hozuki Castle Prison would welcome people like her.
Kabuto, however, wouldn't think that way. Nominally, he was still Sasori's subordinate, and he was very familiar with many of Sasori's human modifications and concepts.
When Ino unsealed another scroll, like a child showing off a fun toy and inviting a new friend to admire it with her, he was finally startled.
This was Jirobo's corpse, but not entirely a corpse.
The original Jirobo was 1.9 meters tall and weighed over 90 kilograms. Now, just by estimation, this guy was over 2 meters tall and weighed at least over 150 kilograms.
The current Jirobo was dark red all over, as if he had entered the state of Curse Mark two.
Many muscles and bones inside his body had been replaced by metal, and vine-like structures, resembling blood vessels, were entanglement around his entire body. His head had completely disappeared, and now a giant carnivorous flower grew from his neck. Within the vibrant, dripping pistil, there seemed to be many dense, eye-like organs.
Yakushi Kabuto couldn't help but stare intently inside, and then realized that all the "eyes" were looking at him.
The surprise, panic, and fear from before were all feigned; this time, he was truly startled.
Was this the Jirobo he knew? He didn't know what mental pollution was called, but a feeling of unease and confusion certainly appeared.
Girl, compared to Sunagakure, compared to Lord Orochimaru, the Underworld clearly needs a talent like you even more!
Sasori, Orochimaru, and now the Yamanaka Clan girl in front of him—Yakushi Kabuto felt that his perspective was too narrow!
Flesh is weak, mechanical ascension.
He absolutely couldn't utter such a profound statement. He believed that his own mind hadn't been liberated thoroughly enough, and he was still too constrained by traditional moral concepts!
"This experimental subject is actually a complete failure. It's too clumsy, and that strange Natural Energy inside him is difficult to eliminate. It should be a problem with the experimental subject… However, Senior Kabuto, I'll give this guy to you. I think if you were to release Edo Tensei, you could try this kind of body?"
No, thank you! I'm perfectly fine as I am now! Kabuto flatly refused.
Ino didn't say anything more. If he didn't want it, so be it. This Jirobo with a flower on his head no longer had much combat ability, and his value was greatly diminished. However, she could keep him to continue improving.
Kabuto was Kabuto after all, and he quickly overcame his discomfort.
He thought carefully. This body, one-third machine, one-third flesh, and one-third plant, indeed had Chakra. Because of the plant, it could also absorb Natural Energy from the outside world, much like a Curse Mark. Perhaps it could be used as a body for Lord Orochimaru?
He wouldn't even have to use it continuously, just as a transition. Once Orochimaru had enough Chakra, he could use the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique himself.
Mechanical Orochimaru? It didn't seem impossible.
Kabuto wanted her technique, but Ino was unwilling to be taken advantage of.
Kabuto said he could help organize Orochimaru's information on human puppets when he returned. In reality, Orochimaru hadn't really studied such things; he looked down on Sasori's approach, which was a clash of ideologies.
No problem, Kabuto had collected a lot of information from Sasori and could use it to fulfill his task.
He and Ino parted ways.
Fifteen minutes later, he drugged the red bean soup, knocked out Anko Mitarashi, Orochimaru's former disciple, and examined her Heavenly Cursed Seal. He found that its actual function was not much different from Kimimaro's Curse Mark of Earth; at least, he couldn't tell the difference.
It was too difficult to abduct people in Konoha Village at the moment, so he temporarily gave up on the Heavenly Cursed Seal here.
Two days later, he came to Ino again and gave her a technical scroll about human puppets, all obtained from Sasori.
Kabuto still used Orochimaru as a pretext: "I can only collect this much information. After all, I am not a spy, just a Ninja with no great talent... The rest can only be entrusted to you."
What he wanted more was Edo Tensei.
Ino smiled and nodded, finding this game with Brother Kabuto increasingly interesting.
She guessed that Kabuto, after Orochimaru's death, probably obtained the Sage's inheritance from Ryūchi Cave and a series of Ninjutsu like Edo Tensei when he threw the remnants of the Eight-Headed Serpent into a juicer and mercilessly squeezed them.
It can only be said that Erzhuzi did not have the good habit of looting corpses. After killing Orochimaru, he swaggered out to show off, getting none of the good stuff, all of which benefited Kabuto.
Now, Kabuto had developed an interest in Edo Tensei in advance, but with Orochimaru dead, he could only turn his attention to Konoha Village.
He couldn't get it from Ino either.
Before, the Third Hokage treasured the scroll of seals immensely. Now that Orochimaru had caused such a stir, the news of Edo Tensei had already spread throughout the Ninja World, and Jiraiya certainly wouldn't leak these Ninjutsu.
Exactly how this technique communicated with the underworld and how it summoned the dead back to the living world, no one knew.
Ino was not prepared to help him with Edo Tensei.
Instead, she was missing a tool for using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. With Kabuto automatically presenting himself, she wasn't going to be polite.
The Dead Demon Consuming Seal is a double-edged sword. The Shinigami's idiotic way of thinking and handling things is completely different from humans. You can call him foolish, or mechanical; either way, you cannot fathom this guy with human thought patterns.
Once the Dead Demon Consuming Seal falls into enemy hands, and the enemy targets Ino with the technique, she would definitely be shooting herself in the foot.
If that idiotic Shinigami truly attacked her, she wouldn't be able to stop him.
The current Summoning Technique, in a strict sense, should be called a summoning spell, which summons a certain item or living thing, through Chakra techniques, right before one's eyes.
There are only five and a half techniques truly related to the soul, with the traditional Western fantasy meaning of summoning.
Rinne Tensei is either the King of Hell's ability or the Rinnegan's ability; an ordinary Ninja could practice for a lifetime and never master this technique.
Kisho Tensei is more like replacing life force with Chakra, involving very little of the soul, so it counts as half.
Living Corpse Reincarnation is Orochimaru's secret technique. Although it can only be used on him, it is still a Ninjutsu involving the soul.
The remaining four are Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Edo Tensei, Spirit Transformation Technique, and Mind Body Switch Technique. Isn't it a coincidence? Ino knows all four of these techniques, at least in part.
Among the living people of this era, no one understood the soul better than her!
Ino began to ponder and research ways to improve the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. Ninjutsu were all created by people. If the predecessors could do it, and she was now at Ninja 10, Sage 8, and had the Dead Demon Consuming Seal learning scroll, she could naturally make modifications.
---------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 70 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!