The underground space was dark and damp. Corridors twisted and overlapped, layer upon layer of separate sections stacked together.
Konoha possessed a vast and intricate vertical underground structure, a true labyrinth.
Searching for anything within it was never an easy task.
Yet Hagoromo moved as though he already knew the exact route, walking directly toward a predetermined destination.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His footsteps echoed clearly. He made no attempt to conceal his arrival.
Only when he stopped before a certain door did Hagoromo pause briefly—then he reached out and pushed it open.
The room beyond was dimly lit, its contents unclear at first glance. But that familiar black, straight hair from the back could only belong to one person.
Orochimaru.
As if unaware of the presence behind him, Orochimaru continued his work uninterrupted. Only after reaching a natural stopping point did he finally turn his head, glancing at the person who had arrived—who had disturbed him, and yet somehow hadn't.
"So it's you, Hagoromo," Orochimaru said calmly. "I didn't expect you to be the first to find me. I thought it would be the Third Hokage…"
At this point, Orochimaru knew his actions being discovered was inevitable. He showed no surprise at all—if anything, he appeared relaxed.
"Could you hand me the scalpel next to you?" he added casually. "The extended No. 3."
"Which one?" Hagoromo asked.
"Extended No. 3."
On a rack near the doorway, a row of scalpels lay neatly arranged. The moment Orochimaru finished speaking, the requested scalpel trembled slightly—then leapt into the air, tracing a perfect arc before landing precisely in Orochimaru's hand.
"Heh. Magnet Release," Orochimaru chuckled.
The implication was obvious.
By now, he no longer truly believed Hagoromo's explanation of his own abilities.
Lightning Release techniques like Thunder Prison Nation could still be barely accepted. But something like Imperial Thunder Prison Nation: Rashōmon had long exceeded the scope of ninjutsu.
That kind of power simply wasn't reasonable.
By instinct alone, Orochimaru felt certain that it did not belong to a shinobi.
After all, Hagoromo's ultimate technique was far more violent than even a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Months had passed. The devastation caused by the Nine-Tails had mostly been repaired.
What remained unrepaired?
Everything Hagoromo had done.
In a single instant, he had carved out an artificial river—tens of meters deep, over a hundred meters wide, stretching nearly fifty kilometers. And that was merely collateral damage from the attack's aftershock.
Naturally, Orochimaru was curious about the secrets hidden within the man standing behind him. He had investigated. He had tested.
And found nothing.
"You don't seem very surprised," Hagoromo said.
Orochimaru was too calm. Surely someone whose secret laboratory had been discovered should show a little tension—out of courtesy, if nothing else.
"And you don't seem surprised either," Orochimaru replied.
Beneath Orochimaru's scalpel lay the corpse of a ninja.
A Konoha ninja.
"Should I be surprised by a corpse?" Hagoromo answered evasively.
The corpse itself wasn't the issue.
Orochimaru dissecting a Konoha shinobi was.
"Heh. Then I suppose I'm safe for now—no need to flee in disgrace."
Orochimaru was sharp. From that single line, he had already grasped Hagoromo's stance.
He knew that many shinobi were investigating the recent disappearances—and that Hagoromo was among them. But judging from his attitude, Hagoromo had no intention of reporting him.
Orochimaru's guess was correct.
If Hagoromo had intended to treat him as the mission's result, he would have already voiced the suspicion to the Third Hokage.
Nor did he intend to capture Orochimaru personally. Otherwise, he would have already acted—and capturing Orochimaru alive meant using his full power.
At the moment, however, the "gourd baby" didn't even have a gourd anymore.
As for persuading Orochimaru to repent?
That joke wasn't funny.
"That's right," Hagoromo said calmly. "As for the task assigned by the Hokage… I have no intention of completing it. And as for the dead shinobi…"
He did not finish the sentence.
Their deaths had nothing to do with him.
In fact, Danzō bore at least half the responsibility for this matter. Orochimaru and Danzō were currently in perfect sync—experiments on one side, logistical support on the other.
Orochimaru was now mainly conducting vegetative graft experiments—
Ahem.
—First Hokage Wood Release cell transplantation experiments.
This was power Danzō desperately coveted.
Shimura Danzō had already reached the limits of an ordinary shinobi. If he wished to grow stronger, he required external augmentation.
Such as Wood Release.
Such as the Sharingan.
Orochimaru could do all of it.
And he was more than willing.
"So," Orochimaru asked, "what do you want? That lightning therapy you mentioned last time?"
Hagoromo withholding information clearly served a purpose. Orochimaru was not naïve enough to believe this was a matter of personal fondness.
And indeed—Hagoromo had a goal.
If this were merely cell engineering, Tsunade could do it too. She might even be better at First Hokage cell experiments than Orochimaru.
But Tsunade had a bottom line.
Some things, she would never do.
If the objective was genetic engineering, however, then within the shinobi world, no one was more suitable than Orochimaru.
In fact—
He might be the only one.
"What are you working on now?" Hagoromo countered.
"Forbidden techniques? Body modification? Immortality?"
"First Hokage cell transplantation," Orochimaru replied plainly. There was no need to hide it.
Hagoromo shook his head.
"If the goal is to increase a shinobi's physical capacity, then yes—it's a method. But the success rate, the risks… I don't even need you to explain them."
Immense power always came with immense danger.
Hashirama's cells were not something one could simply control.
"There are certain clans—certain shinobi lineages—whose power originates from a shared ancestor," Hagoromo continued. "But as generations pass, that power gradually fades."
"Tsunade does not possess the First Hokage's strength. So—"
"Is there a way to awaken the dormant, inherited power sleeping within a shinobi's body?"
"For example, through targeted cellular stimulation."
"Not simple electrical shocks, but a deeper restoration of genetic information—reviving the power that should already exist, yet lies dormant in their blood."
"Let the Senju become Senju once more."
What Hagoromo truly meant was—
Let the Senju regain the power of the Senju.
Even the power of Ōtsutsuki.
Let the Uchiha regain the power of the Uchiha.
Even the power of Ōtsutsuki.
Let the Uzumaki regain the power of the Uzumaki.
And perhaps—
Even the power of Ōtsutsuki.
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