After several days of preparation, Hinata's figure quietly appeared within the borders of the Land of Fields. According to her memory from when she previously "visited" Orochimaru's base, she arrived quickly, but the place was already empty.
"Oho, they moved?"
Hinata raised an eyebrow. Look at how petty that child is, actually moving house.
However, this didn't stump Hinata. She activated her Divine Sense and followed the extremely faint traces, her flying speed incredibly fast.
She soon discovered an underground facility hidden deep within a mountain that was even more massive and heavily guarded than the previous one, with very heavy protection and concealment measures.
"I can even find this; I've really got some skills."
Hinata felt proud; these tricks were as good as non-existent in her eyes.
Hinata used her Spiritual Power to directly infiltrate the base's construction runes and used Flying Thunder God to teleport to an empty corridor near the base's core area.
She deliberately leaked a trace of her own pure and unique spiritual energy fluctuations, like throwing a glowing pebble into dark, deep water.
Almost instantly, countless venomous snakes hissed and slithered out from the shadows on both sides of the corridor, their cold serpentine eyes locking onto her. Simultaneously, a cold, viscous, and fishy-smelling powerful Chakra surged from the end of the corridor like a tide, enveloping her.
"Heh heh heh... What a rare guest. You didn't even say a word before coming in, just barging in like this. Isn't that a bit impolite? Young Miss of the Hyuga Clan."
Accompanied by a signature raspy laugh, Orochimaru's figure slowly emerged from the shadows. His snake-like eyes sized up Hinata with caution, and his long tongue licked his lips.
"Young Miss of the Hyuga Clan, the hero of Konoha... To what do I owe the honor of this uninvited visit?"
His tone was playful, but deep in his eyes, there was intense vigilance and scrutiny.
He was still brooding over the last time his base was ransacked and the cells of the First and Second Hokage, along with the Edo Tensei, were stolen.
Now he had changed the base's location and hidden it extremely well, yet someone had managed to sneak in again.
"Don't be so guarded. I just want to talk to you about a... cooperation that might interest you," Hinata spoke.
"Cooperation?"
Orochimaru let out a low laugh as if he had heard something amusing.
"Cooperating with me, an S-rank Rogue Ninja of Konoha? Little girl, you have quite the nerve... Tell me, what kind of cooperation would make you risk coming to find me?"
He didn't make a move immediately. On one hand, he was wary of Hinata's power; on the other, he was indeed deeply interested in this mystery-shrouded girl and her so-called "cooperation."
Hinata didn't beat around the bush and directly threw out the core topic.
"Regarding breaking the boundaries of life and death to achieve a true, perfect resurrection."
Orochimaru's pupils suddenly constricted.
His research on Edo Tensei had just been stolen, and she was bringing it up? Wasn't this dancing in his minefield? He now suspected that those things really weren't stolen by Danzo.
"Resurrection? Heh heh... Do you know what you're saying? Toying with the Souls of the dead is something the Second Hokage's Edo Tensei has already achieved. I wonder what you mean by 'perfect resurrection.'"
"That isn't resurrection; it's merely a shell to carry a Soul."
Hinata pointed it out incisively.
"The body is made of inferior dust, power leaks away, and it requires the Edo Tensei technique to maintain it. What kind of resurrection is that? At most, it's just a Puppet."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. Hinata's precise critique of Edo Tensei made him even more certain that the previous theft was related to her, while also making him take her words a bit more seriously.
"Oh? Then, what do you consider to be 'true resurrection'?"
"A complete Soul recombined with a brand-new, vibrant body that is tailor-made and perfectly compatible. The consciousness is clear, the power is intact, it's self-sustaining without the need for external force—just as if they had never died."
Hinata clearly described her concept.
Orochimaru fell silent for a moment, an undisguisable greed and skepticism flickering in his golden vertical pupils.
"A perfect body? Tailor-made? Little girl, do you know how much advanced biotechnology and understanding of the essence of life that requires? Even my Living Corpse Reincarnation is merely finding a suitable vessel for Soul transfer; it's far from being perfectly compatible or tailor-made."
"That's why I came to find you for cooperation."
Hinata met his gaze.
"You possess genetic knowledge and experience in vessel research; that is the hardware foundation. As for me..."
She slightly raised her hand, and a wisp of pure spiritual energy, carrying a sense of soothing and vitality, swirled around her fingertips, emitting an energy fluctuation that made even Orochimaru feel a sense of dread.
"...I master a more primal energy. In terms of sensing, guiding, and stabilizing at the Soul level, it has advantages that Chakra cannot compare to. I can be responsible for solving the'software' problem—more accurately locating and guiding the complete Soul, and assisting its perfect Fusion with the new body, reducing or even eliminating rejection reactions."
Orochimaru stared intently at that wisp of spiritual energy. He could feel the marvelous qualities contained within it, which were indeed different from any Chakra attribute he knew.
This energy might truly be able to do things in the realm of the Soul that Chakra could not.
"It sounds very tempting... but right now, I'm more interested in this energy of yours, heh heh heh..."
Orochimaru's voice carried a hint of raspy excitement and greed.
"Then you can forget about it. Be careful not to fall into eternal damnation."
Hinata smiled faintly. If Orochimaru really tried to make a move on her, she wouldn't mind letting him know what a dimensional strike felt like.
Orochimaru stared for a while before regaining his calm and skepticism.
"Why should I believe you? Just based on this strange energy of yours? Perfect resurrection is almost the Domain of gods. What is your purpose? Whom do you want to resurrect? What benefit is there for you?"
Hinata had expected him to ask this and replied calmly.
"First, trust needs to be built on common interests and preliminary results. We can start with a small-scale proof of concept. For example, choose a relatively simple Soul target, try to cultivate or modify a basic body using your technology, and then I will conduct the Soul guidance and Fusion experiment. Success or failure will be dictated by the data."
"Second, my purpose? Knowledge, and to verify my hypothesis. Exploring the mysteries between life and death is itself the greatest temptation. As for whom to resurrect... in the Early Stages, it can be insignificant experimental subjects. In the Late Stages, perhaps some people who can make the Ninja World more interesting? For example, adding a few higher quality, more ancient options to your list of 'vessels'?"
She gave Orochimaru a meaningful look.
"Third, the benefits? If this technology truly succeeds, you will no longer need to constantly search for suitable vessels or worry about Soul wear and rejection. You can tailor-make one or even multiple eternal, powerful bodies that perfectly fit your Soul for yourself. Isn't that more attractive than your current Living Corpse Reincarnation?"
Every word Hinata spoke hit Orochimaru exactly where it mattered.
Eternal life and a perfect body were almost his life's pursuits. Although the direction of cooperation Hinata proposed sounded like a fairy tale, combined with the strange energy she displayed and her deep understanding of Edo Tensei, it didn't seem entirely impossible.
Orochimaru fell into deep thought, and the only sound in the corridor was the rustling of venomous snakes slithering.
He was weighing the risks and rewards. Cooperating with this mysterious Hyuga Hinata was undoubtedly like playing with fire, with extreme risks.
But the potential rewards were enough to make his scientist heart, which sought truth and immortality, beat wildly.
After a long time, he looked up, his snake eyes flashing with a dangerous and excited light.
"Heh heh heh... An interesting proposal, Miss Hinata. You have successfully piqued my interest."
He extended a pale finger: "I can cooperate with you, but first you must verify your hypothesis."
"Show me the specific capabilities of your energy in Soul guidance; it cannot just be empty talk."
"The verification target will be specified by me. I will provide a basic blank body that has undergone preliminary tuning. The entire experimental process must be in my base, and I want to watch the whole process. If you agree to these conditions... we might be able to cooperate a little."
Hinata had already expected this; Orochimaru was a very rigorous fellow.
"Fine," Hinata agreed straightforwardly. "However, I also have one condition."
"Oh?"
"During the experimental process, I need to understand some of the basic structural principles and energy circuits of the body you provide. This is to ensure that my Soul guidance can effectively adapt to it."
Orochimaru stared at Hinata for a few seconds, seemingly judging the true purpose of her request. Finally, he nodded.
"Fair enough. Then... a pleasure cooperating with you, Miss Hinata."
"A pleasure cooperating with you, Mr. Orochimaru," Hinata nodded slightly.
A strange cooperation involving the taboos of life and death, where science and metaphysics intertwined, was preliminarily reached in this dark underground base corridor.
One was a scientist seeking eternal life and truth, and the other was an immortal cultivator seeking to explore rules and earn points.
[Ding! The host has successfully established a "Scientific Research Cooperation" relationship with the key character Orochimaru, significantly altering the future plot direction.]
[A historic cooperation! The collision of cultivation and science! Reward points: 10,000!]
[System Evaluation: No, why would you, a cultivator, cooperate with a scientist?! This is absolutely not how cultivation works!]
[Current points: 18,550.]
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