Gen Takuya paused at Kimimaro's answer, then studied him more closely.
Even as a child, Kimimaro already had that strange look—two red marks on his forehead, a bone blade in his hand, the scent of dirt clinging to him.
On the cell wall, fresh scratch marks were visible.
He'd been carving at the stone with that bone knife before Gen Takuya arrived.
Gen Takuya sighed inwardly.
If he wanted subordinates, Kimimaro would be the best kind—pure, obedient, terrifyingly effective.
But Gen Takuya didn't need subordinates.
And Kimimaro's bloodline illness meant he wouldn't live long anyway.
That illness…
Even Orochimaru—who understood the human body better than anyone—and Yakushi Kabuto—whose medical skill was absurd—couldn't cure it, even together.
That alone proved how stubborn it was.
In the original story, Kimimaro lived to fifteen.
Without Orochimaru and Kabuto?
He wouldn't even reach that.
Gen Takuya had no intention of researching a cure. Those two monsters couldn't solve it—he wasn't going to waste the time.
He also didn't bother with any "gentle persuasion."
No manipulation. No pretty words.
"Then I'll say it another way," Gen Takuya said plainly. "Will you give me your body?"
Kimimaro's expression changed instantly.
Even at his age, he understood what that meant.
But before he could move—
Gen Takuya's fingertip touched his forehead.
In an instant, countless curse markings burst outward, spreading across Kimimaro's body like crawling ink.
Kimimaro tried to call on his bloodline—
And found nothing answered him.
His bones, once as natural to him as his own arms, refused his will.
Worse—
His limbs began losing strength.
He collapsed to the floor.
Gen Takuya lifted the small body with one hand.
He intended to freeze Kimimaro's time here—keep the bloodline illness at a stage before it fully erupted.
He also wasn't going to fuse Kimimaro immediately.
That illness wasn't a joke.
If Orochimaru wasn't destined to take Kimimaro later, Gen Takuya wouldn't even bother taking him now.
As for that illness…
Gen Takuya suspected it couldn't withstand Hashirama's cells.
But Hashirama's cells carried their own terrifying corrosion, and Gen Takuya doubted he could endure that either.
So Shikotsumyaku would have to wait—until he was ready, until he could resist the bloodline illness safely, and only then would he fuse it.
He stood within the Kaguya territory and considered his next steps.
The Land of Water also had another bloodline user—
Haku, the boy with Ice Release.
Gen Takuya wasn't interested in fusing Ice Release through the Chimera Technique.
And at this point in time, Haku's parents were still alive, and his bloodline hadn't been exposed. He was still… "happy," in his own fragile way.
But unlike the relatively famous Kaguya clan, Haku lived in a nameless, obscure village. Finding him would be troublesome.
Was it worth spending the time?
Gen Takuya sifted through his memories. Since coming to this world, his memory had sharpened—things he couldn't recall clearly in his past life now surfaced with eerie clarity.
He knew why.
His spiritual energy had strengthened.
And that was a good thing.
In the end, he summoned several crows and gave them a simple order—
Find a village where snow fell year-round.
Even in the Land of Water, places like that weren't common. It shouldn't be impossible.
His crows couldn't reverse-summon, and they had no true lineage. He'd cultivated them in a half-baked way, so they couldn't speak human language either.
But their intelligence was solid.
They needed clear instructions each time, but once they understood, they could carry it out. A reliable summon.
As the crows flew out, Gen Takuya watched them go.
This was the second batch of scouts.
Because there was already a first batch—far more numerous—spread across another region.
They were searching around Takigakure, expanding outward.
Their target was—
Jūgo.
A natural sage-bodied anomaly who couldn't control his own transformations.
The original story never stated exactly where Jūgo came from, but Gen Takuya was almost certain his constitution was tied to Ryūchi Cave.
And in the original tale, when Kabuto left Ryūchi Cave after training Sage Mode, the shinobi he encountered belonged to Takigakure.
Which meant Ryūchi Cave, even if it wasn't inside Takigakure, was likely nearby.
Having the crows search outward from there was the correct move.
Finding Jūgo was also simpler than finding Haku.
All they needed was confirmation that the target could "understand" a crow.
Once the crows confirmed that—
His identity was almost certain.
Then Gen Takuya suddenly paused.
With Orochimaru's related figures lined up in his mind, he finally understood what had been bothering him.
The timeline didn't feel right.
He looked at Kimimaro in his arms.
Two or three years old.
Jūgo, at this time, would also be two or three.
But in Gen Takuya's memory, those two met when they were already in their teens.
That meant they were supposed to cross paths nearly ten years later.
And Orochimaru's curse seal—
Gen Takuya remembered it being developed based on Jūgo's constitution.
But Orochimaru branded Mitarashi Anko with the Heaven Curse Mark before he defected.
Which raised a problem:
Orochimaru's defection wasn't that far from now. One or two years, at most.
So in one or two years, Orochimaru would need to—
Find Kimimaro.
Then somehow have Kimimaro's body jump to teenage size.
Then find Jūgo—who would also need to instant-grow ten years.
Then persuade him.
Then begin research.
Gen Takuya rubbed his temple.
The timeline was a mess.
Maybe he was remembering incorrectly.
Maybe Orochimaru first used Jūgo's clan as research material for the curse seal, then the clan was destroyed by Jūgo's rampage, cutting off materials—leaving Orochimaru to learn of Jūgo's existence that way.
And only later did Orochimaru send Kimimaro to find Jūgo, causing their bond.
That explanation made the most sense.
Gen Takuya let out a breath.
Either way, one thing was certain—
He needed to find Jūgo before Orochimaru did.
He didn't intend to fuse Jūgo through the Chimera Technique. Jūgo's instability was too dangerous. Fusing something that volatile was asking for disaster.
No matter how strong you were, if you lost your mind, someone sane would eventually find a way to kill you.
So instead of fusing Jūgo…
Gen Takuya would do what Orochimaru had done—
Use Jūgo's constitution to create something like a curse mark.
Thinking that, Gen Takuya returned to his experimental base via summoning, settled Kimimaro inside—
And then returned to Konoha.
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