c129: Listen to Me Make It Up for You
At six o'clock the next morning just before dawn Uchiha Gen had already left his house with a breakfast box in hand.
Today, he wore a black combat uniform with tightly-fitted fabric optimized for flexibility, a silver-accented black windbreaker, and ankle-high shinobi boots. Given the frost-bitten chill of winter in the Land of Fire, sandals were out of the question.
The faint orange glow of the distant sunrise had yet to overpower the dim village streetlights, and thin mist rose from the cobblestone roads. Most of the Uchiha compound remained silent, blanketed in darkness but elsewhere in the village, a few ramen and onigiri stalls had begun to stir with life.
By the time he reached Konoha's main gate, it was 6:25 a.m. He had just finished the last bite of steamed buns and sipped the final gulp of his warm barley tea.
Leaning casually against a telephone pole at the roadside, he waited exactly two minutes before a familiar figure entered view.
Dressed in a dark indigo tactical suit and draped in a long white battle cloak, Orochimaru appeared with a cold glint in his eye half-hidden by his high collar and snake-pale complexion.
Today's advance squad to the frontlines of the Land of Whirlpools would consist solely of Uchiha Gen and Orochimaru. The larger logistic unit carrying tents, chakra-sealing scrolls, and food rations wouldn't depart until two days later.
As for the noble clans, they had indeed dispatched members but all of them were already stationed in border detachments. There was no need to send new personnel from within Konoha proper.
For someone like Gen, whose reasons extended far beyond duty, joining the battle was both an opportunity and a calculated move. Most shinobi wouldn't volunteer for war unless they had no choice.
"Teacher Orochimaru, have you had breakfast?" Gen asked with a friendly tone.
"I cracked a few boiled eggs for protein," Orochimaru replied lazily. "That's enough for now. Let's go."
With that, the two approached the village gate. The night-watch chūnin, upon spotting Orochimaru, stood at attention and saluted, swiftly pulling open the reinforced wooden gates.
In a blur, the two disappeared into the misty woods high-speed travel initiated.
The trees on either side streaked past like waves, retreating so fast it would've outpaced even a maglev train. Neither of them spoke conserving their chakra and physical stamina for the true journey ahead.
After a long silence, Orochimaru finally broke it.
"Why the sudden urge to accompany me to the frontlines?"
"Wherever the master goes, the disciple follows," Gen answered with mock loyalty, grinning.
"Hehehe… That's rich, coming from a student who rarely visits." Orochimaru chuckled dryly. "You barely come to the lab more than thrice a month."
Gen shrugged, unbothered. "Fair enough. You saw through me."
He straightened his tone. "The real reason is that I need the battlefield to harvest souls."
"Souls?" Orochimaru turned his head sharply, eyes narrowing with interest. "Not lives?"
"Souls. Specifically, extracted without the interference of the Pure Land."
"That's not something most shinobi could even conceptualize, let alone accomplish."
Uchiha Gen grinned sheepishly. "Well, my research finally bore fruit. I've awakened a new kekkei genkai a bloodline limit unrelated to the Sharingan."
The Mangekyō Sharingan, though already awakened, couldn't be revealed just yet not with the village still reeling from the Nine-Tails Rebellion.
To flaunt it now would only invite chaos.
Revealing the Mangekyō too early would arouse suspicion not just from Konoha's F4 (Hiruzen, Homura, Koharu, and Danzō), but also from Uchiha elders like Inabi, Tekka, and Yashiro. It might even make him a target for elimination.
Power attracts loyalty but it also invites envy and fear. Gen understood that all too well.
He had no intention of hiding his strength forever like Fugaku had. No. If there came an opening to maximize his benefits, he'd reveal everything consequences be damned.
"Another kekkei genkai?" Orochimaru came to a halt, landing on a thick tree trunk. His golden eyes gleamed. "Besides the Sharingan? Is that even possible for an Uchiha?"
"It's a unique lineage," Gen answered, leaping to a nearby trunk. "A bloodline that only I possess."
"Oh?" Orochimaru's interest deepened. "Would you care to elaborate?"
Gen raised his chin slightly, thinking aloud. "It began during the Third Great Ninja War, when I nearly died on the battlefield. That experience triggered my evolution to a two-tomoe Sharingan. After returning to Konoha, I focused on chakra control and mental refinement."
"I started to notice my Yin Release affinity was skyrocketing, especially in the areas of genjutsu, memory manipulation, and spiritual constructs."
"Eventually, I could learn almost any genjutsu on first try."
"Remarkable," Orochimaru murmured. Even he, with all his natural intellect, couldn't claim such mastery over illusion-based techniques.
"And when we previously discussed the Spirit Transformation Technique the Yamanaka clan's forbidden jutsu it resonated with me. I thought, what if I combined it with high-level Yin chakra?"
"You mastered it?"
"For me," Gen replied casually, "it was only slightly harder than learning a new illusion."
Orochimaru: "…"
He hadn't even mastered that jutsu yet.
But this was good. His apprentice's soul-based discoveries could refine his own Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique which still had many shortcomings in the manga, especially its failure to fully integrate soul and vessel.
Gen continued. "After mastering spiritual projection, my mental energy and Yin Release reached a point where even my Uchiha blood began to stir unnaturally. My soul strengthened to the point that a new kekkei genkai was born."
"Incredible… So your bloodline mutated through spiritual enhancement and Yin dominance," Orochimaru said softly. "Fascinating…"
"Care to demonstrate it?"
"Of course."
Gen smiled faintly. Without warning, he unsheathed the Kusanagi Sword from his waist and tossed it straight at Orochimaru's neck.
The blade whistled.
Orochimaru didn't blink. He tilted his head just enough that the sword whooshed past.
But then—the Kusanagi reversed mid-air, spinning like a thrown shuriken and slashing back toward his exposed neck.
Still calm, Orochimaru twisted unnaturally his body snaking away at an impossible angle. But even so, the next wave of slashes came faster.
The blade didn't fall. It hovered.
It floated under its own power, weaving in mid-air and releasing silver arcs of slashing energy dozens of ethereal blade lights arcing toward Orochimaru like a flock of cutting chakra birds.
The legendary sannin finally had to move his full body, ducking and darting with inhuman flexibility to dodge every attack. Still, the effort was showing.
A nearby tree trunk split open from a glancing blade. A long tear appeared in Orochimaru's white cloak, centimeters from his calf.
Narrowly avoided.
Scowling faintly, Orochimaru drew a chakra-forged kunai, infused it with Earth Release to harden its edge, and parried the airborne Kusanagi.
CLANG!
Sparks flew. The floating blade skidded back into the air, its flight time nearly exhausted.
"That's enough, Musha," Gen said calmly.
"Yes, Master," replied the floating blade.
It flew back into Gen's outstretched hand like a loyal pet, its eerie glow dimming.
Orochimaru stared, lowering his kunai. His golden eyes were wide with curiosity, awe... and greed.
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