"I'll try."
The slug writhed for a moment, its body collapsing like a wave. This giant creature, over five meters tall, quickly split into more than ten small, delicate beings.
And unlike before, these ten-plus slugs were all shaped differently. Their colors even had slight variations, completely unlike their previous simple pattern of blue backs and pure white bellies.
"..."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Slug Sage, how do you feel now?"
"A bit strange."
The more than ten small slugs shook their heads, their soft female voices blending together. "Although we can still perform the splitting technique normally, it's weird. We all feel somewhat incomplete."
As they spoke, these small slugs bumped into each other, reforming into the large slug. Only then did they let out a sigh of relief.
"Now, I feel much better."
"It seems there are some post-surgery reactions," Orochimaru said, turning his gaze to the Slug Sage's main body. "Why don't you let it return to your main body again and test the extent of the reaction?"
The Slug Sage pondered for a moment and nodded slightly. "Alright."
Soon, a giant slug slowly crawled out of a nearby cave. Its size was almost the same as Orochimaru's.
The large and small slugs merged. Well... perhaps "devoured" is a more fitting word. The smaller one disappeared into the plump, white body with almost no resistance.
But Orochimaru clearly saw an expression of extreme discomfort on the face of the large slug.
Orochimaru's brow twitched slightly. "Slug Sage, how are you reacting now..."
"I feel very strange, even stranger than before. It's like something has been added inside my body..."
The large slug tilted its head, confused. "If I had to say, it's like the fusion wasn't complete..."
Her body structure was very simple. Through her racial talent, she could easily split into tens of thousands of slugs, with almost no side effects.
But now, this clone, which had undergone surgery, felt out of place within her body.
"This is normal. After all, my surgery has fundamentally changed your body."
Orochimaru said earnestly and slowly, "I want to ask if you have any other negative reactions?"
"Other than that, no."
The large slug shook its head. "Even this discomfort is fading."
In most cases, talking about effects without considering the dosage is misleading. Although the small slugs had changed, their proportion compared to the fused body was only one percent or even one-thousandth, not enough to have a decisive impact.
After a moment of thought, the Slug Sage asked doubtfully, "Is that all? I didn't feel the power of the Divine Tree."
"Of course not. It should be said that the prerequisite conditions haven't been met yet."
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow and smiled. "The next step is to have these surgically altered slugs completely replace your body."
This was similar to his own transformation process. A White Zetsu-ized body could better integrate with First Hokage's cells and showcase their characteristics. For the Slug Sage, it was more about reducing the surgical risk.
Through previous tests, Orochimaru had already found that in terms of Senjutsu Chakra strength alone, the Slug Sage was not much stronger than himself.
The Slug Sage's ability was simply scale. Besides her healing abilities, "One is all, and all is one" was her most relied-upon racial talent.
"How long will this take?"
The Slug Sage knew her own body best. Her size was not just what Orochimaru saw now.
"More importantly, you should be concerned about whether I have enough surgical materials with me."
Orochimaru smiled slightly. "You can't find this thing in the sea."
The Slug Sage's antennae perked up. "You want to leave the Toad Forest?"
Having witnessed the effect of the surgery, it was even less likely that she would let Orochimaru leave easily.
"Of course not, but these are issues that must be resolved."
Orochimaru licked his lips. "There are also things like if I can learn your ability, then my future actions will be much easier. I can travel the Shinobi world to collect materials."
If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it well.
He had already shown his sincerity. It was time for the Slug Sage to respond.
"I doubt you can truly learn it. No ninja has ever learned it from me."
The Slug Sage was silent for a moment, then said, "The reason I can do this is mostly thanks to my own racial talent."
"You should have said that before we made a deal."
Orochimaru chuckled, but he didn't seem angry. "I have confidence in my learning ability. Whether it takes a year or ten years, I will definitely learn it."
"This amount of time should mean little to you."
"Since you insist, then alright..." The Slug Sage wriggled its body. A ball of light lit up from its blue and white body. Then, it flew out directly from a crack in its body and landed gently on the open ground in front of Orochimaru.
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed. He saw that it was a blue gem, over three times his height. He looked at the Slug Sage with surprise. "What is this?"
"I don't know. Just like a clam doesn't know that the round stone in its shell is called a pearl, this thing appeared inside me at some point."
The Slug Sage looked at the gem. "I have never taught anyone else, but through this stone, which is connected to my mind, you can experience the feeling of performing the splitting technique."
"This is truly amazing. Did the First Hokage learn Senjutsu this way too?"
Seeing the Slug Sage's default, a flicker of heat flashed in Orochimaru's eyes as he looked at the blue gem. "How do you use this thing?"
"It's very simple. Just pour your Chakra into it."
The Slug Sage said softly, "This involves mental power, and there is a risk of getting lost. But don't worry, I will wake you up."
"Then I'll trouble you."
Orochimaru couldn't wait to try.
The moment he input Chakra, the scene before his eyes changed drastically. He was crawling in a dark, damp hole, his body transformed into a slug.
"Illusion? Or the Slug Sage's memory?"
Orochimaru mused. However, before he could think further, this body began to hunt, forage, and move on its own...
The movements became faster and faster, repetitive actions flooding his mind in an instant, as if compressing a lifetime of effort into one day. He truly seemed to have become a slug.
...
"It's about time to wake him up."
A quarter of an hour later, the Slug Sage saw that Orochimaru's body had already fallen to the ground. Estimating that the other party had reached his limit, she swallowed the blue gem back.
With the connection severed, Orochimaru's spirit immediately returned, and his eyes regained clarity.
---
You can read 50 Chapters ahead on my
pat reon.com/GMadman