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In a forest.
Kagaya carefully studied the Scroll of Seals in his hands. What attracted him the most was the Impure World Reincarnation technique. Although he had already obtained this technique from Orochimaru, the version Orochimaru gave him was incomplete. Kagaya wanted to examine the original formulation of the technique to understand whether Orochimaru hadn't fully comprehended Impure World Reincarnation, or if the technique itself was inherently imperfect.
However, the more he studied it, the more Kagaya's frown deepened. His talent in ninjutsu couldn't be called a prodigious, earth-shattering genius level, but it wasn't bad either. He could see that the Impure World Reincarnation recorded in the Scroll of Seals was, in many places, significantly less detailed than the one Orochimaru had provided.
The developer of the Impure World Reincarnation technique was the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. This man was a true ninjutsu genius. A technique he researched shouldn't be this crude.
When it came to developing ninjutsu, Tobirama Senju could definitely be considered one of the top figures in the entire shinobi world.
Any technique he created, no matter what, shouldn't be inferior to Orochimaru's versions. After all, Orochimaru's forte was research, not necessarily developing new ninjutsu from scratch. Orochimaru was a genius in areas like cell transplantation and researching immortality, but in terms of improving or modifying existing techniques, while he was talented, he probably couldn't surpass the Second Hokage.
'Is there something wrong with this Scroll of Seals?'
This was Kagaya's first thought. This scroll was, after all, intentionally allowed to be stolen by Naruto on the Third Hokage's orders. It wouldn't be strange if the Third had deliberately created an inferior version.
"Tch."
Kagaya sighed. Just as he was about to conclude that this was a deliberately degraded Scroll of Seals, a sudden flash of insight struck him.
No, why did Tobirama research the Impure World Reincarnation technique in the first place?
Yes, that's it! The Impure World Reincarnation technique was likely an unfinished product, a prototype that Tobirama developed. Before he could complete it, he probably discovered that the technique required a living human sacrifice to perform. Consequently, the technique would have been classified as a forbidden jutsu. Once labeled as forbidden, Tobirama naturally wouldn't use it, and without using it, there would be no necessity for further research.
So, from beginning to end, the Impure World Reincarnation recorded in the Scroll of Seals should be nothing more than an incomplete, semi-finished product.
"Damn it!"
However, this conclusion wasn't a good outcome for Kagaya either. If he wanted a perfected version of Impure World Reincarnation, he would still have to wait for Orochimaru to gradually refine it over time.
But it didn't matter too much. Apart from Impure World Reincarnation, there was another technique Kagaya wanted to learn, one that was highly compatible with his own abilities! Although he wasn't sure if he had the talent to master it, trying certainly wouldn't be a loss!
The Flying Thunder God Technique!
This technique could be considered the fastest teleportation technique one could potentially learn in the world of Naruto!
Kagaya, who prioritized speed as his strong point, was very fond of this technique. The problem, however, was that throughout the vast history of Konoha, the number of individuals who had managed to perform the Flying Thunder God Technique solo could be counted on one hand – only Tobirama and Minato Namikaze.
This was an incredibly difficult ninjutsu, terrifying in its complexity. Generally, this technique didn't have direct negative side effects; the reasons it was classified as forbidden were its sheer terrifying potential and extreme difficulty.
Its terror lay in the fact that while it didn't possess direct destructive power, its effect was virtually impossible to counter or neutralize. In other words, mastering this technique, setting aside the power scaling issues later in the series, essentially meant being nearly invincible.
If you could win a fight, you could fight. If you couldn't win, you could escape. There was simply no reliable way to counter it!
As for the difficulty, that went without saying. With so many people in Konoha, it was impossible that only Tobirama and Minato had attempted to learn it. Was it plausible that Konoha wouldn't have others try to learn such a powerful technique as Flying Thunder God?
Absolutely not!
Yet, despite that, only Minato and Tobirama succeeded in mastering it.
These two individuals were geniuses – one a prodigy in ninjutsu overall, the other a specific genius in the ways of the Flying Thunder God.
Kagaya didn't dare claim he could reach their level. Therefore, he had no confidence in his ability to learn this technique.
After reading the training method for Flying Thunder God once, Kagaya felt his head spinning, completely at a loss!
The Flying Thunder God was a space-time ninjutsu, a technique involving 'Spatial Movement'. To learn it, one first needed an extremely keen perception of space.
But, perceiving space? Kagaya looked around him, raised his hand, and touched the air beside him.
This concept seemed rather mystical and abstract. He simply didn't know where to begin.
He didn't even know how to start learning it.
'What is this? And what is that? How do you do this? How is this even possible? This has to be fake, right?'
These were Kagaya's thoughts as he perused the information related to the Flying Thunder God.
After some time, having firmly committed the Flying Thunder God formula to memory, Kagaya decided not to dive headfirst into this seemingly esoteric subject just yet. He began to look at the other things recorded in the Scroll of Seals.
To his surprise, he found two techniques from the Uchiha clan!
Izanagi and Izanami!
'So the forbidden techniques of our clan are also recorded here... Well, that makes sense, otherwise how would Danzo have known Izanagi?'
Kagaya skimmed through them briefly. These techniques didn't require traditional "learning"; as long as he met the necessary conditions and memorized the activation method, he could use them.
Izanagi required the Sharingan and the power of the Senju (or Hashirama's cells) to use.
Izanami, on the other hand, only required a single Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, Kagaya found it somewhat strange. Why did Danzo learn Izanagi but not Izanami?
Thinking this, Kagaya first turned his attention to Izanami. After reading for a short while, he roughly understood why Danzo hadn't learned Izanami.
Because Izanami was a technique designed to make a person accept the fate they already possessed, to prevent them from escaping their destiny. It was created specifically to counter Izanagi.
Izanami was powerful, but unlike Izanagi, which was called the "perfect ocular jutsu" whose only weakness, arguably, was Izanami itself, Izanami could absolutely not be considered a "perfect" technique. Or rather, Izanami was a technique with an inherent, fundamental "flaw."
That was the method of escape! The Izanami technique could be broken the very moment it is cast! If the victim, the person trapped within the technique, stops逃避 the fate they already possess and chooses to boldly accept it, then Izanami will immediately be dispelled!
In Danzo's eyes, such a flaw was probably fatal. To trade the permanent blindness of a Sharingan eye for an illusion that the opponent might break free from instantly?
That was a transaction Danzo would absolutely never make.
Most importantly, in the Scroll of Seals, the description of Izanami explicitly stated that it was a technique created specifically to counter Izanagi!
This statement easily led to a misunderstanding – that this technique could only be used to counter Izanagi. Combined with Izanami's inherent "flaw," it further reinforced the belief that the technique's sole purpose was countering Izanagi.
Danzo likely thought the same, which gave him reason not to learn it.
To be honest, if he hadn't watched the Naruto series, Kagaya would also have been misled by Izanami's flaw and description, believing it could only be used against Izanagi. But Kagaya, having seen the series, knew that this technique could be used against anyone who refused to accept their own existing fate, forcing them to accept the destiny they already possessed.
Ultimately, Izanami was a technique meant to help others. A technique like that, forget Danzo, even Kagaya wasn't very inclined to learn it.
Sacrificing a Mangekyō Sharingan to help someone else recognize reality? Unless that person was extremely important to Kagaya, he'd have to be crazy to do such a thing.