Six path Ninja Tool's Sougen still had his mind on one thing: the greater the benefits he could gain from the [Flame Fan], the more interested he became in the other Six path Ninja Tools, each possessing unique powers. Most people use these tools for combat and killing, even Orochimaru hadn't gained anything truly special from them.
Otherwise, there's no way he would use the Six path Ninja Tools so casually as bait.
Sougen was different. With his golden cheat ability, [A Knight Does Not Die Barehanded], these ninja tools were not just weapons for killing in his hands. With time and research, he could uncover the mysteries hidden within these tools, and if lucky, the rewards could be substantial.
The Flame Fan allowed Sougen to clearly see the source of the Sharingan's power, revealing a method to perfect the Mangekyō Sharingan. By utilizing the complete information about the Divine Tree embedded within the Flame Fan, he could compensate for the Sharingan's weaknesses. Though results would take time, he wasn't in any rush.
"I have a secret," Sougen said slowly.
"A secret?" Orochimaru's face displayed a leisurely smile.
From the moment Uchiha Sougen initiated this trade, Orochimaru held the upper hand. Whatever price Sougen needed to pay for the Six path Ninja Tools, Orochimaru was in control of that 'pricing power.'
"…My clan's ancestor, Uchiha Madara, might still be alive." Sougen paused before blatantly lying, "Are you interested?"
"Uchiha Madara?" Orochimaru stared at Sougen for several seconds, and seeing no hint of a joke, his smile faded. "Are you kidding me? How could Uchiha Madara still be alive? Everyone knows that in the Valley of the End, the First Hokage defeated and killed him. Are you saying the First Hokage was lying?"
"He wasn't lying, but he might have been deceived," Sougen said frankly.
"Deceived? By the First Hokage?"
"So what? There are secrets of the Uchiha Clan that even the First Hokage wouldn't know. Let me be direct: my clan possesses a technique to cheat death. Unless faced with a world-ending catastrophe, one can avoid death once using this method."
Hearing this, Orochimaru's eyes widened, and his golden pupils seemed to ignite with excitement. Fortunately, Sougen had already warned him, so he quickly suppressed his desire for more knowledge, merely praising, "As expected of the Uchiha Clan, with such abilities."
"That's not all. During the last war with the Mist, I encountered a man claiming to be Uchiha Madara. He used the Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage. The entire war between Konoha and the Mist was his doing. I even took the long-lost Flame Fan from him."
The Flame Fan was proof.
Its disappearance for years was well-known, and how it vanished after Madara's supposed death had been a mystery. After the battle in the Valley of the End, both Madara's body and the Flame Fan were brought back by the First Hokage, but later the fan was declared missing.
The Uchiha Clan had searched for the fan, a symbol of the clan leader's authority, but found nothing.
Orochimaru recalled reading some ancient records in the village archives, finding them strange at the time. Now, with Sougen's claim that Madara was still alive, the inconsistencies seemed to make more sense.
However, Orochimaru maintained his cautious attitude.
What Sougen revealed, though shocking, was ultimately irrelevant to Orochimaru. Whether Madara was alive or dead made little difference to him. These secrets weren't useless, but they weren't particularly valuable either. They were like scraps—better to have than not, but not essential.
"…You're difficult to deal with," Sougen frowned briefly, then relaxed and sighed. "Looks like I'll have to give a bit more. Orochimaru, you've heard of the three great dōjutsu, right?"
"Of course, the Uchiha's Sharingan, the Hyuga's Byakugan, and the legendary Rinnegan... Sougen-kun, I hope it's alright if I call you that?" Orochimaru asked with a smile.
"Call me whatever you want," Sougen responded indifferently.
"So, Sougen-kun, are you offering the Rinnegan as part of our trade?" Orochimaru found the notion absurd, even laughing at the idea. The Rinnegan was the stuff of legend, said to be the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, and no historical records ever confirmed its existence in the present day.
But Sougen's words were intriguing. He had clearly forbidden Orochimaru from meddling with the Uchiha, and the Hyuga's Byakugan didn't seem valuable enough. That left the most unlikely possibility: the Rinnegan.
"Of course not," Sougen laughed. "If I had the Rinnegan, I'd have already implanted it in myself. That's the Sage of Six Paths' eye!"
"True," Orochimaru laughed as well.
If Sougen really had the Rinnegan, there's no way he'd trade it. Orochimaru would have done the same in his place.
"So what are you offering in exchange? If you don't have anything valuable, I won't be giving you those Six path Ninja Tools just for some secrets," Orochimaru said, clearly intrigued as their conversation continued in the cold wind.
"I can't give you the Rinnegan, but I know where to find it. Would that information be worth trading for the Six path Ninja Tools?" Sougen shamelessly proposed.
Originally, he had planned to trade part of White Zetsu's body, but after sensing that Orochimaru had not yet come into contact with the Akatsuki, he changed his mind. Since Orochimaru hadn't met Pain yet, he could exploit this information gap and get something for nothing.
"Is that...true?" Orochimaru's eyes lit up with excitement.
His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, especially for something as unknown as the Rinnegan, which held a deadly allure.
"If you know where the Rinnegan is, why haven't you retrieved it yourself?" Orochimaru, though intrigued, still had the presence of mind to question the situation.
"The reason is simple," Sougen calmly raised two fingers. "First, the Rinnegan isn't easy to obtain. I told you before, Uchiha Madara is still alive, and the holder of the Rinnegan is closely connected to him. I discovered its existence while investigating Madara.
"Second, I don't have the time. The village is constantly at war—first with the Mist, then with the Cloud, and now it looks like Jiraiya-sensei is about to fight the Rock in the Land of Grass. I'm too busy to plan a heist for the Rinnegan."
"Fair enough," Orochimaru wasn't surprised.
If the Rinnegan were easy to get, it would be strange. Clearly, it was a highly dangerous object, one not easily grasped without great strength.
"More importantly, I doubt you could get the Rinnegan even with this knowledge. So why not use this information to trade for a few treasures?" Sougen bluntly laid out his intentions.
"Haha! So you're trying to get something for nothing?" Orochimaru laughed delightedly.
Even though Uchiha Sougen was looking down on him, Orochimaru didn't feel angry. There was nothing to be upset about. Orochimaru had never considered himself invincible. In the ninja world, he had plenty of opponents he found troublesome! Up ahead, there was an old but stubborn Onoki. Among his peers, Jiraiya and Tsunade were not any weaker than him, especially Jiraiya with his Sage Mode—Orochimaru knew that in a head-to-head fight, he wouldn't be a match.
Now, there were also rising stars like Uchiha Sougen and Uchiha Shisui!
So, there was no need to get angry over something so trivial.
Instead of wasting energy getting upset, it was better to think about the Rinnegan, the tempting bait dangled right in front of him. Yes, Uchiha Sougen was clearly playing a game, waiting for Orochimaru to take the bait willingly. But the more Orochimaru thought about it, the more he realized he didn't mind taking the bait at all!
Even if, as Sougen had said, there was little chance he'd actually get his hands on the Rinnegan, he was still burning with curiosity to witness the legendary eyes for himself. After all, they were the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths!
Compared to the Sharingan and the Byakugan, the Rinnegan was ten, a hundred times more mysterious and valuable!
His thirst for knowledge and his drive for exploration wouldn't let him watch such an opportunity slip by. Even though he knew it was a trap, he couldn't stop himself from taking the bait! Even knowing that Sougen was equally desperate for the Six Paths tools.
But Orochimaru wasn't a haggling merchant.
"Sougen-kun, you were banking on me agreeing to this, weren't you?" Orochimaru stared at him.
"That's right," Sougen replied with a smile.
"I have four of the Six Paths tools, but I can only give you one. After all, this is just information I'm trading," Orochimaru declared directly, cutting to the chase.
"Just one?" Sougen frowned.
"Just one," Orochimaru confirmed without budging.
He didn't mind being the fool who took the bait, but there was no way he was letting Sougen drain him dry.
"Fine," Sougen relented.
He hadn't even fully mastered the Flame Fan yet, so even if he got all the tools, he'd still have to study them one by one. Whether it was one or several, it didn't make much difference to him right now.
"But if it's just one, I want that fan."
"The fan?" Orochimaru pondered for a moment. He had already figured out the abilities of the four Six Paths tools he had. The rope could make someone spit out their most commonly spoken words, the sword could cut and curse those words, and the gourd could capture and seal the cursed words to defeat the enemy.
These three tools worked together and were useless on their own. They were overly complicated, and in Orochimaru's opinion, not very valuable.
As for the fan, it was quite good. It could release all five nature transformations—fire, water, lightning, wind, and earth—at once, without regard for the user's chakra nature. However, it required a vast amount of chakra to operate, making it impractical for most ninja.
"Alright," Orochimaru agreed without hesitation.
"The person with the Rinnegan is in the Land of Rain. He killed Hanzo the Salamander and took over leadership of Amegakure. He's also the leader of an organization called 'Akatsuki.' I suspect the real mastermind behind Akatsuki is Uchiha Madara. By the way, this guy's name is said to be Pain!!!"
"Amegakure, huh?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow.
The fact that Hanzo had died was still a secret in the ninja world, not publicly announced. But Orochimaru, with his excellent information network, had already heard. He wasn't concerned about Hanzo's death. In his younger days, Hanzo had been a real challenge, but now Orochimaru no longer considered the "Demi-God" worth his time!
Amegakure, that dreary, rainy, uncomfortable place—Orochimaru had never even considered setting up a base there.
But now it seemed like he had missed a good opportunity.
Still, Orochimaru didn't feel bad about this deal. They were just trading what they needed.
"Akatsuki... Pain... and Uchiha Madara... Very interesting!" Orochimaru said as he flicked his sleeve, summoning a large snake that slithered through the snow towards Sougen, opening its jaws wide.
Then, Sougen saw the snake spit out a fan.
It was red and white, shaped like the fanned-out tail of a peacock, and over a meter long.
"Couldn't you have cleaned it up a bit?" Sougen complained as he looked at the fan, now covered in the snake's saliva. He made a hand sign, conjuring a stream of water to wrap around the fan, pulling it out of the snake's mouth and dropping it on the snow. He used more water to wash it clean.
With a "pop," the snake disappeared in a puff of white smoke, returning to Ryuchi Cave.
"Oh, Orochimaru, leave me a way to contact you in the future. It'll be easier to trade again," Sougen called out as Orochimaru turned to leave. Orochimaru had a lot of interesting things, and they would definitely have more dealings in the future. Instead of wandering around trying to find him, it'd be better to have a way to get in touch.
"Interesting!"
Orochimaru smiled at Sougen, pulling a scroll from his sleeve and tossing it over. "You can summon a messenger to contact me with this." With that, he didn't waste any more time and immediately released his shadow clone jutsu.
In the vast snowy landscape, only Sougen remained.