Orochimaru's hand paused slightly, the syringe halting its blood draw.
He raised his head, his golden, vertical pupils turning toward the shadow clone with keen interest, as if he had discovered a new treasure.
Kimimaro lay on the cold metal table. At the mention of his bloodline's origins, his long eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and his breath seemed to hitch for a fleeting moment.
"But this power, for their fragile human vessels, is a curse… not a blessing." The shadow clone's voice continued, echoing off the sterile laboratory walls.
"It's like forcing a fragile clay pot to contain the erupting fury of a volcano. The vessel cannot withstand it. The overflowing Yang Attribute Chakra disrupts the balance, endlessly corroding and burning away their life force."
"This is the root of the genetic disease… It's not an illness, but a mismatch between the container and what it holds. It is the power itself rebelling against its bearer."
Orochimaru's tongue flicked unconsciously over his thin lips, his eyes gleaming with a manic excitement.
He fully grasped the meaning behind those words. This revolutionary perspective instantly ignited countless new ideas and experimental directions in the depths of his mind.
"So, balance?" He rasped, a trace of barely concealed urgency in his voice.
"You transplanted the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan into this boy, not just to grant him its observational abilities or to conduct transplantation experiments, but rather…"
"It is suppression, and also harmony." The shadow clone finished for him, the mask tilting slightly in Orochimaru's direction.
"The Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan is a crystallization of pure Yin Attribute Chakra… representing perception, spirit, and the delicate control of chakra."
"The Yin Attribute Chakra seeps into the bloodstream, not to replace Yang Attribute Chakra, but to create a high-pressure dynamic equilibrium. The powerful Yin Attribute Chakra temporarily suppresses the rampant Yang Attribute Chakra, alleviating the strain of bloodline awakening on the body and delaying the onset and progression of the genetic disease."
"These eyes are both the lock that prolongs his life and the key that controls his power."
"Lock… and key…" Orochimaru murmured under his breath, his golden vertical pupils narrowing as if savoring the paradoxical weight of those words.
He observed Kimimaro's pale yet tranquil face, the potent Yin Attribute Chakra hidden beneath those closed eyelids, and felt a surge of new experimental possibilities.
In his eyes, the boy before him was no longer just a precious test subject.
The limits of Kekkei Genkai's transplantation, the feasibility of Yin-Yang Attribute fusion, the threshold of artificial vessel durability… countless questions swirled in Orochimaru's mind. He could hardly wait to begin new experiments on Kekkei Genkai research.
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Orochimaru couldn't help but exclaim, his voice brimming with the exhilaration of newfound understanding and an obsessive yearning for the unknown.
"To view bloodline regression as the root cause and forcibly balance it with opposing elemental energies… Shura, your perspective has truly opened a brand-new door for me."
His gaze toward the shadow clone, beyond its usual wariness and calculation, now carried a rare appreciation… an acknowledgment of pure intellectual insight.
At that moment, the indicator light on the lab's heavy airtight alloy door shifted from red to green. With a low hiss of hydraulics, the door slid open silently.
A figure stood at the threshold, half-shrouded in light and shadow.
He was wearing a white, high-collared robe with a simple and neat style, and he exuded an indescribable gloom.
He wore a high-collared white restraint robe, simple yet severe, exuding an indescribable gloom. His long, ash-white hair hung in disarray, partially obscuring his face. The skin that peeked through was deathly pale, devoid of any color, and his crimson eyes held deep wariness as they landed on Shura's shadow clone.
His posture was slightly hunched, arms hanging unnaturally at his sides. His entire being radiated defeat, a man whose spirit had been utterly crushed, stripped of all will to resist.
This was Hiruko, the same man who had once attempted to ambush Hikari in Star City, only to be dragged into her Tsukuyomi World and tortured by a single glance from the Mangekyo Sharingan. Eventually, his mental defenses completely collapsed, and he has now completely surrendered.
The admiration and excitement on Orochimaru's face froze in an instant.
His golden vertical pupils contracted into thin slits the instant he recognized the figure at the door.
A rare flicker of shock crossed his features.
Of course he knew this man!
Though Hiruko now appeared haggard and hollow, a far cry from the obsessive, ambitious madman of Orochimaru's memories, that unmistakable, chaotic Chakra Signature, born from the fusion of multiple Kekkei Genkai, was something Orochimaru could never mistake!
After all… they had once been companions. And it was the Sannin who had hunted Hiruko down all those years ago.
"Hiruko—?" Orochimaru's voice was hoarse with disbelief.
He turned his gaze back to Menma's shadow clone, his golden eyes now alight with suspicion, intrigue, and a sharp edge of wariness.
He knew exactly what Hiruko had been pursuing.
This lunatic had conducted fusion experiments on Konoha's Shinobis, crossing a line even Hiruzen could not tolerate.
Back then, when the Sannin had stormed Hiruko's secret lab and witnessed the horrors within, even Orochimaru had been shaken.
Yet, as his own obsession with eternal life grew, he had come to understand Hiruko's madness.
Menma's shadow clone paid no attention to Hiruko's arrival.
He didn't even turn his head, the mask remaining fixed toward the operating table, as if it were nothing more than another cold, unfeeling instrument in the lab.
Only his flat, toneless voice responded, or rather, ignored Orochimaru's shock:
"He will assist you from now on in researching biological tissue fusion and Chakra Attribute compatibility. The data on his Chimera Technique has been archived in Database No. 7."
Menma's shadow clone spoke lightly, as if discussing nothing more than a routine handover of duties.
Hiruko took a step forward, entering the harsh fluorescent light.
His hollow gaze swept across the lab… the cold machinery, the flickering data screens, Kimimaro lying motionless on the operating table… before finally settling on Orochimaru's face.
A face that was familiar, yet… different.
"Orochimaru? Long time no see. I never expected you to… turn out like this."
Hiruko's eyes gleamed with dark amusement as they raked over Orochimaru's current female body.
Then, with deliberate slowness, he lowered his head toward the shadow clone and uttered, voice dripping with submission: "As you command, Shura-sama."
That '-sama' struck Orochimaru like a hammer to the chest.
As an S-Rank Missing-nin from Konoha before Orochimaru, and an Elite Jonin who was able to escape from Konoha Village despite being hunted by the Sannin, the arrogant Hiruko was actually subdued by Shura.
Orochimaru's gaze flickered between the utterly broken Hiruko and the silent, oppressive presence of Menma's shadow clone.
And deep within, he buried his rising greed just a little deeper.