Without a doubt, the system's manifestation was based on the rules and logic of the world it resided in.
Aside from chakra, it could not create out of thin air a power system belonging to another world.
But Hyuga Kumokawa had thought of a solution.
That was to take the existing foundations of the ninja world—soul, body, natural energy, and chakra—and use them to localize and imitate the ability systems of other worlds.
Thus constructing a logically consistent "lie" that everyone would believe.
Something born from nothing, creating rules, deceiving the world itself.
This was the true meaning of "deceiving the heavens and deluding the earth."
---
[The Hueco Mundo, the place where souls of the ninja world find their dwelling. This realm hangs suspended between the living world and the Pure Land, eternally shrouded in everlasting night.
There is no sun's rotation, only a half-moon of dim light. The land stretches vast like snow, desolate like death, the wind howls like the wailing of ghosts, the sand surges as if skeletons stampede, and withered trees rise like skeletal remains.]
[The Pure Land, the realm opened by the Sage of Six Paths after death. The departed enter this place, their consciousness sealed in slumber, while their chakra, like threads, converges into the Pure Land and falls under the control of the Sage of Six Paths.
His intent was to use the power of souls to resist enemies from beyond the heavens. Yet his method was crude, for souls slowly withered over the years, ultimately scattering into nothingness.]
[But those who enter the Hueco Mundo are souls that linger in the ninja world. Some are bound by obsessions, some are entangled by karmic delusions.
Over long years of erosion, their grief and resentment eat away at their souls. In time, their hearts and minds grow dim, their faces become covered in bone masks, and their cries sound like ten thousand ghosts wailing in unison, enough to shatter the courage of any who hear it.
Their forms become hunched and broken, resembling withered, rotten trees, their bellies bearing hollow holes. These I name the 'Hollow.']
[Their nature is to devour souls, seeking to fill the emptiness of their hearts. Gradually, they turn on each other, endlessly consuming one another.
Hundreds of weak Hollows devour and merge until their bodies grow as large as mountains, their faces bearing long-nosed bone masks, their intellect dim and beastlike, guided only by the instinct to devour souls. These I call 'Menos Grande.']
[Among them, if one stands out and devours thousands, it may shrink its body and awaken intelligence, transforming into a beastlike form clad in bone armor. Yet they live in constant fear of regression. To maintain their shape, they must ceaselessly hunt their peers; the slightest idleness leads to regression and loss of reason. These I call 'Gillians of the middle rank'—the 'Adjuchas.']
[Extremely rare are those whose bone masks shatter and fall away, revealing their human form beneath, though the hollow hole remains. Their power is unmatched, and these I call 'Upper Menos'—the 'Vasto Lorde.' Yet, this form is incomplete. Such a being has not yet been born before me. Truly, it is a regret…]
---
"…What is this?"
As Orochimaru's gaze continued to trace the words, the expression on his face gradually turned vacant.
Although the writing on the scroll was somewhat obscure, he had studied ninjutsu for many years and read countless ancient texts.
Naturally, he could understand the contents written there.
The Pure Land—someone who had already grasped the incomplete "Impure World Reincarnation" naturally knew its reality.
Souls—someone who had already developed "Living Corpse Reincarnation" understood them more than anyone.
And precisely because he knew too much, this mix of seventy percent truth and thirty percent falsehood shattered his worldview.
Yet because of his trust in the scroll's contents, and because of his reverence for its author, his worldview was instantly reshaped anew.
The legendary Sage of Six Paths truly existed.
And even the Pure Land itself was created by the Sage of Six Paths!
All the dead were guided there, so that their souls could be gathered to resist some so-called "enemy from beyond the heavens"?
And the author of this scroll directly referred to the Sage of Six Paths merely as "Six Paths," speaking with disdain for the way he created the Pure Land, and even claimed to have created an independent world of his own called the "Hueco Mundo"?
---
"The Otsutsuki clan actually possesses the ability to create worlds?"
Orochimaru flicked out his slender serpent's tongue, licking his somewhat parched lips, and murmured:
"Could it be… the Sage of Six Paths himself was also a member of the Otsutsuki clan?"
From the effect of Impure World Reincarnation, the Sage of Six Paths' Pure Land could only preserve the power people had in life, and if the vessel was not of sufficient quality, their full strength could not be exerted.
But the scroll's creator—his Hueco Mundo was clearly far more cruel and cold-blooded.
It absorbed the souls of those who could not enter the Pure Land due to obsession or resentment, then forced them to slaughter and devour one another until stronger beings were born.
It was only that the author of the scroll had not lived to see the birth of an "Upper Menos."
"To possess such terrifying power, and yet still be unable to achieve immortality?"
This thought instinctively surfaced in Orochimaru's mind, but he quickly realized that was not the case—for the scroll's author had only said, "This body has perished."
In other words, the author still lived. He merely had to change bodies for certain reasons.
The Sage of Six Paths should not be dead either.
Most likely, he lingered in the Pure Land as a soul, secretly gathering the spirits of the strong while waiting for this so-called enemy from beyond the heavens.
---
"That corpse I obtained from that Hyuga brat… could it be one of the abandoned bodies once used by the scroll's master?"
Orochimaru's tail lightly struck the ground as he muttered in thought:
"With such terrifying power, enough to create worlds, if it were his true body, no one could possibly withstand it. There might not even exist things like 'organs' within it anymore."
Yet whenever he thought of that boy named Hyuga Kumokawa, a killing intent rose in Orochimaru's eyes.
If not for that insidious little brat, how would he have ended up in such a miserable state!
That day, when gravely wounded, he had been suddenly summoned to Ryūchi Cave by the White Snake Sage using the Reverse Summoning Technique.
Although this saved him from the Konoha pursuers closing in behind, it threw him into an even more dangerous situation.
The great serpents of Ryūchi Cave, the three Snake Princesses, and the White Snake Sage herself—all of them were beings of boundless greed and cold-bloodedness.
Unlike the Shikkotsu Forest of Tsunade or the Mount Myōboku of Jiraiya, they were not friendly toward their summoners.
Just when Orochimaru thought he would die in a serpent's maw, the White Snake Sage—who had always been lofty and in control—suddenly displayed an expression of astonishment, as if she had seen something incomprehensible.
Her once-cold demeanor toward him transformed into warmth.
Not only did she use a single stone to instantly heal his fatal injuries, she even took the initiative to offer to teach him Sage Arts.
The price he paid for this, however, was to become something neither human nor ghost, neither male nor female, constantly under the surveillance of Ryūchi Cave.
"That old white snake must have seen something within me." Orochimaru furrowed his brows. "She said my destiny has changed. What does that mean? Why does it sound as vague and inexplicable as Jiraiya's so-called prophecy about the 'Child of Destiny'?"
He could not understand.
Neither Hyuga Kumokawa's sudden transformation nor the schemes of the White Snake Sage could be comprehended by Orochimaru at this moment.
He loathed this feeling—this sense that everything was shrouded in fog, beyond his sight.
---
"What's most important now is what I can gain from this scroll."
Shaking his head, Orochimaru cast away his tangled thoughts and lowered his gaze once more to the scroll.
The latter half contained miscellaneous notes the author had written about his experiences in the Hueco Mundo.
Orochimaru even encountered some familiar yet strange names—figures that seemed to appear only in certain ancient myths and legends.
But in the scroll's author's words, these people had truly existed. Only, they had already been fed to the Hollows.
At last, Orochimaru reached the end of the scroll. The remaining portion was sealed, leaving only the final sentence visible.
["The pathway between the Hueco Mundo and the ninja world, I call the 'Spatial Cavity.' It is hidden upon a remote overseas isle. I commanded my servant 'Greyl' to guard it from generation to generation."]
["I once sternly warned him: the Hollows are born of resentment. They must never be artificially cultivated, nor must the pathway be opened, otherwise…"]
The final line of the scroll was cut off by the seal, leaving Orochimaru unable to read further.
But from this single sentence, he understood one fact.
"There exists a passage between the Hueco Mundo and the ninja world… and it can be opened."
Orochimaru's hands trembled slightly as he gripped the scroll. A flicker of greed and contemplation shone in his eyes.
"Hollows… can be artificially cultivated…"
At that moment, a decision quietly took root in Orochimaru's heart.
The choices of both the scroll's author and the Sage of Six Paths had proven that the body would ultimately decay.
Only the soul might attain eternity.
Yet mere souls were far too fragile.
If the so-called 'Upper Menos' could be described by the scroll's master as incomparably powerful, then surely the strength it possessed was unique beyond compare.
"Only souls bound by obsession and resentment, after long erosion, can be transformed into Hollows?"
Orochimaru lifted his gaze, eyes glinting faintly.
"Then let me try it. Whether cultivation… or summoning."
He would attempt to cultivate Hollows. To steal their power. To seek the so-called remote overseas isle. To uncover the 'Spatial Cavity.'
The Second Hokage had been able to summon the souls of the Pure Land's dead with Impure World Reincarnation.
So why should Orochimaru not summon Hollows from the Hueco Mundo with the same technique?
All that was needed was to connect to the summoning point—that is, to find the so-called Hueco Mundo.