"The Sage of Six Paths is not just a legend," Kyuushin said with a mysterious smile, but then added, "However, I'll keep this question a secret for now, Orochimaru-sensei. Let's talk about your dream first."
Orochimaru frowned slightly at Kyuushin's smile, but since Kyuushin said so, he didn't ask further. He then said, "Since Kyuushin is so frank, I'll be direct. Actually, I don't have much of a pursuit right now. It's just that I feel human life is too fragile. If only I could make my own life not so fragile."
Orochimaru didn't directly say the word "immortality." Perhaps at this point, he hadn't witnessed the deaths of those around him and hadn't solidified his belief in pursuing immortality.
However, ever since his parents' accidental death when he was a child, he had harbored vague ideas in this area, so he spoke them directly.
"Indeed," Kyuushin agreed with Orochimaru's statement, saying, "The world keeps turning, but a human life is only a few short decades. Even for us shinobi, sometimes a single kunai can take our lives."
"It seems Kyuushin is indeed very much like me," Orochimaru chuckled.
But Kyuushin didn't smile; instead, he continued along the topic, "Even Kage-level experts, as strong as they are, seem to be no different from genin. The same kunai that can kill a genin can sometimes even cause a Kage to die."
"Kyuushin, what are you trying to say?" Orochimaru's brows furrowed again.
"Naturally, I'm talking about immortality," Kyuushin said as a matter of course.
"What does immortality have to do with what you're saying now?"
"Orochimaru-sensei, haven't you noticed? In the examples I just gave, Kage-level experts and genin alike can die from a kunai. Isn't this because their 'life essence' is the same?"
"Life essence, life essence?" Orochimaru muttered twice, somewhat puzzled by the meaning. Kyuushin continued, "That's right, it's life essence. No matter how many ninjutsu, secret techniques, or forbidden jutsu Kage-level experts learn, these don't seem to change their life essence. Otherwise, why would Kage-level experts be as fragile as ordinary people?
Logically speaking, people pursue strength to live better. To live better, they naturally need to eliminate these fragilities. But in Kage-level experts and genin, there doesn't seem to be this difference.
Orochimaru-sensei, why do you think this is?"
"Yes, why is that?"
Orochimaru was a brilliant man. Although Kyuushin's words were a bit convoluted, he naturally understood the meaning Kyuushin was trying to convey.
Understanding Kyuushin's meaning, he naturally also knew that what he said was correct, but what Kyuushin said contradicted the actual situation, which made Orochimaru fall into deep thought.
But after a while, Orochimaru seemed to suddenly understand something and said, "Although I don't know when the shinobi profession began, ever since there were shinobi, the shinobi world seems to have never been peaceful. The shinobi profession has always been about killing.
In this situation, having strong offensive capabilities means being able to kill opponents faster, and one's own safety increases. Thinking this way, it seems to make sense."
Kyuushin nodded heavily. Orochimaru's comprehension was indeed extraordinary.
Ever since Kyuushin obtained his synthesized kekkei genkai last time, he had also wondered why the shinobi world had never developed along this path until now. In his opinion, the path of independently synthesized kekkei genkai should be the orthodox path to strength in the shinobi world.
But the shinobi world's development until now had never had such a record. Even if this path was indeed difficult, there should have been at least one person who took the correct path, no matter what.
But later, he realized that the crux of all this still lay with the two brothers, Indra and Ashura. Because of their constant struggles, the shinobi profession was inherently inseparable from fighting.
Since it was fighting, it was naturally inseparable from various techniques using chakra. Once the techniques were refined, the efficiency of killing would naturally be higher, and these techniques later slowly evolved into various ninjutsu.
Compared to the path of synthesized kekkei genkai, the difficulty of learning ninjutsu was naturally much lower.
So gradually, shinobi pursued learning more profound ninjutsu, seeking stronger offensive capabilities and more efficient killing techniques.
As for the path of synthesized kekkei genkai, because it was too difficult and not widely applicable, it was never seriously considered from the beginning.
It wasn't until Kyuushin, the transmigrator, arrived that this path was reopened.
But Kyuushin hadn't expected Orochimaru to be able to figure out the answer to this question in such a short time.
"Orochimaru-sensei, your ability to think of these things has truly raised my opinion of you to another level."
Although Kyuushin's words were a bit blunt, Orochimaru didn't mind. Although Orochimaru was his sensei, in terms of strength, Kyuushin indeed had the right to speak so casually.
"But you still haven't told me, what exactly is the purpose of all this you're saying?" Orochimaru smiled, but continued to ask.
"Orochimaru-sensei, since you've thought this far, haven't you considered that if shinobi were not initially for fighting, but for immortality, would there be another path for shinobi to become strong?"
Orochimaru's pupils constricted, clearly shocked by Kyuushin's words. But he hadn't personally experienced the effects of kekkei genkai modification, so he naturally couldn't draw a conclusion. Therefore, he asked urgently, "Does Kyuushin already have a guess?"
"It's not a guess; it has already been confirmed by me."
Kyuushin slowly shook his head, then said this to Orochimaru. Orochimaru's body trembled, and he couldn't help but directly grab Kyuushin's shoulders, staring intently into his eyes, and asked in a trembling voice, "What... what is it?!"
Kyuushin's shoulders were painfully squeezed by Orochimaru, but he didn't mind. Instead, he raised his hand, and a piece of ice crystal on his hand floated up and down with his chakra.
"It's... it's Ice Release, no, it's not, could it be... could it be a kekkei genkai?!"
Orochimaru's expression was somewhat flustered when he saw the Ice Release, but he hadn't completely lost his ability to think. Connecting it to what Kyuushin had said earlier, he couldn't help but have some guesses. He asked tremblingly, "Could it be... could it be that your Ice Release was... was not naturally awakened?!"
In Orochimaru's disbelieving gaze, Kyuushin slowly nodded. After receiving this answer, Orochimaru's body went limp, and he slowly sat down on the ground.
Kyuushin also sat down, but didn't speak. This matter had a huge impact on Orochimaru, so it was better to let him calm down first.
As for the leak of synthesized kekkei genkai, he hadn't been too concerned about it since becoming a Kage-level expert. It would be exposed sooner or later anyway. With Grandma Mito around and his own certain level of strength, even if it was exposed, it wouldn't be a big deal.
And Orochimaru was not someone who would casually leak secrets. He still trusted Orochimaru on this point, so there were even fewer problems.
In the original storyline, Kyuushin had a certain fondness for Orochimaru, but that was in his previous life. When he first encountered him after transmigrating, he was actually still a little afraid of Orochimaru.
If it were the later Orochimaru, Kyuushin naturally wouldn't be so open with him. But after getting along for so long, Kyuushin gradually realized that Orochimaru at this period was not actually that twisted.
Several major changes in the original storyline had not happened yet, so relatively speaking, Orochimaru at this time was still trustworthy, so he spoke without reservation.
Orochimaru sat on the ground, digesting Kyuushin's words for a long time, and then finally spoke, "Not many people in Konoha should know about your secret, right?"
"Naturally, besides Grandma Mito, you are the first to know."
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