Getting Stronger by Taking a Beating

For the next while, Orochimaru adapted to the entirely new vision brought by Hawk Eye while studying the abilities of Sebastian Shaw's physique.

The former was easy enough to handle. After all, aside from sleeping, he used his eyes every moment of every day. The latter, however, required quite a bit of Orochimaru's energy.

Sebastian Shaw's ability was to absorb all external energy, including kinetic energy, nuclear energy, and magical energy.

In the X-Men, Sebastian Shaw most enjoyed controlling kinetic and nuclear energy. Before any physical attack could harm him, its energy would already have been absorbed, making him practically impervious to blades and bullets.

That ability was outrageously overpowered, but this was only its most basic application. If he continued expanding its boundaries, he should be able to control the fundamental energy within all matter.

That would allow him to drain the energy from any object until it reached absolute zero.

However, Sebastian Shaw had not developed his ability to its limits. Along his path of advancement, he had always pursued quantitative changes rather than qualitative leaps.

There was still room to advance beyond that. Matter and energy could be converted into each other, so in theory, Sebastian Shaw could reverse the process of matter being consumed into energy and turn energy into matter.

He could even raise energy from low to high, or raise temperatures from cold to hot, directly violating the second law of thermodynamics. That would naturally allow him to advance into a Level 5 Mutant.

In other words, he could create things from nothing, control energy fields, and even absorb the nuclear energy of a star.

That was why Orochimaru had gritted his teeth and fused with this ability when he learned it was the system's reward.

If this ability were developed properly, neither the Eight Gates nor the Tailed Beasts would be worth mentioning. He could simply absorb all their energy and stomp on them.

But even with this ability, he could not neglect ninjutsu. Transformation Jutsu, Sealing Jutsu, Genjutsu, and the like were still useful.

Before he grew powerful enough, these supporting abilities remained necessary.

Genjutsu in particular was important. Even with such an absurd ability, Sebastian Shaw had ultimately been mentally controlled by Professor X and killed by a single coin. It was both regrettable and lamentable.

Orochimaru in this world was similarly weak against Genjutsu. The Databook might have rated his Genjutsu a 10, but he was still no match for Itachi.

All it meant was that the test score only went up to 10. Other people's limits were far beyond 10.

On top of that, he went around planting curse marks on others, and the Heaven and Earth Curse Mark contained fragments of his soul.

While that granted him many chances at resurrection, it also greatly reduced his resistance to Genjutsu. There were gains and losses in everything.

Since he knew this in advance now, he naturally would not allow such a thing to happen.

Sebastian Shaw's ability had already opened the door to a new world for him. From now on, he only needed to find ways to improve his defenses and resistance against Genjutsu.

As for research on the human body, Orochimaru had no intention of giving it up.

His body was ultimately still flesh and blood. He would bleed when injured, and if the energy he absorbed overloaded him, he could be burst apart.

Not only could this research not stop, it had to be taken seriously. He needed to understand the strength of his body, the limit of the energy he could absorb, how much energy his cells could contain and store, and so on.

Likewise, just as in the Original Work, he planned to study the cells of the Uzumaki Clan and the Senju Clan, especially Hashirama Cells.

If possible, he would still fuse with their genes. It was not because he wanted to learn Wood Release, but because he had his eyes on their powerful Sage Bodies.

Every member of the Uzumaki Clan possessed enormous Chakra reserves, but in contrast, aside from Hashirama, Asura's reincarnation, the other members of the Senju Clan were all rather unremarkable.

By Tsunade's generation, their bloodline had deteriorated badly. Even her Strength of a Hundred Seal was merely one of Hashirama's passive abilities.

By comparison, the Uzumaki Clan's Sage Body traits were far more obvious. This was also Orochimaru's next step.

Increasing cellular activity should benefit his ability as well. Rapid Cell Regeneration alone would be extremely useful.

Even if he overloaded himself by absorbing too much energy, he could regenerate quickly instead of immediately exploding.

In Marvel, Sebastian Shaw had begun developing his ability during World War II, yet it had still taken him decades to reach that level.

Orochimaru did not have that much time. He could only accelerate his growth through another method.

"This research can wait. First, I need to develop this body's abilities."

With that thought, Orochimaru formed a hand seal and breathed fire onto his hands.

At the same time, his hands absorbed the flames. If an outsider saw this, they would surely think he was mutilating himself.

That was right, Orochimaru was indeed harming himself. It was just that these attacks could not actually hurt him.

He had only just come up with this method of producing and consuming his own energy. Ninjutsu consumed the Chakra within his body.

It was not the same kind of energy as what he absorbed and stored, but it still consumed the energy within his cells.

After absorbing the flames, Orochimaru discovered that the energy he released and the energy he absorbed back were not equal.

The conversion rate between energy and Chakra was simply too low. This was more trouble than it was worth.

"Ah, so the method of becoming invincible through self-production and self-consumption really doesn't work!"

With a faint sigh, Orochimaru switched to another method. Since thermal energy did not work, he would try another kind.

Before long, just like Sebastian Shaw in Marvel, Orochimaru made a decision that defied his ancestors.

Crashing into walls, jumping off buildings, warming himself by fire—one bizarre act after another appeared on his body.

This kind of self-abuse really was effective, though anyone who saw it would definitely misunderstand and think he had self-harming tendencies.

At that moment, he was reminded of someone who behaved similarly: Hidan.

But at this point, Hidan's father was probably still somewhere unknown. Hidan would not be born for another seven or eight years.

After crashing into walls an unknown number of times, Orochimaru suddenly thought:

"Right, why don't I find someone to spar with? I've really been overthinking this!"

If someone beat him up every day, would he not gather energy effortlessly? This method of getting stronger through taking a beating would save both time and effort!

At that thought, a figure suddenly appeared in Orochimaru's mind: Tsunade.

Thinking of her terrifying Chakra-Enhanced Strength, one punch a day would be more than enough.

"Hmm, I haven't seen her around these past few days. I wonder how she's doing?"

Ever since Orochimaru returned from the cemetery that day, he had not gone out. He had also been deliberately avoiding her somewhat.

After all, they were both Sannin. Getting brutally beaten in public would be terribly damaging to his dignity. Orochimaru had been in the wrong first, so he had been too embarrassed to fight back.

But now that he thought of having a free source of energy to charge himself up, taking a hit was no big deal. Everything was for a bright future.

According to Orochimaru's memories, Tsunade would remain in the village for another nine years. She would only leave to travel the world after Shizune became a chunin.

During that time, not only could Tsunade spar with him, but they could also have some academic exchanges. After all, she was proficient in Medical Ninjutsu and understood the human body very well. In that regard, her expertise complemented Orochimaru's research.

With that thought, Orochimaru brushed the dust from his body, pushed open the courtyard gate, and walked out.