The Defunct Cosmic Cube

Sitting before his newly acquired experimental equipment, Orochimaru's face showed not a trace of joy.

This time, he had taken a massive loss!

After prematurely ending the Second Ninja War, Orochimaru's fearsome reputation had spread far and wide across the ninja world.

As his strength grew and his power and status rose, the temporal fantasy power within his mind swelled further, even leaving remnants after condensing a second item.

But!

Although an item as immensely powerful as the Cosmic Cube had emerged, it was utterly unusable!

This infuriating Space Gem would only be useful in the Marvel Universe; the moment it left that universe, its internal energy would vanish completely!

Staring at the blue-glowing shards scattered across the floor and the now-dull Space Gem, Orochimaru felt nothing but exhaustion in his heart.

Those blue-glowing glass fragments were the transparent cube that had encased the Space Gem when the Cosmic Cube first appeared; the Space Gem plus these pieces formed the complete Cosmic Cube...

Wait!

A thought struck Orochimaru—why didn't the Space Gem glow, yet these glass-like fragments did?

Could it be...

With a mix of excitement and anxiety, Orochimaru pinched a tiny shard glowing with faint blue light, closed his eyes, and focused his senses...

There was energy! Not much, but it was definitely there!

Light reignited in Orochimaru's eyes.

Orochimaru gathered all the Cosmic Cube fragments, twenty-three in total.

Picking up the smallest piece, he began his experiments, aiming to collect data through basic tests.

Time passed swiftly, and Orochimaru's experiments had gone on for a week.

He hadn't slept for an entire week, finally managing to compile preliminary data on the Cosmic Cube fragments.

Orochimaru ignored the fragment in the container, which had already lost its blue glow, and instead lowered his head to carefully examine the data he had derived from the experiments.

Experimental Sample:

Cosmic Cube (Fragment)

Number of Experiments:

7 (Fragment lost all energy after 7 experiments)

Sample Analysis:

This fragment contains relatively low energy.

When Chakra is infused, it returns an extremely unique Chakra with spatial properties, but this consumes internal energy. Hypothesis: Chakra is eroded by the spatial energy within the fragment, thereby acquiring spatial attributes.

This Chakra provides a massive boost to space-attribute ninjutsu like Summoning Jutsu and drastically reduces the difficulty of execution.

Cutting the fragment causes a slight energy dissipation; therefore, cutting it for more experiments is not recommended.

When Chakra is infused into an energy-depleted fragment, the Chakra's nature does not change. Additionally, methods such as fire, electricity, kinetic impact, etc., cannot recharge it.

After careful examination, Orochimaru wrote a usage suggestion at the end, essentially for his own use only.

Usage Suggestion:

Utilize the spatial energy within the fragment for human body modification, granting spatial properties to the Chakra generated within the body.

Orochimaru believed that if he acquired this peculiar spatial energy, the Flying Thunder God Technique would pose no difficulty for him.

He even had confidence in improving the Flying Thunder God Technique, perhaps even creating his own space-time ninjutsu!

But body modification was no simple matter—extremely difficult, highly risky, and with the Cosmic Cube fragment's energy depleting with each use, he intended to channel all of it into himself.

It was a pity that his research into space-time wasn't particularly extensive.

It seemed he absolutely had to get his hands on the Flying Thunder God Technique; he needed the Second Hokage's research data on space-time ninjutsu.

But before that, he needed to get some sleep.

The next day, having slept until afternoon, Orochimaru leisurely fried a few eggs, ate them, and headed toward the Hokage Building. To his surprise, he spotted Jiraiya, and beside him stood the golden-haired little sun, Minato Namikaze.

"Yo, Orochimaru, long time no see."

Jiraiya raised a hand in greeting, while his other hand pointed at Minato:

"This is my disciple, Minato Namikaze."

Introduced, Minato bowed politely.

"Good afternoon, Orochimaru-senpai."

Orochimaru looked at Minato, then at Jiraiya, and said to Jiraiya:

"Your disciple will achieve great things in the future, even surpassing you."

"Yeah, Orochimaru, I think so too."

Jiraiya laughed heartily, slinging an arm around Orochimaru's shoulder.

Minato scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"As long as you don't pick up his bad habits, surpassing him is only a matter of time."

"Damn it, Orochimaru, what bad habits does This Lord have?!"

"Lechery, lechery, and lechery."

"Orochimaru! Don't slander me out of thin air!"

Jiraiya was a bit flustered. With people coming and going on this street, if word of his lecherous ways got out, where would he, one of the Three Ninja and the Toad Sage, put his face?

With two legendary ninja bickering, Minato shrank his neck, not daring to interrupt.

"Aren't you out there teaching your so-called Child of Prophecy? Why are you back in Konoha?"

Orochimaru glanced at Minato, then asked.

"Minato is my disciple too. I won't play favorites. I plan to transfer all my combat merits to Minato so he can learn a powerful jutsu from the Scroll of Seals."

In his heart, Jiraiya actually felt a bit guilty. He had put more effort into teaching Nagato, after all, since he himself believed that Nagato, with his Rinnegan, was likely the Child of Prophecy.

So, besides passing on the Mount Myōboku summoning technique to Minato, he intended to transfer his combat merits to Minato as well, letting him pick a suitable jutsu from the Scroll of Seals.

"The Scroll of Seals, huh. I was also planning to ask Teacher Sarutobi for a jutsu from it. I wonder if I'll end up choosing the same one as Minato-kun."

Orochimaru licked his lips, looking at Minato.

"If that happens, you'll have to give Minato some pointers, Orochimaru."

Jiraiya had great faith in Orochimaru's talent. Since they were kids, there hadn't been a jutsu Orochimaru couldn't learn.

"I will."

Orochimaru nodded. As they talked, the three arrived in front of the Hokage Building. After notifying the Anbu at the entrance and receiving permission, the two walked into the Hokage's Office.

"Orochimaru, you're here... Huh? Jiraiya? You actually remember to come back!"

The moment the Third Hokage spoke, his double standards were clear.

He was actually a bit displeased that Jiraiya had gone off to train ninja outside the village. If the Child of Prophecy was going to be his disciple anyway, then if he only took Konoha ninja as students, wouldn't the Child of Prophecy be a sure thing for Konoha?

The Third's thinking was a bit of a loophole exploit.

"Hehe, Old Man, I plan to transfer my combat merits to Minato so he can pick a suitable jutsu from the Scroll of Seals."

Jiraiya scratched his head with a goofy grin.

"I knew it. None of you ever come to see this old man unless you need something. And you, Orochimaru? What's your business?"

"I came specifically to visit you, Teacher Sarutobi. And, incidentally, to pick a jutsu from the Scroll of Seals."

Hiruzen Sarutobi snorted. Aren't you just here to ask this old man for something too?

Your words sure sound nice.

"Follow me."

Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, stepped out of the Hokage's Office, and led the three toward a secret room in the Hokage Building.

The three passed through a corridor heavily guarded by Anbu and arrived at a small room covered in Sealing Formulas.

The seals here had been successively laid down by the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, Mito Uzumaki, and Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Without a specialized unsealing technique, entry was impossible.

It was obvious that Naruto obtaining the Scroll of Seals was a setup deliberately orchestrated by the Third Hokage.

The Third performed the unsealing technique and walked in. Orochimaru and the others didn't enter immediately—just because the outer seals were undone didn't mean there weren't any inside. What if there were attack-type seals?

"Come in."

Only after hearing the Third's voice did the three step into the small room one by one. The room was thick with dust, clearly unvisited for a long time. It had no furnishings except for a single scroll laid out on a table in the center.

The Third unrolled the scroll and gestured for them to come forward and choose.

Orochimaru gave it a cursory glance. As expected, the Eight Gates, Impure World Reincarnation, Mutual Explosion Tag, and a series of other forbidden techniques were all listed.

While Minato was still browsing, Orochimaru made his choice with clear intent: the Flying Thunder God Technique.

"Orochimaru, are you sure you want to choose this jutsu? This isn't an ordinary technique. Even among all forbidden techniques, it's one of the hardest."

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked. He was a disciple of the Second Hokage, so he had naturally seen the Second's brilliance when using this technique.

Because of that, after becoming Hokage, he had also tried to practice the Flying Thunder God Technique based on the contents of the Scroll of Seals—but he failed.

Even Orochimaru, the most talented young ninja he had ever seen, would likely find it extremely difficult to learn.

After all, he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had once been praised as a genius ninja by the Second Hokage and others.

"This one." Orochimaru nodded in confirmation.

"Third Hokage-sama, I also choose the Flying Thunder God Technique." Minato's voice came from beside him.