Ascending to Immortality Through Transformation

Konoha.

Yuhara had returned to his homeless state, or rather, he had been homeless from the very beginning… After Jian Dong's unexpected sacrifice, he naturally couldn't live in her residence anymore.

Tigo was currently there, helping to sort through Jian Dong's belongings.

The process of burying Jian Dong wasn't complicated; in fact, after years of war, such burial procedures could be considered simple… Death was just death, and everything left behind was merely a way for the living to find solace.

Yuhara was now staying in a small inn in Konoha. He didn't have to worry about food, clothing, or shelter, but no one could ever consider an inn their home.

Because of the way Jian Dong had died, Yuhara had developed many negative feelings towards Konoha. He probably wouldn't feel much loyalty to this village anymore, but that didn't mean he wanted to become a "terrorist." A normal adult's perspective couldn't be so black and white, and their thoughts shouldn't be too extreme.

Joining "Akatsuki"? That was a joke. Setting aside everything else, would they even consider someone of Yuhara's strength? He was cannon fodder in Konoha; would he be anything other than cannon fodder in "Akatsuki"? If he was going to be cannon fodder anyway, why would he travel all the way to the Land of Rain?

Besides, the crucial question was: who killed Jian Dong?

Furthermore, "Akatsuki's" ideals were even worse than Konoha's. Konoha's ideals were beautiful, but its problem lay in its internal decay, preventing its noble vision from being realized. "Akatsuki's" ideals were fantastical, but their methods were terrifying, and their actions were extremely extreme.

Konoha was like a disabled but normal person, while "Akatsuki" was a convulsing lunatic… This was not difficult to understand.

As for what to do next, Yuhara honestly hadn't figured it out. Overall, he was still in a state of going with the flow.

The third day after returning to Konoha.

In the morning, Yuhara, as usual, went to a certain organizational department in Konoha to check in… Since he had completely lost his squad structure and couldn't sever his ties with Konoha, as long as he was in Konoha, he had to check in every day… In the morning, he wandered around Konoha a few times, seemingly familiarizing himself with the village; at noon, he ate something casually and then returned to the inn for a nap.

In the afternoon, he stayed in the inn and began to refine his Chakra.

It wasn't until dusk, the busiest time for activity in Konoha, that Yuhara left the inn again. He appeared to be strolling through the village's small night market, but if one observed him closely, they would notice that his movements were not aimless.

The more Yuhara walked, the fewer people there were around. Eventually, he arrived at an unnoticed corner of Konoha. Yuhara was very familiar with this place, as it was from here that he had emerged and seen the light of day again.

Soon, Yuhara found the entrance leading underground. After confirming multiple times that no one was around, he pulled open the heavy cover and stepped inside.

Yuhara was not familiar with the underground environment. To be honest, his observations during his hurried departure were very limited, but fortunately, he had a rough map.

The underground space beneath Konoha was vast and interconnected, with various pipes leading to different facilities. This section was a sewer, but as he walked, he might end up at "Root's" underground base.

Fortunately, the path Yuhara took was not too complicated. After about twenty minutes, he found Orochimaru's underground facility again.

Naturally, it had been abandoned. Orochimaru's various experimental facilities, research data, and findings had likely been cleared out by Konoha… except for the most crucial parts that Orochimaru himself had destroyed or taken away.

There were no more prisoners in the dungeon.

Yuhara walked through this eerie environment with an oil lamp. Perhaps because he had seen so many corpses, he didn't find it frightening. Ghosts and vengeful spirits certainly wouldn't scare a materialist like him.

Conversely, he would actually prefer to encounter a ghost here than to have someone suddenly jump out from a dark corner; the latter would be truly terrifying.

Fortunately, the only sound Yuhara could hear throughout was his own footsteps.

Following the instructions on the map, Yuhara entered a certain cell and approached a wall, then began tapping on it one by one.

Tapping around, Yuhara was a bit confused because he found the entire wall to be solid.

Was the map marking incorrect? Impossible. Thinking in reverse, if there was only an ordinary secret room here, it would have been discovered long ago, and anything inside would have been taken.

So…

Yuhara began scraping the wall.

It was unfortunate that although Yuhara possessed Earth-style Chakra, no one had ever taught him Earth Release. Fortunately, as a Magnet Release Ninja, he had a certain efficiency in renovation.

Using a blade vibrating at high frequency like a chainsaw, Yuhara painstakingly scraped away the wall, and then he discovered a wooden box, about one meter square, sealed within the wall… This was what the female ninja Hotaru had left behind.

This box had likely been sealed into the wall entirely with Earth Release, and it was hidden quite cleverly.

However, Yuhara didn't move the box immediately. To guard against any traps Hotaru might have set, after moving more than ten meters away, he used an iron rod extending from his palm to gently shake the box. After confirming that nothing exploded, he then forcefully pried open the lid of the box.

It turned out he had been a bit too cautious; there were no traps.

Yuhara walked to the side of the box and found it filled with various scrolls and books.

"Unbelievable… the efficiency with which you worked as a spy is simply too high?"

Looking at this large pile of items, Yuhara couldn't help but exclaim.

In an extremely dangerous environment, a spy who could leave behind a single piece of paper would be considered good, but Hotaru had left an entire box?

However, the situation wasn't that exaggerated. After a brief inspection, Yuhara discovered that most of the scrolls and books were blank, with only a small portion containing text.

Yuhara had originally planned to quickly skim through them and pick out the valuable items, but when he opened the first scroll, his entire attention was instantly captivated.

This scroll didn't record any exaggerated forbidden jutsu; instead, it generally described what kind of experiments Orochimaru was conducting and what he intended to do.

"A Wood Release body fused with Hashirama Cells…"

"Creating Cursed Seals to absorb natural energy…"

"Investigation of the Three Great Dojutsu…"

"And… Living Corpse Reincarnation…"

"I can only say, as expected of Orochimaru…"

Based solely on the descriptions in his hand, Yuhara didn't know the extent to which Orochimaru had investigated certain secret histories of the ninja world, but it was certain that he had gathered the main elements… Sage Body + Sage Power + Sage Eye + Living Corpse Reincarnation. Perhaps Orochimaru himself didn't know what he wanted to do yet, but in Yuhara's view, Orochimaru's intentions were crystal clear.

If Living Corpse Reincarnation was merely a jutsu that transferred the caster's spirit to a new body to extend their lifespan, it would easily give the impression that Orochimaru was "nothing special." Clearly, this didn't align with Orochimaru's personality of pursuing knowledge, tracing origins, and sparing no cost. But what if it was just a "half-finished product"?

But that's not right.

If Orochimaru had a complete plan, why did he only move frequently between various bodies in the original story?

What was the difference? What was different?

After much thought, Yuhara seemed to understand where the problem lay…

It was in the success time of the "Wood Release experiment subject."