Haku and Jugo

Minamoto Takuya was taken aback by Kimimaro Kaguya's answer, then could not help giving him a closer look.

Even as a child, the other boy already had that rather unusual appearance: two red dots marked his forehead, and he held a bone blade in his hand, which still carried the scent of dirt.

Scrape marks remained on the walls inside the cell, and they were still fresh.

It was easy to imagine that, before Takuya arrived, he had been using the bone blade in his hand to scrape at the walls.

At that moment, Takuya sighed inwardly. If he needed subordinates, Kimimaro Kaguya truly would have been one of the best.

But he did not need any, and Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai disease doomed him to die within a few years.

Even Orochimaru, who had studied the human body more deeply than anyone, and the extraordinarily skilled Kabuto Yakushi had been unable to solve this Kekkei Genkai disease despite working together. That showed just how stubborn it was.

In the Original Work, Kimimaro had lived to the age of fifteen. Without Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi, he definitely would not have made it that far.

Minamoto Takuya had no intention of studying Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai disease either. If those two legends could not solve it, he would not waste his time.

"Hmm, then let me put it another way. Can you give your body to me?" Minamoto Takuya said directly. He had no intention of manipulating the boy, so naturally, there was no need to deceive him with clever phrasing.

Kimimaro Kaguya immediately became wary. Even at his young age, he could understand what those words meant.

However, once Minamoto Takuya finished speaking, his finger was already pressed against Kimimaro Kaguya's forehead. Countless Seals instantly burst forth from that spot and spread over his body.

When Kimimaro Kaguya tried to use his Kekkei Genkai, he realized that he could no longer connect with the Bones that had once obeyed him as easily as his own limbs. Even...

His arms and legs gradually lost all strength, and he finally collapsed to the ground.

Minamoto Takuya carried Kimimaro Kaguya's small body away. He intended to stop the boy's time at this very moment, keeping his Kekkei Genkai disease at the stage before it had erupted.

He had no intention of using the Chimera Technique to fuse with Kimimaro right now. That Kekkei Genkai disease was no joke.

If Orochimaru were not going to take Kimimaro Kaguya away later on, he would not have taken Kimimaro away now.

As for that Kekkei Genkai disease, Minamoto Takuya felt that it should not be able to withstand Hashirama Cells. The problem was that he himself would likely have a hard time resisting the corrosive nature of Hashirama Cells.

Therefore, he would have to wait until everything was prepared and he could resist the Kekkei Genkai disease before fusing Shikotsumyaku into himself.

Afterward, he stood within the Kaguya Clan's territory, lost in thought.

Over here in the Land of Water, there was also the young boy Haku, who looked like a girl but insisted he was a boy, and who could use Ice Release.

Minamoto Takuya had no interest in using the Chimera Technique to fuse with Ice Release. Besides, Haku's parents were still alive at this time, and they had yet to discover his Kekkei Genkai, so they were still living "happily" together.

However, compared to the relatively famous Kaguya Clan, Haku lived in an unknown little village, making him somewhat difficult to find.

So, was it worth spending a great deal of time searching for him?

Minamoto Takuya recalled everything about Haku. After coming to this world, his memory seemed to have improved considerably. Things he might not even have remembered clearly in his previous life now came back to him.

He knew this was because his spiritual energy had grown stronger. It was a good thing.

In the end, he summoned several crows and instructed them to search for a village where snow fell all year round.

Even in the Land of Water, there were not many places that snowed year-round, so it should not be too difficult.

Although summoned crows could not perform Reverse Summoning, and without a complete inheritance, it was difficult for him to make them speak using only his half-baked methods of raising summoned beasts.

Still, crows themselves were quite intelligent. Though he needed to give them specific instructions every time, they could understand and carry them out. They truly were excellent summoned beasts.

Minamoto Takuya watched the crows that had received their mission fly away. This was already the second batch of crows he had sent out to search for people.

That was right. The first batch had already been helping him search for someone earlier.

There were many crows in the first batch, and they were currently searching in every direction with Takigakure as their center.

Their target was Jugo, the one born with a Sage Body he could not control!

Although the Original Work had never mentioned Jugo's village, his Sage Body could basically be confirmed to be connected to Ryūchi Cave.

After Kabuto Yakushi emerged from Ryūchi Cave upon cultivating Sage Mode, the ninja he encountered had been from Takigakure. So even if Ryūchi Cave was not located within Takigakure, it should be somewhere nearby.

He could not go wrong having the crows spread out from Takigakure to search.

Furthermore, finding Jugo only required waiting for him to speak to them himself. As long as the crows confirmed that he could understand their language, they could basically determine his identity.

Thinking of Jugo, Minamoto Takuya suddenly paused.

After connecting all the people related to Orochimaru, he finally understood why he had always felt something strange. The timeline was completely wrong!

He looked at the Kimimaro Kaguya in his hand and confirmed that the boy was only two or three years old. Jugo at this time should also have been around two or three.

According to his memories, those two should only have met when they were already teenagers. In other words, they were not supposed to meet for nearly another ten years.

His impression was that Orochimaru's curse marks had been researched based on Jugo's physique, while Orochimaru's disciple Anko Mitarashi had received the Heavenly Curse Mark before Orochimaru defected.

Then there was a problem. Orochimaru's defection was not that far off from now, at most a year or two away.

Within that year or two, did Orochimaru need to first find Kimimaro, then make Kimimaro's body instantly grow into that of a teenager so he could find Jugo, who had likewise suddenly grown ten years older, persuade him to submit, and then begin his research?

Minamoto Takuya rubbed his temples. This timeline was truly a complete mess.

Perhaps he remembered incorrectly. Maybe during this period, Orochimaru had researched curse marks using Jugo's clansmen. Then Jugo went berserk and destroyed the village, cutting off Orochimaru's research materials, though Orochimaru learned of Jugo's existence through it.

Only then did Orochimaru send Kimimaro Kaguya to find Jugo, allowing the two of them to form a bond...

That seemed to be the only possible explanation.

Minamoto Takuya sighed. No matter what, he needed to find Jugo before Orochimaru did.

He did not intend to use the Chimera Technique to fuse with Jugo. There were still too many uncertainties in Jugo's physique, and fusing with such an unstable state would not be a good thing. No matter how strong one was, if one lost their mind, someone clear-headed would always find a way to counter them, ultimately costing them their life.

So rather than using the Chimera Technique to fuse with Jugo, it would be better to make something similar to curse marks by utilizing Jugo's physique, just as Orochimaru had done.

As he pondered this, Minamoto Takuya used the Summoning Technique to travel to the Experiment Base and settle Kimimaro down, then returned to Konoha.