Life Spores

Liao Wu found a place to rest while he thought through his problem.

The Uchiha Clan had over a thousand members, but only around two hundred became ninja. Of those, perhaps fifty had awakened the Sharingan.

The Sharingan did not depend on talent. It depended on love—or, as Senju Tobirama had discovered by studying Uchiha brains, an intense emotional shock.

The main triggers were profound loss and pain, such as losing a lover or a close friend. Regret, despair, and grief erupted all at once.

Liao Wu used to be the sort of evil cultivator who played Tile Breaking, Bridge Blocking, and court games. "Pain" and "loss" had nothing to do with him. He had never experienced them.

As for Mikoto and Itachi, they had grown distant from Liao Wu after Fugaku told them to spend less time with him.

He had been struck from the Uchiha rolls. What feelings could he still have for them?

A secondary trigger for the Sharingan was an overwhelming desire to protect someone, or an obsession. Someone might need to grow stronger and defeat an enemy to protect an important companion.

Obsession meant clinging too fiercely to a single goal.

Liao Wu feared death. When Minato had nearly killed him, his eyes had reacted. But he still had a backup plan, and his conviction that someone would save him had broken the moment.

Liao Wu brooded over it for a while, then gave up. He could not force something like this. At worst, he would ask Madara for a pair of Sharingan to transplant.

So what if they belonged to someone else? I can pick a mother whenever I like. Why can't I swap eyes just as freely?

Tobi learned quickly from Liao Wu and was now putting Obito and Ryūsetsu through the same treatment.

"Obito, talk. Who else is in your family? How do we contact them? If you want to leave, have them pack up every Secret Technique they have and send them here."

Obito was too stubborn to bow his head. "Tobi, you damned bastard! I, Uchiha Obito, have only this one life. Take it if you want it!"

Liao Wu walked over. "Tobi, why waste your breath on him?"

Tobi gave up the main seat. Lately, he had practically accepted Liao Wu as his big brother.

Following Liao Wu was clearly more fun than following Obito. Tobi struggled to learn anything good, but picked up bad habits at once.

The moment Liao Wu arrived, he shocked Obito. "Are you going to talk? Are you?"

That Fire Filial Son Obito started cursing Liao Wu whenever he had the strength, going on and on about how well the village treated the Uchiha.

A Leaf Ninja raised on the Will of Fire had joined forces with a villain like Madara Uchiha? Disloyal, unfilial, and a disgrace to his ancestors!

Liao Wu could not be bothered arguing with him. He just shocked him again.

Obito howled under the current, but he did not even furrow his brow. "Bastard! I, Obito, will never bow to someone who betrayed the ninja way!"

"Still talking tough?" Liao Wu cursed. "White Zetsu, go grab Rin. I'll crush her face right in front of Obito!"

"Aaaah!"

"Don't hurt my Rin!"

Obito roared in fury. His black eyes turned bloodred as Tomoe spun within his Sharingan.

A third Tomoe was on the verge of appearing when his eyes suddenly closed and he passed out.

Liao Wu patted Obito's face. "I gave you a chance, and you couldn't make use of it. I gave you a chance, and you couldn't make use of it!"

Liao Wu had considered drawing Obito over to his side, but Obito, before he Blackened, had a personality just like Naruto's. People like him had stronger wills than anyone.

The more he was pressured, the firmer his resolve became.

Only when the person he cherished most died would he see the world for what it was.

Liao Wu looked at Ryūsetsu, who was hanging beside Obito, and pointed at Obito's unconscious body. "See that? That's what happens. Ryūsetsu, tell me who's in your family and every technique you know."

Ryūsetsu: "o((⊙﹏⊙))o."

Tobi reminded Liao Wu, "Lord Liao Wu, it's time for your training today. You need to develop a Forbidden Technique for Lord Madara."

"All right, all right. I'll work, okay? Go get me a White Zetsu Clone."

"Yes, Lord Liao Wu!"

Liao Wu took the living White Zetsu Clone Tobi brought back and laid him on his laboratory table.

Liao Wu snapped his fingers to have Ryūsetsu let down. She obediently stepped forward like an assistant and handed him his tools.

They had spent some time together by now. Ryūsetsu thought Liao Wu was a bit of a monster, but the only punishment he had given her was tickling the soles of her feet that one time.

Obito was kindhearted, but a little naive.

Even she could see it.

Both their lives depended on Liao Wu. If he could not make that terrifying old man young again,

all three of them would die.

Grass Village was a small ninja village, and small villages had to learn to survive wherever they could. As a member of Grass Village's Dove Faction, Ryūsetsu had long known that a ninja had to endure.

"Ryūsetsu, the forceps!"

"Here, Lord Liao Wu!"

Liao Wu appeared absorbed in his work, but he was only pretending to experiment.

The space Liao Wu occupied had been opened up by White Zetsu. It was separate from the space where Madara and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path were.

That was because Liao Wu also needed to practice Ninjutsu, and sooner or later his practice would take him toward the sleeping Madara.

Black Zetsu feared Liao Wu would ambush Madara, so he had driven him into this isolated space and assigned Tobi to watch him.

Each day had a fixed period for Ninjutsu practice. The rest of his time was meant to be spent developing a Forbidden Technique to Restore Youth for Madara.

Tobi was fooling around nearby, so Liao Wu chased him off. "Would you even understand what I'm doing? Go draw poop somewhere else."

Tobi obediently took a stick and went to draw poop.

Liao Wu stole a glance at Tobi. Once he saw that Tobi was not watching, he placed his hand against the White Zetsu Clone's chest.

Chimera: Plunder Regeneration!

Liao Wu's Chimera Technique could indeed plunder another person's life force, but there was a limit.

He was like a bucket. Once he plundered enough water to fill it, any more would overflow.

At that point, he needed to apply the principle behind the Yin Seal: store the plundered life force within a seal, then draw on it to save himself when his own life waned.

But Liao Wu did not know the Yin Seal. And the latest explanation of the Yin Seal gave it a remarkable origin.

Tsunade had not developed it. It was an inherited Ninjutsu of the Uzumaki Clan, derived from the Ōtsutsuki Clan's "Karma."

On the verge of death, members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan turned all their core information—their personalities, powers, and memories—into data and implanted it in someone else's body.

The person implanted with "Karma" became a "vessel."

Once the data fully thawed, the member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan would be completely resurrected in the vessel's body.

The Uzumaki Clan's Yin Seal was a "Karma" adapted for the human body, without the risk of an Otsutsuki being reincarnated through it.

But this Forbidden Technique was passed down to only one successor at a time. It had originally belonged to Mito Uzumaki, who later passed it on to Tsunade.

Liao Wu had no chance of stealing it.

But once, while entering White Zetsu mode, Liao Wu discovered that White Zetsu Cells could turn excess life force into spores.

It was like a tree flowering and bearing fruit.

Liao Wu called them Life Spores. Each Life Spore was a living duplicate of him.

Liao Wu had White Zetsu Cells and knew the Spore Technique, but ordinary White Zetsu spores were different from his Life Spores.

The spores White Zetsu produced could cling to a target's body, allowing covert surveillance and the theft and transfer of Chakra.

At the Five Kage Summit, even the Five Kage had failed to notice White Zetsu's spores listening in on them.

Liao Wu's Life Spores had every ability ordinary spores possessed. They could also replicate his full strength, even his Kekkei Genkai.

A Life Spore could be used multiple times, while a White Zetsu spore could be used only once.

Most importantly, a Life Spore was another life. It could supply Liao Wu with life force.

Liao Wu did not know whether giving a Life Spore to Madara would grant him another life. He did not dare test it. He had been developing them in secret and had never dared bring them into the open.

By now, under the pretext of research, Liao Wu had secretly converted ten Life Spores. That meant he had ten lives.

All the better for surviving the storm to come.

As for Plunder Regeneration 2.0, which Madara had asked Liao Wu to develop, he had already completed it based on Ryūsetsu's Dragon Life Reincarnation. All he had to do was wait for Madara to wake up.

Outside.

With the help of his animal friends, Orochimaru began a wide-ranging search for Liao Wu. The people of Grass Village did not know what he was looking for.

But they suspected it was connected to the Child Kidnapping Case and Ninjutsu Theft Case in their village, so they followed far behind Orochimaru and searched along with him.

Orochimaru suddenly found a lead. Twenty li to the north, the snakes he had sent to search the area were dying in large numbers.

"Heh. Found you, Liao Wu!"

Jiraiya finally could not hold back. He leaped out of the bushes and blocked Orochimaru's path.

"Orochimaru, you've refused the village's orders to return again and again. Are you planning to defect?"

Orochimaru appeared unconcerned by Jiraiya's arrival, but inside his sleeve, his hand was already poised to form a seal.

He gave a cold chuckle. "Jiraiya. So you finally couldn't resist showing yourself?"

Jiraiya looked at Orochimaru. "Come back, Orochimaru! Liao Wu is dead. His Forbidden Technique is gone for good."

Orochimaru shook his head. "No. He isn't dead. He's alive and well. He fooled all of us."

Jiraiya was certain Orochimaru was just refusing to accept the truth. "Stop being stubborn, Orochimaru. The old man's patience with you has run out."

"One way or another, you're coming back with me today."

Orochimaru held out his hand, revealing the seal he had formed. "And if I refuse? Will you kill me, Jiraiya?"

"I..."

Jiraiya hesitated.

A companion who shared his interests had died only days ago. Was he now supposed to turn against the friend he had known since childhood?

My friends... When did we all go our separate ways?

Jiraiya remembered a race their class had held when they were children.

Tsunade had plenty of stamina and ran out in front. Orochimaru followed steadily behind her, while Hiruko chased Orochimaru, unwilling to lose.

Jiraiya had tried to catch up through sheer strength, but the frail Liao Wu had grabbed him from behind. "For the sake of the Party-State, give your brother a hand!"

Now Liao Wu and Hiruko had fallen by the wayside, while Orochimaru was headed in the opposite direction from him and Tsunade.

What happened? Why were the ninja of a village that preached the Will of Fire all so rebellious?