Facing dozens of white snakes charging at him, Pain remained unruffled. He thrust the Black Receiver in his left hand forward again and again, each strike landing on one of the snakes.
"Impossible!"
Orochimaru's voice came from the mouths of the white snakes. After Pain struck them, they curled together and reformed into Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru looked utterly battered now. Pain held him aloft by the right hand, and several bloody holes had appeared in his body. They had clearly been made by the Black Receiver Pain had just stabbed into him.
Just then, the hand with which Pain held Orochimaru began to freeze over. Pain furrowed his brow and violently hurled Orochimaru away.
Orochimaru flipped through the air several times before finally steadying himself.
Eyeing the black rod in Pain's left hand, Orochimaru asked grimly, "What kind of weapon is that? It actually hit my genjutsu clone."
Pain did not answer. He simply looked at Orochimaru calmly and said, "Tell me what you choose: join us or die."
The black rods in Pain's hands were made using the power of the Rinnegan, combined with Yin-Yang Release.
This substance could harm genjutsu constructs made of Yin Release Chakra. It could be used as a weapon, but more importantly, it could serve as a Chakra receiver for the Six Paths of Pain. It was key to Nagato's control over them. Naturally, Pain wasn't going to explain any of this to Orochimaru.
Hearing Pain's words, Orochimaru fell silent.
Though he had great confidence in his own strength and had yet to use the power of his Cursed Seal, he could clearly sense that this enemy was unlike anyone he had faced before!
This man, with his extraordinary Kekkei Genkai of the Dojutsu, seemed to have reached a higher level of the shinobi world.
After a moment's thought, Orochimaru's expression shifted from grim to amused. He licked his lips and asked with interest, "I might be willing to join, but I need to know what your organization's goal is."
Whether he joined the organization or looked for a chance to escape, Orochimaru first needed to understand its aims.
"Collect all the Tailed Beasts and rule the Ninja World with absolute power!" Pain replied coolly. His tone was so casual that it sounded as though this were a simple, perfectly achievable task.
"How interesting! How interesting!" Orochimaru burst out laughing.
He laughed for a good ten seconds before finally stopping. Looking at Pain, he said slowly, "I'll join!"
Hearing that Pain intended to rule the Ninja World by collecting all the Tailed Beasts, Orochimaru saw a rare opportunity for himself as well.
At present, his Yin-Yang Cursed Seal contained only the Yin Release Chakra of the One-Tail, Shukaku. He wanted to use the organization's power to seize the strength of more Tailed Beasts.
Orochimaru didn't feel any regret over having just killed Shukaku. In fact, he felt fortunate. If the others discovered Shukaku, they would not only take him away but also learn that Orochimaru was collecting Tailed Beasts himself.
To be safe, Orochimaru also decided not to use the Yin-Yang Cursed Seal in front of Akatsuki members unless absolutely necessary, lest they discover any clues.
Seeing that Orochimaru had agreed to join, Pain put away the Black Receiver and casually tossed him something.
Orochimaru caught it and opened his palm. Inside was a ring engraved with the character "Void."
"Put on this ring, and you'll be an official member of Akatsuki. From now on, Sasori will be your partner."
Elsewhere, Yusuke had no idea that Orochimaru had already joined Akatsuki and planned to use its power to collect the Tailed Beasts.
At that moment, he was fighting Ryujin Jakka in the Mental World, training his spiritual strength through combat.
Ryujin Jakka's human form was still imposing. Every swing of its sword was broad and powerful, and the flames on its weapon roared with each slash.
Against Ryujin Jakka's fierce assault, Yusuke could still do little more than struggle to defend himself. Its voice rang in his ears over and over.
"Control your Reiatsu. Focus it on your weapon!"
"Don't just defend. Look for a chance to attack!"
"You're the worst class I've ever taught!"
With a clang, Ryujin Jakka struck horizontally, and the weapon in Yusuke's hand snapped. The tremendous force sent him flying.
Sensing that Yusuke had little ocular power left, Ryujin Jakka said calmly, "That's enough for today."
After several months of training, Yusuke could clearly feel that his spiritual strength had increased.
The most immediate benefit was the improvement in his ocular power. Before, Yusuke could only fight in the Mental World for about ten minutes, but now he was close to lasting fifteen.
His stamina had also improved. He slept less than before, yet he tired less easily in his daily life, and his ability to concentrate had grown as well.
Aside from his spiritual strength, Yusuke had also improved his swordsmanship. The style Ryujin Jakka used was called Genryu, created by one of its former wielders, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.
Under Ryujin Jakka's instruction, Yusuke was steadily learning Genryu swordsmanship. The style placed the greatest emphasis on controlling Reiatsu and using it to strengthen the power of each sword technique.
Glancing at the broken sword in his hand, Yusuke asked Ryujin Jakka, "When do you think I'll be able to learn Bankai?"
Ryujin Jakka shook its head. "You're nowhere near ready. Your soul can't handle the power of Bankai yet."
"But once you can fight in the Mental World for half an hour, you should be able to try the first form of my Bankai!"
After finishing his training that day, Yusuke secretly left Konoha and went to an abandoned shrine.
A spiral symbol was carved into one of the shrine's beams. It had once belonged to the Uzumaki Clan.
Hidden there was a sacred heirloom passed down through generations of the Uzumaki Clan—the Shinigami Mask.
The Shinigami Mask had a mysterious connection to the Shinigami. Once a shinobi put it on, they could summon the Shinigami even without using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
In the original story, Orochimaru used the Shinigami Mask to summon the Shinigami, then cut open its stomach to release the souls of the First through Fourth Hokage and restore the use of his own arms.
Yusuke slowly entered the dilapidated shrine and found a wall covered in masks.
Nearly a hundred eerie masks, each with a different expression, hung there. They seemed to have been arranged to conceal the real Shinigami Mask.
But to Yusuke, whose spiritual power was strong, the Shinigami Mask radiated a spiritual presence among the others like a firefly in the dark. He could spot it at a glance.
"Is this the Shinigami Mask?" Yusuke slowly took down the grotesque mask with two horns and a sinister grin, then examined it closely.
Yusuke had once told Ryujin Jakka about the Shinigami of the Naruto world, and Ryujin Jakka had been very interested. After all, it had once been a weapon belonging to a Shinigami of Soul Society, and it was curious about the Shinigami of this world.
After hearing Yusuke's description, Ryujin Jakka decided that the Shinigami of the Naruto world wasn't a true god who governed the life and death of the world's inhabitants. It seemed more like a powerful demon that fed on souls.
After thinking it over, Yusuke felt Ryujin Jakka's assessment made a lot of sense. After all, when Orochimaru cut open this Shinigami's stomach in the original story, he only released the souls of several Hokage sealed by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and the souls of Orochimaru's arms. That suggested that this so-called Shinigami only controlled souls sealed by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
From that perspective, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal seemed more like a Summoning Technique. The user sacrificed their own soul to summon the Shinigami, which then reaped the souls of their enemies.
In Yusuke's plan, he intended to use the Shinigami's power to complete the Reverse Yin-Yang Cursed Seal. The Shinigami itself was a pure spiritual entity that fed on souls, and it consisted of extremely pure Yin Release Chakra. It might well meet the Cursed Seal's requirements for Yin Release material.
"Although Ryujin Jakka assured me that, as a Zanpakuto, it can kill spiritual monsters like the Shinigami, I still can't gauge the Shinigami's strength. If I summon it and can't beat it, I might die without even knowing why."
After thinking it over, Yusuke decided to play it safe and put the Shinigami Mask into his Storage Scroll. He would wait until he was more certain before summoning the Shinigami.
The next day, Yusuke went to his usual spot, the Pin-Chun Tea House, his favorite teahouse in Konoha.
"Oh? It's you." Yusuke was surprised to see the young waitress he had met before.
She wore a floral apron, and her light gray hair was still braided into two perky plaits over her shoulders. She looked cheerful and adorable.
When the girl spotted Yusuke, her face lit up. She hurried over in small, quick steps.
"Lord Yusuke, it's been so long!"
Yusuke smiled. "Hadn't you become a shinobi? Why are you back working as a waitress?"
The girl was still smiling, but a faint sadness showed in her eyes. "Being a shinobi really isn't right for me."
"When I was little, I admired those brave shinobi so much. I hoped that one day I could become a shinobi everyone looked up to."
"But after I started going on missions, I realized how cruel the shinobi world really is."
From the girl, Yusuke learned that she was Inari Shinji, the former teammate of his student, Itachi.
During the mission when Itachi awakened his Sharingan, their leader, Mizunuki Yuki, and teammate, Izumo Tenma, had been killed. Inari Shinji had also been seriously injured and needed several months to recover.
After experiencing the cruelty of the Ninja World, Inari Shinji realized that she didn't have the talent to become a shinobi. She gave up that path and returned to the tea house to work as a waitress.
"I don't have Itachi's extraordinary talent, and I can't accept watching my teammates die right in front of me. Maybe this tea house is the place where I belong." As they chatted, Inari Shinji seemed to sink into some painful memories.
Coming back to herself, Inari Shinji noticed Yusuke patiently listening. Her face turned bright red, and she hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, Lord Yusuke. I've wasted so much of your time complaining like this."
Yusuke smiled and shook his head, showing her she didn't need to worry about it.
They didn't talk for long before Inari Shinji returned to her work as a waitress.
Watching the girl bustle around, Yusuke lifted the last of his tea and drained the cup. Yet his mind was full of thoughts.
"The Five Great Nations, Akatsuki, countless small independent countries, and people like Obito lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance."
"This world is chaotic and utterly cruel."
"I came to this world with a power as great as Ryujin Jakka's. Could I do something to change it?"
(End of Volume One)
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