Orochimaru's Desire

"Prepare ten ninjas for me; prisoners and prisoners of war will both suffice."

Inside the Hokage office, Danzo, who was busy handling official business, heard Shiraishi's voice ring in his ears.

Danzo had already grown accustomed to Shiraishi's elusive nature, so he was not startled.

However, Shiraishi's tone and attitude filled Danzo with indignation.

The two were merely in a cooperative relationship, not one of subordination. Shiraishi's command-like tone left Danzo deeply dissatisfied.

Danzo looked at Shiraishi, who was standing beside his desk. Despite the anger and resentment churning within him, his expression remained perfectly calm, revealing nothing.

"What are you planning to do?" Danzo asked.

"The nutrient solution in Orochimaru's possession cannot satisfy the embryo's development. I need some ninjas to replenish its nutrients," Shiraishi said in a flat tone.

Danzo's brows furrowed. He understood the implication behind Shiraishi's words, and a chill rose in his heart.

Using ninjas to replenish nutrients? This fellow was nothing short of a demon wreaking havoc upon the world.

"I will give you a written order; just go to the prison and requisition them yourself," Danzo said, pulling out a scroll and beginning to write the command.

Soon, Danzo set down his pen, rolled up the scroll, and handed it to Shiraishi.

"With this order, you can withdraw prisoners from the prison at any time."

Shiraishi took the scroll and smiled. "I will send over more Soul Banners the day after tomorrow. Arrange for them to be sent to the front lines. Once you engage in battle with Hidden Cloud, the souls of the fallen Konoha ninjas will enter the Soul Banners, granting them a chance at resurrection."

Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Danzo's face. "Get them to me as soon as possible; the war is about to begin."

"I will not keep you waiting."

Shiraishi tucked the scroll into his inner pocket, walked toward the open window, and vanished from the spot with a Body Flicker.

Less than an hour after leaving, Shiraishi returned to Orochimaru's secret laboratory with ten felony prisoners.

These ten individuals followed behind Shiraishi with hollow eyes, as if they were marionettes under his complete control.

Orochimaru, who had been waiting in the lab, watched Shiraishi return and saw the prisoners trailing behind him like obedient puppets; his eyes were filled with intrigue.

He was incredibly curious about what methods Shiraishi would use to convert these ten prisoners into nutrients for the embryo's development.

Orochimaru stepped aside in anticipation, leaving plenty of space for Shiraishi to work.

Shiraishi glanced at Orochimaru but did not tell him to leave; instead, he controlled the ten prisoners to stand in a circle around the cultivation tank.

"I have said that in this world, only I can grant you the hope of eternal life," Shiraishi said with a calm, confident smile, as if he held everything in the palm of his hand.

As his voice fell, Shiraishi looked forward, formed a hand seal, and his Yin Spirit Dharma Form emerged, brandishing the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.

Within the laboratory, gusts of ghostly wind arose. Thousands of Ghost Spirits within the banner let out soul-piercing wails, and a surge of black mist poured out, causing the temperature to plummet.

Orochimaru, standing to the side, stared unblinkingly at Shiraishi's Ghost King Dharma Form, his astonishment and desire so intense they were almost palpable.

How formidable such a soul was—to call it god-like or demonic would not be an exaggeration.

The temperature in the lab continued to drop, and the room was filled with dense, malevolent Yin energy. Orochimaru felt a bone-chilling cold that seemed to freeze his very soul.

Yet, he had no intention of retreating. His focus was entirely on Shiraishi's Ghost King Dharma Form; he only wished to explore the secrets behind this power.

Ten chains flew from the hands of Shiraishi's Yin Spirit Dharma Form, piercing the bodies of the ten prisoners as their souls were dragged out by the chains.

Shiraishi's Ghost King avatar opened its hideous maw and inhaled the souls of the ten men.

The chains retracted, and blood gushed from the prisoners' wounds, but it did not fall to the ground. Instead, it transformed into ten streams of blood mist that rose, carrying the life essence of these individuals, gathering and swirling in the air.

Finally, the blood mist condensed into a fist-sized orb of blood, radiating a faint dark-red glow as it floated in the air.

Shiraishi's Yin Spirit returned to his body. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes, his complexion visibly paler. He extended his right hand, and the blood orb fell into his palm.

"Put these into the cultivation tank," Shiraishi said, wrapping the blood orb in a wisp of true essence to prevent its energy from dissipating.

Orochimaru, whose body was nearly frozen, forced himself to move, slowly approaching Shiraishi step by step to take the blood orb.

The blood orb was wrapped in a faint black mist, hovering above Orochimaru's palm. A subtle, lingering chill spread from his palm throughout his entire body.

"Do not touch it for too long. With your current soul, you cannot withstand such Yin cold," Shiraishi cautioned.

Hearing this, Orochimaru suppressed his curiosity and looked at Shiraishi. "How did you do that?"

"You will know," Shiraishi laughed. "As long as you successfully cultivate this body."

Orochimaru said nothing more. As his body gradually recovered, he quickened his pace to the cultivation tank and injected the blood orb through the intake device.

Shiraishi stepped forward, pressed his index and middle fingers together into a sword gesture, and placed them against the glass wall of the cultivation tank. Though there was no wound on his fingertips, blood began to seep out.

Strange runes were drawn from Shiraishi's fingertips. He circled the cultivation tank, continuously carving with his own blood until the entire perimeter of the tank was covered in runes.

After finishing the runes, Shiraishi stepped back half a pace, formed a hand seal, and a bolt of true essence flew out, sinking into the blood runes.

The blood runes on the glass wall flared with a crimson light before returning to stillness.

The blood runes Shiraishi had carved were designed to seal all the refined blood energy within the cultivation tank, preventing the essence from dissipating and going to waste.

"These runes?" Orochimaru leaned in to look at the blood runes on the glass wall. He had never seen such symbols before, and his eyes were filled with curiosity.

"Want to know?" Shiraishi asked with a smile.

Orochimaru looked toward Shiraishi, remaining silent, yet the expression on his face and the look in his eyes were brimming with an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

"As long as you satisfy me, you will have the opportunity to understand all of these things in the future." Shiraishi kept tossing fruits of temptation toward Orochimaru.

For a mad scientist like Orochimaru, conventional favors and benefits held no appeal; the only things capable of drawing him in were those extraordinary, mysterious secrets of knowledge.

And as it happened, these were exactly what Shiraishi possessed in abundance.

"Hehehe, I find myself looking forward more and more to the knowledge you hold once this experiment succeeds." Orochimaru looked at Shiraishi, his tone tinged with a hint of fanaticism.

"Then you had best look forward to it! Orochimaru!" Shiraishi also smiled. "As long as you do not disappoint me, I will not disappoint you either."

"Whether it be the secrets of the soul, the hope of eternal life, or even these runes—as long as you can satisfy me, I can impart them all to you."

At this moment, Shiraishi was like the serpent enticing Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, except this particular Eve was, in his own right, a degenerate libertine.