Goodbye, Orochimaru

Minato withdrew from the custom training ground, found Orochimaru in his friends list, and sent a message.

"Orochimaru, I'm ready on my end. Where are you?"

- From Flash Dance Style First Generation

"...I am in my personal space. You can come over directly."

- From Eternal Snake

"Requesting entry to [Eternal Snake]'s personal space. Application submitted~"

"Ding! The other party has accepted."

As soon as Minato stepped inside, he found himself passing through a long, white corridor, the heavy atmosphere of a technological civilization washing over him.

"Please proceed at a steady, slow pace."

A mechanical voice echoed.

As he walked through the corridor, countless red beams scanned him from the sides, followed by various ultraviolet lamps and other unidentifiable rays that swept him from head to toe.

When he reached the end of the ten-meter-long passage, a mechanical voice sounded:

"Subject: Minato Namikaze. Detection passed. Disinfection procedure completed."

Mitsuki, an assistant to Orochimaru, appeared beside the corridor wearing a white lab coat and spoke respectfully.

"Lord Minato, please follow me."

Minato felt as if he had stepped into the interior of a spacecraft.

He recognized it because the Assistant System offered various categories for exchange; one could spend points to acquire delicacies, clothing, or entertainment like movies and novels from different civilizations for very few points.

However, most Reincarnators only used the tablet when they were idle and needed information.

After all, a feature that charged points even to watch sci-fi movies was merely a pastime for leisure; few Reincarnators would become addicted to it.

Minato had only watched a few hundred films occasionally, though he didn't go around bragging about his secret preference for sci-fi and xianxia movies—he was rather low-key.

Thus, the moment Minato entered Orochimaru's personal space, he could feel the dense, technological atmosphere.

Following Mitsuki through winding corridors, Minato felt as though he had entered the bowels of a spaceship, passing numerous metal chambers along the way:

Some held humanoids with various tumors growing on their bodies, others were half-human, half-wood monsters, and some were so distorted they lacked any human shape, appearing only as lumps of unidentified flesh. They were either like dead objects or roaring and slamming against the glass in a desperate attempt to resist...

Minato frowned the entire way. Although all of this went against his principles, he had no standing to criticize, so he moved forward in silence.

Finally, passing through a thick metal door, Minato entered a massive, sci-fi-style laboratory.

In the center of the lab stood several supercomputers and a pile of incomprehensible instruments arranged in a ring. Surrounding this vast space were dozens of giant glass display tanks filled with an unknown liquid, each containing various human bodies, mostly males ranging from children to middle-aged men.

Orochimaru, dressed in a white lab coat, looked up from a cluster of instruments.

"Wait a moment, Minato. I have one set of experiments to finish."

As he spoke, behind a glass door at the front of the lab, a space resembling a small dueling arena held two figures standing opposite each other.

One figure was restrained by special chains, while the other was exceptionally small and thin.

Both appeared to be ninjas, though one seemed to be an adult Sunagakure Ninja, while the other was a child of no more than ten, wearing a forehead protector with a musical note symbol.

"Lord Orochimaru, I am ready." The child's voice projected through a communication device.

"Good. Then I shall begin, Kabuto."

As the words fell, the shackles binding the Sunagakure Ninja instantly unlocked.

The ninja's head split open, revealing a long whip made of flesh and blood, tipped with a sharp metal blade. The whip lashed out, creating a terrifying sonic boom as it hacked madly at the thin child.

Kabuto, however, seemed completely unresponsive, merely circulating the Chakra within his body and remaining indifferent to the monster's assault.

Just as Minato thought a child's life was about to be lost to Orochimaru's experiment, the scene that followed shattered his understanding.

When the Parasyte ninja's intimidating strike landed on Kabuto, it did not hack him into pieces; instead, it rang out with the sound of clashing metal, as if striking indestructible iron.

Where the sharp blade struck his neck, a layer of blue Chakra patterns lit up, and blue Chakra could be seen faintly flowing through the blood vessels beneath his skin.

No, it wasn't just his neck; angular blue patterns emerged across all of Kabuto's exposed skin, as if he were wearing a suit woven from blue Chakra.

Minato's pupils dilated instantly.

"This strange energy circulation method... it's somewhat similar to a Tailed Beast Chakra Cloak. No, it seems more focused on defense."

While Minato pondered, Kabuto, having tested his surface defense, unleashed a ninjutsu.

"Water Style: Water Shot!"

Kabuto extended his palms toward the Parasyte, and a barrage of water bullets, like buckshot, scattered outward.

The Parasyte reacted quickly, its blades dancing to form an impenetrable, invisible wall.

However, upon hitting the Parasyte's blades, the water bullets were severed into countless tiny droplets. These droplets passed through the Parasyte's defensive net and struck its body, causing countless tiny blood flowers to burst from within.

A normal person might have died, but for the Parasyte, it was merely a minor injury; the blood at the impact sites stopped quickly, and the wounds began to heal.

After some time, Kabuto finally used his bizarre defensive armor to severely wound the Parasyte ninja, then restrained it with chains once more and exited the laboratory.

"What is this, Orochimaru?"

"Just a little trinket I developed based on a group of humans from the Bleach World called [Quincy]."

"Quincy, Bleach World?"

"Is that the world we are heading to next?" Minato frowned.

"Correct. I call this the [Blut Vene] Beta 1.0. The cost is currently quite high, and its performance is limited to defending against genin-level ninjutsu and physical attacks."

Excitement flickered in Orochimaru's eyes. "Although I believe Blut Vene has great potential yet to be tapped, at this stage, the purely biological mutation of the Parasyte is more practical."

"After all, the cost is only a lowest-tier D-rank Parasyte larva, and it can be cloned using nothing more than an ordinary human as raw material. Whether they are a ninja or not is irrelevant; a ninja's physical body isn't that different from a commoner's anyway."

Speaking of which, Orochimaru asked with interest, "How about it? Want a few? For only 500 points, you can create a first-tier high-level combatant. To train a genin of similar strength, the major ninja villages usually need to spend over five years to produce a qualified ninja nearing chunin level."

Minato refused without a second thought.

"What would I want with monsters that lack their own consciousness? Besides, this kind of shortcut is an evil path with no room for growth."

"That may be so, but they make excellent cannon fodder. It's a pity I don't have enough points to exchange for the T-Virus Serum; the last sample was ruined. I heard there's another world that still has some—I really want to go see it." As he spoke, Orochimaru couldn't help but lick his lips.

Minato secretly noted the information revealed in Orochimaru's words and asked, "The T-Virus Serum is only a D-rank exchange. With the haul from our last world mission, that should be a piece of cake for you, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru smiled but didn't reveal any more information, turning around instead.

"Follow me. Kisame and Pakura are already waiting. Let's prepare and set off."