A Narrow Victory! Orochimaru's Counterkill Against Isshiki!

Orochimaru transformed into Eight-Headed Serpent, with all eight snake heads Isshiki biting Isshiki's reborn body, infusing it with paralyzing venom and Cursed Seal.

The Living Corpse Reincarnation is a new S-Rank Forbidden Jutsu developed by Orochimaru based on the Eight Branches Technique and the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, both of which are S- S-Rank Forbidden Jutsu.

It is a ninjutsu that allows one to transfer their spirit into another person's body, thereby gaining eternal life.

Although this Forbidden Technique is very powerful, it has many flaws.

First, one must use the Living Corpse Reincarnation, and each reincarnation must be spaced 3 years apart.

In addition, the Mental Power of the Vessel must be weaker than that of the caster, otherwise the caster's soul will be at risk of being devoured.

Besides, the Impure World Reincarnation has two relatively obvious flaws.

First, it will damage the caster's soul when used, and there will be a period of weakness after reincarnation to adapt to the new body. The damage to the soul can only be slowly recovered after a period of rest.

Secondly, the soul will have varying degrees of rejection reaction to the Vessel. Theoretically, the stronger the physical quality of the Vessel, the stronger Orochimaru will be after reincarnation. However, if the Vessel and his soul are not compatible, it can easily cause a significant decrease in his strength and more severe damage to his soul.

After Orochimaru defected from Konoha, he went to his base in the Land of Rice Fields to lie low. Because he was ambushed and seriously injured by the Third Hokage, he used the Living Corpse Reincarnation six months later to reincarnate into the body of a subordinate who volunteered to offer his body.

However, Orochimaru discovered that this subordinate's body was not suitable for him, so even after more than three years, his soul had not fully recovered.

This is why, when he encountered Shiraha on the continent of the Land of Water, his weakened soul was immediately apparent.

Afterwards, Orochimaru obtained the "Companion Serpent Meditation Method" and Shiraha's blood from Shiraha. He once wanted to absorb Shiraha's blood, but ultimately refrained from doing so.

Orochimaru didn't want to admit defeat in this area. He wanted to continue developing the Living Corpse Reincarnation until he perfected this Forbidden Technique, leaving no flaws. This was his pride.

After meeting Shiraha, Orochimaru sensed the enormous difference in their strength and finally decided to reincarnate again. This time, he changed his Vessel to a female subordinate who admired him.

Contrary to Orochimaru's expectations, this female subordinate was only at the level of an ordinary Jōnin, not as powerful as the previous Vessel, but she was a perfect match for his soul.

So Orochimaru continued to use this body until 56 years into the Konoha, when ' Shinnō ' came to him.

After receiving the Cloning Technology and Body Regeneration Technique techniques from Shinnō, Orochimaru, through years of research, not only mastered these two techniques but also made Great Breakthrough in the Impure World Reincarnation.

The Impure World Reincarnation has been improved, Orochimaru no longer needs to forcibly seize another person's body in the original way. Instead, he can directly use his own cells and Cursed Seal to reincarnate.

This would avoid the dangerous soul battles required when seizing someone else's body. After all, the subordinates who voluntarily offered their bodies were not very strong, and Orochimaru no longer considered them. None of the Vessel he could find were willing to offer their bodies voluntarily.

Especially after mastering Cloning Technology, Orochimaru used Shin's special physique, highly active Hashirama cells, and cells from the Uchiha and Hyūga clans he had collected in his early years to cultivate a completely new Vessel over a long period of time.

From the very beginning, Orochimaru harbored suspicions about the so-called Otsutsuki Clan.

There are very few people he can trust. He doesn't even believe in Shinnō, and their relationship is just about exchanging benefits. So he is even less likely to trust an Otsutsuki Clan Member who has never even shown his face.

In addition, after four years of getting along, Orochimaru sensed various abnormal behaviors in Shinnō and decided to test Shinnō.

Ultimately, Orochimaru came to the conclusion that the Shinnō before him was not the original Shinnō at all, but rather that his body had been taken over by Forbidden Technique similar to ' Living Corpse Reincarnation '.

The so-called cultivation Vessel for the leader is actually for ' Shinnō ' to cultivate himself.

Orochimaru had actually prepared the Vessel more than half a year ago, but he kept delaying it in order to transplant his own cells into the Vessel and continuously inject his own Chakra to nourish the body, so that the compatibility between the Vessel and him would continue to improve.

Of course, Orochimaru carefully avoided ' Shinnō ' during this process.

Given Shinnō's expertise in Medical Ninjutsu, a careful examination would likely have revealed some clues, but he did not.

The Impure World Reincarnation allows one to obtain all the memories of Vessel after changing its Vessel, but this method is similar to watching a movie from an outsider's perspective, rather than directly merging the memories.

If the 'leader' were to invade Shinnō's body using a similar method, it would be impossible to fully master the techniques in Shinnō's memories without careful research afterwards.

Shinnō was unaware that Orochimaru possessed a test subject with a special physique, Xin. Given Orochimaru's understanding of Shinnō, he wouldn't even share his Body Regeneration Technique with him, so it was even less likely that he would share his Cloning Technology.

The only possibility is that Shinnō's body was possessed, but the possessor was not skilled in human experimentation; they only had the memories but not the skills.

Therefore, when Orochimaru was getting impatient, Shinnō pretended to appear. If Shinnō wanted to take over the Vessel, Orochimaru would have to take the initiative.

"Ah! Orochimaru! How dare you!"

The voice, filled Isshiki shock and anger, abruptly stopped.

Powerful Chakra surged from Isshiki's body, constantly eroding Orochimaru venom and Cursed Seal.

However, Orochimaru continued to release snake venom and Cursed Seal, and the two were locked in a stalemate.

"As expected!" Orochimaru, now transformed into the Eight-Headed Serpent Orochimaru, flashed a cold light in his eyes as he sensed the extremely pure Chakra within ' Shinnō,' feeling both surprised and delighted.

The eight snake heads began to absorb the Chakra within Shinnō's body simultaneously, causing their size to expand rapidly, and even the scales on their bodies began to become brighter.

Boom--!

Sensing something was wrong Isshiki enveloped by the Eight-Headed Serpent, Isshiki finally began to mobilize his Soul Power and use his Original Chakra.

He hadn't taken Orochimaru, this so-called ' Kage Level ' native ninja, seriously at all, so he didn't use his source power immediately.

After all, after being severely injured by Naruto Sasuke, his Original Chakra Original Chakra was reduced to less than one percent after passing through the Dragon Vein.

Even with Shinnō's body undergoing recovery, it took several years to recover less than 3%. This was mainly because Shinnō's constitution Taichi, and he did not have any special bloodline, which led to the slow recovery speed of Isshiki.

After being transferred into the Vessel's body, Isshiki felt a high degree of compatibility between the Vessel and himself, so he quickly used his Original Chakra to merge into his body.

Although this will consume his Original Chakra, it will allow him to integrate with the Vessel sooner. At the same time, given the Vessel's special constitution, his Original Chakra may be able to recover to about one-tenth of its original chakra within a few months.

Isshiki, Isshiki never expected that Orochimaru had already harbored ill intentions and had also kept a backup plan. After transforming into the Eight-Headed Serpent, Original Chakra that Isshiki had integrated into his body. In such a short time, Isshiki felt that nearly one percent of his Original Chakra had been lost, which made Isshiki completely panic.

Boom!

The Eight-Headed Serpent's body was subjected to a terrifying Chakra impact, causing its inner scales to shatter rapidly, accompanied by a spray of indistinct pieces of blood and flesh.

Orochimaru's body convulsed in pain; the Chakra was not only damaging his body but also assaulting his soul.

Seeing this, Orochimaru decided to take a desperate gamble, and his entire snake body began to merge into Isshiki's body.

The two streams of Chakra entered into a tug-of-war.

Although Orochimaru overestimated Isshiki's Chakra strength, he found that he underestimated Isshiki when the battle truly began.

Fortunately, he had added his own cells to the Vessel beforehand, so he quickly took the Isshiki and occupied the body.

With the support of the Vessel's physical strength, Orochimaru Isshiki the Soul Space returned to a state of evenly matched strength.

At this moment, in the Soul Space.

The entire space was covered by purple tentacles resembling a mountain of flesh.

At the very center, Isshiki's soul was tightly bound by tentacles. Every time he struggled, the tentacles around his body would burst open. However, the mountain of flesh beneath him seemed endless. Every time Isshiki broke free, more tentacles would wrap around his body.

Just as Isshiki stalemate with the tentacles, Orochimaru's soul slowly emerged from beneath the mountain of flesh.

At this moment, Orochimaru's soul was surrounded by a large number of tentacles and was moving closer to Isshiki's soul.

"You really aren't Shinnō!" Orochimaru stared intently at Isshiki, who was constantly shattering tentacles. Ichishiki's soul was far more powerful than he had imagined.

Even after he gained physical dominance and home-field advantage, he still couldn't defeat his opponent.

You should know that he had been preparing for this day for more than half a year and had calculated all the possibilities, but he never expected that Isshiki's soul body would be so powerful. This is not like a human soul body at all. Even Shiraha, who gave him strong mental pressure five years ago, probably did not have such a powerful soul body.

In particular, the soul form of the Isshiki has been weakened by him several times.

"Orochimaru, I never expected you to go to such lengths. Now, withdraw from this body and release me from my Soul Space. I promise you, after I merge with the Vessel, all the conditions I promised you will be fulfilled. Only by cooperating with me can you obtain what you desire."

Isshiki calmed down at this moment because he realized that although Orochimaru had been stalemate with him, he did not have the ability to defeat him, and his soul was still much stronger than Orochimaru's.

If Orochimaru hadn't seized the initiative and allowed him to devour his own Original Chakra could have completely turned the tables at this Isshiki.

"What's the point of saying these things at a time like this? Only one of us can leave here today; the other's soul will be devoured."

Orochimaru's eyes flashed with a chilling light. Having gone this far, how could he possibly stop?

Outside the Soul Space, in the laboratory, after the Culture Dish exploded, the Vessel lay on the ground, with nutrient solution spilled all over the floor.

At that moment, the Vessel lying on the ground suddenly opened its eyes.

Immediately afterwards, he suddenly opened his mouth wide and spat out a scroll from his abdomen, from which he took out glass Syringe filled with a light red liquid.

Orochimaru picked up the Syringe and prepared to inject himself into his vein.

Suddenly, his left hand trembled, and he grabbed his right wrist, stopping the injection.

At that moment, Isshiki furious voice echoed from within Orochimaru's body, "Stop! Are you insane? This blood contains a foreign consciousness! Do you want us all to perish together?!"

"That's better than being devoured by you." Orochimaru's words carried a hint of madness.

In the tug-of-war within the Soul Space, despite gaining the upper hand, he ultimately fell into a disadvantageous position. More than half of the Soul Space had been taken over Isshiki Yi Shi, and the difference in soul strength between the two sides was still too obvious.

Orochimaru had also considered this worst-case scenario, so he had prepared diluted Shiraha's Blood in advance.

Orochimaru has been studying Shiraha's blood for many years, but he has never been able to remove Shiraha's consciousness from it. That's why he is unwilling to merge with Shiraha's blood. Even though he has a good relationship with Shiraha, he would rather die than hand over his soul to someone else to control.

As for the diluted Shiraha's Blood, although it still contains fragments of Shiraha's consciousness, its control over it is not as strong.

The diluted Shiraha's Blood could enhance his Soul Power and physical strength. After realizing that he might be backfired by Isshiki, Orochimaru would rather perish together with Isshiki than let Isshiki get Isshiki way.

"Don't even think about it!" With Isshiki twist of his left hand, he severed Orochimaru 'Orochimaru right hand, which was holding the glass Syringe, and flipped his wrist 360 degrees.

Ding!

The glass Syringe fell to the ground with a thud, but it did not break.

Just as Orochimaru's right hand returned to normal, Isshiki again controlled his left hand to tightly grasp his right hand.

"Lord Orochimaru, what's wrong?"

At that moment, a bald boy covered in scars walked into the laboratory.

The loud noise had echoed throughout the underground laboratory, so Xin followed the sound to check the situation.

"Believe me! Inject me now!" Orochimaru shouted sternly.

"Stop!" Isshiki voice came from Orochimaru's body, startling Shin.

"Quick!"

Orochimaru shouted, his left and right hands struggling, his arms twisted together like a pretzel.

"Yes! Lord Orochimaru!" Shin quickly stepped forward and picked up the glass Syringe that had fallen to the ground.

"Stop! I can give you anything Orochimaru can give you! I can make you live forever with me!"

Isshiki finally panicked. He could feel the special energy contained in the red liquid in the glass Syringe, which was basically the same as the special bloodline he had absorbed last time.

Last time, even in his perfect condition, he was affected by the soul aura within this bloodline. Now, in this state, he would probably find it difficult to resist, so Isshiki began to win over Xin.

"I am loyal only to Lord Orochimaru!" Without the slightest hesitation, Shin shook his head and directly inserted a needle into Orochimaru's neck, injecting the red liquid in the Syringe into Orochimaru's body.

Shin could tell that Lord Orochimaru was in a bad situation, and as a loyal subordinate, he had no disloyal intentions whatsoever.

"Damn it!" Soon, Isshiki roar came from Orochimaru's body.

Immediately afterward, Orochimaru stopped moving, and after a moment, suddenly added, "One more needle!"

"Yes!" Shin stared intently at Orochimaru and gave him another injection.

This time, Orochimaru's face showed a look of madness as he slowly closed his eyes.

Xin quickly picked up the third Syringe, ready to receive Orochimaru's orders at any moment.

After an unknown amount of time, Shin felt his arms getting sore from holding the same position, when Orochimaru's body suddenly twitched.

"No—! How can I lose again?"

Isshiki desperate voice abruptly stopped.

Orochimaru suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of blood. At the same time, a large amount of blood flowed from his seven orifices, and his aura quickly weakened.

However, Orochimaru's face showed ecstatic joy.

"Lord Orochimaru, how are you?"

Xin asked cautiously.

Orochimaru turned his head, smiled, and gently touched Shin's cheek. "Shin, you did a great job! Thanks to you this time, and..."

Before he could finish speaking, Orochimaru collapsed and fell into a coma.

With the help of diluted Shiraha's Blood, the first needle greatly increased Orochimaru's Mental Power, and the second needle consumed the power of Isshiki's soul. In the end, Orochimaru successfully counterattacked and killed Isshiki, completely devouring Isshiki's soul.

After gaining all of Isshiki's power, Orochimaru risked further injury, using up his last bit of Chakra to obliterate the remaining trace of Shiraha's soul aura within him.

at the same time.

The Outer Sea.

Within the Gelel Ore Vein.

Shiraha, who was in deep meditation, suddenly opened his eyes, his brows furrowing slightly.

"My soul aura appeared in a new familiar's body, but was then destroyed?!"