A Luo Is Taken, Orochimaru's Delight

"It's okay. I can control whether people can see me..."

After A Luo said that, the spirit body that Sasuke had already been able to see gradually faded until it vanished completely.

That's enough. Don't go out today. Rest for a few days before thinking about going out to play.

Although he truly could no longer see him, Sasuke still could not relax. Holding A Luo's hand, he continued writing, telling him to go back first.

"Mm..."

His fingers twitched. A Luo returned, tugged the blanket into his arms, and truly did not go out again.

The two brothers were long accustomed to these interactions, but Izuna, who was moonbathing on the roof, felt thoroughly tormented.

It was bad enough that his cultivation had made no progress. Why did they have to flaunt their brotherly affection in front of a dead soul who could not find his own brother? That was too much!

Another night passed in peaceful sleep. Early the next morning, Sasuke greeted A Luo and went to school with the rice balls he had made.

The school was holding wilderness survival training today, so he could not come home at noon.

After Sasuke left, A Luo continued lying in the sun. But just as he lay down and "fell asleep," his soul left his body to greet Izuna. An ANBU scattered a handful of powder over him, grabbed his body, and ran outside.

"Ancestor, stay here and keep watch for me. I'll go see what they want!"

A Luo did not return to his body. He merely chased after the body being taken away, quickly disappearing into the distance.

"This damned Konoha. Can't they settle down for even a moment..."

Izuna floated back onto the roof. Watching A Luo and the Konoha ANBU depart, the three tomoe in his eyes shifted a few times before suddenly converging...

A Luo floated beside the ANBU, watching his body go from being carried by the collar to being held in one arm. He was in no hurry to return to it, simply staying nearby to see how things would develop.

At first, he thought they were taking him to Konoha Hospital for an examination. After all, his physical condition had improved greatly recently, and Konoha might need detailed data from a checkup.

But the ANBU's route became increasingly strange. Soon, he ran to a hidden location somewhere in the village, making A Luo wonder whether Danzo was behind this.

Fortunately, he did not need to think for long. He soon saw the person waiting for him.

"Orochimaru, this child must not die!"

Watching the child being handed over, Danzo snorted coldly at Orochimaru before taking his people and leaving this underground hidden chamber.

If Orochimaru had not requested it, saying he wanted to examine the condition of the Uchiha clan's other survivor, Danzo would not have gone to Hiruzen Sarutobi with a demand to have the ANBU bring the child over for a day.

Still, what did Orochimaru want to examine this brat for?

Could the poison he had suffered in the womb have something to do with Orochimaru?

Whether it did or not, he was merely a hopeless piece of trash. Danzo did not care what happened to him, but Hiruzen Sarutobi had demanded that the boy be returned alive. What a nuisance!

"He won't die. Such a cute child will live well!"

Orochimaru smiled sinisterly and waved toward the side. Two expressionless ninja stepped forward, took the child, and placed him on a medical operating table.

After all of Danzo's people had left, Orochimaru lowered his head to look at the boy lying on the operating table, then waved for his own people to leave as well.

Only after no one else remained in the underground chamber did Orochimaru, silently laughing wildly, raise his head and meet the gaze of A Luo, who floated beside the bed.

"You knew about my situation all along?"

A Luo drifted slightly, then stopped across from Orochimaru with a clean, gentle smile.

"No. I only knew that you had originally died, killed by your father on that night filled with the stench of blood."

Orochimaru's voice was hoarse and low as he stared at A Luo and slowly spoke of that night—the night that made Itachi Uchiha glare with his Sharingan whenever it was mentioned.

He was also a member of Akatsuki. The reason he knew of this child's abnormality was because Tobi kept muttering about it, wondering why a child who had clearly been examined and confirmed completely dead could still come back to life.

The Uchiha clan, resurrection from the dead—how very interesting!

Previously, however, they had all believed that Fugaku Uchiha had used some ultimate genjutsu to save his younger son.

But now...

Seeing the child's soul floating about, he could already be certain that this had nothing to do with genjutsu.

It seemed that Fugaku Uchiha had truly killed his younger son with his own hands back then. The only reason the child had survived was because his soul had always been different from ordinary people's.

What a pitiful child!

"He couldn't kill me."

A Luo blinked, looking calmly at Orochimaru as he described what had happened then.

As for whether Orochimaru believed him...

He was still alive, so naturally, he had not been killed.

"You used Fugaku Uchiha's eyes?"

Earlier, Orochimaru had helped Danzo examine some of the Uchiha clan's corpses and eyes.

Fugaku Uchiha's eyes had indeed been dug out by the Uchiha clan head himself. But if they had been destroyed afterward, some traces should have remained.

Yet there were none. Nothing at all.

The eyes Fugaku Uchiha had dug out seemed to have been erased from existence. Even the bloodstains consisted only of what was on Fugaku Uchiha's fingers and a tiny amount in his palm.

"I absorbed them as energy."

A Luo looked at Orochimaru and answered each of these questions very seriously.

If someone else heard those answers, they might think he was lying.

But Orochimaru was different...

"The Sharingan can be absorbed as energy. What about other things?"

The joy of a mad researcher gleamed in Orochimaru's eyes. As he stared at A Luo, it was as if he had found a treasure dropped straight into his arms.

"Yes, but there is a limit to what I can absorb. I need energy naturally absorbed from the outside world to maintain balance."

A Luo was lying. He knew that very well.

But Orochimaru believed him.

And A Luo did not even need to say much for Orochimaru to determine that it was the soul body absorbing energy, not the fragile shell lying there.

"Senjutsu?"

Watching the teenage soul scratch his head with some hesitation, Orochimaru automatically filled in even more information.

After all, he had already witnessed how powerful natural senjutsu could be. Jugo was a fine example, though Jugo's control was insufficient, so he often lost control.

Now, he had encountered another special child—one capable of cultivating soul power alone rather than training the body!

"What is senjutsu?"

A Luo reached out and poked his "sleeping" body. After pondering in distress for a while, he still could not figure out what this so-called senjutsu was.

In this world, senjutsu was, for now, an extremely mysterious existence. Ordinary ninja had never even heard of it, and neither had he.

If not for Orochimaru's appearance, he might not have encountered the term for several more years.