[Shikadai's mouth twitched, and he could probably imagine that scene.]
["Okay, okay, let her do it." Shikadai waved his hands perfunctorily and followed the flow of people outside the theater, "Speaking of which, the graduation exam is just around the corner. Have you made any progress in your recent practice?"]
[Out of the theater, the afternoon Sunshine was a bit dazzling. Boruto raised his hand to block the light, and suddenly stopped, with an expression of uncontrollable excitement on his face.]
["Speaking of this...Shikadai, Mitsuki, I really have a special feeling recently!" He lowered his voice, "I feel like my eyes seem to see things more clearly recently, and I feel like I am about to wake up!"]
["Tell me, could it be that in the illusion of Sunagakure last time, some combination of circumstances stimulated my mother's Hyuga bloodline? I may have to turn on Byakugan!"]
["Speaking of which, when I faced Urashiki in the illusion, I vaguely felt that my vision was a little different!"]
[Looking at Boruto's blue eyes, filled with longing and confidence at this moment, the complaint Shikadai originally wanted to blurt out choked in his throat.]
[He touched his chin and thought seriously: "Byakugan? It stands to reason that your mother is the eldest daughter of Hyuga Main House. The probability that you will inherit the bloodline of Byakugan is indeed not low."]
["I haven't opened my eyes before, maybe it's not the right time. Although Sunagakure's illusion at that time was virtual in nature, the immersive life-and-death experience and spiritual impact might have accidentally played a role similar to an 'awakening catalyst'? This is not completely impossible."]
["Right, right!" Boruto, who received "half-affirmation" from Shikadai, became even more excited and punched hard, "I knew it! I feel the power is emerging! I won't tell you anymore, I will go home and practice harder!"]
["Maybe if you sleep tonight, you will be able to see through Boruto Uzumaki tomorrow! Haha!" After saying that, he turned around and ran towards home, his golden hair jumping under Sunshine, and quickly disappeared around the corner of the street.]
[Shikadai looked in the direction of Boruto's departure, glanced at Mitsuki again, and sighed: "Let's go home. I hope he won't really train himself to the point where he can't get out of bed tomorrow. The graduation exam is only a few days away."]
[Mitsuki kept looking in the direction where Boruto disappeared, with the same soft expression on his face, and whispered to himself: "No matter whether he awakens new power or not, Boruto is Boruto. His light will never change."]
The picture of Canopy Screen ends here.
Deep in Orochimaru's secret base, he was leaning on a snake-shaped seat, his golden vertical pupils staring at the image of Canopy Screen presented by the water mirror technique in front of him for an instant.
In the picture, when Orochimaru laments that time is constantly eroding his soul, Orochimaru's body, which was originally lazily leaning, straightens up imperceptibly.
The golden pupils suddenly shrank into thin lines, tightly locking on the future self in the water mirror.
His entire understanding and resistance to time has always been focused on the decay of matter.
For this reason, the goal of all his Forbidden Technique research, such as Living Corpse Reincarnation and genetic modification, is to allow this carrier of consciousness to get rid of the physical shackles of time and obtain permanent operational rights.
But now, the future self in Canopy Screen coldly points out the defeat on another front, which is the erosion of spiritual consciousness.
For the first time, he turned his scrutiny from the cells under the microscope, from the Rune on the scroll, to the deeper parts of his mind.
Those subtle changes that he ignored were gradually becoming clear like a film under developer. He had indeed changed over the years, and would continue to change in the future visible to the naked eye.
Are the me now and the me in the future who say these words really the same person?
This thought ran into Orochimaru's mind, giving him unprecedented trembling.
Assume that my body is a ship, and I tirelessly replace the body cells named 'Orochimaru'. Each piece is renewed, keeping the appearance and basic functions of the 'ship' intact, and sailing towards the ocean called 'eternity'.
But the 'captain' driving this ship, the Consciousness Core composed of countless experiences, choices, and thinking habits, was eroded and modified bit by bit over a long period of time during the voyage.
One day, all the planks of the ship are no longer the original ones, and the captain's character, goals, and even his understanding of the meaning of "sailing" are completely different from when he set sail.
Can this ship still be called the original ship? Or, unknowingly, the 'captain' and 'ship' that set sail have been killed by time?
The person standing there in the future may just be a stranger with the name of 'Orochimaru' and carrying the past Memory Data?
An unprecedented absurdity swept over him.
He pursues immortality and fights against time, but if the final outcome is the existence of "Orochimaru" itself, its core self is still quietly replaced and distorted in the flow of time.
So what is the point of all the reincarnations and all the research? It is just a change from the pursuit of physical immortality to the tragic continuation of maintaining an empty conceptual shell named Orochimaru.
Isn't this the same as Sasori of the Red Sands transforming himself into a puppet? No, it's not even as good as a scorpion!
Sasori of the Red Sands's Digital Life theory should solidify one's consciousness, memory, knowledge, and even artistic preferences into a complex set of programs and puppet logic.
He gave up the possibility of change in exchange for stability.
As a result, his future behavioral logic is permanently fixed. From a certain perspective, he is indeed immune to the erosion of the soul by time.
"In terms of fighting against the erosion of self-identity by time, I didn't expect that that puppet lunatic would go further than me? More thoroughly?"
Orochimaru murmured to himself, the light in his golden pupils flashing fiercely, mixed with astonishment, self-deprecation, and an excited research desire that arose after being challenged.
He slowly stood up from his seat and walked around in the blue light of the laboratory.
"Others may not care about the changes that time brings to the soul, and may even attribute these to a sign of maturity."
"But I am different. My lifespan may be extended indefinitely. If I am constantly being transformed by time, one day I will be lost in the long river of time and forget my original purpose."
"Interesting, really interesting..." Orochimaru's eyes grew brighter and brighter, "It seems that some research priorities need to be adjusted."
"Orochimaru This ship must not only never sink, but also ensure that the 'captain' on the ship is always the same one when it set sail. Or, at least, the one he recognized."