Orochimaru stood alone at the entrance to the Underground Palace.
At some point, the umbrella beneath the eaves had shifted into the most suitable position, and all the rainwater on its tip had drained underground through the gaps in the wooden floorboards.
Rustle, rustle...
A sound unlike wind stirring the leaves reached his ears.
It was a strange, unbroken sound.
Like something contending with the raindrops in the darkness.
Orochimaru stood quietly for a while.
He recalled what Yanbai had just told him. This time, Yanbai had not given Orochimaru tissue samples from himself and Madara, but had instead said some rather strange things.
Yanbai had told Orochimaru that studying his and Madara's cells would yield no clues to "immortality." His approach had been wrong from the start.
The genes of gods were beyond humanity's reach.
Not for moral reasons such as mystery or sacrilege, but because they would offer little benefit to Orochimaru as he was now.
Yanbai had said that many segments of human genes were sealed, while those of gods were not. Gods could achieve immunity directly, whereas ordinary humans relied on sealing for immunity.
Yanbai had also cited several examples of "prohibitions" on certain gene segments.
Orochimaru could more or less understand what Yanbai meant.
Yanbai did not oppose Orochimaru's research into immortality. He simply felt that his current approach was taking him down a roundabout path.
So Yanbai had told Orochimaru that his opportunity to research immortality lay along the road from here to Konoha. Whether he could seize it was up to Orochimaru himself.
Orochimaru had often encountered such cryptic guidance before.
The first and second times Yanbai had guided him, Orochimaru had still been rebellious and insisted on doing the opposite. Then the world had beaten him black and blue.
After those beatings,