"Rinnegan, Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
Although the story Ryouma told sounded outrageous, Orochimaru didn't feel for a moment that the other was trying to fool him. After all, people can never imagine things beyond their own understanding. Information about aliens that was this internally consistent, he certainly couldn't have made it up himself. And given Ryouma's status and strength, there was no need for him to fabricate anything.
Taking a deep breath, he couldn't help but look at Isshiki's eye.
"So this is the Kokugan?"
"That's right." Ryouma nodded. "Within the Ōtsutsuki clan, this eye itself isn't anything too special. It only has basic spacetime abilities."
"I think that just having spacetime abilities is already pretty amazing," Orochimaru remarked, rare sarcasm slipping into his tone.
At this point, Shiori asked, "If it's transplanted, could you gain all of the divine techniques Isshiki had?"
The moment the question was raised, Orochimaru's ears perked up. This was exactly what he was most curious about. It was just that the topic was too sensitive. He worried Ryouma might misunderstand, so he hadn't asked outright.
Hearing Shiori's question, Ryouma recalled Isshiki's memories.
"Hmm... in theory, yes."
"In theory?"
"That's right. Among the main Ōtsutsuki family, many clan members have received artificial eye transplants and can use the divine techniques attached to them quite well."
At the first half of that sentence, a strange glint immediately flashed through Orochimaru's eyes.
But then Ryouma's following "however" pulled him right back to reality.
"However, most of the eyes that get transplanted are actually Rinnegan. As for transplanting a Kokugan, I can't guarantee there wouldn't be negative side effects, let alone the fact that the Ōtsutsuki body is different from ours in the shinobi world. Whether rejection would occur is also an unknown."
With the mini-lecture over, he turned his gaze to Shiori and, to be safe, added, "The divine techniques attached to this Kokugan may look impressive, but you'd be better off focusing on developing your own dōjutsu."
"Of course I know that. Do you take me for some idiot who'd throw everything away for power?"
Shiori had really just been asking out of curiosity. She was quite satisfied with her own eyes. However, once her indiscriminate remark landed, Orochimaru, who had been quietly listening on the side the whole time, suddenly felt personally called out.
He truly was interested in the divine techniques of the Ōtsutsuki clan, especially the Kāma that Ryouma had mentioned more than once. To him, it was practically an enhanced version of the Living Corpse Reincarnation. That kind of ability, where you could torment and remodel your own body without worrying about breaking it, fit his style far too well.
"What are you planning to do with this corpse? To be frank, I'd like to ask you for some cells."
"Oh? Are you thinking of restarting cell transplantation experiments? Well..."
To be honest, Ryouma felt a bit conflicted. Ōtsutsuki cells were far more dangerous than Hashirama cells. If he chose to support Orochimaru, how would that be any different from what Danzō had done back then?
As if sensing his hesitation, Orochimaru spoke up immediately, offering an explanation without pause.
"You can rest assured. I've lost interest in human experimentation involving cell transplants. My new subject now is cell cloning."
"Cloning..."
Ryouma subconsciously murmured softly, countless thoughts flashing through his mind.
After a brief moment of consideration, he raised his head.
"Not needing human experimentation does make this much easier to accept. But you also know that as Hokage Assistant, I have to do many things by the book. Even so, this is still very difficult to approve."
Hearing this, Orochimaru raised an eyebrow slightly. His mind moved quickly, and he promptly added, "Perhaps I wasn't very clear just now. As the provider of the materials, you're welcome to inspect my research at any time. And any future results should, of course, be shared between the two of us."
"Ahem! Shared with Konoha," Ryouma corrected, coughing lightly.
With a wave of his hand, he pushed the storage scroll that had originally been used to hold Isshiki's corpse onto the table.
"From today onward, this body will be under your care."
A meaningful smile curved Orochimaru's lips as he met Ryouma's gaze.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing."
Ryouma suddenly clapped his hands together, as if he had just remembered something. He quickly formed a one-handed seal and lightly slapped the empty air beside him.
In an instant, thick smoke billowed forth. A massive snake nearly three meters long, its body covered in orange-yellow patterns, appeared coiled within the quiet room.
"ꂹꄥꇃꇦꈞꉒ!"
The sea snake, having just appeared, immediately lowered its head toward Ryouma, muttering a rapid string of unintelligible whispers.
"What is that thing?"
Shukaku scrambled nimbly onto Ryouma's shoulder, using both hands and feet.
"This is something I created with dark energy while fighting Isshiki at sea... hmm, according to the terminology used in the Dark World, it should be considered a familiar."
"A familiar?" Shukaku repeated the unfamiliar term.
"More or less the same thing as a summoned beast," Ryouma offered a more accessible explanation.
After brushing off Shukaku's question, he stepped forward a few paces and pointed at the diamond-shaped black mark on top of the snake's head.
"Look here. This is the Kāma mark left behind by Isshiki. Of course, there's no need to be nervous. His soul has indeed been destroyed by special means. At present, this Kāma only has the basic effect of absorbing ninjutsu."
"At present?" Shiori sharply caught onto the wording and pressed further. "Does that mean this Kāma will undergo other changes in the future?"
"That's right."
Recalling Kawaki's situation from Boruto, Ryouma's expression took on a hint of uncertainty.
"As the Kāma gradually thaws within its body, Isshiki's divine techniques, and even the Kokugan, are very likely to reappear, becoming this snake's own abilities. The Kāma mark on this sea snake should be useful for research. Don't hold back. Use it as you like. If you run into danger, you can even use it as a meat shield. It doesn't die easily anyway."
As he spoke, he took out a summoning scroll and spread it open, then looked at Orochimaru, signaling him to write his name on it.
Orochimaru didn't stand on ceremony. He immediately bit his finger and pressed a handprint onto the scroll.
"Then here's to a pleasant second collaboration."
---
Deep beneath the great desert of the Land of Wind, in the depths of the Rōran.
This was a massive underground cavern attached to the Ryūmyaku, created by Nagato, possessed by Black Zetsu, using the power of the Rinnegan.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was quietly rooted into a rock wall, extending countless tangled conduit-like veins that siphoned energy into its body, converting it entirely into chakra.
For the past few years, Black Zetsu had been hiding in this desert nation, stockpiling chakra. Life was fairly comfortable.
Although, out of concern for being discovered, the statue absorbed Ryūmyaku's energy at a very conservative rate, patience was one thing he absolutely did not lack.
After its crushing defeat in the Land of Whirlpools last time, it no longer had any desire to go out and battle Ryouma again. Better to wait until he died of old age naturally. After all, his second greatest surplus, aside from patience, was time.
He sat on a stone chair, facing the statue as he pondered his next move.
Earlier, while Ryouma was away doing business talks with Iwa and Kumo, he had secretly slipped into the underground chamber of the Naka Shrine and redesigned the stone tablet once again.
Compared to before, he had added a few more "patches," claims like severing bonds to awaken the Eye of God, obtaining power unrivaled in the shinobi world, becoming the second Sage of Six Paths. Utterly extravagant hype.
It was practically custom-made for power-hungry ninjas like Shiori.
"But where exactly did it go wrong? Why hasn't she severed her connection with Ryouma yet?"
He couldn't figure it out, unless Shiori's Mangekyō ability had revealed some kind of future information again.
"Damn Indra."
"Hello, Black Zetsu. Bad-mouthing people behind their backs isn't very nice, you know."
Spiky White Zetsu emerged halfway from the ground, wagging a finger.
"What happened this time?" Black Zetsu remained calm.
"Once you hear this intel, I doubt you'll stay so relaxed."
A sly grin crept across Spiky White Zetsu's face. He laid out all the information relayed to him through a direct line from several White Zetsu units.
"Ryouma was invited by Orochimaru to Takumi Village, where he got into a fight with a wandering monk who calls himself Jigen."
Black Zetsu asked, "What was the reason? As far as I remember, Ryouma isn't the type to fight someone for no reason."
"As for the reason, Jigen attacked Orochimaru first, but that's not the important part. Do you remember the technique Ryouma used when he defeated Madara?"
"You mean that golden chakra mode? There's someone who could force him to use that technique? Are you sure it wasn't just the tailed beast chakra cloak?"
Black Zetsu's gaze sharpened, suspicion filling his eyes.
"Of course not! In that state, Ryouma was able to whip up winds that swept across half of the village with nothing more than casual taijutsu strikes. That kind of momentum isn't something partial tailed beast transformation could achieve. And it was not that golden chakra mode either. It looked like a second stage. The chakra was golden-red. More importantly, he was able to fight Ryouma on equal footing even after that mode was activated. He could also cast powerful ninjutsu without forming a single hand seal. All of this closely matches what you mentioned before..."
"Divine techniques!"
Black Zetsu blurted it out.
"Tell me quickly. What abilities did that Jigen display?"
"That level of battle was way beyond what the White Zetsu on site could get close to. But before the fight began, they did manage to gather some useful intelligence."
Spiky White Zetsu shrank back a little, scratching his head awkwardly.
"Say everything!"
Black Zetsu's expression darkened. A wild conjecture was already surging in his mind, so unbelievable that he desperately needed more information to confirm it.
"Right before Ryouma arrived at the village, those White Zetsu followed standard procedure and infiltrated the village disguised as civilians to investigate the merchants arriving each day."
Spiky White Zetsu didn't hold back any longer, his words coming faster.
"Jigen was among them. He came together with the backer behind the Mist Moon Trading House. Looking at it now, they were targeting Orochimaru from the very beginning. They probably never dreamed that someone so terrifying was standing behind Orochimaru."
As he spoke, thinking about how that group had also suffered a setback at Ryouma's hands, a malicious, schadenfreude-filled grin crept onto his face.
Black Zetsu lightly tapped his fingers against the armrest of the stone chair. He stared intently at Spiky White Zetsu and pressed on.
"Did that Jigen have any distinctive features in his appearance?"
"Appearance?"
Spiky White Zetsu froze for a moment, then strained to recall the information shared by the other White Zetsu. His eyes narrowed as he fell into brief contemplation.
"He was wearing white monk's robes. He also had a long mohawk of black hair, tied into a ponytail that reached his lower back. Oh, and there was a diamond-shaped mark on his chin. And also..."
"That's enough!"
Black Zetsu abruptly sprang to his feet, raising a hand to cut Spiky White Zetsu off.
"Ōtsutsuki Isshiki is still alive."
As the embodiment of Kaguya's will, he had inherited most of Kaguya's memories from the moment of his birth.
And within those memories, Isshiki was without question the most powerful enemy, or rather, the greatest shackle of Kaguya's early life.
"Are you okay?"
Seeing Black Zetsu so shaken, Spiky White Zetsu felt a surge of worry.
Their Eye of the Moon plan now relied entirely on Black Zetsu's intellect. If even he lost his composure, they might as well just surrender now.
"Stay here and keep an eye on the statue. I'm going out."
Black Zetsu had no mind to deal with Spiky White Zetsu. After throwing out that order, he turned and shot off down the secret passage without looking back.