Shisui looked visibly excited.
There was no doubt about it—this was that kind of power.
Judging from Lord Orochimaru's demeanor, this power wasn't a one-off experiment either. It was something that could be standardized. And that possibility alone was enough to make Shisui's heart race.
At that moment, Hagane Seiji's assault resumed.
Countless small, floating blades burst into the air, encircling Orochimaru from every direction. They spun at high speed, forming a lethal storm that seemed ready to pierce him from all sides.
Hagane Seiji himself stepped forward.
In his right hand, he wielded a massive battle saber. His left arm was encased in a huge metal gauntlet. The blade alone was several meters long—absurdly oversized—like something forged after the Akimichi clan had used a partial Multi-Size Jutsu.
The sight alone was enough to make one's scalp tingle.
Is this the power of the Steel Release Kekkei Genkai?
This is basically a humanoid war machine!
The storm of blades struck Orochimaru.
Yet with nothing more than a casual wave of his hand, every single attack was repelled.
No chakra fluctuations.
None at all.
Hagane Seiji clearly anticipated this outcome. Without hesitation, he followed up with a direct slash, swinging the enormous saber straight toward Orochimaru.
The pressure was terrifying.
Faced with such a weapon, most shinobi wouldn't even have the courage to stand their ground.
Orochimaru simply extended his hand again.
That was it.
No seals.
No chakra.
The same single movement as before.
This strange, almost lazy defense left everyone present deeply unsettled.
Only Shisui narrowed his eyes, a look of realization flashing across his face.
The two forces collided and locked into a stalemate.
It didn't take long for the truth to become clear. Orochimaru was launching an invisible attack. After a brief moment of resistance, he increased the output—
—and Hagane Seiji was sent flying.
Dust billowed.
Moments later, Hagane Seiji stood back up, brushed himself off, and rolled his shoulders. Aside from the soreness from the fall, he was completely uninjured.
He looked straight at Orochimaru.
"Uncle Orochimaru… what did you do just now?"
"I couldn't sense any chakra fluctuations."
That question echoed the thoughts of Tsunade and everyone else present.
Before Orochimaru could answer, Shisui stepped forward.
"Lord Orochimaru," he said calmly, "you're using gravity to simulate the Deva Path's Shinra Tensei, aren't you?"
"And if I'm not mistaken… you haven't even shown all of its functions yet."
The moment those words left his mouth, the crowd froze.
All eyes turned to Orochimaru.
Aside from Shisui, most of them were utterly confused. But Shisui had already pieced together part of the truth.
Orochimaru smiled faintly.
Science, he thought. I'm afraid they won't understand.
Still, he explained—once.
Using purely scientific terminology.
Tsunade caught fragments of it, but by the end her expression had turned blank. The others looked even worse.
Finally, Tsunade snapped,
"Orochimaru—speak in plain language!"
"Very well," Orochimaru said, spreading his hands with a trace of smugness that made Tsunade itch to punch him.
"This device applies gravity at a deeper level. Based on gravitational formulas, I developed controlled attractive and repulsive forces."
"That led to this weapon."
"And yes—"
"It can simulate Shinra Tensei and Banshō Ten'in."
He continued casually,
"It also generates a magnetic field. Under certain conditions, it can form a localized gravity domain."
"It's unfortunate that Little Ye's strength is limited. Otherwise, you could've seen its more advanced functions."
With that explanation, everyone finally grasped something.
Shisui, in particular, understood more than most. Over the years, he had studied similar theories through inference. Still, parts of Orochimaru's explanation felt like listening to a riddle.
But one thing was clear—
Orochimaru had created something terrifying.
"Lord Orochimaru," Shisui said slowly, "you must've modeled this after Nagato's abilities."
"It's incredible."
"But I want to know—how far can it really go?"
Hagane Seiji also nodded silently. He understood the result, but the principle behind it was still far beyond him.
Orochimaru gave a low chuckle.
"Correct. But there's more. I also integrated a magnetic module."
"This serves two purposes. First—to counter opponents like Little Ye."
"Second—it makes this device a natural enemy of metal."
"As long as the output doesn't exceed its upper limit, any metal-based attack will struggle to be effective."
He continued, his eyes shining with excitement.
"It can recreate Nagato's techniques through attraction and repulsion—but make no mistake, this is still a weakened version."
"At most, it reaches Kage-level output."
"Even so, that alone is already extraordinary."
"However," he added, "the energy consumption is enormous. It currently runs on chakra supplied by a chakra reactor."
"If we tried to replace that with electrical energy…"
"Our current technology simply isn't there yet."
Orochimaru's voice trembled slightly with excitement.
Shisui ignored that completely.
He asked the question that truly mattered.
"What is the cost of producing a device like this?"
If it could be mass-produced…
Their side's combat strength would rise to an entirely new level.
Orochimaru suddenly shook his head.
"Although producing this set of equipment only costs a few million ryō," he said calmly, "energy consumption is the real issue."
"The chakra required already exceeds what a typical Kage can continuously supply. Because of that, it simply isn't suitable for large-scale deployment."
His voice was steady, but there was no hiding the excitement beneath it.
From Orochimaru's perspective, the cost was secondary. What truly mattered was the breakthrough itself—successfully simulating aspects of the Rinnegan through science rather than bloodline power.
Even if it only reproduced part of the Rinnegan's abilities, it was still a monumental step forward.
In recent years, technological development in the ninja world had begun to stabilize after an explosive growth period. Automobiles, aircraft, ships, and even gravity training chambers were all products of that technological boom.
And much of it could be traced back to Naruto's ideas.
The ninja world was fully capable of producing the things Naruto had described. Although its technological path had taken a few detours due to chakra-based development, its overall industrial foundation was more than sufficient.
Naruto had once explained the concept of civilization levels to Orochimaru.
First came agrarian civilization—a relatively primitive stage dominated by feudal structures and low productivity.
Next was industrial civilization, where productivity increased rapidly, machinery replaced manual labor, and mass production became the norm.
After that came information civilization, where computing devices emerged, greatly enhancing data processing and communication capabilities.
Because of regional differences, the ninja world simultaneously occupied all three stages.
In some areas, productivity was still low. Agriculture relied heavily on shinobi assistance—ninjutsu was commonly used for irrigation, planting, and harvesting.
Elsewhere, industrialization had already taken root. Televisions, pagers, and similar devices were commonplace, and some regions even possessed primitive computers.
The ninja world was a patchwork civilization, spanning multiple eras at once.
Beyond information civilization, Naruto had described planetary civilization—a stage where an entire planet's resources could be fully utilized and productivity reached staggering levels. At that point, energy weapons would no longer be fantasy.
There was even something beyond that—stellar civilization.
However, Naruto had stopped there.
Not because he was unwilling to explain further, but because even he didn't fully understand what came next.
These ideas were fragments of knowledge from his previous life—broad concepts rather than detailed theories.
Even so, those "shallow insights" had been more than enough to greatly benefit Orochimaru and the others.
As for Naruto himself, he only smiled.
After all, perspective was limited by one's horizon—and compared to his own, Orochimaru and the rest were still only beginning to look beyond the sky.
(End of Chapter)
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