"Boss, are you joking?" Orochimaru tested the waters softly.
"I'm not joking," Lexon replied.
"You're not playing around?" Orochimaru asked again.
"Am I that untrustworthy in your eyes?" Lexon's voice lowered slightly.
"No, no," Orochimaru replied immediately.
He had been thinking about the matter of resurrection for a long time.
Although the body of the Impure World Reincarnation had nearly infinite chakra and near-immortality, these abilities were ultimately not very useful for research.
In the process of research, personal physical experience was also a very important aspect.
But because he previously had a body of the Impure World Reincarnation, he could only use other living people as substitutes.
Because of this, some research had not progressed very smoothly.
Moreover, the sensation of soul power slowly dissipating every day was somewhat uncomfortable.
Thus, Orochimaru was desperate to be resurrected.
However, every time he broached the subject indirectly with the boss, he was always brushed off with all sorts of messy excuses.
Therefore, he had long believed his boss wouldn't let him resurrect until the day he had been squeezed so dry that he truly couldn't hold on anymore...
But today, the boss suddenly brought it up and wanted to resurrect him.
This left Orochimaru both surprised and delighted.
"Then, do I need to make any preparations? Boss," Orochimaru asked Lexon.
He believed that a technique like 'Resurrecting the Dead' that reversed life and death would require many preparations like the Impure World Reincarnation, or perhaps even have some harsh requirements.
Lexon glanced at him and replied flatly, "No need."
Performing the Art of the Rinne Rebirth was not difficult, nor did it require any prior preparation.
One only needed to meet the condition of having the Rinnegan along with enough chakra and vitality to activate the technique.
Lexon's current purpose was to see if, after undergoing Demon Transformation, he could use a 'demon's' vitality to offset the vitality demanded by the Art of the Rinne Rebirth.
So, he would first use Orochimaru as a test subject.
If he found that the 'demon's' vitality could not offset it after activating the technique, Lexon wouldn't proceed with what he had planned...
Resurrecting those who had died in Konoha.
That's right; Lexon had asked for Naruto and Sasuke's opinions specifically to decide whether or not to do this.
And the answers from Naruto and Sasuke were already certain.
Then Lexon would do it.
Conveniently, resurrecting those Konoha people... would also allow the Main God's mission to be completed smoothly step-by-step.
He could also slowly sign-in that group of captured Reincarnators.
But...
He would only choose to do this if it didn't cause him much harm.
If the feedback from resurrecting Orochimaru wasn't good enough...
Then Lexon would abandon the idea.
"Starting now," Lexon said flatly to Orochimaru.
"So fast?" Orochimaru couldn't quite react.
Lexon didn't mind Orochimaru's reaction; he clapped his palms together, his eyes suddenly turning purple as rippling circles spread.
[DEMON TRANSFORMATION]
A thick, ominous aura suddenly exploded outward.
"Gedo: Art of the Rinne Rebirth."
The moment the words fell, the vitality within Lexon's body suddenly drained away like a flood.
Like an unstoppable breach in a dam!
It poured toward Orochimaru!
Everyone present had initially felt their hearts sink because of the sudden explosion of the ominous aura, but as they were washed by the leaking aura during the process of vitality drainage, a sense of warmth emerged in their hearts.
The mixture of the uncomfortable aura and the aura of life caused a strange, disjointed feeling in everyone's spirit.
But this feeling came quickly and left just as fast.
Before they could regain their senses, the feeling had already vanished, leaving only a trace of that disjointed sensation behind.
What happened?
The members of the Akatsuki, Sasuke and Itachi, Naruto and Haruno Sakura, and even the Reincarnators tens of miles away all cast their gazes toward Lexon's direction.
They were all very confused about what had just happened...
That feeling as if their very souls were being peeked at... as if they could be pulled from their bodies at any moment...
"I..." The paper scraps on Orochimaru's body were falling away, and his body gradually gained substance, blooming with life.
Soon, all the paper scraps had fallen, and Orochimaru's body completely returned to its former state.
Even his clothing was identical.
"I've been resurrected..." Orochimaru looked at his body, once again experiencing the feeling of flesh and blood, touch... smell... every sensation was vastly different from that of an Impure World Reincarnation body.
"It really feels different from before... a body of flesh and blood is much better... Boss..." As he spoke, Orochimaru looked at Lexon, and his expression became somewhat surprised. "Boss, you..."
"Then remember to work hard from now on." In his Demon Transformation state, Lexon gazed at Orochimaru with eyes as dark as an abyss, faintly rippling with purple waves. The ritualistic, eerie patterns on his face shifted as he broke into a smile.
[END DEMON TRANSFORMATION]
Lexon's appearance gradually returned to normal.
It proved that the vitality required for the Art of the Rinne Rebirth could be replaced by the vitality gained from Demon Transformation.
Just like opening the Gate of Death of the Eight Inner Gates, physical energy was consumed in exchange for the execution of the technique.
"Lexon!"
"Lexon!" Just as Lexon returned to normal, the voices of Sasuke and Naruto arrived.
Naruto and Sasuke ran to Lexon's side, their expressions clearly worried.
"What happened just now, Lexon?"
"Lexon, what was that?"
The two of them spoke nervously.
Seeing their reactions, Lexon's heartstrings seemed to flutter slightly without him realizing it.
"It's nothing," he said with a smile, stroking Naruto and Sasuke's heads with both hands.
Who would have thought that while searching for fun, he would gain other things as well...
"Teacher... are you really okay?"
Just then, Haruno Sakura's voice also drifted over.
She also walked over, looking slightly concerned.
"Yeah, it's fine," Lexon nodded in response.
"Boss?" Orochimaru's voice followed.
Of course, he wasn't worried about his boss; he just wanted to get to his research quickly and was asking for permission to leave.
"You can go. My Wood Clone will go with you," Lexon said to Orochimaru.
Now that Orochimaru was free from the control of the Impure World Reincarnation and had regained his freedom, it was naturally better to have a Wood Clone accompany him.
It wasn't that he was afraid Orochimaru would run away, but rather to help with things that Orochimaru's current strength wasn't sufficient for.
Like controlling members of the Akatsuki or something...
It definitely wasn't for some boring reason like having only a few months left before returning and wanting to double the exploitation...
"Alright, Boss." Orochimaru didn't have any objections.
After all, it wouldn't matter even if he did.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]