Naruto: Kurotsuchi Mayuri

Darkness. 

Evil. 

Power.

Even in death, the corpse exuded an unparalleled force.

It was almost like another Zero-Tails—another source of darkness, born from the collective shadow of all living beings.

To Shinnō's senses, the residual power lingering on this corpse far surpassed the quality of the dark chakra amassed by the Zero-Tails.

Standing before the lifeless body, Shinnō could feel his soul trembling. Even though it lay silent and unmoving, its mere presence emitted a suffocating aura of oppression.

This was a pressure that reached deep into one's soul, a feeling that defied reason. Standing in front of the corpse felt like an ant staring up at the remains of a colossal beast.

What a delightful surprise!

Shinnō couldn't hide his satisfaction. He was so pleased with this unexpected discovery that he even considered abandoning his current plans and taking this peculiar corpse back to his headquarters immediately.

After all, he had been away for quite some time, and his true mission was essentially complete. It was time to leave with the group of people he had "recruited."

Shinnō began inscribing sealing symbols one after another. Without proper measures, sensory-type shinobi could easily detect the anomaly of this corpse.

At the very least, he needed to restrain and suppress the overwhelming chakra radiating from it before sealing it away completely.

Once the room was covered in meticulously drawn sealing symbols, Shinnō formed hand signs, compressing the symbols into the corpse's body.

When the final sealing symbol vanished into the corpse, the oppressive aura dissipated completely, leaving the room devoid of the chilling dread that had previously gripped him.

Knock, knock, knock!

A knock echoed through the room. Outside the door stood a shinobi in a black cloak, bearing the Hidden Rain Village's headband. Behind him were several frightened villagers and a familiar, muscular white-haired ninja.

"Jiraiya?" Shinnō froze when he saw the white-haired man.

"Have we met before?" Jiraiya blinked, momentarily thrown off by Shinnō's calm and friendly demeanor.

At first glance, Shinnō's presence radiated the unique aura of a medical ninja—a temperament Jiraiya had seen in Tsunade and the medical staff of the Hidden Leaf's medical division.

Yet, Shinnō's aura went beyond that. There was a profound gentleness and compassion in his expression that left a favorable impression on anyone who met him.

"I've heard Tsunade and Orochimaru mention you," Shinnō replied, stepping aside to let the villagers return to their homes. He gestured for Jiraiya and the Rain Village shinobi to enter the room.

"So, you know Tsunade and Orochimaru," Jiraiya said, nodding slowly. His sharp instincts detected traces of a familiar yet faint energy dispersing from the room. Clearly, Shinnō had been studying something moments before they arrived.

Shinnō answered calmly, "I've run into Tsunade-hime before and discussed some medical ninjutsu with her. As for Orochimaru, we've talked about certain aspects of body modification."

Before Jiraiya could ask further questions, Shinnō smoothly took control of the conversation, shifting the focus from himself to Jiraiya.

"So, late at night, one of the Sannin visits me. What's your purpose here? You don't seem to be injured," Shinnō inquired.

"It's not about me," Jiraiya waved dismissively. "I'm here on behalf of the Akatsuki organization to extend an invitation to you."

He didn't mention anything about the prophecy, instead opting for a more acceptable excuse. 

Truthfully, this excuse wasn't entirely fabricated—Yahiko and the others did want to recruit Shinnō, even if only temporarily. 

For Jiraiya, this was an opportunity to observe the man more closely and determine if he might be the medical ninja connected to the prophecy.

"Akatsuki... is it a group nurtured by Konoha?" Shinnō glanced at the Rain-nin nearby, then back at Jiraiya, a look of realization dawning on his face.

During his time in the Land of Rain, Shinnō had heard of the Akatsuki organization. He knew their members were Rain-nin, easily recognizable by their black cloaks and the forehead protectors of the Hidden Rain Village they wore.

Seeing Jiraiya apparently backing the Akatsuki, Shinnō quickly connected the dots.

"No, no! Akatsuki has nothing to do with Konoha!" Jiraiya denied hurriedly. "Konoha only has some dealings with them, that's all."

Shinnō's skeptical gaze remained, prompting Jiraiya to sigh in resignation.

"The founders of Akatsuki are somewhat connected to me. I once taught three kids here in the Land of Rain. After they grew up, they went on to form Akatsuki. I only learned about it recently. But yes, Konoha does have a business arrangement with them."

Jiraiya then explained the details of the Healing Tags, knowing it wasn't sensitive information that needed to be kept secret.

Shinnō accepted the Healing Tag Jiraiya handed over, examining it closely and testing its effects. He nodded in admiration.

As a medical ninja, Shinnō immediately recognized the Healing Tag's value. To his surprise, today seemed to be full of opportunities—first, obtaining a unique, highly researchable corpse, and now receiving this Healing Tag.

He decided to accept Jiraiya's invitation to teach Konan some medical ninjutsu for a time. During this period, he figured he would have plenty of opportunities to uncover the secrets behind the creation of the Healing Tags.

Even just a portion of the knowledge would be enough for him to reverse-engineer some aspects and create a new Healing Tag with similar effects. 

After all, what limits most people is creativity and ideas. Once an idea successfully comes to life, competitors offering similar products are bound to emerge over time.

His future research and plans would also require a significant investment of money and resources. The Healing Tags, however, could quickly help him amass wealth.

When it came to stealing information or obtaining what he wanted, Shinnō was just as confident as he was in his medical ninjutsu.

After all, even in Konoha, he had managed to obtain two S-rank forbidden techniques:

The Zero Tail TechniqueThe Eight Inner Gates!

After discussing medical ninjutsu with Tsunade, Shinnō had already started working on his own medical forbidden techniques.

Konoha Hidden Village

Technology Development Department

"The test subject has disappeared?"

After losing all traces of the Third Raikage, who had undergone hollowfication, Kagetsu speculated two possibilities. 

Either the Third Raikage had entered a dimensional space, something akin to Obito's Kamui dimension in the future or the realms of the Three Great Sage Lands.

Or, the Third Raikage had fallen into the hands of a ninja—or a group of ninjas—and been sealed away using a sealing technique.

He was starting to understand why Orochimaru would scour the ninja world recruiting talented children.

They could serve as backup bodies for Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation technique or be trained to act as capable subordinates.

Currently, the only people under Kagetsu's command who could effectively handle "dirty work" and hold value were Kakuzu and Jūgo.

Kakuzu was sent out to manage finances and collect debts, while Jūgo's unique physical constitution was unstable and difficult to control, meaning he could only be considered "half" useful.

Should he create one—or several—helpers who could function like clones?

This thought was becoming stronger for Kagetsu. His main body needed to remain in the village for experiments whenever there were no missions, but occasionally, he had to leave the village for activities that couldn't be publicly disclosed.

If he had trustworthy subordinates outside the village, they could immediately retrieve rare resources like the Third Raikage corpse, a valuable subject.

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