In the Mindscape

(Back to the present, 3rd Person POV)

Kei looked over the two bodies laid on the ground in front of his feet. Reaching down, his hand shifted into a mass of tendrils, piercing through the bodies as he absorbed them, only to freeze afterward.

'Completely empty. Not any sign of even a single memory in there. No wounds either, bodies in prime condition, meaning they must have abandoned these bodies to move into better ones after the last one died. If they are capable of creating and inhabiting more powerful bodies this might get… complicated…'

As the thoughts in his mind raced, Kei's perception of time suddenly slowed down as countless voices rose in his mind.

(Inside Blakclight's Mindscape.)

Inside this body, thousands of individuals' thoughts raced from one corner to the next, communicating with each other as each of them appeared in their original body in 'his' mindscape.

Slowly afterward, an entire village rose, carrying semblance to both Iwa and Konoha, as thousands of shinobi laughed, fought, and threw ideas against each other, shooting down others' ideas with their arguments, and getting shot down in return.

A bustling scene formed in Kei's mind as he suddenly appeared next to a particular individual, one cooking breakfast in his own home… enough servings to fill the entire kitchen floor.

"You know you can simply think it up… right?" - Kei asked as he looked over at Itachi, dressed in his home attire as Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan rotated in a staring contest with the eggs.

"Perhaps… but then again I can't 'think up' what I've never seen before. It would simply be an illusion of the perfect egg." – Itachi replied with a serious look on his face, not fitting the subject that was… eggs.

"And with that, we have officially discussed too much regarding this subject. The cultivators… they might be up to something. You will be taking the Human Path later today. I want you to carefully investigate each city where Blacklight has been planted before continuing our plans. They know what it is capable of thanks to that meddling swordsman. This is too important to simply overlook. It might take some time but it's better to be safe than sorry. Any opinions?"– Kei asked as he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"We don't have anywhere near enough information to make something even resembling an educated guess regarding their intentions beyond the vague notion of them being enemies. As for outside this topic… I do like this… world, I guess you could call it." – Itachi said as they suddenly disappeared from the room, appearing on a rooftop as they looked at all the shinobi and civilians walking inside the village.

"Your words, 'everyone lives in their own reality'. Without a physical body, this is the best way to get each of them to keep their individuality. Too much time spent watching the world through my eyes will only end up with all these minds thinking similarly down the road. You gave us this idea… and it costs but next to nothing to make it a reality."

"Hm… The only difference between this, and what Madara wishes to complete in the end… is that here, we live in a dream we all share. Everyone is a real person, as opposed to living in your own dream, where every other person is but your interpretation of them, and you will never lose any of them, you will never feel pain or hatred that cannot be cast aside. I believe, Madara might be more inclined to listen to you than you originally predicted."

Kei looked thoughtfully at Itachi as he smiled.

"Perhaps." – was the only response from Kei.

With another thought, they both disappeared from the rooftop, appearing in what seemed to be a laboratory.

"Kukuku… to think that there is still so much knowledge out there. I wonder what secrets the DNA of such a creature holds deeper within itself…" – Orochimaru's voice snickered as he suddenly turned to face his 'roommates'.

"What do you think 'Kei', people, and creatures only thought to be fantasy, with abilities only dreamed of… became reality for Kuro… so… whose fantasy did 'you' crawl out from exactly?" – As he spoke, as Kei's eyes simply stared at him for a moment before his body suddenly shifted, turning into a humanoid armored giant well beyond 2 meters in height.

"Hoo… I thought I hid pretty well this time. So… what gave me away?" – The voice that came from the blank faceplate was much heavier than Kei's, revealing the monster that was truly in control of them.

"Kukuku… nothing, your disguise was perfect… I just took a guess, kukuku…" – As he spoke, Itachi and 'it' merely stared at the laughing snake, before a smile spread over Itachi's face.

"… I see, I suppose simply throwing the bait randomly and hoping it hits is also a type of strategy… a very crude and ineffective one… but it is one nonetheless. Now that you've had your fun, shall we get into the important part?"

"Kukuku, of course. Given that we are facing the Sage, who is infamous for sealing a goddess, we approached this from a different direction. Our arsenal of Jutsus is more than sufficient, and even if it's not, we can simply start 'taking' instead of inventing new ones. With that in mind, we have focused on adapting an ability to fly that does not rely on chakra at all… which has gotten us… somewhere. The falcon and the dragonfly are our primary targets. One focuses on pure speed and the other on extreme maneuverability. We are working on combining them to a point… but there are always tradeoffs. This is without even touching the subject of how they are going to lift your ridiculous weight in the first place without any chakra… or how your area going to stand on two feet without any chakra. You would literally start sinking the moment chakra disappears from your feet."

"And this is all without even taking into consideration my abrupt gain in weight once the war starts."

"Kukuku, indeed. While the current estimate is that this world contains less than 1 billion individuals, even if it was half of that, at the bare minimum we are looking at going from approximately 3'000 meals to a whopping 500'000'000. That itself is a 16'666'600% increase at the bare minimum. The easiest and most direct solution would be simply taking on a bigger form suitable for you at that moment. But you already thought of that, didn't you? …Kukuku… after all, why keep Manda for so long, why increase his size exponentially if not to use him as a foundation to something else… something much bigger… a world serpent perhaps. You would, in essence, become a type of god… Kukuku." – Orochimaru suggested as he looked carefully at the monster in front of him.

"It would not be a sound tactic, despite the overwhelming physical strength…" – Itachi intervened as he drew their attention– "Most of your body would be a still target for the enemy. You should look for other options."

"While to a point you're right, I do not intend to simply take Manda's body structure. If so I would have long since absorbed him. I am looking at how he slowly evolves into something else. Even I know a snake's body is not exactly the most suitable for combat… so I am looking for something of a higher caliber. Sadly, even for me, it would be impossible to transform into something so big perfectly on the first try, without having some kind of foundation… Manda will be that foundation. From man to world serpent, and from a serpent… to a dragon."

"Still… not effective for fighting small enemies like the Sage or Madara. You'll just become a target that is hard to miss. " – Itachi said as he intervened once more.

"You forget that I still have the Rinnegan. That gives me 5 additional bodies, 3 too many to just combat two sages. Especially when one doesn't even have a body of his own."

As they nodded, Itachi spoke once again as he addressed an issue that had long since been postponed.

"Given the disappearance of the cultivators, I would also suggest that we finish our long-awaited confrontation with the fourth Hokage."

"I originally planned to gain his trust and create a scenario where he would willingly allow me to use my 'Jutsu' on him… but his mind and teleportation Jutsu make him a flight risk. Not to mention his popularity in Konoha is not something to scoff at either if he manages to escape our grasp."

"Then make it so he cannot escape, just like I gave everything for Sasuke, in the Fourth's mind, his life is a small price to pay for his own son's life." – Itachi said as his Mangekyou shined inside the laboratory, Orochimaru's laugh following shortly after as he slowly clapped.

(A.N: Sorry for the week-late post, since this semester started we have been given some pretty demanding tasks to complete. Having a block in the middle of this chapter didn't help either as I have been at it for three days straight now and finally managed to finish the second half of it. Hopefully I get some inspiration these 2 days so I can finish the next chapter. Anyway Hope you guys enjoyed it :)