Chapter 136: Sage of the Six Paths is a good man

Chakra soul bodies, the Reaper, impurities, disintegration...

Orochimaru's thoughts churned. A free pie rarely comes without a catch—it might be laced with poison, or worse, mixed with filth.

To fully transform and gain an eternal soul through the Pure Land alone… it was likely to cost far more than anyone imagined.

The Reaper God now was no longer the same being he had once been.

Orochimaru quickly gave up on the idea of sneaking through some "back door" arranged by the Sage of the Six Paths. But a new question stirred in his mind—if the Sage was creating Otsutsuki-like soldiers, why hadn't he allowed these powerful souls to awaken?

Active awakening and passive transformation—just a single word of difference, yet the outcome could be worlds apart.

Orochimaru pondered for a moment, then voiced his doubt aloud.

The Djinn shrugged. "Who knows? How would I understand what the Sage of the Six Paths is really thinking? You should go ask him yourself."

Orochimaru's lips twitched. Ask the Sage himself? That sounded like a shortcut to self-destruction.

"You can't ask him, but you still want to know… so you guess—no, speculate."

The Djinn gave a faint smile. "Don't act like you know nothing about the Sage of the Six Paths. His bloodline flows in the Senju and Uchiha clans—you know the nature of those two families better than most."

Orochimaru's expression shifted. As the Djinn mentioned them, two familiar figures surfaced in his mind:

Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara—the two most iconic heirs of their respective bloodlines in the last century.

The stronger the bloodline inheritance, the closer they often resembled their progenitors. Through their temperaments, perhaps one could glimpse the Sage himself.

Orochimaru thought carefully.

There was little doubt about Hashirama. From the archives in Konoha to relics scattered across old battlefields, all accounts pointed to his immense power and boundless compassion.

Uchiha Madara, on the other hand, was less well documented—at least not in ways Orochimaru could personally verify. But what he knew from others in the Uchiha clan left a deep impression:

Stubborn. Paranoid. Proud.

What would someone like that do with power no one could oppose?

Orochimaru's eyes flickered. He suddenly recalled the Infinite Tsukuyomi—that fantastical dream-world plan Madara once conceived.

A world without war, where everyone would live in a dream of their heart's desire.

He turned to the Djinn and spoke slowly:

"What the Sage of the Six Paths is doing… it's not so different from Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi."

"The only real difference is compassion—he didn't cast it upon the living."

In this dreamlike Pure Land, the dead may not reincarnate, but they could find bliss in an eternal fantasy. It was a small mercy after the suffering of life.

From that angle, even the souls being molded into Otsutsuki-like warriors were no better than expendable resources—only the duration of their dream differed.

The Djinn raised an eyebrow, a little surprised. "After seeing all this, you seem to have developed quite a favorable opinion of the Sage of the Six Paths."

Orochimaru shook his head. "It's not about kindness. But if there were no Pure Land created by the Sage of the Six Paths… what do you think would happen to these chakra spirits in the end?"

The Djinn paused for a moment, then replied, "They'd probably just dissipate into the world. Even Uchiha Madara's spirit—without a physical body to anchor it—is like water without a source, or a tree without roots. Eventually, natural forces would wear it away."

"See? Without this dream, they wouldn't even have that much."

Orochimaru glanced at the Djinn. "If all the Sage wanted was an army, it would've been more efficient to keep the souls conscious—let them devour each other, fight and evolve. But instead… he gave them peace. In a way, this place is a Pure Land."

Of course, even as he said that, Orochimaru had no intention of showing mercy to the soul energy he intended to absorb.

The Sage might have had noble intentions, but this "Pure Land" was hardly friendly to someone like Orochimaru. He didn't care about illusions of blissful dreams, and his body—nothing close to an Ōtsutsuki's—had already been worn down by time.

His goals remained unchanged. But pursuing them here would inevitably disrupt the order established by the Sage of the Six Paths.

Orochimaru licked his lips. "If I absorb soul energy in this place… he won't detect it, will he?"

The Djinn smirked. "And if he did, what would you do? Beg? Plead? Maybe he'd let you off out of the kindness of his heart…"

After a moment of amusement, he added, "Don't worry. As long as you don't go overboard, the Sage of the Six Paths won't notice anything."

He pointed upward, smiling. "His spirit body is resting in the upper levels—but his consciousness isn't in the Pure Land. In other words, he's not home."

"Not in the Pure Land?" Orochimaru was taken aback. "Why would the Sage leave?"

"What's so strange about that?" The Djinn spread his hands. "There's nothing to do in the Pure Land. It's dull. Boring. Even the Sage of the Six Paths was human once. Stay here long enough, and even he gets lonely. He's not some mindless Reaper or flawed, emotionless husk."

"Indra and Asura—those two mutts—can reincarnate over and over again. Why wouldn't their father be able to do the same?"

"In fact, he can leave his spirit here to soak up soul energy while his consciousness drifts through the ninja world. Easy."

The Djinn spoke casually, but Orochimaru was shaken. His voice slipped out in alarm. "Then… where is he now?"

Even if the Sage wasn't prone to random slaughter, he'd still killed plenty. Ninja on the battlefield, test subjects in labs, even the master who now lay on his operating table.

And if the Sage's real body ever returned to the Pure Land while Orochimaru was meddling here…

Unlike Indra or Asura, whose recycled souls barely retained a trace of their former selves, the Sage of the Six Paths retained his full, terrifying power.

The Djinn lifted a finger to his lips. "Shh. Don't talk about him. No need to disturb someone else's dream."

Orochimaru's eyes flicked to the Third Kazekage, whose eyelids twitched ever so slightly.

Disrupting a genjutsu was simple when all involved were chakra-based spirit bodies. Just stir the chakra flow.

Of course, even if he broke it, the constant influence of the Pure Land would likely drag the Kazekage back into illusion soon enough.

Still… Orochimaru didn't dare speak again. Not out of fear of the Kazekage waking—but out of fear of the Sage himself, asleep or not.

The Djinn shrugged. "Honestly, there's nothing to be afraid of. For the Sage, returning to the Pure Land is like coming home. You think he's really going to bother with you?"

Orochimaru didn't trust that logic, but lacking any means of detecting the Sage's presence, he had little choice but to drop the thought and close his eyes to begin cultivation.

Thanks to his training in breath control and Sage techniques, he quickly entered a meditative state. A cool, refreshing energy flowed into his spirit body like spring water.

His injuries began to fade, and his presence grew more stable and refined.

The Djinn gave a satisfied nod. "You just focus on your breathing. I'll go say hello… to your main body."

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