บท 45: And Orochimaru Mentions Immortality

"Ryo Kun, where are you going? Weren't you ordered by Sarutobi Sensei to make these healing stones?"

"I've been making them of the past 3 months, the village should have reserves." Ryo answered Orochimaru.

"There isn't such a thing as too much of this kind of stone. Ryo Kun, you haven't answered me, where are you going?"

"Orochimaru san, I was going to Konoha's library to read about Wind Release Jutsus."

"Wind release?" Orochimaru stared thoughtfully at Ryo.

"Yes. We are about to go to war. I want to learn as much as possible before it starts."

"What does Konoha's library have to do with leaning Ninjutsu?"

Ryo explained: "Minato Nii-san has a team of new Genins to train, and Jiraya san has missions he has to accomplish. I only have the library to go to."

"Wind release? I master that. Should I demonstrate the Jutsus to you?"Orochimaru who was really interested in Ryo found his chance!

"Sorry for making you go through the trouble Orochimaru san." Ryo nodded after staying silent for a while.

As one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru's strength was amazing. And at this time, he didn't use [Living Corpse Reincarnation], so his soul was not defected and less susceptible to Genjutsu.

On the 3rd training ground, he demonstrated a variety of wind release Jutsus in front of Ryo, ranging from C class all the way up to A class.

What was special was not just the flawless demonstration, but also the fact that he explained the characteristics and disadvantages of wind release with great detail. Ryo had to admit that when it came to knowledge of Ninjutsu, he exceeded even Jiraya.

After he finished with the demonstration, Orochimaru sat down to have a chat with Ryo.

"Ryo Kun, you are also a medical Ninja. What is life to you?"

This question reminded Ryo of the Manga. As a result of his parent's death, Orochimaru began his quest to finding the meaning behind life. The more he explored, the more he found how fragile and short it was.

He was a Ninjutsu genius, so his contempt for life's fragility and shortness, made him try to find the Ninjutsu for immortality.

Through the years of research, he became more and more indifferent to other people's life and death, and has increasingly resorted to unscrupulous methods. He ended up using Ninjas and even children from his own village, Konoha, as test subject.

The 1st time Ryo saw him in the anime, he perceived him as the most evil of all. The reason was very simple: No one who's good would kill their own loving teacher.

However, Orochimaru's image began changing little by little. The way he survived and clinged to life just like a snake, along with the character development over the course of the story made Ryo feel that he was a really interesting person.

After that, his return to save Tsunade during the war made was badass.

In his past world, Ryo was raised under the red flag of capitalism, accepting a materialistic look at life during his education, and he was also a medical worker. This all made him really intrigued by this character that seemed to have no god but science.

Every time he tried to evaluate the characters of the story, it went on like this: "Some believed in willpower, others believed in the bloodline, others believed in ocular power, and others believed in Taijutsu, many believed in hard work. But Orochimaru, and only Orochimaru, believed in science."

"Orochimaru san, I feel life's too vulnerable, especially that of a Ninja. Poison can kill a ninja, another ninja can kill him, even a piece of paper like an explosive tag can do it."

Hearing Ryo's words made Orochimaru's eyes shine slightly. This was the 1st kid he ever heard with ideas so close to his.

"Although life is short and fragile, some things it brings are priceless and eternal. Ninjutsu inherited over generation, inheritance of blood limited skills, and the love of parents to their children."

The Ryo's words silenced Orochimaru. These few words weren't changing his beliefs, but they did remind him of his parents.

"Ryo kun, you think people can find a way to get eternal life?" Obviously, Ryo's answer is what made Orochimaru ask such a question.

In his last life, he heard many fans of Naruto say that if one was fortunate enough to live in Konoha, he should go and learn Orochimaru's secret. Their dream now is not that far from Ryo's reach.

In this world, the only character that truly reached immortality was Kaguya, who ate the Chakra fruit of the God Tree.

Her eternal life was close to a magical thing that's far out of reach. Orochimaru's technique on the other hand was based on sacrificing a life for the sake of a few more years.

Before now, Ryo had little interest in eternal life. In his view, a few decades are enough to get what the world has to give.

Now that he fell in love, his views changed a bit. It would be wonderful to live with the one you love forever.

"Orochimaru san, I think that it's possible in a certain sense." After careful consideration, Ryo still had this answer to give.

The reason why people die of old age is because they accumulate mistakes in the process of meiosis. Their cells are not perfectly reproduced and over time, they accumulate in his body creating a sort of a bug that crashes his whole system. Their bodies can no longer function as they should, and they die. (Author's note: this was taken from the lecture of a professor in college.)

If one takes the genes of a human in the peak of his life, and then replicate them to form a new human body. And then, if the human consciousness is transferred there, a new life shall begin.

In his past life, such a thing was impossible. No one knew how to transfer a soul. But this has happened in Naruto's world with success.

[Reapers Death Seal], [Edo Tensei] and [Living Corpse Reincarnation] are all obvious examples of manipulating souls in this world.

The method that Ryo is thinking about is close to Orochimaru's [Living Corpse Reincarnation], but it actually manages to avoid damaging the soul of the user or of anyone.

He has no plans of telling Orochimaru about it. And of course, he will not be using it himself. On one hand, the current tech in this world does not meet his vision. And on another, this world has the magical power of Chakra!

Using the knowledge he has from his past world to achieve eternal life doesn't fit the image that Ryo desires. Even if he feels the urge to live forever one day, he'll try to make it happen in Kaguya's way!

Now he has little interest in things such as eternal life. Ryo's goal remains being the strongest in the world.

Orochimaru was very satisfied with Ryo's answer. He chatted more with him and made him feel like he had found a friend.

While they were absorbed in their in-depth discussions, an Anbu came in with an order from the 3rd : He was summoning Orochimaru to his office.

"Ryo Kun, I hope we can have the opportunity to chat some more next time!" After they said goodbye to each other, they both left the place.