Kaika Saisei

Chapter 11: The ties that bind

As soon as Sasuke left his hideout, Orochimaru turned back to his rather peculiar guest. On the way to his chambers, Orochimaru began untying the bandage around his palm, which hid the puzzling symbol residing on his body.

But, as soon as the last swaddle was removed, Orochimaru's eyes looked in amazement at the center of his palm. The symbol was now gone.

"What is the meaning of this?" He thought. It had just been there just a moment ago. Puzzled, he rushed to his room to get more answers.

As soon as he arrived in the front of his chambers, he opened the door and immediately started interrogating his guest.

"The mark on my hand that you put there earlier disappeared. Why?" Orochimaru said, fixated on his guest.

Fukanōna smiled slightly. "Do not worry, for your lifespan is no longer in danger. The thought of questioning mere existence is thing of the past now. Have I not told you already that no longer should your lifespan concern you?"

Orochimaru's expression quickly turned into a distorted one.

"That still doesn't answer my question. Why did the symbol disappear? Furthermore, you said we are linked. I'd like more details on how exactly that is..."

"Ah, as curious as ever..." Fukanōna said.

"Well, your riddles didn't offer me much of a chance now, did they? So now that the linking has been completed and you have me at your mercy, why don't you tell me what exactly this linking you speak of, entails? I did my part, after all. Now it's your turn," Orochimaru said, moving to the side of the door. "We've got all the time in the world now, don't we, as per your own words," he continued, slithering his eyes towards his guest. "Not to mention, you seem to know a lot about me, about us all, for some reason," he said, raising his hands into the air.

Fukanōna smirked, aware that the snake didn't like the position he was in. Someone with more knowledge than himself...

But he was right. It was time for Fukanōna to complete his part of the deal, so he decided to start unraveling the mystery.

His voice turned dark, his stare colder than death itself. As if those white piercing eyes weren't ominous enough already.

"We have been watching you for millennia."

"We?" Orochimaru thought. Who was this we he was talking about? Who really were these... gods or whatever they were? And, millennia?

As twisted as everything sounded, his own cold blood couldn't help but start boiling from realizing that... A life longer than humanly possible. This person was being truthful, in a way at least.
He really was making it possible for his, what seemed to be, long-forgotten goal to be attainable... a life so long that it would allow him to truly uncover the world's deepest secrets. Uncover the condition all life must await. Death, and how to defeat it. To be able to attain the knowledge behind all. Behind everything. Creation itself.

The mere possibility to acquire all the jutsus of the world...

Orochimaru's body couldn't help but betray his emotions, as he started subtly trembling from all the excitement given the position he was in. The magnitude of what everything could generate was grand for him.

 
No matter how much he tried to keep it all under control, from the muscles in his body to the essence of his being, even his signature smirk betrayed him. It was too much excitement to contain, even for someone like him.

Fukanōna couldn't help but help to observe. After all, for him, Orochimaru was pretty much an open book. As open as someone like him can be.

He knew very well why this solution might work after all his failed attempts. There was a reason he asked the Ōtsutsuki God-king to let him try to work things in this exact way.