"Akatsuki"

The two people standing in front of Orochimaru were wearing black cloaks embroidered with red clouds, the signature attire of Akatsuki.

"I didn't expect to run into you so soon."

He had just learned the name of Akatsuki from Kabuto, and now, in such a short time, he had already encountered the real thing.

Akatsuki... The timing is almost too perfect, he studied the pair before him.

It was just as the rumors said: they worked in pairs. One of them had a hunched figure, barely half the height of a person, with a black mask covering his face and only five tufts of hair on his head. He looked very old, and from behind the cloak extended a scorpion tail made of mechanical components.

The other was a young man. When Orochimaru saw him, a strange feeling of familiarity surfaced in his mind, as if meeting an old acquaintance, though he couldn't recall exactly where they had met.

The man had orange hair and a straight posture, but black, rod-like objects pierced through his face.

However, it wasn't these black rods that stood out the most about this person—it was his eyes.

There were no pupils in those purple eyes, only concentric rings.

Those eyes... It can't be! The legendary Rinnegan?

How could this be?

Orochimaru, who frequently pored over ancient texts in search of information on jutsu, was no stranger to the Rinnegan—eyes said to belong only to the Sage of Six Paths in legend.

Although he had never seen them in person, the unique design made it clear: these could only be the Rinnegan.

"So, you were here all along." Orochimaru muttered, licking his lips with a hint of excitement as though he had found new prey.

Though his ultimate goal had shifted, his interest in studying the Rinnegan on his path to the truth remained piqued.

"Orochimaru."

"My name is Pain, leader of Akatsuki," the young man with the Rinnegan stepped forward, speaking without emotion. "Let's get to the point: our organization needs your power."

Orochimaru's lips curled into a smirk. "Are you inviting me to join your little group?"

"You could put it that way."

"Hmph." Orochimaru snorted but didn't respond further.

Seeing that Sannin wasn't answering, Pain continued, "I know you have that statue."

At these words, Orochimaru's eyes suddenly widened, and a murderous aura instantly emanated from him. The air around them seemed to grow heavy.

A statue that could attract the attention of the leader of a ninja organization was no ordinary object. It could only be the most special Cthulhu statue in his possession.

This statue harbored the power of the Old Ones, a unique existence in this world and one of the few clues to finding the ultimate gate to the immortal Ancients.

For the sake of this Cthulhu statue, he had even defected from Konoha, severing ties with the village's Root faction, all to keep the statue and its secrets to himself.

Now, he considered the Cthulhu statue as something sacred and untouchable, and the fact that the person in front of him dared to mention it was provoking him.

Noticing Orochimaru's sudden change in demeanor, the hunched member of Akatsuki immediately stepped in front of Pain.

"Orochimaru of the Three Legendary Sannin, I'd like to see if your reputation is undeserved." The hunched figure spoke in a deep, raspy voice, clearly itching for a fight with Orochimaru.

However, Pain raised a hand to stop him. "Hold on, Sasori."

Pain then stepped forward and, keeping a poker face, said, "Orochimaru, there's no need to be hostile toward us."

"You can keep the statue. We don't need it."

"But the power within the statue—we need that. Or rather, we value your research abilities. We need your help with some research. In return, we'll provide you with any materials you need for your experiments."

"That includes your own forbidden jutsu research. We can assist with that as well. There's no need to doubt our power. As long as you join Akatsuki, we can provide any experimental materials you require."

"In exchange, all we ask is that you work seriously for Akatsuki. How does that sound? For someone like you, it should be an attractive offer."

Pain calmly presented his terms to him, and Orochimaru fell into deep thought.

Access to resources, protection from Konoha... and a chance to study those eyes up close, he considered, weighing the pros and cons of the offer.

The offer made by the leader of Akatsuki, was indeed tempting. After all, Orochimaru currently lacked strong subordinates and didn't have access to many experimental materials.

Additionally, since Konoha was still hunting him, having a ninja organization to rely on wouldn't be a bad idea.

Moreover, seeing the Rinnegan in this young man's eyes had piqued Orochimaru's interest in Akatsuki even further. He began to entertain the thought of delving deeper into this organization.

"Alright, I'll join you," Orochimaru said, a sly smile playing on his lips. "This should prove... interesting."

"Good. Follow us."

Pain turned and began walking, and the Akatsuki member known as Sasori, though grumbling with dissatisfaction, retracted his scorpion tail and followed Pain into the forest.

As they traveled, the atmosphere remained tense between Orochimaru and Sasori.

"I still say we should've tested his skills first," Sasori grumbled, his mechanical tail twitching beneath his cloak.

"Afraid of a little competition, puppet master?"

Before Sasori could retort, Pain's authoritative voice cut through the air. "Enough. Save your energy for our true enemies."

After half a day of traveling, the three arrived at a secret cave. Orochimaru's keen eyes took in the intricate security measures surrounding the entrance.

Impressive... They're not amateurs, that's certain, he appreciated the level of caution the organization employed.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Under Pain's direction, the entire members of Akatsuki performed the initiation ceremony to officially welcome Orochimaru into the organization.

However, the only living people physically present were Pain, Sasori, and Orochimaru; the rest of the members appeared only as dark silhouettes, a projection of some kind.

He had never seen such a technique before, so he surmised that it must be a special ability of the Rinnegan, with Pain being the key to this jutsu.

A projection jutsu of this level... Is this the power of the Rinnegan? His curiosity grew even stronger.

"A brat from Konoha, welcome."

"Who would have thought that one of the legendary Sannin would fall so low? How ironic, haha."

"Welcome to our family."

Orochimaru looked around at the surrounding silhouettes. Although there weren't many of them, their strength was undeniable, just as Pain had claimed.

The person who called him a brat was likely the rogue ninja from Takigakure, Kakuzu, who was said to be from the same era as Senju Hashirama. Only someone of that caliber could speak to him in such a way.

As for the other two voices, he couldn't identify them, though one of them was clearly female.

He had already deduced the identity of the man known as Sasori during their journey.

It must be Sasori of the Red Sand, the genius puppet master from Sunagakure. Rumor had it that he was the one who killed the Third Kazekage.

Kakuzu from Takigakure... Sasori of the Red Sand... How lovely.

In addition to Pain, it seemed this organization was even more interesting than Orochimaru had first thought.

He donned the red-cloud Akatsuki cloak and slipped on the ring with the symbol sky.

Moreover, he was required to paint his nails with a special nail polish on both his hands and feet. How strange.

"We are all rogue ninjas. If we die in battle, this nail polish will serve to identify us," Pain explained.

Thoughtful but still strange. They've even planned for our deaths.

His implication was that, as rogue ninjas, not only did they face the risks of their missions, but they also had to deal with the constant threat of being hunted by their former villages.

So, if any Akatsuki member were blown to pieces, they could be identified by the fingers or toes painted with this polish, confirming their death.

After the somewhat lengthy initiation ceremony, Pain finally prepared to reveal the research task he wanted to entrust to Orochimaru.

Pain led Orochimaru into a large, spacious laboratory. The room was equipped with various machines and experimental apparatus lining the walls. In the center, several men with snow-white bodies were sitting in seats, waiting.

Fascinating... These creatures are far more advanced than I expected.

"These are the White Zetsu we created using the cells of Hashirama. However, they are not yet in their complete form. If we could obtain more of Hashirama's cells to further enhance them, they would be able to rival the ninjas of the Five Great Nations."

Hearing this introduction from Pain, Orochimaru once again looked at the Akatsuki organization with more respect. His eyebrows raised slightly, betraying his surprise.

"You've managed to harness Hashirama's power to this extent? Impressive," Orochimaru said.

He hadn't expected such advanced creations using Hashirama's cells to exist here.

To think, they've succeeded where I failed... Orochimaru's mind drifted back to his own experiments, a fleeting sense of frustration crossing his features.

As the God of Shinobi, Hashirama's strength was unquestionable. Even after his death, many people still coveted his power.

In fact, to inherit his Wood Release technique, the ANBU, under the leadership of Danzo, had secretly authorized Orochimaru to conduct experiments on Hashirama's cells.

However, the cells were too powerful, and most of the children subjected to the experiment couldn't handle the strain, dying as a result.

Only one child survived by sheer luck, but Orochimaru considered him a failure and abandoned the entire research.

Yet, to his surprise, he wasn't the only one conducting such experiments; Akatsuki had also been secretly working on it.

The body of a ninja held powerful secrets, and for Konoha, Hashirama's cells were an immense treasure.

The fact that Akatsuki had managed to obtain Hashirama's cells without Konoha even noticing was completely unexpected for him.

However, judging by the identical appearances of these white creatures, they were merely cheap replicas. His goal had always been to create a modified ninja capable of using Wood Release on the same level as Hashirama, a goal entirely different from whoever created these White Zetsu.

"Of course, we won't ask you to retrieve Hashirama's cells to enhance these White Zetsu."

"But we need you to use the power of the statue to strengthen them."

"We know the statue's power can enhance the human body, greatly improving vitality and skin resilience, making them impervious to thrown ninja tools."

"We hope you can transplant this ability into the White Zetsu as well."

Pain then revealed the main reason he had invited him, which made Orochimaru feel slightly uncomfortable.

This organization is more dangerous than I thought.

This Akatsuki organization knew far too much, even about the fact that the statue could modify the human body. It seemed this organization of less than ten people had a very powerful intelligence network.

A sly smile spread across Orochimaru's face. "Alright, let's conduct an experiment. This should be... enlightening."

He pulled out a scroll from his chest and summoned a black package from it.

Upon seeing the package, Pain instinctively turned his body away, no longer looking at Orochimaru or the Cthulhu statue, clearly aware of the statue's terrifying power.

As Orochimaru watched Pain's unguarded back, a brief thought crossed his mind—to attack Pain and steal his Rinnegan.

No, it's too risky. Sasori is still nearby, Orochimaru reasoned, quickly dismissing the idea.

Since Pain dared to turn his back on him, it meant he wasn't afraid. Even if Orochimaru managed to take down Pain by surprise, Sasori was waiting outside the lab.

After learning Sasori's true identity, he knew that defeating him wouldn't be easy.

So, Orochimaru obediently placed the package containing the Cthulhu statue on the ground.

"You there, open this package and gaze upon its contents," Orochimaru commanded.

These White Zetsus, designed for experiments, had almost no intelligence and couldn't even speak. They stupidly walked over, surrounded the package, and opened it.

Inside, a beautifully intricate statue was revealed.

The moment the White Zetsus saw the statue, they froze for a second. Their blank eyes widened, pupils dilating to impossible sizes.

Then, they went berserk, screaming like insane people who had completely lost their minds. Their howls echoed off the laboratory walls, a cacophony of madness that sent chills down even Orochimaru's spine.

After howling at the ceiling for a while, they began searching for something to attack, and Orochimaru and Pain, who had their backs turned, became their targets.

Seven White Zetsus charged at them with heavy footsteps. Time seemed to slow as they approached, their twisted faces contorted in rage, arms outstretched to grab their prey.

Just as they were about to touch Pain, he suddenly turned around and stretched out his hand.

"Shinra Tensei!"

His hand didn't touch the White Zetsus, but it seemed as if their bodies were repelled by an invisible force. They were instantly flung across the room, their bodies arcing through the air in slow motion.

Then, they crashed heavily into the walls. Seven large craters appeared on the walls, and the White Zetsus lay motionless, limbs twisted at unnatural angles.

Seeing Pain use this immensely powerful jutsu, which he had never witnessed before, Orochimaru was secretly shocked.

Such power... Is this the true power of the Rinnegan?

Luckily, he hadn't attacked earlier.

The experiment concluded, and Orochimaru used his snake limbs to retrieve the Cthulhu statue, then walked over to inspect the now-dead White Zetsus.

After a brief examination, he said, "It seems that merely looking at the statue doesn't grant the White Zetsu the ability you want."

Over the past few months, he had conducted a series of studies on the principle behind how the Cthulhu statue modified human bodies.

Although the power appeared to be magical, it was actually based on cellular modification. The statue's power caused rapid mutations at the cellular level, altering the biological traits of the body and granting new abilities.

Not only did it enhance vitality and skin resilience, but these mutated cells could also increase a person's strength by at least twice.

Looking directly at the statue would rapidly destroy an ordinary person's original cellular structure, creating cells of another species, but the transformation wouldn't be complete; the person would retain their human form while gaining some traits of another organism.

However, this was only the case for ordinary people. For ninjas, things were different.

Ninjas' cells differed slightly from those of ordinary people because they contained the power of chakra.

Chakra's power would partially inhibit the cellular mutations in a ninja's body, so ninjas who looked at the statue wouldn't undergo large-scale mutations.

As a result, the enhancement in a ninja's physical abilities would be much smaller, perhaps only increasing their strength by 0.2 to 0.5 times.

In the simplest terms, the mutated cells, whether in ordinary people or ninjas, would enhance their strength and vitality.

But the key was how much cell conversion the body could handle.

An ordinary person's body would inevitably turn into a mindless monster, while a ninja's cell conversion rate wasn't large enough.

As for these White Zetsus, who possessed powerful Hashirama cells, they were equivalent to a ninja's body. So, looking at the statue didn't enhance them but instead drained what little intelligence they had left.

"The statue's power works differently on ordinary humans and ninjas. These White Zetsu, being artificial, react in yet another way," Orochimaru explained, his voice taking on a lecturing tone.

Pain's eyes focused on Orochimaru. "Your understanding of this power is impressive. How did you come by this information?"

Orochimaru's lips curled into a knowing smirk, but he chose not to answer directly.

"To achieve the results you want, transplantation is necessary. Only by transplanting a certain ratio of these creature's cells will the replicated White Zetsu gain the abilities you seek."

"What is this creature?" Pain asked.

"Hehehe…" Orochimaru chuckled.

"A Deep One."