065 Improved Spirit Summoning Technique

The next day, the sky was pristine, not a single cloud in sight, and the sunlight was splendid. Yet, the underground laboratory remained as dim as ever.

Orochimaru sat beneath the chandelier, poring over the files and documents left by Tobirama Senju during his development of the Reanimation Jutsu. His golden eyes gleamed in the darkness.

To Orochimaru, the Reanimation Jutsu—a forbidden technique that summons the souls of the dead to fight—could be broken down into three main steps:

First, use a part of the deceased’s body as a medium to establish contact with the soul in the Pure Land.

Second, use a living body to create a vessel capable of containing the soul.

And third, control the reanimated body in battle.

Among these, the most difficult was the second step; the quality of the vessel directly determined how much of the soul's former strength could be wielded. The most crucial, however, was the third step—if one could not control the summoned reanimated body, the jutsu could not be considered a true success.

But for Orochimaru at this moment, the latter two steps were irrelevant, as he had no intention of actually performing the Reanimation Jutsu.

Looking only at the first step, he realized it was an exceptionally advanced form of summoning technique.

In the dim yellow light, Orochimaru licked his lips and organized all the information in Tobirama’s files relating to the first step, gathering it into a single document. After storing the remaining files in a scroll, he picked up this newly compiled document and read it carefully.

In the ninja world, Summoning Jutsu was considered the simplest and most commonly used space-time ninjutsu—even Might Guy could learn it. It allowed one to summon contract beasts or specific ninja tools.

The hand signs were simple—always in the order of Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram. Yet, depending on the medium or summoned object, there were other classifications.

One category was the Blood Pact, as the name implied: using blood as a medium to form a contract with a creature, summoning it when needed.

Another type involved summoning tools. Orochimaru himself could summon the Multiple Rashomon for defense. It was said that among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, some had contracts with special scrolls, allowing them to summon the seven swords at will.

A third category was the Sacred Land Contract. The inhabitants of the three great Sacred Lands left their chakra on a unique scroll; as long as a ninja left a blood contract upon it, they could, as needed, summon any contract beast whose chakra had been inscribed on the scroll.

The Sacred Land Contract was an advanced, two-way pact—an evolved form of both the Blood Pact and tool summoning.

Jiraiya’s contract with Mount Myoboku was of this type.

It was said that Ryuchi Cave possessed such scrolls as well, but Orochimaru had never seen them. He had signed only the most basic Blood Pact.

Manda and his underlings had become his summon beasts only after Orochimaru personally sought out Ryuchi Cave and defeated them one by one.

Even so, Manda, emboldened by the protection of the White Snake Sage, often acted in defiance, demanding offerings rather than working for free.

In summary, the Summoning Jutsu had both high and low limits. It could even be combined with sealing techniques; for example, on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack, Minato's Dead Demon Consuming Seal contained elements of summoning as well.

Despite the apparent differences in type and difficulty, all forms could essentially be classified as one thing:

Using the chakra of the summoned object as a medium to bring it forth.

Even tool summoning followed this logic—while the tools themselves lacked chakra, the presence of sealing techniques and chakra markers made this a non-issue for sealing masters.

The simplest, yet most difficult, was "Human Summoning." Few in the ninja world could achieve it; it required extraordinarily delicate chakra control.

But for Orochimaru, this was not a problem—he was one of the rare few.

Now, by comparing it with the summoning aspect of the Reanimation Jutsu, he quickly filled in the gaps in his knowledge regarding the Pure Land.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several days had passed.

Using the Second Hokage’s techniques as a model, Orochimaru developed a summoning jutsu specifically for calling forth souls from the Pure Land.

"Next, it’s time to try it."

After a moment’s contemplation, Orochimaru withdrew a corpse from another scroll.

He had obtained this one specially from the Intelligence Division—a discarded shell, its secrets long since extracted.

With a hiss, the blade sliced off a small piece of flesh and blood. Orochimaru placed it on a specially crafted summoning scroll, formed the hand seals with both hands, and intoned, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Black markings spread outward from beneath his feet, and a puff of white smoke rose from the center of the array.

Yet, when the smoke cleared, there was nothing before him.

"Failed?"

Orochimaru frowned slightly, but from behind him, the Lamp Spirit emerged and declared, "No, you succeeded."

As the words fell, Orochimaru’s vision revealed a translucent figure. Borrowing the Lamp Spirit’s shared sight, he clearly saw the soul’s bewildered face—identical to the corpse at his feet.

The Lamp Spirit cautioned, "Don’t just stand there. The power of the summoning contract is fading. Before long, this soul will be pulled back into the Pure Land."

Orochimaru abandoned his observation. Forming seals swiftly, he called out, "Four Symbols Seal!"

Black patterns crawled across his entire arm. Orochimaru extended his hand, and the previously formless chakra soul seemed to be bound, sealed within another special scroll.

He exhaled softly when all the summoning steps were executed methodically.

Behind him, the Lamp Spirit leaned forward, ignoring the constraints of the seal, and plunged into the scroll. After surveying it carefully for a while, he returned.

The Lamp Spirit nodded, "The soul is still present. The seal, as you expected, has isolated it from the Pure Land’s pull."

Orochimaru licked his lips, not the least bit elated by his immediate success.

This was the fruit of years spent mastering summoning techniques, with Tobirama’s research as a guide—it was only natural to succeed. Failure would have been the real surprise.

What came next was the true challenge.

Gazing at the sealing scroll, Orochimaru’s eyes grew cold and indifferent.

He bit his fingertip, once more separated part of his own chakra soul, and drew the Snake Curse Mark on the other side of the scroll.

Once the mark stabilized, Orochimaru released the previous Four Symbols Seal, binding the summoned chakra soul together with the curse mark.

Only after all this did he breathe out a heavy breath.

Now, all that remained was to let the curse mark finish its erosion of the soul, then remove the Four Symbols Seal.

In this way, a part of his own soul could hitch a ride and successfully infiltrate the Pure Land.

The next phase of his plan would depend on what he discovered there.

"Although it sounds like I’m being wise after the fact, I must say—what you’re doing is far too risky," the Lamp Spirit remarked, smacking its lips as it watched the seals close once more.

No sooner had he reclaimed the curse mark than Orochimaru began dividing his soul again. Unlike before, he could now clearly perceive the consequences of fragmenting his soul.

"Even the First Hokage’s soul drifts in the Pure Land. Yours is so minuscule the chances of falling into slumber are high. If the power of the Pure Land dissolves it, the loss will be permanent. That’s a far cry from the trouble of healing a wound."

"This curse mark—I considered it lost the moment I split it off," Orochimaru replied, glancing at the Lamp Spirit, his eyes frosty and indifferent, a ruthless determination curving his lips.

"As long as I can obtain sufficient information, it will be worth the price."