Both time-traveled characters ended up as villainous henchmen.

Three days later, Orochimaru successfully returned to Konoha Village.

Having just completed his mission report to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Orochimaru heard from him that Izumi Nen had awakened a special Lightning Release bloodline limit.

A fleeting sense of surprise, astonishment, and a touch of fear crossed Orochimaru's mind, but his expression remained impassive, his changes in expression perfectly timed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi knew that Orochimaru was anxious, so he did not keep Orochimaru any longer.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Orochimaru did not rush back to the laboratory to find Izumi Nen.

Instead, he leisurely strolled around the commercial district of Konoha Village.

Although he appeared very relaxed, Orochimaru was not at peace inside.

Izumi Nen suddenly awakened the Lightning Release bloodline, rather than the ordinary Lightning Release, which is likely related to his mysterious and unusual Sage Body.

Perhaps this is a partial display of Izumi Nensen's human abilities?

Orochimaru's long-standing scientific research experience allowed him to easily deduce this result.

But a faint doubt lingered in his heart that things were probably not as simple as he thought.

Orochimaru kept recalling the details of every examination and experiment he conducted on Izumi Nensen's body.

Bloodline detection, cell culture, cloning, excessive injection of natural energy... The results of each experiment met his expectations, yet left him with no way of knowing the truth about the immortal body.

He had already tested Izumi Nen's bloodline limit. At that time, apart from the signs that Water Release and Yang Release had fused into a bloodline limit, he found nothing unusual. He didn't even find any Lightning Release or Yin Release chakra.

It's important to know that Orochimaru's testing procedures are far more advanced than those of ordinary chakra test strips.

But now, unexpectedly, a chakra attribute he had never detected before has appeared, and it has even fused into a bloodline limit.

This was something Orochimaru could hardly imagine.

Aside from encountering setbacks in terms of bloodstains and chakra attributes, Orochimaru's research on the Sage Body was not smooth sailing either; in fact, it was quite bumpy.

Izumi Nen's Sage Body has its absorption efficiency of natural energy strangely and spontaneously maintained at an extremely safe limit. Once there is enough, it will no longer absorb it on its own. Even if Orochimaru actively injects excessive natural energy into it, the cloned and cultured cells can develop extremely strong resistance to natural energy.

Once the pressure limit of the cell is exceeded, the consequences are no different from those of the other ninjas' cells.

There is no specific reason that can be found.

Cell transplantation experiments have consistently failed, and the difficulty is several orders of magnitude higher than that of intercolumnar cells.

Furthermore, the whereabouts of the absorbed natural energy also troubled Orochimaru for a long time.

It was as if a layer of mist shrouded it, allowing him to see the general outline but not the true face.

Only when he struggled to dispel the fog did he manage to glimpse a corner of the truth.

After extensive research and countless comparative and cell culture experiments, he finally discovered the true destination of the natural energy absorbed by Izumi Nensen's body.

Those natural energies will transform into a very special life energy, which will be used to propel the immortal body to undergo a further slow transformation.

However, Orochimaru was not particularly excited after learning the truth.

After all, he knew nothing about the nature of this special life energy, where it came from, or how it was transformed from natural energy by the immortal body.

Even though this new discovery has brought new progress to some experiments that had previously reached a dead end.

However, all the achievements of those experiments combined cannot compare to the mysteries of the immortal body.

It was for this reason that Orochimaru took the initiative to accept an outing mission this time.

Besides using the task to change their mood and relax their minds, they also want to take this opportunity to personally collect some special experimental materials from the outside world.

In order to further analyze the mysteries of Izumi Nensen's human body after returning.

However, after hearing from Hiruzen Sarutobi that Izumi Nen had awakened a bloodline limit combining Lightning Release and Yin Release, Orochimaru felt that all the experimental materials he had collected in the sealed scroll had been for nothing.

"What an unpredictable body..."

After letting out a soft sigh, Orochimaru casually bought some things at a nearby shop and then hurried towards the laboratory where Izumi Nen was.

He had a hunch that if he couldn't figure out the secret of the immortal body on Izumi Nen's body as soon as possible...

Given Izumi Nen's current growth rate, it won't be long before this treasure no longer belongs solely to him.

This feeling of unease—that something is right in front of you, yet you could lose it at any moment—terrified Orochimaru.

He certainly had a way to completely control Izumi Nen, but doing so would very likely destroy the world's only immortal body.

At that time, the truth about the immortal body will be completely revealed to him.

This is something Orochimaru is extremely unwilling to see.

……

laboratory.

Izumi Nen met Orochimaru, whom he hadn't seen for over a month, and the change in Orochimaru's expression at that moment did not surprise him.

A hint of madness lurks beneath the calm surface.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two went to the testing room without prior arrangement.

Izumi Nian was not worried about this at all, after all, he had already conducted many private examinations and was able to keep the current test data within an ideal range.

The examination was completed quickly, and Orochimaru's results were consistent with the results of the experiments conducted by Izumi Nen beforehand.

His physical attributes improved dramatically, and the effects of Yin Lightning Escape were also more powerful than expected.

Moreover, all these changes can be justified.

The immortal body has been absorbing the life energy accumulated from natural energy, which successfully triggered Izumi Nen's transformation.

Lightning Release stimulates the physical body, greatly enhancing physical strength, while Yin Release enhances spiritual energy. The combined effect of the two triggers a further transformation and growth.

Moreover, the extent of the enhancement and the trajectory of the growth are traceable, so that it will not surprise Orochimaru, but will also make him feel pleasantly surprised.

In the end, Orochimaru was almost convinced of his own abilities by looking at the data report.

There was absolutely no need for Izumi to explain anything.

Orochimaru was unwilling to give up, so he quickly dismissed Izumi Nen and took the blood and cell tissue he had just taken from him into his private laboratory to continue more detailed analysis.

Nearly half a month passed in this way.

Orochimaru emerged from the laboratory, his face still deathly pale, making it impossible to tell what he had been through there.

Only he himself knew that the repeated experiments he had conducted on the immortal human cells of Izumi Nen these past few days had yielded results that were completely beyond his expectations.

The parts that I didn't understand before, I still don't understand now. However, there are more and more obvious experimental phenomena to support the special life energy that the immortal body transforms after absorbing natural energy.

Furthermore, and more importantly, Izumi Nen's immortal body seems to have completed its initial transformation, exhibiting greater tolerance to different experimental environments and even a certain degree of adaptive evolution.

This puzzled Orochimaru even more. Did biology really not exist in the ninja world?

Just as Orochimaru was puzzled, Izumi Nen, whom he hadn't seen for half a month, took the initiative to come to his door and handed him a very special experimental report.

A hypothesis about increasing the upper limit of a ninja's chakra reserves: guiding the separate storage of spiritual and physical energy through sealing techniques.

Orochimaru only glanced at the first page of the report before looking down at Izumi Nen, as if he were seeing him for the first time.