I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 582 Some people rigidly adhere to the rules, while others explore loopholes in the rules and exploit them.

The day before the Chunin Exams began, Tatsuma arrived at the Wood Release Laboratory with three exam admission tickets. Now that he had sufficient access, Tatsuma didn't sneak around like before, but came openly and honestly.

Orochimaru notified him to come over today, probably about the Chunin Exams, which is why Tatsuma brought Shisui and the others' exam admission tickets.

Given Orochimaru's personality, it's understandable that he wouldn't bother making a trip to the Hokage Building to retrieve those few pieces of paper. Tatsuma didn't mind doing it for him, since Orochimaru had been a great help to him.

But he stopped as soon as he reached the entrance, because there was a boy at the laboratory entrance, with his arms crossed, his brows furrowed, a senbon dangling from his mouth, and his whole body trembling.

They look like drug addicts who take people to places of pleasure on the streets at night, and they seem both pitiful and hateful.

"Genma?"

Looking at the boy, whose demeanor had changed dramatically since their first meeting half a month ago, Chenma asked somewhat hesitantly.

"Tatsuma-sama."

Genma Shiranui then noticed Tatsuma's arrival, quickly removed the senbon from his mouth, and barely regained some semblance of normalcy.

Tatsuma then approached Genma. If Genma had been in his previous state, a direct approach might have caused Genma to react violently. However, even now, Tatsuma slowed his pace as much as possible, asking:

"How's the special training going?"

Upon hearing Tatsuma's question, Genma froze again. His pupils dilated and shrank like out-of-control halos, and even the temperature of his body surface dropped rapidly.

Tatsuma narrowed his eyes, guessing that something must have happened during the special training that caused Genma great pain.

The thousand books in Genma's hand were bent into an arc by his tightly clenched hand. Tatsuma took two more steps closer and gently placed his hand on Genma's shoulder. Just as Genma looked up in surprise, Tatsuma gave him a smile.

Although not as sunny and heartwarming as Minato, it was still very infectious, which calmed Genma down considerably. The senbon in his hand straightened again, and he said tremblingly:

"That day, I overheard Lord Orochimaru and Anko discussing how to kill me in a 'real' way. Then, I was caught eavesdropping. I was forced to witness hundreds of ways I could die."

Genma covered his head and said, "They were even commenting on each of my deaths. They only stopped when I was so scared that I went into shock."

Looking at Genma's appearance, Tatsuma knew that the "insight" he mentioned was most likely not a verbal description or a storyboard. Given Orochimaru's personality, it was probably a series of illusions.

Genjutsu is a technique that uses chakra to disrupt the brain. If used repeatedly, it may damage the brain. Even if it doesn't cause damage, it can confuse reality with illusion. Some interrogation methods used by the Anbu (Anbu) employ this technique.

The goal is to confuse the interrogated person's perception of reality and illusion, and then make them believe it's an illusion, thus revealing the truth.

As for why Orochimaru did this, Tatsuma's hand on Genma's shoulder tightened slightly, drawing his attention back, and then a strange chakra invaded Genma's brain.

"Ninja Art! Dream Sealing Technique!"

Chakra transformed into sealing techniques, locking a certain area of ​​Genma's brain. Genma's body instantly lost power and was about to fall straight down when Tatsuma caught him with one hand.

He held the genma in one hand and pressed the other hand on the inspection equipment at the entrance.

"Squeak~"

The laboratory door opened, and Tatsuma carried Genma inside.

"Didn't you say you needed to calm down? Are you calm now?"

As Tatsuma's footsteps gradually spread, a girl's voice rang out, and a head peeked out from a laboratory.

"Tatsuma-senpai!"

Upon seeing Tatsuma, Anko immediately came out of the lab, carrying two trays of pipette tips. Clearly, Anko was no longer only responsible for washing bottles in the lab, but also for pipetting, as she was holding the commonly used pipette tips.

Hongdou glanced at the person in Chenma's arms and asked, "Has he fainted again?"

"How many times has he fainted?"

"It's happened at least three times since last night, but I don't remember after I fell asleep."

Red Bean shook her head. Tatsuma glanced at Genma, thinking how pitiful the child was. Becoming Orochimaru's subordinate, unable to provide assistance for the experiments, he would become experimental consumables.

"Where is Lord Orochimaru?"

"It's over there. I'll take you there."

Tatsuma followed Orochimaru to an operating room observation room. Shisui was lying on the bed. Tatsuma placed Genma on another bed, looked at Orochimaru who was looking at some complex graphs, and asked:

"What experiments did you do yesterday?"

Orochimaru looked up, handed the report to Tatsuma, and said, "You should know about the attack on the Uchiha clan a while ago, right?"

Tatsuma nodded, and Orochimaru continued, "I have reason to suspect that it was a staged event by the Uchiha clan. I replicated the experiment, and the results proved that the death of a comrade was a favorable condition for the awakening of the Sharingan."

As he spoke, Orochimaru pointed to two charts on the data and said, "Look, in just one week, Shisui's chakra has undergone an astonishing change. This curve, which wasn't there before, is the Sharingan's ocular power manifestation."

"Did you orchestrate Genma's 'death' so that Shisui would witness it all in a genjutsu, thereby awakening his Sharingan?"

Tatsuma didn't have many doubts, because he had already guessed most of it before entering the room, but Orochimaru shook his head, revealed a mysterious smile, and said, "No, no, no, I did not use genjutsu on Shisui."

He looked at Shisui lying on the bed, took a few steps closer, and said, "This child is too perceptive. His talent in seeing through and getting rid of illusions is no less than yours. No illusion I know can create a real death scene for Shisui."

As he spoke, Orochimaru circled around to Genma and said, "I used genjutsu on him, choosing a way of dying that even he himself believed to be dead, and then..."

Using a clone I had prepared beforehand, I realistically reenacted the scene of Genma's death in front of Shisui. As expected, Shisui lived up to expectations.

"A clone?"

Tatsuma frowned, but Orochimaru waved his hand and said, "It's just flesh, hair, and skin. There's no time for bones, internal organs, brain, and nerves. I used ninjutsu to replace the bones, which made the clone move."

It's just a semi-finished product; it doesn't violate any research restrictions in the lab.

"Lord Orochimaru, reading in your spare time is for cultivating your mind and body, not for you to hold a 'manual' and study its loopholes."

Tatsuma silently picked up the "Manual" on the table, which showed obvious signs of reading, and looked at Orochimaru with a complicated expression.

Orochimaru ignored all that and said, "The most important thing now is that the Uchiha have most likely discovered this method and have already put it into use."

Tatsuma suspected Orochimaru was trying to divert attention, but he didn't want to pursue the matter. Instead, he said, "I have some information of my own that can basically clear the Uchiha clan of orchestrating this whole thing."

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru was taken aback and involuntarily asked, "Who would think of helping the Uchiha awaken their Sharingan?"

"It's not convenient to say."

Tatsuma directly rejected Orochimaru's question. Orochimaru frowned, but quickly regained his excitement and said, "The Uchiha's 'experiment' gave me an inspiration, which is..."

The awakening conditions for bloodline limits and the extremely low awakening rate of the Uchiha clan both have special methods to increase the probability of awakening the Byakugan. So, what about the Byakugan, which is easier to awaken? Is there a simpler and more widely available method?

Or perhaps it's another bloodline limit, like Wood Release. When you used your Wood Release, you borrowed natural energy. So what were the conditions for its awakening? Was it natural energy? Or was it your near-death experience? The self-rescue by the Divine Tree cells?

"Stop! Stop!"

Tatsuma quickly interrupted Orochimaru's idyllic daydream, saying, "Lord Orochimaru, the most important thing right now is the harm you've done to your subordinates."

Orochimaru came to his senses and realized that what he had proposed was unlikely to be realized. Although Tatsuma was more supportive of his research and experiments than the Third Hokage, he was not without his bottom line.

At least the experiments he wanted to conduct completely crossed the line.

Orochimaru took the documents from Tatsuma and placed them on the table. He then said, "Shisui has simply entered a sleeping state. As for Genma, just take a scorching hot senbon needle and pierce it a little bit between his eyebrows."

"But that would turn him into an idiot."

Tatsuma had never thought Orochimaru was so unreliable. He shook his head and said, "I have sealed away Genma's memories, but out of caution, I didn't seal away too much. There may still be a few scattered fragments. You should observe him closely later."

"Um."

Orochimaru nodded. Tatsuma looked him over, then at Anko, who was blinking her big eyes and staring at him, and said, "Try not to do things like this in the future. After all, this is considered illegal human experimentation. Just because there is no organic damage doesn't mean there is no damage."

"Um."

Orochimaru's tone was noticeably lower this time. Looking at the two unconscious children, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh right, the reason I called you here wasn't about these two children, but..."

He paused, looked at Hongdou whose ears had perked up again, and then walked towards the door, saying, "Come with me, Hongdou. What you're holding isn't a lunchbox; it doesn't need to be kept warm. Deliver it to the negative eight zero box as soon as possible."

Seeing that she couldn't continue the conversation, Hongdou pouted, but still headed towards the storage room where the reagents were kept, preparing to put the things in her hands into the freezer at minus eighty degrees Celsius.

Tatsuma was taken to another laboratory by Orochimaru. After closing the laboratory door, Orochimaru said, "Do you remember the two questions you asked earlier?"

"What's the problem?"

It wasn't that Tatsuma couldn't remember what he said, but rather that he and Orochimaru had asked so many questions that he couldn't possibly pinpoint which two questions were the ones in question.

"The reason for the First Generation Lord's death and the Second Generation Lord's development of the Soul Imprisonment Technique."

After Orochimaru finished speaking, Tatsuma nodded, but...aren't these two separate questions? Orochimaru replied, "Actually, this is the whole Nagapan incident."

He picked up a pen and began writing on the whiteboard. Tatsuma frowned as he looked at what Orochimaru had written.

"The soul has slipped away?"

(End of this chapter)