I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 583 People always care more about a particular individual than about themselves.

"Soul escaped? What does that mean?"

Even Tatsuma, who had worked with Orochimaru for many years, couldn't keep up with Orochimaru's train of thought for a moment. Orochimaru turned around, looked at Tatsuma, and asked, "The First Hokage's corpse is very strange, isn't it?"

"Yes, he had been dead for many years, but when we obtained his cells, they were not inactivated."

Tatsuma nodded. This was a question he had raised with Orochimaru years ago, back during the Wood Release experiments.

Seeing that Tatsuma hadn't forgotten, Orochimaru nodded without needing a recap and said, "This question has troubled us throughout the entire experiment. At the time, we all felt that the First Hokage, whose body hadn't lost its vitality, shouldn't have died."

I even suspected at one point that the First Hokage had become a vegetable. You even joked at the time, "Isn't someone who can use Wood Release just a vegetable?"

Hearing Orochimaru solemnly retell his hellish joke, Tatsuma felt a little embarrassed, but he didn't defend himself. After all, listening to Orochimaru's story was more important right now.

But Orochimaru changed the subject, saying, "There's also the original intention behind the development of the Soul Imprisonment Technique. We initially guessed it was aimed at the Sharingan, and in fact, it does have that effect, but that's just our conjecture."

We don't actually have concrete evidence to prove why the Second Hokage developed this technique, and our speculations are somewhat far-fetched, lacking concrete examples. His "motivation" was simply due to the Second Hokage's prejudice against the Uchiha clan.

Tatsuma continued to nod, this was all "background information". Orochimaru didn't slow down either, saying, "But what if we connect these two things?"

The reason the Second Hokage developed the Soul Imprisonment Technique was actually because of the First Hokage's unusual death.

Upon hearing this, Tatsuma frowned deeply, trying to connect the two events, along with the words Orochimaru had written on the whiteboard.

"The First Generation Lord did not die, at least not in the conventional sense. He was separated from his body. Rather than dying, it's more like he used a spiritification technique and failed to return to his physical body?"

Tatsuma tried to keep up with Orochimaru's pace, and Orochimaru nodded and said, "That's what I think too. Because teaching them has been too easy these past few days, I have a lot of time to go through the old experiment logs."

I discovered that many of the mice that participated in the Wood Release experiment lost their active response first, but their cell activity remained and some neural pathways were still usable, and they died after a period of time.

Do you remember our initial predictions?

"The activity of interstitial cells and *Spirit Tree* cells differs from that of normal biological cells, and their cell lysis period is longer than that of normal biological cells."

"Well, but I want to overturn that hypothesis now because I've thought of another possibility: that Hashirama cells and Divine Tree cells are rejecting souls, and that in the process of devouring and growing, Hashirama cells and Divine Tree cells are changing life itself."

For example, modifying mice into creatures with only an active body but no soul, or rather, no active consciousness—a more primitive form of life.

Orochimaru's expression turned serious, and he said, "Only in this way can we explain why the First Hokage, whose body had been completely transformed into 'Hashirama cells,' died so young."

He didn't die; his soul was simply expelled from his body, and there was no way back. Therefore, his soul could only go to where it belonged—the Pure Land.

"So, this is what it means for the soul to slip away."

Tatsuma rubbed his chin. Orochimaru looked at Tatsuma and said, "Has your soul ever exhibited any abnormal phenomena? If my guess is correct, then your soul will also slip away."

The more cells in the Divine Tree, the higher their proportion, and the more mature they are, the greater the chance of your soul slipping away. Perhaps at some point, your soul will be completely expelled.

This is the true rejection reaction of the Divine Tree cells.

"no."

Hearing Tatsuma's answer, Orochimaru breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed, because it meant his guess was wrong.

"But that doesn't refute your conjecture."

Orochimaru was puzzled again by Tatsuma's words, staring intently at him and waiting for his next words.

Chenma pursed his lips, frowned deeply, and tapped his temple with his right hand, saying, "Coincidentally, I used the Soul Imprisonment Technique on myself long before the Divine Tree cells spread and exploded in growth."

How could you?

Orochimaru's eyes were full of doubt. He knew Tatsuma's intended use of the Soul Imprisonment Technique, but because he was unsure of the technique's purpose, he didn't know how Tobirama Senju originally planned to use it.

However, Tatsuma used this technique to prolong the rescue time for people on the verge of death, preventing the soul from leaving the body. In this way, after the body recovers, there will be no major changes due to the absence of the soul.

Tatsuma himself shouldn't have used this technique, because before today, he didn't need to wait for anyone to save him. As long as he had a breath left, even if he "died," his vitality would allow him to heal himself in a short time.

In the battle against the Third Raikage, Tatsuma proved the power of his self-healing ability. Even when his heart was struck by lightning and stopped beating, causing severe damage, it would repair itself and resume beating in a very short time.

Tatsuma pursed his lips again, revealing a hint of embarrassment and shyness, and said, "To be honest, this was an experiment I conducted after I felt disappointed with my own illusion techniques, attempting to use the Soul Imprisonment Technique to counter illusion techniques."

"Will it work?"

Orochimaru suddenly remembered Tatsuma's suddenly powerful resistance to genjutsu, and a look of curiosity appeared in his eyes, but Tatsuma shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, no."

While the brain and soul influence each other, imprisoning the soul doesn't guarantee protection of the brain. Furthermore, genjutsu chakra attacks the brain, not the soul itself.

Tatsuma shrugged, and Orochimaru nodded. This was normal; if the Soul Imprisonment Technique were really that powerful, that would be unbelievable.

However, Orochimaru asked curiously, "You haven't released the Soul Imprisonment Technique yet? After all, it continuously consumes chakra."

"I don't lack that little bit of chakra," Tatsuma said. "At first, I was too lazy to undo it, but later, I discovered some uses for the Soul Imprisonment Technique. It can indeed defend against some attacks targeting the soul."

For example, Sasori's method, which even Tatsuma had never seen before, directly attacked the soul. If it weren't for the Soul Imprisonment Technique, Tatsuma might have had to expend considerable effort to defeat Sasori's attack.

Leaving that topic aside, Orochimaru spoke with a tone of fervent joy: "In that case, you shouldn't release your soul-binding technique. There's no need to take the risk, even if it's just a guess."

"I thought you would let me lift the ban so I could verify my guess."

Tatsuma said with a smile, but Orochimaru became quite serious and said, "The experiments related to Wood Release were initially for the purpose of reproducing Wood Release, but now they have another purpose, which is to ensure that you are not harmed by Wood Release."

If the condition is that you are harmed by Wood Release, then I don't want to do such an experiment, and I won't do it.

If Tatsuma had not used the Soul Imprisonment Technique on himself beforehand, and his soul had escaped, then Orochimaru would have Tatsuma use the Soul Imprisonment Technique to verify his conjecture.

But now it's not necessary. Regardless of whether the conjecture is correct or not, as long as Tatsuma maintains his Soul Imprisonment Technique, he can avoid the risks. Whether this experiment is correct or not is no longer important.

"Thank you, Lord Orochimaru. You care about me more than I care about myself."

Tatsuma stopped smiling and spoke sincerely. Orochimaru waved his hand and said with a smile, "Everyone is like that."

The teasing tone made Tatsuma realize that Orochimaru was using a double entendre. On one hand, he was saying that others cared about Tatsuma just like Orochimaru did, and on the other hand, he was teasing that people always care more about a particular individual than about themselves.

Tatsuma, understanding the double entendre, smiled knowingly.

However, their smiles didn't last long before they were faced with a practical problem. Orochimaru turned to the whiteboard and asked, "Do you have any clues?"

The Soul Imprisonment Technique is merely a symptom, not a cure. Tatsuma certainly doesn't lack the chakra to sustain the Soul Imprisonment Technique, but any technique can be broken.

Although currently only Orochimaru and Tatsuma among the living probably know this conjecture, what if...?

Only by finding a way to prevent the soul from slipping away can Tatsuma be truly safe, and if other Wood Release ninjas appear in the village in the future, this hidden danger can be resolved in advance.

Seven years ago, Orochimaru would have advised Tatsuma to give up Wood Release; five years ago, Orochimaru would have advised Tatsuma to give up suppressing the God Tree cells.

But that won't work now. Even if we limit the growth of the Divine Tree cells, more than half of the body's cells have already been replaced by Divine Tree cells. Even if no new Divine Tree cells are added, once these more than half of the Divine Tree cells mature, their rejection reaction will be uncontrollable.

Tatsuma also looked troubled. He had no clue how to solve the problem of the soul escaping, but he thought of other things, such as the Ten-Tails and the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

Those are even more distant than the current problem of souls slipping away, but at the same time, they are related and even more threatening.

Tatsuma was actually aware of the direction of his body's changes. As Kurama said, he gradually became a shell that carried the power of the Tailed Beasts. Perhaps Hashirama Senju's remains were also a humanoid Gedo Mazo.

Unlike Hashirama Senju, Tatsuma possesses the chakra of a tailed beast. Perhaps one day, he will truly transform into a human-shaped Ten-Tails. But what will the Ten-Tails look like?

They are more primitive life forms that "have no subjective consciousness," and their destiny, besides absorbing the energy of the entire planet, is to become the dry cell battery of the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.

Why are the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki able to control the Ten-Tails? Perhaps this is the solution to the problem of the soul escaping?

As his thoughts raced, Tatsuma seemed to have grasped something. When Orochimaru turned around, puzzled by Tatsuma's silence, Tatsuma suddenly said, "Yin-Yang Release."

(End of this chapter)