Land of Rice Fields, Orochimaru's Base

  “Even with a new pair of hands, the seal issue remains unresolved.”

  “Based on observations, once sealed, any attempt to form hand signs triggers the seal, causing it to spread throughout the body...”

  Kabuto Yakushi, smiling faintly, expined his resear the Five Elements Seal.

  “This seal essentially uses certain natural energies to disrupt chakra flow. When the body’s trol over chakra exceeds a certain threshold during hand signs, the seal activates.”

  “It not only blocks jutsu formation but permaly reduces the body’s chakra trol each time an attempt is made.”

  Pushing up his gsses, Kabuto cluded, “Lord Orochimaru, if you tinue experimenting with this body without switg, you may lose the ability to use ninjutsu altogether.”

  Orochimaru’s mismatched arms, distinctly different in color from the rest of his skin, hung limply at his sides. The glowing Five Elements Seal on his palms gradually dimmed as his newly transpnted hands failed again.

  Yet he seemed unfazed. “To think one could manipute natural energy with such precision...”

  A peculiar light flickered in his eyes. What began as a mere desire to "acquire" Link had now intensified into a resolve that he "must have him."

  Sage Mode merely temporarily enhahe body by bining natural energy with chakra. But Link’s teique bypassed this entirely, directly utilizing natural energy in the enviro.

  It was airely different system—ohout risk, with minimal energy expenditure, and with effects seemingly dictated by iion.

  “Hehehe…” Orochimaru’s low ughter filled the air. her the agony caused by the seal nor the y of an early body s could dampen his excitement.

  A new world, an alternate system of ninjutsu, beed to him. Breaking free from the limits imposed by the flesh, he could tap into the endless energy of nature itself.

  “Prepare for the Living Corpse Reination, Kabuto.”

  “As you wish, Lord Orochimaru,” Kabuto replied, bowing respectfully.

  …

  Konoha Vilge, Link’s House

  “...”

  Link’s expression was stern as he stared at his shadow. His face reflected a stist’s unpromising pursuit of precision.

  Under his silent urging, the shadow moved with rigor and professionalism, pleting its task after multiple trials. Finally, Link’s annual personal milestone was cluded.

  “No way…”

  Staring at the results, Link trembled with frustratioe the midsummer heat, cold sweat drenched his body, and his hands a felt icy.

  A month ago, he had measured his height. Now, after another month... he was still 144 timeters tall.

  “The ruler must be broken!”

  In a moment of stific rigor, he pced all the bme on the shadow, demanding it bear the burden of this uable oute.

  Five mier, his face calm, Link began walking to Training Ground Seven.

  A mature ma let minor setbacks affect him.

  In his past life, he was 179 timeters tall. This time, his te father stood at 177, and his mother, while not particurly tall, was nearly 170.

  [What’s a little shortness? It’s merely the calm before the storm of growth.]

  Resolved, Link threw himself intorous training at the grounds.

  His ultimate goal remained unged: to wield the power to trol his destiny. But the journey required careful pnning, broken into stages.

  Graduating from the Academy was the first. Being a genin was the sed. Achieving in was the third—his current position.

  The stages were being a jōnin, then a Kage, and ultimately mastering all ninjutsu. Along the way, finding aernal "power bank"—a ailed friend—was also part of the pn.

  But now, he added a new objective: defeat Orochimaru.

  He didn’t sider himself petty, but Orochimaru o die—a plete and utter destru. If possible, he’d drag the slippery s of the Pure Land and obliterate its soul.

  To achieve this, he riple the effort and just a pinch of luck.

  After pleting his training routine, Link sat back at his usual spot and began experimenting with summoning Stand abilities.

  With no immediate tasks and training fatigue setting ien passed time by summoning Stands to exhaust his chakra.

  Three years and thousands of summons had taught him the randomness of Stand summoning. There were no guarantees, only duplicates aplenty. Some powerful Stands had yet to appear.

  He’d never once drawn Golden Experience Requiem, Made in Heaven, Star Ptinum: Over Heaven, or D4C: Love Train.

  Even Stands he did summon needed development. Killer Queen, for instance, initially only allowed him to turn objects into bombs. Only after repeated summons did he unlock its Sed Bomb, Sheer Heart Attack. Third Bomb, Bites the Dust, still felt out of reach.

  But he refused to give up. If summoning a god-tier Stand like Made in Heaven ossible, he’d gdly transform into an Otsutsuki-level being. Why grind when you could cheat?

  “Boss!”

  “Boss!”

  The synized voices of Iris and Ami brought him back to reality.

  “You two…” Link looked up, stopping his hand seals.

  Scratg his head, Iris grinned sheepishly. “Ah, the vilge assigned us to eams, so we spent some time getting to know our teammates...”

  “Sorry for being te, boss,” Ami apologized naturally.

  As always, after a mission, they took one day off before rejoining him for training.

  Iris added excitedly, “I heard from the hospital that Ensui-sensei woke up yesterday m. Let’s visit him ter!”

  Still as chatty as ever.

  “You two…” Link sighed, standing up. “Now that you’re ieams, don’t embarrass me, alright?”

  “And since you’re te today, training is doubled.” He spoke lightly, but the i was clear.

  “Ahhhh!”

  Both groaned in protest.

  Bleam