Chương 126: Doomed.

Orochimaru licked his lips with interest as he looked Kakashi up and down.

"I never knew you'd betray the village your Sensei once headed, Kakashi…" Kakashi sighed and spoke with an obvious weary tone, "There ain't much of a village left when a tyrant rules it, is there?"

"I heard you're heading the rebellion…" Orochimaru asked with narrowed eyes. But Kakashi wasn't interested in small talk. After all, the more he talked the greater the chance Orochimaru would figure out that he was someone else, and the greater the chance that he'd figure out that he was just a shadow clone. So Kakashi brought the conversation back on track, "Enough about me Orochimaru-sama…

are you accepting my offer or do you think you will be happy to delay the negative effects of the jutsu by simply possessing an Uchiha for a short duration of time?"

"What do you want in exchange?" Orochimaru asked with clear interest. It seemed like he'd decided that he was dealing with the real Kakashi, after all he wasn't familiar with Kakashi since he was part of Minato's team during the third great shinobi world war and not his. And after that he'd already defected so there was no contact between the two of them.

"I've lost too many people to time and circumstances…" Kakashi hinted at what he wanted. Haruto's clone had thought through the things that Orochimaru could give him, and above all this was the only jutsu in the series that appealed to him, after all he had studied souls indirectly through Unohana, so he was quite tempted by the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu which allowed one to summon the dead into the world of the living.

Haruto couldn't ask Orochimaru not to summon Madara since he shouldn't have known about that deal in any way shape or form.. And it would put a target on Kakashi's back for Black Zetsu to take aim on.

"So you want a jutsu that summons the dead?" Orochimaru specified, his eyes narrowing into a thin smile. Kakashi simply nodded.

"I see… it's so strange… the two people who want to help me with my problems both want the same thing."

"Someone else wants it? That white creature?" Kakashi pretended to hazard a guess. Orochimaru shook his head, "That's none of your business." Kakashi deadpanned.

'Then why did you even bring it up!?' Kakashi said nothing after that for a few seconds so Orochimaru asked him a question again, "When shall we begin?"

"The sooner the better."

"You need to summon someone so quickly?" Orochimaru asked with narrowed eyes to indicate his suspicion but Kakashi revealed nothing in his expression that would allude to what he was planning, instead he said something that Orochimaru had told him just now, "That's none of your business." This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it"Fair enough… let's go then, follow me."

Kakashi nodded and thankfully, Orochimaru did not use the body flicker jutsu, instead he jumped down the tree and walked towards his hidden base under the stone. The clone Kakashi promptly followed and as soon as he stepped inside he was vastly surprised. The base was greatly expanded. It was about as wide as three olympic swimming pools and as tall as a three story building. It practically looked like a miniature version of Urahara's underground training center from bleach.

The clone Kakashi was then greeted with a pristine lab with several pieces of high tech equipment. There was what looked like a super computer in one corner and several high tech microscopes and genetic modification machines in the others. The clone only guessed that they were genetic modification machines or cell transplant machines since there were Hashirama cells in their petri dishes.

"Why haven't you taken these machines with you after you defected?" Kakashi asked softly just to make small talk as Orochimaru moved closer to a lab chair, one that you would typically find at a dentist's clinic or something similar.

"They're inconvenient to move around and set up power for. These ones here use power lines pulled from the Uchiha Clan and the materials to use them on lies here in Konoha." The implication was clear. A big clan like the Uchiha clan could easily overlook a sudden increase in its power consumption for a short while when Orochimaru worked here. Kakashi nodded and moved closer to Orochimaru.

"I need to examine your soul a little to see exactly where the problem lies… this will hurt quite a bit, so be prepared for it." Orochimaru didn't say anything for a few seconds, instead he bit his thumb and slammed his hand onto the floor. Suddenly a gigantic plume of smoke rushed out of the ground and once it cleared a gigantic purple snake with black stripes all across its body was revealed.

'Manda? That's his defence against me doing something funky?'

'Well thank god I'm just a clone.'

"What's it this time? Do you want me to eat him? You called me for a single human cub? How's that fair to the deal you have with me!? I want one hundred humans!!! Not a single one!!!"

'Well he's chatty.' Orochimaru didn't interrupt Manda when he was speaking and once he was finished he spoke like he was talking to a slightly dim witted child that needed some time understanding things.

"Unless I'm in threat of death, don't attack this man. And if he does something to kill me, gobble him up. I'll pay you with five hundred humans if you do this task well." Kakashi spoke up at that moment, "When I inspect your soul you won't be able to move at all. I'm sure you know how to return to your body when I release you, but I hope your snake doesn't mistake you for dead when I do so."

"He knows." Orochimaru simply said and lay down on the lab chair. Kakashi nodded and then the operation began.

"I need you to cut open your chest. I suspect you don't want me to get close to your heart with a blade?" Orochimaru nodded and felt nothing suspicious and kindly activated the chakra scalpel jutsu, something that Haruto had still not mastered and cut open his chest. The clone raised its hand at this moment and covered its palm in spiritual energy while thinking of the feeling of the soul that it had learnt from the main body.

And then gently, very slowly, it slipped its hand into Orochimaru's chest through the cut on it. Orochimaru immediately coughed up blood causing the serpent to hiss uncomfortably, but seeing it didn't do anything, Kakashi remained steady with his hands and searched for Orochimaru's soul vessel.

'Got it!' However, to the clone's surprise the vessel was too tiny, about the size of a marble when it generally was supposed to be the size of a small ball. Haruto's clone touched the vessel without pulling out the soul from the body and immediately recognised Orochimaru's problem.

'This!'

'What is this!? How did he end up doing this to his soul vessel!?'

'Is he crazy!?' Kakashi then pulled out his hand from the cut in Orochimaru's chest and spoke hurriedly.

"You've doomed yourself in search of immortality!" Orochimaru frowned.

"What exactly seems to be the problem?" He was not one for fanfare.

"While splitting your soul to mark resurrection vessels, you accidentally split your soul vessel as well, presumably to contain the soul you split away in the cursed seal you plant on your targets."

"This shouldn't be a problem right? A smaller soul requires a smaller vessel?" Orochimaru argued, feeling his research was accurate. But Kakashi shook his head, "That's not how it works. The soul vessel isn't a clay box that can be moulded into whatever shape or form you want it to become. It is essentially a rigid container that gives shape to your air-like soul and traps it in the body! But once you break it into pieces, it develops holes regardless of how you shape it afterwards to contain your remaining soul.

Because of this the spiritual and physical energy in your body are leaking slowly. And eventually it will be totally wiped away. This is why you need to change bodies every few years and why you are weak to the Sharingan." Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise.