61. Evolution, the Thunder God's Meridians! (Please keep reading)

Inside the hotel room.

Kisame locked the door behind him, drew the curtains, and then took out the Thunder God Sword, activating the cheat device to commence the devouring process.

A low hum filled the air. The sword's hilt trembled, transforming into a golden streak that merged into Kisame's body, finally settling in his lower abdomen.

More precisely, it fused with the largest primary chakra pathway within Kisame.

The human body's network of chakra pathways serves as the conduit for transmitting chakra. After the physical and spiritual energies within cells combine to produce chakra, it is delivered throughout the body via these pathways, reaching the hands, feet, mouth, and so forth, to be unleashed as ninjutsu.

The prestigious Hyuga clan of the Leaf Village, by relying on the Byakugan's ability to see through the body's chakra network, developed the Gentle Fist technique. With precise strikes, they inject their own chakra into an enemy's system, damaging the pathways and thus easily disrupting the flow of their opponent's chakra.

A Genin of the Hyuga clan, skilled in Gentle Fist, stands a real chance of defeating a Jonin. After all, these pathways cannot be strengthened or trained like other organs.

This underscores the significance of the chakra network.

Now, the largest primary pathway within Kisame's body had fused with the Thunder God Sword, transforming into a golden chakra channel.

Nearly all of Kisame's chakra would now flow through this golden pathway, dispersing throughout his body.

He decided to test it. With limited space in the room, he kept it simple: after making the necessary hand signs, he produced a water clone. At the same time, he activated the golden pathway's abilities.

A miracle occurred.

When Kisame dispelled the water clone, it didn't dissolve into a puddle as usual. Instead, with a crackling sound, it burst into a dazzling cluster of golden lightning, illuminating the whole room.

In other words—

Though Kisame had used the hand signs for a water clone, what appeared was a lightning-style shadow clone.

This was because the golden chakra pathway within him had converted all his water-type chakra into lightning-type chakra.

It seemed Kisame had, out of nowhere, become a lightning-style ninja.

Given this, he decided to name the pathway after the sword: the Thunder God Channel.

From now on, Kisame, a water-style ninja, would be able to catch his enemies off guard by unleashing powerful lightning-style ninjutsu in battle.

Furthermore,

Kisame soon conceived a bold idea:

Perhaps he could, by leveraging the Thunder God Channel, combine his water-style abilities with the newly formed lightning-style, and thereby create—

Storm Release, a bloodline limit.

If he could achieve this, it would be a tremendous windfall.

Of course, food must be eaten bite by bite, and the road walked step by step.

To this day, the five ninja swords and the Thunder God Sword that Kisame had devoured all still held untapped potential, waiting for him to develop and perfect them one by one.

During this process, he would grow ever stronger.

It was late; time to rest.

Kisame glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already midnight—time for bed.

After all, he needed to hit the road early tomorrow... or rather, make his escape.

But just after Kisame lay down, a rustling sound suddenly came from the window.

Hmm?

He opened his eyes and saw a white snake, about a meter long, had slipped in from outside, coiling itself and hissing at him.

The next moment—

With a swift movement, the white snake spat something at Kisame.

His eyes narrowed, and his right index finger twitched. The trap he had set by the window instantly activated—several chakra threads shot out, enveloping the snake.

He caught the object the snake had spat—it was a scroll.

Unrolling it, he found an invitation from Orochimaru within.

“So, it was just a misunderstanding. My apologies.”

Kisame put away the scroll and looked toward the white snake, only to find it had been sliced by the chakra threads, severed into seven or eight pieces, writhing for a moment on the floor before finally dying.

He got out of bed and approached the snake's corpse.

Taking it up for inspection, Kisame recognized it—a white snake, summoned by Orochimaru through a contract with Ryuchi Cave, one of the three great sacred places.

It was a snake infused with natural energy—a celestial serpent, which in his previous life would have been a protected species.

No, it mustn't go to waste.

Kisame found a bag, packed up the snake meat, and decided to roast it for a midnight snack.

Snake meat, not only delicious, is a high-quality protein-rich food, promoting growth, strengthening nerves and muscles.

For Kisame, still in his adolescence, it was a supplement not to be missed.

If he ever had the chance to visit Ryuchi Cave, he'd certainly try to get more snake meat.

But back to the matter at hand—

Why did Orochimaru invite Kisame to meet in the dead of night? What was his purpose?

Should he go or not?

After a brief consideration, Kisame decided to go, since the meeting place was just in the alley behind the hotel. Even if something happened, the Third Mizukage and the others would notice immediately.

He was curious to see what Orochimaru was up to, and to gather intelligence on the Kusanagi Sword.

So, Kisame dressed, opened the window, and leapt down.

A few minutes later.

He arrived at the alley.

The streetlights flickered, broken, sometimes bright, sometimes dark—a result of accident or perhaps sabotage.

In this somewhat eerie atmosphere, Orochimaru stood quietly beneath a streetlight, his long black hair draping over his shoulders. His skin was pale, golden serpentine eyes glowing eerily in the darkness, truly chilling.

It was like a scene from a horror movie.

Kisame's first thought upon seeing Orochimaru was to tell Director Yamamoto that this was the proper villain, not him.

“Kisame Hoshigaki, you've come,” Orochimaru said in a languid tone.

“Orochimaru-sama, it's quite late. May I ask what business you have with me?” Kisame replied, betraying no emotion.

“Nothing much, just wanted to meet the talented shinobi of the Mist,”

Orochimaru smiled, but before he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his right hand, and from his sleeve shot more than a dozen venomous snakes, lunging at Kisame.

Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.

This was Orochimaru’s signature technique, summoning serpents from Ryuchi Cave; smarter and stronger than ordinary snakes, they could intimidate, restrain, bite, and entangle opponents.

A powerful binding ninjutsu.

Facing Orochimaru's sudden assault,

Kisame’s eyes narrowed. Luckily, he'd been mentally prepared. Instantly, he raised his index finger, and sharp, steely chakra threads shot from his fingertips toward the swarm of snakes.

Swish, swish, swish.

Under Kisame's control, the threads sliced up, down, left, and right, much like playing Fruit Ninja, severing all the attacking snakes into pieces.

Segments of fresh snake meat fell to the ground like dumplings.

Orochimaru watched, applauding, “As expected of the champion of the Chunin Exams—impressive.”

As he finished, he looked on with slight confusion as Kisame wove a net from chakra threads, gathering up all the snake meat from the ground.

“Thank you, my lord, for the snake meat. Tonight’s midnight snack will be even more satisfying.”

Kisame flashed a smile, his face radiant with the joy of harvest.

Orochimaru’s expression froze at his words.