Kiyohara was just about to head into the mountain to look for Roshi when he suddenly felt an unusual tremor coming from the ground beneath his feet.
Immediately afterward, a section of the rock wall halfway up the mountain suddenly exploded.
Crimson-red magma erupted from the opening. It gathered in midair and formed into a gigantic ball of molten rock before crashing violently toward Kiyohara.
Lava Release: Scorching River Flow Rock Technique!
Kiyohara formed a seal with one hand.
Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome!
A thick wall of ice condensed into existence and appeared directly in front of him.
The ice wall collided head-on with the enormous magma ball. The instant ice and fire met, a vast cloud of white steam exploded outward, enveloping the entire mountainside in thick fog.
The steam gradually dispersed.
A burly figure walked out from the opening in the mountainside.
It was the Four-Tails jinchūriki, Roshi.
He was considerably taller and more heavily built than an ordinary shinobi. He wore a loose purple kimono, with the traditional red armor of Iwagakure worn over it.
His face was covered with wrinkles, but his eyes remained as sharp as ever.
A thick red beard covered Roshi's chin. The ends of his beard curled slightly upward and swayed gently with every step he took.
"The Hokage of Konoha. It's you again."
Roshi's voice was hoarse, and his red beard trembled slightly as he spoke.
During the Third Shinobi War, Roshi had once been severely injured by a single punch from Kiyohara. Because of that, he had always held a grudge against him.
"Did the Five-Tails' jinchūriki already tell you why I came?"
"Han did indeed send me a message. He said that the Hokage of Konoha might come looking for me."
Roshi snorted coldly and clenched his right fist. The muscles in his arm bulged, pulling the armored guard around his forearm tight.
"He also said that you're very strong. Apparently, you alone forced the Five-Tails out of its complete Tailed Beast state and back into human form. I want to see for myself just how much you've improved after all these years."
Before he could finish speaking, Roshi's right arm suddenly expanded.
Lava Release Chakra Mode!
Crimson-red chakra surged violently out of his body, covering him from head to toe.
The temperature of the chakra was extremely high. Scalding bubbles of magma continuously surfaced across its outer layer. Molten rock flowed down his arms and dripped onto the ground, melting the stone beneath him into one blackened crater after another.
After years of bitter training, Roshi had indeed grown much stronger.
The next moment, the rocks beneath Roshi's feet began to soften and melt. A pool of magma formed around him, rapidly expanding outward from where he stood at its center.
Scorching air rose from the magma pool, causing the surrounding atmosphere to distort from the intense heat.
Kiyohara merely raised his right hand and pointed forward.
Ice Release: Freezing Kill!
Hiss!
White, freezing chakra shot from his fingertip and collided with the magma surging around Roshi.
This time, the resulting steam was even thicker and denser than before, rising so high that it seemed to obscure the sky itself.
BOOM!
Roshi was blasted backward.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Seeing Kiyohara's completely unconcerned attitude, anger burned fiercely within him.
Roshi quickly charged out of the rising steam.
The rocks beneath his feet had already been melted into magma by the intense heat, yet he walked across the molten surface as though it were solid ground. After only a few large strides, he had already rushed in front of Kiyohara.
He raised his right fist high above his head.
A layer of magma several feet thick wrapped around his fist as he brought it crashing down toward Kiyohara's head.
Lava Release: Great Eruption!
Kiyohara raised his head.
His pitch-black pupils reflected the fiery glow of the magma, revealing a faint pale-blue halo within them.
Repulsion.
An invisible force erupted outward from Kiyohara's body.
Roshi was blasted away in an instant.
His massive body smashed through several sections of rock behind him. Countless fragments of stone came crashing down, burying him beneath a mound of rubble.
However, only a few seconds later, the pile of rocks exploded outward from within.
Roshi rose from the rubble, the Lava Release chakra surrounding his body even more violent than before.
Crimson magma poured from the gaps in his armor and gathered over both shoulders, forming two burning spheres of molten rock.
"You really are strong."
Roshi grinned. The heat from the magma caused his red beard to curl slightly.
"But this mountain is my home ground. There is an endless supply of magma here. No matter how deep your chakra reserves are, they will eventually run out. My Lava Release, however, is practically inexhaustible in a place like this."
"Your biggest mistake was underestimating me and failing to suppress me immediately!"
The corners of Kiyohara's mouth curved upward slightly.
"Has anyone ever told you something?"
He raised his right hand, palm facing upward. A pale-colored mass of chakra slowly condensed within his palm.
"Even if I give you time to catch up, all you'll ever be able to do is watch my back until even that disappears from sight."
Kiyohara spoke in an indifferent tone.
The chakra sphere in his palm began to divide into two completely different colors.
One half was a deep blue, carrying the distinctive flowing quality of Water Release chakra.
The other half was a sharp, pure white, possessing the cutting ferocity of Wind Release chakra.
The two forms of chakra began to merge.
Pale-blue Ice Release chakra and pure-white Wind Release chakra intertwined within his palm, spinning faster and faster as the two energies became increasingly tightly entwined.
Kiyohara held the chakra sphere with one hand. By now, it had expanded to roughly the size of a basketball.
He raised it above his head.
Ice Release: Great Ball Rasengan!
The chakra sphere exploded above his head.
In an instant, the entire Mt. Enkyū was enveloped by a vast blizzard of white snow and ice.
Fierce winds carried countless tiny ice crystals down from the sky. The edges of every crystal were as sharp as blades.
The snow and ice fell onto the magma, instantly cooling the crimson molten rock into black stone.
Ice crystals struck Roshi's body and violently clashed against the Lava Release chakra covering his skin, producing continuous sizzling sounds.
Roshi's brows furrowed.
The magma pool beneath his feet was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The blizzard surged in from every direction, cooling the surface of the magma layer by layer. The rocks that had only just melted had not even had time to flow away before being frozen into black solid stone.
His supposedly endless supply of magma was being forcibly cut off by this enormous storm of ice and snow.
Roshi no longer hesitated.
He shook both arms, unleashing all of the chakra within his body without holding anything back.
Tailed Beast Transformation!
Dark-red chakra surged violently from his body, completely enveloping him.
His body rapidly expanded. The outline of a human being disappeared as his form transformed into that of a gigantic beast.
Complete Tailed Beast Transformation, Son Gokū of the Four-Tails!
The Four-Tails was even more massive and imposing than the Five-Tails. Its entire body was covered in dark-red fur, while its four limbs were as thick as pillars supporting the heavens.
Two enormous horns resembling giant binding rings grew from its forehead, while a sharp tusk protruded from each side of its mouth.
The Four-Tails opened its enormous jaws.
Deep within its throat, an intensely dazzling red light began to shine.
Tailed Beast Bomb!
A dark-red, high-density sphere of chakra rapidly expanded within its mouth, radiating an aura of absolute destruction.
Kiyohara looked at the Tailed Beast Bomb as it took shape.
Then his body suddenly disappeared from where he stood.
Flying Thunder God Technique!
He instantly appeared above the Four-Tails' head.
His right palm pointed downward, aimed directly at the gigantic beast's skull.
Ice Release: Extreme Cold Seal!
A cylindrical sealing barrier took shape within his palm.
The inner walls of the barrier were covered with dense patterns of sealing formulas, radiating an intensely chilling cold.
The sealing barrier left his hand and crashed down toward the Four-Tails' head.
At the same time, Kiyohara's right eye changed from pitch black to crimson.
The pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan appeared within his pupil.
He was using his Sharingan to rapidly analyze the flow of the Four-Tails' Lava Release chakra.
Within his field of vision, the chakra circulation inside the Four-Tails transformed into a clear network of pathways.
Fire Release chakra and Earth Release chakra gathered and merged within its chakra pathways according to a specific ratio, ultimately producing the scorching magma capable of melting almost anything.
So that's how it works.
The essence of Lava Release was the combination of Fire and Earth.
However, unlike Dust Release, which required three chakra natures to be combined according to an extremely precise ratio, Lava Release relied more heavily on Earth Release chakra as its foundation, with Fire Release chakra acting as a catalyst. It directly transformed solid rock into liquid magma at the chakra level.
The Mangekyō Sharingan in Kiyohara's right eye slowly rotated.
He had completely understood the nature transformation of Lava Release chakra.
In the next instant, the sealing barrier struck the Four-Tails.
Extremely cold chakra surged into the Four-Tails' body, freezing the Lava Release chakra covering its body layer by layer.
The Four-Tails let out a deep roar.
Its enormous body rapidly shrank under the suppression of the seal. The dark-red fur faded away, revealing Roshi's burly human body once again.
Roshi knelt halfway on the black rocks that had been completely cooled. He gasped heavily for breath.
The Lava Release Chakra Mode covering his body had completely disappeared, revealing his purple kimono, which had been torn in several places by the ice and snow.
Kiyohara landed in front of him.
Roshi raised his head.
A bitter smile appeared in his bloodshot eyes.
"My Lava Release couldn't beat Ice Release at all."
Kiyohara had barely needed to use any ninjutsu before defeating him.
And he had done it with Ice Release.
In the past, Roshi had never seen Kiyohara use these techniques. It was only recently that information about Kiyohara possessing such abilities had begun to spread.
"It's simply because you don't know how to use Lava Release properly."
Kiyohara opened his right hand.
A mass of slowly rotating magma appeared in his palm.
The temperature and density of the magma were exactly the same as Roshi's Lava Release, but Kiyohara controlled it with far greater precision.
"What?"
Roshi was stunned.
Kiyohara had actually learned his technique without him even realizing it.
What kind of terrifying learning ability was this?
Seeing the astonished expression on Roshi's face, Kiyohara squeezed the magma sphere in his palm until it shattered. It transformed into white smoke and drifted away through the gaps between his fingers.
"The chakra ratio required for Lava Release is somewhat simpler than that of Dust Release. It doesn't take much effort to reproduce it."
"You're truly a monster."
Roshi had nothing left to say.
Even Han, the stubborn Five-Tails jinchūriki, had been defeated by Kiyohara. It was hardly unjust for Roshi to suffer the same fate.
Kiyohara walked up to Roshi.
He reached his right hand into Roshi's body and extracted a mass of dark-red chakra and flesh from the Four-Tails.
The Four-Tails let out a weak, powerless growl from within Roshi's body.
It did not even have the strength to struggle anymore.
Kiyohara sealed the mass of flesh and chakra inside a scroll before placing it back into his shinobi pouch.
…
Meanwhile, at a secret base belonging to the Akatsuki.
Madara stood with his arms crossed, leaning against a stone wall.
His Mangekyō Sharingan glowed crimson in the dim surroundings as he stared at Black Zetsu, who was slowly emerging from the shadows.
"You've been disappearing without a trace quite often lately."
Madara frowned.
Half of Black Zetsu's white face rose from the floor.
His yellow eyes flickered in the candlelight.
"Collecting information."
Black Zetsu said it without changing his expression.
Or rather, whether it was his pitch-black face or the White Zetsu he had merged with, neither of them possessed the ability to blush.
Therefore, Black Zetsu's expression was completely natural.
"Kiyohara is moving far too quickly. Suna has already completely sided with Konoha, and the One-Tail's chakra has also fallen into his hands."
"Adding the Two-Tails, Three-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails he obtained previously, the power of the Tailed Beasts within his body has already surpassed half of the total. If we don't figure out his next move, our plan will only become more and more passive."
Madara stared at Black Zetsu for a long while.
Black Zetsu remained motionless as he floated above the floor, allowing Madara to scrutinize him.
He understood Madara far too well.
This arrogant member of the Uchiha clan had never doubted his own judgment. In his eyes, Black Zetsu was an entity of will that he had created through Yin-Yang Release, an extension of his own will.
How could a mere tool possibly betray its master?
Sure enough, Madara eventually looked away.
"Continue keeping an eye on Kiyohara. If he makes any unusual move, inform me immediately."
Black Zetsu nodded, and his body slowly sank into the floor.
Only after his consciousness had completely left the range of Madara's perception did a mocking smile appear on his half-black, half-white face.
Madara.
You will never know until the day you die that you are the one being used.
"Will there really be no problem with this?"
White Zetsu spoke.
During this period of time, he had witnessed almost everything Black Zetsu had been doing.
However, Black Zetsu had placed a curse seal on him, preventing him from casually revealing anything.
"You don't need to worry about that."
Black Zetsu shook his head.
Madara's plan had been full of loopholes from beginning to end.
He had faked his death during the Battle of the Valley of the End, stolen Hashirama's cells, and then clung desperately to life in a dark underground cave for decades, believing that he was playing some grand and elaborate game of chess.
Yet he had not even figured out the true purpose of the "Demonic Statue of the Outer Path," nor did he understand the true nature of the "Infinite Tsukuyomi."
Not to mention that the very person he regarded as a tool had actually been cleaning up after him from the shadows all this time.
Who infiltrated Iwa and gathered intelligence?
Who secretly fanned the flames and helped turn Kiri into the Bloody Mist?
Every time that hotheaded fool Obito went after a Tailed Beast, there always seemed to be some complication, whether strong winds or heavy rain. Who was it that repeatedly cleaned up after him and prevented the plan from collapsing halfway through?
It was all Black Zetsu!
He was the one who had gradually guided arrogant chess players such as Madara and Uchiha Obito onto the board one by one, patching up their laughably foolish mistakes, all for the sake of one day gathering all nine Tailed Beasts and reviving his true mother.
But now, with Kiyohara involved, everything was different.
Black Zetsu merged himself into the depths of the earth and quickly traveled toward Konoha.
His body silently passed through soil and stone. Within his mind, Kiyohara's pitch-black eyes surfaced once again.
That man who claimed to be a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan had already absorbed chakra from multiple Tailed Beasts.
His efficiency was so frighteningly high that even Black Zetsu could hardly believe it.
From the Two-Tails all the way to the Nine-Tails, from Kumo to Suna, the amount of Tailed Beast chakra Kiyohara had collected in a mere year was greater than what Madara and Obito had managed to gather over several years combined.
And Kiyohara did not even need complete Tailed Beasts.
He only needed a portion of their flesh.
This meant there was no need to wage an all-out war against the Five Great Nations. There was no need to risk exposing the entire plan by forcibly capturing jinchūriki. They only needed to locate them, take a small amount of their chakra, and leave safely afterward.
The efficiency was simply incredible.
Even Black Zetsu, who had accumulated a thousand years of experience and patience, could not suppress the emotional fluctuations in his heart.
He was practically laughing wildly inside.
"Mother, I am finally going to bring you back."
At long last, his thousand-year mission was finally approaching its conclusion.
At the same time, at another base belonging to the Akatsuki.
Rust-covered metal walls surrounded the entire room, while several unstable hanging lamps dangled from the ceiling.
At this moment, Shinno stood in front of a row of enormous cultivation tanks.
The tanks were filled with dark-green nutrient fluid, and within the liquid floated the silhouettes of more than a dozen human bodies.
The skin of those bodies was an unhealthy grayish-white. Their muscles had atrophied to the point where they almost clung directly to their bones.
Yet their chests still rose and fell faintly, showing that a weak trace of life remained within them.
"The Zero-Tails' power has been successfully implanted."
Shinno's face was filled with excitement.
"These jinchūriki were all transformed from orphans left behind by the war. Their chakra systems have already been completely corrupted by the Zero-Tails' dark chakra. They can continuously absorb the negative emotions of the people around them and convert those emotions into combat power."
Orochimaru stood in front of the cultivation tanks, his golden vertical pupils reflecting the half-dead bodies suspended inside.
He licked his lips.
"Interesting. Using negative emotions as a source of chakra is theoretically similar to the seemingly limitless nature of Tailed Beast chakra. As long as there are still people nearby, as long as fear, hatred, and anger continue to exist, these Zero-Tails jinchūriki will never have to worry about their chakra running dry."
Orochimaru extended a pale finger and slowly traced it across the glass surface of one of the cultivation tanks.
"However, Shinno, living humans used as vessels inevitably have their limits. The body cannot withstand excessive power, and the mind cannot endure prolonged exposure to such intense negative emotions. How much longer can these jinchūriki survive at most?"
Shinno's brows furrowed slightly.
"At least three months, at most six. They are experimental subjects. The corrosion caused by the dark chakra to their bodies is irreversible. Even if we use large amounts of medical ninjutsu to maintain their condition, their internal organs will gradually fail."
"Then let's approach it from another angle."
Orochimaru turned around.
"Use the Impure World Reincarnation Technique."
Shinno froze for a moment.
"The bodies produced by Impure World Reincarnation do not deteriorate and cannot truly die. They can recover indefinitely. If we use an Edo Tensei body as a vessel for the Zero-Tails, the dark chakra's corrosion of the body will no longer be a problem."
"More importantly, an Edo Tensei body possesses an effectively limitless ability to recover chakra. When combined with the Zero-Tails' ability to absorb negative emotions, the two should produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual parts."
Orochimaru continued speaking confidently.
Through his experiments, he had discovered that although reincarnated shinobi were no longer living humans, their bodies could still withstand the power of Tailed Beasts.
The Zero-Tails did not belong to the traditional Nine Tailed Beasts.
However, it could still exist as a special type of Tailed Beast.
After hearing Orochimaru's explanation, Shinno felt that his proposal made considerable sense.
Pain stood in the corner of the laboratory.
He was also participating in these experiments.
"An Edo Tensei jinchūriki is indeed a good idea."
Pain spoke.
"Continue."
Nagato, who was controlling Pain, was very interested in Orochimaru's proposal.
"Although an Edo Tensei body possesses an infinite ability to recover chakra, that only means the speed at which its chakra is replenished has been greatly increased. Its overall chakra capacity does not actually change."
Orochimaru slowly explained, "It's like a well. No matter how quickly you draw water from it, the depth of the well determines how much water you can draw in total."
"Some ninjutsu that consume excessive amounts of chakra cannot be released by an Edo Tensei body at all, because its available chakra cannot reach the minimum threshold required to activate them."
Orochimaru speculated that even Hashirama in his current Edo Tensei state would probably have difficulty using "Sage Art: True Several Thousand Hands."
"But if we implant the Zero-Tails into an Edo Tensei body, the Zero-Tails itself becomes an additional source of chakra. It doesn't merely increase the speed at which the chakra returns. Instead, it directly deepens the well."
"The Edo Tensei body provides the framework of infinite recovery, while the Zero-Tails provides the additional chakra needed to fill that framework. When the two are combined, they can break through the chakra limit of a single vessel."
"I see."
Pain stroked his chin.
"What about the materials?"
Pain continued asking.
"There is no need to worry about materials. There are plenty of shinobi who have died on the battlefield. We can simply dig up a few corpses and use them."
Pain gave a slight nod.
The Six Paths of Pain were also puppets created by Nagato using corpses.
In the Land of Rain, where people died every single day, corpses were an extremely common expendable resource.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Shinno."
Orochimaru turned toward Shinno.
Shinno nodded and turned toward the depths of the laboratory.
At that moment, a spatial vortex suddenly appeared out of nowhere inside the laboratory.
Obito stepped out of the vortex.
His tiger-patterned mask covered most of his face, revealing only one crimson Sharingan.
He had been in the adjacent room just moments ago and had heard the entire conversation.
"If not for Konoha, the Land of Sky might have accomplished something truly significant."
Obito sounded somewhat sentimental.
He walked over to the cultivation tanks and looked up at the half-dead Zero-Tails jinchūriki floating inside.
"Hmph. Sooner or later, I will make Konoha pay."
Shinno spoke up.
"Does Kiyohara really think he is invincible? Once our army of Edo Tensei jinchūriki is complete, I want to see how many of them he can actually stop."
Shinno was brimming with confidence.
Obito said nothing.
He merely gave a low chuckle from behind his mask.
Orochimaru leaned against the experimental table, his golden vertical pupils sweeping across everyone present.
He liked this atmosphere.
Hatred, anger, and the obsession with revenge were the best catalysts. They could drive everyone toward the same goal and make them fight desperately for it.
And desperate people made the best chess pieces.
"Come, everyone. There is still plenty of work to do."
…
Late that night, inside the Hokage's office.
Moonlight passed through the gaps between the blinds and illuminated the room in a layer of silver-white light.
Konan stood in front of the desk.
She had already changed out of the secretary uniform she had worn during the day and had put her dark-blue Akatsuki robe back on.
However, she had carefully folded the secretary uniform and placed it inside a paper bag, which now rested in the corner of the desk.
Kiyohara leaned against the Hokage's chair, casually playing with the purple dragon-shaped jade disc in his hand.
He had already completely adapted to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
As for the newly acquired chakra of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails, Kiyohara was still in the process of adapting to it.
The chakra of the Dragon Vein was the one he was adapting to most slowly.
"Does the clothing fit properly?"
Kiyohara asked casually.
Konan's expression froze for a moment.
Thinking about the fact that she had actually worn that kind of clothing earlier, she could not help feeling embarrassed.
She changed the subject.
"I have already sent secret letters to Yahiko and Nagato, telling them about Akatsukigakure."
"Yahiko was very excited. He said that this was something he had always wanted to accomplish but never had the ability to do. Nagato, however, has not given us an answer yet."
"It doesn't matter what Nagato thinks."
Kiyohara put the dragon-shaped jade disc back into a sealing scroll.
"The establishment of Akatsukigakure will not happen overnight. During the initial stages, we will need to invest enormous amounts of manpower and resources. We will also need enough deterrence to make the other great nations afraid to act recklessly."
Kiyohara turned his head and looked at Konan's profile.
"But as long as Konoha supports us from behind, none of those things will be a problem."
Konan turned her head.
Her eyes met Kiyohara's.
She remained silent for quite some time before softly snorting.
"Having too many wings can be dangerous. Be careful that you don't break them."
"They won't break."
Kiyohara withdrew his hand and walked back toward the desk. He sat down in the Hokage's chair once again and picked up the medical examination report that Itachi had delivered.
"Let's talk about something important. Uchiha Kōsuke's medical examination results are out."
He opened the report and scanned the dense rows of data.
"Rin's preliminary analysis indicates that there is a special inhibitory factor inside Uchiha Kōsuke's body."
"This factor produces something similar to an immune response against Hashirama's cells. However, it does not completely reject them. Instead, it keeps the degree of Hashirama cell assimilation at an extremely low level."
Konan turned away from the window, her brows furrowing slightly.
She walked over to Kiyohara's side and lowered her head to look at the medical report, although she could barely understand most of the technical details.
"What does that mean?"
"It means that Hashirama's cells can potentially be made into something similar to a vaccine."
At the same time, Kiyohara was already thinking about another matter.
If that was the case, then the cultivation of the "Chakra Fruit" that would eventually give birth to the God Tree should be able to progress much faster.
Once Kaguya was revived, Kiyohara would interrogate her and force her to reveal the method for planting and cultivating the God Tree.
(End of Chapter)