As the Tailed Beast chakra was continuously extracted from his body, Gaara's physical vitality also steadily faded away.
The entire sealing process for Shukaku lasted for a total of seven days. During this time, Simu and the others only needed to maintain the operation of the sealing jutsu.
They could even use clones to perform other actions. For instance, Konan sent her clone to the Hidden Rain Village midway through to handle some matters.
As for Simu, he was a bit busier than the others. He had to use Gaara's genes to clone a body that could adapt to his soul before the sealing ended.
For Simu, seven days was plenty of time.
The last drop of Tailed Beast chakra in Gaara's body was absorbed clean, and the eye on the Gedo Mazo representing the One-Tail opened to its fullest.
Simu noticed that there were nine eyes in total on the Gedo Mazo. Based on the current situation, each eye likely corresponded to a Tailed Beast.
Furthermore, the activation of the Gedo Mazo did not seem to require a complete Tailed Beast; a portion was sufficient.
He had cut out one-tenth of Shukaku himself, yet neither the Gedo Mazo nor Nagato showed any special reaction.
Maybe I can cut a bit more the next time I hand over a Tailed Beast?
I'm really curious—if all nine Tailed Beasts are gathered, what exactly will happen...
A cold light flashed across Simu's glasses.
"The sealing is complete."
Accompanied by Pain's flat voice, the first Tailed Beast captured by the Akatsuki was officially declared sealed.
The green light dissipated from Simu and the others, and the opened eye on the Gedo Mazo closed once again.
However, Simu could clearly feel that after absorbing Shukaku, a sense of... vitality appeared within the Gedo Mazo.
An incomplete vitality.
"A full seven days! This lord is exhausted!"
As soon as the sealing ended, Hidan could not help but complain.
Beside him, Tobi also gave a massive stretch. While loosening his muscles, he chimed in with Hidan, "Yeah, yeah! Working for seven days straight is just too tiring. Leader, you're being way too stingy if you don't give us overtime pay!"
Lines of irritation flashed across Pain's face. They were a super mysterious organization destined to create a beautiful world; talking about wages was far too vulgar.
To stop Tobi and Hidan from continuing their double act, he quickly changed the subject and spoke to Simu. "Is the body for this brat ready?"
"Of course," Simu said without hesitation.
As his voice fell, a fat, long insect burrowed out from the ground and spat out a body from its mouth that was identical to Gaara.
It was truly identical, from the facial features to the hairstyle—even the individual strands of hair were the same.
Aside from a few differences acquired later in life, such as scars from injuries, everything else was created by Simu strictly according to Gaara's genetic expression.
If even a body like this could not adapt to Gaara's soul, then one probably could not find another body in this world capable of carrying it.
Seeing this body, a hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of everyone present.
Whether it was Nagato, Zetsu, or Orochimaru, none of them were mediocre. They realized almost instantly how immense the value of this technology was.
If paired with a soul transfer technique...
Orochimaru's gaze grew heated once again.
Only two people on the scene remained indifferent.
One was Sasori. He was not at all surprised that Senior Simu could produce such a work. In his view, it was only natural for Senior Simu to produce even more stunning creations, as Senior Simu had already transcended the boundaries of what the shinobi world could imagine.
The other was Hidan, who was genuinely simple-minded.
To him, this was just a body. He had killed so many people that he didn't even know how many corpses he'd seen; there was nothing to be surprised about.
As for Tobi, he remained hidden behind his mask, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"In that case, let's begin."
Pain directly used the Summoning Jutsu to summon a clone with long, orange hair.
Without any surprise, the eyes of this clone were also the Rinnegan.
Orochimaru and Sasori showed thoughtful expressions upon seeing this.
Hidan, however, let out a question: "Why is there another Rinnegan?"
Pain had no intention of paying attention to Hidan. Instead, he directly controlled his clone to step in front of Gaara's corpse.
A special chakra condensed in his hand. With a grab at Gaara, a soul visible to the naked eye was instantly pulled from the boy's body.
Immediately following this, the clone gripped Gaara's soul and stuffed it into the new body Simu had prepared.
Although it looked simple, the most critical point was the need for a suitable vessel.
Otherwise, even the Rinnegan, which possessed the Power of the Six Paths, could not easily bring someone back from the dead.
Watching Gaara's soul gradually merge into the new body, Pain said indifferently, "That should do it. As long as the body and soul do not produce a rejection reaction, there shouldn't be any problems."
"I appreciate the help."
Simu smiled at Pain.
Simu was quite grateful for Pain's assistance; otherwise, he would have lost a promising talent like Gaara...
Pain merely nodded without saying much.
After the sealing ended, Simu took Gaara back with him immediately. He was very confident in his cloning technology.
After all, from a genetic level, this body was entirely Gaara. There was no reason it would be incompatible with his soul.
To be safe, he still soaked Gaara in the Blood Pool so that he could intervene in time if any accidents occurred.
However, Simu's preparations were unnecessary because on the third day of the fusion between body and soul, Gaara woke up.
"Where is this..."
Gaara's face was filled with deep hesitation and loss.
During this time, he felt as if he had been in a very long nightmare, dreaming that everyone in the village wanted to kill him.
Including his own father, and including his... uncle.
"Those weren't dreams."
Simu's suddenly appearing voice shattered Gaara's hope.
"Although it might make you very sad, the actions of your father, Rasa, and your uncle, Yashamaru, were not dreams. They truly wanted to kill you."
Simu spoke this bloody reality without any concealment.
Memories flooded back, and Gaara's breathing suddenly became rapid. He stared at Simu and asked, "Who are you?"
Simu pushed up his glasses gently and said with a smile, "I am Mr. Shopkeeper, Gaara."
"Mr... Shopkeeper..."
Gaara looked at the man before him. Finally, this man began to merge with the trustworthy figure in his mind.
"Mr. Shopkeeper!"