Jie's Six Paths transformation had reached around forty percent, but the remaining process still required a huge amount of chakra and natural energy. If he relied only on his own training, it would take at least two or three years to complete.
That was not especially long, but there was no reason to wait when a faster method was available.
There were few chakra sources in the ninja world powerful enough to help him. Even the giant Tenseigan had only advanced his transformation part of the way.
Fortunately, Jie knew where to find another.
The Dragon Vein beneath Roran.
Roran was an ancient city near the desert of the Land of Wind. Its people had disappeared long ago, and most of the ruins were now buried beneath the sand.
The Dragon Vein below the city remained intact, protected by the seal Minato Namikaze had left behind. When Jie and Izumi visited the area during their travels, Jie had examined the seal and placed a Flying Thunder God mark nearby.
Once he chose his target, Jie left Konoha and travelled through the marks he had placed across the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
A few jumps later, he appeared among Roran's ruins.
Broken towers rose above the sand, while most of the old streets had already disappeared. Jie did not remain on the surface. He followed his mark into the underground chamber where the Dragon Vein was sealed.
Minato's seal was still in place.
Jie closed his eyes and examined the power beneath it.
The Dragon Vein had gathered chakra for thousands of years. Its reserves were comparable to what he had taken from the giant Tenseigan, and the chakra itself had formed from natural energy beneath the earth.
It carried no will and contained very few impurities, making it ideal for the Six Paths seed.
The only problem was the Dragon Vein's effect on space and time.
Jie had no intention of being thrown into another era because he disturbed it carelessly. Instead of removing Minato's seal, he studied it for a while and opened only a narrow gap.
A small amount of chakra immediately began leaking through.
Jie placed his hand over the opening.
"Sealing Technique Absorption."
The Rinnegan drew the escaping chakra into his body.
Unlike the giant Tenseigan's power, the Dragon Vein's chakra flowed through him calmly. It passed through his chakra pathways with little resistance and entered the Six Paths seed almost immediately.
The transformation inside him accelerated.
Jie kept the flow controlled, taking only what could pass through the opening without disturbing the surrounding space. As long as most of Minato's seal remained intact, the Dragon Vein stayed stable.
After several minutes, his transformation crossed the halfway point.
At the same time, the seven chakra natures inside him began responding differently.
Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, Yin, and Yang no longer felt completely separate. When Jie raised one hand and gathered several of them above his palm, they merged without conflict.
He changed the balance between them several times, separating one nature and adding another without losing control.
Ordinary kekkei genkai were created by combining two chakra natures. Jie could now move beyond those simple combinations and bring all seven together.
He had gained the basic power of Kekkei Mōra.
The transformation was still incomplete, so there were limits to what he could create. Even so, this proved that his body and chakra were already moving beyond the normal Six Paths threshold.
Jie let the chakra above his palm fade and turned back to the Dragon Vein.
Most of the energy accessible through the gap had already been absorbed. Less than a third remained, concentrated in the deepest part beneath Minato's seal.
To reach it, Jie would have to remove the seal completely.
With most of the Dragon Vein already gone, the risk of a big time-space problem was lower. Still, Jie made a shadow clone and moved his real body farther away before testing it.
The clone began dismantling Minato's seal.
As the final section disappeared, chakra suddenly burst from the ground and sent faint ripples through the surrounding space. Jie watched from a distance, but the disturbance faded after only a few moments.
No space-time passage appeared.
Once the chamber settled, Jie dismissed the clone and returned to the Dragon Vein.
Nothing now stood between him and its core.
He placed his hand against the remaining chakra and activated Sealing Technique Absorption again.
The energy at the deepest point was much stronger than what he had taken before and had a lot more natural energy. But Jie could control it well because he was skilled in senjutsu.
The chakra flowed into the Six Paths seed, and his transformation started to speed up again.
More of his chakra reached the Six Paths level, and the same change spread through his body. By the time the core became weaker, his progress had reached sixty percent.
Then he felt a strong pressure in his left eye.
Jie closed it for a moment. When he opened it again, three more tomoe had appeared around the rings of his Rinne Sharingan.
His three-tomoe eye had turned into a Six-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan.
It was not just a change in looks. The eye was much stronger now, and he could use the Rinnegan's abilities more easily.
Jie examined the change for a moment before continuing.
The last bits of the Dragon Vein flowed into his body and slowly faded away. When the final stream disappeared into his hand, the underground chamber became quiet.
A familiar sound rang in his mind.
"Ding!"
Before the system could finish speaking, something moved under Jie's feet.
His face changed.
The Dragon Vein was already empty, but a strong wave of chakra suddenly burst out from the ground.
Thick chakra filled the chamber and surrounded Jie before he could react. Space twisted under the pressure, cutting him off from all his Flying Thunder God marks outside.
He tried to break through, but the distortion only became stronger.
The burst lasted only a few seconds before it stopped just as quickly as it started.
When everything became quiet again, Jie had disappeared.
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