Ryou spoke about his world: "People say everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. But when a common man rises or falls, is the world responsible for him?"
"I was born with a hereditary disease. My clansmen loathed and abandoned me. I finally graduated to become a Shinobi, only to have my advancement delayed indefinitely due to political background checks."
"I fell in love with Tsunade but couldn't be with her. I wanted to stop my nephew from going to the battlefield, only to be kicked out of the house by Fugaku."
"I realized that being a good person is too hard, so I defected."
Ryou then stood up, his whole being radiating an aura of liberation: "After suffering for so many years, I should have defected long ago!"
"However, now I've fallen into another cage similar to Konoha—the shackles Madara placed on me!"
"Once I break these shackles, I will be truly free!"
"Hahaha..."
Konan stepped forward and pinched Ryou's ear: "Stop laughing. You Uchiha people always give off a terrifying feeling when you laugh like madmen."
"Konan, don't pinch, don't pinch! It hurts!"
Nagato watched Ryou and Konan acting intimately, his heart weeping. The world of Genjutsu wasn't bad; at least there could be a Konan who liked him.
Nagato left Ryou and Konan to their own space and walked out alone.
After Nagato left, Ryou stopped acting. There was no foreplay at all, like the dialogue that triggers 18+ scenes in a galgame.
No heart-to-heart talks with Konan or romantic whispering!
Nothing. He went straight for it, and she couldn't take it!
Konan broke down: "Uchiha Ryou, you are the number one pervert under heaven!"
...
Underground, near the border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind.
Ryou's Spore Clone was currently learning the Magnet Release obtained from Sasori.
Magnet Release is a Kekkei Genkai that freely controls natural metals through magnetic force, formed by combining Wind and Earth.
It is both a Kekkei Genkai and a Secret Technique.
Only those of specific bloodlines or a few geniuses can inherit or learn Magnet Release.
For example, the Third Kazekage and Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure, or the Magnet Release Shinobi Toroi of Kumogakure.
Toroi's Magnet Release belongs to bloodline inheritance; it cannot be learned.
What Ryou was learning was the Magnet Release of the Third and Fourth Kazekage—the Magnet Release passed down through Secret Techniques.
Not only Rasa's gold dust Magnet Release, but Sasori had also given Ryou the training method for the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand Magnet Release.
Ryou studied it seriously.
Magnet Release is a Kekkei Genkai composed of Wind and Earth.
The prerequisite for learning this Secret Technique is having Wind and Earth chakra natures, followed by absolute mastery over their nature transformations.
At this step, Magnet Release eliminates many Shinobi who wish to master it.
After mastering the nature transformations of Wind and Earth, the next step is to master the fusion of these two different natures to obtain magnetic force.
During the fusion process, one must be careful with the Wind nature.
The Earth nature increases the hardness and composition of matter, which isn't very difficult.
The Wind nature is about cutting and tearing; if the fusion fails, the Wind will harm the user.
Moreover, since hands are used to fuse Magnet Release, the Wind can damage the chakra pathway system in the hands.
A Shinobi needs their hands to form seals, for self-defense, and for... personal business!
If the chakra pathways in the hands are ruined, the Shinobi is completely finished.
Even a genius like Orochimaru lost half his effectiveness when his hands were sealed, let alone an ordinary person.
Most Shinobi actually just use shuriken and Kunai, and once they master the Three Basic Techniques—Transformation, Clone, and Substitution—they are sent off to fill the ranks.
Ninjutsu with chakra nature transformations is the exclusive domain of Jonin.
For Ryou, learning Magnet Release wasn't difficult.
He now possessed all seven chakra attributes; he was just unpracticed with Wind and Earth Release Ninjutsu.
But the chakra natures themselves were already developed.
For the Earth attribute, the Wood Release Ryou mastered was a fusion of Water and Earth, engraved within the Hashirama cells.
He didn't need to learn the properties of the Earth attribute.
As for the Wind attribute, Ryou's group of Spore Clones in Amegakure had been developing it day and night, so he had long since mastered it.
One of Ryou's Spore Clones, dedicated to developing the Rasengan, was currently integrating the Wind attribute into the Rasengan, striving to develop the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
With the chakra attributes and natures ready, the risk of developing Ninjutsu could be ignored thanks to the Hashirama cells.
He also had the Secret Technique for fusing Wind and Earth into Magnet Release—the scroll Sasori extracted from Rasa's brain.
For Ryou, the final obstacle to mastering Magnet Release was simply proficiency.
Ryou manifested the Wind nature in his left hand and the Earth nature in his right, attempting to fuse the two different chakra natures.
And then... then it exploded—
He was a bit unpracticed at first, but fortunately, this clone was a Yang Release nature clone; unlike a Shadow Clone, it wouldn't dissipate from a heavy impact.
Again—it exploded again!
Once more—another explosion!
Snowy and Matatabi ran to where Shukaku's tail was, staying far away from Ryou as he developed Magnet Release.
Sasori had already turned Rasa into a Human Puppet and was currently inspecting this work of art.
The Rasa Human Puppet had one flaw: the right eye was a hollow socket because Ryou had taken it to transplant into a dog.
This made Rasa imperfect, which was unsettling for someone with artistic perfectionism like Sasori.
As Sasori was thinking about art, the Ninjutsu explosions from Ryou's Magnet Release development began to affect him.
Sasori said irritably, "Uchiha Ryou, can't you wait until we return to Amegakure to learn Magnet Release?"
Ryou flared up: "Sasori, you're getting rebellious. Just because I'm a clone, you don't even call me Master anymore?"
Ryou stood up, prepared to teach Sasori a lesson.
Sasori controlled Rasa, using the gold dust Secret Technique to fly into the air.
Ryou raised a finger and directly manipulated the spore inside Sasori's body.
Immediately, Sasori rolled around in pain, and within moments, he was crying out for mercy.
Ryou let Sasori go after teaching him a lesson and went back to the side to practice Magnet Release.
Sasori stood up miserably. Even a clone could lord it over him now; his future days were going to be rough.
By this time, Shukaku realized they had begun to enter the moist soil of the Land of Rain.
It hated the damp earth of the Land of Rain and feared its impending fate of being swallowed by the Ten-Tails even more.
Shukaku noticed Ryou practicing Magnet Release and its eyes darted around: "Great Master Ryou, I have something to say!"
Ryou stopped what he was doing and looked at the giant raccoon carrying him: "What do you have to say? Let's get this straight: if it's nonsense, I'll drench you with water."
Ryou noticed that Shukaku was extremely uncomfortable after entering the Land of Rain; even the chakra in its body was no longer active.
If it could control its body right now, it would likely be agitated and restless, unable to find comfort anywhere.
This was normal; Shukaku had lived in the hot and dry Nara Desert for years. It loved high temperatures and arid environments; a place like the Land of Rain, filled with moisture, was Purgatory for Shukaku.
Just entering it made its whole body feel wrong.
Shukaku said to Ryou, "Great Master Ryou, you're learning Magnet Release, right?"
Ryou nodded: "So what? Shukaku, are you thinking of teaching me Magnet Release to get me to release you?"
"There's no need for that. It's impossible for me to let you go, otherwise my main body will be electrocuted by Uchiha Madara."
"A very terrifying kind of current!"
As Ryou's Spore Clone spoke, he controlled Sasori to come over and give the other party a shock.
"Uchiha Ryou, you motherf—"
"Aaahhh—"