Seeing that Kato Dan had no intention of fighting Ryou, Orochimaru raised a finger and performed the Edo Tensei Ritual Formula to control him.
Kato Dan's expression stiffened, and he instantly became Orochimaru's puppet.
Kato Dan was not like Tobirama or Hashirama, who possessed such immense stats that Orochimaru couldn't control them.
The only exceptional thing about Kato Dan was his defense-ignoring Spirit Transformation Technique.
Aside from that, he had the most shortcomings.
Orochimaru could control him with ease.
"Go, Kato Dan!"
Kato Dan formed hand signs and unleashed the Spirit Transformation Technique.
The Spirit Transformation Technique was an S-rank Forbidden Jutsu created by Kato Dan himself. This technique could separate the user's spiritual energy from their physical energy, allowing them to enter a spirit form to launch long-range attacks, possess and control others, or destroy their physical bodies.
During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Kato Dan's spirit form had once assisted Tsunade in escaping danger, and it possessed a stealth characteristic that even Madara's Rinnegan could not perceive.
Ryou looked in Kato Dan's direction; at that moment, Kato Dan's Edo Tensei body collapsed to the ground, as if it had lost its soul.
This was the Spirit Transformation Technique; Kato Dan's spiritual energy had materialized into a spirit form.
Ryou's Sharingan could see the flow of chakra, but it could not see the flow of a spirit form.
Suddenly, a surge of spiritual energy occupied Ryou's physical body.
It was Kato Dan. The spirit form ignored physical distance constraints, instantly piercing through the layered defenses of the Susanoo to occupy Ryou's body.
In the original work, when the Edo Tensei was released, Kato Dan flew to Tsunade's side in mere seconds, not only assisting her in escaping danger but also transferring his own chakra to her.
The spirit form was not restricted by physical distance; it was like a ghost traversing the three realms.
Seeing Ryou's Sharingan become somewhat vacant, as if he were being controlled, Orochimaru was ecstatic: "Excellent! Kato Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique is the most effective Ninjutsu for dealing with this big turtle."
Orochimaru performed hand signs, intending to destroy Ryou's internal organs.
But suddenly, he paused. If he killed Ryou, who would he use for Possession?
Ryou could not be killed; he couldn't even be harmed in the slightest.
Ryou's physical body was his body!
Orochimaru performed hand signs, controlling Kato Dan to make Ryou disperse the Susanoo.
Candy was somewhat anxious and injected her own chakra to disrupt Ryou's chakra flow.
Right now, Ryou was effectively controlled by a Genjutsu, and Candy wanted to use her own chakra to dispel the Genjutsu on Ryou.
But it didn't work; there was still a big difference between Kato Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique and Genjutsu.
However, the Spirit Transformation Technique was the materialization of spiritual energy.
Genjutsu was a method of using spiritual energy to attack.
Ryou could rely on the Genjutsu energy of his Sharingan to resist Kato Dan's spirit form.
Ryou's Sharingan spun wildly, releasing massive Genjutsu energy that bounced Kato Dan out of his body.
Ryou regained control of his body, but by then the Susanoo had been dispelled, and Orochimaru was charging over with a few zombies.
Among the enemies was also the invisible Snake Sage, Tagorihime.
"Let's go!"
Candy activated the Mayfly Technique, taking Ryou and diving underground to escape.
Ryou cursed at Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, you SOB, just you wait. Once I learn Senjutsu, I'll make you pay."
Ryou was very strong right now, but this strength was purely based on stats.
The core of his mechanism was the 50 lives provided by the 50 spores inside his body.
If it came to a brute-force fight, Ryou could outlast most mechanisms.
But people like Tobirama and Kato Dan were Edo Tensei bodies; without binding Ninjutsu and Sealing Jutsu, they were very difficult to deal with.
Ryou could use Wood Release to bind them, but Kato Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique ignored all defenses; physical defenses couldn't bind him.
He had to rely on Magnet Release for sealing.
Furthermore, there was still the invisible Snake Sage hiding in the shadows — Tagorihime.
There were a bit too many experts, and each one of them was incredibly cunning.
Ryou's stats were very high right now, but the mechanism of continuous resurrection via Life Spore was no longer enough.
He needed a more extraordinary mechanism.
At the level of top-tier Shinobi, the role of mechanisms became increasingly important; having a good mechanism could truly defeat a stat monster.
Stats had no upper limit. Hashirama was a stat monster in the early stages, but once Obito and Madara reached Six Paths, Hashirama's stats became useless.
During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Hashirama was useless; he couldn't defeat Rinnegan Uchiha Madara, couldn't beat Six Paths Obito, and certainly couldn't deal with the chakra Progenitor, Kaguya.
In contrast, Obito and Kakashi, who possessed Kamui, could even trade a few blows with Kaguya!
Obito's Kamui, Madara's Limbo, Shisui's Kotoamatsukami...
These abilities were all top-tier mechanisms.
Ryou touched his eyes, hoping that the Mangekyo he awakened in the future would be powerful and have a good mechanism.
Even if it just made people have diarrhea, at least when others fought him, they would mess their pants first. Even a Chakra Progenitor like Kaguya would lose her composure.
Anything but some unpresentable ability.
Seeing Ryou fleeing in a panic, Tobirama sneered: "Heh! You Uchiha brat, running away with your tail between your legs, aren't you!"
Tagorihime revealed herself and looked at Orochimaru: "Orochimaru, let's pursue!"
Orochimaru nodded, called for Kato Dan, Uchiha Kagami, and the others, and prepared to pursue Ryou.
Tobirama suddenly stopped: "Wait a moment, Orochimaru. I need to know the current situation of the Shinobi Allied Forces!"
Orochimaru stopped.
Tobirama looked at Uchiha Kagami and Kato Dan.
There was no internet in Ryūchi Cave, so Tobirama and Orochimaru were unaware of the situation outside.
Tobirama still firmly believed that Madara's side was more important.
Ryou's threat was in the future, but Madara's Eye of the Moon Plan was blatantly staring them in the face.
"Uchiha Kagami, tell us what the situation is with the Shinobi Allied Forces."
"Understood, Second Hokage!"
Uchiha Kagami immediately informed Tobirama and Orochimaru about the situation of the Shinobi Allied Forces.
The three major divisions had reached the designated locations of the command center, but the First Division had encountered a blockade by the Shinobi Cats army led by Ryou's shadow clone.
That group of Uchiha Clan Shinobi Cats was just there for show; the main point was Ryou's two Shinobi Cats.
One was an orange tabby, and the other was a calico.
Both cats had formidable Summoned Beasts.
The orange tabby's was Hanzo's Salamander, Ibuse, while the calico's was Sasori. Sasori had summoned the Human Puppets of the Third Kazekage and the Fourth Kazekage.
They were fighting generals against Minato.
"When we left, Minato was still locked in a heated battle with those two cats."
Tobirama asked: "Have the elite Shinobi not infiltrated the Land of Rain to find Uchiha Madara yet?"
Uchiha Kagami said: "On Ryou's side, there appeared a headless, eyeless black demon. Elder Fukasaku said it is a mind-reading demon that can see through people's hearts — Satori."