Chapter 142: Chapter 142: Scorch Release
Yagura once again fell under the sway of the Sharingan's illusion, but this time, you didn't force him to do anything.
He was simply consumed by an overwhelming sense of guilt and self-loathing.
With death in his heart, Yagura chose to release the tailed beast's seal within him, setting the Three-Tails free.
As his body grew cold and lifeless, he finally collapsed in the frigid marsh.
A massive, grotesquely-shaped turtle surfaced from the lake.
You looked at the form of the Three-Tails, Isobu, and couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
Compared to the giant Turtle Island in the Land of Lightning, this one seemed underwhelming. That Turtle Island... its size might even rival the Ten-Tails. Who knows how long it's been alive...
But since the Three-Tails had already been placed under your control—both it and Yagura bound by your Sharingan—capturing it wasn't difficult. You used your Sharingan to establish a contract with the beast.
Then, you summoned Boss Black Cat, who brought you a massive sealing scroll. Using the Eight Trigrams Seal, you sealed the Three-Tails in one go.
Just like that, the Three-Tails was now in your hands.
Before leaving, you also took Ao's Byakugan for good measure.
Only now did Genshi finally piece together your entire plan.
So this was the cost of rejecting your offer—
A key test subject lost.
The Fourth Mizukage dead.
The Three-Tails captured.
Even the Byakugan that had been stolen with such great effort from the Hyūga main house... gone.
Now, Kirigakure was nothing more than a fragile shell, ready to collapse with a single blow.
Fortunately, you hadn't harmed any ordinary shinobi. With information sealed off, the Mist could still hold out a while longer...
...
After securing the Byakugan and Three-Tails, you took advantage of Kirigakure's Anbu being redeployed and infiltrated the Kaguya Clan's domain.
The Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure was much like the Uchiha Clan in Konoha—
Feared, yet relied upon as the village's core military force.
Ultimately, both shared the same tragic fate: extinction.
You patrolled the clan's grounds, finding all their ninjutsu archives had been completely ransacked.
Only a single underground passage remained sealed off with a barrier technique.
After breaking through the barrier, countless bone spikes launched from hidden mechanisms, attacking you.
But with no shinobi controlling them, these automatic defenses—at most lethal to a Jōnin—posed no real threat to you.
From what you saw, this place was clearly akin to the Uchiha's ancestral sanctuary.
The Kaguya Clan's ancestral hall—used to store secret arts and historical records—was littered with bleached, misshapen bones. Some had even been fused into the barrier, forming part of the traps themselves.
These were the remains of those in the Kaguya Clan who possessed the Shikotsumyaku. Just like the Uchiha stored Sharingan eyes, these were final offerings left by the elders to their descendants...
Unfortunately, no one knew how long these bones had been sitting here.
Even after exhausting a considerable amount of Ocular Power to refine them all at once, you could only extract a single drop of bloodline essence—impure and partially incomplete.
Staring at the drop, you felt a tinge of revulsion at the thought of fusing it into your body.
—This patchwork bloodline, cobbled together over centuries, was far too fragmented.
You'd be better off asking Orochimaru for Kimimaro.
Sure, his illness was severe, but at least his bloodline was whole. That would still be better than this budget, knock-off version in your hand...
After safely storing the bloodline, you continued your search.
You retrieved a book, a scroll, and a map from the altar.
The book recorded the Kaguya Clan's history.
The scroll contained their unique ninjutsu.
And the map depicted the former domain of the Hyūga Clan—with markings showing that the Kaguya had been guarding it for generations...
But all of that came to an end with the clan's extinction.
As for the Hyūga Clan far away in Konoha...
Did they even remember their ancestral land?
You were quite curious.
Could the Hyūga of the ninja world—like their counterparts on the Moon—possess a giant Tenseigan?
If such a thing really was sealed away in that lost Hyūga domain, then this entire trip would've been a jackpot.
Even though your haul—an incomplete bloodline, a map, and some clan jutsu—was far from ideal, considering that Kirigakure had already looted the place clean...
You no longer expected too much.
You used Flying Thunder God to teleport back to your base in the Land of Waves.
...
Within a genjutsu, you listened to Gato's latest report.
The Gato Shipping Company had already spread across the entire shinobi world.
Led by Tazuna, the construction branch was thriving throughout the continent.
Even if someone wanted to sabotage your business, they'd first have to survive an assassination from Kakuzu...
Following your orders, Gato had also begun expanding into the medical and tech industries.
However, while many so-called scientists had been recruited, they each worked in isolation with no unified communication system. Progress was slow.
Currently, Gato's medical company only had two viable products:
One, a soldier pill that boosted recovery.
Two, a rapid blood-staunching bandage.
Everything else was either uncompetitive or too costly to mass-produce.
These two products only sold well in smaller ninja villages where medical resources were scarce.
After listening to the report, your thoughts drifted to Amado—the mysterious man you'd encountered earlier.
But you still lacked the means to control someone like him...
You refined the shinobi corpses acquired from Zabuza and Haku's deal.
Together with your previously accumulated "Bloodline Essences," your collection now exceeded 20 drops.
From Pakura's corpse, you extracted the bloodline of Scorch Release—but didn't fuse it with your own body.
Like with Haku's Ice Release, you kept it for research—intending to synthesize it yourself.
As for the spare drop, it could be awarded to a subordinate who proved themselves—helping to strengthen your own forces.
...
〖Year Four〗
Thanks to your innate mastery over both Wind and Fire, and your near-perfected control of them, synthesizing a Scorch Release using Pakura's bloodline as reference was straightforward.
Through Gato, you quickly gathered the necessary materials and completed the synthesis.
You once again consumed all your remaining "Bloodline Essences" during the process.
But the outcome was more than worth it.
Not only did you perfectly fuse three potentially conflicting Kekkei Genkai, but by harnessing the special energy from the moment of bloodline birth, you also dramatically increased your physical stats.
Now, even a simple punch at full strength could shake an entire floating island.
You were physically far more powerful than even your previous estimate—stronger than the Raikage's body before he activated his Lightning Armor.
And if you further activated the monstrous strength hidden in your Uzumaki bloodline,you suspected your body might rival even Tsunade's!
With such excellent physical potential, not putting it to use would be wasteful— so you decided to begin training in taijutsu.
Gato's black market networks had gathered quite a few powerful ninjutsu techniques.
These techniques were meant for training new recruits of the "Mask Organization."
One could say Gato's rapid corporate growth had much to do with this generous training model—offering real ninjutsu and real resources.
Among the collection were even B-rank and above techniques leaked from major ninja villages.
Unfortunately, you had no natural affinity for Lightning Release.
Even though you could use it with practice, it would never feel intuitive or natural.
So, you had no plans to train in the simplified Lightning Release Chakra Mode from Kumogakure.
Instead, you considered Earth or Water-style taijutsu.
But taijutsu techniques—outside of Kumogakure—were rare to begin with.
They easily damaged the user's own body and had a high training threshold.
Those who mastered them were powerhouses.
Those who didn't... often didn't even qualify as ninja.
A true feast-or-famine situation.
The supply and variety of taijutsu manuals on the market was far lower than elemental ninjutsu—even rarer than sealing techniques.
Other than the simplified Lightning Release Chakra Mode, none of Gato's stocked taijutsu manuals impressed you.
Their improvements were too minor—less useful than the innate power of the Uzumaki bloodline.
So you headed for a black market near the Land of Water, hoping for better luck.
Maybe you'd even find something like Hydrification Technique...
However, just as you arrived at the black market—you saw a familiar figure.
Orochimaru.
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