The details were murky, but a blind guess suggested Kakuzu had gone to take a peek, only to be relentlessly hounded by Takeshi and ultimately dragged back here.
Orochimaru scrutinized the subject.
After Several Seconds, he was genuinely intrigued. For someone of Kakuzu's advanced age, his cellular activity was remarkably well-preserved. There was a price paid for it, certainly, but in Orochimaru's eyes, such a cost was negligible.
Any form of immortality exacted a toll.
Survival was the only metric that mattered. Orochimaru didn't care if a body was stitched together with black threads or made of something else entirely, he only cared if it allowed him to survive, to continue his research into ninjutsu, Infinite Knowledge, and the Mysteries of the world he so desired.
"I'll leave him to you. Dig out every secret he has. Also... this guy really loves exchanging a Human Head for Money. As for the Money..."
"Yours. All yours."
Orochimaru didn't hesitate for a moment.
What use was Money?
As long as he remained in the Laboratory and the village didn't cut off his supply line, he had absolutely no need for boring things like currency. If Takeshi liked money, he could have it. As for the secrets locked in Kakuzu's brain...
He would excavate them all, with or without Takeshi's prompting.
If nothing else, he absolutely had to acquire that Secret Technique. Furthermore, once Kakuzu eventually died, Orochimaru could take the corpse to Takigakure Village and extract certain benefits from them.
It was simply perfect.
Takeshi departed Konohagakure. News had arrived from Kuraokami, it seemed a wave of ninja beasts had come to cause trouble today, only to be beaten into submission by his Clone.
There was no need for the main body to intervene, which was for the best.
Returning to Kuraokami, he didn't plan to micromanage these trifles, letting the Clone handle them was sufficient. What he needed to consider now was something else, how to obtain Six Paths power.
The simplest, most direct method was to acquire Nagato's eyes.
With the vitality of his own Genuine Sage Body, he could completely withstand the power of the Rinnegan, thereby obtaining Six Paths power. Combined with a system purchase, he might be able to directly develop his own Six Paths Mode.
However, that plan was fraught with danger.
Besides...
Nagato was currently behaving himself and not causing trouble over there. Furthermore, those eyes belonged to Madara, rashly taking them for his own use carried significant hidden risks. Not to mention there was size difference, he was cat afterall and those were human eyes.
After thinking it over, it seemed better to directly purchase Six Paths Mode.
Six Paths Mode required a lot of Points.
He had saved up quite a bit recently, enough for the purchase. Upon returning to Kuraokami, he ordered the others not to disturb him for the time being.
According to the knowledge from his past life:
The essence of Six Paths Mode was the combination of Ten-Tails Chakra and the Sage of Six Paths own Sage Power (Rinnegan). The Ten-Tails Chakra originated from the Shinju, and the Shinju's power was a special amalgamation of natural energy...
Takeshi wasn't sure how the system version would implement this, but he assumed it wouldn't be a quick process.
Therefore, he needed a period of isolation.
As long as he mastered Six Paths Mode, Takeshi felt he could emerge to face Madara, who was hiding god knows where. Once he reached the level where he could activate Six Paths Mode, even if he couldn't perfectly counter genjutsu, the difficulty for Madara to use genjutsu on him would approach infinity, thanks to his massive chakra and Six Paths-level Sage Power.
As for Black Zetsu...
His strongest ability was Possession, but that was a contest of wills between two parties, just like genjutsu. As long as Takeshi was stronger, Black Zetsu could do nothing to him. His backstab was effective against the Ten-Tails jinchuriki, but Takeshi hadn't touched tailed beast chakra at all.
Perfect.
He pondered for a moment, then initiated the purchase Six Paths Mode.
The moment the purchase began, he felt as if he had become a great tree, "perfectly" merging with the earth. The efficiency of his body's absorption of natural energy increased drastically, the state was bizarre, Takeshi briefly thought he might have actually become a Otsutsuki.
Of course.
This was just an illusion created by the system's effects.
Even in this state of isolation, he could still sense everything happening around him. At first, his awareness covered only the immediate area of Kuraokami, but later it expanded to the entire Land of Snow, observing Yahiko sending envoys to negotiate with the King, and then sending others to Kuraokami.
He saw it all.
It felt a bit like the "God's eye view" one had when watching an anime. It was strange, but after adapting to it, he found it quite agreeable.
Time passed quickly.
one day, two days... roughly a month drifted by. Takeshi could clearly feel a qualitative shift in his chakra, before, it was just a subtle change, but now he could physically feel his body altering.
Takeshi felt a spike of panic.
Given the system's trolling nature, he wouldn't turn into some aberration like the Ten-Tails, would he?
Amidst his anxiety, several days passed, and finally, he emerged. He immediately used Ice Release to construct an ice mirror and check his condition.
He was fine.
His form had hardly changed, though his size had increased slightly. Before, he was about the size of an ordinary cat, but now, a single glance would tell anyone he was something else entirely.
However...
What was certain was that his condition was quite different from that of the Sage of Six Paths.
Takeshi couldn't yet determine if this was good or bad.
He tried to activate Six Paths Mode using the method in his memories. Instantly, his entire body turned a brilliant light silver, and the chakra within him surged, transforming into a colossal force.
Unprecedentedly powerful! Takeshi felt a swell of arrogance, he wanted nothing more than to go find Madara for a fight right this second. Locating Madara wouldn't be hard, his sensory abilities were now terrifyingly vast, and he could easily bring Nagato along.
Nagato had the Rinnegan, and combined with the Six Paths power Takeshi could transfer, they could absolutely track down the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path: Gedo Mazo.
Very good. It was decided.
He walked out of the Igloo. Kanna was waiting outside. She seemed to have dozed off, but the moment Takeshi emerged, she snapped awake. Seeing him, she immediately bowed, her voice trembling with excitement. "Takeshi-sama, you've finally come out of training! During this time..."
"Meow~ I know everything. Quite a few ninja beasts came to pick fights, but my Clone beat them back, right?" Takeshi said.
"Uh, well, that is what happened, yes. But Yahiko wrote a letter saying that a strange Sea Mist has been appearing frequently at sea recently. Ships that enter it get lost for Several Days, so the number of people coming to the Land of Snow has been dropping."
"Meow?"
Takeshi paused, his mind working.
Sea Mist?
No matter how he looked at it, this sounded like a genjutsu ability. In fact, it sounded exactly like the Giant Clam belonging to Gengetsu Hozuki.
It was very likely that exact creature.
"Meow~ I'll go take a look. Update the Clone, the previous one should be running on empty."
Leaving a fresh Clone to hold the fort, Takeshi quickly departed.
"Eh?"
Kanna stood stunned for a moment.
Without any Intelligence on the target, how was he going to find it? But...
Takeshi didn't wait. He leaped directly into the air, flying outward. With Earth Release: Lightened Boulder Jutsu added to the Levitation Ability of Six Paths Mode, he could fly with proficiency and speed. He was no slower in the air than he was running on land.
In just a moment's effort, his perception locked onto the location of the "Sea Mist."
It had to be that Giant Clam.
"Meow~ This clam... should I boil it, or..."
While he was mulling over the menu, the opponent sensed the threat from above.
The Giant Clam quickly engaged its camouflage and fled. It scuttled along the seabed, escaping with impressive speed, but it wasn't long before Takeshi caught it.
It was massive.
But size was useless. For Takeshi, killing it would be as easy as flipping his paw.
"Such a big clam... it must be delicious boiled, meow."
Takeshi didn't even bother to mask his intent.
Growing this large, and having absorbed so much chakra, it looked delicious at a glance. What a pity...
"I was introduced by Katsuyu-sama! You can't eat me! Stop! Please!?"
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