Chapter 257 – Kitagawa Gen's Ten-Tails, a Grand Gift
"Finally… the eighth stage?"
Kitagawa Gen stared at the glowing new interface before him, expression caught somewhere between awe and disbelief.
After years of effort, the God Tree's Source had at last reached near completion.
And as he expected, the latest breakthrough brought with it an unexpected surprise.
"This 'release available'… heh, that might be interesting."
Drawing in a deep breath, Gen placed his palm against the colossal trunk beneath him.
Unlike the lifeless husk that was the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path—with its gnarled bark, coffin-pale skin, and nine dull, unlit eyes—his tree radiated vitality.
The trunk towered skyward, branches thick with lush foliage, and a tidal wave of life force surged from its core.
At the crown, a massive flower bud swelled with energy, on the verge of bursting open. Within it churned a chakra so immense it made even Gen's heart race.
"Just one more tail left to absorb. Once the blossom blooms, this God Tree might open the Rinnegan of its own… and then I—"
He touched his forehead. The bud's pulse resonated perfectly with the chakra hidden in his brow, as though the two were tied by fate. One final step, and an entirely new power awaited him.
"But if I release it now… the effect will probably dwarf even the True Thousand-Armed..."
The thought alone made him chuckle wryly. That towering construct, over a kilometer tall, had once seemed unmatched. Yet compared to this… it was nothing.
As if hearing his thoughts, the God Tree stirred.
Roots twisted upward, fusing into limbs. The bud at the summit slowly sealed shut. Massive branches coiled together, forming legs, arms, and a torso of titanic scale.
In mere moments, the ground quaked beneath the emergence of a new beast.
From behind, ten great tails unfurled, each lashing once and stirring hurricanes in their wake.
Gen stood atop its head, staring down at the colossal creature. For the first time in a long while, he actually felt… small.
"Chakra this pure… it's practically indistinguishable from nature energy itself."
As a master of Sage Mode, Gen was no stranger to natural power. But the chakra coursing through this Ten-Tails construct was something altogether different—wilder, deeper, boundless.
"…But no eyes?"
He tilted his head. The Ten-Tails' lids remained firmly shut, leaving its face eerily blank. Then it dawned on him: this wasn't some autonomous beast. This Ten-Tails was his—a direct extension of his own God Tree.
If his forehead lacked an eye, so did it. Until the bud bloomed, the beast would remain eyeless.
"A half-finished version, huh?"
He laughed at the thought. But then he remembered Nagato's Demonic Statue had no eyes either, and the amusement faded into smug satisfaction.
"At least mine doesn't drain me just to stay alive. This Ten-Tails belongs to me alone."
With a roar that rattled the heavens, the Ten-Tails threw back its head. A sphere of chakra swelled in its jaws, violet deepening to crimson, then condensing into a tear-shaped projectile.
The Ten-Tails' Beast Bomb.
It launched like a falling star. A second later, the horizon blossomed with a mushroom cloud, fire and shockwaves rolling outward in waves.
"Not bad at all."
Gen grinned, bracing himself against the rushing wind. The God Tree's Source was exceeding even his expectations. And its awakening was reshaping him as well.
With a thought, six black spheres spun into existence at his back, orbiting like satellites.
"Six Truth-Seeking Orbs now, huh?"
He almost laughed in disbelief. The evolution had not only advanced his chakra lineage by two percent, but also unleashed the power he'd been storing for years.
"This must be the release of everything I've been feeding it. A full return on my investment."
And the changes weren't only physical. Something deeper was stirring within his dōjutsu.
"…Yomotsu Hirasaka? Well, now. That's a pleasant surprise."
The ability to open portals at will—an exclusive space-time technique usually tied to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki herself.
Gen scratched his head in bemusement. Technically, it wasn't even a Tenseigan ability. But then, he'd already proven his eyes could leap ahead of their stage, wielding the Silver and Golden Wheel techniques before they should've been possible.
So why not this?
Still, it wasn't the technique that thrilled him most.
"What I really want… are the divine arts. The shinjutsu."
His Yomi-no-Tsukuni had yet to show its full might, but he knew well enough that divine techniques transcended all else. And with both his Tenseigan and Rinnegan continuing to evolve, more were bound to emerge.
"And once my Rinnegan fully awakens through the Bijū chakra… heh. My arsenal will only keep growing."
The thought made his pulse quicken. Compared to Ōtsutsuki Shibai, who had wielded shinjutsu beyond comprehension, his own progress was still small—but the gap was closing.
And there was more.
"The biggest boon is that my chakra fusions are accelerating. Kekkei Mōra… the culmination of bloodlines. That's what I've been waiting for."
He smirked, eyes glinting with ambition.
"Uchiha Madara. Uchiha Obito. Nagato. Isshiki. My future…"
"…depends on you."
---
Days slipped by.
At last, Naruto had completed his training.
Unlike in the original timeline, the boy's journey was complicated by the number of "guests" sealed within him. But he had fought tooth and nail, driven by the looming threats and the battles he'd witnessed.
And in the end, he triumphed.
He confronted himself, mastered the Bijū's power, and even reforged new chakra channels so that his parents' souls would remain untouched.
"Yosh! From now on, I won't be dead weight anymore!"
He shouted it to the sky, fists clenched, eyes blazing with determination.
Naruto clenched his fists, grinning with excitement. But beside him, Gen only rolled his eyes.
"Idiot. Controlling a single Bijū is supposed to be impressive? And the Nine-Tails, strong? Please. Didn't Uchiha Madara smack it around like a pet once?"
"Y–You…!"
Naruto's smile vanished instantly. He wanted to shout back, but he didn't dare—not when even the First Hokage had admitted both he and Madara had tamed the beast with ease.
And Gen? He'd shattered Susanoo with a single kick and had flattened Shukaku years ago. Compared to that, what was the Nine-Tails?
"Tch. Idiot."
Sasuke muttered from the side. Naruto bristled immediately.
"You bastard! I'm stronger than you now!"
"Hmph. That remains to be seen."
Sasuke shot him a sidelong glance. His heart was pounding with its own turmoil, but his voice was steady.
"If Madara could do it, then so can I. Don't get too full of yourself."
"Che! Like I'd ever be scared of you!"
"We're in Iwagakure now, so I'll let it go. But once we're back—let's test it."
"Fine! Who's afraid of who?!"
"Idiot."
"You bastard—!"
As always, their bickering escalated instantly. Jiraiya could only scratch his head and sigh, exasperated.
Turning to Gen, who was watching the scene like an amused spectator, he said, "Iwagakure's reconstruction is nearly done. We've been here long enough. Shouldn't we head back?"
"You're the captain. Why ask me?"
Gen tilted his head, smirking.
"What, you too? First Ōnoki, now you. Both of you talking like you can't wait for the Third Hokage to kick the bucket."
"… …"
"Go on then. Call me Hokage-sama, let's hear it."
"… …"
Jiraiya rubbed his temples. "Brat. You've been impossible since you were a kid, and you haven't changed at all. Fine. Tomorrow I'll meet the Tsuchikage and give him our formal farewells."
"There. Simple enough."
Gen stretched, smiling lazily.
"Finally, we can head home. About time. Though I bet the one waiting the longest is the Second Hokage—he's been pestering us with messages nonstop."
"Tobirama-sama's probably at his limit," Jiraiya admitted, chuckling. Technically, they should've given the Hokage new vessels for Edo Tensei a while ago, but Gen had stalled it repeatedly.
"Well, the stronger they get, the better. We've got enough trouble as it is."
Gen's smile turned sly. "Tell me, Pervy Sage… what if I summoned back the real Fourth Hokage? Minato Namikaze, not just a chakra imprint. What then?"
Jiraiya blinked, caught off guard. "Minato? But… his soul's sealed inside the Shinigami. That's—"
"There's always a way. Every technique has a counter. The only question is whether we've found it yet."
"…Have you?"
"I'm only asking if you'd want to try."
The real Minato?
For Jiraiya, there wasn't even a question.
Minato and Kushina's chakra remained within Naruto, and while chakra could be called a fragment of a person… it wasn't the same as the real thing. If Gen truly could bring them back, Jiraiya would support him with everything he had.
"Just… don't take reckless risks. If it's not certain—"
Gen cut him off with a laugh. "I don't gamble with uncertainty. I'm still young, after all."
In truth, he had already solved the biggest risk long ago.
But his ambitions went far beyond merely restoring Minato and Kushina.
Uchiha Obito was on the verge of becoming something… different—Ōtsutsuki Obito.
And when that day came, Kitagawa Gen intended to greet him with a gift worthy of the occasion.
"The real trouble," Gen murmured, eyes narrowing, "still lies ahead."