Chapter 27: Tailed Beast Chakra State
In the interrogation room—
When Yamanaka Kaiyu saw Li Yao again, he was immediately shocked. Seeing how Li Yao looked like he had aged decades, his heart trembled—and at the same time, he felt a headache coming on.
Clearly, the fact that the Third had gone so far to torment Li Yao meant there was some secret about Li Yao that the Third cared about deeply.
And it was obvious that the Third didn't intend to share this secret with anyone else.
However, the secret technique required to probe another person's memories was something the Third didn't know and didn't have the talent to learn. That was quite a dilemma.
If he had a choice, Yamanaka Kaiyu really didn't want to get involved in this mess.
He didn't start right away. Instead, he turned to look at the Third, wanting to suggest that perhaps someone else should be assigned.
But before he could speak, the Third patted his shoulder and said firmly, "You are the one I trust most."
Well then.
With those words, all routes of retreat were gone. Yamanaka Kaiyu had no choice but to bite the bullet.
He immediately formed a hand seal, then placed his right hand over Li Yao's head and began to probe his brain.
This time, everything went smoothly.
Li Yao's brain no longer had chakra protection. Yamanaka Kaiyu's chakra easily infiltrated the brain and began reading the memories stored within its cells.
The body of Kimura Yao only had memories up to about the age of seven.
The whole process of probing wasn't long.
Starting from birth, Li Yao—or rather, the memories of this body—began to play out in Yamanaka Kaiyu's mind, shown from a first-person perspective.
One year old, two years old...
Nothing seemed unusual in the early memories—until half a year ago, the night Kimura Yao received news of his parents' deaths.
In the memory, on the night he learned of his parents' deaths, Kimura Yao was overwhelmed with sorrow, sitting on the sofa hugging a family photo and crying himself to sleep late at night.
Then something strange happened.
The next morning, Kimura Yao seemed like a completely different person—somewhat excited, somewhat afraid, unwilling to leave the house, and occasionally muttering bizarre words.
Among them, the most frequent was "wo cao."
Yamanaka Kaiyu didn't know what it meant, but it seemed to be used to express shock.
A boy who had just learned the night before about his parents' death and had cried himself to sleep—what could have possibly happened during the night to make him so shocked?
Yamanaka Kaiyu didn't know, but he had a general idea now—there was definitely something wrong with Kimura Yao. And it was something that greatly interested the Third.
He hadn't thought of soul possession and reincarnation.
He didn't know enough about the Spirit Transformation Technique to realize that it could also be used for soul possession and rebirth.
In fact, very few in the entire ninja world knew that the Spirit Transformation Technique had such a capability. Likely, only the Third, Danzo, and maybe the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure were aware of it.
"I've finished, Hokage-sama."
Once he saw the memory of Kimura Yao being taken away by the ANBU, Yamanaka Kaiyu stopped, withdrawing his hand. The rest of the memories weren't necessary—the Third already knew them.
"Did you find anything useful?"
The Third asked calmly, though clearly excited. His sharp eyes were locked firmly on Yamanaka Kaiyu.
This made Kaiyu somewhat nervous, but he quickly went over the memories again in his mind and confirmed nothing had been overlooked. Calming himself, he began describing the anomalies in Kimura Yao's memories.
"That's all?" the Third asked, frowning. His eyes suddenly sharpened as he questioned, "Did he use any special jutsu?"
"No, Hokage-sama," Kaiyu quickly shook his head, but then added with some hesitation, "But he did read his father's research notes on the Perfect Transformation Technique. I'm not sure if that counts as a special jutsu."
As he said this, Yamanaka Kaiyu lowered his head slightly, cold sweat forming on his back. He could sense that the Third wasn't satisfied with his answer. Obviously, it wasn't what he had hoped for. But those were the only memories in Kimura Yao's mind—there was nothing more Kaiyu could do.
"Perfect Transformation Technique?"
Hearing the name of the jutsu, the Third froze for a moment, then quickly recalled that it was something Kimura Takuya had researched. But he never succeeded—he only managed to create the Shadow Clone.
This wasn't the perfect Spirit Transformation Technique the Third was hoping for.
Still... the Third didn't think Yamanaka Kaiyu was lying. There was no reason—and certainly no courage—for him to do so. With that in mind, the Third's frown deepened.
It didn't make sense.
Any soul-possession technique should involve performing the Spirit Transformation Technique again after possession to stabilize the soul. This step was essential, even for a perfected version of the technique—it couldn't be skipped.
The Third was confused.
Could it be that the perfect Spirit Transformation Technique no longer required that step?
If that were the case, then the only way to learn about the perfected technique would be to invade this guy's chakra.
There are two ways to probe memories—one from brain cells, and the other from chakra.
Probing chakra memories would reveal everything Li Yao—the one who possessed Kimura Yao's body—knew.
But Li Yao's chakra couldn't be infiltrated.
After six months of torment, the Third thought breaking Li Yao's body and spirit would allow for invasion of his chakra. Instead, it became even harder.
The Third now knew that if this didn't work, then there was basically no way in.
At least, he couldn't think of any way to do it.
"Sigh…"
The Third let out a deeply disappointed sigh. Then he patted Yamanaka Kaiyu on the shoulder and said, "Kaiyu, go back for now. Remember—what happened tonight, I don't want anyone else knowing except you and me."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I understand."
Relieved, Yamanaka Kaiyu thought to himself that at least he wouldn't have to endure any more pressure from the Third. He respectfully left the interrogation room.
After Kaiyu left, the Third took a long needle and tested Li Yao's body, confirming that he had truly become an unconscious vegetative state. With that, he gave up any notion of continuing to waste time on him.
Now the remaining question was whether to kill Li Yao—or keep him alive.
After all, the secrets within Li Yao were extremely valuable.
Why could Li Yao's spiritual will merge so thoroughly with chakra—almost like a Tailed Beast?
Tailed Beasts are, by nature, entities composed entirely of chakra. They have no physical bodies like humans.
Their consciousness is born from chakra and fully integrated with it.
That's why when a Tailed Beast is extracted from its Jinchuriki, the host dies.
The reason lies here: the Tailed Beast's chakra, once sealed inside a Jinchuriki, merges with the Jinchuriki's own chakra.
This means that the Tailed Beast's spirit also fuses with the human host's soul.
So when the Tailed Beast is extracted, it takes a large portion of the host's soul with it.
A Jinchuriki who loses most of their soul usually dies within hours.
Therefore, Tailed Beasts, whose will is highly integrated with chakra, are difficult to control through genjutsu—just like Li Yao, who was highly resistant to genjutsu chakra invasions.
In the whole ninja world, only the Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu could control a Tailed Beast. Other ninja's genjutsu had little effect on them.
That's what made the Uchiha clan's Sharingan so terrifying and dangerous.
Thinking of the Uchiha, the Third's eyes glinted.
For the past six months, he had focused on researching how to invade Li Yao's chakra, paying less attention to the Uchiha clan than before.
This made the Uchiha think he was afraid of them.
In the past six months, the Uchiha clan had become increasingly arrogant. They even tried to meddle with the annual financial grant from the Daimyō to Konoha.
That grant was the biggest symbol of Hokage authority—it was proof of recognition from the Daimyō.
Now the Uchiha wanted to interfere with that funding? Their intentions were utterly condemnable.
"It's time to properly deploy the Root Division."
With that thought, the Third cast one last glance at the unmoving Li Yao on the bed, then turned and left.
Li Yao still had value.
Although obtaining the perfected soul-possession technique might be difficult, if he could study this special Tailed Beast–like chakra state and develop a corresponding ninjutsu, it could become a technique even more effective against the Uchiha than the Technique of Darkness.
And then...
Hmph!
He would make the Uchiha clan pay a terrible price.
"Was that... the Third?"
(END CHAPTER)
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