Chapter 178: The Secret of Earth Grudge Fear
"Assimilation, huh!"
After reviewing Kakuzu's memories of the Earth Grudge Fear technique, Li Yao finally understood the key to why Kakuzu could keep stealing hearts, live indefinitely, and never suffer any rejection reactions.
It was assimilation!
Everyone knows that taking another person's body typically results in rejection.
In the Spirit Transformation Technique, possession fails precisely because of this rejection reaction. After taking someone else's body, the possessor doesn't survive long and eventually dies.
Back then, the Third Hokage kept pressing Li Yao about the modified Spirit Transformation Technique because, after Li Yao possessed Kimura Yao's body, there was no sign of rejection. The Third assumed that Li Yao had mastered an upgraded version—one that enabled possession without rejection, a true immortality technique.
Li Yao only learned all this after accessing Dan Katō's memories.
Even now, Li Yao hadn't found a solution to the soul-body rejection reaction in the Spirit Transformation Technique.
Later on, Orochimaru developed the Reincarnation Technique, which also failed to overcome this issue. Every three years, a new body was required—or both body and soul would suffer severe damage, leading eventually to death.
The relationship between the soul and the body is like that between armor and a person.
Changing souls is like switching to a different set of armor.
But if the armor doesn't fit, it continuously harms the body—and that's how rejection between body and soul occurs.
Both the Spirit Transformation Technique's possession and Orochimaru's reincarnation had this fatal flaw.
But Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear technique solved this problem.
When he stole a heart, the black threads of Earth Grudge Fear would remodel and assimilate it, transforming it into a heart compatible with his system.
The most impressive part was that this modification didn't reduce the heart's lifespan. However many years it could beat before, it could continue to do so after the transformation.
"Assimilation... it really is the best solution to rejection between body and soul."
Li Yao's eyes were contemplative. He was wondering if he could combine Earth Grudge Fear with the Spirit Transformation Technique's possession to develop a possession technique with no rejection side effects.
Compared to eternal life through possession, he didn't care much for the Earth Grudge Fear version of immortality.
Mainly because the heart as a fatal weakness was too vulnerable.
And chakra attributes were completely dependent on the heart.
Not to mention, one heart could only use one chakra nature. Far too limiting.
Of course, possession via Spirit Transformation had its flaws too.
A fusion of the two might just be viable.
"Alright, time to develop it!"
Li Yao made the decision instantly. Who doesn't long for immortality? If he had never encountered it, fine—but now that he had, how could he ignore it?
Still, there was no rush. Perfecting the Transformation Technique remained his top priority.
"Uncle, your Sensory Deprivation Technique is amazing!"
At that moment, Yuzu landed nearby. She looked at the motionless Kakuzu on the ground with a trace of envy in her eyes, tinged with frustration.
Li Yao's shadow clone had taught her this powerful technique, but no matter how she tried, she just couldn't learn it.
Li Yao stepped forward, picking up another of Kakuzu's hearts. Holding both hearts in his hands, he activated a devouring seal array and began absorbing the chakra within them.
"If you can't learn it, then focus on improving the jutsu you already know," he said with a smile while absorbing Kakuzu's chakra.
Compared to the Art of Darkness, the Sensory Deprivation Technique was exponentially more difficult.
It required sensitivity precise enough to perceive the faint chakra in neural transmission systems—and control so refined that it could intercept each individual neural signal, especially with genjutsu-type chakra.
In this world, only Li Yao, whose consciousness had mutated after transmigrating, was capable of executing such a technique.
Speaking of mutated consciousness... Li Yao suddenly froze, eyes flashing.
He might've just realized why he didn't experience rejection after taking over Kimura Yao's body.
It was because his consciousness—or rather, his soul—had mutated after transmigrating.
For others, possessing a body is like putting on ill-fitting armor. Naturally, there's damage.
But his mutated soul could potentially resize itself to fit the new "armor," matching any body without rejection.
"Is that really it?"
Li Yao wasn't entirely sure, but deep down, he felt it must be.
If it were true... then theoretically, he could use the possession technique from Spirit Transformation freely. His soul would automatically adjust to the new body, letting him continue living in it.
"This..."
It was undeniably tempting—but Li Yao didn't dare test it. If he died, it would be a very stupid way to go.
Still... in a desperate situation, it might be worth trying.
Before long, all three of Kakuzu's hearts had their chakra drained by Li Yao. For a chakra-based being like Kakuzu, this meant certain death.
Thus, a legend fell.
This was the first character from the original series that Li Yao had personally killed.
Dan Katō didn't count—he was someone from a memory, and technically he wasn't killed by Li Yao but had taken his own life.
As for killing someone from the original Naruto plot, Li Yao didn't feel much.
He used to get annoyed when fanfiction protagonists spared original characters for no real reason.
But now, he could kind of understand.
Once a canon character dies, the part of the story they're tied to becomes unusable.
Same here—Kakuzu was dead, so Asuma in the future... well, okay, Asuma still had to die. But with Li Yao in the picture, it would be different. He'd let Asuma marry first, watch his wife get pregnant—then kill him.
When it came to the Third Hokage's family, Li Yao always wondered whether they experienced enough "beautiful" memories before dying.
"Let's go. Time to head for the Land of Water."
Li Yao signaled Yuzu , and the two of them traveled eastward.
The ninja world would certainly be reshaped under his influence. The future wouldn't follow the original timeline.
He had to keep growing stronger to survive here—and keep tormenting the Third Hokage forever.
Last time, during the Five Kage ambush, he had already copied Ōnoki's Dust Release and the Raikage's new Lightning Chakra Mode.
Only the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release: Iron Sand and the Third Mizukage's high-pressure Water Style: Black Water and Hydrification Technique remained uncopied.
First, he would head to the Land of Water to copy the Mizukage's jutsu, then to the Land of Wind for the Kazekage's.
Along the way, whether it was rogue ninjas or shinobi from the Five Great Nations, Li Yao captured them all and used the Spirit Transformation Technique to possess them and analyze their mental energy—searching for differences between their energy and his own.
Unfortunately... his progress was slower than expected.
He couldn't find any substantial difference between people's mental energy—even though he could perceive differences in their souls, the energy still felt indistinguishable.
With no other choice, Li Yao pressed on.
And so, stopping and starting along the way, it took over half a year before he and Yuzu finally entered the Land of Water.
(END CHAPTER)
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