At the same time Akatsuki began its Tailed Beast capture plan, far away on an unnamed islet in the Land of Water, Meruem was setting his own plan in motion.
The islet wasn't large—only a few dozen kilometers across—but its perimeter had been reinforced with some unknown material, as if to prevent something from destroying it. In addition, a super-powerful barrier stood at each of the island's four corners.
Meruem had spent immense effort creating this barrier. To some extent, it could block intrusions by space–time ninjutsu.
Its primary use, however, was defensive not against outside destruction, but against destruction from within.
Meruem spent a full year searching the ruins of the former Land of Whirlpools at the border between the Lands of Water and Fire for the shrine housing the Reaper's mask.
Remember, the Land of Whirlpools is surrounded by water on all sides. Though the general area was known—some islet south of the Land of Fire—actually finding the place wasn't easy. Who could say which island held those ruins?
That area is scattered with countless islets, large and small, and locating a hidden shrine within the ruins made the task even harder.
In the end, after a year, Meruem found the place. He destroyed four masks and released four souls.
Why did he do this? For Edo Tensei.
Because the Reaper Death Seal prevents summoning souls stolen by the Shinigami, only by shattering the mask could Edo Tensei be used.
Those four souls were the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Hokage. Meruem freed them for their power—or rather, so that Gluttonous Banquet could devour them and seize their power.
Meruem had tested it: a soul summoned by Edo Tensei could be eaten by Gluttonous Banquet, but only part of their ability could be taken—far less than by killing a living person and consuming them.
Recently, however, Meruem developed another facet of his Nen—also the most overbearing aspect of Gluttonous Banquet. That glutton can digest the opponent's soul along with the body.
It digests their abilities too. In a sense, Meruem can instantly take an opponent's powers for his own, completely absorbing them. Given his monstrous capacity for learning and assimilation, it wouldn't take long for him to bring those abilities to their limits, even deriving new techniques.
Why else name it Taotie? In legend, Taotie is a ravenous fiend, one of the four great evils in Huaxia lore. If it couldn't do at least this, how could it be called Taotie?
This soul-devouring is indeed tyrannical, but it has a prerequisite.
Meruem must defeat the opponent—and defeat them fair and square—or the opponent must willingly allow Meruem's Taotie to consume them. That is the vow governing the activation of this ability or trait.
Fortunately, this isn't an onerous condition; given Meruem's strength, it's easy.
Sound the same as the old Gluttonous Banquet? Not at all. The old version could absorb an opponent's abilities only to an extent and required a great deal of time.
The degree of ability theft used to depend on how much of the opponent's "components" Meruem obtained. He also had to understand the opponent's abilities to learn and then use them; if he couldn't comprehend them, he couldn't learn or use them.
Now, so long as he defeats and devours the opponent, he fully understands and masters their abilities at 100 percent—and this power also erases the soul.
In other words, the new Taotie perfectly seizes, or rather absorbs, everything the opponent is. If that's unclear, here's a comparison: before, Meruem's Nen was akin to Cell's absorption in Dragon Ball; now, Taotie is closer to base-form Majin Buu's absorption—and even stronger, stealing more than raw combat power.
It not only amplifies Meruem's abilities; it strengthens his soul as well. It's extremely domineering, but the constraints aren't small.
Even so, Meruem didn't plan to use Taotie to absorb the Edo Tensei versions of the Four Hokage. He could obtain their power that way, but it wouldn't be perfect. He wanted their power in full. Why? Because while researching Truth-Seeking Balls lately, he encountered a snag. He pushed all five chakra nature transformations to their limits and completed Yin–Yang Release's nature transformation as well.
Yet he still couldn't produce Truth-Seeking Balls. He later discovered that to gain the Kekkei Mora trait behind them, he would need the Otsutsuki bloodline.
Meruem had no interest in injecting the First's cells. His body could suppress and master such cells completely, but he disdained such shortcuts.
That left only one method: use Taotie directly to seize the Otsutsuki bloodline. In the Naruto world, only a handful fit the bill.
Naruto (Asura), Sasuke (Indra), the First Hokage, Madara, the Sage of Six Paths, the Sage's mother Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Sage's younger brother Hamura Otsutsuki, Black Zetsu, and Toneri Otsutsuki from the movie.
First, strike off Naruto and Sasuke. Kaguya is still sealed, and who knows where the Sage of Six Paths is hiding.
No one knows whether Hamura is even dead, so how would you find him? Edo Tensei can't bring him out without relics, and none are available. Relics of the Sage exist, but the Sage isn't dead—he even showed up at the end of the canon finale.
As for Toneri, forget it—he's a movie character. In this Naruto world Meruem inhabits, who knows whether the film's characters even exist. At minimum, Meruem has never heard the tale of the Otsutsuki living on the moon. And even if they did, he'd have to find a way up there. Not feasible—strike him off.
That left Hashirama, Madara, and Black Zetsu. Meruem still needed Madara and Black Zetsu to bring out Kaguya, so the only choice was Hashirama.
Since he was going to absorb the First anyway, he might as well absorb the Second, Third, and Fourth along the way.
Tobirama's Water Release is solid, the Third has a vast repertoire of ninjutsu, and the Fourth's space–time ninjutsu is exceptional—all of which Meruem coveted.
Hashirama's Wood Release was also on Meruem's list.
He had prepared extensively for all this. Now, at last, it would begin.
Staring at the four coffins conjured by Edo Tensei, Meruem took something out of his bag.
A Rinnegan.
Look closely and the color was off. Yes, it was a knockoff Meruem had made.
It was forged by fusing the Mangekyō Sharingan pair of Uchiha Sasaki that he obtained from Uchiha Musashi with Shisui's Mangekyō he took from Danzō.
Don't underestimate Chimera Ant biotech. If they can easily create Chimera cyborgs, fusing an eyeball is hardly beyond them.
Unfortunately, it was single-use. A ninjutsu on the order of Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life would burn it out.
A true Rinnegan remains intact even after using Rinne Rebirth.
Techniques like Planetary Devastation and Super Almighty Push could each be used only once with this eye.
Three Mangekyō Sharingan to yield a single Rinnegan—and even that only worked once. Meruem didn't much mind.
So long as he could ultimately kill Kaguya, obtaining Rinnegan or Sharingan later wouldn't be hard. As for the certain-death price of using Rinne Rebirth? Meruem wasn't the one using it. Countless Chimera Ants would gladly die for him.
"I didn't expect someone in this world could still summon us." Hashirama Senju stepped from the coffin marked with the First.
Then figures stepped from the coffins marked Second, Third, and Fourth: Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Minato Namikaze.
"So young… Who are you? How dare you summon us?" Tobirama was severe and old-fashioned; he opened by demanding answers. Meruem ignored him.
"You even undid the Reaper Death Seal and released this technique. Edo Tensei again?" The Third looked just as elderly as he had at death.
"Where is this? Lord First, it seems we've been revived in this era, but when exactly is it?" Minato asked, a bit lost.
"Who are you, anyway?" Unlike the Third, the First and Second had never met Minato, so not recognizing him made sense.
"I'm the Fourth."
"Oh? There's already a Fourth?"
The Hokage promptly ignored Meruem and started chatting among themselves. When using Edo Tensei, Meruem had no intention of controlling them.
"All right, use Rinne Rebirth." Meruem glanced at the Hokage present and spoke to a Chimera Ant soldier at his side.
He placed the Mangekyō Sharingan into the soldier's eye.
This soldier was a Chimera Ant made from a Naruto-world shinobi, so he could perform ninjutsu.
"Yes, my King." The soldier answered without a trace of emotion, unfazed by his impending death.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique!"
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]