Soon, the meteorite in Natsuhi's hand smoothly appeared in Takuno's hand.
Takuno also dispelled his Shadow Clone.
"Well then, happy trading~" Takuno said, then seemed to think of something and added.
"Don't think about taking it back later. If you do, I happen to have some Ninjutsu that I need help experimenting with."
Saying that, Takuno also left, leaving a group of people looking at each other.
After a long while.
"Let's go back. It seems fate has decreed that we should no longer use the power of the stars," the Third Hoshikage said at this time, with a hint of regret and a sense of relief.
"Mm." Natsuhi nodded. Without the meteor, they naturally wouldn't need to leave the village anymore.
However, Natsuhi couldn't help but look at her husband, thinking of Takuno's words. How she wished Takuno's words were a lie, but she had confirmed with her husband's eyes that his body... indeed had problems.
He pulled her into his embrace and said, "It's alright, isn't there still a year or two? That's already enough, and what if I live longer than that person's prediction~"
Eventually, the group returned to Hoshigakure, and several years later, the Kujaku Myōhō's legacy was completely severed from Hoshigakure.
On the other side, Takuno looked behind him, and indeed no one pursued him. It seemed they had truly given up on the meteorite.
He recalled his brief skirmish with Natsuhi just now. Even with the Rasengan, he didn't gain much of an advantage against the Kujaku Myōhō, only dispersing the Bear Demon. In the end, it was a draw.
However, if it had continued, the victor could only have been him.
Regardless, the Kujaku Myōhō's flexibility was its weakness. Since her companions were there, she couldn't use the Kujaku Myōhō to form wings and fly away.
But he didn't intend to fight to the very end.
Firstly, his goal was just the meteorite; there was no need for a massacre.
Secondly... the meteorite's hardness wasn't enough. If he pushed them too hard, they might act desperately and destroy the meteorite directly!
In the original work, this meteorite was destroyed by Uzumaki Naruto's Rasengan. Of course, that might also be because the opponent had drained the star's Chakra, making the meteorite brittle, but Takuno didn't want to gamble.
So, they only had a brief exchange.
As for the Shadow Clone, it had already used Earth Release to sneak into the shadows when they approached.
Takuno looked at his palm. What he said to Natsuhi at the end was also true; he did have a Ninjutsu he wanted to experiment with, inspired by Konan.
Well, to be precise, it was an inspiration that suddenly came to him when he had the opponent trapped in a Water Prison Technique.
It seems he'll only be able to test its power later.
Thinking this, Takuno also notified the crows and returned to the experimental base using the Summoning Jutsu.
By this time, his preparatory materials were complete. He took the scroll sealing the Gedo Statue's arm and the meteorite, and went into a very spacious room.
This place was large enough not only for the Gedo Statue's arm but even for an entire Gedo Statue.
Since he had this plan early on, he naturally had the room prepared.
At this moment, Takuno placed the Gedo Statue's arm into a giant cultivation tank, extracted a small amount of debris from it, and then scraped off a small amount of debris from the hollowed meteorite.
After collecting them, Takuno thought for a moment and then threw the meteorite into the cultivation tank. After all, the meteorite couldn't possibly swallow the Gedo Statue, could it?
A few days later.
Takuno was still very excited, marveling that even the Gedo Statue's arm, which he had severed, looked like an inanimate object but was still 'alive'.
Along the way, he even released a small amount of Three-Tails' Chakra to feed it, and these fragments actually devoured it directly like a wolf seeing a sheep.
At this point, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. If even fragments had such an effect, then the entire Gedo Statue's arm should be enough.
Tailed Beast Chakra can be cultivated, but the essence of the Gedo Statue is the God Tree. The difficulty of cultivating this thing is probably very high, possibly requiring Natural Energy, and without a Sage Body, where would he get Natural Energy for it?
As for the meteorite fragments, their properties were almost identical to those of the Ten-Tails' fragments, but they had an additional external activeness compared to the Ten-Tails' arm fragments, which the Star Shinobi called radioactivity.
And this activeness is probably the energy that Hoshigakure's ninjas use, transferring this activeness into Chakra to form pseudo-Tailed Beast Chakra, allowing Hoshigakure's ninjas to release Chakra for attacks, while also causing their bodies to be severely overstressed.
Moreover, this activeness is like a maggot attached to bone; once acquired, don't even think about peeling it off.
Considering this, the meteorite is indeed very likely a part of the God Tree. It fell from the sky two hundred years ago, perhaps from the moon.
Before, the Gedo Statue was sealed on the moon.
Of course, it could also be something from another God Tree.
However, no matter what, the meteorite and the Gedo Statue should be able to fuse, and even if not, there will definitely be no side effects.
As for the meteorite's own side effects, that activeness is indeed a fatal poison to ordinary people, but it's not unbearable for the descendants of the Six Paths.
Moreover, for the Uzumaki bloodline, even if it's poisonous, the Uzumaki bloodline is not like Hoshigakure's; it can certainly withstand it for decades, and decades are enough time for him.
At this point in the experiment, something he hadn't considered before entered Takuno's thoughts: should he use this meteorite to change the quality of his Chakra?
The Kujaku Myōhō itself is secondary. Even if he researches it later, he needs to develop a technique that allows movement during an attack, unlike Hoshigakure's method of not moving the body during an attack, only forming hand seals.
Such a technique, no matter how strong its attack power, is very fatal once its immobility flaw is discovered.
However, the Kujaku Myōhō's technique for free flight is very useful.
Overall, flight is an extremely rare ability in the entire Ninja World.
The ordinary ninjas he could think of were the Stone Shinobi who practiced the Light-Heavy Rock Technique; others seemed to rely on external objects, like Sai's Super Beast Scroll, Deidara's clay, and Konan's Dance of the Shikigami.
All of these factors led him to a decision: practice!
At this moment, Takuno arrived in the huge room containing the Ten-Tails' arm.
When he saw the cultivation tank, he was also stunned, because the form of that Gedo Statue's arm seemed to have changed.
It seemed to have a feeling of stars surrounding the moon, with the meteorite in the center.
It can be imagined that given some more time, this Gedo Statue's arm will eventually form a biological body once again.
This was something Takuno hadn't expected, but it saved a lot of trouble.
Even without this meteorite, he would have a way to transform it into a living creature, but it's always better if it forms naturally!