The wind howled, and the swelling air currents pushed the Bodyguards and Anbu ninjas outward. In the center of the Uzumaki, Orochimaru flicked his finger upwards.
The paper cutout figure flew into the air, and a powerful pulling force erupted, targeting the ghost-like creatures surrounding the shrine maiden Shion.
The palm-sized paper slipped, yet it seemed like a bottomless pit, devouring this immense power. The ghost's abilities were strange, and their strength was unknown; they were utterly defenseless.
"Ah..." the shrine maiden Shion cried out, her purple eyes holding a hint of confusion.
She clearly felt a familiar aura within this peculiar technique Orochimaru was using.
Whoosh...
The wind roared, and as the ghosts were completely devoured, the air currents within the Uzumaki began to calm. The paper slip slowly floated back into Orochimaru's palm.
"This is for you?"
Orochimaru looked at the little girl, extended his open palm, and pushed it forward. Shion was captivated by his gaze and instinctively reached out to take it.
However, before her fingertips could touch the paper, a faint white light on the paper cutout suddenly expanded. In an instant, it condensed into a four-legged creature the size of a baby and lunged towards Shion.
"Lady Shion..." the Bodyguards cried out loudly, but their bodies couldn't react in time, and they could only watch it happen.
But what happened before his eyes caused his outstretched hand to freeze, his voice to get stuck in his throat, and a strange sound to come out, "Huh..."
It turned out the creature's target wasn't to attack Shion. It leaped lightly and landed on Shion's shoulder, then settled down.
As if finding the girl's shoulder too small, the little thing shook its body, brought its hind legs together, and wrapped around the girl's neck like a snake's tail. Its upper body rested on her head, making her look like she was wearing a Kabuto hat.
Orochimaru looked at the little thing from top to bottom, a slight smile on his lips. "The image of a sheep... could it be influenced by the Box of Paradise?"
He was quite satisfied with this level of quality for his first attempt at creating a Shikigami gifted by the White Snake Sage.
Cutting it into a paper figure, inscribing it with spell arrays, and sealing and absorbing things like spirits and monsters... these were all established methods; the only difference was in the materials. As for the image after sealing these essentially conscious Chakras inside – whether it would be an animal, a monster, or something else... that was beyond Orochimaru's control.
"..." Shion's mood had calmed down by now. Her eyes darted around, and she couldn't resist her curiosity, reaching out a small hand to touch the little thing on her head.
The sheep spirit offered no resistance, merely tilting its head to nestle more comfortably.
Perhaps because the negative emotions within the Box of Paradise had been purified by Shion, this little thing had been very close to her even when it was just a Chakra. Now that it had taken form, it maintained the same attitude.
Seeing this, the little girl was overjoyed and her petting became more vigorous as she continuously stroked the little sheep.
"...We can do the playing later."
Orochimaru saw the girl completely engrossed, oblivious to her surroundings and forgetting their previous 'deal.' He suddenly raised his head and flicked her forehead. "You still haven't given me what you promised me?"
"Oh..."
Shion rubbed her forehead and responded, then began to explain how the shrine maiden's purification technique was performed. At this moment, the Bodyguard stepped forward and stopped her.
"Lord Orochimaru," the Bodyguard said solemnly, "shouldn't we discuss this further..."
The reason Shion was currently in Konoha was due to the shrine maiden's unique abilities, and their importance was self-evident. What was happening now seemed like a transaction, but in reality, there was no room for refusal, making it more of a forced sale.
"There's no need to discuss anything."
Orochimaru glanced at the Bodyguard and shook his head. "I've already told Lady Miroku, and she agreed to it."
The shrine maiden's techniques were not like others; they didn't have much combat ability and wouldn't even qualify for battles in the current ninja world. They survived only because they posed no threat and were useful as tools, perhaps for some future use, just like Konoha had been.
Moreover, even if Orochimaru learned the shrine maiden's abilities, it wouldn't threaten them, as he could never perform exorcisms for various reasons like they could.
From this perspective, trading purification abilities was of no benefit to the shrine maiden. With this good deed established, if something were to happen in the Land of Demons later, he wouldn't mind offering some assistance.
Compared to the success of the transaction, the consequences of failure were too severe. The details didn't need to be elaborated; Lady Miroku of the Land of Demons would surely understand... which is why Orochimaru said she wouldn't refuse.
Under normal circumstances, Orochimaru wouldn't mind communicating with Lady Miroku and obtaining the purification technique from her.
But now that he had confirmed the effectiveness of this method, he naturally wanted to use it as soon as possible, settling the matter later.
The more White Snake Sage's natural energy purified, the easier it would be to deal with Nagato later.
"..." The Bodyguard fell silent, unsure what to say. Seeing that he was no longer blocking, Shion began to demonstrate and explain to Orochimaru how the abilities should be used, acting very obediently.
After all, the child was young, and she was somewhat afraid of Orochimaru.
...
In the western part of the Land of Rain, inside a hollowed-out mountain, an evil ritual was nearing its end.
Nagato opened his eyes, but his purple irises were no longer as bright as before. His entire body was filled with exhaustion, and his aura was greatly diminished.
At his feet was a terrifyingly grotesque, giant humanoid statue. Its lotus-like seated posture did not exude an ounce of benevolence but was instead filled with a thick sense of unease. Seven of its nine eyes on its forehead had opened more than halfway, and the chaotic ferocity in their depths further amplified its horror.
Nagato took a deep breath, feeling that the Outer Path's Demonic Statue was still under his control, and relaxed slightly.
In seven days, starting with the Two-Tails, Nagato had single-handedly sealed all the Tailed Beasts except the Four-Tails, Nine-Tails, into the Outer Path's Demonic Statue. Such a massive workload had left even him profoundly tired.
However, there were no incidents during this period. Neither the Outer Path's Demonic Statue nor his greatest enemy had caused any interference... it could be considered quite smooth.
Now that Gyuki was completely sealed, he could proceed to deal with Orochimaru once he fully recovered.
Thinking of this, a glint flashed in Nagato's eyes.
This time, he was determined to achieve victory in one fell swoop and bring true peace to the entire ninja world, just like Kumogakure, making the entire ninja world submit in despair.
"Nagato, why did you hold back?"
Obito stepped out of the Uzumaki, his crimson eyes fixed on Nagato, questioning him. "He clearly still had Gyuki's Chakra on him, why didn't you seal it all."
"There's no need."
Nagato glanced at Killer Bee, who lay on the ground, too weak to stand, and said slowly, "With just that much Chakra, it's barely enough to use the Tailed Beast Cloak. It won't generate any more Tailed Beast-level deterrence."
Obito said gravely, "But even so, you shouldn't have let Tailed Beast Chakra remain unsealed."
"If we had forcibly stripped away the Tailed Beast further, it's highly likely that Gyuki's Jinchuriki would have died."
Nagato's eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a hint of displeasure. "Don't forget, the fundamental reason for adopting this method is because of you."
Similarly, as Jinchuriki, perfect Jinchuriki had a far stronger connection between the Tailed Beast and the ninja than ordinary Jinchuriki.
For those close to perfect Jinchuriki like Yugito, they could use Sharingan genjutsu to control the Tailed Beast for separation. For the perfect Jinchuriki Karatachi, Kisame could directly devour them entirely... but for Killer Bee, who was a perfect Jinchuriki and had to be kept alive, both of these methods were unreliable.
The connection between them was one of spiritual compatibility. During the separation process, it was extremely difficult to keep the Chakra perfectly stable without any fluctuations.
Of course, this was just troublesome, not impossible. But there was another crucial factor that Nagato couldn't resolve – Killer Bee himself wanted to die.
Otherwise, if this guy had cooperated, the separation process would have been simpler.
Nagato deeply admired this kind of friendship where life and death were shared, even if one of the parties in the friendship was not human. He had even considered granting Killer Bee's wish.
While Kumogakure's attitude needed consideration, it wasn't that important to the current Nagato.
However, Nagato ultimately did not do this. Although Killer Bee wanted to die, his companion Gyuki did not.
After communicating with each other, he used genjutsu to control Killer Bee, allowing Gyuki to voluntarily detach and enter the Outer Path's Demonic Statue, leading to the current situation.
Nagato had no objections. A little bit of Tailed Beast Chakra was insignificant in his opinion. He scoffed at Obito's actions.
"..." Seeing Nagato's resolve, Obito stopped speaking, lest he embarrass himself further. He merely cast a subtle glance at Killer Bee.
He would have White Zetsu clones continue to monitor all these individuals who still carried Tailed Beast Chakra.
"There's something..." Nagato suddenly remembered something and said, "I've gained a subtle perception from the Outer Path's Demonic Statue. The Four-Tails might not be dead."
"What did you say?" Obito's eyes flashed with a sharp light. "On what basis?"
Nagato shook his head. "It's just a subtle perception."
At the time, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki Roshi was attacked by Konoha, which greatly wronged the Akatsuki organization. Both sides knew this.
And Jinchuriki... were unstable factors in any village, especially with elusive ninjas like Obito in the Akatsuki organization. Therefore, at the time, they had deduced that the Four-Tails Jinchuriki must have been directly executed by Konoha ninjas.
But it seemed that was not the case. Konoha was bolder than they imagined and might be planning to use Roshi for some sort of transaction later.
Obito trusted the Outer Path's Demonic Statue's perception more than Nagato and immediately asked, "Can you sense where the Four-Tails is?"
"It's just a subtle perception."
Nagato looked at Obito and said slowly, "This is something for you and White Zetsu to handle."
Although he could now use the Outer Path's Demonic Statue as part of his combat strength, he was still reluctant to rely on its power unless he encountered an extremely critical situation.
The consequences of using the Outer Path's Demonic Statue for the first time had made Nagato remain very cautious of it.
"I understand."
Obito nodded slightly and asked again, "When do you plan to attack Konoha again?"
"The sooner, the better." Nagato's expression turned solemn.
How long had it been? Now Orochimaru could undo his Chibaku Tensei. If he were given more time to grow, it was hard to imagine what he would become in the future.