"Lord Yagyū Souma, you're planning to collect tailed beasts?"
Kabuto, standing nearby, couldn't hide his excitement and spoke up.
"Do you need me to bring you some of Lord Orochimaru's previous research?"
"Which tailed beast did Orochimaru research?"
Yagyū Souma frowned slightly—he couldn't quite remember.
Orochimaru had conducted all kinds of bizarre experiments. Tailed beasts might have been among them, but which one exactly?
Kabuto lowered his head and replied,
"It was a horn from the Eight-Tails, Gyūki."
"Pfft."
Before Yagyū Souma could respond, the Nine-Tails burst out laughing.
"That idiot Gyūki even got his horn chopped off—this is killing me!"
"..."
Yagyū Souma shot it a sideways glance.
For some reason, a Nine-Tails that had already lost half its chakra really didn't seem qualified to mock the Eight-Tails—at least Gyūki had only lost a horn.
Yagyū Souma chose not to argue.
The clone was easy to deal with, but once it started acting up, it was annoying. Since he'd finally managed to calm it down…
If it wanted to feel superior, so be it.
He turned back to Kabuto.
"If it's about the Eight-Tails, bring me the materials. I'll take a look."
Orochimaru possessing part of the Eight-Tails rang a bell.
After all, the previous jinchūriki's rampage had been Orochimaru's doing. Back then, the Third Raikage had been forced to personally fight Gyūki at close range.
That battle had left behind a fatal weakness in the so-called 'ultimate defense'.
And the mastermind behind that chain of events—
Orochimaru.
But what Yagyū Souma needed wasn't just tailed beast chakra.
He needed the consciousness unique to tailed beasts.
Which meant—
A trip to Kumogakure was inevitable.
Still, that would be the last stop.
If ranked by difficulty, the first targets were definitely the Four-Tails' jinchūriki, Rōshi, or the Three-Tails. At present, neither had firm ownership issues, so making a move wouldn't cause massive conflict.
As for the others—
Seven-Tails first, then the jinchūriki of the Five Great Nations.
Besides—
The Seven-Tails' jinchūriki would likely appear in the Chūnin Exams later.
"Lord Yagyū Souma, this is Orochimaru's research on Gyūki's horn,"
Kabuto said, handing over the files with a sigh.
"Unfortunately, he didn't reach any conclusions before his death. The data is incomplete—at best, it can only serve as reference."
"That's enough."
Yagyū Souma flipped through the materials.
Orochimaru's research mainly focused on whether tailed beast cells could be artificially replicated—whether tailed beast chakra and cells could be multiplied to create a new tailed beast.
But—
That was clearly impossible.
No matter how many cells there were, they were still just cells. They could never become a true tailed beast.
Consciousness was the key.
Even so—
The reference value was immense.
After reading, Yagyū Souma thought briefly, then said,
"Kabuto, have people gather intelligence on the whereabouts of the Four-Tails' jinchūriki, Rōshi, and the Three-Tails."
"Yes!"
Kabuto bowed.
"Also—where's Guren?"
"In prison,"
Kabuto coughed lightly, looking somewhat awkward.
"She doesn't obey me. She even tried to kill me a few times, so I had no choice but to seal her."
"That's fine. I'll go see her myself."
All things considered—
This outcome wasn't too surprising.
Kabuto did have combat ability, but before undergoing major modifications, he was only around jōnin level. Against a combat specialist like Guren, there was naturally a gap.
The fact that Kabuto had managed to subdue her at all was already beyond Yagyū Souma's expectations.
As they were about to leave, Karin clenched her fists and asked,
"Lord Yagyū Souma, what should I do?"
"Keep studying. The power you displayed earlier isn't under your control yet—it was only passively triggered in danger. You need to learn to use it."
"Yes!"
Karin quietly let out a breath of relief.
This lord didn't seem to have designs on her body's abilities—life ahead looked much better now.
For the first time, she felt a hint of hope for the future.
Sound Village Prison
Guren sat inside her cell, calmly reading a book.
She seemed surprisingly accustomed to prison life, with no signs of constantly plotting an escape.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps echoed through the dim dungeon.
Guren frowned and turned her head. Soon, Yakushi Kabuto came into view.
"Kabuto, you finally came to kill me?"
"Kill you?"
Kabuto chuckled.
"Why would you think that?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
Guren sneered.
"Kidōmaru and Sakon and Ukon are dead. You want to claim Lord Orochimaru's research for yourself. Anyone who opposes you dies—why would I be an exception?"
"You're wrong. Sakon and Ukon, and Kidōmaru, died because they refused to follow the rule against indiscriminate killing. You're different."
Kabuto stepped aside.
A moment later, Yagyū Souma walked out from behind him.
The instant Guren saw him, shock flooded her face.
Yagyū Souma?!
"What are you doing here?"
"Because Kabuto answers to me."
Yagyū Souma smiled faintly.
"I ordered him to do all this. Sound Village was once ruled by Orochimaru's laws. Now that he's dead, new rules naturally take over."
"So that's how it is. Kabuto—you betrayed Lord Orochimaru long ago!"
Rage flared in Guren's eyes.
Her first thought was that Orochimaru's failure had been caused by Kabuto selling out all his information to a new master.
"I didn't hand over any research,"
Kabuto replied calmly.
"My agreement with Lord Yagyū Souma was that I would help him only after he破解d Orochimaru's plan."
That was true—
Though Kabuto conveniently left out certain details.
For example—
Before that, he had betrayed Orochimaru by revealing information about many of his techniques.
Yagyū Souma, of course, didn't sell out his subordinate.
He smiled and said,
"Orochimaru was strong, but you should remember—Edo Tensei is originally a Konoha technique."
"So what?"
Guren snorted.
"Without Kabuto leaking information, how could you破解 Edo Tensei? That was an optimized version!"
"No. Orochimaru made one fatal mistake."
Yagyū Souma shook his head.
Guren clearly didn't believe him and turned away.
"Here's a free piece of knowledge for you. The creator of Edo Tensei was the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama himself. So what do you think it means when Orochimaru uses that technique to summon the Second Hokage?"
He couldn't help laughing.
"..."
Guren opened her mouth, momentarily speechless.
Objectively speaking—
That really was like dancing on your own grave.
Though, considering it was Orochimaru…
She stubbornly retorted,
"Lord Orochimaru could perfectly control Edo Tensei."
"Those control talismans can be detected by anyone with strong perception. They're not hard to break,"
Yagyū Souma said mockingly.
"I genuinely don't understand how Orochimaru dared to summon the Second Hokage using such a method."
That was his honest thought.
To him, those talismans were like fireflies in the dark—impossible to miss.
Not to mention—
Konoha had the Hyūga clan.
"And don't forget—we have the Hyūga. The Byakugan can definitely locate the talismans. Once a skilled user destroys them, Edo Tensei collapses all the same."
Orochimaru's plan—
Only worked if his barrier could completely isolate all interference, especially the Hyūga.
It was far too idealistic.
Kabuto and Guren both had things they wanted to say, but ultimately remained silent.
Yagyū Souma's perception really was monstrously abnormal.
And the Hyūga point—
There was no defending that.
Using the Second Hokage as an Edo Tensei summon had been sheer arrogance. The consequences were well deserved.
After several seconds of silence, Guren said,
"Even if that's true, why would Konoha help revive Orochimaru? I don't believe that."
"I know how to revive Orochimaru—and right now, I'm the only one who can. You have only this option."
Yagyū Souma smiled gently.
"And besides, I don't need your cooperation. I have other methods. For example—this eye."
As he spoke, he produced Kotoamatsukami.
Guren looked up at the ninja tool housing the Sharingan, puzzled.
"A Sharingan?"
"A Mangekyō Sharingan. You may not have seen one before. Its ability is absolute control."
He glanced sideways at Kabuto.
Kabuto's face flashed with shock before he immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet Yagyū Souma's gaze.
Real or fake?
"But even without it, I can still control you."
As Yagyū Souma spoke, he activated the technique and linked neural signals.
The Sharingan spun.
Under the hypnosis, Guren's eyes went vacant—
She fell into a genjutsu.
Almost instantly, she broke free.
After regaining clarity, she looked at Yagyū Souma with confusion.
Her expression practically said—
That's it?
Yagyū Souma smiled.
"Let's go."
He left the dungeon with Kabuto.
Before leaving, the Nine-Tails put on a pitiful, sighing expression, leaving Guren completely baffled.
The next day, Yagyū Souma returned and repeated the same thing.
Guren still didn't understand.
On the third day, she noticed something wrong—
She felt unusually drowsy lately, far sleepier during the day.
On the fourth day—
Even worse.
By the fifth day, before Yagyū Souma even spoke, she demanded,
"What did you do to me?!"
"I didn't want to waste too much time on you,"
Yagyū Souma said calmly.
"So I used a technique I normally prefer not to."
Kabuto had been observing the entire process.
At first, he didn't understand, but he gradually sensed that Yagyū Souma was applying a mental technique.
Based on Yagyū Souma's description—
The final effect was to alter a person's behavioral patterns.
Subsequent monitoring confirmed it.
Guren rested very regularly.
But—
Every night, she would suddenly sit up to read or train.
The first night, Kabuto was startled.
By the second night—
He understood.
Yagyū Souma intended to replace her personality.
Because of this, Kabuto became even more respectful—
Such a silent, invisible power was utterly terrifying.
Just thinking about it sent chills down his spine.
He believed—
This technique wasn't only meant to reform Guren, but also to warn him.
"Meaning what?"
Guren still hadn't grasped the true problem.
"It's nothing. I simply guided the emergence of a new personality. If nothing goes wrong, after about a month of hypnosis, the secondary personality will suppress your primary one."
Yagyū Souma spoke indifferently.
"I only perfected this technique recently, but even before that, my mental energy was already sufficient—I just lacked the Sharingan."
"!!!"
Personality replacement.
Deep terror flashed through Guren's eyes.
Her lips trembled; she couldn't say a word.
A few days ago, she would never have believed such a technique existed.
But what was happening to her proved it was real.
"You…"
"You can try to resist,"
Yagyū Souma said calmly.
"But it's already too late. You're not skilled in mental techniques. So—shall we have a proper discussion now?"
"Aren't you afraid I'll betray you?"
Now that she understood, Guren quickly calmed down.
His main goal was still to use her—not to kill her. This technique was a threat.
But—
If she refused—
He might truly replace her personality.
At that point, she might only exist for an hour or two each day—or be suppressed forever.
She didn't dare gamble.
"As long as you genuinely contribute, I'm not afraid of betrayal."
Yagyū Souma's expression was cold.
"To put it simply, I hate trouble. If you don't cause me trouble, I won't bother dealing with you."
"What if I want to revive Orochimaru?"
"Go ahead—provided you can do it without me."
Yagyū Souma chuckled softly.
At present, there was only one Heaven Curse Mark in existence, and Anko had been staying in Konoha training rather than going on missions.
Besides—
Aside from Konoha's top brass, the only person who likely knew about Anko's curse mark was Kabuto.
Still—
Was he starting to act more and more like a villain?
Yagyū Souma fell into thought.
"Fine. I'll help you—but first, help me erase this secondary personality."
"Agreed."
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