"I'd almost forgotten about that. I can't believe you still remembered."
Obito rose from the stone chair and strode toward the open space before the Demonic Statue. By the time he stopped, his eyes had already transformed into Mangekyō Sharingan.
He raised a hand to partially cover his face and focused.
"Whoosh!"
Accompanied by a suction-like sound, a counterclockwise vortex burst forth.
Akira pondered silently.
Back then, the Kamui Shuriken had struck one of Kaguya's tails in her Rabbit Form—specifically, the kind that ended in a palm. They were usually called "palm-tails."
Given Kaguya's massive size in that form, a complete palm-tail was at least two hundred meters long.
What Kamui had truly severed was only the front-middle portion.
And only a small chunk near the break had been dragged into the Kamui dimension.
"Boom!"
A five-meter-wide slab of pale flesh dropped out of the vortex and slammed onto the ground.
"That's the one."
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Immediately after, the second, third, and fourth chunks followed.
Akira stepped back to make room.
"Boom, boom, boom!"
Three more fell.
"Oh? Seven pieces in total?"
At this moment, the vortex didn't stop—instead, it spun even more violently.
"Whoosh!"
Gray-brown fluid matter was squeezed out of Obito's eye along with the vortex, spreading nearly fifty meters across the chamber ceiling before crashing down toward Akira.
Akira dodged aside.
Looking at what had fallen, his eyes lit up with surprise.
"It's this…!"
Back then, after Obito used Rinne Rebirth to revive Madara, the Demonic Statue inside him had been summoned out by Madara.
At that time, Kakashi had reacted instantly and twisted off one of the statue's arms with Kamui.
Later, after the statue went through the stages of Ten-Tails, God Tree, and Kaguya, it eventually returned to its original form. The missing arm had long been restored through its regenerative vitality and chakra circulation.
The arm released now from Kamui space was essentially an extra one.
Obito stopped Kamui, slid his hand across his face, and rested it on his waist.
With a hint of nostalgia, he said, "All the spoils Kakashi captured… they're here."
Those five-meter-wide chunks of flesh were no small matter.
They were parts of Kaguya's Rabbit Form body, each containing traces of tailed-beast chakra.
Even in tiny amounts, they were extraordinary.
And now there was also a nearly intact Demonic Statue arm.
Statue chakra. Tailed-beast chakra.
The essential components of the Ten-Tails.
Not to mention the artificial Hashirama body and Madara's residue that had already been absorbed.
If anything was still missing…
"Since we've come this far, I can't hold back anymore."
Akira's right eye trembled.
He unfroze something he had treasured in the Time Flow Zone for years—
A "heavenly object."
The ice crystals dispersed.
What appeared was a massive flower bud attached to a ten-meter fragment of trunk.
Now it was Obito's turn to be shocked.
"This is…!"
Akira nodded.
"Right. The withered God Tree flower after Infinite Tsukuyomi was lifted."
"You froze this back then too?" Obito asked incredulously.
"No. I got it after the war."
"When Infinite Tsukuyomi was released, I was busy saving A-Fei. I didn't have time to spare."
"And that flower was way too conspicuous. If it had vanished suddenly, it would've caused an uproar."
"After the war, it entered the underground black market and changed hands many times before reaching me."
(According to the Boruto anime, this flower was originally obtained by Victor of Kara. Akira's actions altered that causality.)
"Now the elements should be complete, right?"
Akira clasped his hands together.
Beneath his bangs, the Rinnegan emitted a dim purple glow.
—Chains of the Statue!
The Demonic Statue slowly opened its mouth.
Golden light flared in its throat.
With a rattling sound, nine dark-gold chains shot out.
Seven wrapped around the flesh chunks.
One bound the severed arm.
One latched onto the withered flower.
All nine chains dragged their targets into the statue's mouth.
The order was precise.
First the arm.
Then the flesh.
Last, the flower.
"Clack!"
The chains retracted, and the mouth closed.
No spectacular phenomenon followed.
It was as if the statue had merely eaten a light meal.
Only the fleshy tumor on its chest—formed from Kaguya's arm absorbing the artificial body—began to grow slowly.
Akira ignored that for now.
He reversed time.
Then, using Severing Causality, he cut off the cause-and-effect relationship and reset everything that had just been fed into the statue.
The materials reappeared.
Obito stared at them and asked, "I'm curious. If you feed these causality-cut replicas back in again, what happens?"
"Once fed, they're fed. The statue will still gain energy from them."
"I just won't be able to recreate more afterward."
"If I rewind time again, whatever it ate will come back out."
"Unless absolutely necessary, you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. Even kids understand that."
"I'm not feeding it again."
"For someone like Kaguya, who consumed a chakra fruit, copies are still just copies. They'll never match the original."
"The system is complete. The framework is ready."
"Feeding more would only increase numbers."
"I'd rather save the remaining materials. Someday, they might spark a miracle in ways we can't imagine now."
So Akira froze the restored flesh, arm, and flower again and stored them in the Time Flow Zone.
"Gurgle… gurgle…"
He and Obito waited another hour.
It was already 6:30 a.m.
The tumor had flattened somewhat.
A vague human-shaped outline about one meter tall had emerged.
Through his Rinnegan synchronization, Akira sensed that its growth momentum was still strong.
"Looks like this won't be ready anytime soon…"
"Rustle, rustle…"
At his call, a White Zetsu emerged from the ground and bowed.
"Lord Akira. Inner Unit No.16 White Zetsu reporting."
As mentioned before, Akira had divided 108 White Zetsu into inner and outer units, two per group.
Units with the same number could communicate directly.
Akira ordered, "Guard the statue and monitor the changes in the chest body closely. Report anything immediately."
"Yes, Lord Akira!"
Akira stepped forward, patted Obito on the shoulder, and laughed.
"Let Zetsu watch this place. Let's move on to the next stop."
The two walked out together, shoulder to shoulder like brothers.
Obito glanced back at Inner Unit No.16.
Then he withdrew his gaze and asked, "Akira, when you explained the new Zetsu system before, I was already curious. How did you make them link in pairs and even share life and death?"
Akira smiled faintly.
"Want to know?"
Obito replied honestly, "It's rare for us to be alone like this. Stop teasing me and tell me."
"Alright."
Akira raised a hand to cover his left eye.
"This is the second major function of the Twin Flowers, besides body replication."
"I can establish channels of 'mental sharing' and 'life linkage' between two external living beings."
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