Naruto: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 226: Strengthening the Clone; The Trail of the Three-Tails

"You're awake," Hagoromo Gengetsu remarked without turning around as he sensed movement behind him.

"If you're awake, put on the blindfold and leave. Someone will guide you to the other Akatsuki members," he instructed.

Hidan, still dazed and shocked, hesitated as if wanting to say something.

"Aaagh!!!"

A sharp scream erupted from where the Evil God was. Hagoromo Gengetsu tightened his grip, infusing chakra through the crushed sealing sphere into the Evil God's body, forcefully probing every aspect of it. He glanced at Hidan, who was trying to speak, and asked, "Anything else?"

Under the intimidating gaze of Hagoromo Gengetsu, Hidan shuddered. This presence was far more terrifying than when he was on the operating table.

"N-no! Nothing at all!" Hidan quickly shook his head, swallowing any words he had.

"Then hurry up and go. The organization has tasks waiting for you," Hagoromo Gengetsu ordered.

"Yes, boss! I'll definitely complete the mission!" Hidan promised, his sincerity born from sheer fear. It was unavoidable—Hagoromo Gengetsu was simply too frightening. Even the god he revered was now reduced to a plaything in his new boss's hands. As Hidan's faith crumbled, he felt a strange realization: gods can scream in agony, but not as pitifully as he did. Realizing this, his faith in the Evil God shattered. If the new boss was stronger than a god, then he might as well follow him completely.

As Hidan was about to leave, Hagoromo Gengetsu stopped him, advising him not to follow the doctrines of the Evil God cult anymore. Hidan quickly agreed; after all, with the Evil God captured, there was no point in following the cult's tenets anymore. However, he felt the need to find a new doctrine to follow, as he wasn't a non-believer. When Hidan inquired what he should believe in now, Hagoromo Gengetsu casually replied, "Love, peace, kindness, or anything else you can think of."

With Hidan dismissed, Hagoromo Gengetsu turned his attention back to the Evil God in his hand. Using various instruments, his own techniques, and the Rinnegan's abilities, he had thoroughly analyzed the Evil God. Just like how the Death God in the Reaper Death Seal would take the soul of the caster and the target as payment, the Evil God granted his followers power through rituals, in exchange for blood sacrifices. Normal followers could use a curse technique similar to the Death-Controlling Possessed Blood, which allowed them to inflict damage on themselves to harm their enemies. However, they didn't have immortality—stabbing their own hearts would kill both themselves and their target. The only exception was Hidan, who achieved immortality because his soul bore the mark of the Evil God, essentially making his soul property of the Evil God. As long as the Evil God existed, Hidan could not die, even if dismembered. This was the true nature of Hidan's immortality and a unique power of the Evil God.

The Evil God, now pliable in Hagoromo Gengetsu's hand, could have his power extracted for Gengetsu's use. While Gengetsu could enhance his own regenerative abilities to the point of reattaching limbs, achieving true immortality wasn't an option, as he wasn't willing to entrust his soul to another. Thus, he decided to use the Evil God's power to strengthen his clone, which, while powerful, still lacked the full strength of the original. For his plans, which required a strong clone to ensure success without interference from the shinobi world or figures like Black Zetsu, boosting the clone's power was essential. This meant also developing the use of Hashirama's cells and perhaps injecting them into Uchiha Izumi and Uchiha Kei to prevent loss of vision from using their Mangekyō Sharingan.

As Hagoromo Gengetsu busied himself with these tasks, the Akatsuki members and the three Uchiha also took time to rest. Back at the Akatsuki base, Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu, upon discovering their place ransacked, chose to lay low, seemingly waiting for something. Meanwhile, the shinobi world, led by the Five Great Shinobi Villages, was preparing for an impending great war.

In this tense atmosphere, Orochimaru finally emerged from hiding.

"We've found traces of the Three-Tails?" he rasped in the dark chamber.

Kabuto, always by his side, answered, "Thanks to the efforts of Yūkimaru, we've tracked down the Three-Tails. Surprisingly, it's not in the ocean but hiding in a lake."

Excited by the news, Orochimaru licked his lips. As a former member of Akatsuki now on the run from them, he was eager to capture the Three-Tails before Akatsuki could complete their plans. Sensing the growing instability in the shinobi world, he knew having a tailed beast on his side would be a great advantage.

"So... Let's focus all efforts on capturing the Three-Tails," he commanded with a cold smile.