The moon hung high in the sky.
In the sealed space, Kaguya struggled to open her heavy eyelids. Her pale and cold face carried a hint of sorrow and tenderness. Her slender hands, folded before her, gently brushed past the edge of her sleeve as she let out a soft sigh.
Moments later, under the influence of the seal, she once again fell into slumber.
Black Zetsu is worth more than Madara?! Does that even make sense?
Kei glanced at the system notification that had just appeared. He nearly laughed his head off.
Two chances to duplicate a trait, plus another chance to upgrade a red-tier trait. And it wasn't random, he could personally choose which red-tier trait to upgrade!
This… this… Black Zetsu, oh Black Zetsu, if I had known you were this valuable, why the hell did I waste my time on Madara?!
While you were still clueless, wouldn't it have been better to take you down first?
A heavy, muffled sound echoed, followed by the distinct noise of bones shattering from where Black Zetsu had been.
Tobi, who had been carrying Black Zetsu while escaping, lost control after Black Zetsu's death. Harnessing the power of the Rinnegan, he forcefully made himself kneel in mid-air, creating an audible impact. There was no need to guess—his knees were definitely wrecked.
"Who taught you to use the Rinnegan ?" Kei looked at Tobi, who was now floating down toward him, with a face full of black lines.
Using the Rinnegan to kneel in mid-air… What kind of bizarre behavior was this?
"N-No one taught me! Ahhh! You killed him! It was all his idea! You can't kill me too!"
Tobi cried miserably, his expression exaggerated as he pointed frantically at the spot where Black Zetsu had vanished. Before Kei could speak, he started wailing again. "I've only been alive for two years! I don't know anything! Please! I haven't even tasted good food yet! I haven't even experienced taking a proper dump!"
"Waaahhh! He never let me talk! He never let me move! My life was too hard!"
"I was just hanging quietly from a tree for so long! What's wrong with wanting to talk a little? What's wrong with wanting to move around a bit?!"
"Ahhh—wait, I'm going off track! He controlled me! I couldn't resist! He could control all the White Zetsus! He's some sort of higher-level lifeform!"
His rambling and nonsensical complaints kept spilling out.
Kei, too lazy to listen, activated [Fate Weaver] to observe the ever-fluctuating threads of fate surrounding Tobi. The pale blue fate energy around him constantly wavered, sometimes deepening, sometimes on the verge of turning green. This was the first time he had so clearly seen the rippling fate of someone whose life trajectory had been altered by interference in the world's timeline.
But this constant shifting... Was it because his next decision would determine Tobi's fate?
If I kill Tobi now, what rewards do I get? Kei furrowed his brows slightly, preparing to make a move.
Sensing the deadly intent, Tobi immediately panicked. Without hesitation, he gouged out his own eyes, forcefully digging out both Rinnegan. As he flung them toward Kei, his body—still in a kneeling posture—lost its power and plummeted toward the ground.
"Let me follow you instead! I'm still useful! I don't even need to eat! I won't cost you anything!"
[Traits: Outer Path Aberration (Purple), Limit-Breaker (Purple), Five-Element Mutation (Blue), Parasitic Bond (Blue), Energy Devourer (Green), Clown (White), Unpredictable (White), Self-Flight (Gray).]
A black dragon, formed from Kei's senjutsu chakra, shot forward and caught the two blood-stained Rinnegan in its jaws.
Watching Tobi's falling figure, Kei frowned slightly.
Earlier, when he skimmed through the trait interface of Black Zetsu and the others, he hadn't paid close attention. Now, upon taking a proper look at Tobi's personal stats, He noticed that, unlike the ordinary White Zetsu "soldiers," Tobi had a completely different classification.
Glancing at the Rinnegan beside him, he temporarily abandoned the idea of killing Tobi. After all, he had more than just one test subject available.
The nearby Yagura, who was controlled by the Three-Tails, also showed extreme fluctuations in his fate energy.
With that in mind, Kei formed a single-hand seal.
From the massive wooden humanoid beside him, a thick vine shot out. catching Tobi mid-fall and placing him directly atop the wooden giant's head.
"Ahhh~ I survived! You really are a great person! From now on, I'll follow you everywhere!"
He waved his arms around playfully. His body split into strange, white wooden tendrils as he separated from the half-dead Hoshigaki ninja.
With both eyes missing, his kneecaps shattered, and his life force long drained by the Rinnegan, the ninja collapsed stiffly on top of the wooden giant's head. Within three seconds, he stopped breathing.
Kei glanced at Tobi's remaining ordinary eye, and his eyelid twitched slightly. So when this guy knelt, he didn't even use his own knees. And when he gouged out his eyes… he didn't even take out his own?!
Damn, what a sly little bastard.
[Significant alteration to a well-known supporting character's fate.]
[Slight interference with the timeline detected.]
- 1 Trait Conversion Card (Purple)]
[Trait Conversion Card (Purple):
- Can upgrade any trait to a purple-tier.]
The moment Kei heard the system notification, his gaze instantly locked onto the only black-tier trait in his system interface.
The utterly useless [Battle of Misfortune].
Among conceptual traits, this one had an absurdly powerful effect, but he had never once used it.
Against weaklings, it was unnecessary.
Against the powerful figures of the ninja world, his current strength was already more than enough.
And for those immortal, ridiculously overpowered beings, wasn't it just easier to strip them of their traits and downgrade them instead?
He had already been in a great mood, and now he felt even better.
His gaze toward Tobi even became noticeably more… kind.
Seeing that Tobi's fate energy had stabilized from pale green to deep blue, he turned toward him and casually instructed. "Be good, and later, I'll have Orochimaru give you a new eye."
"An eye?" Tobi pointed to the empty socket on the right side of his face.
"Waaaahh~! Following you is amazing! Black Zetsu never once cared about fulfilling my dreams, even in death! Waaaah~! I'll be good! I'll be super obedient!"
With a Flying Thunder God teleport, Kei vanished from the wooden giant's head.
Leaving Tobi alone on top, spiraling into madness.
He could only console himself repeatedly.
Once he got his new eye, things would be fine. His obsessions and curiosity existed only because he didn't understand. After truly understanding and adjusting to it, these bizarre thoughts would no longer consume him.
"You get one chance, pick a different jinchūriki."
Kei reappeared in front of the Three-Tails, who had been blasted away by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Having quickly regained his composure, Isobu was now hiding near the edge of the Four Red Yang Formation, pretending to be dead.
Upon hearing Kei's words, the turtle-tailed beast cautiously cracked open its left eye.
Forcing its voice into a soft and delicate tone, Isobu whispered, "I shall obey your orders~ Cough, cough~ Cough, cough~"
A wooden clone of Kei appeared, carrying the severed torso of the Gedo Statue and tossed it in front of Isobu.
As the husk of the Ten-Tails, this thing was both a natural habitat and the best sealing medium for tailed beasts.
Blood splattered from Yagura's neck. His severed head tumbled across the ground, rolling to the side.
Isobu, who had already squeezed half of its body into the Ten-Tails' remains, trembled. Then, its movements hastened significantly.
Humans were just too brutal!