Kokuō's Choice

The communication between Yichen and the Little Rhino Dog went smoothly. Just like the children he had brainwashed, every word the Little Rhino Dog heard from Yichen was true, but every word was said to it by Yichen after he had omitted and edited it, avoiding the important points.

Soon after, the Little Rhino Dog developed a magical worldview, as if the entire Ninja World was a cold and dark place, while Iwagakure was the only place in the Ninja World that radiated light and heat.

Before it knew it, the Little Rhino Dog had come to regard Iwagakure as its home and Yichen as its family. It was as if it was meant to stay in Iwagakure.

After finishing his conversation with the Little Rhino Dog, Yichen exited the Sealed Space and then partially released the seal within the Outer Path Statue Fragment. This freed the Little Rhino Dog from its confinement, allowing its Chakra to seep out from the Sealed Space.

Sure enough, after a short while, a large amount of red Chakra surged out of the seal within the Outer Path Statue Fragment, and then formed a Little Rhino Dog outside that was about the same size as the one inside the Sealed Space.

Seeing this, Yichen picked up the Outer Path Statue Fragment, called to the Little Rhino Dog, and headed towards the village. The Little Rhino Dog followed beside Yichen, rubbing against him as it crawled forward.

The Little Rhino Dog looked around with curiosity, like a child who didn't understand anything. Yichen walked along, glancing at it from the side and occasionally pointing out what it saw. It felt just like having a pet.

Yichen originally wanted to take the Little Rhino Dog to meet the village's higher-ups first and explain the Little Rhino Dog's origins to them. However, after thinking about it, he decided to go to the residence of Han Five-Tails Jinchuriki, first.

Han is now practically Perfect Jinchuriki, so the village doesn't restrict his freedom as much anymore. Wherever Han wants to go, the High-ranking officials won't interfere, except that a team of Anbu always follows him.

Han used to frequently take his three disciples out of the village on missions. However, recently, because Han became a Quasi-Shadow, he was ordered by Yichen and others to stay in the village. Just like Yichen when he first became a Quasi-Shadow, except that the restless Yichen still found an excuse to go out and have fun.

When Yichen arrived at Han's residence, Han was training with his three disciples. In the years after becoming Jinchuriki, Han had lived almost entirely alone.

Since taking on disciples, Han immediately devoted all his energy to his three disciples.

With Han's current strength, instructing disciples is already quite easy for him. Yichen watched from afar, feeling very gratified.

Toda Yui other two are already Jonin. When Yichen was selecting disciples for Han, he chose three with good talent. With Yichen's help, Han's three disciples received more resources from Han than Yichen's disciples.

When Han first took on his apprentice, Han was already Elite Jonin, and among the Elite Jonin, Han was one of the few ninjas with experience fighting against Kage Level opponents. Therefore, in terms of both strength and vision, Han was a qualified teacher.

Moreover, unlike Yichen's somewhat laissez-faire approach, Han's care for his three disciples can be described as meticulous. In addition, Han's relationship with Kokuō has been getting better and better recently, and Kokuō often helps Han guide his disciples. Therefore, the strength of Han's three disciples has also improved very quickly.

After some time apart, Yichen noticed that the three had made significant progress in their strength. Even disregarding their status as disciples of Jinchuriki, they were worthy of the village's investment.

Han, focused on instructing his disciple, did not notice Yichen's arrival, but the Five-Tails within him quickly sensed the Little Rhino Dog's Chakra.

"Han, I sense the Six-Tails Chakra; it's approaching," Kokuō said to Han.

Han paused for a moment, then turned to look around and immediately spotted Yichen and the Little Rhino Dog beside him.

Han glanced at the Little Rhino Dog in surprise, then quickly walked up to Yichen, bowed, and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, is this the Six-Tails?"

Yichen nodded, squatted down and patted the Little Rhino Dog's head, then said to Han, "Little Rhino Dog, this is Han. There is a companion inside you. Do you recognize it?"

The Little Rhino Dog was a bit shy. It moved closer to Yichen and, after hearing what Yichen said, Hon sensed Han's Chakra aura.

Then the Little Rhino Dog blurted out, "Kokuō?"

Upon sensing Kokuō's Chakra, the Little Rhino Dog naturally recalled some things.

Upon hearing the Little Rhino Dog's words, Kokuō quickly communicated with Han, and with Han's cooperation, he released his Chakra from within the seal. Then, it imitated the Little Rhino Dog and also used Chakra to condense a body.

It was about the same size as the Little Rhino Dog, and was also a miniature version of Kokuō. However, Yichen sensed that there were still differences between the two. The Little Rhino Dog was more like a physical entity, while Kokuō was at most an avatar.

Kokuō was puzzled by the Little Rhino Dog's appearance and asked, "Saiken, what's wrong?"

The Little Rhino Dog looked at Kokuō and felt a sense of familiarity, so it shuffled forward a little. It said, "I don't remember anything from before. It was Yichen who rescued me from the Kirigakure. Kokuō, what are you doing here?"

Kokuō said, "I have always stayed in Iwagakure, and I have even become friends with Han."

Kokuō was delighted to see the Little Rhino Dog couldn't wait to introduce his good friend to it.

The Little Rhino Dog looked at Han, then at Yichen, and asked, "Good friends? Like Yichen and me?"

Kokuō observed the relationship between Yichen and the Little Rhino Dog, thought for a moment, and said, "Yes, our relationship is similar to yours with Yichen."

The Little Rhino Dog was delighted and said, "Great! Now you won't be lonely."

Kokuō, perhaps reflecting on the decades of silence of the past, nodded in agreement with the Little Rhino Dog's statement.

Indeed, I was quite lonely when I was imprisoned in the Sealed Space and no one cared about me. All I thought about was escaping the control of Iwagakure, until I met Han. Or rather, until Han was influenced by the Tsuchikage next to him and began to interact with me.

The two Tailed Beasts, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, chatted for a while and forgot about Yichen and Han.

Han scratched his head and asked Yichen, "Lord Tsuchikage, you've become Jinchuriki too? It doesn't seem like it."

Yichen said, "Well, I'm a Pseudo Jinchuriki now. I extracted the Little Rhino Dog from the Mist ninja's body. I originally wanted to do an experiment to see if a new life could form outside the Tailed Beast's main body. It seems to be working well."

Han asked, "You really managed to split the Tailed Beast?"

Han was somewhat surprised, as he knew about the village's plan to split the Tailed Beast. He also knew that if he hadn't performed well and prevented Kokuō from going berserk, the village might have already tried to split Kokuō apart.

Yichen shook his head and said, "It's not that easy. My Yin-Yang Release level is too low; I can't achieve it. The formation of the Little Rhino Dog was just an accident."

Yichen waved to Toda Yui and the other two who were watching from a distance. The three quickly ran over, saying, "Lord Tsuchikage!"

"Hmm." Yichen looked the three of them over closely, then said, "You're all good; you haven't disappointed your teacher."

The three were extremely excited to receive affirmation from Yichen, the Tsuchikage.

Yichen then said, "Would you like to join the Anbu, or be stationed on the border? I can even take on a few disciples to Guiding Jonin."

The three hesitated. They wanted to contribute to the village and realize their own life's value, but they didn't want to leave Han.

Instead, Han said, "Go in peace. I still have Kokuō; I'm not so lonely anymore. You've grown up and learned so many skills; it's time for you to fulfill your dreams."

All three looked at Han, somewhat reluctant to part with him.

After chatting for a while, the three of them were finally persuaded by Han, and all three expressed their willingness to take him as a disciple.

Yichen was speechless for a moment; in fact, he was the one who started it. Now, when the village's Jonin choose their profession, more than half of them choose their mentor.

At this moment, Kokuō and the Little Rhino Dog returned after their conversation. Kokuō looked at the Outer Path Statue Fragment in Yichen's arms and said, "Tsuchikage, is this the body of the Ten-Tails? How did you get this?"

Yichen said, "Someone has already obtained the Ten-Tails' body and is preparing to collect nine Tailed Beasts. I obtained this small part of the Ten-Tails' body from them."

Kokuō was startled and exclaimed, "How is that possible?"

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "For some reason, that person obtained the Rinnegan. You must know about the relationship between the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails."

"The Rinnegan?" Kokuō was even more surprised. "So it's the Rinnegan. No wonder he was able to obtain the Ten-Tails' body."

"I've been trying to find a way to deal with that person in the shadows all these years, but I'm not strong enough. Han has actually been in danger all along. I hope you can help him. Helping him is also helping yourself. You probably don't want to be taken back by the Ten-Tails, right?" Yichen said, seizing the opportunity.

Kokuō thought for a moment, then suddenly said to Han, "Han, release me from my seal."

Han was stunned for a moment, not understanding what Kokuō meant. He hadn't understood the conversation between Yichen and Kokuō earlier. What did they mean by Ten-Tails? Weren't Tailed Beast only One-Tail to Nine-Tails?

Yichen was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Kokuō, do you intend to hand over your power to the Han?"

Kokuō nodded and said, "That's right. With the appearance of the Rinnegan, I had no ability to resist it. Only by relying on Han Cai could I hope to improve my strength."

Yichen agreed. Indeed, the Tailed Beast and their Jinchuriki are one at times, able to compensate for each other's weaknesses.

Looking around, Yichen said, "Let's stay here. I'll be your guard."

Kokuō nodded, while Han looked completely bewildered.

"Your teacher and I are going to conduct an experiment. You should keep watch around the area and prevent anyone else from getting close. Also, be careful; our commotion might be a bit loud, so don't get involved," Yichen said to Han's three disciples.

"Yes." Although the three were curious, Yichen spoke solemnly, so they didn't dare to ask any more questions and went directly to the outer perimeter to keep watch.

Then Yichen said, "Alright, Han, sit down first. I'm going to break your seal."

Han sat down blankly. Although he didn't understand what had happened, he knew that Yichen wouldn't harm him, so he obediently did as he was told.

As soon as Kokuō saw Han sit down, his body immediately dissipated and transformed back into Chakra, which then entered Han's body.

Yichen stepped forward, quickly Hand Seals, then pressed his palm against Han's abdomen and shouted, "Release!"