Four-Tails Son Goku

The temple in front of Yichen hadn't been abandoned for very long, probably only a few decades. It was probably abandoned around the beginning of the Ninja Village era.

The fact that the temple has been preserved until this time suggests it might truly possess something special. Yichen asked Natsuki, "Did you sense anything?"

Natsuki said, "I can't really explain it, but after I went inside, I always felt like someone was talking to me, but I couldn't hear what they were saying."

Yichen recalled Natsuki's special sensory abilities. When they first met, Natsuki was just a child, and even though she had no Chakra, she was able to detect him when he was hiding his body using Camouflage Jutsu.

Yichen did not enter the temple directly, but stood at the entrance and observed it for a while. The temple door was long gone, and a stone statue was enshrined inside.

The stone statue resembles a monk, but its form is exaggerated and differs from that of a normal monk. The statue is somewhat damaged, with a large piece missing from the right side of the monk's head.

Yichen stood outside the door and carefully sensed the surroundings, but found nothing unusual.

Then he summoned the Little Rhino Dog and entered Six-Tails Chakra Mode again.

Before entering, Yichen said to Ōnoki, "Third Hokage, I'll go in and check things out. You guys wait for me outside."

"Okay, be careful. If anything goes wrong, back out. If all else fails, we'll destroy it with Kekkei Tōta," Ōnoki said.

Yichen nodded, and then, with the help of the Little Rhino Dog's Chakra, he carefully Earth Flow the temple alone.

The temple, which appeared perfectly normal from the outside, began to change the moment Yichen entered.

Yichen's experience was similar to Natsuki's description; he also "heard" a lot of nonsensical words.

However, Yichen, who was prepared, was much calmer than Natsuki, that ignorant little girl.

Yichen carefully discerned what he was "hearing," only to discover that it wasn't what he was hearing at all, but rather what he was sensing with his S-rank Ninjutsu, Mind's Eye.

Previously, Mind's Eye had only sensed Chakra- related things, but this time Mind's Eye sensed something that sounded like "sound." So, Yichen immediately thought he had heard it.

Since he had confirmed that his normal Five Senses were of no help, Yichen simply closed his eyes and focused all his attention on his Mind's Eye.

This method was indeed effective. Although he still couldn't distinguish the content of the noisy sounds, Yichen was able to find the source of the sounds after concentrating.

Although his eyes were closed, Yichen could tell from the simple layout of the temple which the sound came from, based on the orientation, that it was the stone statue, or more precisely, the notch in the head of that statue. The source of those sounds was that notch.

It seems there's some real skill involved.

Yichen tried his best to eliminate the chaotic sounds and focused his senses on the location of the stone statue.

"There seems to be something on top of the stone statue?" Yichen thought to himself as he moved closer to it.

Upon reaching the stone statue, Yichen sensed that what was on it was a seal, locking away what was inside and preventing it from escaping.

Why are these things invisible to the naked eye, requiring Mind's Eye intuition to detect them?

Wait, why does this situation seem so familiar?

Yichen felt like he had encountered this situation somewhere before, and after a moment's thought, he realized it. Just a short while ago, when Six Paths of Pain split the Seven-Tails, the Human Path peeled a part off the Seven-Tails.

Yichen vaguely sensed the existence of that thing at that time, but he couldn't see it with the naked eye.

Could it be a soul? Yichen was somewhat doubtful. In this area, Yichen was completely clueless, and if anything unexpected happened, he might not even have the ability to defend himself.

Should we retreat? Yichen wondered to himself.

However, after thinking it over, Yichen decided to observe first. Although the stone statue was incomplete, it should still have some restraining effect. As long as he didn't do anything reckless, he should be fine.

With that in mind, Yichen began to study the stone statue directly.

Yichen only has two aspects of understanding about the soul, or Yin Release. The first is Genjutsu. Yichen knows some simple Genjutsu, the highest being B-rank. At Yichen's level, B-rank Genjutsu are simply no match for his opponents.

Secondly, there's the Spirit Transformation Jutsu. Although Yichen had seen the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, he hadn't learned it, mainly because he didn't have a low-level Yin Release to gradually improve. It was too difficult for Yichen to master something so profound all at once.

Yichen only had a copy of his disciple Katsuya's insights on the Spirit Transformation Jutsu.

This was written by Katsuya after he was promoted to Quasi-Jonin. However, although Katsuya was promoted to Quasi-Jonin through studying the Spirit Transformation Jutsu, he did not fully master the Spirit Transformation Jutsu. This is equivalent to an amateur instructing another amateur, so you can imagine how little value this document has.

Yichen is currently analyzing the features of this stone statue with only a tiny amount of knowledge that is far from even the basics.

Yichen used his already weak senses to carefully discern the Sealing Runes on the stone statue.

This research took a whole day.

Yichen only stopped his research after he felt extremely exhausted.

Ōnoki and the others had been waiting outside the temple. They were worried when they saw Yichen enter the temple and start staring blankly as if he were possessed.

Fortunately, Yichen quickly took action. He cautiously approached the stone statue, then closed his eyes and kept circling it, as if analyzing something. Everyone felt a little relieved.

Ōnoki breathed a sigh of relief. As long as nothing happened, he wasn't too concerned about whether Yichen had gained anything. He was now somewhat regretful; he should have known better than to let Yichen go in.

Finally, a day later, Yichen came out of there.

Upon leaving the temple, the sounds that Yichen Mind's Eye immediately disappeared, leaving Yichen somewhat disoriented for a moment.

Ōnoki quickly asked, "How are you? Are you alright?"

Yichen shook his head and said, "I'm fine."

He paused, then continued, "I think I understand what Natsuki heard; it's probably related to the soul. If we study it carefully, perhaps we can fill some gaps in the village's knowledge of Yin Release."

Ōnoki frowned, sensing that something was wrong with Yichen's current state. He said, "You should rest for a while; we can talk about the research later."

Yichen nodded; his condition was indeed not good, and his mental energy was severely depleted. However, he still said, "Third Generation, I just need to rest for a bit, but I can't study these things by myself; I need Katsuya's help."

"Third Generation, go to the village and bring Katsuya. I need to rest for a while."

"Also, please bring Atsumi Akino and the other two along. We'll probably be staying here for quite a while, and their studies can't fall too far behind."

"Oh, and also get a blank Ninja ID and Forehead Protector. Little Chōmei will need them."

"Oh, and also, Takigakure, make sure Konoha doesn't cause any trouble."

Yichen rattled off a long list of things. Ōnoki didn't agree immediately, but first looked at Yichen and, seeing that Yichen was genuinely just a little tired, nodded in agreement.

After Yichen began to rest, Ōnoki set off directly back to Iwagakure.

The next day, after a night's rest Yichen finally recovered.

Since the beginning of his cultivation, Yichen has rarely encountered such a situation of excessive mental exertion because his mental strength is stronger than that of ordinary people. Occasionally, such a situation can be quite overwhelming.

Seeing that Yichen had woken up, the Little Rhino Dog immediately approached Yichen said, "Yichen, we saw Son Goku, but he's locked up and can't get out. Can you let him out?"

Yichen really couldn't answer this. The Four-Tails' current state was a typical case of being locked up in a dark room. When Yichen brainwashed the Little Rhino Dog as soon as it became conscious, he used this state as a counterexample.

However, as the Tsuchikage, Yichen clearly sided with Roshi instead of the Four-Tails, which left Yichen unsure how to explain to Little Rhino Dog.

After thinking for a moment, Yichen said, "Little Rhino Dog, let's go see Son Goku together first."

Yichen walked over to Roshi and said, "Senior Roshi, I'd like to have a talk with the Four-Tails. Please cooperate."

Roshi and Ōnoki had a bad relationship, and Yichen also harbored resentment towards Ōnoki's successor, Yūchū. However, Roshi had heard that Yichen's attitude towards Jinchuriki was different from that of ordinary people. So, although Roshi was very unwilling, he still reluctantly agreed.

After obtaining Roshi's permission, Yichen Hand Seals and tore a hole in the Four-Tails seal on Roshi's body. Then he called Little Rhino Dog and Little Chōmei to enter the Sealed Space together.

Because Roshi's seal was not completely broken, Son Goku was still locked in a cage within the Sealed Space.

Son Goku had actually sensed the Little Rhino Dog and Little Chōmei long ago, so he wasn't too surprised when he saw Yichen bring the two little guys in.

Yichen patted the two little ones on the head, gesturing for them to go and chat with Son Goku for a while.

Although the Little Rhino Dog had seen Kokuō before, it had never entered Kokuō's Sealed Space and therefore had never seen Kokuō's enormous body. Little Chōmei was even less likely to have seen any other Tailed Beast besides the Little Rhino Dog.

So the two little guys were dumbfounded when they saw the Four-Tails that was so much bigger than them. They didn't rush forward immediately, but looked at Yichen as if to say, "Why is it so big?"

Yichen patted the two little ones' heads and said, "Actually, you were originally this size, but you're incomplete now, only a part of the original body, which is why you're so small. So it's not Son Goku who's strange, it's you who are strange."

"Really?" The Little Rhino Dog was still a bit doubtful, but it believed Yichen's words.

Then the two little guys started to brainwash Sun Wukong. However, Son Goku was clearly not as naive as the Little Chōmei when he was first formed. Instead, he thought that Yichen had deceived the Little Rhino Dog and the Little Chōmei.

However, when Yichen told him that the complete Kokuō had already given his power to Han, Son Goku fell silent.

After a long while, Son Goku Yichen said, "I don't care what Kokuō thinks, I won't hand over my power to that guy outside. And don't even think about it, I don't like you either."