Artificial Tailed Beast Concept

Shisui's sigh left Itachi deep in thought.

He had naturally noticed the undercurrents within the clan. Though still young, he could already vaguely sense the conflict between the clan and the village, but there was nothing he could do about it.

After pondering for a moment, Itachi hesitantly said, "Shisui, if word gets out that you lost to Senior Kagami, I'm afraid..."

The Uchiha Clan being ostracized by the village was no accident. It could be said that most Uchiha simply were not very likable.

The main reason for this was that once an Uchiha awakened their Sharingan, their strength would soar along with their bloodline limit. Becoming a Jonin was practically inevitable.

They could gain power that surpassed others without putting in much effort.

Over time, it was only natural for them to develop a sense of superiority.

Therefore, Itachi was worried that once news of Shisui's defeat by Hyuga Kagami spread, those unruly experts within the clan would go looking for trouble with Hyuga Kagami. There was precedent for such things.

Shisui smiled. "I know what you're worried about, but there's no need. Senior Kagami is even stronger than you imagine!"

Itachi immediately understood Shisui's intention. That only made him more curious about Shisui's match with Hyuga Kagami, and he hurriedly asked, "Tell me about your match with Senior Kagami!"

Recalling his earlier match with Hyuga Kagami, Shisui slowly said, "I never expected Senior Kagami, who had always kept such a low profile, to possess greater ocular power than me. Sigh, whenever I think about how such a genius remains so humble while the clan calls me its greatest prodigy, and I enjoy the admiration and praise of my comrades in the village, I feel rather ashamed."

After shaking his head with a sigh, Shisui described the course of the match.

"Even Genjutsu and Taijutsu couldn't do anything to Senior Kagami?" After muttering to himself with his head lowered for a while, Itachi added, "So Senior Kagami is actually this strong. It seems I worried for nothing."

Shisui seemed to recall something just then and said, "I have this feeling!"

Itachi asked, "What feeling?"

"Senior Kagami seemed to know I wasn't using my full strength. He seemed to..."

Shisui had wanted to say that Hyuga Kagami seemed to have sensed that he possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, but he quickly shook his head and drove the absurd thought from his mind.

At present, only he and Itachi in the entire village knew that he had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and he believed Itachi would never reveal that secret.

Second floor of the tavern.

After discussing Sasori, Hyuga Kagami considered for a moment before tentatively asking, "Lord Orochimaru, do you know much about Tailed Beasts?"

Orochimaru was somewhat surprised. "You're interested in Tailed Beasts? Is it because of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki you encountered earlier?"

Hyuga Kagami did not conceal it and nodded naturally. "Because my talent is lacking, my chakra reserves have never been particularly abundant. To solve this problem, I have consulted many books and records, but all the answers I found ultimately pointed to Tailed Beasts."

Orochimaru chuckled softly. "You're like me. You would pay any price to obtain an answer. But let me offer you some advice: don't touch the Tailed Beasts. They are more troublesome than you imagine."

Hyuga Kagami quickly said, "Tailed Beasts are taboo among the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Of course I wouldn't overestimate myself and set my sights on them. What I'm considering is whether it might be possible to create a small Artificial Tailed Beast."

Hyuga Kagami then laid out his concept for creating an Artificial Tailed Beast before Orochimaru in full.

With Hyuga Kagami's current level of technology, it was absolutely impossible for him to create an Artificial Tailed Beast. If he wanted an Artificial Tailed Beast like the Zero-Tails to emerge ahead of time, he would have to rely on Orochimaru's power.

Surprised by Hyuga Kagami's idea, Orochimaru paused briefly before saying in his hoarse voice, "Kagami, you truly are different from everyone else. You're a man full of ideas."

Hyuga Kagami looked at Orochimaru expectantly. "Can my idea be realized?"

After thinking for a long time, Orochimaru said solemnly, "Actually, the village began researching Tailed Beasts as early as the First Hokage's time. The Tailed Beast Research Project continued even when the Second Hokage took power. But for some reason, the project was suddenly terminated later on. All the materials were sealed away, and the Tailed Beast Research Project was completely suspended."

Upon hearing that, Hyuga Kagami thought to himself, So the village really did research Tailed Beasts.

Ever since encountering Shennong, he had been analyzing which village Shennong had stolen the technology to create the Zero-Tails from.

Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Kirigakure and Sunagakure had always suffered from unstable political situations and relatively weak strength. They simply lacked the ability to conduct in-depth research on Tailed Beasts, so those two villages were ruled out first.

Iwagakure and Kumogakure were both powerful, but Iwagakure focused on research related to Earth Release, while Kumogakure emphasized the development of Lightning Release and Taijutsu. Neither seemed to have achieved much in Tailed Beast research.

After comparing them all, Konoha, which possessed the First Hokage capable of completely suppressing Tailed Beasts, appeared to be the village that truly had the capacity to conduct deep research into them.

Reining in his wandering thoughts, Hyuga Kagami asked at the right moment, "Why was the project stopped?"

Orochimaru replied, "I'm not entirely sure of the exact reason, but based on my guess, it may have been because of instability. I reviewed some of the records. Artificial Tailed Beasts had a high chance of going berserk, and once they did, it would be a complete and utter disaster!"

Hyuga Kagami proposed another idea. "If we abandon the Artificial Tailed Beast's offensive capabilities and only let it serve as a 'battery,' could its stability be improved?"

Orochimaru glanced at Hyuga Kagami and said in an instructive tone, "A large amount of chakra gathered together is, by its very nature, destructive power. There is no such thing as abandoning offensive power. Years ago, I considered something similar. If you want to improve stability, there is only one method: the chakra source supplying the Artificial Tailed Beast can only be one source, and its chakra nature cannot be too violent."

Hyuga Kagami frowned. "Other than a Tailed Beast, who could possibly supply chakra to an Artificial Tailed Beast through their own strength alone?"

"Exactly. In the Ninja World, perhaps only the First Hokage had the ability to supply chakra to an Artificial Tailed Beast using his own power. No one else, including the Second Hokage, likely possessed that capability." After a pause, Orochimaru continued, "And if a Tailed Beast's violent chakra is used as the chakra source for an Artificial Tailed Beast, it would likely go berserk immediately. So I suspect that is why the Artificial Tailed Beast Plan was terminated."

Hyuga Kagami desperately searched through everything he remembered from his previous life, hoping to find an answer to this seemingly unsolvable problem.

In his vague memories of his previous life, there were quite a few people with enormous chakra reserves. Yet every one of them was a powerhouse standing at the peak of the Ninja World. None of them would work for Hyuga Kagami as a laborer supplying chakra.

Setting those powerhouses aside, Hyuga Kagami vaguely remembered two mysterious places that possessed vast amounts of chakra.

One was the "Ryumyaku" within Loulan, located in the Land of Wind. The other was the demon known as "Moryo," sealed by the Miko of the Land of Demons...