Meteorite and Experiment

Before long, the meteorite in Natsuhi Hoshi's hands was smoothly delivered into Minamoto Takuya's hands.

Minamoto Takuya also dispelled his Shadow Clone.

"Well then, a pleasant transaction~" Minamoto Takuya said, then seemed to think of something. "Don't try to take it back later. Otherwise, I happen to have some ninjutsu that needs someone to test them on."

With that, Minamoto Takuya left as well, leaving the group staring at one another.

After a long while.

"Let's go back. It seems fate has decreed that we should no longer use the power of the star," the Third Hoshikage said. He felt some regret, but also a sense of relief.

"Mm." Natsuhi Hoshi nodded. Without the star, they naturally no longer needed to leave the village.

Still, Natsuhi Hoshi could not help glancing at her husband and remembering Minamoto Takuya's words. How she wished he had been lying, but she had exchanged looks with her husband. There really was something wrong with his body...

He pulled her into his arms and said, "It's all right. Don't we still have another year or two? That's enough. And who knows, maybe I'll live longer than that person predicted~"

In the end, the group returned to Hoshigakure. Several years later, the Mysterious Peacock Method was completely cut off from Hoshigakure's inheritance.

Meanwhile, Minamoto Takuya looked behind him. They really had not chased after him. It seemed they had truly given up on the meteorite.

He recalled his brief clash with Natsuhi Hoshi. Even the Rasengan had gained no particular advantage against that Mysterious Peacock Method. It had merely dispersed the Bear Demon, and the fight had ultimately ended in a draw.

However, if they had continued, he would have been the only possible victor.

No matter what, the Mysterious Peacock Method's lack of flexibility was its weakness. With her companions present, she could not possibly form wings with it and fly away.

But he had never intended to fight to the bitter end.

For one thing, his goal had only been the meteorite. There was no need for a slaughter.

For another... the meteorite was not that durable. If he pushed them into a corner, they might destroy it outright in desperation!

In the original work, this meteorite had been destroyed by Naruto Uzumaki's Rasengan. Of course, that might have been because its star chakra had been completely drained, making the meteorite brittle, but Minamoto Takuya did not want to gamble.

That was why they had only exchanged blows briefly.

As for the Shadow Clone, it had used Earth Release to hide underground long before he approached them.

Minamoto Takuya looked at his palm. What he had said to Natsuhi Hoshi at the end was true—he did have a ninjutsu he wanted to test, and Konan had provided the inspiration.

Well, more precisely, the inspiration had suddenly come to him when he trapped her in the Water Prison Technique.

It seemed he could only test its power another time.

With that in mind, Minamoto Takuya notified Crow and used the Summoning Technique to return to the Experiment Base.

By then, all the materials he needed had been prepared. He took the scroll sealing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's arm and the meteorite, then entered an exceedingly spacious room.

It would not only hold the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's arm—even an entire Demonic Statue of the Outer Path would fit with room to spare.

Since he had made such plans long ago, he had naturally prepared the room in advance.

Minamoto Takuya placed the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's arm in a massive cultivation tank, took out a small amount of debris from it, then scraped off a little debris from the hollow meteorite.

After gathering them, Minamoto Takuya thought for a moment and tossed the meteorite into the cultivation tank as well. No matter what, the meteorite could not possibly devour the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, could it?

A few days later.

Minamoto Takuya remained full of energy. He was amazed that even the severed arm of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which looked like an inanimate object, was still "alive."

During that time, he had released a small amount of the Three-Tails' chakra to feed it. The debris had actually swallowed it directly, like wolves spotting sheep.

Only then did he finally relax. If even the debris had such an effect, then an entire arm from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path should be enough.

Tailed Beast Chakra could be cultivated, but the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was essentially the God Tree. Cultivating something like that would likely be extremely difficult and might require Natural Energy. Without a Sage Body, where was he supposed to find Natural Energy?

As for the meteorite debris, its properties were almost identical to the Ten-Tails' debris, but it possessed an additional outwardly released vitality that the Ten-Tails' arm debris lacked—the radiation the Star Ninja spoke of.

That vitality was likely the energy used by Hoshigakure's shinobi. By transferring it into chakra, they formed a kind of pseudo-Tailed Beast Chakra. It allowed Hoshigakure's shinobi to release chakra externally for attacks, but it also pushed their bodies far beyond their limits.

Moreover, this vitality was like maggots clinging to bone. Once acquired, it could never be stripped away.

Looking at it this way, the meteorite was indeed very likely part of the God Tree. It had fallen from the sky two hundred years ago—perhaps it had fallen from the moon.

The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had previously been sealed on the moon.

Of course, it was also possible that it had come from another God Tree.

Still, no matter what, the meteorite and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path should be able to fuse. Even if they could not, there definitely would not be any side effects.

As for the meteorite's own side effects, that vitality was indeed a deadly poison to ordinary people, but it was not something the descendants of Six Paths could not endure.

And for the Uzumaki Bloodline, even if it was poisonous, it would not be like the situation in Hoshigakure. They could certainly withstand it for decades, and decades were already more than enough for him.

At this point in the experiment, a previously unconsidered thought entered Minamoto Takuya's mind. Should he use this meteorite to alter the quality of his chakra?

The Mysterious Peacock Method itself was secondary. Even if he studied it later, he would need to develop a version that allowed movement while attacking, rather than one like Hoshigakure's, where the user remained still and formed hand seals in place while attacking.

No matter how powerful such a technique was, once its inability to move was discovered, that weakness would be fatal.

Still, the Mysterious Peacock Method's technique for free flight was extremely useful.

Overall, flight was an exceedingly rare ability throughout the Shinobi World.

Among ordinary shinobi, the only ones he could think of were those Iwagakure Shinobi who cultivated the Light-Weight Rock Technique. Everyone else seemed to rely on external means: Sai's Super Beast Imitating Drawing, Deidara's clay, and Konan's Dance of the Shikigami.

All of this led him to make a decision: cultivate it!

Minamoto Takuya entered the enormous room where the Ten-Tails' arm was stored.

When he saw the cultivation tank, he froze for a moment, because the shape of that Demonic Statue of the Outer Path arm seemed to have changed.

It seemed to have taken on the appearance of stars surrounding the moon, with the meteorite at the center.

One could imagine that, given some more time, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's arm would eventually form a living body once more.

Minamoto Takuya had not expected that, but it saved him a great deal of trouble.

Even without this meteorite, he had ways to transform it into a living creature, but something formed naturally was better in the end!