The Research Institute had arranged the site of the sixth ritual in a desert in the Wind Country, where yellow sand filled the sky.
They had chosen this location because the Research Institute had developed several new technologies. If they could be proven effective in practice, the ritual's success rate would improve further, and it would become less dependent on natural phenomena like celestial events.
Watching the researchers bustle around the ritual site, Sasuke said coldly, "I want to see how they perform this ritual!"
Haku said softly, "Sasuke, don't let your guard down!"
Yakumo chimed in, "That's right. The power of divine techniques is far more terrifying than you imagine. Yamada Juichi lost to you mainly because he didn't awaken a divine technique. Owl, before him, was practically impervious to blades, spears, water, and fire—completely immune to ninjutsu attacks!"
"Hmph!"
Sasuke snorted.
He had grown much more mature, and knew that Haku and Yakumo were only concerned for him, so he didn't bother arguing with them.
But deep down, he still looked down on the test subjects. He thought their power came from unorthodox methods, that they were defective products with no right to claim they were on the "Six Paths level."
After curiously looking around the ritual site, Naruto returned to Sasuke and the others. Pointing at the six sacrifices bound by restraints, he asked, "What are they for? Why are they tied up at the ritual site?"
"They're sacrifices," Yakumo said.
"Sacrifices?"
Naruto scratched his head.
Haku sighed softly and explained, "These people all successfully received transplants of cells and tissues from a mysterious Otsutsuki, gaining that Otsutsuki's power. So the Research Institute is using them as sacrifices. The test subject conducting the ritual will absorb the mysterious Otsutsuki's power from their bodies through the ritual, and