Back Off? Are You Serious?

"So he died."

"And left me a mess to deal with."

Arata muttered as he looked at the ambitious man who had died with bitter unwillingness in his eyes, then at the brass key that had fallen to the floor.

He had to admit, Shinnō handing over the token of command for the Sky Ninja so directly before his death would have tempted anyone.

Perhaps Shinnō knew the Sharingan would uncover that secret anyway. That was why he had chosen to entrust everything to Amaru, both the Zero-Tails' vessel and the heir to his teachings.

"I suppose I owe him for the Regeneration Forbidden Technique."

Still, neither control over the Zero-Tails' Jinchuriki nor possession of Ancor Vantian held much appeal for Arata.

What truly interested him was the forbidden technique Shinnō had created: the Cell Activation Regeneration Technique! Even Orochimaru had been desperate to obtain it.

In fact, the bizarre way that damned snake kept surviving disasters—spitting out a snake that then spat him out—was closely tied to the Regeneration Technique Shinnō had taught him. And what Orochimaru had received was incomplete, perhaps no more than Shinnō's early research. Its perfected form was what had allowed Shinnō to unlock the potential of the Eight Gates!

A technique like that might also slow the ceaseless drain on Kimimaro's life force.

But before Arata could act on Shinnō's legacy, a string of sharp cracking sounds erupted above Yu Zhi's head, accompanied by the dull thuds of falling stone.

Under the relentless blows from outside, the hard ceiling of the inner hall had finally begun to break apart.

Tiny, unsettling spiders no bigger than mice descended through the dust like paratroopers.

Boom!

Another heavy impact rang out. Driven by fury, a savage spider leg like a spear meant to pierce the heavens punched