The Unexpected

As for what the fragment of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which had sealed away the spiritual obsessions of Dreamplay and Mizuki, would ultimately become, even Mizuki himself could not say for certain.

However, by using it to simulate the growth process of a God Tree seed, the final result of refining this thing—whose exact purpose was still unclear—would likely differ greatly in power, yet possess similar effects.

Mizuki had high hopes for it.

No matter how good someone else's things were, they were not his own. Only tools created with his own hands could truly be used with ease.

Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan had been on Nagato, and even dealing with Naruto Uzumaki in Sage Mode had been difficult for him. Yet after Madara Uchiha reclaimed the Rinnegan, he could directly overturn the entire Shinobi World. That was the essential difference between borrowed things and one's own.

After sealing a sample of chakra from each of the nine Tailed Beasts into the fragment of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Mizuki left the fragment, which showed little outward change, in the Land of Rain. His physical clone—Hope—would control it on his behalf and use it according to plan to steal and gather the spiritual power generated by the Land of Rain's residents' devout faith in god, catalyzing the still-slumbering power within that wood-like fragment of the God Tree's remains.

After returning to Konoha, Tsunade did not scrutinize Mizuki's ambiguous report too closely. However, she questioned him in great detail about whether Akatsuki had truly withdrawn from the Land of Rain.

"In other words, this organization, after suffering such a major blow, has begun operating in secret?"

Tsunade had a headache. Intelligence that had once been fairly comprehensive had gradually become inaccurate over time.

They had relatively