Seven-Tails Chomei

The village chief turned around, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion and helplessness, but even more so, the compromise of someone faced with absolute force.

"Please follow me."

Uchiha Jun followed the village chief, with Kakuzu and Uchiha Hikari close behind. The three of them descended the spiral staircase.

The staircase was long. After several hundred steps, the air grew increasingly damp, and they could hear water dripping in the distance.

At the end of the spiral staircase was a natural cave roughly a hundred square meters in size.

The cave walls were covered in thick moss and stalactites. Water that had dripped year-round had carved countless tiny pits into the rock surface.

At the very center of the cave stood a massive stalagmite, thick enough that several people would be needed to wrap their arms around it, stretching from the ground all the way to the ceiling.

At the top of the stalagmite had formed a slender crystal cluster, and from its tip hung a transparent droplet on the verge of falling.

"Hero Water condenses at the top of this stalagmite."

The village chief's voice echoed through the cavern.

"Every three to five years, the stalagmite forms a droplet of liquid. Drinking it can increase the user's chakra dozens of times over—but it also rapidly consumes the user's Life Force."

"According to the records, every person who has consumed it throughout history has died from excessive depletion of their Life Force, and the process is irreversible."

Uchiha Jun's gaze fell on the transparent droplet atop the stalagmite. After a moment of silence, he asked, "How much Hero Water have you stored over the years?"

"Stored... there are still over twenty drops."

The village chief took out a palm-sized Celadon Bottle from his robes. Its mouth was tightly sealed with wax.

He respectfully offered the jade bottle to Uchiha Jun with both hands and lowered his head. "This is Takigakure's entire stockpile from the past century. Every drop is a treasure passed down through generations. It would never be used lightly unless the village faced a crisis of annihilation."

Uchiha Jun accepted the jade bottle and removed the wax seal. Looking down, he saw more than twenty pale-blue droplets resting quietly at the bottom.

Each one was only the size of a mung bean, yet they emitted an extremely dense aura of Life Force. Merely approaching them made the chakra within one's body stir faintly.

Uchiha Jun put the jade bottle away, then looked up at the village chief. "In a while, I want to see your village's Seven-Tails. Go make the arrangements."

The village chief's body stiffened again.

His lips moved a few times as if he wanted to say something, but under Uchiha Jun's calm Sharingan gaze, he ultimately swallowed every word.

He turned around and walked heavily toward the cave entrance.

Kakuzu watched the village chief's retreating back, then glanced at the Celadon Bottle in Uchiha Jun's robes. Unable to hold back, he asked, "Boss, what are you planning to do with Hero Water?"

"Research it."

Uchiha Jun answered indifferently, "Maybe I can safely trigger the effect of massively increasing chakra without consuming Life Force."

"Even if that fails, this thing is still a rare treasure. Takigakure lacks the virtue and fortune to possess it. This treasure belongs under my command!"

Uchiha Hikari and Kakuzu fell silent for a moment, feeling slightly ashamed by Uchiha Jun's righteous grandeur.

"Kakuzu."

Uchiha Jun spoke evenly. "What requirements do you have for hearts? Freshness, nature, strength—you pick for yourself. If Takigakure has none you like, you can choose from several other ninja villages later, including Konoha and the Uchiha Clan."

"Oh, right. If you take the hearts of ninjas with ocular Kekkei Genkai, like the Uchiha Clan or Hyuga Clan, can your mung-bean eyes grow a Sharingan or Byakugan?"

"What about Kekkei Genkai users?"

Kakuzu paused, then explained in a low voice, "No. The hearts I take can only make use of chakra natures; they cannot inherit Kekkei Genkai. The two hearts that shattered earlier were Lightning and Wind nature hearts."

"I looked around. Takigakure happens to have two suitable targets right now."

"Then go take them. Bring the bodies back afterward. Don't waste them."

On the way here, Uchiha Jun had observed that Takigakure had declined badly. It barely had any Jonin left, and its only Elite Jonin was from the previous generation—the village chief from earlier.

Kakuzu grinned beneath his mask, revealing a dry smile, then turned and strode toward the cave entrance.

For a time, only Uchiha Jun and Uchiha Hikari remained in the cave.

Uchiha Hikari was silent for a moment before she spoke softly, with a hint of tentative curiosity. "That Hero Water... can it really make someone unleash dozens of times more chakra?"

"It can give a Genin the chakra reserves of a Jonin for several minutes, but after those few minutes, it will make the user rapidly age and die." Uchiha Jun looked down at the Celadon Bottle in his hand, his tone calm. "It is a typical method of exchanging Life Force for power."

"Then why are you still..."

"But what if there were a way to mass-produce a weakened version of Hero Water?"

Uchiha Jun raised his head and looked into the distance, a faint curve appearing at the corner of his lips.

"Then this thing's value would be far more than simply boosting chakra."

"Let's go. Let's see this Seven-Tails. Was it so weak that Takigakure, a tiny village, could capture it, or did it inherit some of the 'laziness' from its insect form and choose this kind of 'stable' life?"

Deep beneath Takigakure, within the Tailed Beast sealing space.

Uchiha Jun stood before a massive sealing array. At its center was an elderly man who looked as though he was on his last legs—the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki of Takigakure.

He was the Jinchuriki from two generations ago and had once been an Elite Jonin.

Now, his face was pale as paper, his lips cracked, and he wore a prisoner-like white robe. His breath was so weak that it seemed as though it could vanish at any time. He was already near death and could last only a few more years at most.

A pale blue-white sealing barrier isolated him from the outside world, but his eyes were unexpectedly clear. There was no madness, no hatred—only an almost numb calmness.

"You're not from Takigakure. You're an invader?"

The Jinchuriki raised his head and looked at Uchiha Jun outside the sealing array. There was neither fear nor anger in his voice, but rather a trace of curiosity. "You're so young. Did you sneak in?"

"What a pity. You're about to die here! This will be my final dance!"

"What the hell are you babbling about? I fought my way in fair and square. Enough nonsense—eat my Genjutsu!"

Standing before the sealing array, Uchiha Jun spoke casually. In the next instant, he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan and dragged the Jinchuriki, who was preparing to undergo Tailed Beast Transformation, into a Genjutsu space. Using the Mangekyō's ocular power, he also infiltrated the Jinchuriki's seal.

It was similar to how Sasuke Uchiha, while still possessing only the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the original story, entered Uzumaki Naruto's body through the Sharingan and saw the Nine-Tails formed from chakra.

Drip—

Seriously, couldn't they make the sealing environment a little nicer? Even people playing Pokémon, feeding maggots, and using Master Balls know to arrange a better setting to increase the capture rate.

This thunder-filled, gloomy water prison is enough to make even me sigh. No wonder Tailed Beasts try to break their seals every other day.

The moment his consciousness entered the Seven-Tails' seal, Uchiha Jun was left speechless by the environment inside and began complaining furiously in his heart.

Compared to the sealing environments Uchiha Jun had seen in the original story from his previous life, the Seven-Tails' current sealing environment was far worse.

It was a dark, damp dungeon with dim, sinister stone walls. Looking up, one could see an oppressively low dome carved all over with sealing formulas. At the end of the dungeon stood a gigantic, strange insect bound by layers of shackles, its insect body pierced through by an enormous chakra rod and its wings restrained by chains—Seven-Tails Chomei.