Kōki felt an urge stirring within him. He felt he had truly gained knowledge from these two sets of research notes, and could even put what he had learned into practice.
Unable to resist the itch any longer, Kōki formed hand seals with both hands. Yin Release chakra and spiritual energy circulated through his body, and with a poof, a cloud of white smoke appeared. Kōki felt that he had successfully performed some inexplicable new ninjutsu.
Once the white smoke cleared, what met Kōki's eyes was a mass of unidentified black matter. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
"Black Zetsu?" Looking at the black mass, Kōki recalled Black Zetsu, the hidden hand that had lurked in the Shinobi World for a thousand years. But that wasn't right. Kōki could clearly feel that this thing was under his control, and as he remembered it, Black Zetsu was the third son Otsutsuki Kaguya had created using Yin-Yang Release. His creation was made purely from Yin Release and spiritual energy, with a trace of Yang Release chakra added in. It hadn't involved anything as advanced as Yin-Yang Release at all.
Then what exactly did this thing do? Kōki was full of confusion. He hadn't expected the technique he used to produce such a bizarre oddity, and the main problem was that he couldn't even figure out what it was for.
As Kōki pondered, he began trying to control the unidentified black mass. Under his control, the unidentified black mass slowly squirmed, giving off a very sinister impression.
Some time passed, and Kōki stared at the unidentified mass before him with question marks practically written all over his face. He felt that all his work had been for nothing. He still hadn't figured out what this thing did.
Suddenly, Kōki remembered the scenes of Black Zetsu possessing people in the original story, then looked back at the thing in front of him. The two were so similar. Could this thing he had inadvertently created possess others too?
Deciding to give it a try, Kōki found an ordinary white rabbit and placed it before the black mass. Under his control, the black mass began engulfing the white rabbit, then slowly seeped into its body.
After the unidentified mass had fully entered the rabbit's body, he felt that he could control the rabbit's flesh. This was rather like the Shadow Clone Technique, except his clone was a rabbit of flesh and blood.
That made Kōki understand completely just what he had created.
So, this special Shadow Clone-
Hmm~ o(*￣▽￣*)o
He would call it a Shadow Clone for now.
It could invade and control living creatures of flesh and blood. To put it more plainly, once this black mass attached itself to a flesh-and-blood creature, it could control that body, and the controlled body would become his clone. It was somewhat like a puppet, but this puppet had Kōki's will and could act on its own.
At the same time, the controlled body could use its own kekkei genkai. Once Kōki understood the special Shadow Clone's function, he was incredibly excited. He knew he had created something extraordinary that could help him understand the secrets of different kekkei genkai.
He also developed some theories about the special Shadow Clone he had created. It occurred to him that this Shadow Clone consisted mostly of Yin Release chakra, which left it without a definite form. At the same time, if it attached itself to a human body, the body's own will would be attacked by the spiritual energy contained within the Yin Release chakra, allowing him to take control of the body.
However, Kōki suspected that this special Shadow Clone probably couldn't attach itself to a living ninja. The tiny amount of spiritual energy contained within his special Shadow Clone couldn't destroy a human body's own consciousness.
In other words, this special Shadow Clone of Kōki's could only attach itself to small animals without chakra or the bodies of the dead.
Reaching this conclusion left Kōki with a trace of regret, but he was also very satisfied. Although it lacked the powerful control that had allowed Black Zetsu to forcibly control Obito in the original story, being able to take control of dead bodies was still extremely valuable.
Kōki thought that he could collect the corpses of powerful ninja and control them through special Shadow Clones. That would allow him to do many things that were inconvenient for him to do himself.
With that thought, Kōki decided it was necessary to test the limit of how many of these Shadow Clones he could create. He continued forming hand seals with both hands, trying to produce as many special Shadow Clones as possible.
But whether it was because the technique had only just been created or because of his own body's limitations, Kōki could only produce one special Shadow Clone.
He also discovered that this special Shadow Clone didn't seem capable of lasting for long. It would slowly dissipate into the air over time.
On second thought, that made sense. This kind of Shadow Clone had no physical substance of its own. Its entire body consisted of chakra, and it had no means of sustaining that chakra. Even entering a physical body only slowed its dissipation.
However, Kōki thought he could have the Shadow Clone try extracting chakra inside a dead body. If it could extract chakra, perhaps it could make up for the Shadow Clone's consumption.
For Kōki, this technique was still entirely new. He would need to keep experimenting before he could understand it fully. With that in mind, Kōki began considering how to use this special Shadow Clone.
His face was full of hesitation. Which deceased powerhouse's corpse should his special Shadow Clone attach itself to, and where should he begin looking for these powerhouses' corpses? He thought it over again and again, but still couldn't make a decision.
Left with no other choice, he could only start with his existing weaknesses. He currently had two: one was physical. His body had not fully developed, and his chakra reserves had not grown. The other was his genjutsu, which still couldn't match the power of Sharingan Genjutsu.
Once he organized his thoughts this way, Kōki realized that he could only lean toward genjutsu. His Shadow Clone couldn't bring about changes in his own body, but when it came to genjutsu, it might bring him some decent benefits.
If he wanted to develop his genjutsu, a body from the Uchiha Clan would be the first choice. Kōki also coveted their Sharingan very much.
There was one problem, however. When members of the Uchiha Clan died, their clansmen recovered the Sharingan from their corpses. In other words, even if he obtained a corpse, he wouldn't get its Sharingan.
At that thought, Kōki's somewhat excited expression immediately fell. He could only wait and see whether he could collect some Uchiha Clan corpses with Sharingan amid the chaos of a battlefield in the future.
Then were there any other powerhouses with exceptional talent for genjutsu? Kōki racked his brains, going through the renowned ninja powerhouses of the Shinobi World. He only managed to recall some genjutsu users who had appeared in the original story, such as the Kumogakure ninja C, Tayuya of the future Sound Four, the Second Mizukage Hozuki Gengetsu, Shisui Uchiha, Uchiha Itachi, and Kurenai.
These ninja were either dead, too far away, or had yet to mature. They offered no useful points of reference.
Just as Kōki was feeling troubled, he suddenly remembered Konoha's Kurama Clan. The members of their clan all had considerable talent for genjutsu, and their bodies also possessed a genjutsu kekkei genkai. At the same time, they weren't very well-known, so even if a corpse went missing, it wouldn't cause much of a reaction.
Yes, the Kurama Clan it was. At that moment, Kōki made up his mind. He would definitely obtain a corpse from the Kurama Clan.