Early the next morning, Kōki created a Shadow Clone and returned to the Kurama Clan's grounds, carefully sneaking inside once again.
After several turns, he reached the room from the previous night and hid nearby again. Before long, he saw the Kurama Clan's leader, Kurama Masahiro, emerge from the room. Once Kurama Masahiro came out, Kōki secretly followed him.
Soon, Kōki arrived at a relatively open area. Quite a few members of the Kurama Clan were already standing there. When their clan leader, Kurama Masahiro, arrived, they parted to make a path, allowing him to walk to the front of the crowd.
So this was where the Kurama Clan buried its dead. No wonder he had searched so many places without finding it.
Kōki then watched Kurama Masahiro preside over the funeral rites. It was only an hour later that Kurama Some's funeral finally ended.
Once the funeral was over, the members of the Kurama Clan gradually dispersed until they had all left.
Their departure gave Kōki an opportunity, but he did not act immediately. Only after waiting another half hour and confirming that no one had appeared did he emerge from hiding.
He used Wood Release to easily lift the coffin holding Kurama Some's body. After opening it, he sealed the corpse inside a scroll and took it away, cleaning up the traces he had left before leaving.
Having successfully stolen Kurama Some's body, Kōki could barely contain his excitement. As soon as he returned home, he immediately took Kurama Some's body out of the scroll.
The body he took out had been very well preserved by Kurama Masahiro. Though he had been dead for quite some time, it still showed no signs of decay.
Looking at the lifelike corpse before him, Kōki guessed that Kurama Masahiro had taken some measures to preserve it. But Kōki set that aside. Right now, he only wanted to test the power of his Shadow Clone.
Chakra surged through Kōki's body, and a black clone appeared before him. He then controlled the clone, making it attach itself to Kurama Some's corpse. Gradually, the black clone on the corpse seeped inside.
Suddenly, Kōki sensed Kurama Some's corpse move. First came the fingers, then the lower legs, and then the eyelids.
Slowly, Kurama Some's corpse opened his eyes under the special Shadow Clone's control.
After opening his eyes, Kurama Some first twisted his neck from side to side, then began moving his arms, slowly propping up his upper body. After a while longer, his legs seemed able to make larger movements as well. Finally, using his arms for support, Kurama Some tried to stand. His first few attempts failed, seemingly because he could not put any strength into his legs, but after several failures, he managed to stand up.
Looking at Kurama Some, who could be considered to have come back to life, Kōki felt somewhat strange.
"Wh-what, is, it? Why, why are you looking, at me, like that?" Kurama Some, possessed by the special Shadow Clone, spoke haltingly, seemingly not yet accustomed to speaking. At the same time, he looked at his original body in confusion.
"It's nothing. It just feels a little strange. We're clearly the same person, but we have different faces and bodies. I'm not quite used to it." Kōki looked at his clone and spoke somewhat awkwardly.
But he quickly put that strange feeling aside and asked the clone, "How do you feel now? There's nothing wrong with this body, is there?"
This body could be called the most valuable one in the Kurama Clan. There was none better. If this body would not work, Kōki could only consider killing a member of the Uchiha Clan to use as a clone.
Hearing Kōki's question, the clone carefully examined how his current body felt, then tried using the chakra extraction technique.
Before long, he told Kōki, "There's nothing wrong with this body. I can extract chakra normally, and I can clearly sense the power of its bloodline. I can't tell how flexible the body is yet. I'll have to test that later."
Kōki's face lit up at the clone's words. As long as it worked, that was good. He then asked, "Can the chakra you extract delay your disappearance?"
That question went straight to the heart of the matter. The clone was only valuable if he could exist for a long time. If he could not, he would not be much use.
After hearing Kōki's question, the clone closed his eyes and assessed his condition. Then he opened them and told Kōki regretfully, "No. I can still feel the chakra sustaining my consciousness slowly dissipating. But with support from the body's chakra, it dissipates more slowly. Originally, I could only exist for one day, but now I can exist for three."
Kōki found the clone's words a pity. Just three days was not quite enough for him. He could only try to find a way to stop the clone from disappearing.
Then Kōki asked the clone, "How strong are you now? Does the Kurama Clan's bloodline feel powerful to you?"
At this, the clone's initially stiff expression grew somewhat excited. "I've completely inherited the Kurama Clan's bloodline. I even inherited this body's original Jonin memories and strength."
"You inherited the memories too?" Kōki was somewhat surprised by the clone's words. He had not expected his clone to inherit the original owner's memories after invading a human body. This was almost like body possession in xianxia.
"That's right. I inherited every last one of this body's memories and all its combat experience. Once the Shadow Clone is dispelled later, you'll be able to experience them."
The clone's face was also full of excitement. What he valued most were the memories of combat experience. Inheriting that experience allowed him to immediately bring out this body's Jonin strength. With the Five Senses Manipulation bloodline, he could even try competing against a Kage Level expert.
"All right, but there's something more important right now. Use the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai on me and let me experience its power. I want to know whether the Kurama Clan's bloodline is really as formidable as I think." After hearing that the clone had inherited Kurama Some's strength and bloodline, Kōki could hardly wait to see the power of Five Senses Manipulation genjutsu.
"All right."
After saying that, the clone suddenly vanished from in front of Kōki without making any visible movements. Then Kōki saw his surroundings begin to distort, and an intense light appeared before him, so dazzling that he could barely keep his eyes open.
Suddenly, the sound of car horns came from around Kōki. That long-absent sense of familiarity made him open his eyes, which he had closed against the bright light.
What greeted him was a scene of bustling traffic and towering buildings. People brushed past him from time to time. The sight left him stunned.
"So this is the genjutsu world of Five Senses Manipulation?" At that moment, Kōki could clearly feel the blazing sunlight on his hands. The breeze stirred up by passing cars brushed across his face, and he could even smell the food from the roadside stalls.
That vivid sense of actually being there made Kōki wonder for a moment whether he had truly returned to the world of his previous life.
At that moment, Kōki could clearly feel the power of manipulating the five senses. After all, the more realistic a genjutsu was, the more powerful it became. Even with his current strength, which was nearly unrivaled among Jonin, Kōki found it difficult to distinguish whether this genjutsu was real or false. Ordinary Jonin would have even less chance of breaking it.
But this also further confirmed Kōki's own shortcomings when it came to genjutsu. If he encountered genjutsu approaching the Mangekyō level, he would have great difficulty breaking it.
Indeed, Kōki believed that the power of the clone's genjutsu already approached that of genjutsu cast by the Mangekyō Sharingan.