Shinji flew high in the sky, looking down at the valley below.
Undoubtedly, this was the core node designed by the Research Institute, and also the place where Shinji needed to plant the God Tree and activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"It truly is a good place," Shinji whispered.
The mountain range outside the valley below was a ready-made "city wall"; as long as the God Tree was planted, the entire mountain range could be integrated into one, becoming a massive fortress!
Shion flew to Shinji's side at this time, pointing below: "The Surveying Squad has already found the most suitable location; it is right there!"
Following the direction Shion pointed, Shinji found that there was a deep pool, and around the pool, a large number of shinobi were calculating something.
Shinji observed the bottom of the deep pool and found it was very deep, connected to the underground water system; it was indeed a pivotal location.
Shion said: "News came from the Engineering Squad that they are manufacturing the reinforcement spikes with all their might and will complete them in a week at most. So Sasori's intention is to arrange for engineering personnel to enter the valley as soon as possible to carry out engineering modifications on the interior of the valley, especially the area where the reinforcement spikes will be installed."
Shinji shook his head: "There is no need for the Engineering Squad to worry about this place; they only need to focus entirely on manufacturing the reinforcement spikes. As for the engineering modification here, give the blueprints to me, I will be responsible for it!"
The workload here was enormous; if the Engineering Squad were responsible for the modification, the required manpower would be quite exaggerated. Since engineering modifications involve core secrets, the more people who know, the easier it is to leak secrets, so Shinji decided to handle it himself.
As long as there were blueprints, such a project was as easy as turning over a hand for him, a Kekkei Shinra who could turn the mundane into the miraculous.
...
After giving the instructions, Shinji did not stay here long, but instead went to the other critical nodes.
These nine critical nodes were spread all over the Shinobi World; some were on snowfields, some in deserts, and some were not even on the continent Shinji was familiar with but on another continent across the sea. Therefore, Shinji had to visit every location and evaluate each one.
After traveling through every node, Shinji used his own perception to evaluate them, confirming the accuracy of these nodes.
Subsequently, Shinji calculated the arrangement of combat power.
Nine nodes required at least nine high-level combatants to guard them; this point was identical to the Hexagon World and was unavoidable.
Gathering the high-level combat power Shinji had at hand, selecting nine people was not much of a problem, but Shinji did not want to distribute the combat power evenly like that—especially the precious Kekkei Mora, whom he did not want to waste on guarding a single fixed node.
With a thought, Shinji arrived at a critical node located on a snowfield.
The snow filling the sky over the snowfield did not affect the current Shinji in the slightest; he strolled through it, observing the surroundings while pondering something.
Shinji had visited Kaguya Otsutsuki's Root Dimension, and the frozen dimension within it had left a deep impression on him: "Although the gap between Haku and the Six Paths level is not small, if the environment is compatible enough, it should not be difficult to have him exert Six Paths level combat power..."
"Wind, stop for a moment!"
Thinking of this, Shinji waved his hand, and the wind and snow across the entire snowfield instantly stopped.
"There must be not only ice and snow but also water, a large amount of water!"
Shinji waved his hand again, and a massive lake appeared on the snowfield; this lake seemed as if it had always been here, not appearing abrupt at all amidst the snowfield of filling ice and snow.
"Water beneath the ice, ice upon the water, but the temperature should ideally be even lower!"
Following Shinji's thought, the lake turned into an ice lake, and a thick layer of frost formed on the lake surface.
...
"The nature energy is not yet dense enough!"
Shinji clenched his fist, and the nature energy from the entire snowfield, even the nearby mountain ranges and forests, all surged toward the ice lake, giving the originally monotonous ice lake an inexplicable sense of vitality.
Relying on his own will, Shinji created a special environment within a few breaths.
Here was a severe cold that made living creatures feel terror, a large amount of water and ice, and nature energy so dense that even the lifeless ice and snow became exceptionally vivid.
Undoubtedly, this was tailor-made for Haku by Shinji.
As an Ice Release shinobi, the ice lake was Haku's absolute home field; here, he could use the minimum chakra consumption to launch the most terrifying Ice Release. At the same time, the extremely dense nature energy could allow Haku, who mastered Senjutsu, to extract Senjutsu chakra with ease.
After completing all of this, Shinji did not pat himself on the back, but instead opened a spatial gate and called Haku over.
Haku, who came here through the spatial gate, bowed to Shinji: "Leader, were you looking for me?"
Shinji said: "What do you think of this place?"
While observing the surroundings, Haku marveled: "Such dense nature energy!"
Shinji did not beat around the bush and spoke directly: "This is a field I specifically designed for you. If you were to fight here, how much of an advantage do you think you could exert?"
Haku thought for a moment and said: "I feel I should be able to fight against an experimental subject who has passed the ritual!"
Shinji smiled with satisfaction.
Experimental subjects who passed the ritual could basically possess Six Paths level combat power; Haku's judgment that he could challenge an experimental subject was roughly equivalent to him feeling he could reach the Six Paths level in this environment.
Suddenly, Haku said: "However..."
Shinji asked: "However what?"
Haku said very candidly: "However, if it is only like this, I should not be able to confront Sasuke, Naruto, and the others!"
Shinji was also clear on this point; the strength of Sasuke and Naruto was stronger than the ordinary experimental subjects.
Haku said: "Leader, if it could be even colder here, the strength I can exert might increase quite a bit!"
Shinji shook his head: "If it gets any colder, I worry your body will not be able to withstand it."
Even with an Ice Release Bloodline Limit, Haku was still a normal person and could not defy natural rules or ignore extreme cold.
Haku said: "After entering Sage Mode, my adaptability will increase significantly, and after opening the Mark through the Breathing Style, my body temperature will rise significantly again, so I have more of an advantage in resisting severe cold than others. Therefore, if in an extremely cold environment, the weakening I receive will be much less than others!"
After hearing this, Shinji fell into thought.
In his normal state, Haku would certainly be unable to adapt to extreme cold, but this was actually not a problem, because Shinji could build a thermal house here, and Haku could just hide in the thermal house usually. When battle was needed, after Haku simultaneously activated Sage Mode and the Mark, his resistance to extreme cold would increase greatly, allowing him to utilize the extreme cold environment.
Thinking of this, Shinji wasted no more words and began to drastically adjust the terrain and landscape of the entire snowfield and even the nearby mountain ranges, completely changing the geographical links of the ice lake area and artificially lowering the temperature of the ice lake by a large margin again.
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