In the bedroom, Nawaki sat cross-legged on the bed. Kaito remained with his right hand pressed against Nawaki's stomach, his eyes tightly shut.
'It's been several minutes. Why hasn't Teacher Kaito come out yet? Could something have happened?'
Nawaki was growing worried and decided to enter the sealed space again.
But before he could even find the right feeling, a sudden heat spread from his stomach, and his body was gently shaken.
Opening his eyes, he saw Kaito looking at him with a smile.
"Teacher Kaito, are you okay?"
"How could I not be? I just wanted to chat a little longer with the Nine-Tails."
Kaito said, "It's the first time, so failure is to be expected. If you have time, go in and talk with the Nine-Tails more often. It'll feel your sincerity soon enough."
"Yeah! I'll do my best!"
After bidding farewell to the motivated Nawaki, Kaito returned to his own room and pulled out a book, reading it slowly.
A moment later, after using his [Aura Power] to confirm that the Anbu had stopped using their sensory ninjutsu, he created a barrier inside the room with his Aura to prevent any major fluctuations from escaping.
Then, pretending to be tired from reading, he covered his face with the book and closed his eyes.
Focusing his mind, he entered the rainbow-colored space within his body. Kaito's gaze was immediately drawn to the chakra plate, which was suspended in mid-air, spinning continuously and emitting a blinding white light.
"Three years. It's finally complete."
Back in Nawaki's sealed space, Kaito's silver tongue had failed to win the Nine-Tails' trust after a long discussion. In a fit of anger, he had resorted to force, snatching a considerable amount of its chakra and successfully activating the plate.
"Alright, now let's see what you can really do."
Kaito let out a soft breath and slowly reached his right hand toward it.
Boom!
The instant he made contact, the chakra plate exploded, transforming into countless points of light that enveloped Kaito. A brilliant white light immediately filled the entire rainbow space.
In the real world, Kaito's body suddenly erupted in a dazzling golden glow, as if he were wreathed in golden flames. Even his pupils were shrouded in a beam of golden light, giving him an imposing aura of inviolable sanctity.
A strange ripple passed through the barrier and the house, rapidly spreading throughout all of Konoha and extending far into the distance.
At the same time, in a certain underground palace, a man with long, braided hair, dressed in a white haori, shot to his feet, staring in astonishment in the direction of Konoha.
"What is this? It's a bit weak... an incomplete power of the God Tree? Has the Ten-Tails been summoned?"
He pondered for a long time, his eyes gradually narrowing.
In the Land of Grass, underground.
A giant, humanoid wooden statue suddenly sensed something and let out a long howl.
Below the statue, Madara Uchiha, sitting on a stone chair, looked on with shock and suspicion. "The Gedo Mazo activated on its own, without my control? This feeling... it's like it's met a rival."
After a short wait, the Gedo Mazo fell completely silent, returning to its original state.
Madara's expression was grave. The occurrence of something beyond his control left him deeply uneasy.
"I have a bad feeling about this. The plan may have to be moved up. But this body is too weak... I need a proxy."
He tilted his head up slightly. From within the eyes surrounded by a mask of wrinkles, a chilling light still shone.
Back in the room, Kaito stared at his new look, a bit dazed.
"This is a lot like Naruto's [Kurama Mode]. Is it because I absorbed too much of the Nine-Tails' chakra?"
He didn't have time to dwell on it. The Anbu members watching from outside had noticed something was wrong and were already at his door.
Kaito frowned slightly. Remembering that his objective wasn't fully complete, he didn't want to cause a scene just yet. He quickly retracted the golden light, returned to his usual appearance, and opened the door.
Looking at the two masked Anbu members before him, he asked with a puzzled expression, "What's wrong?"
"A moment ago, an unusual chakra fluctuation came from your room. We were worried you might have had an accident, so we came to check."
"Oh, I was just practicing a new move. Sorry for startling you," Kaito said with a smile.
"A new move? To ensure your safety, may we come in and take a look?"
"Be my guest."
They examined the room carefully but found nothing out of the ordinary. They had no choice but to apologize and leave.
After closing the door, Kaito pursed his lips and sat back on his bed, continuing to inspect the changes in his body.
First, the chakra plate had completely vanished, as if it had merged into his body, bringing a slight change to his golden energy.
Following the memory of hand seals in his mind, he made them. With a poof, a person who looked exactly like him appeared by his side.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu... it worked. As I thought, the golden energy now has the properties of chakra. Heh, Arceus getting a localization? So it's nineteen types now. Don't tell me nature energy can form a plate too."
He didn't have the energy to create a Sage Plate right now, though. That was an experiment for another time.
"Hey, you're pretty handsome."
"Likewise, you're not so bad yourself."
"Hey buddy, are you feeling a little hungry?"
After dispatching the shadow clone to the kitchen to get him some dinner, Kaito focused his attention back on his body.
After some testing, there was no doubt that his speed, strength, endurance, and recovery had all improved slightly across the board.
While eating dinner with his shadow clone, Kaito had a sudden idea.
'Arceus's plates can be summoned, right? I can't command the ones in the rainbow space, but the chakra plate merged with my body, so it should count as mine, shouldn't it?'
He decided to act on it immediately. But before he did, he once again set up a barrier with his [Aura Power], this time adding a sealing formula he had learned from Ruri but never had a chance to use.
"This should be foolproof."
Even if those Anbu came back, they'd have to break the seal first. The shadow clone was also keeping watch, giving Kaito plenty of time to react.
He then sat cross-legged on the floor and scanned his body inside and out with his [Aura Power], finding nothing unusual.
He resorted to visualizing the chakra plate in his mind, imagining it being expelled from his body.
After trying for a long time, just as Kaito was about to lose hope, specks of white light slowly began to seep out of his body, coalescing in front of him into a plate shimmering with white light.
"It actually came out."
"My turn next, right?" The shadow clone proactively walked over, a grin on its face.
"That's right. Time to perform for everyone: swallowing a plate whole."
"Alright then, allow me to make a fool of myself!"
The shadow clone bowed to the imaginary audience around them, then wrapped its arms forcefully around the chakra plate in front of it.
The next second, the shadow clone was engulfed in golden flames.
"Crap! I've become the light!"