After cultivating inside the Dragon Vein for two days, Ryun eventually left his wife and daughter temporarily in the ancient Land of Loulan.
He had Kushina continue her own training while also supervising Nanaise's practice. Additionally, he arranged for the Queen of Loulan to take care of the daily lives of the mother and daughter. He himself used the Kamui pupil technique to return to Otogakure.
"Perhaps, I can transform the Kamui dimension into another home." Standing within the vast and empty Kamui dimension, this idea suddenly emerged in Ryun's heart.
The Kamui dimension possessed by the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was far larger than the one Obito originally had. Ryun felt it was somewhat wasteful to leave such an alternate dimension unused and unmodified.
Setting this idea aside for the moment, after appearing in the underground base of Otogakure, Ryun immediately summoned the Nine-Tails, which was far away in the ancient Land of Loulan.
"The power scattered across the Ninja World has finally gathered together again today..."
Ryun looked with pride at the ten giant beasts standing quietly before him.
All nine Tailed Beasts had their five senses sealed, and their bodies were tightly bound in place, unable to move. Even if Ryun didn't lock them in cages, there was no risk of them losing control.
"Next, once that guy Nagato arrives at Otogakure, the nine Tailed Beasts can be merged back into one."
Having thought through the plan for the next steps, Ryun immediately sat cross-legged on the ground and began attempting to fully merge the Tailed Beast power within his body, thereby obtaining the complete Ten-Tails power.
As the Ten-Turn Seal was fully activated by him, ten chakras of slightly different colors and completely different natures were forcibly blended together.
Ryun did not release all the chakra at once, because doing so might truly cause his body to explode and die, becoming the most dazzling art in Deidara's words...
After activating the seal, he guided out ten weak strands of chakra and placed them in the very center of the Ten-Turn Seal, which was also the chakra storage space with the largest capacity within the entire seal.
Initially, when merging these ten powers, he felt that these chakras still had some reactive rejection in terms of their attributes. But when the first strand of Ten-Tails power was generated, that feeling of conflict and rejection immediately disappeared.
"Indeed, they ultimately share the same origin. Even after being separated for a thousand years, they still cannot escape the destiny of merging back into one." Ryun whispered with a smile.
Looking at the newly born Ten-Tails chakra within his body, Ryun's expression appeared somewhat excited.
"Continue, continue..."
He needed more Ten-Tails power. Later, he would use this power to stimulate, or even transform, his body, turning himself into a new generation of 'Otsutsuki', and subsequently awaken the power of the Rinnegan.
Merging the Ten-Tails chakra and transforming his body required time and a stable, quiet space. Therefore, he planned to go into seclusion after stuffing the nine Tailed Beasts into the Gedo Statue.
Strive to bring out the Rinnegan. This way, he could replace that foolish woman Kaguya Otsutsuki and become the new master of the Divine Tree.
Two days later.
Nagato and Konan arrived at Otogakure, bringing the instrument of surrender from the Land of Rain.
Inside the Shadow's building.
Ryun glanced briefly at the instrument of surrender, then handed this document to the Daimyo of the Land of Rice. From now on, the Land of Rain would be a vassal state of the Land of Rice.
"Was the power transition in Amegakure smooth?" Ryun asked, looking at the two.
"It was relatively smooth. Previously, Pain had the final say in Amegakure. After everyone learned we joined Otogakure, they lost the will to resist..." Konan stepped forward to answer.
"Hmm..." Ryun nodded lightly, but his gaze imperceptibly flicked towards Nagato.
He felt this redhead still seemed somewhat unconvinced...
Surrendering all his authority and coming under Ryun's command was still somewhat difficult for this Akatsuki leader to accept. After all, he had grown accustomed to being in Amegakure over the years.
"Rest for two days first. After resting, prepare for the 'Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals' ritual. I want to merge the nine Tailed Beasts into one." Ryun gave them direct instructions.
"The Nine-Tails..." Nagato looked like he wanted to say something but stopped.
"The Nine-Tails has already been extracted from my wife's body. All nine Tailed Beasts are in the underground of Otogakure." Ryun stated bluntly.
The moment they heard this sentence, the expressions on Nagato and Konan's faces turned extremely surprised.
"Ryun-sama, is your wife alright? Extracting a Tailed Beast..." Konan asked cautiously.
"She is fine. She can eat, sleep, and still hit people..."
Ryun's simple sentence directly made Konan, the ice beauty, laugh.
"I will have someone take you to your quarters to rest. Afterwards, you can look around Otogakure freely."
"Okay, we will go familiarize ourselves with this village first." Konan said with a smile.
"Go ahead..."
Ryun waved his hand, indicating the two could leave.
"Shadow-sama, does the Land of Rice truly have the authority to allocate all resources within the Land of Rain's borders?" The Daimyo of the Land of Rice couldn't help but ask more. His face was full of excitement at this moment.
Hearing this, Ryun was silent for a moment, then finally spoke words that shocked the Daimyo of the Land of Rice to his core.
"Why care so much about a mere corner of land? You have followed me for so long, I will not treat you poorly... Wait until I wipe out the Daimyos of the Five Great Nations, I will naturally support you as the leader of the allied nations!"
As soon as Ryun said this, the Daimyo of the Land of Rice was so excited his eyes nearly popped out. The next moment, he very decisively knelt down.
"If it truly can be so, I will teach my descendants to be eternally loyal to you. Your progeny will all be the masters of my clan!"
Watching the Daimyo of the Land of Rice pledge his loyalty, Ryun nodded imperceptibly.
"It will not take much longer for me to fulfill my promise. But please also remember the vow you made today."
"I will never dare forget!!!"
The Daimyo of the Land of Rice heavily kowtowed, his head hitting the ground.
With Ryun's promise, the Daimyo of the Land of Rice already looked down on this 'lean meat' of the Land of Rain... He began to set his sights on the Five Great Nations, on the whole world, and began to anticipate the future in his heart.
The next day.
Orochimaru led the Otogakure ninja army back to the village in victory. Ryun, the Shadow, rarely appeared in the public eye and, together with the Daimyo of the Land of Rice, welcomed his teacher's triumphant return.
"Teacher, you returned just in time. The Akatsuki organization happens to lack people for sealing the Tailed Beasts..."
Ryun planned to hand this task over to his teacher. After all, in the original work, Orochimaru was the 'Empty Tone of Akatsuki'. How could sealing the Tailed Beasts not involve him?
Orochimaru: "???"
"I just retreated from the battlefield, returned to the village without even resting, and you assign me a task. Isn't this a bit too much???"
"It concerns the nine Tailed Beasts, and the Ten-Tails, the origin of chakra. Are you sure you are not interested in this?" Ryun looked at him with a smile.
"Hmm??? Explain clearly..."
Orochimaru's abundant curiosity was instantly piqued.
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