Madara had made his move.
Earlier, Takeshi had been wondering if Black Zetsu and Madara would track down Nagato and drag him away by force. After all, those eyes were directly tied to Madara himself. He hadn't expected them to take Shisui Uchiha instead.
Unlike that lunatic Obito, Shisui was a different case.
Even if Madara drove Shisui insane, he would still be a rational madman-and in that regard, Shisui was far superior to Obito.
Obito was the Uchiha temperament in its purest form, the dangerous type Tobirama Senju had warned about. If Obito had been the one taken by Madara, Takeshi would have jumped in with the Flying Thunder God and blown him to bits on the spot, without hesitation, rather than risk Rin being dragged into disaster later.
Fortunately, Black Zetsu hadn't grabbed Obito. Maybe he thought the kid was too weak. Sure, having a three-tomoe Sharingan in one eye at his age wasn't bad, but compared to the four-year-old prodigy who had already proficient with one-tomie, it was nothing special.
Shisui was sharp for his age, with his mind, he might even end up outmaneuvering Madara.
Nagato, though, needed careful watching. A White Zetsu had been captured alive, but once Black Zetsu realized every White Zetsu in this region had vanished, it wouldn't take him long to deduce Nagato was somewhere nearby.
So Takeshi had to return to Kuraokami and think through their next steps. He felt he probably had the strength to take on Madara now, but he remained wary of Black Zetsu's mental control and Madara's genjutsu.
The good news was that, from their earlier probing, Madara and Black Zetsu were clearly just as wary of him.
If it had been an ordinary ninja, they would have been killed the moment they got close. But when Takeshi approached, the two only used mental techniques and genjutsu against him.
This meant that in every other respect, they didn't have a clean way to deal with him.
The next step was to find a way to patch his weakness against genjutsu.
Thinking about it gave Takeshi a headache. Everything that fit the bill was either absurdly expensive or came with serious drawbacks. Taking the Three Great Dojutsu as an example, aside from the Byakugan, the other two demanded extreme bloodline conditions.
Of course, with his Sage Body, even if he swapped in those eyes, he would be able to handle and master them, it would just cost him more.
But each purchase required a huge amount of points, and Takeshi didn't have the capital to test them one by one. One unhelpful thing about his system was the lack of a trial version or test mode. If he had that, this wouldn't be a problem.
Still, there had to be options besides the Three Great Dojutsu.
Like Six Paths Sage Mode.
But even with a Sage Body, he would still need a massive amount of points to redeem the power of the Six Paths.
He let out a sigh.
Using the Flying Thunder God, Takeshi returned to Kuraokami and checked on things. Nagato was still training on the Cat Climbing Tower.
The tower was brutally difficult for humans to climb, plenty of sections simply weren't shaped for human hands. On the other hand, if Nagato could manage it, his body would be undeniably strengthened.
The Uzumaki physique was naturally strong.
Maybe not as outrageous as Naruto, the reincarnation of Asura's chakra, but with proper development, Nagato would definitely gain enough stamina to use Almighty Push more often. And the boost to his taijutsu was far from a minor benefit.
So Takeshi didn't stop him.
"Takeshi-sama, have you finished your business?"
Kanna Uzumaki noticed Takeshi's return and temporarily paused her Sage Mode training.
"Meow!"
Takeshi nodded, then turned his attention to Kanna.
Her body had already accumulated a fair amount of senjutsu chakra, but her control was still unstable. The chakra distribution was scattered, and once condensed, it quickly dispersed again.
Even so, she seemed to have reached the threshold for using Sage Mode.
"You've learnt Sage Mode, meow?"
"Not fully yet. Perhaps my talent isn't enough. My Sage Mode is..."
Kanna trailed off.
"Meow?"
Takeshi looked at her suspiciously. He'd already seen a cat-girl transformation, there was nothing left he couldn't handle. Whatever it was, he was ready.
He waved a paw, signaling her to try.
Kanna gave a small nod and began gathering senjutsu chakra. From her speed, her affinity for Sage Mode was actually a bit worse than Rin's, so her degree of transformation might be lower.
Rin's sage transformation was close to perfect.
For Kanna, would the tail be permanent?
Or...
As Takeshi was mulling it over, he saw Kanna's chakra condense and subtle changes appear. First, cat ears formed on her head, then a tail unfurled behind her. Both ears and tail were a vibrant red.
Was that all? "Look."
Kanna pressed her hands together-and just like that, they morphed into cat paws, as if she were wearing paw-shaped gloves. Not only that, a faint glow flickered at the centers of those paws.
That glow felt... like healing power?
While Takeshi was still processing this, Kanna threw that healing energy at him.
It was healing, all right.
But it also seemed to restore the chakra he'd just burned. Why did this feel so familiar?
He sank into thought.
After a long moment, Takeshi snapped out of it.
This was exactly like the unique Uzumaki clan healing ability that Kanna and Karin possessed.
That ability not only cured injuries but also restored chakra. Before her sage transformation, it required someone to bite her to activate it, now she could project it at range like standard medical ninjutsu.
"Meow! That's your Sage Mode amplifying your natural ability. As for the cat claws, that's because your sage transformation isn't refined yet. In Konoha, Rin also uses Sage Mode, she only manifests the ears, and her tail only appears when she's in combat."
Takeshi explained.
Kanna nodded thoughtfully, then seemed to remember something and quickly added, "I also discovered that the ninjutsu you planned to teach the ninja cats... once I enter Sage Mode, I can use them."
The black cat was stunned.
He really hadn't seen that coming. He fixed his gaze on Kanna, urging her to demonstrate.
Kanna nodded softly, focused her chakra, and pressed her hands together. Her body then rose, floating, and her speed increased dramatically.
Light-Weight Rock Technique.
In Takeshi's naming convention, that was Earth Release: Flight Jutsu.
It was a high-difficulty technique. He'd offhandedly suggested she try teaching it to the cat generals, and she had gone and mastered it herself first.
"And this."
Kanna formed another set of seals and spat out a floating sphere of water-a Water Release: Water Prison Jutsu. Unfortunately, in this frigid environment, the prison quickly froze into a solid ice cage.
"This is actually working, meow!"
Takeshi's eyes lit up. He'd never considered this route, and Kanna had stumbled into it on her own.
Excellent.
He immediately taught her Water Release: Water Severing Wave and Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Jutsu-especially the latter. With it, dealing with White Zetsu would become a lot easier.
Kanna set about absorbing and practicing the new jutsu.
Just then, Konan opened the door of the ice hut and called out, "Nagato, it's time to eat... Oh, Takeshi-sama, you're back. Have you eaten?"
"Not yet, meow!"
Takeshi's eyes shone.
Konan's cooking was fantastic, especially her technique with grilled fish-top-notch. Even if he'd already eaten, that wouldn't stop him from mooching another meal. Besides, seeing Konan reminded him of the real reason he had hurried back.
Madara and the Rinnegan.
Now that Madara had appeared, he needed to talk to Nagato about him, to give the boy some mental preparation. He also wanted Nagato to be more careful, to avoid being ambushed by Black Zetsu or White Zetsu.
Avoiding Black Zetsu entirely would be difficult.
But Black Zetsu's control had its limits. As long as one's will was strong enough, it would take him time to fully seize control of a body. If Nagato stayed firm and used a signal flare to call for help, Takeshi could teleport in and pull him out.
This method wouldn't have worked for Shisui.
Shisui was still just a child, in terms of spiritual strength, he lagged far too far behind Black Zetsu.
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