Chapter 571: Rinnegan! Otsutsuki Mode!
"Today is the day."
Kenichi stood atop a high mountain peak and took a deep breath.
For once, his expression was completely serious.
He looked out over the distant landscape while carefully sensing the chakra within his body.
After such a long period of refinement and compression, his chakra had finally been condensed until almost every cell in his body was completely saturated.
Kenichi had waited a very, very long time for this moment.
Now, at last, only one final step remained.
Refine chakra.
Condense it.
Strip away the unnecessary components until only the purest, most essential chakra energy remained.
Then distribute that energy evenly throughout every cell in his body.
The instant the final compression was completed, Kenichi's entire body trembled violently.
His hand immediately clutched his chest.
His expression changed.
His heart had stopped beating.
"No..."
Kenichi focused carefully.
"It hasn't stopped. It's just become unbelievably slow."
He waited.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three.
Only after nearly five full minutes did Kenichi finally feel his heart contract once.
That realization left him genuinely astonished.
The Otsutsuki Clan truly was a completely different kind of life-form from humans.
Although they possessed humanoid appearances, their internal biology and fundamental life structure were clearly vastly different from ordinary human beings.
The difference might even be enormous.
Kenichi fell into thought.
It seemed there was still far too much he did not understand about the Otsutsuki Clan.
Then another sensation caught his attention.
"My eyes..."
Kenichi immediately pulled out a mirror and examined his reflection.
His eyes were still Mangekyo Sharingan.
But that state was changing.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, the color of his eyes began shifting.
The Mangekyo pattern slowly disappeared and transformed into concentric rings.
Kenichi was awakening the Rinnegan.
"This is actually almost exactly what I predicted."
He calmly watched the transformation.
Kenichi had previously developed his own theory about how Madara had awakened the Rinnegan.
According to his deductions, two conditions were indispensable.
The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
And a bloodline close enough to that of the Otsutsuki Clan.
When Madara awakened his Rinnegan, he had already transplanted Hashirama's cells into his body.
By combining Indra's and Asura's chakra, Madara's body had moved closer to Hagoromo, the Sage of Six Paths.
That allowed him to gradually awaken the Rinnegan.
But there was also a way to accelerate the process.
Sasuke had taken that route.
Kenichi had already concluded long ago that there were essentially two methods.
Either transplant Hashirama's cells and wait for the resulting changes to slowly take effect...
Or directly elevate oneself toward an Otsutsuki level of existence and force the eyes to evolve more rapidly.
His current success proved that the second method was viable.
Kenichi quietly watched as his Mangekyo Sharingan completely transformed.
The Rinnegan appeared.
He looked out at the world again.
At first, the experience felt somewhat similar to using his Mangekyo.
Then he noticed the difference.
The level of detail he could perceive had risen considerably.
Standing on the mountain peak, Kenichi could clearly distinguish individual leaves on trees at the foot of the mountain.
When he focused on one particular leaf, its composition rapidly unfolded within his vision.
Kenichi immediately analyzed it.
Then, with nothing more than a thought, the leaf disintegrated.
A moment later, he restored it.
"My original Mangekyo abilities haven't been affected."
Kenichi narrowed his eyes.
"They've even been strengthened."
But that was only one part of the improvement.
His newly awakened Rinnegan possessed its own abilities as well.
Kenichi looked toward a nearby tree.
A thought passed through his mind.
The tree was instantly torn from the ground and pulled toward him.
Then Kenichi reversed the force.
"Shinra Tensei!"
He deliberately shouted the name with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Boom!
The tree was blasted away.
Kenichi nodded in satisfaction.
The first major improvement brought by the Rinnegan was control over attractive and repulsive forces.
He could now perform techniques on the level of Nagato's massive Shinra Tensei.
He could also use Chibaku Tensei.
And with Kenichi's current reserves and physical state, his versions might be even stronger.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Apparently, his Rinnegan's performance was excellent.
More importantly, it seemed that only someone possessing a Six Paths level physique could truly unleash the Rinnegan's full potential.
Kenichi raised one hand.
With a thought, the refined primordial chakra within his body condensed into black chakra receivers.
Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
The black receiver shifted again.
It became a small black sphere.
Kenichi smiled in satisfaction.
"And when I expend this chakra, it can replenish itself normally."
That was another important discovery.
"Even when I refine chakra now, what I produce directly is this primordial chakra."
Kenichi scratched his head.
That advantage alone represented an enormous improvement compared to before.
Excitement gradually appeared in his eyes.
At this point, facing Madara should no longer pose any serious problem.
Even against Isshiki, Kenichi now possessed the strength to put up a real fight.
"Still..."
His excitement quickly settled.
"The Otsutsuki Clan has spent countless years using powers at this level."
"In terms of experience, I'm probably nowhere near them yet."
Kenichi stared at the purple Rinnegan reflected in his mirror.
His thoughts drifted toward the memories he had recovered through genjutsu.
He had managed to extract scattered information related to Boruto from the depths of his memory.
One thing he vaguely remembered was that the Rinnegan itself appeared to have different levels or variations.
That was not particularly surprising to Kenichi.
Boruto was a sequel.
It could hardly continue relying forever on the original progression of ordinary ninjutsu, genin, chunin, jonin, and Kage.
Boruto could not simply repeat Naruto's exact path.
The story needed to introduce enemies and powers beyond what had appeared during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
The Rinnegan was an obvious place to expand.
Kenichi rubbed his eyes.
He suddenly remembered one particularly irritating article he had once read.
Some brainless content editor had claimed that the Rinnegan could be divided according to color, with purple Rinnegan supposedly being the weakest type.
Kenichi had called the writer brainless because the entire article had essentially been meaningless circular logic.
[Why is the purple Rinnegan the weakest Rinnegan? The editor is also very curious, so let us explore it together. Since there are many different types of Rinnegan, and the purple Rinnegan is the weakest, this proves that the purple Rinnegan is the lowest-level Rinnegan.]
Remembering it still made Kenichi's fists clench.
"Still, the purple Rinnegan might actually be connected to Kaguya's bloodline."
Kenichi sat on the edge of the cliff and looked toward the sky.
For now, one thing seemed reasonably likely.
Rinnegan characteristics might also be influenced by genetics.
After all, Kaguya had originally been intended as a sacrifice.
She had eventually turned the tables and become the dominant figure, but her original status had still been that of a sacrifice.
And logically, the bloodline of a sacrificial member should not have been considered as prestigious as that of the one meant to consume the Divine Tree's fruit.
If so, Isshiki might possess dojutsu of an entirely different level or type.
However, if Kenichi wanted to verify that theory, he needed to return to his original timeline.
In his own world, Isshiki had already been forced to reveal many of his hidden cards.
The Isshiki of this timeline was another matter entirely.
Kenichi did not even know what stage his plans had currently reached.
So if Kenichi wanted to properly investigate the Rinnegan and Otsutsuki abilities, returning home remained essential.
But for now, there was something even more urgent.
The time machine.
Kenichi stood up.
Then he flew down from the mountain and returned directly to Amado's laboratory.
Before entering, he restored his skin color to its normal appearance.
That had become another useful discovery.
His pale Otsutsuki-like complexion was not permanent.
By deliberately controlling the cells in his skin, Kenichi could freely adjust his visible skin tone.
"Right. There's also Teacher."
Kenichi suddenly remembered Orochimaru.
He immediately headed toward another laboratory.
Inside, Orochimaru sat quietly, seemingly deep in thought as though developing some kind of ninjutsu.
Kenichi scanned the room.
Nothing seemed abnormal.
Still, when dealing with Orochimaru, caution was never excessive.
Kenichi activated his Rinnegan.
His vision swept through the entire laboratory.
Almost immediately, he found something.
A tiny white snake.
It had crawled into a pipe and was lying there motionless, pretending to sleep.
Kenichi sneered.
As expected of Orochimaru.
Even after being restrained by layer upon layer of countermeasures, the moment Kenichi left the slightest opening, Orochimaru could still produce an unpleasant surprise.
"Teacher, how have you been feeling lately?"
Kenichi walked over with a smile.
At the same time, he raised one hand.
Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly.
The tiny white snake hidden inside the pipe suddenly flew backward.
It was dragged directly into Kenichi's palm.
Then Kenichi closed his fingers.
Crush!
The snake exploded into mangled flesh and blood.
Orochimaru's expression became extremely ugly.
He had noticed the strange concentric circles in Kenichi's eyes.
Those eyes...
Orochimaru had seen something similar before.
They belonged to the man who had founded the Akatsuki and claimed himself to be a god.
The Rinnegan.
Eyes possessing power beyond ordinary shinobi.
Orochimaru had never expected Kenichi to possess them as well.
For the first time in a long while, Orochimaru felt genuine despair.
How exactly was he supposed to escape from this man?
Kenichi knew almost every one of his methods.
No matter what contingency Orochimaru prepared, Kenichi somehow anticipated it.
The situation was becoming unbearable.
Orochimaru had even begun wondering whether he truly had taken Kenichi as a disciple at some point.
Otherwise, how could this man possibly understand him so thoroughly?
Kenichi had little interest in Orochimaru's thoughts.
He knew his teacher was extremely intelligent.
Given enough clues, Orochimaru might eventually deduce fragments of the truth.
But Kenichi did not particularly care.
Even if Orochimaru figured something out, what could he do with that knowledge?
Suppose he somehow obtained a Mangekyo Sharingan.
Without knowing the path toward the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he would still hit another wall.
And now, the gap between them had only become larger.
Seeing Orochimaru refuse to speak, Kenichi quickly lost interest in conversation.
He activated his technique.
Orochimaru's soul was forcibly pulled from his body.
Kenichi blinked.
"That was much faster."
He carefully considered the difference.
Previously, extracting Orochimaru's soul had required some effort.
The process had been slightly awkward.
Now it was unbelievably smooth.
Almost effortless.
Kenichi found the improvement very satisfying.
Then he looked directly at Orochimaru's soul.
Surprise appeared in his eyes.
Through the Rinnegan, the soul looked completely different.
Previously, Kenichi had seen Orochimaru's spirit as a largely uniform mass of spiritual energy.
Now...
It was filled with color.
Strange lines spread throughout the soul in complicated patterns, intersecting and intertwining with one another.
Even more astonishingly, Kenichi could now see structures inside it.
Organs.
Kenichi stared.
That was impossible according to his previous observations.
When he had dissected souls using the Mangekyo Sharingan, their interiors had appeared empty.
Nothing but condensed energy.
No internal structures.
Yet now, through the Rinnegan, those hidden structures were clearly visible.
Kenichi immediately became interested.
Could it be that the Mangekyo simply lacked the visual ability necessary to perceive the deeper structure of a soul?
And now that his eyes had evolved into the Rinnegan...
He could finally see it?
The possibility made sense.
Kenichi fell into thought.
If he could now clearly perceive the structures within Orochimaru's soul, then he could continue the experiments that had previously reached a dead end.
Pure chakra condensed in Kenichi's hand.
It formed a precise scalpel.
Orochimaru began struggling violently.
Kenichi ignored him.
Then, using the newly revealed structures as a guide, Kenichi performed another careful operation on Orochimaru's soul.
He also left behind a tiny mass of chakra within the modified area.
Its purpose was straightforward.
It would continuously stimulate the altered spiritual structure and push Orochimaru's soul gradually toward the state Kenichi wanted to observe.
"I wonder if Hagoromo used a similar method."
Kenichi touched his cheek thoughtfully.
He was genuinely curious.
Unfortunately, obtaining proper experimental results from something like this would take a long time.
The changes in his original teacher had also occurred gradually.
They had certainly not happened overnight.
That was fine.
Kenichi could use the waiting period to focus on his own research.
He intended to activate the time machine now that his body had completed its transformation.
Perhaps he could finally learn something useful from it.
Then, after enough time passed, he could return and examine how Orochimaru's soul had changed.
"Teacher, get some rest."
Kenichi chuckled.
Orochimaru had already lost consciousness from the intense pain inflicted on his soul.
Kenichi returned the soul to the body.
Then he left the laboratory.
Before stepping outside, however, Kenichi activated the Rinnegan one more time and thoroughly scanned the room.
Nothing.
Satisfied, he closed the door.
Silence immediately filled the laboratory.
Kenichi walked down the corridor with an expressionless face.
Several steps later, he suddenly stopped.
His eyes shifted downward.
Slowly, Kenichi removed his outer clothing.
Then he casually threw it behind himself.
The cloth landed over something moving across the floor.
Kenichi turned around.
He lifted the clothing.
A tiny white snake was trapped underneath.
Kenichi stared at it and could not help sighing in admiration.
"Teacher, you really are incredible."
"You can even find a way to escape like this?"
Orochimaru's survival ability truly deserved respect.
No matter how many times Kenichi thought he had eliminated every possible escape route, Orochimaru somehow managed to create another.
He really was the king of survival.
If Jiraiya possessed even half of Orochimaru's ability to cling to life, perhaps he would never have died so miserably.
Kenichi did not give the white snake any opportunity to react.
Flames erupted.
The snake was instantly burned to death.
Kenichi continued until even the remains had been reduced to ash.
Then he scattered the ashes completely.
Only after making absolutely certain nothing remained did Kenichi return to the laboratory he shared with Amado.
The moment he entered, Amado hurried toward him.
"Lord Kenichi!"
His face was filled with excitement.
"I've made a new discovery!"
Amado immediately handed him a report.
Kenichi accepted it curiously and began to read.
....
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