Ch.241 Testing

Nighttime.

The moonlight cascaded like a waterfall, illuminating the earth.

In the main residence of the Kurama clan, many clan members had gathered to celebrate the improvement in the health of the clan head's only daughter, Yakumo Kurama.

This news was a tremendous morale boost for the Kurama clan, which had fallen into such decline that even their clan leader was barely at the level of an ordinary Jonin.

The Kurama clan desperately needed a strong figure!

Otherwise, this once-great clan, which possessed a kekkei genkai and had once rivaled the Uchiha, would truly become a laughingstock among the noble clans.

Outside the Kurama clan's main residence, two Anbu stood side by side on a large tree.

Watching the brightly lit Kurama residence in the distance, the younger Anbu expressed some concern, "Senior, I heard the Kurama clan is a prestigious family with a kekkei genkai. If we monitor them this closely, won't they notice us?"

The older Anbu chuckled, "Don't worry. The Kurama clan has been in decline for a long time. Even their current clan leader was only promoted to Jonin by the Hokage as a special exception, considering the clan's past contributions. So even if we infiltrated their residence, they might not notice us."

"I never imagined a once-great clan could fall to such a state!" The young Anbu sighed, then asked, "Senior, how long does this kind of surveillance usually last?"

The older Anbu replied, "It's hard to say. But I heard this time it was personally ordered by Lady Tsunade. She instructed us to keep an eye on anyone suspicious approaching Yakumo Kurama. Based on my experience, such missions usually last several weeks or longer."

As the two Anbu whispered among themselves, a spirit quietly observed them from behind.

Without a doubt, this spirit was Ido.

Her gaze was icy as she stared at the two Anbu. If it weren't for her concern for Shinji and Yakumo, she would have already unleashed her killing intent.

After giving the two Anbu one last hateful glance, she vanished from the spot.

A moment later.

She floated into a forest within the village, arriving before a figure clad in a black cloak with red clouds and wearing a mask. She bowed respectfully.

Shinji nodded, "How did it go?"

Ido reported, "Just as you predicted, the village has indeed stationed Anbu outside the Kurama residence to monitor Yakumo's every move. I overheard their conversation—the surveillance mission was personally assigned by Tsunade!"

"So she did notice something after all..."

Shinji wasn't surprised.

During the day, he had a feeling that Tsunade might have detected something, which was why he had instructed Ido, who could move freely as a spirit, to keep an eye on the surroundings of the Kurama residence.

Ido's face suddenly filled with malice, "I'll go kill her!"

Shinji glanced at her and chuckled lightly, "Are you in such a hurry to die?"

Ido was puzzled, "What do you mean? I'm in spirit form. She can't even detect me!"

"Being a spirit doesn't make you invincible," Shinji paused, then continued, "Have you heard of the 'Spirit Transformation Technique'? Tsunade's former lover was a master of this technique. He could leave his body in spirit form and kill his enemies, but he still died on the battlefield."

Ido's expression darkened.

Shinji spoke calmly, "Just off the top of my head, I can think of over a dozen ways to counter spirits. Do you really think Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, wouldn't have her own methods?"

"I... I apologize!"

Ido quickly bowed her head in apology, her earlier arrogance from spying on the Anbu completely vanishing.

Shinji waved his hand, "Enough. Let's begin the test."

He hadn't summoned Ido in the middle of the night just to confirm whether Tsunade had sent people to monitor Yakumo.

He had another important goal: to test Ido's abilities.

After listening to Shinji's instructions, Ido nodded quickly and then shot off in a specific direction.

As a lightweight spirit, her flight speed was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, she had already left the village and disappeared from Shinji's sight.

Looking back at the increasingly distant and shrinking Hidden Leaf Village, Ido suddenly felt a sense of boundless freedom.

At this moment, she was filled with exhilaration!

But after flying for a while, she suddenly felt dizzy.

At first, she didn't pay much attention, but as she moved further away from the village, she realized her spirit form was growing weaker and weaker.

"Why is this happening!?"

In her rapidly weakening state, she stopped and immediately turned back, flying toward the village at full speed.

As she approached the village, her weakness gradually faded. It was then that she understood the cause of her weakness: she had moved too far from the village.

No, to be more precise, she had moved too far from Yakumo, who was in the village.

Returning to Shinji, a still shaken Ido reported her findings.

Shinji calmly recorded the data, "After moving ten kilometers away from the host, the spirit begins to weaken. After twenty kilometers, the weakening accelerates rapidly. It is estimated that the spirit's maximum range of activity is within a radius of twenty-five to thirty kilometers from the host."

Ido was stunned. She had only reported the phenomenon of her weakening and hadn't mentioned any specific distances.

To her surprise, Shinji not only seemed to have anticipated this but also knew the exact distances at which the weakening occurred.

For a moment, she felt as if everything about her was under Shinji's complete control.

Shinji ignored Ido's thoughts and continued recording the data.

He had already expected that Ido couldn't stray too far from Yakumo. After all, only someone with chakra close to the Six Paths level, like the Priestess, could split off an independent entity comparable to a Tailed Beast, such as Mōryō.

For other shinobi, no matter how talented they were, their chakra level was limited, making it difficult for any split-off entity to exist independently.

However, as the experiments progressed, Shinji discovered that his newly fused Hogan seemed to possess the ability to strengthen spirits.

"If I transplant these Hogan into Yakumo, combined with her own high-quality Yin Release chakra, she should be able to achieve chakra on par with the Mangekyō Sharingan..."

"Then, if I transplant White Zetsu cells into her to compensate for her congenital weaknesses..."

"At that point, her strength should increase significantly. Perhaps Ido's power could also be further enhanced, becoming a truly independent entity..."

As he pondered, Shinji's thoughts began to wander.