Chapter 203: Failed Experiment

"See you later, nya~"

Hina waved her paw with a smile.

"See you. Next time I'll bring some matatabi drinks when I visit."

Link replied, then left together with Utakata and the shadows.

Talking to Nekobaa had been unexpectedly easy. She recognized Link and mentioned that Sasuke had come by a few days earlier—likely in preparation for the Chūnin Exams.

He had obtained the scrolls he wanted, but it would take some time for the electronic equipment for his base to arrive. Nekobaa had said, "We're not exactly an appliance store," but seeing the money he offered, she had still agreed with a smile.

Of course, there was a markup. That was unavoidable.

Link hadn't gone to a bank in the Land of Fire to exchange money and then buy everything at a regular store, mainly because he didn't want to leave any records. After all, he was setting up his own secret base and wanted to keep it as confidential as possible. Spending a bit more served as a sort of hush money to the black-market merchants.

After leaving Nekobaa's ninja tool shop, Link summoned the Earth Dragon again and brought Utakata to a wide, empty field.

"Tailed Beast Mode," Link ordered.

Utakata froze for a moment, recalling the situation when they had been cleaning up the battlefield. He realized something.

"You want to collect Tailed Beast chakra?"

He frowned a bit.

"Tailed Beast power can't just be used freely.

"A Tailed Beast's power contains two components: Tailed Beast chakra and the Tailed Beast's will. Because of that will, no one except a jinchūriki fully in sync with their Tailed Beast can normally harness Tailed Beast chakra."

Unless you're a perfect jinchūriki at peace with your beast.

Link, of course, knew all this—he was extremely familiar with these fundamentals. Showing no reaction, he simply repeated:

"Tailed Beast Mode."

Utakata didn't refuse; he was curious about what this kid was really after. So he went ahead and wrested the Tailed Beast's chakra, entering a full Tailed Beast Transformation.

With the jinchūriki cooperating, Link effortlessly used his Chakra Scalpel to harvest a large number of Tailed Beast chakra chunks. However, rather than slicing away the entire Tailed Beast cloak, he only cut off about half of it, at which point the transformation automatically canceled.

"Phew..." Utakata exhaled. "I won't be able to do that again anytime soon—I used way too much chakra. Plus—"

He paused, looking a bit conflicted.

"Saiken really hates you."

It wasn't just that. The beast inside him had actually cursed Utakata himself a moment ago. Apparently, getting cut by Link's blade had inflicted real harm on the Tailed Beast.

[Perhaps he sliced away not just physical chakra, but also part of its will,] Utakata guessed. Saiken was normally fairly docile, so for it to start cursing others and immediately withdraw its chakra was unheard of.

Meanwhile, Link was practically bubbling with the joy of a farmer harvesting his fields as he sealed away chunk after chunk of Tailed Beast chakra. Whether or not they could do a second round anytime soon didn't matter; this was already enough to power him for quite a while and dramatically boost his combat strength.

He couldn't wait for his shadows to undergo their next upgrade—he could only imagine how powerful he'd become afterward.

[Next up: beating Orochimaru to a pulp, kicking the Akatsuki aside. Tailed Beasts, give me that sweet, sweet treasure!]

He'd already made his plans. As soon as he created the new "Eight Gates Shadows," he would rush off and wreak havoc in Orochimaru's base. He already knew where the Snake's lair was—he just hadn't gone there yet.

Then he would start hunting down the Akatsuki members. Why wait for them to strike first when he was already this strong? That would be downright foolish.

As long as he avoided Obito, Itachi, and Pain, none of the other Akatsuki members would be a match for him—not even Kisame Hoshigaki.

He'd hunt down the Akatsuki, gather all the Tailed Beasts, keep growing stronger, then finally take down Pain and claim the Rinnegan—

After that, who in this world could possibly stop him?

Link exhaled a long breath; his ambitions were burning brighter than ever.

[Maybe I won't destroy the Rinnegan. I could implant it and try becoming the Ten-Tails jinchūriki. Then this world would be—…]

All these thoughts churned within him until he finally smiled.

"Let's go. I'll take you to our base."

…

Half a month later, on a small island near the Land of Waves:

"ROAR!"

The Earth Dragon let out a powerful bellow as it soared into the sky. After circling around for a while in midair, it finally descended, crouching in front of Link. Its eyes were full of delight, but then its body started to crumble.

Crack, crack...

Its huge eyes closed, turning a dusty brown as its scales fell away. Soon, the creature became a lifeless stone statue.

[Another failure,] Link thought with a frown.

Once again, synchronizing the Earth Dragon and his Shadow technique had failed. The Earth Dragon's shadow had swallowed the shadow of the Tailed Beast chakra chunk, allowing the dragon to break free of being mere ninjutsu and become a new lifeform—but just like a shadow that didn't get enough Tailed Beast chakra, its body soon dissolved away.

Nearly ten stone statues of varying sizes had already sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

[So maybe I need an even bigger amount of Tailed Beast chakra to create this Earth Dragon?]

He had a rough idea of the reason. A shadow's power was limited by Link's own parameters—there was a set ceiling for how big or strong it could be. But this Earth Dragon was based on a creature from a game in his past life, meant to be as large as a mountain in theory.

Possibly, there was a maximum size to which ninjutsu could manifest it. Limited Tailed Beast chakra wouldn't suffice to create something that colossal—just like not having enough chakra couldn't keep a shadow independently alive.

[Maybe I need to capture an actual Tailed Beast and use its shadow to create the Earth Dragon. (That would probably apply to the Stand concept too.)]

Link sighed. He had hesitated all this time before finally trying, only to run into this dead end with the Earth Dragon.

According to his "settings," the Earth Dragon was already quite formidable, but a Stand would be even more over-the-top, with all kinds of special rule-based powers. Who knew how much Tailed Beast chakra would be required for that? The mere thought was dizzying.

[Maybe later, I could test some simpler Stand abilities without special rules. That might work.]

Still, I can't keep wasting Tailed Beast chakra on trying to create an Earth Dragon.

Link pulled out a small notebook and crossed out "Earth Dragon." There was only so much Tailed Beast chakra available, and he'd be better off using it to create more shadows. At least that guaranteed him a direct boost in combat strength.

Moreover, the Six-Tails was getting more uncooperative by the day; even if Utakata pretended to pass out on purpose, he could no longer trick Saiken into coming out. And since Tailed Beasts could share information telepathically, there was no telling when they might leak word of all this, making it impossible for him to collect more Tailed Beast chakra.

[Let's finish creating the remaining shadows, then head back to the village for a while,] he decided.

~~~

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