The source of the Ōtsutsuki clan's overwhelming power lay in the God Tree itself. They fed entire planets to nurture it, cultivating the divine fruit that the tree would eventually bear—and the Rinnegan was but one of the fruit's many manifestations.
Take Kaguya, for instance—
Her eyes far surpassed even the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan in power, precisely because she had eaten the fruit of the God Tree. The Sage's strength, in contrast, was merely a fragment inherited from her.
Even so,
The Sage of Six Paths had been terrifyingly powerful. With Sage Mode and the help of his brother, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, he'd managed to seal Kaguya away.
If even a "replica" of the tree could absorb chakra the same way...
Forget it.
A thousand years—there's no way I could wait that long, Kyoichi thought to himself. As long as it doesn't keep expanding and growing out of control, that's already good enough.
"How incredible…" Orochimaru murmured in awe. "I had only ever considered fusing Hashirama's cells with a living body—but to take it in this direction… fascinating… truly fascinating."
He couldn't help but marvel at it.
Cultivating Hashirama's cells into a tree, then merging that tree with the Gedo Statue, allowing it to assimilate part of the statue's traits—
It was turning decay into divinity.
And now…
The tree had stopped growing. It remained at its current size, stable and unmoving.
"So, the next step… is to infuse it with the tailed beasts' chakra?" Orochimaru licked his lips, barely restraining his excitement.
The secret of uniting all nine tailed beasts—perhaps it could finally be realized through him and Kyoichi. To uncover that ancient mystery: what would happen when all nine tailed beasts became one?
Each beast alone possessed extraordinary might.
If all nine were combined… wouldn't that power be enough to ascend to the heavens?
"We're still missing four kinds. Let's wait for word from Minato. As for Takigakure, Hayama-senpai already went there. We're just waiting for his reply, though it shouldn't be a problem."
After all, no one would willingly hand over a tailed beast—but borrowing a fragment of a tailed beast's chakra was a different matter.
Many villages had been reluctant, but under Konoha's pressure, they had little choice but to pinch their noses and agree.
Take Takigakure, for example.
Kakuzu was in Konoha's hands. His memories might be a wreck, and his life force destroyed by his own jutsu, but his Earth Grudge Fear technique could still be studied.
Kyoichi had used that as a bargaining chip.
There was no way Takigakure could refuse. They gained Kakuzu and lost nothing but a sliver of tailed beast chakra. Any future consequences were problems for the future.
Besides—
From Takigakure's perspective, if Konoha truly wanted to act against them, their strength wouldn't be nearly enough to resist anyway.
So Kyoichi wasn't worried about Shirakumo Hayama failing. The real headache was Kumogakure. Those brutes didn't bother with logic—they solved problems with their fists, and whatever muscles they had in their heads.
Few of them knew how to think.
But brute strength does beat cleverness sometimes.
Orochimaru rested his chin on his hand, mulling it over for a few seconds.
"Why not just grab some chakra and test it right away?"
"…Seriously?" Kyoichi rolled his eyes, not even bothering to answer the man who'd clearly lost all sense of reason.
This guy—
The moment research was involved, his moral compass veered straight into the grey zone.
That won't do.
Tsunade and the Third have eyes everywhere!
Kyoichi said nothing more, quietly setting up barriers around the site to seal off the research area.
The barrier would conceal the tree's chakra signature.
---
The next day.
Tsunade arrived at the site with Kyoichi.
"So this is what you two spent all that time tinkering with?"
A single massive tree stood before her.
At first glance, there was nothing particularly special about it.
"Try punching it."
"Uh…" Tsunade looked from the tree to Kyoichi, then circled it two or three times suspiciously.
"You're not setting me up for a scam, are you?"
"Do I look like that kind of person?"
"Aren't you?"
Tch.
Tsunade sneered.
Anyone who could rig gambling dens to turn a profit wasn't exactly a man of moral fiber…
Wait—
Hadn't she done the same thing to make her comeback?
She studied the tree more closely. There was chakra flowing inside it. Could it be that Kyoichi had actually recreated something on the level of her grandfather's Wood Release?
Thinking that, she drew back her fist and struck.
Kyoichi didn't stop her.
Boom!
The trunk shuddered violently but remained unharmed.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
She hadn't even used her full strength, but still—this was impressive.
She struck again.
This time, with her full power.
BOOM!!
Dust exploded everywhere, a deafening roar echoing through the clearing. Kyoichi quickly performed a Great Breakthrough to blow the debris away.
As the smoke cleared, the trunk came back into view—
Cracks spread across the surface where her punch had landed. But almost immediately, the fissures began to absorb chakra, mending themselves at high speed. Within moments, the tree had returned to its original form—stronger and denser than before.
Tsunade blinked in surprise.
"Not bad!"
To be honest, this level of resilience was beyond even her grandfather's Wood Release in sheer toughness. The only downside was…
The cultivation process must have been anything but ordinary.
Mass production was impossible.
And since it was fully wooden in nature, it couldn't be used as a substitute for White Zetsu cells either.
So… what was it for?
She turned to Kyoichi. She didn't say anything, but their mutual understanding was enough for him to catch her meaning.
"I have a theory that the nine tailed beasts might be able to merge—and that the key lies in the Gedo Statue. This tree's material and properties, I believe, share part of that statue's nature," Kyoichi explained.
Tsunade paused in thought.
So this kid wanted to replace the Gedo Statue—
To fuse the nine beasts' chakra together using this thing?
Ambitious, certainly.
But the problem was, the tailed beasts were—
Hmm?
Tsunade suddenly recalled Kyoichi's recent personnel assignments. She exhaled and said flatly, "You already planned this, didn't you?"
"Cough, cough—well, not planned, exactly. Just… being prepared. You know, two birds with one stone. If it turns out to be useful as our trump card against Madara, then it's hardly a bad investment, right?"
"…You always have a way of twisting things until they sound reasonable. That mouth of yours could talk black into white."
Rolling her eyes, Tsunade decided not to argue.
This brat…
No matter what happens, he always has a reason.
Still, she had to admit—having a few extra trump cards wouldn't hurt in a battle against Madara.
Of course, if Kyoichi were being honest…
It wasn't like they could find Madara anytime soon anyway. Might as well keep busy.
"Do you really think Ōnoki will cooperate? He's got two Jinchūriki under his care—what's his stance on that?"
After all, the Four-Tails and Five-Tails were still roaming around free.
If she were Ōnoki, she'd hardly be so easygoing about it.
Kyoichi stretched lazily, recounting everything in detail—every step of the negotiations, every exchange.
He'd already reported it before, but this time he went through it thoroughly.
When she finally heard the full story, Tsunade felt a wave of relief.
Ōnoki was still a man of integrity, after all.
If Iwagakure had agreed, then Sunagakure wouldn't dare object—especially now that Rasa no longer held much power. Even if he did, standing alone against all the western ninja villages united would be suicide.
No one could withstand that.