Shinji was still very clear about his own capabilities.
Back in the Six Rings World, the reason he was able to withstand and seal a part of the Reproductive Hegemon's body wasn't because he could truly rival a Hegemon. It was because the spatial barrier of the Six Rings World blocked most of the Reproductive Hegemon's power out in the vast universe.
Additionally, the Magic Ring barrier of the six Supreme Mages of the Six Rings World further weakened the power the Reproductive Hegemon projected inside, allowing Shinji to barely seal its residual limb.
Even so, the Six Rings World sacrificed a Supreme Mage in that battle.
Although he had now consumed three 'Chakra Fruits' and used the 'Susanoo Tomoshibi' to control a pair of 'Golden Eyes' and a pair of 'Blue Rinnegan'—achieving a qualitative leap in both pupil power and chakra level—he still wasn't completely confident about facing a Hegemon head-on.
Therefore, even though he could try to ignite a conflict now and lure the Plague Hegemon, which was entrenched outside the spatial barrier, into the Six Rings World for a decisive battle, he didn't plan to do so. He wanted to wait a little longer.
In any case, the remaining three worlds of the 'World Annihilation Society' could only hold out for another six to eight months at most. Once he dealt with these three worlds and nurtured another one or two 'Chakra Fruits', his confidence in confronting the Plague Hegemon would increase significantly.
After comforting the 'Lampbearers' and reinforcing the 'Chibaku Tensei' that sealed the Reproductive Hegemon's residual body, Shinji left the Six Rings World to inspect the final three worlds of the 'World Annihilation Society', eventually settling in World No. 5.
Undoubtedly.
After successively devouring World No. 1, World No. 4, and World No. 2, the Hegemon had set its sights on World No. 5.
World No. 5 was a low-magic world. The top mages here would only be considered intermediate mages if placed in the Six Rings World.
However, even so, Shinji learned from his lessons. He cautiously planted the two God Trees in a place rarely visited by humans and set up layers of restrictions on the periphery to prevent the natives of World No. 5 from accidentally discovering the God Trees.
After doing all this, Shinji sat atop the God Tree and browsed the report on the ritual failure submitted by Amado.
"It actually failed..."
Shinji frowned slightly.
He thought that with the Research Institute's capabilities, they should be able to stably create experimental subjects like Owl by now. Unexpectedly, the recent fourth ritual ended in failure, and the experimental subject conducting the ritual distorted into a terrifying monster.
With doubts in his mind, Shinji carefully flipped through the report submitted by Amado, and his frown deepened.
Because the ritual failed, the Research Institute launched a comprehensive investigation.
After eliminating possibilities one by one, Amado finally circled the key to the ritual's failure on the experimental subject conducting it.
Amado suspected that at the final moment of 'cocooning', the experimental subject suffered a sudden emotional collapse, leading to a rampage.
Since the rampaging subject was disposed of immediately, it was currently impossible to judge whether the rampage was due to his own low mental tolerance and weak will, or if he was subjected to some unknown interference.
"Could it be..."
Shinji's thoughts wandered, and he realized something.
He didn't believe this was an accident because an experimental subject selected by Amado to conduct the ritual must have had exceptional qualities.
After all, if they were truly weak-willed, they wouldn't have survived the Hashirama cell transplantation surgery, nor would they have qualified to conduct the ritual.
So, they must have been ambushed by some force.
And there was almost no one in the Shinobi World who could influence the experimental subject during the ritual unknowingly under the layers of protection of the Research Institute. So there was only one answer: the Fear Hegemon, who had been secretly eroding the Shinobi World, had made a move!
Shinji could even guess what the Fear Hegemon did. If he were the Fear Hegemon, he only needed to disturb the subject's heartstrings during the most critical 'cocooning' phase of the ritual, amplifying the fear in the depths of their heart, to easily destroy the entire ritual.
"Heh, I was careless!"
His brow smoothing out, Shinji closed Amado's report.
If it really was the Hegemon's doing, then the Research Institute couldn't be blamed for this failure.
Shinji pondered carefully. Since disposing of 'Upper Rank One', who had been polluted by the Fear Hegemon, the Shinobi World had been peaceful for over a year.
It was precisely this peace that made him somewhat neglect the Fear Hegemon.
"After more than a year of erosion, it seems that weak points in the Shinobi World's spatial barrier have been penetrated. Its power can already affect the Shinobi World."
This was troublesome.
Even though Shinji was a 'Lampbearer', he couldn't repair every inch of the spatial barrier, because as long as the Hegemon was still eroding it, such repairs were meaningless.
And the Hegemon's power level was extremely high. Ordinary means couldn't guard against it, let alone detect it. Just like this ritual—the Research Institute had clearly set up layers of protection, but the Fear Hegemon still used a method of 'moving a thousand pounds with four ounces' to easily destroy the ritual.
"Perhaps only if I am present at the scene can I stop the Hegemon's ambush."
Shinji secretly made up his mind that if the Research Institute started the fifth ritual, he must find time to be there in person.
In Orochimaru's private underground palace.
Yakushi Kabuto was somewhat puzzled: "Lord Orochimaru, don't you think this ritual failure is a bit strange?"
Orochimaru smiled: "You noticed it too?"
Kabuto was surprised: "Is there really a problem?"
"With the Research Institute's technology, such a failure shouldn't have happened!" Pausing for a moment, the corners of Orochimaru's mouth lifted: "Something that shouldn't have happened did happen; of course, there's a problem. It's just that I can't reach a conclusion on what exactly the problem is right now."
Orochimaru vaguely guessed something.
Shinji hadn't hidden the existence of the Hegemons from Amado and him because Shinji needed the two of them to establish the Research Institute at the time.
He had participated in the entire process of the Research Institute's fourth ritual. Neither the procedure nor the details could be faulted. For it to fail in the end, aside from blaming illusory luck, there was only one explanation.
But he didn't dare to be sure yet, because his own ritual had succeeded. If it was really that entity's doing, why did it let him off?
Regardless of the entanglements within, now was obviously not the time to fuss about it. When one's strength is insufficient, one should curb their curiosity a little.
Thus, Orochimaru reigned in his thoughts and asked Kabuto, "How is the progress with Gen'yūmaru?"
Kabuto smiled: "Lord Orochimaru, Gen'yūmaru seems to have given us a surprise?"
"A surprise?" Orochimaru paused, then pressed, "Has he awakened a Shinjutsu? What Shinjutsu is it!"
Kabuto said, "It's better if you go see for yourself!"