"Hah, hah..."
Amado leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, his eyes wide with panic as he watched Code raise his claws.
"The limiter has been removed! As per our agreement, you won't kill me!"
"Sorry, I'm breaking the contract. The penalty fee will be burned for you after you're dead," Code said indifferently, his claws slashing down violently.
BOOM!
The marble wall suddenly sported several long gashes, yet there wasn't a single speck of Amado's blood to be seen.
"Is this your trump card? To be honest, I'm very disappointed." Code turned his head to look at Amado, who had suddenly appeared in a corner of the room. "Since you've already modified your own body, why not modify it more thoroughly?"
As Kara's chief scientist, Amado cherished his life dearly. In an organization like Kara, where trust was non-existent, how could he entrust his safety to others?
"Only a bit stronger than those so-called Jonin..."
Hearing Code's mutterings, Amado's face turned somewhat unsightly. There were only a few portions of material extracted from that unknown Otsutsuki, and it had all been used on Code and a few others. Coupled with Jigen's distrust of him, the extent of scientific ninja tool modifications he could perform was limited to this.
"I still have things to do. I won't play with you anymore."
Code suddenly appeared behind Amado, his chilling claws slashing down. Amado's body was instantly sliced into several pieces, which fell to the ground, devoid of life.
A Jonin's strength, in the grand scheme of the shinobi world, was already considered powerful. But for Code, who had already removed his limiter, killing him was no more difficult than crushing an ant.
"Bagues, have you seen enough?"
The abrupt question made Bagues, who was peeking from behind the door, jump in fright.
"L-Lord... Code, do you have any instructions?" Bagues stammered, walking into the room. He tried his best to avoid looking at the corpse on the floor. That was Amado! Before Kara's downfall, Amado had been an existence far beyond his reach. And just like that, he had died right before his eyes.
"Do you want to die?"
"No!" Bagues straightened up with a start, standing as erect as a soldier about to be inspected, awaiting Code's orders.
"How about you do something for me?"
"It would be my honor to serve you," Bagues said repeatedly.
Seeing this, Code nodded with satisfaction, tore open a spatial passage, and pulled both himself and Bagues into it.
Alternate Dimension housing the Ten-Tails seedling.
The two figures slowly emerged.
"This is?" Bagues looked at the Otsutsuki clan crest on the towering wall in the distance, utterly astonished.
"Only those who can use space-time ninjutsu can enter this alternate dimension. I am an exception. When Jigen brought me here before, he allowed me to leave a claw mark..." Code explained about this alternate dimension.
Gazing at the Ten-Tails imprisoned within the cage, Code gave a casual greeting.
ROAR!!
Despite the thick bars of the cage, Bagues could still clearly feel the fury of the behemoth beneath him.
"Is this the Ten-Tails?" He had been in the Outer Circle for decades and knew a thing or two, knowledge that wouldn't normally be accessible to Outer Circle members like them.
Code didn't answer him, merely swiped his claws through the air towards the behemoth below. Instantly, several intersecting claw marks appeared on the Ten-Tails' head.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!!!
The Ten-Tails roared in agony.
Bagues watched this scene in shock. He had read about the Ten-Tails from the Fourth Great Shinobi War in secret scrolls from the Five Great Villages and had some understanding of this behemoth's power. That was a monstrous creature that had pushed even the massive Allied Shinobi Forces into a desperate situation. Yet now, under Code's manipulation, this monster was letting out cries of pain...
Is this why Amado and Jigen placed a limiter on him? Bagues looked at the man's back before him, lost in thought.
Code continued to slash with his claws. More and more claw marks appeared on the Ten-Tails' body, gradually enveloping its entire form.
"These claw marks are made from the iron in my blood and my chakra. I couldn't achieve this level before, but after removing the limiter, I can make the claw marks cover the Ten-Tails' entire body," Code said unhurriedly, his hands never stopping.
"Why are you telling me all this..." Listening to his explanation, cold sweat dripped down Bagues's back. For people like them, sometimes, knowing too much only meant dying faster.
"I want to know if my sincerity will be betrayed again." Thinking of Eida, Code sighed repeatedly. He truly liked that woman. But thinking that all his sincere efforts couldn't compare to that good-for-nothing Kawaki, he only felt heartbroken.
"I will be forever loyal to you!" Bagues hastily pledged, although he wasn't sure if he could actually do it. But pretty words cost nothing.
"Why are you covering the Ten-Tails with claw marks?" he asked in a low voice, looking at the Ten-Tails, which was gradually falling silent.
"I need to adjust its size."
"Huh??"
"If it's too big, it's not easy to control."
The claw marks enveloping the Ten-Tails gradually shrank. Simultaneously, the Ten-Tails' body also slowly became smaller, miniaturized.
In Code's vision, a massive clump of chakra, under the pressure of the claw marks, gradually split into countless smaller individuals.
Splurt!
Like playdough being squeezed by fishing lines, the Ten-Tails' massive form suddenly fragmented, breaking into countless pieces. Immediately after, the appearance of these fragments began to change, becoming more and more humanoid.
Ten minutes later.
These fragments eventually transformed into creatures of varying sizes, similar to White Zetsu. The large ones were several meters tall, the small ones like footballs, but most were about the size of an adult human. Their bodies were, to varying degrees, imprinted with black claw marks—some on their faces, some on their chests, some on their backs.
Code slowly focused his gaze on one of the white monsters.
Suddenly, that white monster rushed towards a comrade beside it, plunged into the black claw mark on its body, and vanished.
Within the claw mark Code and Bagues had used to enter the alternate dimension, the white monster's figure slowly materialized.
"This!" Bagues stared at this scene in utter shock.
Code seemed to have anticipated this. He covered his left eye with his left hand; on his palm, there was also a black claw mark. His left eye bizarrely appeared on the white monster, only smaller and darker.
Observing everything on the field through the white monster's perspective, Code nodded with satisfaction. With the help of these little darlings, he finally had some confidence to deal with those fellows from Konoha, and... Eida and her brother.
Sssshhhrrrrip!
Just as he was beginning to fantasize about the future, a spatial rift suddenly tore open in the alternate dimension.
Boruto and Kawaki's figures slowly emerged from it.
"These are the opponents I've found for you. In this alternate dimension, the Seventh Hokage and the others will not be able to provide you with any assistance. So, challenge your own limits to your heart's content."
A calm voice, which infuriated Code to no end, drifted from the spatial passage.