Ryou lay on his back in the square, looking at the dark clouds in the sky. The Land of Rain was cloudy all year round, and today was no exception—the weather was terrible.
"How can I become stronger? The only things I can think of right now are Sage Transformation and the Mangekyo, but even if I master both, the chances of dealing with Madara are slim."
"Madara is too strong, so strong it's despair-inducing."
Candy jumped onto Ryou's head, using her body to block the raindrops falling on his face, and said, "Even in despair, you must become powerful!"
"Back when you were in Konoha, despised by your clansmen and targeted by the higher-ups, was that situation any less desperate than this?"
Ryou sat up, feeling that Candy was right.
His most desperate moment wasn't now, but back when he was in Konoha.
In the Uchiha Clan, no one understood him, and his attempts to climb the ranks were met with discrimination because of his Uchiha identity.
Back then, even breathing felt like it was shortening his life; one could imagine how much despair he felt.
Yet, in such a desperate situation, Ryou had managed to turn his life around. Why should he be afraid of his fear of Madara now?
"Candy, you're right. Let's go find Tsunade. Today, we must use the Slug Sage's help to go to Ryūchi Cave and seek Sage Transformation."
Candy nodded. Back when she hadn't gained intelligence, she would see Ryou curled into a ball in despair, hiding in the darkness, and she would walk over to snuggle him, sharing his despair.
Those times were something Candy would never forget in her life.
However, before going to see Tsunade, Ryou had to find a way to unseal the Seven-Tails' clone.
Ryou bid farewell to Chizu and Ryūzetsu, walked to a secluded spot, and took a spore out of his body—a spore formed by absorbing the Seven-Tails' Chakra.
Shukaku poked his head out of Ryou's body, looked at the spore in his hand, and said, "Are you going to turn Chomei into something like me?"
Ryou nodded.
Shukaku pleaded, "Can you please not erase Chomei's will at will? Among the Tailed Beasts, Chomei has a gentle personality. If you just talk to it properly, it will trust you."
"Alright, I'll listen to you!"
Ryou nodded again and activated Yin-Yang Release to unseal the spore that had absorbed the Seven-Tails. Suddenly, the Seven-Tails was unsealed from Ryou's spore.
It had a round, green, shell-like body, and on top of the shell stood a ring of pale yellow finger-like protrusions—those were the Seven-Tails' tails.
At the front was a pair of bright red, small round eyes, and below them were short, jointed legs.
Overall, it looked endearingly clumsy, like a soft little green beetle.
"I... this is..."
After the Seven-Tails revived in the form of a clone, it looked around. At this moment, the Seven-Tails was not under the influence of Kotoamatsukami or Ryou's Sharingan power.
It was its original state of mind.
Its state before being controlled by Kotoamatsukami; its memories were still stuck on its anger towards Takigakure at the moment it released its Biju Bomb.
Ryou couldn't explain everything, so he used chakra to transmit the events that occurred after the Seven-Tails was controlled by Kotoamatsukami and his own Genjutsu.
After digesting the information, the Seven-Tails understood: "So I've been under the control of the Sharingan all this time?"
Shukaku nodded. "Exactly, Chomei. The Uchiha's Sharingan is truly evil, controlling us Tailed Beasts at every turn."
Ryou pinched Shukaku's head. "What did you say?"
Shukaku quickly changed his tune. "Master, I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about those evil Uchiha who are different from you, who only know how to control people all day long."
The Seven-Tails looked at Shukaku's dog-like behavior in surprise; this look didn't match Shukaku's original arrogant and unyielding nature at all.
However, the Seven-Tails could also understand. Tailed Beasts had no resistance against the Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan.
To break it, one needed the power of a Jinchuriki.
But the Tailed Beasts were all proud beings and wouldn't easily be tamed by humans.
Since Shukaku was acting like a dog, he naturally couldn't let the Seven-Tails watch from a high horse.
He explained to the Seven-Tails, "Chomei, from now on, Ryou is your master! He's the one who let you survive in the form of a clone; otherwise, you'd have been devoured by the Gedo Statue by now, you know?"
The Seven-Tails sensed its main body and found that its chakra was decreasing significantly. Just as Shukaku said, its main body was being devoured by the Gedo Statue.
The Seven-Tails looked at Ryou and said, "Uchiha Ryou, what exactly do you want to do?"
Ryou pinched the Seven-Tails' insect head. "Chomei, you're already in this state and you're still acting tough? From now on, just be my lackey honestly!"
"Presumptuous human! I am the Seven-Tails Chomei, the insect Tailed Beast that rules the sky!"
Ryou's Sharingan glared, and the Seven-Tails immediately softened. "I can help you do things, but you must find a way to free my main body."
"Do you have the right to bargain?"
Ryou grabbed the Seven-Tails' tail and swung it around. The Seven-Tails got dizzy from being swung and quickly begged for mercy, saying it wouldn't dare anymore.
After teaching the Seven-Tails a lesson, Ryou began to ask what abilities it had to assist him.
The Seven-Tails stood on the ground and listed its abilities: "Lending you my chakra can help you fly."
"I can also provide you with a type of fluorescent scale powder. This powder can blind enemies after it scatters, has paralyzing properties, and explodes violently when it encounters fire."
"I can also command swarms of insects. As long as it's an insect, it will be under my rule. I can help you become immune to all insect-attribute Ninjutsu and even toxins."
Ryou rubbed his chin. What he valued most was the Seven-Tails' ability to help him fly.
At this stage, Ryou's Susanoo was not yet in its complete form, and for flight, he could only rely on the Wood Dragon.
The sky was his weakness. He had originally thought about stealing Ōnoki's Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique.
But now with the Seven-Tails' assistance, he didn't need to steal Iwagakure's Secret Technique.
And there was the Seven-Tails' absolute command over insect attributes, which meant that in the future, Shinobi of the Aburame Clan would not be able to deal with Ryou.
This made Ryou feel more and more that the Tailed Beasts were amazing. While their stats were off the charts when fused together, some useful mechanics were lost.
Ryou picked up the Seven-Tails, feeling interested as he looked at the Seven-Tails' little beetle appearance.
He activated Yin-Yang Release to give the Seven-Tails a makeover.
A tactical helmet with binoculars was placed on its head; it had a round, short, and stout body, with a cream-colored belly with dark brown horizontal stripes, and blue-gray limbs on both sides, looking like a sturdy little ball of meat.
After the makeover, Ryou felt much more comfortable looking at the Seven-Tails.
Shukaku and Candy couldn't help but laugh as they looked at the Seven-Tails. The Seven-Tails was a bit confused: "What happened to me?"
Ryou said, "Nothing, just gave you a makeover."
Ryou then activated Yin-Yang Release to incorporate the Seven-Tails into his body.
Ryou thought that if one day he gathered clones of all Nine Tailed Beasts and possessed their powers, wouldn't that be a different kind of Ten-Tails?
With that thought, Ryou went to the administration building to find Tsunade.
In the administration building, as soon as Ryou entered, he heard the Shinobi Cats report that Tsunade had been assassinated, and the culprit was the catgirl that Fortune had previously taken in.
"How bold! To dare assassinate my woman, she must really be tired of living!"
"Lead the way, I must see who this person is!"
The Shinobi Cats led Ryou to the Amegakure interrogation room.
At this time, Fortune was interrogating Nonō together with Fish Ball. Fish Ball was slapping Nonō's face with a frozen fish.
"Yakushi Nonō, you'd better think carefully! If you still don't say anything, my master will be back."
"With your looks, she'll work you to death."
"..."
Nonō still didn't say a word.