Chapter 150: The Gourd Artifact

Chapter 150: Chapter 150: The Gourd Artifact

"Sage of Six Paths!?"

Hearing the Priestess’s account, Hyuga Kagami became momentarily distracted.

To everyone else, the Sage of Six Paths—the man who had practically created the shinobi world with his own hands—was a figure of myth and legend. But to Hyuga Kagami, the Sage of Six Paths was simply a powerful individual worthy of respect.

Moreover, with the memories of his previous life, Hyuga Kagami knew very well that the Sage of Six Paths wasn’t dead!

More precisely, the Sage of Six Paths still existed within the shinobi world in the form of a soul, watching over its order and maintaining its peace according to his own standards.

This was also one of the reasons Hyuga Kagami had always acted so cautiously.

After all, no one could say for certain just how much power the Sage of Six Paths still possessed in his current soul state.

From what Kagami remembered, at the most critical moment of the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Sage of Six Paths had appeared and bestowed his power upon the reincarnations of his two sons—Naruto and Sasuke.

After receiving the Sage of Six Paths’ gift, Naruto had been able to effortlessly save Guy, who should have been doomed to die after opening the Eight Gates.

Sasuke, meanwhile, awakened a Rinne Sharingan. With little more than a glance, he could toy with all nine Tailed Beasts as though they were nothing more than playthings.

Therefore, in Hyuga Kagami’s eyes, even in his current state as a soul, the Sage of Six Paths was still undoubtedly the strongest existence in the shinobi world at present.

As for the Sage of Six Paths’ artifacts, Hyuga Kagami thought back for a moment. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, there really had been a gourd-shaped Six Paths artifact, one that had fallen into the hands of Kumogakure’s Gold and Silver Brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

"Could that gourd have been picked from this very same gourd vine?"

With that thought in mind, Hyuga Kagami walked beneath the gourd vine ahead of the Priestess. Silently activating his Tenseigan, he focused his gaze and carefully examined it.

The gourd vine hanging from the edge of the cliff looked perfectly ordinary at first glance, but through the vision of his Tenseigan, Kagami could see an extraordinarily powerful concentration of natural energy contained within it.

Following the flow of that natural energy, Hyuga Kagami traced it all the way down and eventually discovered that the vine’s roots extended through the cracks between the rocks, descending farther and farther until they plunged deep underground.

"Looks like this gourd vine can absorb natural energy from the ley lines."

After discovering what was so extraordinary about the vine, Hyuga Kagami began to look forward to seeing just what the small gourd growing on it was capable of.

The Priestess walked over at this moment and explained, "Our Priestess lineage in the Land of Demons has guarded this gourd vine for generations. It bears a single gourd once every thirty years, and every gourd produced by this vine is an exceptional material for crafting artifacts."

Staring at the small gourd hanging from the vine, Hyuga Kagami asked, "When can it be picked?"

"It actually ripened several months ago. That’s why I said your timing was perfect!" After a brief pause, the Priestess chuckled softly. "If you’d come any later, I might have already turned it into some other artifact."

Hyuga Kagami hesitated.

"Such a precious treasure..."

The Priestess interrupted him and said, "If accepting it makes you feel indebted, then just consider this gourd your payment for helping the Land of Demons wipe out the Yomi Cult!"

Hyuga Kagami didn’t stand on ceremony and simply nodded.

Before long, the Priestess plucked the small gourd from the vine.

The little gourd was entirely green. Although it looked perfectly ordinary on the outside, after being nourished by the natural energy of the ley lines for several decades, it could be considered an exceedingly rare artifact material even throughout the entire shinobi world.

At Hyuga Kagami’s request, the Priestess inscribed the sealing techniques of the Priestess lineage onto the small gourd, strengthening its ability to isolate chakra. Once she finished laying down the sealing techniques, she handed the gourd over to him.

After receiving it, Hyuga Kagami tested it briefly and discovered that, after being reinforced by the Priestess lineage’s sealing techniques, the gourd’s ability to isolate chakra was astonishingly powerful.

Even his own Tenseigan chakra was unable to penetrate the walls of the gourd.

"Dragon Vein Seal, Release!"

Without any further hesitation, Hyuga Kagami rapidly formed a series of hand seals and released the Dragon Vein that had been sealed within his body.

Whoosh...

The moment the Dragon Vein Seal was undone, a fierce gale immediately swept through the valley.

The Priestess knew that the Dragon Vein sealed inside Hyuga Kagami was about to emerge, so she hurriedly retreated into the distance and hid behind a rock wall.

Only half of her head peeked out from behind it as she eagerly waited to see just what the legendary Dragon Vein actually looked like.

At that moment, a purple object suddenly emerged straight out of Hyuga Kagami’s body and flew into the air.

There was no doubt about it—the purple object was the physical body of the Dragon Vein.

Because the Dragon Vein was an artificial Tailed Beast, and Hyuga Kagami himself possessed the Tenseigan, removing the Dragon Vein from his body would not endanger his life.

Once freed from the restraints of Hyuga Kagami’s body, the Dragon Vein rapidly began expanding in midair.

Before long, it had grown so enormous that it practically blotted out the sky, almost completely covering the entire valley below.

"Uh..."

Staring at the Dragon Vein floating overhead, fat and round like an enormous ball, the Priestess hiding in the distance was completely dumbfounded.

Never in her wildest imagination had she expected the legendary Dragon Vein to look like this!

From the corner of his eye, Hyuga Kagami noticed the Priestess’s astonished expression and immediately felt a little embarrassed.

"Seal!"

He hurriedly formed a series of hand seals and attempted to seal the Dragon Vein into the gourd.

Fortunately, the Dragon Vein Source was still ignorant and childlike, with little understanding of how to resist him. Before long, it began shrinking like a balloon having its air let out, gradually being sucked into the small gourd bit by bit.

After completing the seal, Hyuga Kagami breathed a sigh of relief.

The Priestess walked over and stared at the small gourd.

"Why does it look so..."

Hyuga Kagami hurriedly explained, "That was an accident!"

The Priestess chuckled softly.

"I never expected you to have such a playful side. If Shion saw it, I’m sure she’d absolutely love it."

Hyuga Kagami didn’t bother explaining himself any further. Instead, he lowered his head and pretended to seriously inspect the small gourd.

After sealing the Dragon Vein into the gourd, as long as he carried the gourd with him, Hyuga Kagami could still borrow the Dragon Vein’s chakra whenever and wherever he wished.

Therefore, he could still technically be considered the Dragon Vein’s Jinchūriki.

However, with the gourd artifact now acting as an additional layer between them, the efficiency with which he could draw upon the Dragon Vein’s chakra was no longer as high as before. At the same time, the risks involved had also increased slightly.

Fortunately, the small gourd was already a treasure in its own right, and with the addition of the Priestess lineage’s sealing techniques, the chances of the Dragon Vein going berserk were still within a range Hyuga Kagami could accept.

As long as he didn’t draw excessively upon the Dragon Vein’s chakra during a single battle, or completely release the Dragon Vein itself, the chances of it going berserk remained extremely low.

Seeing that the small gourd was only about the size of two fists—roughly comparable to a canteen—Hyuga Kagami took out a thin cord and tied the gourd directly around his waist.

With the Dragon Vein problem finally resolved, Hyuga Kagami turned to the Priestess and said, "I really owe you for this. Give me the information on the Yomi Cult. I’ll go wipe them out for you right now."

The Priestess took out a scroll she carried with her and handed it to Hyuga Kagami.

Hyuga Kagami opened the scroll and looked through it. Inside were records detailing several of the Yomi Cult’s strongholds, along with information on several of its principal leaders.

Among them, one individual had been specially marked in red.

This person was none other than the leader of the Yomi Cult...