Chapter 96: The Birth of the Artificial Tailed Beast

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: The Birth of the Artificial Tailed Beast

Watching the enormous purple clay shell that blotted out the sky gradually shrink under the restraints of layer after layer of sealing formulas, the corners of Hyuga Kagami’s mouth unconsciously curled upward.

But before long, the smile on his face froze.

Because as the purple clay shell continued to shrink, its appearance actually began to change.

No one could have expected that once the Dragon Vein’s chakra was compressed to a certain degree, it would manifest its true form.

And that form was actually a dragon!

However, Kagami had molded the purple clay shell into a perfectly regular sphere.

As a result, the shape within and the shape without came into violent conflict.

Under the pressure of the dragon-shaped chakra inside, the originally spherical purple clay shell was forcibly squeezed into the shape of a dragon. Yet because the shell itself had originally been made spherical, the two shapes clashed against each other.

And so, the artificial tailed beast that Hyuga Kagami had personally created ended up becoming a short, thick, chubby purple dragon.

At first glance...

It was actually rather cute.

After getting a good look at the freshly born artificial tailed beast, the Queen of Roran turned toward Kagami with an exceedingly strange expression on her face.

She had never imagined that someone dressed like such a cold-blooded killer could possibly have this kind of aesthetic taste.

After getting a good look at the freshly born artificial tailed beast, the Queen of Roran turned toward Kagami with an exceedingly strange expression on her face.

She had never imagined that someone dressed like such a cold-blooded killer could possibly have this kind of aesthetic taste.

Being stared at with such a strange look, Kagami could barely keep up his composure. Lowering his voice, he explained coldly, "This was actually an accident!"

The Queen of Roran turned her head away. Judging by her expression, she clearly didn’t believe his explanation at all.

"Seal!"

Kagami didn’t bother explaining any further. In a hurry, he sealed the artificial tailed beast into his own body.

This seal was only temporary. At present, he still had no way to draw upon the artificial tailed beast’s chakra. Only after completing a proper jinchuriki fusion seal would he be able to access its chakra.

But time was tight, and Sunagakure’s shinobi could arrive at any moment. The matter of performing the jinchuriki fusion seal could wait until after he had left this place.

Using his Tenseigan one final time to carefully scan the surroundings, Kagami confirmed that he hadn’t left behind any traces before swiftly departing the ruins of ancient Roran with the Queen.

Several hours later, as the first pale light of dawn appeared on the horizon, Kagami had already brought the Queen back to the vicinity of Manto Oasis.

Seeing that they were almost at Manto Oasis, the Queen of Roran suddenly demanded sharply, "You promised me that you would spare my people!"

Kagami was slightly taken aback. "I never said I was going to kill them."

Hearing this, the Queen of Roran’s expression gradually relaxed. She then took one last, lingering look in the direction of Manto Oasis before gathering her courage and saying, "Then... then do it."

Kagami crossed his arms, looking puzzled. "Do what?"

The Queen of Roran cautiously asked, "Aren’t you going to kill me to silence me?"

Kagami was dumbfounded. "When did I ever say I was going to kill you to silence you?"

Only then did he finally understand.

Apparently, the Queen of Roran had never believed his claim that he was simply paying her for the Dragon Vein. Instead, she had spent all this time terrifying herself half to death.

Seeing that Kagami genuinely seemed to have no intention of killing her to keep his secret, the Queen of Roran breathed a sigh of relief. But then another question occurred to her.

"But I know your secret. Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell someone?"

"Do you know who I am?"

The Queen of Roran shook her head.

"You don’t even know who I am. Even if you tell someone, what difference would it make to me?" After a brief pause, Kagami said coldly, "Besides, you should understand what will happen to you and your people if you start carelessly talking about this."

The Queen of Roran hurriedly replied, "I won’t tell anyone."

After pondering for a moment, Kagami said, "Sunagakure probably won’t let you go so easily. You and your people can’t remain in the Land of Wind anymore."

"What!?" The Queen of Roran was startled at first, but once she thought about Sunagakure’s designs on the Dragon Vein, she understood that Kagami was right.

"But where else can we go?"

Kagami rested a hand against his chin and began to think.

In terms of safety, Konoha wasn’t a bad choice. However, the identities of the Roran survivors were far too sensitive. The moment they sought refuge in Konoha, the Third Hokage would probably immediately send someone to investigate them.

After all, the Dragon Vein had been personally sealed by the Fourth Hokage. Now, not only had the seal been broken, but the Dragon Vein itself had been taken away. There was no way the Third Hokage would simply turn a blind eye to something like that.

But excluding Konoha, Kagami went through every possibility he could think of and realized there really weren’t many places that could be considered safe.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"The Land of Rain!"

As the headquarters of the Akatsuki, the Land of Rain might be a dragon’s den and tiger’s lair for shinobi from other villages, but for ordinary civilians, it was actually one of the few relatively peaceful places around.

Thanks to Pain’s overwhelming authority, there were very few shinobi who dared cause trouble within the Land of Rain.

Combined with Pain’s isolationist policies, it was extremely difficult for shinobi from other villages to infiltrate the Land of Rain’s central cities. So once the Roran survivors entered the Land of Rain, whether it was Sunagakure or Konoha, neither would have an easy time getting their hands on them.

After all, in the original timeline, the Land of Rain was a place where even Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, had ultimately met his end.

And there was one more point—the most important one.

For Pain, who possessed the Rinnegan and was focused entirely on gathering the nine tailed beasts, the Dragon Vein simply wasn’t something he would covet.

Kagami explained his idea to the Queen of Roran, then once again assured her that, as agreed, he would pay her a sum of money for purchasing the Dragon Vein.

Upon realizing that Kagami really intended to pay her, the Queen of Roran, who had grown accustomed to poverty, swallowed lightly and asked, "How much are you going to pay?"

Kagami thought for a moment, then raised five fingers.

Five million ryo was all the money he had on him.

Of that, three million ryo was what he had painstakingly saved up over time, while the remaining two million came from the bounties he had collected after capturing the two bounty hunters who had recently tried to assassinate him.

Originally, the bounty had been three million ryo, but he had spent one million of it hiring the Grass shinobi.

Staring at Kagami’s five raised fingers, the Queen of Roran muttered to herself, "Fifty thousand ryo? Mm... I suppose that’s not too little."

Kagami silently shook his head.

The Queen of Roran cautiously tried again. "Could it be... five hundred thousand ryo?"

Kagami teased, "Looks like even you don’t think the Dragon Vein is worth all that much."

The Queen of Roran could barely contain her excitement as she exclaimed, "F-Five million ryo!?"

Only then did Kagami nod. In an offhand tone, he said, "It’s not that much money, but it should be enough to improve the lives of you and your people. If I gave you any more, it might actually bring disaster upon you instead."

In Kagami’s eyes, five million ryo really wasn’t all that much.

Still, it was more than enough to improve the lives of the several hundred Roran survivors. The Queen of Roran could also afford to hire a doctor to treat her illness.

After all, she was still young. As long as she received treatment in time, there was still a chance she could make a full recovery...