Naruto: Eating Kaido's Azure Dragon Devil Fruit-Chapter 279: The Plan Begins

Over the vast ocean, a stream of cyan light sped at low altitude, moving extremely fast.

Sora was rushing towards the Ascension Island base at full speed.

In a stretch of sea he had passed earlier, Tagitsuhime stood bored upon the water’s surface, her purple skirt fluttering lightly in the wind.

She looked at the Sora shadow clone beside her, who remained silent and simply stared intently at her, and felt a wave of speechlessness.

’This man... is simply too cautious.’

Tagitsuhime secretly complained.

She had originally hoped to use the opportunity of traveling together to gather more information, or to observe Sora.

But instead, he directly left a shadow clone here to "accompany" her, while his main body ran off without a word.

The key point was, this shadow clone was like a block of wood, showing no intention of communication beyond surveillance.

Those calm, unblinking eyes made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

’Hmph, do you think this can stump me, Tagitsuhime.’

Her eyes shifted, and she began calculating a different plan.

’It seems I need to change my strategy. Being too forward seems cheap. Maybe next time I should act a bit more aloof.’

’Or... perhaps start with those people around him.’

Tagitsuhime recalled the girl with wine-red pupils she had seen in Konoha, and the silent girl at the orphanage, a meaningful smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

’As long as you remain in the ninja world, there will always come a time when you need the power of Ryūchi Cave...’

...

On the other side, Sora, flying at full speed, pondered in his mind about Uchiha Takumi.

’Uchiha Takumi’s Mangekyō...’

Sora recalled when Uchiha Ryota was severely injured and near death, and Uchiha Takumi arrived in a state of nearly destructive fury.

’He awakened his eyes upon witnessing his close relative’s severe injury. According to the emotional patterns of the Uchiha clan, the abilities are most likely related to "saving" or "revenge".’

’He was able to instantly catch up to the fleeing Juzo Biwa at that time, with astonishing speed. Combined with his title of "Shunshin Enma" (Flickering Flame Demon), the ability of one eye is extremely likely to be a space-time jutsu related to speed.’

Sora silently speculated.

’As for the other eye... Ryota’s injuries were so severe, yet he later miraculously recovered completely, without any aftereffects. Ordinary medical ninjutsu simply couldn’t achieve that.’

’It seems the ability of the other eye is most likely a healing-type ability involving extreme recovery.’

Thinking of this, Sora couldn’t help but sigh at the overpowered nature of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

’Speed and healing, offense and defense combined with recovery, it’s practically a perfect pairing.’

’No wonder he dared to say he owed me a favor and would repay it doubly in the future.’

’With such abilities, as long as you aren’t instantly killed or run out of chakra, you’re almost an immortal cockroach.’

’However, the cost is equally immense. The decline in eyesight is the sounding alarm.’

Sora shook his head, temporarily setting these thoughts aside. His own plan was more critical at the moment.

...

Ascension Island underground laboratory.

"Sora."

"Sora, big brother."

As soon as Sora entered, Nonō, Kabuto, Yumi, Ayumi, and Miyamoto Ichirō gathered around him.

Their faces all held joy, as they hadn’t seen Sora’s main body for several months now.

"Mn, I’m back."

Sora nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally landing on the shadow clone in the corner of the laboratory, which was dissipating into white smoke.

Instantly, the memories and experiences of the shadow clone’s months-long vigil returned to the main body.

Mainly monitoring the laboratory’s operation, ensuring the barrier’s safety, and...

Watching Nonō and Kabuto, making sure they didn’t neglect food and sleep too much in their research.

After all, Kabuto was still growing. Did this count as using "child labor".

Confirming that everything at the base had been normal during this period without any incidents, Sora felt slightly relieved.

"Sora, big brother, come look quickly."

Kabuto eagerly pulled Sora towards the several large cultivation chambers deep within the laboratory, his small face full of excitement and pride.

"This is..."

Sora looked inside the cultivation chambers.

Within the pale green nutrient solution, several embryo-like tissues were pulsating slightly, emitting faint life signals.

Although they were still far from fully formed, the general humanoid contours were discernible, and they resonated subtly with the cellular fluctuations of Sora’s own body.

"The basic life support and directional differentiation have stabilized significantly."

Kabuto introduced excitedly.

"We improved the formula of the nutrient solution, adding those special medicinal herbs you brought back. It greatly enhanced cellular activity and compatibility. Although energy consumption is still enormous, according to this progress..."

Nonō, standing nearby, took over, her tone also carrying a sense of accomplishment.

"In at most six more months, we are confident we can successfully cultivate embryo bodies of clones based on your own cells, completely under control."

Sora looked at the nascent forms representing "future clones" within the cultivation chambers, a flicker of satisfaction also appearing in his eyes.

"Well done."

With the clones, his "Kekkei Mora plan" could truly take its first step.

Nonō adjusted her glasses and inquired.

"Sora, regarding these clones, which Kekkei Genkai cells do you plan to integrate. We need to prepare in advance for compatibility testing."

Sora was already prepared.

Focusing his mind, he retrieved from his personal sealing scroll the scroll sealing the Third Kazekage’s human puppet.

Hiss.

White smoke dissipated. The human puppet of the Third Kazekage, clad in black robes and with a vacant expression, appeared on the experiment table.

"This is... the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure."

Nonō was startled, clearly recognizing the puppet’s origin.

"Mn, snatched from Sasori of the Red Sand. Who would have thought, it was actually Sunagakure’s own people who killed the Kazekage."

Sora smiled slightly, then pointed at the Third Kazekage human puppet and said.

"I need you to figure out a way to extract still-active, pure Third Kazekage cells from this human puppet."

"Combine them with my cells to cultivate the first clone body. A Wind Release clone."

Upon hearing this, Nonō and the others were all somewhat shocked. They hadn’t expected it was actually Sunagakure’s own people who killed the Third Kazekage and turned him into a human puppet.

After a moment, Nonō and Kabuto gathered around the experiment table, beginning to carefully examine this exquisitely crafted human puppet.

A short while later, Nonō raised her head, her eyes holding the focus unique to researchers.

"The combination of puppet and biological tissue is extremely ingenious, even cruel... Forcibly peeling it off could indeed trigger self-destruction."

"However, now that we know the structure and principle, give Kabuto and me some time. We are confident we can bypass those self-destruct mechanisms and safely extract the core cellular tissues." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"That’s right, Sora, big brother."

Kabuto also nodded vigorously, a challenging gleam in his eyes.

"Sasori’s technique is indeed impressive, but Nonō, big sister, and I will definitely decipher it."

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