"Finally... after a month of slow transfer, the seal held."

  Ryuu stood alone beneath the crumbling ruins of the central palace, deep underground in what had once been a power chamber. Now, it was a containment vault. Sweat clung to his brow despite the cold dryness of the stone around him.

  The air buzzed faintly with residual chakra, a frequency that didn’t quite belong to nature, nor to any known Tailed Beast.

  The Ryūmyaku’s energy was ancient, raw, and massive. Feeding it to the Zero-Tails was like pouring an ocean into cracked pottery. He hadn’t dared rush it.

  Every day, he opened the seal by a sliver with help from Lyra. Every day, he reinforced the secondary containment array that bound the Zero-Tails. Its spiritual form, once bloated and amorphous, had begun to shift.

  It was changing, slowly, but it was transforming into something different.

  He could hear it change it, writhing, wriggling.

  Ryuu’s breath caught as the containment field momentarily flickered, and in that instant, the Zero-Tails revealed its true metamorphosis.

  Where once it had slithered like a bloated worm, it now coiled in a monstrous outline. A pair of jagged, horn-tipped ridges crowned its spine, each vertebra glowing faintly with dark chakra. Its body, though still slick and segmented like a leech’s, had elongated into a lithe, serpentine torso nearly twenty meters long. From its sides sprouted four spindly limbs, two forelimbs ending in hooked talons, two hind-legs that braced against the stone floor, each joint armored in overlapping purple-black scales.

  Most grotesque of all was its head. The original blank Noh mask had shattered, and in its place grew a crown of three new masks, each suspended at a slight tilt along its skull. One mask twisted into a predatory grin, another wore lips pulled back in a silent scream, the last melted into an expressionless void. Beneath them, glowing red slits cut across jagged bone, revealing rows of serrated teeth embedded in a maw that could stretch impossibly wide.

  Its tail, a ribbon of sinew and scale, split into three tendrils, each tipped with barbs that dripped with something toxic. When it flexed, those barbs clicked against one another.

  The whole creature pulsed with unsteady life. Every breath it took sent ripples of dark chakra washing outward.

  For the first time since he’d begun the transfer, Ryuu felt both awe and dread.

  This was no simple spirit. This was a new apex entity—half-dragon, half-leech, a living fuse of the Ryūmyaku’s raw power and the Zero-Tails’ dark chakra.

  And in a single, silent moment, Ryuu understood that only he could guide this monstrosity’s next evolution, or doom them both.

  It was still in an incredibly unstable state, ready to blow up the entire place with one small mistake.

  First, he needed to completely stabilize it, suppress and created consciousness and then become its jinchuriki.

  ‘This is going to take longer than expected…’

  He muttered to himself, feeling the mental strain already. He glanced around him, commanding the ten shadow clones maintaining the seal on the zero-tails to keep going. He knew this was going to be a pain the ass to manage.

  ‘Maybe acquiring the blood of a Hyuga clan member would have been better…’

  He doubted himself for a moment but soon shook those thoughts away. Those old geezers had refused, so there was no point in bothering. If he acquired the Byakugan and they found out he would be under some serious trouble.

  So, going with plan B was his best choice for now.

  ‘I’m sure they won't have the gall to refuse my proposal once my strength rivals that of a Kage level shinobi at the very least.’

  It was his only silver lining with the situation. He knew that once he became strong enough for them to be unable to say anything, he could acquire the things he needed with ease.

  Why bother with underhanded means when he could just take what he wanted.

  [POV Shift: Akatsuki Hideout – The Central Spire of Amegakure]

  "The One-Tail, the Six-Tails, the Seven-Tails, and the Nine-Tails. All accounted for. All secured by Konohagakure."

  Obito's distorted voice echoed through the chamber, laced with cold fury. His single Sharingan burned with frustration.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Pain, his Deva Path body seated impassively before his throne, regarded him with Rinnegan eyes that betrayed no emotion.

  "Four failures out of six attempts. Acceptable margins given the circumstances."

  "Acceptable?!" Obito snapped, rounding on Pain. "Hidan and Kakuzu failed to secure the Six-Tails! A target Kakuzu himself called easy, somehow evaded them."

  From the shadows, Kakuzu's deep, rumbling voice carried a rare note of defensiveness.

  "We had him! If it wasn’t for Hidan’s recklessness and the Konoha ANBU intervening, we would have brought him here…"

  Hidan merely grunted nearby, sharpening the edge of his scythe with exaggerated focus.

  "That is not an excuse for incompetence," Obito sneered, his gaze sweeping over the figures of Hidan and Kakuzu.

  "Jūzō and Haku encountered the Seven-Tails and failed to capture her, however, they at least succeeded in securing the Two-Tails."

  The figure of Jūzō Biwa, his massive blade's hilt visible over his shoulder, gave a curt, silent nod in response Haku simply bowed. His voice, when he spoke, was softly melodic, betraying nothing of his failure.

  "The Konoha ANBU were unpredictable, especially since they came with great force."

  He didn’t comment on Ryuu’s abilities, since the Akatsuki had already taken note of him and were directly trying to learn everything about him. He was a variable that they didn’t like, especially since he possessed two Kekkei Genkai.

  “We should focus on the rest of the Jinchuriki, particularly the four, five, and eight tails. As for the three tails, we don’t need to move against him for the time being.”

  Obito said through gritted teeth, knowing well that Konoha was the biggest issue at the moment. Their strength was far greater now that they had four Jinchuriki under them.

  “It's fine… Konoha isn’t an issue. After we’ve captured the majority, I’ll directly attack Konoha on my own.”

  Deva Pain said simply, his eyes not betraying any of his thoughts.

  Pain’s gaze shifted to Haku and Rei.

  “Kisame and Rei will lead the eight?Tails operation next. Their failure is regrettable, but Roshi’s escape proves the need for overwhelming force, not stealth.”

  Rei inclined his head.

  “We will be ready.”

  Obito’s eye darted to Hidan and Kakuzu. “And you two, stay here. Any more blunders, and I will personally ensure you regret it.”

  Kakuzu’s stitched lips curled into a snarl.

  “Just give us the next target, and we’ll complete it faster than the rest.”

  Pain rose from his throne, his voice cold.

  “No. The Five?Tails will be captured under my command, alongside the Four?Tails. Obito, you will accompany us.”

  Obito clenched his fist, sharing a brief, tense look with Pain before inclining once.

  This had been the situation from the moment his identity was revealed and Madara's death was confirmed. He was stuck doing whatever just so he could complete his goal towards the infinite tsukuyomi.

  And Zetsu didn't help at all. For some reason, it had been getting a lot more restless the past few years, as if things had spiraled way outside its control.

  “Very well.”

  A ripple of agreement passed through the circle. Even Hidan paused his scythe-sharpening, and Kakuzu leaned forward, interest piqued.

  Pain’s final words hung heavy in the damp chamber:

  “After that, Konoha falls.”

  [POV SHIFT - REI CHINOIKE]

  Lightning fractured the night sky above Kumogakure, each thunderclap shaking the rafters of the building in front of them. Rei stood on a jagged rooftop, rain plastering his pale blond hair to his forehead and soaking the red clouds of the Akatsuki cloak around his slender frame. His eyes, a muted violet, were calm.

  Beside him, Kisame crouched, Samehada humming as if ready to attack at any moment. Neither spoke.

  They had come for Killer B, the Jinchūriki of the Eight?Tails, widely known for his unhinged defiance and berserker rhyme schemes.

  Rei flexed his fingers. In another life, he had been a frightened child, learning to trace blood sigils in crimson soil. Now, his Ketsuryūgan granted him control over every beat of blood in the world around him, but he kept the power reined.

  Patience, he reminded himself.

  Below, flashlights and torches revealed Kumo’s defenders scouring the courtyard. Rei and Kisame split.

  Kisame plunged through the rain in a silent drop, blade ready. Rei melted into the gathering storm, strands of his cloak fluttering as he descended unerringly toward the courtyard’s edge.

  Memories of his past clicked behind his eyelids, a massacre, a hidden child, a thirst forged in blood.

  He slid behind a shattered pillar as a thunderous roar echoed. The Eight?Tails’ tentacles smashed concrete, and Killer B, blade in hand, dove into the fray. Chakra ripped behind him, illuminating every muscle in his armored body.

  Rei watched, eyes narrowing. When B whirled away to sow chaos, Rei moved.

  He stepped into the open, rain dripping off his blood?splattered cloak. With a subtle gesture, Rei’s left hand traced a sigil in the air, “Blood Mire Seal” spun from his own chakra and the iron in Kumo’s stone. The rain hissed as crimson filaments snaked across the ground, latching onto B’s boots.

  B’s grin split his face mid?battle. He whirled, sensed Rei, and charged.

  But Rei’s crimson eyes flared, his control refined. A ripple in B’s veins, unseen and unshielded by brute strength. Blood spurted from B’s wrist as his sword hand froze.

  Kisame appeared then, Samehada’s maw splitting the air. The blade bit into the Eight?Tails’ energy, drawing off B’s chakra reserves. B stumbled, but did not fall.

  He roared, spirit unbroken.

  Rei closed the distance. Rain and blood dripped from his cheeks as he raised both hands, palm?forward.

  His Ketsuryūgan cast a red glow on the wrecked courtyard.

  A silent pulse of blood?chroma surged outward, “Blood Star Cage” drawing on B’s very circulatory system. B screamed, muscles convulsing as his own blood betrayed him.

  Lightning cracked overhead. Kisame twisted free, dragging B’s chakra into Samehada’s ravenous scales. B collapsed to one knee. Rei descended, cloak swirling.

  He pressed a single fingertip to B’s temple. The Jinchūriki’s eyes flickered in pain and disbelief.

  Rei spoke softly, voice carrying over the storm.

  “I’m sorry, but this has to happen, B.”

  With that, he withdrew his hand. B slumped forward, unconscious, but alive. Rei summoned a simple binding seal around him, drawn in the red earth, to keep the Eight?Tails docile until extraction.

  Kisame clapped Rei on the shoulder, his voice booming.

  “Nicely done, kid.”

  Rei’s crimson blossom eyes faded to violet.

  He allowed himself the faintest nod. Mercy, he reminded himself, was the courtesy of the powerful.

  “We have to move quickly. The Raikage and Killer B are like brothers. Ay is not easy to deal with.”

  “Whatever you say. I’m fine with anything.”

  Kisame smiled broadly, but didn’t reject Rei’s words. The two of them took the unconscious Killer B and disappeared as if they were never there.