Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Zero-Tail also devoured the mind of its master, Shennong, without any hesitation, in order to enhance its own power and gain control of Shennong's body.

In an instant, Shennong's eyes turned completely black, and powerful dark chakra erupted from his body. His face contorted in a ferocious expression, and he appeared to be going berserk.

"Hmm~"

At the same time, the Uchiha clone immediately sensed something was wrong and decisively delivered a fatal blow to Shennong.

The next moment, a sharp blade formed from lightning chakra grew out from the back of the Uchiha clone's right hand, and then quickly sliced ​​across Shennong's neck, severing his head.

Lightning Release: Lightning Blade!

This is a Lightning Release ninjutsu developed by Kirito using the principle of condensing lightning armor through Lightning Release Chakra Mode. It possesses destructive power comparable to his usual signature move.

Based on its power, it belongs to the A-rank ninjutsu.

Hehehe~

After Shennong's head hit the ground, he did not die. Instead, he flew up and let out a strange laugh. His headless body also reacted by quickly retreating and shooting out a large number of spikes formed from dark chakra towards the Uchiha clone.

The Uchiha clone decided not to use the Lightning Armor to withstand the attack any longer. Instead, he used the Lightning Release Chakra Mode to instantly use the Lightning Body Flicker Technique to get behind Shennong's headless body and used the Lightning Blade to cut his body into eight pieces.

As a result, Shennong's body was still able to move even in this state. His shattered body was quickly connected by strands of materialized dark chakra, and then reassembled. His head was also reattached.

As soon as his body was reconstructed, Shennong, controlled by Zero-Tails, immediately launched an attack, using only his physical strength to teleport to the Uchiha clone and unleash the Super God Fist.

However, Shennong was ultimately unable to fully open the Eight Gates. His physical strength alone could only reach the speed of sound, which was far inferior to the Uchiha clones who could reach near the speed of light by using the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

In no time, Shennong was once again torn into eight pieces by the Uchiha clone.

However, Shennong's body quickly reformed again, and he continued to charge towards the Uchiha clone fearlessly, even moving faster than before. Clearly, his physical strength had been further enhanced after the reformation.

"It has actually become an immortal body similar to Hidan's, no, it is an immortal body that is even more advanced than Hidan's. After all, Hidan's body was cut into eight pieces and could not repair itself. Moreover, after his body was reassembled, his strength actually increased."

Seeing this, the Uchiha clone pondered for a moment and then calmly continued to dismember Shennong into eight pieces.

At this point, he finally began to take an interest in the forbidden medical techniques developed by Shennong: Body Activation, Body Regeneration, and Body Transformation.

These three forbidden medical techniques are practically cheat codes for physical enhancement that taijutsu ninjas dream of.

Especially the forbidden medical technique of physical transformation, which requires the combination of dark chakra, if it can really eliminate the side effects of the Eight Gates Technique's Death Gate, it would definitely be a god-level trump card, even if it comes at a huge cost.

As a ninja with considerable skill in medical ninjutsu, how could Kirito not see the drawbacks of Shennong's three forbidden medical techniques? They are similar to the forbidden medical technique Creation Regeneration that Tsunade developed later, which requires rapid cell division to ignore injuries.

I just don't know whether their side effects are more serious than Tsunade's Creation Regeneration.

In the brief moment that the Uchiha clone paused to think, Shennong was resurrected. But this time, he couldn't charge at the Uchiha clone as frantically as before, because a blue chakra chain pierced through his body.

A powerful sealing force was released from the chakra chains, imprisoning the dark chakra within him.

Shennong was temporarily unable to use dark chakra, which resulted in the cessation of all three of his forbidden medical techniques, and his once young and robust body began to age rapidly.

In just a few seconds, Shennong transformed from a young, strong lad into a thin, balding old man.

"It seems the side effects are greater than I imagined. Indeed, there is no power that can be achieved through shortcuts, and this dark chakra is not a harmless energy either."

The Uchiha clone looked at Shennong's current state and shook his head with a sigh.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you."

Shennong lost the blessing of dark chakra, his eyes returned to normal, and his lost rationality returned, but he still looked like a hysterical man wanting to attack the Uchiha clone, letting out a hoarse roar.

However, before he could take heavy steps to attack the Uchiha clone, a massive surge of dark chakra erupted from his body and materialized into the form of the Zero-Tails.

After realizing that there was no chance of winning, Zero Tail decisively severed its connection with Shennong and came out of Shennong's body.

As soon as it emerged, it turned into a black liquid that spread rapidly across the ground, spreading outwards like a tide – a strategy of detaching its tail like a gecko.

It had come to realize that it was no match for the terrifying Uchiha ninja in front of it, and that running away was the only right choice.

It also has the confidence to escape. Although this method of escaping by shedding its tail will greatly deplete the enormous amount of dark chakra it has painstakingly collected, as long as a little bit of its dark chakra escapes, it can continue to live.

It's just a matter of starting all over again, and it may take a long time for it to recover to its current strength, but so what? Time is a very cheap thing for it.

Because as long as there are still humans in this world with darkness in their hearts, it will never truly die.

"Damn Konoha ninjas, just wait, I'll come back for my revenge sooner or later."

Zero thought to himself with intense hatred.

Where are you going?

Suddenly, a cold voice appeared in Zero's ear, which made it instantly shudder.

The next moment, a ghostly blue hand pulled a white mask out of a pool of black liquid.

This white mask, like the pale blue hand, has no physical form; they are both composed of souls.

"Don't even think about escaping from me. You're just a wild tailed beast, and a very low-level one at that. You want to self-destruct and escape? You'd better conceal your soul first."

The Uchiha clone used the Soul Hand technique to grab Zero-Tails' soul and sneered.

Upon hearing the words of the Uchiha clone, Zero-Tails felt despair, but it did not give up. From the depths of its soul, it began to release an incomparably pure dark chakra.

This dark chakra was like the silt that had settled in a riverbed for years, incredibly thick and deep, radiating an incomparably pure dark power.

This dark power was extremely contagious. As soon as it emerged, it corrupted and darkened the soul hand created by the Uchiha clone using his soul power, forcing the Uchiha clone to quickly sever the soul hand to stop the contamination from spreading.

However, at this moment, his Sharingan was filled with an unprecedented 'appetite', constantly urging him to accept and absorb this dark power.

In response, the Uchiha clone, who was Kirito's soul clone and possessed an equally unwavering will, naturally ignored the hunger in his eyes and dealt with the pure dark power emanating from the Zero-Tails' soul with utmost rationality.

"That's right. This kind of dark chakra, although it's not quite as good as the dark chakra of Madara Uchiha and the Rinnegan, it's quite close. And judging from the strong appetite coming from the Sharingan, this kind of dark chakra should be the special chakra that can help it complete its evolution."

The Uchiha clone calmly thought to himself, then clapped his hands together.

A soul chain emanating the fluctuations of Sage Chakra was released from the Uchiha clone and then bound the Zero-Tails' soul, which was trying to continue its escape.

Immortal Technique: Spirit Transformation Art: Soul Lockdown!

This is a soul sealing technique created by Kirito by combining the Spirit Transformation Technique with a modified version of the Adamantine Sealing Chains. Now released with Sage Chakra, its sealing power is even stronger, and it can even successfully imprison and seal the highly corrosive dark chakra released by the Zero-Tails' soul.

"To die or to surrender?"

After the Uchiha clone successfully captured the Zero-Tails' soul using Soul Lock, a pale soul flame suddenly appeared in his right palm, and he said with a cold expression.

Zero-Tails is a chakra creature born from the condensation of the dark chakra of countless living beings. This destined it to be a monster filled with all sorts of negative emotions, inherently cruel and evil, and viewing humans as food for pigs and dogs. How could it possibly be willing to submit to humans?

Therefore, it ignored the Uchiha clone's words and continued to resist fiercely, attempting to release more pure dark chakra to corrupt the soul chains binding its body.

Upon seeing this, the Uchiha clone immediately used the Soul Flame, a soul ability born after the Spirit Transformation Technique reached level 4, to burn the Zero-Tails' soul.

"Sizzle sizzle~"

A charred, soul-like voice suddenly appeared.

Zero-tail's soul also let out a painful wail, and a large amount of black energy was released from its body, which was then burned to ashes by the soul flames and completely purified.

In just a few seconds, half of Zero-Tail's soul was burned away.

It finally realized that it might truly 'die,' and even if it were resurrected, it would no longer be the same as it was now. It hurriedly begged for mercy: "Spare me, spare my life."

But the Uchiha clone ignored it and continued to burn it with soul flames until its soul was on the verge of collapse before stopping.

"With its soul so severely damaged, it should have little reason left."

The Uchiha clone looked at the remaining quarter of the white mask in his hand and smiled slightly.

The Zero-Tails he needed was merely a tool for processing dark chakra, and as a tool, it should be devoid of any emotions.

This time, he saw in Zero-Tails the possibility of processing the dark chakra in the Rinnegan and the possibility of evolving the Sharingan into the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Further research and experimentation are needed. If the Sharingan could evolve into the Mangekyou Sharingan so easily, it would be too cheap. I suspect that the Mangekyou Sharingan evolved in such an abnormal way would have some defects."

The Uchiha clone thought to himself.

Then, he took out a bottle made of black rod substance, put Zero-tail's nearly destroyed soul into it, and then affixed several sealing talismans to seal it tightly.

After sealing the Zero-Tails, the Uchiha clone turned around and re-entered the room, arriving before Shennong, who was now on the verge of death.

The leader of the Sky Ninja is getting older and older, with all his hair and teeth gone. However, his vitality and will to survive are very strong. After the chakra chains on his body were released, he desperately tried to use the forbidden medical technique, Body Revitalization, to keep himself alive.

Unfortunately, after losing his dark chakra, his life force was like a leaky balloon, constantly and rapidly draining away.

"Help, save me, help..."

Upon seeing the Uchiha clone, Shennong immediately let out an extremely weak cry for help.

"Forbidden techniques are forbidden techniques; they cannot be used indiscriminately. Seeing your condition, I know that your forbidden medical techniques are not yet fully completed. What a pity."

Upon hearing Shennong's cry for help, the Uchiha clone sighed, showing no intention whatsoever of rescuing him.

The next moment, he used his Soul Hand to pull Shennong's soul out of his body.

As soon as Shennong's soul was pulled out, his body completely died, his life force was cut off, and he breathed his last without hesitation.

However, although his physical body died, Shennong's soul lived on. His soul was even more resilient than the Uchiha clone had imagined. After losing the burden of his physical body, it quickly coalesced and transformed into his younger self.

"Who exactly are you? How do you know this kind of soul-binding ninjutsu?"

Shennong's soul said in terror.

He never imagined that his death would not be the end of his life. The Uchiha ninja in front of him was simply a demon, who did not even intend to spare his soul after death.

Do you still want to live?

"The Uchiha clone suddenly asked."

Upon hearing this, Shennong's soul froze, somewhat confused about what the Uchiha clone was saying.

The other person is clearly dead, their body is completely necrotic, there is no possibility of them coming back to life, so what's the point of talking about whether they are alive or not?

But the next second, the Uchiha clone's next words made it clear how he would live: "To continue living in this world as a soul."

Chapter 318: The Approaching Darkness

The reason why the Uchiha clone left Shennong behind was simple: he wanted to obtain the medical ninjutsu in Shennong's head and the flying ninja tool technology of the Sky Ninja.

Of course, what he really wanted most was Shennong's outstanding mind.

A person who can research forbidden medical techniques is enough to prove that their intelligence is misguided.

But we can't blame him for that. After all, he was just a ninja from a small, outstanding village. The fact that he could improve his medical ninjutsu to this level was basically all due to his personal abilities. It's normal for him to accidentally go astray.

But it cannot be denied that even if one takes the wrong path, one can still forge a path to great achievement.

"Living as a soul is worse than letting my soul be scattered. You killed me, and now you want to enslave me. Do you think I'll let you have your way?"