Chapter 198: Soul Possession
"Soul?"
"Spiritual energy?"
Li Yao quietly mulled over the words, and then his eyes suddenly lit up.
He remembered how the shinobi's soul had been purified by his Rinnegan chakra, turning into unowned spiritual energy. What if he let a shadow clone use the Spirit Transformation Technique to absorb that spiritual energy? Could it form a soul and begin to emit spiritual energy on its own?
"It's worth a try."
Li Yao decided, but he needed to be patient—he'd wait for another shinobi to attack the village before capturing one for experimentation.
White Zetsu was definitely watching him from the shadows. If he went out hunting for test subjects now, it might raise suspicion or cause unintended consequences.
Sometimes slow and steady was the best strategy. He couldn't afford mistakes.
The next day of the mission.
A team of seven shinobi approached the village. Li Yao landed from the sky and stood outside the village gates without taking action.
Soon, the enemy ninja squad reached the entrance.
Li Yao's shadow clone was already there waiting.
"Black high-collar coat, that's..."
One of the squad noticed the cloak on Li Yao's clone and muttered, "Boss, he's from Akatsuki."
The leader furrowed his brow. "Looks like the village requested protection from Akatsuki."
"What do we do, boss?"
"I've heard Akatsuki has some powerful members—at jōnin level. But there's only one guy here… Maybe—"
Hearing the word Akatsuki brought a heavy silence. They were mostly genin-level; only the leader was a chūnin.
Facing a jōnin-level opponent, they stood no chance.
"Boss, maybe we should leave."
One suggested it, and the others quickly agreed. The leader was displeased—he felt his authority was being challenged. Besides, the enemy was alone. No matter how strong he was, there were seven of them.
As their leader, he snapped at them, "What are you afraid of? He's just one man."
"And have you forgotten Akatsuki's doctrine?"
"They're all about not killing, right? Even if we lose, they won't kill us."
"But if we win—we've already checked, haven't we? That village has quite a few pretty women…"
"So… we attack?"
The leader's words stirred the darkness in their hearts, overwhelming their fear of facing a jōnin. The key was Akatsuki's "no-kill" reputation—it gave them the courage to act out.
"Attack! Kill him!"
Seeing their wicked thoughts take hold, the leader gave the order, and all seven charged at Li Yao.
Their eyes were filled with malice and lust.
Li Yao remained calm. In times of chaos, there were people like Yahiko who dreamed of saving the world—and people like these, who unleashed their madness.
The seven shinobi didn't even get a chance to realize what happened.
BAM BAM BAM...
Each of them was knocked away in an instant, flying in arcs like pebbles tossed by a giant and slamming into the ground.
"Ah... What just happened?"
"We... We…"
"Monster…"
"He's too strong!"
"He's on a completely different level from us…"
Though Li Yao's clone hadn't moved an inch from where it stood, the seven knew—it had struck them with a speed they couldn't even perceive.
And it had held back.
Otherwise, they'd be corpses by now.
"Retreat!"
Realizing the impossible power gap, the leader abandoned all pretense of pride. He called for retreat immediately.
They left, trembling, terrified that Li Yao's clone might give chase.
Fortunately, it didn't. They made it out safely.
"Phew… we're—huh?"
Just as they began to breathe easy, their minds were pulled into the void—losing all control of their bodies.
BAM BAM BAM...
Li Yao casually tossed them one by one onto the clay bird, then leapt up and soared high into the sky.
"What's Li Yao doing?"
Not long after, a white face emerged from a tree below—White Zetsu. He looked up at the direction Li Yao had gone, suspicious.
For the past two years, Li Yao had behaved, staying by Nagato's side and not stirring trouble.
Now he was acting weird. What was he up to?
Why capture wandering shinobi?
White Zetsu felt certain that Li Yao was hiding something—not just from the world, but from him.
What exactly was it?
The question burned inside him—but he couldn't do much. Any suspicious move could draw Madara's attention, and that wasn't worth the risk.
"Forget it. As long as he doesn't interfere with the plan, I'll let it go."
White Zetsu retreated into the tree and stayed hidden.
Meanwhile, high above the clouds, Li Yao smiled to himself.
"So White Zetsu was watching after all."
He couldn't sense him before, not when Zetsu merged with a tree and barely showed his face.
But now, with the Rinnegan's chakra and improved soul sensing, he could detect even the slightest slip.
Sooner or later, White Zetsu would have nowhere left to hide.
But for now… time to see if a clone could gain a soul.
Li Yao created a shadow clone, condensed Rinnegan chakra again, and extracted the soul of one shinobi. After purification, it turned into a pure spiritual energy cluster.
Li Yao wrapped it in chakra and drew it out.
The shadow clone immediately used the Spirit Transformation Technique to absorb it.
Once it was done, the clone's spirit entered the now soul-less body.
"It works!"
The possessed clone stood up, excited. He could feel it—he could generate chakra!
"It's a success!"
Li Yao's eyes sparkled—until he frowned again.
The spiritual energy was rapidly consumed, quickly turned into chakra.
Then the clone could no longer generate chakra again.
"Still not working, huh…"
Li Yao scratched his head, frustrated. Just when he thought he had succeeded…
How could he get the clone to generate chakra permanently?
"Start over—this time, think carefully."
After a while, he refocused.
Pure spiritual energy was like a battery—once used, it was gone.
What he needed was an engine.
Possession solved the physical energy problem.
But a soul was the only source of spiritual energy. Shadow clones, made from chakra, had no real soul.
So how could a clone gain one?
Could he… possess a soul the way he possessed a body?
That sudden thought struck him.
It might be possible.
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became.
Without hesitation, he formed another clone. This time, after extracting a shinobi's soul, he didn't purify it. Instead, he used the Spirit Transformation Technique to erase all memories from it.
That way, possession wouldn't be disturbed by the person's original memories.
But now came the question—how do you possess a soul?
Soul possession, unlike body possession, was something entirely different.
Li Yao frowned. The Spirit Transformation Technique's possession worked by killing the target's soul and taking over the body—like changing clothes. Crude, and with side effects.
But soul possession?
A spirit possessing another spirit—how would that work?
He couldn't quite figure it out yet. So—he decided to try it by force.
He sent the clone's spirit into the memory-wiped soul.
(END CHAPTER)
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