"…But this thing doesn't seem to be under my control. Don't tell me that old bastard, the Sage of Six Paths, left some sort of backdoor in it from the very beginning?"
Ren Takashi's face darkened as a serious guess formed in his mind.
"No matter. Since I've discovered it, I should try to refine and take control of it first!"
Without hesitation, Ren Takashi began channeling his spiritual power to invade the so-called "chakra seed."
Buzz!!
The next moment, the chakra seed reacted violently—as if it had suddenly come alive. It fiercely resisted Ren's spiritual intrusion, trying to drive him out.
It even attempted to draw on the chakra within his own dantian to mount a counterattack.
"Hmph! You're on my turf and trying to use my own power against me? Dream on!"
Ren Takashi snorted coldly. Immediately, he used his spiritual power and his Chakra Circulation Technique to suppress the dantian. He erected a thick mental barrier, severing the connection between the chakra seed and his internal chakra.
Then, he mobilized even more spiritual power to slowly erode and refine the seed.
Buzz!
The chakra seed became even more unstable.
Unfortunately for it, though it had high-level properties, it was ultimately like a rootless weed—unable to sustain itself.
Under Ren's persistent mental assault, its resistance gradually weakened.
An hour later, after nearly exhausting his spiritual energy multiple times and relying on meditation to recover in intervals, Ren finally subdued the seed. As he refined the last trace of foreign chakra at its core—
Buzz!!!
The chakra seed trembled. Ren felt a sudden sense of liberation, as if he had broken free from a shackle.
He lifted the spiritual barrier, and the now-refined chakra seed began rhythmically drawing in the chakra from his dantian—filtering and refining it.
Instantly, Ren's control over his chakra skyrocketed—it felt as easy to command as his own limbs.
"So it's true… this seed was the Sage of Six Paths' backdoor all along!"
"His goal must've been to leave a spiritual imprint in every ninja's chakra… and when they die, their souls—carrying chakra—would return to the Pure Land."
"At that point, wouldn't he be able to absorb and refine all those imprinted chakras? Maybe even take hold of their very souls?"
Ren sneered, piecing together the sinister logic.
The moment he refined the seed, he understood its true nature.
This was indeed the core reason why ninja could so easily merge spiritual and physical energy to form chakra.
Without this "seed," people of the ninja world would never have been able to do it.
And the Sage had embedded a backdoor imprint—his own mental signature—inside it.
"That bastard really wasn't some kind of saint."
"All that talk about mutual understanding and peace was just nonsense."
"He just wanted to turn the entire ninja world into a field of leeks, ready to be harvested over and over again."
"Probably… he learned about the Ōtsutsuki clan after sealing his mother."
"No—maybe he already knew long before that."
Ren frowned and shook his head. "Maybe sealing Kaguya wasn't just about stealing chakra authority…"
"Maybe he also disagreed with her plan to cultivate White Zetsu as soldiers against the Ōtsutsuki threat."
"Maybe… he wanted to gather strength in his own way."
Ren thought he might be close to the truth.
Then again, it was all speculation. To really confirm anything, he'd have to talk to the Sage of Six Paths or Kaguya herself.
But one thing was certain: that old man was definitely no saint.
"…There's even a fragment of Kaguya's imprint in this chakra seed?"
"Not surprising, I guess. No matter what, she was the original progenitor of chakra. Even if she was sealed, that fact doesn't change."
"Well… maybe not entirely…"
Ren noticed that Kaguya's imprint was incomplete—and was being slowly eroded by the Sage's imprint.
"So the Sage has been spending the last thousand years devouring Kaguya's authority over chakra?"
"He wants to become the sole Progenitor of Chakra?"
"Maybe that's why he sealed her instead of killing her outright."
"Or maybe… he simply couldn't kill her."
"If she still holds the root of chakra, and as long as chakra exists, maybe she can't be killed."
Ren felt he might've uncovered part of the true story.
"Forget it. Thinking too far ahead won't help right now."
"I'll worry about this when I'm strong enough."
Ren shook his head and buried his speculations for the time being. He turned his attention back to the now-refined chakra seed in his dantian.
"I was able to refine it because I've only been cultivating chakra for a short time—the seed hadn't matured yet."
"Also, my chakra volume isn't high, and my mental strength is stronger than the imprint inside."
"If someone like my father tried this, even after switching to Chakra Circulation Technique, I doubt he could refine it so easily."
"Even I had to use brute force. It's too inefficient."
"If I want to help my parents remove their chakra seeds, I'll need to create a technique specifically for that."
Without delay, Ren made another wish:
[I wish to know the most cost-efficient way to create the safest and most effective chakra seed refinement method.]
[Cost: 120 wishes. Maximize comprehension for 5 minutes, using Chakra Circulation, Perfect Sharingan Method, high-level sealing arts, and spiritual doctrines from your previous life to create it.]
"…High-level sealing techniques?"
That part made Ren frown. "The Uchiha may have some sealing arts, but not to the level I need."
"If I really want to get this right, I'll probably need to learn from Mito Uzumaki."
When it came to sealing techniques, no one beat the Uzumaki clan.
They hadn't been destroyed yet—but Ren suspected it wouldn't be long. Probably within the next year or two.
After all, Kushina Uzumaki and Minato were the same age as him.
And Kushina was best friends with Mikoto, who was only three years older and due to graduate in two years.
If Kushina was arriving soon… then the Uzumaki's downfall had to be imminent.