Uchiha Kirin now stood at the very pinnacle of the shinobi world.

Aside from reinforcing his foundation—such as figuring out how to awaken the Rinnegan, completing his basic attributes—everything else from here on would be uncharted territory he would have to explore on his own.

Yet, faced with such a vast and boundless future, he found himself... somewhat lost. Which path should he take from here?

He began summarizing what he currently understood of the divine system:

Starting from the demigod level—comparable to the Six Paths Madara—one gained access to the power of rules, or divine power.

Beyond that was the fusion of divine power with rules, a process that would elevate them into what were known as Authorities, turning them into true gods.

The more rules contained within an Authority, the more powerful it became. The more suited one's divine power was to the rules, the more stable the Authority would be. Once certain conditions were met, one could further evolve their Authority into a core Authority—

In other words, a Unique Authority. Those who possessed such a power were known as Celestial Gods.

To go even further would require the use of supremely powerful rule forces like the Taiji Rule, which seemed to be the key to unlocking the path to becoming a Supreme God...

However, as for how to actually use it, Uchiha Kirin still had no idea.

At the end of this divine hierarchy stood the Supreme God. The ancient Ōtsutsuki deity seemed to have reached this level...

In essence, it was a path of progression where mastering rules took center stage, with cultivating divine power serving as a supplement.

Mastery over rules could be categorized from lowest to highest into several stages: borrowing, using, tempering into the body, fusing with the soul, and full mastery.

Only after reaching the final stage could rule power be transformed into an Authority.

The most direct advantage of this system was its overwhelming strength!

Once someone ascended to godhood, their power would increase exponentially compared to their demigod phase.

However, the downside was that once an Authority was established, it would begin rejecting unrelated rule powers, making it difficult for a god to progress in a well-rounded way—leading to all kinds of potential flaws.

If one wished to alter their Authority, the price was astronomical.

Moreover, there were deep chasms between each tier of the divine system, and the methods to cross these gaps varied widely. A single misstep could trap someone for thousands of years!

Uchiha Kirin was certain that even if he found a way to consume the God Tree's fruit and simulated countless times, surpassing the Sage of Six Paths right under his nose would still be nearly impossible.

That being the case, his first move would be to reinforce his foundations through simulation and gather more rule powers to master.

At the same time, through simulation, he could come into contact with ancient beings from the shinobi world—like the Shinigami, evil gods, the Slug Sage, and perhaps even dig up Isshiki Ōtsutsuki for interrogation...

All in hopes of uncovering other viable cultivation systems.

During this process, Uchiha Kirin also intended to try developing a future cultivation system of his own. If it didn't work out, it would still serve as valuable experience.

"My Spirit stat has become my weakest link. And the shinobi world has pitifully few methods to train the soul or spirit... maybe that's the angle I should pursue!"

Just like he had learned during one of his simulations—any route to ascend to Six Paths level through the Rinnegan had been deliberately sealed off, and that level was reserved solely for Indra and Asura's reincarnations.

Uchiha Kirin had every reason to believe that the methods to cultivate the soul in the shinobi world had been intentionally erased!

After all, spirit and soul were incredibly important—how could no one have invented methods to strengthen them? And yet, aside from building up across generations via the Six Paths reincarnation cycle...

In all these hundreds of years, there existed only the so-called Spirit Transformation Technique—an extremely crude and inefficient method by today's standards. It was hard to believe that was truly all there was!

...

Still, Uchiha Kirin's strength had already reached the summit of the shinobi world.

Having long moved past the life-or-death struggle of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, his mindset was calm.

Even with the Sage of Six Paths watching, as long as Kirin didn't make any big moves and kept his presence cloaked—something that worked long-term in the real world—there wouldn't be an issue.

Besides, the Sage of Six Paths had no physical body, so his influence in the real world was limited.

Thus, Kirin was in no rush to start his next simulation. He turned his attention instead toward shaping and controlling the real world:

He extended his arm, revealing the White-Scale Armor. From it, he peeled off a single scale, about the size of a pinky fingernail.

Before any blood could even drip from the wound, a new scale had already grown in its place.

Of course, he wasn't doing this to test his regeneration. He was preparing to use one of his divine techniques—Cell Reconstitution, a power worthy of being called a god-art.

Following the Sage Arts training method of Ryūchi Cave, Uchiha Kirin adjusted his breathing. After just a few cycles of inhaling and exhaling, he began drawing in the sparse natural energy around him, storing it within his twin horns.

"All right."

He placed the plucked scale in his palm. His fingertips glowed faintly white and blue—the energies of Sage Art and Chakra Beads flowing into the scale.

The next moment, the white scale began to transform. From it emerged... an ant, a mosquito, and a mantis.

Uchiha Kirin gently exhaled. The three small insects leapt from his palm, then—crawling through a wall crack, flying through a roof fissure, and jumping off a half-open window—they dispersed into the outside world.

The ant made its way toward the center of Konoha, occasionally stopping to devour insects or gnaw on weeds. As long as it collected enough organic material, it could generate another identical ant.

The mosquito's wings and mouthparts gleamed with metallic light as it flew silently and swiftly toward the Land of Water.

As for the mantis, its body was armored with chakra-hardened metal, wielding twin blades as it dove into the forest, heading toward the Aburame Clan's territory.

These were no ordinary bugs. They were tightly linked clones of Uchiha Kirin himself—he could control their every movement in real time.

Though the power infused within each was only a sliver of his full might, compared to a regular shinobi, they were still terrifying.

Even a Kage-level opponent could potentially get suplexed by one of those ants.

What's more, by combining their actions with cloaked presence, these bugs could carry out missions with minimal noise. And if the Sage of Six Paths happened to notice them? He could simply petrify them and put them into inorganic dormancy.

At a critical moment, all three insects could even serve as backup bodies—replacements without any bloodline powers.

And this—this was far from the full extent of the divine technique's capabilities. This was merely the first time Uchiha Kirin had used it for something beyond regenerating his body.

The god-art had been deployed. All that remained was to wait for the results...

Uchiha Kirin turned his focus to exploring the functions of the system.

Before you can do a great job, you need the right tools…

To be precise, he was bargaining with the system. Now that he'd scored such a high rating, wasn't it about time he unlocked some new features?

Sure enough, the system responded:

〖Ding! Immersive Simulation Function Unlocked〗

〖User may now spend 10,000 Simulation Points to activate one Immersive Simulation, entering the simulation directly and gaining full control over all actions〗

〖Each year inside the simulation will cost 1,000 Simulation Points. When points run out, the simulation will end passively. The user may also choose to exit before running out〗

〖Additionally, the user will retain all memories gained within the simulation upon return. Other material and strength rewards remain the same as before…〗

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