Exchange and Truth-Seeking Balls

On the moon, Yota was playing shogi with the Sage of Six Paths, his expression grave and focused.

After a fierce back-and-forth battle, the Sage of Six Paths finally sighed and conceded.

"Playing against you is really no fun," said the Sage of Six Paths, rolling his eyes. "There’s no inspiration in it at all. You’re completely crushing this old man with raw computing power."

Yota was equally speechless. "Senior, you’ve lived for over a thousand years. If I didn’t rely on the processing power of my Brain Chip and tried to play you with skill alone, wouldn’t I just be asking for humiliation?"

"Besides, the chip in my brain is passively active. The moment I see this board, I can instinctively calculate thousands, even tens of thousands, of possible moves. In a sense, that should count as my talent too!"

The Sage of Six Paths snorted twice. "People these days don’t know how to go easy on their elders. Playing chess with an Electronic Chip has no soul. It’s blatant cheating!"

"But I can win!" Yota curled his lip and held out his hand. "The method for condensing Truth-Seeking Balls. That was the deal. You’re not going to welch on it, are you?"

"Fine, fine, I’ll give it to you!" The Sage of Six Paths drew a ball of Chakra light from his body and placed it directly in Yota’s hand. Instantly, Yota absorbed a vast amount of memories and experience from the light sphere.

Then he raised one hand. A moment later, a black Truth-Seeking Ball condensed in his palm.

Yet he could only condense this single Truth-Seeking Ball. It was not because he lacked Chakra, but because the Ōtsutsuki bloodline within him had been fused rather than inherited. There was still a vast gap between it and that of a true pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki. Thus, even when he exerted ten parts of his strength, he could only use three, enough to condense just one Truth-Seeking Ball.

Still, having a Truth-Seeking Ball and not having one were two entirely different realms. While there was naturally a difference between having more and having fewer, it was ultimately only a quantitative change, not a qualitative one.

In other words, someone without a Truth-Seeking Ball would basically be unable to defeat someone who had one. Someone with more might gain a slight advantage, but they could never claim with certainty that they would defeat someone with fewer.

This had been the wager they settled on before playing chess. Otherwise, given Yota’s personality, he would not have used an Electronic Chip to calculate moves and press his opponent so relentlessly over a simple game.

"Thanks!" A smile appeared on Yota’s face before he asked, "Senior, how are the tools I ordered coming along?"

"I’ve collected most of the materials. I have to say, your special ability is truly impressive. You’re unmatched at processing and synthesizing these materials. Once I finish the designs, I guarantee I’ll be able to make them for you."

"Still, I’ve never designed weapons that can be activated without Chakra. Who exactly are you planning to give them to?"

Yota said nothing. Black mist rose from his hand as he took a small chip out of the Dark Space and handed it to the Sage of Six Paths.

"This is the Computer Chip you wanted. Consider this one a gift."

When the Sage of Six Paths had played chess with Yota, their wager had been the Truth-Seeking Ball and an Electronic Chip. Now that Yota had obtained the Truth-Seeking Ball, he did not mind doing the Sage of Six Paths a favor. With such a chip assisting him in designing and crafting shinobi tools, it would be of great help as well.

For Yota, producing the hardware for this kind of chip was effortless. As long as he had enough materials, he only needed to use the Munch-Munch Fruit to synthesize and modify them, and he could create chip hardware identical to the one in his brain.

As for the internal operating program, Red Queen could handle that. So, as far as Yota was concerned, he could mass-produce these things wholesale.

The only reason he kept a tight grip on them was that scarcity made things valuable. Besides, if everyone had a Brain Chip, would not all the computing power in the Genjutsu Space go to waste? That was why he had never distributed them widely.

The Sage of Six Paths’ eyes lit up when he saw the chip in Yota’s hand. Without any pretense, he accepted it.

To put it bluntly, the Sage of Six Paths stood at the absolute pinnacle of the current Chakra system. The Ōtsutsuki clan from beyond the stars might surpass him in bloodline abilities and possess strength greater than his by consuming Chakra Fruits. Yet in terms of the mysteries within the Chakra system, they could never rival the Sage of Six Paths, who had spent over a thousand years absorbing the essence of the entire shinobi civilization.

Therefore, none of Yota’s achievements within the Chakra system particularly impressed the Sage of Six Paths. Meanwhile, the Devil Fruits and physical constitution of the pirate system were fundamentally impossible to replicate.

Only technological systems like Red Queen and Brain Chips could draw the Sage of Six Paths’ attention.

The Sage of Six Paths casually slapped the chip onto the back of his head, unafraid of any tricks. With his abilities, his physical body was already optional. Even if the chip exploded inside his head on the spot, he could simply recreate one with Yang Release.

"What a marvelous feeling. I can practically sense every cell and muscle in my body, and it feels as though my brain is working thousands of times faster. No wonder I couldn’t beat you at chess." The Sage of Six Paths closed his eyes and savored the sensation for a long while before opening them again.

"Alright, time to make your things! I just finished making the Nether Moon Mirror last time, and my hands are still itching to create something."

Watching the Sage of Six Paths leave, Yota felt the moon was somewhat cold and lonely. He gently closed his eyes and, through his resonance with the Giant Tenseigan, entered the Genjutsu Space directly.

More than a year had passed since the Genjutsu Space had been fully established, and Akatsuki had more or less become the invisible ruler of the entire Shinobi World.

Just as Yota had predicted, the Genjutsu Space brought almost unbelievable development to the whole Shinobi World. The entire Naruto World had fallen into a trend akin to "everyone practicing ninjutsu." Other than certain newborn children, it could be said that everyone now possessed Chakra.

The Five Great Shinobi Villages had developed at an even more astonishing pace. As members of Akatsuki, they possessed certain privileges, such as creating personal training grounds within the Genjutsu Space where time flowed at distorted rates, receiving a measure of computing power from Red Queen to conduct various ninjutsu experiments, accessing profound theoretical knowledge of ninjutsu, and even gaining the ability to transmit thoughts and memories. These were all privileges available only after joining Akatsuki.

And in order to compete for more privileges, these shinobi had no choice but to draw closer to Yota. The once nominal leader of Akatsuki gradually came to possess genuine authority to lead the world.

However, Yota had no interest in that. He left most matters involving resource allocation to Mei Terumī and Akatsuki’s original core members.

After all, he possessed ultimate authority over the Genjutsu Space, and his fists were bigger than everyone else’s. Naturally, he had no fear of being sidelined.