The first breakthrough wasn't the fusion of the tailed beasts, it was the awakening of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Ever since Aoba started integrating the tailed beasts' chakra, the restrictions on his Mangekyō had gradually loosened.
After nearly a year of effort, he finally completed the fusion of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
For the first time in a long while, he removed the bandages covering his eyes and saw the world anew.
The Eternal Mangekyō didn't drastically change his fundamental perception, but he could clearly feel the immense shift in his ocular power.
It wasn't just that his visual prowess had increased, it had become fluid.
Previously, his Sharingan's power was like a bucket of water: once emptied, it was gone.
But now, his ocular power moved like a vortex, continuously absorbing the excess spiritual energy and chakra his body naturally produced. His eyes autonomously synthesized this energy into fresh ocular power, keeping his Sharingan at its peak.
This was the key difference between the Eternal Mangekyō and its standard counterpart.
With this self-replenishing ability, the Mangekyō could continuously be tempered and improved, potentially evolving even further.
Aoba's Eternal Mangekyō ability remained Kotoamatsukami, after all, among genjutsu-based techniques, nothing was more valuable.
Kotoamatsukami was already the pinnacle of illusion-based abilities, but now, with his enhanced Mangekyō, its cooldown period had drastically decreased.
After calculating his recovery rate, Aoba estimated that he could now use Kotoamatsukami once every month.
This dramatically increased the technique's strategic value.
The problem, however, was finding a worthy target for Kotoamatsukami.
Right now, Aoba's main enemies were Obito and Hashirama.
Black Zetsu had already been captured, but since it wasn't a conventional lifeform, it didn't even have a brain, Kotoamatsukami did work on it, but with little effect.
Obito had the Rinnegan, which was a superior dojutsu to the Mangekyō. The likelihood of Kotoamatsukami working on him was slim.
Hashirama was a living god of the shinobi world. He likely had the Sage of Six Paths' influence on him, making Kotoamatsukami even less likely to succeed. Aoba wasn't about to challenge the Sage in mind-control tactics.
The most ideal target seemed to be Madara, but Aoba had no intention of using Kotoamatsukami on him.
For one, their current relationship was neither purely hostile nor fully allied. More importantly, Madara was Indra's reincarnation, there was no telling what kind of countermeasures the Sage of Six Paths had left in his soul.
Mind-control genjutsu like Kotoamatsukami was not something to use lightly.
After considering his options, Aoba realized that the most viable targets were secondary figures.
Ōnoki, Kisame and Mei. They weren't without value, but using Kotoamatsukami on them felt like overkill.
In truth, Aoba had one more target in mind, but that person was highly unique, and he was still hesitating.
Regardless, his Eternal Mangekyō was complete, and his tailed beast fusion was nearing its final stage.
Now, Aoba had to set his sights on an even higher goal, mastering all seven chakra transformations and creating Truth-Seeking Orbs by his own power.
Just as Aoba was deep in his training, a message arrived from the Barrier Squad:
Konoha was under attack.
Yet, they had failed to locate the intruder.
Given how much advanced sealing techniques Konoha had integrated over the years, not even Madara could infiltrate the village unnoticed.
The fact that someone had… meant something very interesting was happening.
Aoba's interest was immediately piqued.
And he had a suspicion as to who had come.
Check out the patreon and get 50 chapters in advance -> SaintXI
Currently on Chapter 342 - A Proposal to Madara Uchiha