166 -=Who are you?=-

Neji looked through the pile of rubble with his shining Tenseigan, but he found no trace of Rimuru

"To think it would be this easy...

In the end, you were just talk as well" He said while narrowing his eyes

He looked at his arm, covered in cyan chakra with a thoughtful expression

"I accepted the help of darkness itself, had to go through hell, just to get this power, and you didn't survive even one hit... Was that worth it?" Neji asked himself

"Considering what those Hashirama cells are doing to your body... I'd say no, it wasn't"

Neji widened his eyes, he didn't need to look back, he is a Hyuga for god's sake, but that only made it easier for him to see who was behind him

"Y-You? How are you alive?" He pointed at Rimuru while taking a step back

"Did you really think killing me was enough to make me die?"

Neji gritted his teeth in anger, Rimuru was mocking him, AGAIN

"Don't be so cocky, I was just caught off guard, that's all" Neji said while taking his gentle fist instance

"Ohhh, I see...

Unfortunately for a ninja..." Rimuru began speaking, but he suddenly appeared right beside Neji, his hand on the side of Neji's face

"...Being caught off guard is a death sentence"

[Truth seeking ball]

Before Neji could say something or do something, Rimuru created a truth-seeking ball inside his head, turning his brain into nothing

Gone, reduced to atoms

As Neji's chakra cloak dissolved and his body fell lifeless to the ground, Rimuru completely ignored it as he began to talk with Ceres

'What was that? Why was I so angry and then not angry at all just after?'

<I found the reason for that anomaly in your soul>

'Okay, but, what does it have to do with this? Is it the cause of that?'

<You could say that they are related>

'Okay, so what is it?'

<the anomaly was an order... No, more like a suggestion placed on your soul>

'What? An order? By who?'

<I do not know, but I have noticed some small vestigial remnants of alteration upon your soul's integrity>

'Say that again, but in a way that makes sense?'

<There are some vestiges of soul alteration IN your soul, they are very hard to see, and I was only able to identify them because of the anomaly acting up>

'...I see... And what was the anomaly? A suggestion, you called it, what was it? And what did it do to me?'

< The anomaly was a suggestion, basically of creating a city and caring for it, thus when the village was damaged it acted up making you angry>

'That... No, that doesn't make sense... Why would someone alter my soul to make me create a village? What would they gain with that?'

<I do not know>

'Who did it?'

<I do not know>

'When did it happen?'

<I do not know>

'What? How can you not know that? Isn't soul manipulation traceable?'

<Well, It is, but this is probably older than me, pre-dating even my [Great sage] stage>

'How can this be? I had you ever since I stepped into this world...

Unless...'

!!!

Rimuru's eyes widened

<You have an idea?>

'I do... It's a far stretch, but... You have seen my memories, right?'

<Yes>

'Right after I died... There was that 'god' who gave me very specific wishes that didn't even sound like wishes at all, remember that?'

<What are you talking about?>

'Ehh?'

At this point, Rimuru had a literal question mark growing above his head

Slime quirks (foreshadowing)

'What do you mean you don't?'

<There is no such memory in your memories>

'But... How?

This doesn't make ANY sense

How can I remember that if you can't? You're literally IN my soul!'

<Soul and body have different memories, many in fact, including, but not limited to, brain memory and muscular memory, for example>

'But can't you just... Read my brain or something?'

<First of all, Slimes don't have brains, every cell in their body acts like a brain cell, so your memories are stored in your entire body, not in a brain

Second, I would never read your memories without an order to do so>

'But what about the ones you've read?'

<As you said, I am IN your soul, I was 'born' with all of your soul memories>

'So... Are you saying that this memory that I have but you don't, is a bodly memory?'

<Likely>

'But, soul and body memories are in sync, no?

I remember Cooper talking about that once'

<He talks about that every day almost, not just once

But that asides, yes, body and soul memories are synchronized, and albeit they can be altered separately, they will synchronize again shortly after>

"Hmmm..." Rimuru pondered about his current situation for a bit

'If that is the case... Then does that mean this is the effect of some skill, jutsu, or maybe just high-level soul manipulation? It could be any of them since we don't have a soul-related skill to give us information about souls...'

<It is possible to be the effects of some skill, but no jutsu can change your soul, and especially not without leaving some easy-to-notice chakra behind

And while we do not have a soul-related skill, my information data is vast and most of what is known about souls, not only in this but many other worlds where skills exist, is neither in favor nor against it being high-level soul manipulation

But that is highly unlikely for what the manipulation was about in the end>

'...Well, that's true I guess...

Do you think the memory is in some part of my soul you can't reach? Maybe that anomaly has it?'

<That is the first thing I checked, it only has the 'will' and 'desire' of having a city, components of the soul that made you want a village, which is this world's equivalent of a city>

With Rimuru and Ceres left to ponder, a bit far from where he was, Obito stood, shocked

"H... How... How can it... No... H... How..." He's been muttering for a good minute now

And you can't blame him for it, he has seen Neji testing his new eye abilities, and albeit Zetsu told him that the hashirama cells that made the evolution of the byakugan possible were also slowly killing Neji, which meant that power was only temporary, it was still incredibly strong!

Albeit not as versatile as the Rinnegan he has, Obito was honestly impressed by the destructive power of the Tenseigan which in some aspects, even surpassed the Rinnegan

They tested his reaction speed with it, and even the blind spot of the byakugan was removed for the Tenseigan

Then how... How was Rimuru able to just kill him like it was nothing?

It should be noted that the Tenseigan chakra cloak is not just visual, it is an incredible defense, above even the Susanoo (The half one, not the full one)

In canon, Naruto was only able to break that defense with a punch using basically all of Kurama's chakra!

(And Kurama didn't die because of it, just saying)

Albeit Obito knows that when they get the 10 tails they will be invincible, he couldn't help but doubt if even that would be enough... Especially with the weakened 10 tails they would have since they could not even dream of capturing Fuu

Obito shook his head aggressively from side to side

"Never mind that we still have to capture the 9 tails after this, if we have the power of the nine tails, it may be enough to beat him..."

Obito was sure that with his Kamui, the rinnegan he had in his left eye, and the power of the ten tails, nothing could stop him, and Zetsu never said anything about it, since he also believed no one could beat Kaguya

"I better go after the jinchu-"

!!!

Obito turned back and was about to leave when his eye caught a scythe almost on his face

Kamui

He immediately used Kamui to become intangible, but just by instinct he also took a step back

*drip* *drip*

*click*

The sound of something hitting the ground made Obito look down, where he saw a piece of orange wood

He slowly moved his hand to his face where he was shocked to notice that his mask and face both got cut, and blood started dripping from the cut

"Who are you?" Obito asked in a deep tone, he was serious

Never has anyone touched him when he used Kamui before, even when Rimuru almost killed him, he used some weird genjutsu to make Obito himself do it

So this spelled trouble for him, he HAD to get rid of someone capable of bypassing his Kamui

"Kahaha HAHAHAHAHA~

Who am I? You don't know who I am?" The man standing in front of Obito asked

*drip* *drip*

Obito didn't answer, he didn't need to know who this man was if he was dead, and the man also didn't say anything more

So the only sound heard, was the sound of Obito's blood dripping from his cut, and from the man's scythe