〖Year Thirty〗

You bring everything you've prepared for the breakthrough and arrive at the ruins of Rōran, located in the Land of Wind.

Here lies an unclaimed section of the exposed Dragon Vein—a perfect tool to force Black Zetsu into revealing everything he knows.

You nail Black Zetsu into the Dragon Vein using a staff formed from chakra prayer beads.

Then, you concentrate your spirit into the Ultimate Meaning of the Sword Path, sequentially infusing it with the rules of fire, water, death, and void.

And then you begin lashing Black Zetsu—again and again!

It may seem simple, but the principle is not complex.

If Black Zetsu could resurrect Kaguya through Uchiha Madara's body, then he is clearly a variant of the Kāma Seal.

(T/N: Kāma is a seal that serves as a compressed backup of an Ōtsutsuki clan member's biological data that they can embed in the body of a compatible recipient known as a vessel )

As is well known, for an Ōtsutsuki to reincarnate, their Kāma must contain backups of their memory and physical form.

And Black Zetsu clearly possesses Kaguya's memories. Your goal is to use your maximized spiritual power—your Ultimate Meaning—to beat it out of him, breaking him down with repeated lashings and the erosion of rule-infused attacks, until the memory backup surfaces...

It's not an ideal solution, but it's the only one you've got. You don't know how to crack the Kāma itself, so your only option is to brute-force it open.

...

〖Year Thirty-One〗

You continue whipping Black Zetsu. Despite his filial piety that could move heaven and earth, he still refuses to talk under this torment. However, you notice your grasp of rule-based powers is improving through this method of training.

And Black Zetsu, like a punching bag, shows no signs of physical damage no matter how hard you beat him.

Through these repeated beatings, your understanding of the Breathing Method deepens, and your spirit, energy, and physical form grow increasingly harmonious and refined.

...

〖Year Thirty-Two〗

You keep torturing Black Zetsu and notice he frequently zones out during conversations—but still refuses to give anything up.

Still, you feel hopeful. At the very least, this proves that with enough time, strength, endurance, and sheer willpower, the Kāma can eventually be broken.

And even if Black Zetsu ends up destroyed, you've got a backup plan.

Now that Kara has emerged, Isshiki must be somewhere in the Shinobi World. You don't know why Momoshiki and Kinshiki haven't appeared yet, but it doesn't matter—interrogating Isshiki can still get you the answers you want.

The only risk is that Isshiki's a devious bastard—he might plant traps for you in secret...

The thought that even if you break Black Zetsu you still have options makes your strikes land even harder...

...

〖Year Thirty-Three〗

You're starting to think that having something you can beat endlessly without consequence might not be such a bad thing.

Things with this kind of durability are pretty rare—like the ultimate sandbag.

Throughout this prolonged torture, you come to understand your own strength better.

And you realize something else: the Breathing Method isn't about absorbing natural energy or chakra from the environment.

At its core, it's about the intake and circulation of spirit—your own spirit!

In other words, it fuses soul and physical energy. Instead of converting the two into chakra, it causes them to resonate—until they eventually merge as one.

Once they're fused, continuing the Breathing Method becomes a form of nonstop high-intensity training. That's why this technique can continuously unlock the body's potential.

Your training while beating Black Zetsu has undeniably pushed your strength training to new heights, enhancing both your body and spirit over the course of several years.

...

〖Year Thirty-Four〗

You accidentally destroy Black Zetsu.

The cause? A sudden breakthrough in your understanding of the Rule of Void during one of your strikes.

That rule fused into your body, causing a spike in strength—and in a moment of carelessness, you failed to control it.

Black Zetsu was sliced in half in a single stroke. Even in liquid form, he couldn't reassemble himself. In this state, he also lost the ability to communicate.

Fortunately, your spiritual power has now reached a level where it can pierce through Black Zetsu's sticky membrane and sense the backup of Kaguya's memories and body hidden within.

Though you still can't extract them, for the first time, you see hope.

...

〖Year Thirty-Five〗

You spend an entire year, using your fused power of Rule of Void and Ultimate Meaning to generate the Void Sword Intent.

Carefully—painstakingly—you dice Black Zetsu into tiny pieces, terrified of damaging the precious memory fragments inside.

...

〖Year Thirty-Six〗

You finally succeed.

You separate the Kaguya memory core from Black Zetsu's body. Fortunately, it's far sturdier than you expected—it wasn't damaged despite the savage dismemberment you subjected Black Zetsu to.

However, at that exact moment, you sense an overwhelming gaze descending from the sky.

You're being watched by the Sage of Six Paths again.

You sigh, a bit helpless—but oh well. Overcaution never got anyone anywhere.

You begin combing through Kaguya's memory core, searching for useful fragments.

...

〖Year Thirty-Seven〗

You finally find what you were after in Kaguya's memory core:

Instructions on consuming the God Tree Fruit.

The God Tree Fruit must be swallowed whole, then wrapped and absorbed using your own chakra—otherwise, the power will dissipate!

Fruits grown naturally on the planet's ley lines can be consumed directly.

Fruits grown by siphoning energy from human bodies must be refined into pills before consumption—or at the very least, eaten in areas with dense natural energy...

There was no more after that. As Kaguya, an Ōtsutsuki forbidden from eating the fruit, wasn't allowed access to that kind of classified information.

You can thank her early rebellious streak—she once secretly read some of the clan's ancestral texts.

You don't know how to refine the fruit into pills, but there is a place overflowing with natural energy right next to you: the exposed Dragon Vein.

As for swallowing a fruit the size of a basketball whole and wrapping it in chakra... yeah, not easy.

But you have divine techniques for cellular reconfiguration. With one transformation, you turn into a massive white serpent with forelimbs and horns.

This isn't like the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique that relies on chakra—it's your true form, born from fusing with dragon blood. The appearance is somewhere between dragon and snake—so awkward you've never wanted to use it before.

But with this size? Swallowing the fruit is easy.

...

〖Year Thirty-Eight〗

After a full year of adjusting your aura, you finally bring your spirit and body to their peak condition in serpent form.

You're ready to harness the fruit's power the moment you eat it—

To begin your transformation, and to break through the Ultimate Meaning, severing your final shackles.

After all, the sword style you cultivated—the Empty-Handed Swordsmanship—originated from unarmed swordsmanship. It doesn't matter what form you take when you use it.

You're fully prepared. You activate Kamui, opening a portal to the divine realm where the God Tree Fruit is stored.

Even before the gateway fully forms, a rich, heady aroma pours out from the fruit.

Good thing you anticipated this. You already set up layers of barriers around the area—so even if the scent leaks, no one from the outside can get in anytime soon.

But just then, a bolt of thunder crashes down from the sky!