On the eve of the Fourth Great Ninja War...
Now.
Bai Ye withdrew his perception and recalled the plot of the original story.
The second Five Kage Summit was initiated by the Raikage, "A," and held in the Land of Iron, a neutral country.
The initial purpose was to hold the other four Kage accountable. However, Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Obito appeared one after another.
Obito, under the guise of Uchiha Madara, declared war.
As a result, the Five Great Nations and the Land of Iron united against the Akatsuki organization.
Thus, the Fourth Great Ninja War began.
The Akatsuki initiated the Eye of the Moon Plan, leading to Uchiha Obito summoning the Gedo Statue, collecting the tailed beasts, and becoming the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails. This was followed by the full resurrection of Uchiha Madara and the appearance of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, the ancestor of chakra.
Bai Ye cleared his thoughts.
If he wanted to obtain a large amount of World Origin, he had to start with these key figures.
Moreover, in this world filled with powerful illusion-based abilities, he had the opportunity to compensate for one of his current weaknesses.
That weakness was the Shinigami's susceptibility to illusions that target the spirit.
This was evident from how Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu almost completely deceived the entire Gotei 13, including Captain Yamamoto himself.
Even the captains had to rely on feeling Aizen's Reiatsu directly to confirm whether what they saw was real.
This proved that Shinigami had low resistance to spiritual-level illusion techniques.
Therefore, even though Bai Ye had fully unlocked his template and could disregard any so-called Kage-level ninja, he did not intend to act recklessly.
Speaking of resistance to illusion-based abilities...
If Bai Ye remembered correctly, the current timeline was set just after Pain's failed invasion of Konoha.
This meant that in Amegakure, there was a pair of Rinnegan readily available.
At that moment, the system's voice echoed in his mind.
[System functions are being updated]
[Receiving all relevant information from the current world...]
[Ding! System functions have been updated!]
[Host's first template is now fully unlocked.]
[Host currently has the following options:]
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow. "What options?"
He had originally assumed that after fully unlocking his first template, his next choices would appear only in a new world.
Yet, his cheat system had provided a solution right away.
In the next moment, the system responded:
[Option 1: Unlock a second template. However, the second template will start at 0% completion.]
[Option 2: With the fully unlocked first template as the core, the system will integrate incompatible abilities, breaking the upper limit of the template without affecting the original abilities.]
[The host may choose freely.]
Bai Ye pondered.
The first option meant unlocking an entirely new power system.
His current Shinigami abilities were entirely derived from his first template—Yamamoto Genryūsai.
If he unlocked a second template, he would gain an additional set of abilities.
However, unlike his first template, which started at 60% completion, the second template would begin at 0%, requiring gradual progress.
It had taken Bai Ye an entire year after defeating Im and others just to unlock the last percentage of his first template.
The second option, on the other hand, was more straightforward.
It would merge abilities from different worlds while keeping Shinigami powers as the core.
Currently, Shinigami abilities rely on spiritual energy, whereas ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai depend on chakra.
The two were fundamentally different power systems.
For Bai Ye to use ninjutsu, he would need to learn chakra extraction, as spiritual energy alone couldn't cast ninjutsu.
The advantage of Option Two was the fusion of different power systems while maintaining the Shinigami's core strength.
And, compared to Option One, the most significant advantage of Option Two lay in its final hint—
It could break the upper limit of the template!
Under normal circumstances, once a template was fully unlocked, its potential was maxed out.
There would be no further room for improvement.
However, Option Two allowed Bai Ye to integrate external abilities, providing the possibility of surpassing the limits of his template.
In other words—
After merging new abilities, Bai Ye's Shinigami powers would evolve beyond the original template, surpassing even the legendary Yamamoto Genryūsai himself!
Considering all the pros and cons...
And the fact that, with the ability to traverse worlds, he might eventually travel to the Shinigami world and face opponents like Yhwach...
The choice was obvious.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye selected Option Two—Shinigami as the core!
As soon as he made his choice, Bai Ye felt an inexplicable power surge through his body.
Just when he thought the process was complete...
The system's voice echoed again.
[Since the host has chosen to forgo unlocking a second template, some abilities from the second template will be integrated into the host as compensation.]
[Randomly screening the second template...]
Bai Ye's eyes widened.
"Wait... the second template will still grant me some of its abilities?"
He hadn't expected to receive a compensation reward for giving up the first choice.
However, it made sense.
Had he chosen Option One, he would have gained a completely new template.
With Option Two, he wouldn't have gained anything right away—until he started integrating abilities from the current world.
Understanding this, Bai Ye felt relieved.
But then, the system spoke again—this time, causing a ripple in his heart.
[The host's originally selected second template has been identified as 'Ryougi Shiki'...]
[Acquiring partial abilities...]
[Acquisition complete. Host has obtained: 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'!]
Bai Ye's breath hitched.
"The... Mystic Eyes of Death Perception?"