Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 156 Multiple Schemes

Meanwhile, in a hidden base far behind the front lines, Shimura Danzo was unaware that he was being watched again. At that moment, he was keeping a close eye on the Elysium Box that he had obtained from Hozuki Castle.

At the time, we didn't pay much attention to it, since it was just a vague piece of information and speculation. Who would have thought that such a thing actually existed?

After bringing it back, they discovered that the power it contained was even more terrifying, far surpassing the power of the Nine-Tails.

The main problem is that it's too extreme, possessing unimaginable corrosiveness. No matter what level of ninja they are, they will be quickly corroded if they come into contact with that black energy.

"Lord Danzo, it can now be basically confirmed that there are no conscious life forms inside. These dark energies are all unconscious and ownerless. It is possible that the original sealed entity within has perished over the long years. We need a new vessel to carry it."

The middle-aged man in charge of researching the Box of Bliss suppressed his inner terror and cautiously gave his report.

What kind of medium do you need?

He spoke coldly, but his single eye was filled with fervor.

This dark energy is too strong. If I could control it, I would definitely have power comparable to the first teacher.

"A vessel even stronger than the Tailed Beasts."

Swallowing hard, the middle-aged man forced himself to reply.

This dark energy is too corrosive; even the Three-Tails' chakra cannot withstand it. Clearly, it requires a vessel stronger than a tailed beast to bear it.

Although this almost impossible response displeased Shimura Danzo, he did not rebuke or refute it.

He also witnessed the terrifying corrosiveness of that dark energy; the Three-Tails chakra he obtained from his daughter was rapidly eroded and devoured, demonstrating the terror of that dark energy.

Even if the Three-Tails' true form came, it would probably be quickly eroded and go berserk by this power, or even be assimilated.

As expected of something that nearly destroyed the world, there were no errors recorded in the ancient texts obtained from the Ghost Lantern Castle.

This power must be grasped in our hands!

But what should we find to hold it?

There is no being stronger than a Tailed Beast in the world, at least not at present.

"I wonder what kind of treasure that tribe on the moon was looking for back then."

His thoughts turned to the intelligence that the child had sent him. One of the reports mentioned that Kumogakure had been attacked and that a mysterious Otsutsuki clan had appeared, searching for a forbidden treasure.

What is it?

Could it also become a vessel for this dark power?

At the same time, in a secluded, desolate mountain, Ōtsutsuki Shari silently sensed the transformation and development of his eyes.

That legend is true; the Hyuga's Byakugan is much purer than theirs, and it undergoes a transformation after combining with their Otsutsuki chakra.

For the past three years, he has been silently sensing the transformation of his eyes, but the transformation has been too slow.

Even if he infiltrated Kirigakure and stole a Kaguya ninja corpse from their research lab to transplant into himself, it would still be slow and imperfect.

"Since it's not the main family, to perfectly master this power, you need a child who is related to the main family's direct line."

Looking up at the bright moon in the night sky, Otsutsuki Shari longed to return. He needed the purest and most noble woman in the main family to help him give birth to a perfect child.

He could sense the terrifying power contained within those eyes. Even though it hadn't fully developed yet, it was still terrifying, and its absorption of his chakra was too fast.

Even if I successfully transform my eyes in this way, I will find it difficult to unleash their inner power.

He needs a perfect child to carry those eyes and his own will.

In addition, he also needs the power of the giant Reincarnation Eye in the family's forbidden area to guide the final transformation of these eyes.

These things require immense strength to accomplish, strength sufficient to suppress the power of the main family.

Therefore, we need to wait patiently for these eyes to transform to a certain extent and stabilize.

"Jinchūriki is also a route, but the level of the tailed beasts is too low. It has to be the legendary Ten-Tails. We need to find the stolen Gedo Mazo."

Thinking of the stolen Gedo Mazo, Otsutsuki Rei's eyes burned with fervor.

As a member of the Otsutsuki clan, he naturally knew about the Ninja Cult and the Sage of Six Paths, and also understood what the Gedo Mazo was.

It was a taboo, but also a power.

However, since the ninja world created by the Sage of Six Paths was a mistake, it is natural that they should be the ones to clean it up, and the Gedo Mazo and the scattered power of the Tailed Beasts should also be taken back.

Once the power of the Ten-Tails is restored and sealed into the body using a sealing technique, one can become a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki like the Sage of Six Paths. The power of the Ten-Tails can absolutely perfectly support these eyes.

The more he thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed, and a smile involuntarily appeared on Otsutsuki Sharei's face.

The future of this world will surely belong to him; he will become an existence like the Sage of Six Paths, ushering in a new era.

"Kumakuya Village!"

His thoughts suddenly shifted, and he turned to look in the direction of Hidden Cloud Village. He had not forgotten the crushing defeat and humiliation he suffered back then.

Being defeated by a ninja from the ninja world and forced to flee in disarray is the greatest humiliation and the biggest stain on my life, which must be erased.

What Otsutsuki Shari didn't know was that his every move, even his thoughts, was being monitored by an entity.

"His ideas are dangerous."

In the Pure Land of the Underworld, Ōtsutsuki Hamura did not particularly like this descendant.

If it were allowed to grow, the entire tribe would likely be wiped out.

Although those descendants have been passed down for countless generations, and he no longer feels anything for them, they are still his own descendants after all.

"The time is almost here. According to the records left by my mother, her people will come to harvest the fruit. We need to use our open forces to fight them, to find out their methods, and ideally, to kill them and study their power."

Before that, neither of us should make a move, lest we attract the attention of Mother's clansmen, or even prematurely summon the powerful beings within.

The Sage of Six Paths' indifferent Dao was not because he was cold-hearted, but because he had seen too many such things over the millennia. Even his own two sons had broken ties and fought each other for over a thousand years.

He had always wanted to bring the two together, but unfortunately, the presence left behind by his mother was secretly manipulating him, and he ultimately failed.

Now we can only hope for the next reincarnation.

"Why don't you destroy that tree?"

Hamura Otsutsuki sighed and changed the subject to the tree.

"That tree isn't particularly valuable. I've kept an eye on it before; it's unlikely to grow into a sacred tree, so it's nothing to worry about."

The Sage of Six Paths didn't care about this. He had noticed the sacred tree when it was growing and sensed it, discovering that it had grown from a remnant of a divine tree.

However, the piece of debris was too small, and the primal power it contained was pitifully scarce; he hadn't sensed it when he was alive.

Even if it grew into a tree based on this, it would never become a divine tree; at most, it would be considered a creation of wood-based techniques.

It's not a concern in itself, and it doesn't matter who gets it, whether it's the former Takigakure or the current Kumogakure.

Those whose strength doesn't reach that level are nothing but ants; the essence of that existence is beyond the comprehension of ants.

It's fine to let that tree develop for now; it can serve as a backup force in the plan.

Seeing his brother say this, Otsutsuki Hamura did not refute it; he had only mentioned it briefly before.

"That box of bliss was a bit strange back then."

Turning the topic to the Box of Ecstasy, he sensed an extreme, dark power within it—it was too extreme.

"It's just some lingering struggle."

The Sage of Six Paths still didn't take it to heart. At his level of power, the only people he cared about were his mother's clansmen.

"When do you plan to let their chakra be reborn?"

Hamura Otsutsuki didn't pay much attention and started talking about his two nephews' chakra.

"Wait until this incarnation of Indra completes his plan and passes away, otherwise, if we get too close, we might sense Indra's chakra, which could inevitably cause further trouble."

The Sage of Six Paths did not intend to immediately guide his two sons' chakra reincarnations, mainly because the reincarnation of Indra in this life was still alive and had awakened the Rinnegan.

Even if the Rinnegan is transplanted now, it still retains a portion of the Rinnegan's power, and its perception is not weak, not to mention that it is a power that it was once extremely familiar with.

If they encounter a new reincarnated being, they will surely sense that it is detrimental to their plans.

However, this generation of Indra won't last more than a few years, so it won't affect the plan.

"I wonder how Mother is doing."

Otsutsuki Hamura also thought of their plan, his thoughts were complicated. After all, she was their mother.

"If Mother can change and is willing to share her power to help us break through, I will not seal her away. But if she is still the same as before, then I will have to continue sealing her away."

The Sage of Six Paths offered words of comfort, saying that the plan had to continue.

Both he and Hamura had accumulated their power to a limit, the limit of their own bloodline. The only way to break through was to find an opportunity from their mother.

The mother is the true Otsutsuki, while the two brothers were merely conceived by her using Yin-Yang Release combined with her own flesh and blood, and are not pure Otsutsuki at all.

That's why their bodies aged back then, and even becoming the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki couldn't change that.

According to the records left by her mother, the best way is to consume a fruit of the Divine Tree and use its power to perfect herself and become a true Otsutsuki.

However, a divine tree can only bear one fruit. The power of the divine tree fruit is with the mother. Even if they obtain the ten-tailed fox that has degenerated from the divine tree, they will still find it difficult to obtain a single divine tree fruit.

Over the years, all that has been possible is to accumulate chakra and explore the potential of one's bloodline.

The potential of their bloodline has now been fully explored, and the only way to go further is to obtain the power of the divine tree fruit from their mother.

This is the only way. They need to become stronger to fight against their mother's people. A thousand years is the limit; they can't wait any longer.

This was also the main reason why they didn't eliminate the thing their mother left behind after discovering it; it just so happened to become part of their plan.

"I hope my mother can change."

Hamura Otsutsuki understood his brother's meaning. Now, all they could hope for was that after thousands of years of sealing, their mother's mind would change. They didn't want to seal their mother away again.

But the mother's ideas were too extreme, and her power was too strong. If there was no change, the seal could only continue.

"Let things unfold as they are; we cannot intervene, otherwise, if our mother's legacy finds out, our subsequent plans will be in jeopardy."

After giving this reminder, the Sage of Six Paths continued to guide his chakra to perfect the Pure Land of the Underworld, while waiting for the arrival of the soul of this reincarnation of Indra.

That was a sacrifice to liberate his mother. He needed to deeply transform her soul so that he could counterbalance her after her resurrection and better seal her away.

This seal is different from the last one; it is a brand new seal that he has been perfecting over the past thousand years. It is designed to assist Madara Uchiha and the nine tailed beasts in perfectly extracting the power of his mother.

Once the mother absorbs the power of the nine tailed beasts, she will be able to access the core of their power.

Everything was planned!

……

Madara Uchiha, who was far away in an underground space, was unaware that he was being watched by multiple parties. He had just woken up.

His physical condition was already at its limit. The constant struggle with the power of Hashirama's cells had exhausted his life force. The awakening of the Rinnegan further pushed his body to its limits. If he hadn't summoned the Gedo Mazo in time to use its life energy to sustain himself, he would have died of old age long ago.

Even so, they still need to sleep for a long time to reduce their energy consumption and allow themselves to survive for a longer period of time.

"Mito died too."

After hearing White Zetsu's report, Madara Uchiha sighed deeply; yet another old friend had passed away.

"Has Mr. Ban slept for so long and needs to poop? Or peeing is fine too?"

Bai Jue suddenly asked eagerly, wanting to know what it felt like to poop and pee.

"They're all defective products, not good enough for anything else."

After staring at the white Zetsu for a long while, Madara Uchiha sighed helplessly.

This was cultivated by him using the life force of the Gedo Mazo and Hashirama's cells, and was used to gather information about the ninja world, especially to find suitable pawns.

His body is failing, and he is now merely clinging to life. He needs a successor to assist in completing his plan and ultimately guide Nagato Uzumaki to use the Rinnegan to perfectly revive himself.

Are there any suitable candidates from the Uchiha clan right now?

He asked, "I need a junior Uchiha to complete the plan, an Uchiha with the potential to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"This is the list of Uchiha clan members who have awakened the Sharingan. There is no one who meets Madara-sama's requirements."

A White Zetsu handed a thick booklet to Madara Uchiha. It was what they had found during their infiltration of the battle lines between Konoha and the Land of Hot Springs, and it recorded information about every Uchiha who had awakened the Sharingan.

Madara Uchiha took the thick booklet and carefully flipped through it. The notes on it were messy and disorganized. After all, White Zetsu weren't very intelligent, so you couldn't expect too much.

"It's too late to realize Tobirama Senju's conspiracy now."

After reading it, Madara Uchiha casually tossed the booklet aside with a disdainful sneer.

That booklet not only contained basic information about the Uchiha clan members who had awakened their Sharingan, but also some details about the situation within the Uchiha family.

The clansmen are now thinking about how to fight against the Senju and Hokage factions, or even how to become Hokage through a coup.

A bunch of idiots!

After seeing through Tobirama Senju's treacherous schemes and Konoha's future, he realized that he had made the wrong choice and that Hashirama had betrayed his trust.

At that time, the goal was to lead the Uchiha clan away from Konoha and find a true path to peace; otherwise, the Uchiha clan would inevitably perish in Konoha in the future.

Unfortunately, those fools placed their hopes on that brat named Kagami, thinking that if Tobirama Senju took him as a disciple, he could become Hokage in the future.

As a result, Tobirama Senju passed the Hokage position to Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Kagami died not long after.

Now those people are getting desperate and want to seize the Hokage position through a coup.

The fish are already in the net, yet they still try to jump out and bite the fishmonger. How ridiculous!

"These people are worthless. In the future, pay more attention to those Uchiha who haven't awakened their Sharingan yet, especially the kind-hearted ones, the younger the better."

After giving the order, Madara Uchiha didn't take any of the people recorded in the booklet seriously.

Even those few juniors who awakened the Kaleidoscope, though they seemed excellent, couldn't maintain that level for long.

Moreover, there are differences between the Mangekyou Sharingan, and it also depends on the user. Among the current Mangekyou Sharingan users, only Uchiha Chiri is worthy of his attention.

The Uchiha clan has no chance left; their fate was already sealed. Konoha is the Uchiha's graveyard.

"Kind-hearted?"

Several White Zetsu were puzzled. What kind of request was this?

"You don't understand the Uchiha. The power of the Uchiha needs to be exchanged with love. The stronger the love, the greater the power gained after the collapse."

As he spoke softly, as the Uchiha who had achieved the highest level of Sharingan mastery, he was very clear about the essence of the Sharingan and knew what kind of person could awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan, or even a powerful Mangekyou Sharingan technique.

Being young means that one's thinking is not mature and stable enough, which is the best stage for guidance. If it were an adult ninja, it would be difficult to teach them, and they might even develop inappropriate thoughts.

He needs an obedient Uchiha!

"Did anything else happen while I was asleep?"

Madara Uchiha's interest in the ninja world has never waned, especially now that the Ninja World War is underway, there's bound to be many interesting things happening.

"There is one story: Takigakure was massacred by a mysterious person, and the Seven-Tails was stolen. Afterwards, Kumogakure transplanted a very, very large tree from Takigakure back to Kumogakure, a tree bigger than a mountain, and set up a barrier with the power of Wood Release."

One of the White Zetsu spoke of his discovery in the Hidden Cloud Village with a sense of dread.

The tree's devouring power was too strong; once they got close, they would be actively swallowed up, and several of their companions had already been devoured.

In front of that tree, their concealment was completely useless; it was a complete restraint on their presence.

"I vaguely remember that tree."

Madara Uchiha knew what was being said. After leaving Konoha, he traveled throughout the ninja world and visited many places, including Takigakure.

I was amazed by the size of that tree back then, but I never imagined it could bear the power of Wood Release.

He didn't care how the Hidden Cloud Village obtained the Wood Release power; it wasn't important.

Although Wood Release is powerful, the only Wood Release that he takes seriously is Hashirama's. Other people's Wood Release is nothing but a joke.

Even the Wood Release he obtained using Hashirama's cells was far inferior to Hashirama's.

As for the Seven-Tails that was stolen, that's not important. The other party must have been eyeing the Seven-Tails' power, and they'll use it sooner or later. It doesn't conflict with my plans.

Once I am resurrected, all resistance will be nothing but a joke.

"Orochimaru, a disciple of the Third Hokage, is researching the Impure World Reincarnation technique, hoping to revive the dead for battle."

Another White Zetsu reported that the Impure World Reincarnation technique is a terrifying forbidden jutsu, especially for Konoha, which has had many powerful wielders.

"Resurrecting the dead? Is it the same technique as the Reincarnation and Rebirth Technique?"

Madara Uchiha became interested. The Rinne Rebirth Technique was the foundation of his plan, intended to revive himself in his peak condition.

"No, it's just a temporary resurrection. The soul of the deceased is summoned from the Pure Land of the Underworld and attached to the offering, so that they can use the ninjutsu they used before they were born and have unlimited chakra."

"Boring!"

Upon hearing that it wasn't a true resurrection, Madara Uchiha lost interest.

"Find a suitable target as soon as possible, and don't bother me unless something major happens."

After giving him a word of advice, Madara Uchiha fell asleep again.

He needs to prolong his life in this way until a suitable successor is found.

(End of this chapter)