Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 185 Jinchūriki of the Grim Reaper

"Immortal, is this what you came here for?"

Thousand Hands Orange Water was puzzled. He wasn't surprised that the Slug Sage had discovered the transplanted cells, but he didn't understand why the other party would suddenly come for this.

"This bead contains my magical power and can help you activate and fuse with Hashirama's cells."

The slug fairy spat out a pearl and revealed his purpose.

Why?

He caught the bead, but the Thousand Hands Orange Water remained puzzled.

"The entire Summoning World has been occupied by the Hidden Cloud Village. I need your help to reclaim the Shikkotsu Forest."

Revealing her purpose, the Slug Sage originally did not intend to take such a risk, but now that her home has been taken away, she naturally has to do something. At the same time, this experience has made her eager to further improve her strength.

The only thing suitable for her now is that precious pearl. As an outsider, she cannot perfectly fuse with the pearl to obtain all its power. She can only let a human fuse with it and then find an opportunity to devour it.

Ordinary people don't meet the standard, but this Senju Orange Water itself has good qualities and also transplanted cells from Senju Hashirama.

Although it wasn't successful, that wasn't a problem, and after all, he was from the same clan as the First Hokage, so there was some compatibility between them.

At that time, all that is needed is one's own Sage Mode power as a guide, plus the Sage Mode power that the First Hokage cultivated back then, which will be enough to guide the fusion.

Creating a second First Hokage is impossible, but being slightly inferior would be enough.

"I understand, I will definitely help you reclaim Shikkotsu Forest."

Qianshou Orange Water understood and made a commitment.

The Senju family has passed down the slug contract scroll through generations, making them trustworthy and reliable partners. The Slug Sage is also an important force within the Senju family.

Now that the Slug Sage's home has been taken away, they naturally have to help take it back. However, the Slug Sage is so powerful, and there are many other powerful beings in the Summoning World. How did the Hidden Cloud Village manage to take it back?

How did Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village) conquer the Summoning World?

"They channeled the power of that tree into the Spirit World, where it grew and expanded wildly. In the end, they used a massive amount of explosive tags to blast my body apart. The Great Toad Sage was also killed. The White Snake Sage did not participate in the battle and was the first to escape."

The Slug Sage gave a brief explanation of what had happened; these were memories she had retrieved from that split entity.

"What level of Wood Release technique can that tree unleash?"

Senju Chengshui's heart sank. He naturally knew about the tree that Kumogakure had acquired, and that it had been developed into a large tree by the other party. It was activated using the Wood Release chakra crystals left by his great-grandfather, making it essentially a Wood Release creation.

I originally thought that the Hidden Cloud Village could only be used for defense, but who would have thought that it can now be used for long-range attacks.

"It can be used to the extent that the Flower Tree Realm descends."

The slug fairy replied that he was not too worried about the tree itself.

The reason that tree could grow so wildly in the spirit world was mainly because the snakes of Ryuchi Cave and the toads of Mount Myōboku both possessed chakra, which could be quickly devoured and transformed into nutrients for its growth.

This is a characteristic of Wood Release, a perfect example of using war to sustain war.

Without the energy supplied by those toads and snakes, that tree could not have grown so extravagantly.

"Thankfully, it's just the Flower Tree Realm that's descending!"

Senju Orange Water breathed a sigh of relief. She was really afraid that the Hidden Cloud Village would use that tree to unleash even more powerful Wood Release ninjutsu, such as her great-grandfather's Wood Human Technique and the even more terrifying True Several Thousand Hands.

You should know that the Hidden Cloud Village took away all of their family's books, including the Sealed Book on the top shelf, which contained records of all of their great-grandfather's Wood Release ninjutsu.

"You'd better transfer the cells from the intercolumnar region to the heart. I can help you connect the cells from the intercolumnar region to the heart, so that they can fuse better."

With guidance from the Slug Sage, who knew Hashirama Senju's identity and the nature of that power, she naturally understood how to use it.

"Thank you so much, Immortal!"

Without hesitation, Thousand Hands Orange Water removed her upper garments, revealing a bandage wrapped around her right arm inscribed with a sealing technique, inside which were transplanted her great-grandfather's cells.

There was no other way; the great-grandfather's cells were too corrosive. Even though they were both members of the Senju clan and had some blood ties, they still couldn't withstand it and ultimately had to be suppressed with a sealing technique.

"You break the seal, and I'll help you suppress it."

The Slug Sage stepped forward and enveloped Senju Orange Water's entire body within him, channeling the Sage Art power within Hashirama's cells to reduce cell activity.

Feeling the pain in her arm lessen, Senju Orange Water quickly unwrapped the sealing bandages, revealing a pale face—it was her great-grandfather's face, and there was a pair of Mangekyou Sharingan in his eye sockets.

"Kaleidoscope, no wonder you can barely hold Hashirama's cells."

The Slug Sage understood; she had been wondering how the Thousand Hands Orange Water could contain Hashirama's cells, since sealing techniques couldn't seal it.

"These eyes are the result of my grandfather's research; they belonged to Uchiha Tajima back then."

Senju Orange Water sighed, saying that back then, the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan were truly insane in their killing spree, and the Uchiha were more suited to the brutal era of the Warring States period.

Perhaps, as Grandpa said, the Uchiha are better at using love to gain power. The greater the pain they suffer, the stronger their power becomes, until they awaken that power.

Fortunately, Uchiha Tajima was killed by his great-grandfather, who then seized his eyes.

Although these eyes were used to their limit, they were still kaleidoscopes. After Grandpa's research, he discovered that the power of the kaleidoscope could suppress Grandpa's power to a certain extent, which led to this research.

Unfortunately, before this research could be successful, my grandfather died in the Land of Lightning.

Afterwards, the father took over the research and continued to refine it in secret.

Unfortunately, it still didn't work out. I was forced to take the risk and tried it out of desperation, and I've been troubled by it ever since.

Fortunately, with the help of the Slug Sage, it seems we will succeed.

"Tobirama is a prodigy."

The Slug Sage greatly admired Tobirama Senju's talent.

Without saying a word, the two worked together to guide the image of Hashirama's face from his arm to his chest, where it was connected to his heart.

Even after the Slug Sage merged with the jewel, he also activated the Sage Mode of Hashirama's cells, causing Hashirama's face to display a Sage Mask.

"Immortal, may I fuse with my grandfather's cells?"

Senju Tousui suppressed her excitement as she sensed that the Hashirama cells had stabilized and asked if she could fuse with her grandfather's cells.

Although Grandpa's strength is not as great as Great-Grandpa's, his Flying Thunder God Technique is unbeatable.

If one could combine the Flying Thunder God Technique with Wood Release, even if Wood Release doesn't reach the level of Great-Grandpa in the future, one could still be invincible.

"Can."

The Slug Sage seemed to understand Thousand Hands Orange Water's idea and indicated that it was feasible.

Compared to Hashirama cells, Tobirama cells are much easier to fuse, not to mention that Senju Orange Water is Tobirama's grandson.

"Very good!"

Upon receiving a positive response, Qian Shou Orange Water was overjoyed.

With these two powers, I am confident that I can protect the Senju clan and seize the Hokage position.

Leaving aside the increasingly powerful Senju Orange Water, on the other side, Tamura Hao, after quickly reading and memorizing all the various scriptures from the three holy lands, returned to Kumogakure.

Because the plan to target the Hidden Village is about to begin, and this is being handled by Tsuchida, it has been ongoing without interruption.

At the same time, in the underground base of the Sky Ninja Village, all the high-ranking officials watched with excitement as Zero-Tails merged with the giant bird.

Zero-Tails is an artificial tailed beast they specially researched. As long as they capture enough prisoners and torture them, they can possess unlimited dark chakra.

However, Zero-Tail is just a simple energy body and is not stable. Now, there is a ferocious bird with strong vitality, which can serve as the vessel for Zero-Tail.

Such a massive life force can certainly perfectly contain the dark chakra of Zero-Tails.

Shennong, standing behind his father, looked at the ferocious bird's body being invaded by the Zero Tail with a puzzled expression. After thinking for a while, he quietly left and went to the medical room.

He was somewhat puzzled by this suddenly discovered ferocious bird, mainly because he didn't understand where its unusually vigorous life force came from.

Moreover, it wasn't a ninja beast; it didn't have chakra within it, which made it even stranger.

If we could find its source...

"Lord Shennong!"

A middle-aged ninja on the sickbed saw Shennong arrive and hurriedly tried to get up to pay his respects, but Shennong pressed his shoulder down.

"Don't move, your injuries are serious."

I came here to ask where you found that ferocious bird, and if there were any other unusual discoveries.

This is the person who discovered the ferocious bird, returned to report, and finally brought back the bird's carcass.

"It was found in the upper reaches of the Duotou River. There were many broken trees at the scene, indicating that it fell while flying. Judging from the direction in which the trees broke, it was flying southwest."

The feathers had many torn and cut marks, indicating that it had been in a fierce battle. The feathers on vital parts of the body were mostly torn, and there was a lot of blood, but there were no open wounds...

The middle-aged ninja dared not be negligent and revealed everything he knew.

"Has it survived a fierce battle, bearing wounds that were healed by that immense life force?"

Shennong seemed to be deep in thought. That ferocious bird had a strong life force, which gave its body a powerful self-healing ability that it maintained even after death.

They had previously conducted some experiments on it, and the cut wounds healed quickly and spontaneously.

It was precisely because of this powerful life force that they decided to use it as the vessel for Zero-Tail, so as to further enhance Zero-Tail's power.

Zero Tail is the energy source that powers the aerial fortress. Only when Zero Tail is strong can the aerial fortress unleash its full power, especially its giant cannon.

Of course, the decision to merge so quickly was also due to an important task.

After asking for some more details, Shennong finally left.

On the second night, with the blessing of the merged Zero Tail, the underground aerial fortress slowly rose into the air and flew towards the Land of Whirlpools under the cover of night.

They had previously learned that the Uzumaki clan, who had joined the Hidden Cloud Village, had secretly returned to the ruins of the Hidden Uzumaki Village to carry out a secret mission. After capturing a Cloud Ninja who was accompanying them and reading his memories with the Zero Tail, they learned that it was a plan by the Hidden Cloud Village to create a Shinigami Jinchuriki.

Although we didn't have much information, we knew the general situation.

The Hidden Cloud Village wanted to seal the Grim Reaper into the bodies of ninjas, just like a tailed beast, so that it could kill any powerful person when necessary.

It is said that the Death God can even kill Kage-level powerhouses, and it is the strongest forbidden technique of the Uzumaki clan.

They, the Sky Ninja Village, must seize this forbidden technique, as it would perfectly compensate for the Sky Ninja Village's lack of high-end combat power.

With the Shinigami Jinchuriki capable of annihilating Kage-level powerhouses, plus the aerial fortress and those flying ninja tools, it will be easy to wipe out the five great ninja villages and dominate the ninja world after this Shinobi World War.

However, what no one in the Sky Ninja Village knew was that a dark figure was hiding in the shadows, watching everything they did.

"Another fool blinded by desire."

Black Zetsu chuckled sinisterly. Everything here was his plan, including having the Sky Ninja on a mission discover the Phoenix's whereabouts, and then secretly manipulating a high-ranking Sky Ninja to suggest that Zero-Tails integrate with the Phoenix to take it a step further, as well as cooperating with the Cloud Village's plan to go to the Land of Whirlpools.

"Now we just have to wait for Danzo's men to make their appearance."

He muttered to himself, and Black Zetsu continued to roam the aerial fortress, making final checks to ensure the plan was foolproof.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Shimura Danzo received intelligence relayed by his best henchmen.

"The Hidden Cloud Village secretly dispatched a large number of ninjas to the Land of Whirlpools, and even the Third Raikage was mobilized."

Looking at that intelligence report, Shimura Danzo understood that Kumogakure was definitely about to make a big move.

It's unclear whether the Hidden Cloud Village intends to bypass the Land of Fire and Konoha to attack, or if they have some other ulterior motive.

"This is a good opportunity to demonstrate this power, but unfortunately the Raikage and the Hidden Cloud Village are still useful, so we can't kill them immediately."

Looking at his right arm, which was bound by sealed bandages, Danzo Shimura decided to go there himself.

The battle lines here are stretched thin, and we can't send too many people over. The force that Kumogakure has sent is very strong, including the Third Raikage. Sending too few people won't make much of a difference.

It's a pity that the Raikage and the Hidden Cloud Village still need to weaken the Uchiha clan, otherwise this would have been an opportunity to kill the Third Raikage.

He had always remembered the debt he owed to the Third Raikage for being defeated in the Land of Whirlpools, losing an arm, and having his elite troops wiped out by the combined forces of the Hidden Cloud Village and the Uzumaki clan.

Without delay, Shimura Danzo used his own chakra to create a shadow clone to remain and oversee the situation, while he left alone and headed straight for the Land of Whirlpools.

He will likely demonstrate the power of this arm this time, and he doesn't want his identity to be exposed, so it's best not to bring anyone with him to avoid people guessing his identity.

With his current strength, no one in the entire ninja world can stop him; one person is enough.

With this confidence, Danzo Shimura finally arrived at a mountain peak dozens of miles away from Uzushiogakure and used a telescope to observe the ruins of Uzushiogakure.

Nothing was found in Uzushiogakure, but the dark chakra on his right arm had a strange connection to a certain direction.

"Is there anything there?"

Looking eastward, Danzo Shimura was puzzled. This was the first time he had ever seen dark chakra behave so strangely; there must be something there.

Is it an artifact related to the Box of Elysium?

Curious, Shimura Danzo did not go over immediately. Since he had already sensed it, it didn't matter when he went.

The key now is to keep an eye on the plans of the Hidden Cloud Village in the Uzushiogakure Village.

At the same time, many female ninjas from the Uzumaki clan and the Cloud Clan were busy in a valley behind the Hidden Village of Uzumaki. There, they used Earth Release to create a huge altar, on which more than three hundred Shinigami masks were neatly arranged.

The Third Raikage personally oversaw the preparations for the ceremony.

Uzumaki Tamaki led the Uzumaki female ninjas in a final check of the spell array diagram.

The Grim Reaper is not so easy to summon. Only Kage-level powerhouses can use the Grim Reaper Mask to sign a contract with the Grim Reaper and then summon him using the forbidden technique of the Reaper Death Seal.

They naturally couldn't use a Shadow-level powerhouse as a sacrifice, so they had to use a clever method to summon him. This spell array diagram was specially prepared for this purpose.

In addition, there was a special arrangement for the Sky Ninja Village. Although she didn't understand why the Raikage would make such an arrangement, she only needed to follow orders and didn't need to consider anything else.

"Lord Raikage, all preparations are complete. We may now officially begin summoning the Shinigami."

After completing the final check, Uzumaki Tamayo reported to the Third Raikage that they could begin.

The Third Raikage glanced subtly at his disciple not far away, and upon seeing the disciple nod slightly, he understood that the actors had arrived.

"Everyone, take cover in the designated bunkers."

He gave the order, and at the same time, the Third Raikage stepped onto the altar.

The others entered the prepared underground shelters, seemingly to escape some terrifying presence, foreshadowing an extremely dangerous plan.

Meanwhile, the high-ranking officials of the distant Sora Ninja Village observed the scene through a super telescope, as did Danzo Shimura, who also used a telescope to look around. They both saw the strange altar and the many masks placed on it.

The higher-ups of the Hidden Ninja Village didn't know what it was, but Danzo Shimura did.

"Death masks! Could it be that they're going to summon Death?"

Danzo Shimura immediately thought of the Reaper Death Seal that Mito Uzumaki used before her death. Although he had not witnessed it in person, he had read the detailed information and understood the power of the Shinigami.

The fact that Kumogakure is now using so many Grim Reaper masks must mean they have a scheme, and it must be related to the Grim Reaper.

He kept wondering and observing.

Under the watchful eyes of both sides, the Third Raikage walked to the top of the altar, cut his palm, and began to form hand seals with blood mixed in—the seal for the Reaper Death Seal.

Just as he finished forming the hand seals and was about to strike down, a beam of light suddenly shot from the east, pointing directly at the Third Raikage at the very top of the altar.

"court death!"

The Third Raikage roared, took out the repaired Hell Spear, and thrust it out. The powerful and domineering Thunder Sage Chakra shattered the pillar of light, and then charged towards its source while enduring the pillar of light.

The Third Raikage was incredibly fast, almost like a bolt of lightning.

Not long after he left, a figure suddenly descended swiftly from the night sky onto the altar. It was a tall, middle-aged man, none other than the leader of the Sky Ninja Village, the Divine Physician.

"What a simple-minded idiot."

With a cold laugh, the leader of the Sky Ninjas, the Divine Physician, followed the Third Raikage's previous actions, slashed his palm, raised his hand to form a hand seal, and finally slammed it onto the altar.

Although I am not clear about the detailed steps of this so-called Shinigami Jinchuriki plan, the fact that the Third Raikage personally carried it out means there is no danger. I only need to follow his instructions to seize his achievements.

Surely the Third Raikage wouldn't commit suicide this way.

It was only after seeing the Third Raikage personally walk onto the altar that he decided to risk coming here himself.

The power that the Third Raikage personally came to operate the seal must be incredibly strong, and I must control this power.

As the blood mixed with chakra fell, it spread rapidly along the inscribed jutsu array, and then, using the Grim Reaper masks as a medium, summoned all the corresponding Grim Reapers.

All the Shinigami turned to look at the human who had summoned them. Under the gaze of so many Shinigami, the leader of the Sky Ninja, the Divine Doctor, felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and his soul and consciousness seemed to be frozen.

(End of this chapter)