Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 186 A Triumphant Return

"Are these the Grim Reapers? How terrifying, how chilling!"

Seeing the Grim Reapers through the connection of the spell, and especially feeling the terrifying aura they exuded, the leader of the Sky Ninja was both surprised and delighted.

The sheer terror emanating from them is enough to tell you how terrifying these Grim Reapers are. No wonder the Hidden Cloud Village and the Third Raikage have plotted so extensively to obtain their power.

If I were to seal these Grim Reapers within my body like tailed beasts and then control them, who in the ninja world could stand against me?

As the spell array was activated, these summoned death gods were sealed and bound by the spell array specifically designed for spirits, and chains formed by the death god masks were quickly pulled into the divine healer's body.

The spell array also created a sealed space in its abdomen to store these death gods.

At the same time, the power of death swept over his entire body and touched a special curse mark deep in his brain.

The moment it touched the cursed seal, the power of death seemed to sense something was wrong with it and actively wrapped itself around it.

The cursed seal seemed to sense the danger as if it possessed a spirit, and it erupted, attempting to escape with the divine healer's soul.

Unfortunately, the power of the Grim Reaper is exactly what suppresses the soul, and the chakra within it, originating from a certain being, double-fixes it, thus pulling it into the Pure Land of the Underworld.

At the same time, the Sage of Six Paths, who was stationed in the Pure Land of the Underworld, seemed to sense something and raised his hand to grab a soul. He stared intently at the chakra within, and his expression gradually became solemn.

"It's not my mother's chakra, it's that person's. Could it be that that person wasn't killed by my mother back then, and has been hiding in the ninja world all this time?"

Having sensed that chakra, the Sage of Six Paths recalled a record among the texts and notes left by his mother. According to that record, his mother did not descend to this world alone, but with a member of her clan, and that member was even more powerful.

The mother ambushed and killed it, and used it as a sacrifice for the Ten-Tails, which allowed the Ten-Tails to evolve into the God Tree, and then bear the Chakra Fruit, which was then eaten by the mother.

According to her mother's records, that Otsutsuki should have been killed, but now his chakra has appeared.

Could it be that the other party is not dead and has been hiding in the ninja world all along?

"This is going to be troublesome. Hopefully, this time we can lure you out too."

Although the Sage of Six Paths was wary of that chakra, he was also very confident in his own millennia of accumulation.

He immediately read the memories of that soul and learned why all the Grim Reapers had been summoned away.

"Human beings are always so pathetic."

The Sage of Six Paths offered a nonchalant comment, paying it little attention.

Judging from this person's memories, that sealing technique was not enough to seal so many Death Gods. It wouldn't be long before it was eroded by the power of the Death Gods and returned to the Pure Land.

Compared to those Grim Reapers, he valued that being more.

If one can lure it out, kill and devour it, one should also be able to break through the bottleneck of one's bloodline.

Leaving aside the Sage of Six Paths' schemes, the Third Raikage on the other side charged straight into the aerial fortress hidden in the night, rampaging and roaming freely, with no one able to stop him.

Of course, the Third Raikage only targeted people and did not attempt to destroy the aerial fortress.

This powerful weapon will belong to their Hidden Cloud Village from now on, so they can't afford to damage it.

At the same time, Tamura Hao used the eight thousand spears mark on the Third Raikage as coordinates to open a spatial gate, leading a group of Cloud Village ninjas to charge in.

That wasn't all. Having received the signal, Scorpion flew in in his meticulously crafted fighter jet, circling the air fortress at supersonic speeds and annihilating the air ninjas who had flown out using individual flying vehicles.

Two enormous wind blades extending from the wings swept across like sharp blades, instantly slicing and shredding the bodies of the air ninjas.

Faced with such a supersonic fighter jet, even air ninjas with only aircraft would find it difficult to escape.

This was a pure crushing defeat of speed; there was simply no way to escape.

This was still not the end. Hundreds of Cloud Ninjas, piloting newly tamed flying ninja beasts from the Summoning World, circled around the area, further sealing off the area, while simultaneously collecting the fragments of the aircraft that had been shredded by the Sasori fighter jet's wind blades.

These are all top-quality materials, and some even incorporate chakra-conducting metals.

Meanwhile, Black Zetsu was not idle either. He possessed a high-ranking Sky Ninja and controlled him to go to the control room to remove the seal and restraints on Zero-Tails, and frantically shouted that he wanted Zero-Tails to go and perish together with the Cloud Ninja.

"idiot!"

Looking at the hysterical high-ranking Sky Ninja, Zero-Tails, freed from its seal, sneered and decisively broke through the dome above to escape.

He had long sensed the immense chakra of the Third Raikage, a being far more powerful than himself, and that fighting against such a being would only lead to certain death.

What I need to do now is to run away as soon as possible, and then devour a large number of humans to increase my own power.

As for creating their own Void Ninja, who cares if they die?

What Zero-Tail didn't know was that the moment he escaped, he was targeted by an even darker entity.

"We must get it! We have to get it!"

As Shimura Danzo arrived at the seaside, he watched the enormous figure fly away into the night sky in the distance, his single eye filled with greed.

Previously, there seemed to be a seal blocking the way, making the sensation very vague. But now that the other party has flown out, the sensation is many times stronger, and the dark chakra in my entire right arm is surging.

Most importantly, the other party seems to be a special species, and I've been worrying about that research project lately.

This is like a pillow being delivered when you're about to fall asleep!

Without the slightest hesitation, the Dark Mangekyou Sharingan on his right arm erupted, mixing with dark chakra to create a hundred-meter-tall Dark Susanoo. Wings spread on his back as he took off and quickly pursued the enemy.

Zero-Tails also sensed the immense dark chakra of Dark Susanoo. When it looked back, it was almost scared to death and hurriedly accelerated its flight by flapping its wings.

Although he also wanted to devour the other party, he sensed that the other party was far stronger than him, even more terrifying than the person who had broken into the air fortress. He knew he could never be a match for them and had to escape.

"Perfect!"

Inside the aerial fortress, Black Zetsu was very satisfied to sense that Shimura Danzo had indeed gone to pursue the Zero-Tails; the plan had been a complete success.

Without delay, she moved towards her younger brother, following the shadows.

Meanwhile, Tamura Hao is searching for Shennong. This person must die, for no other reason than his name. He cannot rest until he kills him.

This person is also highly accomplished in medical ninjutsu research, and it's unknown how far his research has progressed.

After much effort, Tamura Hiroshi finally found Shennong, who was on the run.

Without giving it a chance to talk nonsense, it was directly sealed into the sealing space for the little ten-tailed fox to devour and extract its memories.

While Tamura Hao was going through Shennong's memories, Black Zetsu came over and entered the sealed space.

"Did Lord Danzo go after him?"

Tamura Hao asked, "Did you have Black Zetsu deliberately let Zero-Tails go? With the Raikage's terrifying chakra, Zero-Tails wouldn't stay to fight unless he was stupid."

It's important to know that Zero-Tails wasn't particularly strong; it was completely overwhelmed by Naruto in his tailed beast form. Let alone the Third Raikage, who is now comparable to the complete Nine-Tails.

If they really faced off, it would only take one strike; it would be strange if they didn't run away.

However, the real focus is to get Lord Danzo to target the Zero-Tails and then capture it.

"They've already gone after him. With Danzo's current strength, taking him down will be a piece of cake."

Black Zetsu chuckled, saying that with his younger brother by his side, he saw more and more hope, and that the brothers working together would surely be able to rescue their mother.

Upon seeing Black Zetsu enter, Princess Kaguya instinctively floated over and hugged him tightly. Black Zetsu also enjoyed the feeling of being held by his mother.

Although she is not a real mother, she is still a part of motherhood.

"The soul of that Sky Ninja leader just disappeared. He must have been summoned by the Sage of Six Paths. He must have noticed Isshiki Otsutsuki's chakra."

A smile played on his lips; Tamura was quite satisfied with the plan, as all the calculations had been relatively successful.

When he arrived earlier, he had taken a special look and found that the leader of the Sky Ninja had no emotional fluctuations. Obviously, his soul was gone, and he had become a vegetable.

Therefore, this plan was a complete success, drawing the attention of the Sage of Six Paths to Isshiki Otsutsuki's existence.

Only by letting those two hidden Otsutsuki fight each other can I develop my strength more stealthily.

"Another piece of good news!"

Black Zetsu smiled sinisterly. With this step successful, the subsequent plans could proceed more smoothly.

After talking with Black Zetsu for a while, Tamura Hao headed to the energy room of the aerial fortress, which was the place where Zero Tail was originally sealed.

The Third Raikage was also here, continuously injecting chakra to maintain the aerial fortress's levitation.

"Come over here and give us some support, this thing is too taxing."

Upon seeing his disciple arrive, the Third Raikage quickly gestured for him to come and take over.

I discovered that this aerial fortress was falling, so I rushed here and found that the Zero-Tails from the intelligence had escaped. I had no choice but to inject my own chakra.

However, this thing consumes too much energy, and even with his chakra, he can't sustain it for long. He can only let his disciple take the hit.

Without hesitation, Tamura Hao walked over and injected the Ten-Tails' chakra into the energy room, maintaining the aerial fortress's levitation.

"The Sky Ninja Village is quite capable."

Looking at the dense array of techniques in the energy room, Tamura Hao was amazed by the research and development capabilities of the Sky Ninja Village, who had actually created such a powerful weapon.

"It's that mysterious force hidden in the shadows that has the capability; the key technology here is something the Sky Ninja Village couldn't have developed."

Tsuchikage's clone arrived and led his men to find the researchers from the Sky Village, where they extracted a great deal of information from them.

The researchers didn't know the source of the key technology either. It was provided by the leader of the Hidden Ninja Village, so it must have originated from that mysterious force.

"No matter what their origins are, they're all ours now, especially that chakra cannon. The technology on it should be able to accelerate our chakra cannon research."

The Third Raikage didn't care about this; these things now belonged to their Hidden Cloud Village. He then looked at Sasori, who had come with Tsuchida's shadow clone.

"Little Scorpion, what are your thoughts on this aerial fortress?"

During his time in Kumogakure, this little guy fully demonstrated his talent and ability. Despite his young age, he was very capable in the research and development of puppet machines.

This air fortress definitely needs to be renovated; it depends on what this little guy thinks.

"First, test the load-bearing capacity here. Then, replace these heavy stones with lightweight alloys, and transform this aerial fortress into a spherical shape for all-around defense and offense..."

Excitedly, Scorpion revealed his plan. After dealing with the air ninjas who had escaped by aircraft, he landed on this aerial fortress to observe it. He also looked at the various blueprints submitted by the researchers and gained a general understanding of it, which led to his own ideas.

He wanted to transform this aerial fortress into a war stronghold, essentially a giant puppet.

He even decided to live here from now on, using it as his research base for long-term research and renovation.

He was interested in many of the technologies here, whether it was the individual soldier aircraft or the air fortress itself, which were all of great research value and could be applied to the development of his own fighter jets.

He also wants to develop all the armor and mechs that Brother Hao proposed, so that they can usher in a new era for puppeteers.

"That requires a lot of alloy, so we'll have to wait."

After hearing the little guy's crazy ideas, Tsuchida Shadow Clone habitually pinched the bridge of his nose.

According to this little guy's idea, he wants to build a super-large metal lump, and the amount of metal required will be quite exaggerated.

Although they could extract some metal from railway and shipbuilding projects, the proportion couldn't be too exaggerated, otherwise they would definitely be discovered.

Therefore, this plan had to be shelved until the Ninja Kingdom was established, at which point sufficient resources could be mobilized to build it.

"No rush. We still need to study the data here for a long time. We also need time to thoroughly study the chakra armor technology of the Land of Snow and the technology of the Ninja Village of Craftsmen."

There are many other technologically advanced forces in the ninja world, and we need to study their technologies to ultimately design the perfect aerial fortress.

Tamura Hao ruffled the little boy's soft red hair. This kid had great potential; he was practically born to be a puppet.

If he hadn't embarked on the irreversible path of art because of his parents' death, he would have created a high-tech puppet like Naruto the Mecha long ago.

"Speed ​​up the cleanup, then dismantle all the excess parts and drop them down to create the illusion that the air fortress has been destroyed."

The Third Raikage glanced at the hole above and ordered the cleanup to be expedited.

They only needed to bring back the valuable parts, while the aerial fortress was mostly just stone, so there was no need to bring it back.

Moreover, this battle and the events involving the Sky Village cannot be concealed, because many of the Sky Village's ninjas have scattered throughout the ninja world, especially on various battlefields, making it unrealistic to capture and silence them all.

Therefore, it would be best to create the scenario where the aerial fortress is blown up by the air ninja who perish together with it, and the Hidden Cloud Village gains nothing.

To avoid being feared by the major ninja villages and causing trouble again.

"Yes, Lord Raikage!"

The shadow clone of Tsuchida accepted the order and turned to go out to arrange the cleaning work.

They also brought along a ninja who had transplanted a Byakugan, specifically to search this aerial fortress.

Of course, the Sky Village also sent people to clean up the area, and the main body personally led the team.

Even if some of them remain outside, they won't amount to much.

The Third Raikage left the aerial fortress and personally brought back the soulless leader of the Sky Ninja, handing him over to Tamura Hao to be absorbed into the sealing space.

Faced with this feast, the little Ten-Tails seemed very excited. It opened its mouth and swallowed the body of the Sky Ninja leader, and then devoured the Death Gods sealed in the space on his body.

The Grim Reaper devoured everything, leaving only the bracelets and short swords that targeted the soul. These were the key materials for forging the sword, creating a renowned blade that could harm the soul and specifically counter the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

Meanwhile, the demolition work outside proceeded quickly. The Byakugan's X-ray vision was used to identify valuable items first, and then the Uzumaki ninjas took over, carefully excavating the materials fused with the jutsu array and sealing them with sealing scrolls, especially the chakra cannon.

Finally, the Cloud Ninja took to the streets to sabotage and demolish the structures. They placed explosive tags on the ordinary rocky areas and blew them up, making it seem as if the Sky Ninja Village was going to perish together with them, letting the rubble fall down.

After completing these tasks, Tamura Hao flew back to Kumogakure in the central control room and energy room; these were the only remaining components.

The floating components of the air fortress are connected to the energy room, and the control room is located on the upper side. These three are the core of the air fortress, while the others are secondary.

In the future, any new aerial fortress can be built using this as a foundation.

Of course, it would be even better if it could be further improved and enhanced. The larger the final aerial fortress, the larger the weapon components it can build, the more fighter jets it can store, and the stronger its combat power will be.

Not to mention the Hidden Cloud Village returning with a full load, Danzo Shimura, who caught up with and captured the Zero-Tails, was also very happy. This one gain alone was enough.

With a satisfied grin, Zero Tail flew back to its base, eventually landing under the cover of night.

The crippled Zero-Tails was handed over to Yakushi Nonou for examination, while Shimura Danzo, in coordination with the Root's sealing ninjas, sealed the arm layer by layer.

Although the Dark Susanoo was used effectively and the ferocious bird was powerless to fight back, it also allowed the dark chakra to further erode his body.

Nono's analysis was correct; she was indeed not yet able to perfectly control this power at this stage.

However, it's not a big problem. Now that we have that ferocious bird, we can start that project. If we succeed, we can transfer most of the dark chakra to the other party and then seal it into their body like a tailed beast.

After the sealing was completed, Shimura Danzo went over to inquire about the results of the inspection.

"Lord Danzo, the body of this giant bird is incredible. Its life force is extremely vast and pure, even stronger than that of the first generation of cells."

If I successfully fuse with the first generation's cells, my strength will definitely be greatly enhanced...

Pharmacist Nono was very excited. This test subject was too perfect, and she could try out many of her ideas on it.

"Can it contain the power of the Box of Bliss?"

Danzo Shimura inquired further, and compared to the life force within this ferocious bird, he was more concerned about its dark chakra, which was clearly highly compatible with the power of the Box of Bliss.

Only if one can serve as a vessel for that power can one truly become invincible.

"It's highly likely that it is. After preliminary examination and experiments, this large bird can absorb negative emotions to create dark chakra to strengthen itself, but the specific situation still needs further experimental verification, or even the power of the Box of Elysium to be drawn in and fused."

Suppressing her excitement, Yakushi Nonou gave a relatively conservative answer.

"Start the bloodline transplantation project as soon as possible, maximize its potential, and then integrate it into the power experiments of the Elysium Box."

Danzo Shimura was very satisfied with this and decisively ordered the progress to be accelerated, so that all of Root's resources and strength would be focused on this.

(End of this chapter)