Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 226 Cultivating White Zetsu

Leaving aside the harvest of the four villages, on the other side, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were carried back to the camp by flying ninja beasts, only to find a scene of devastation. The entire camp had been destroyed, with no one in sight, not even a corpse.

This scene caused a slight change in the expressions of the group. Only after Mitarashi Shishou, who possessed the ability to sense things, confirmed that there was no one in the camp and the surrounding area, did they land to inspect and search.

"There were no bodies left, not even bloodstains. It doesn't seem like something that Shimura did."

After searching for a while, the group found nothing, which was very strange.

Even if the four villages' allied forces sent people to attack and kill, they couldn't have done it so cleanly without leaving a single trace of blood. It was more like they were destroying evidence.

"Who?"

Mitarai Shishou, who had been resting and keeping watch outside the camp, suddenly looked at the woods ahead and heard some noise.

"Lord Mitarashi Shishou, it is us."

Three figures leaped out of the woods; it was Nara Shikaku and his two companions.

"You went to the battlefield?"

After confirming the identities of the three people, Mitarashi Shishou had some guesses.

"We only observed from a distance; we didn't approach."

Nara Shikaku replied, his gaze falling on the camp.

Previously, he wanted to obtain more intelligence on the four-village coalition, so he persuaded two teammates to follow them and observe from a distance. They were also shocked by the ferocity of that battle.

But what's going on with this camp?

There are still hundreds of wounded soldiers guarding the camp. How could the camp have become like this?

Does the four-village coalition still have the resources to send men to launch a surprise attack?

"What's going on at the camp?"

Akimichi Choza stared in astonishment at the camp, now a ruin. It was fine when he came out, so how did it turn out like this when he came back?

"It's a good thing you went to the battlefield, otherwise you would have died if you had stayed in the camp."

With a sigh, Mitarashi Shishou couldn't help but feel a little dejected.

This defeat is just the beginning. The war will become increasingly brutal, and if things go wrong, Konoha and even the Land of Fire could be destroyed. Naturally, these people will not be able to escape the fate of dying in battle.

I don't care about myself, but Hongdou is still young and has a bright future ahead of her.

"The four-village coalition has gone too far!"

Yamanaka Inoichi's eyes turned red with anger as he looked at the ruined camp.

"It wasn't necessarily done by the four-village coalition."

Mitarashi Shishou shook his head slightly; he too had noticed something amiss.

"Not necessarily?"

Akimichi Choza and Yamanaka Inoichi were taken aback, not understanding what this meant.

"Dingzuo, Haiyi, you two stay here to assist Lord Zixiao in guarding the outside. I'll go in and take a look."

Nara Shikaku seemed to understand something, stopped his teammates from asking any more questions, and left the two of them to take care of Mitarashi Shishou, while he went into the camp.

"Listen to that kid Lu Jiu more often in the future. Don't ask too many questions or say too much. It won't do you or your family any harm."

Mitarashi Shishou offered a word of advice, then continued to keep a watchful eye on the surroundings.

Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza nodded as if they understood, then followed suit and kept watch over their surroundings.

Nara Shikaku, who had entered the camp to observe, soon met up with Namikaze Minato, or more accurately, Namikaze Minato had come to him on his own initiative.

"I'm so glad you're alright, Shikaku!"

Minato Namikaze was so happy to finally see a camp full of living people that he almost cried. The pressure of this battle was immense; many familiar faces had died, and they couldn't even collect their bodies.

"I followed Haiyi and the others to the battlefield to observe from a distance, but unexpectedly we escaped unscathed."

Nara Shikaku looked around at everything, feeling both horrified and relieved.

Can you guess who did this?

Minato Namikaze asked angrily, filled with hatred for the murderer who destroyed the camp.

Those who were spared were all wounded, some even unconscious, but now they're all gone.

This practice has seriously crossed the line.

"There are three possibilities: either it was done by some people in the village, or it was done by the four-village coalition to make us doubt our own side and throw us into chaos, or there is a third party involved."

After a moment of silence, Nara Shikaku stated three possibilities, but he couldn't make a judgment on what they were. The other party had gone too far, leaving nothing behind.

But none of that matters, because they have new troubles ahead.

Although the four-village coalition won a Pyrrhic victory in this battle, they did win nonetheless, as the villages were powerless to reclaim the peninsula's territory.

The previous conquest of the north by the Hidden Cloud Village and the Land of Lightning was just the beginning; now that the Hidden Mist Village has successfully occupied the southern peninsula, the nature of this Ninja World War will be completely transformed.

This is no longer just a war within the ninja world, but a war between nations, which will be even more brutal and tragic.

"Minato, grow up quickly, the village needs you for the future."

After saying something in a low voice, Nara Shikaku turned and left; he needed to think about more things.

He had high hopes for Minato Namikaze, as did his father, who believed he had unlimited potential and could become a super strong person like the First Hokage.

Only Minato can end the chaos within the village; otherwise, the entire Hidden Leaf Village will be ruined by those people.

On the other side, after confirming that there were no survivors and no clues at the camp, Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered his men to return to the village with the help of flying ninja beasts.

There is no longer any value or foundation for them to stay here, and everyone is injured and in poor condition. Even though Tsunade's medical ninjutsu is top-notch, it is not omnipotent. They need to return to the village as soon as possible for further treatment.

Upon returning to the village, Tsunade used the village hospital's equipment to conduct a thorough examination of the others, except for Hiruzen Sarutobi, and further treated their injuries.

Orochimaru also came to help, mainly to study Jiraiya's body as well.

Although I understood before that it was possible to obtain that kind of bloodline limit through transplanted limbs, it was only theoretical. Jiraiya was the first successful case, which is of great research value.

Tsunade ignored this, used medical ninjutsu to deeply repair Jiraiya's injuries, and then turned and left.

"Tsunade!"

Jiraiya tried to say something, but Tsunade ignored him and walked straight out of the ward.

She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, and she only came to participate in the war for the sake of the village.

"Stop yelling, she won't pay attention to you, you idiot, unless the teacher dies."

Orochimaru glanced at him disdainfully as he shaved the hair off his legs. In his eyes, Jiraiya was just an idiot, and a greedy idiot at that.

If you don't want to give up anything, you'll eventually lose everything.

"Orochimaru, you've changed too."

Jiraiya glared at him, sensing a significant change in his teammate.

This worried him greatly, as he felt that his close friend was drifting further and further away from him.

As for the matter between Tsunade and her teacher, he couldn't say anything. One was the person he liked, and the other was his mentor who taught him his skills. How could he choose?

"Some things have changed, but you, you idiot, haven't changed. Sometimes I'm quite envious of you."

Orochimaru was quite impressed with this; he and Tsunade were constantly changing, but this idiot was still the same as before.

However, he only feels envious sometimes; he will continue to pursue his own truth and will not stop.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're not planning to cut off my leg and slice it up for research, are you?"

Suddenly, Jiraiya saw Orochimaru take out a gleaming scalpel, and he was so shocked that he almost jumped off his bed.

What is this bastard trying to do?

"Don't move, I'm just taking cells from different parts of my body for comparative research."

Orochimaru remained calm; he took this material very seriously.

"Just taking some cells?"

Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that they weren't going to cut off his leg.

"It includes skin cells, muscle cells, nerve cells, periosteal cells, bone marrow cells, and some bone. At most, it will cause some pain, but there won't be any problems."

While cutting off a small piece of skin cell, Orochimaru explained which cells he wanted to extract.

"You also want bones and bone marrow?"

Jiraiya's face turned green. You might as well just cut off my leg.

"It just hurts a little, you'll be fine if you just bear with it."

After extracting a small piece of muscle cell, Orochimaru took out a brand-new electric drill with a 20-centimeter-long thin drill bit, specifically designed for drilling bones.

"Wait, aren't you going to give me some anesthesia?"

Seeing Orochimaru about to start drilling, Jiraiya was even more terrified.

"The anesthetic will affect those cells, which in turn will affect my observations and research."

Orochimaru's expression remained calm. In his eyes at this moment, Jiraiya was just material, no different from the corpses he had dissected before.

"We've been friends since we were little, how could you be so cruel and heartless to me?"

Jiraiya is quitting too. Don't you have any humanity left?

"You talk too much nonsense."

Orochimaru grew impatient and several long snakes sprang from his sleeves, wrapping and binding Jiraiya's body before forcibly drilling holes to extract his bone marrow and bones.

"what!"

A pig-like scream suddenly rang out in the hospital, sending chills down everyone's spine.

Orochimaru, satisfied with the cell sample, left the room, leaving Jiraiya looking utterly exhausted.

Without delay, while the cells were still warm... no, while their activity was still high, we went to the hospital's medical laboratory to observe and study them using the equipment inside.

"You also received a cell transplant from my grandfather?"

Tsunade appeared beside him at some point and questioned him in a cold voice.

"You could say that."

Orochimaru did not deny it; he could fool others, but he could never fool Tsunade.

"My great-grandfather, great-grandfather, and grandmother's bodies were stolen. Was it done by Danzo Shimura?"

His expression grew even colder. The clan had long since discovered that the bodies of the three elders had been stolen and had been investigating in secret, but without much success. They were still unable to determine who had done it.

But there are only so many people who have the ability and the motivation, and Danzo Shimura is the most suspicious among them.

Orochimaru has been following Danzo Shimura for the past few years, so he might know something.

"I don't know. Shimura Danzo has his own independent experimental project, which he prevents anyone from getting close to. I've tried to get in a few times but haven't been able to."

However, I tried to resurrect the First Hokage using the Impure World Reincarnation technique, but I failed. I suspect that someone has already resurrected him and sealed him away, so you will definitely meet again in the future.

Orochimaru revealed some information: although he was no longer very interested in the Impure World Reincarnation technique, he really wanted to study the First Hokage, but unfortunately he was unable to resurrect him.

As for Danzo Shimura's experimental project, it was heavily guarded and even had its own defenses against him, making it impossible to infiltrate.

Tsunade didn't say anything more, and turned away with a frosty expression.

She didn't care much about Orochimaru researching her great-grandfather's cells, since the cells he could obtain were the ones her second grandfather had researched and sealed away back then.

What angered her was that someone had desecrated the bodies of her great-grandfather and the others, even stealing the entire corpses, and now they were disturbing the spirits of her great-grandfather and the others.

That's outrageous!

"Teacher, could it be you?"

Watching his friend leave, Orochimaru thought of his teacher.

Danzo Shimura didn't seem very interested in the Impure World Reincarnation technique. On the contrary, the teacher kept an eye on it and urged him several times, making him more suspicious.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi was also undergoing examination and treatment at the hospital, but he sent a shadow clone to the basement below his house, where he had set up layers of barriers.

He raised his hand, formed a hand seal, and slammed his palm onto the ground. A coffin rose up, inside which was Uzumaki Ashina, who had previously controlled the sneak attack on Purple and unsealed and sealed the Four-Tails.

At the time, he wasn't just eyeing the Four-Tails, but also its jinchūriki. He manipulated Ashina Uzumaki to take some of its blood with his ninja sword.

They retrieved a pre-prepared vessel from another location, used blood as a medium to perform the Impure World Reincarnation technique, and finally resurrected Yukari.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

Opening her eyes, she saw Hiruzen Sarutobi opposite her and roared angrily, "As expected, this damned old man tricked me."

Ignoring Yukari's anger, Hiruzen Sarutobi's shadow clone used a portion of Mangekyou Sharingan power previously shared by his main body to forcibly control Yukari's body, gradually condensing a small ball of scarlet chakra.

Looking at that small ball of scarlet chakra, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally felt a little better.

Although the Four-Tails was unsealed and released before, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki had been working with the Four-Tails' power for so long that there would still be some residue in his body.

According to the research data left by the Second Hokage, the Four-Tails possesses a high-intensity Lava Release, and it is possible to obtain Lava Release by using this chakra.

Of course, he couldn't stand it while he was in the process of fusing with Dust Release, but he could keep it for his son, Shinnosuke.

He already had a plan to rescue Shinnosuke, and even had a detailed understanding of his situation. In this respect, the Impure World Reincarnation technique was indeed very useful, as even the dead could not be kept secret.

After sealing away that small ball of Four-Tails chakra, Hiruzen Sarutobi then sealed Yukari away in a coffin.

Although Yukari lost the Four-Tails, she was still a Kage-level powerhouse. With the infinite chakra from the Impure World Reincarnation, her power would be considerable.

"The black Susanoo that ambush and captures the Three-Tails is likely Danzo, so who stole the Four-Tails?"

Thinking about the mysterious person who stole the Four-Tails, he realized that he hadn't even seen the person's figure, only that the person could use Wood Release.

Unable to determine the answer after much deliberation, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to get down to business.

Since the first plan failed, the only option is to start the second plan and get the daimyo to his death as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the daimyo's orders are given, things will get complicated for us.

Leaving aside Hiruzen Sarutobi's busy schedule, on the other side, Tobi, the White Zetsu, happily returned to the base with the clay pot ninja tool that sealed the Four-Tails, shaking the sleeping Madara Uchiha awake, like a 200-pound child boasting about his achievement.

"Four-tailed!"

Looking at the pottery jar in front of him, Madara Uchiha was very surprised. He never expected that such a stupid thing could snatch the Four-Tails.

Although there was an element of trickery involved, they did manage to bring the four-tailed fox back.

"Ah Fei, you did a great job!"

Madara Uchiha was generous with his praise; this less-than-successful experiment had brought him a pleasant surprise.

"Ban, can you tell me what the urge to poop feels like now?"

Afei asked excitedly; they were all very curious about this.

That's what makes them different from normal humans.

"cannot!"

Madara Uchiha's face darkened, and he decisively refused to answer such a childish and brainless question.

Ignoring the dejected Afei and the other White Zetsu around him, he stood up, grabbed the pottery jar, and threw it directly into the mouth of the Gedo Mazo.

Although he no longer possesses the Rinnegan, he still retains some of his ocular power within his body, allowing him to still control the Gedo Mazo.

The Gedo Mazo's suppression of the tailed beasts is absolute. The Four-Tails, sealed within the ninja tools, didn't even understand what was happening before its chakra was being frantically drained, and no matter how much it struggled, it was useless.

Not long after, the Four-Tails' chakra was completely absorbed by the Gedo Mazo. The Gedo Mazo itself also became more active, supplying more chakra to Madara Uchiha, which improved his physical condition.

"Although the order is wrong, it's somewhat restored."

Madara Uchiha was very satisfied with the changes he witnessed in the Gedo Mazo.

The Gedo Mazo is very powerful, but it is difficult to activate without chakra. If you try to activate it by force, you will have to consume your own chakra. Even Madara Uchiha was not confident that he could activate it.

Now, thanks to the replenishment of the Four-Tails' chakra, it has gained basic mobility and at least possesses the combat power of a Tailed Beast.

"Have you found those two mysterious figures from the final battle in the Valley of the End yet?"

Having experienced the power of the Gedo Mazo, Madara Uchiha asked about another matter.

"No, the ninja world is too big. If the other party is deliberately hiding, it will be difficult for us to find them. My spore clones are also too weak."

White Zetsu said with difficulty, indicating that it was too difficult and there was really no way to find it.

Madara Uchiha fell into deep thought. He knew that White Zetsu was right. It would be too difficult to find two people who were deliberately hiding in the vast ninja world, especially two strong people who had reached the level of Hashirama.

He needs more eyes and ears, namely White Zetsu.

Thinking of this, he turned to look at the Gedo Mazo, which had recovered somewhat. Perhaps he could use the Gedo Mazo to further cultivate White Zetsu, the more the better.

The White Zetsu he has now were created by using the life force of the Gedo Mazo, but the Gedo Mazo's power was too small to create too many.

With the infusion of the Four-Tails, the power available to them has increased significantly, and combined with their own regenerative abilities, they are capable of cultivating a large number of White Zetsu.

"Wood Release: Divine Tree!"

Without hesitation, Madara Uchiha clasped his hands together and used the Gedo Mazo as a base to unleash Wood Release, causing thick tree roots to grow and spread rapidly.

White Zetsu, in coordination with the Spore Technique, used the Splitting Technique to send out 100,000 spores to parasitize the tree roots, forming cocoons for gestation.

Spores are merely a weakened form of Zetsu. Even if they absorb enough chakra to grow, they are unlikely to possess much combat power, especially intelligence, since such products lack a soul.

However, these spores were just a decoy; the true targets of Black Zetsu and White Zetsu were the ancient White Zetsu within the Gedo Mazo.

"Stop taking risks; it's time to lie low."

Madara Uchiha, who had expended considerable energy, gave a few words of advice before falling back into a deep sleep.

His current physical condition is too poor. The great battle with Hashirama back then severely overtaxed his body, and afterwards, he has been fighting against the fresh Hashirama cells, which has further overtaxed his body.

In addition, due to his advanced age, even with the power of the Gedo Mazo, he still found it difficult to unleash much power.

To truly regain his peak condition, he needs a mature Rinnegan and a mature vessel.

Reversing life and death is defying the heavens, and it's not easy to accomplish, especially to resurrect someone of your own caliber, and to be resurrected to their peak condition.

Even at his peak, Hashirama would have had to trade his life for another to use his Rinnegan after transplanting it.

(End of this chapter)