Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

Chapter 262 Immortal Body

As it turns out, time heals all wounds. After five days of struggling with Yekura, Tamura's anger finally subsided to a safe level.

They finally agreed to fight to the death once their injuries had healed!

Meanwhile, in Kikyoyama Castle, Sunagakure finally confirmed the deaths of Pakura and her three squads. The Third Kazekage even personally led a team to investigate the destroyed and abandoned experimental base.

"There are many deep tunnels around here, opened up using Earth Release techniques. They can use the earth to avoid the senses of sensory ninjas to the greatest extent possible. There are many footprints inside, estimated to be over a hundred people."

Rasa led his team around the area and returned to the Third Kazekage to report the results of their investigation.

"Judging from the traces, there was no fierce battle, nor any signs of damage from Yekura's Scorching Release."

This place looks like it was created using explosive tags; there are at least a thousand of them. Could it be some kind of trap? Or perhaps a space-time ninjutsu?

Chiyo crouched in the crater of the explosion, feeling around and observing, her doubts growing stronger.

If Yekura was killed here, then the traces here are too strange. It must have been an instant kill, and there are no such strong people in the ninja world at this stage.

Furthermore, they all received targeted training against Minato Namikaze's Flying Thunder God Technique, making it impossible for them to be instantly killed by space-time ninjutsu.

What exactly happened?

"And the smell?"

The Third Kazekage spoke with a grim face, saying that Pakura's death was a major blow to Sunagakure, especially during this time of war.

What worries him even more is that if Yekura was really killed by Konoha, then she might be resurrected as one of the dead and turn against their Sunagakure, which would be disastrous.

"The scent of Lord Yekura and the others only went this far; it didn't move in any other direction. There wasn't a single one."

A Sand Ninja with a rat on his head rushed over to report his findings.

"This outcome could be due to either Yekura being instantly killed by the opponent and then having her body sealed away using a sealing scroll, or being taken away by someone using space-time ninjutsu before the attack could take place."

Emerging from the crater, Chiyo was even more puzzled. Who could have so easily annihilated Yekura and her three Jonin squads? If it were a large-scale ninjutsu, it should have left more traces.

What exactly happened?

"Let's go back first!"

After pondering for a while with a grim expression, the Third Kazekage ordered them to return.

With heavy hearts, everyone could only return to Kikyoyama Castle. Now that there were no other clues, even if they wanted to investigate, they didn't know how.

Chiyo glanced suspiciously at Rasa, whose face was equally gloomy. Although there were no clues at the scene, if we think about it from the perspective of those who benefited from Pakura's death, besides Konoha, there was another person who would benefit, and that was Rasa, the Kazekage's disciple.

If Luo Sha was secretly plotting something, then the events at the scene would make sense.

With Yekura's strength, it's impossible for her to be instantly killed by the enemy, but what if it's one of her own people who makes the move?

With an external enemy drawing Yekura's attention, it's entirely possible for our own people to launch a sneak attack and instantly kill Yekura. Then, we could use a large number of explosive tags to destroy everyone's corpses, including Yekura's, to prevent Konoha from using them.

Of course, this is just a guess, and I can't say it out loud.

Even if there were evidence proving that Luo Sha was the real culprit, we couldn't say so.

Firstly, such a scandal absolutely cannot be exposed, otherwise the blow to the village would be fatal, especially at this critical time.

Secondly, the only strong young person left in the village is Rasa. Now that we have lost Yokura, we must not lose Rasa as well.

With that thought in mind, Chiyo withdrew her gaze, stopped thinking about it, and focused on her journey.

After Chiyo withdrew her gaze, Rasa secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and beads of sweat involuntarily appeared on his forehead.

It was only because he was covered in a layer of sand armor that his abnormality would have been obvious long ago, and he was very puzzled.

Based on his understanding of Yekura, she was a very ambitious woman who had been eyeing the position of Kazekage for a long time, and her ambitions only fully erupted when the Allied Forces arrived, especially after the last battle.

Such a cunning person would never trust anyone. A sneak attack and serious injury might be possible, but killing them outright would be too difficult.

The thousands of explosive tags he prepared were his second killing move, intended to make Haruko hug Yekura tightly and perish together, while also killing the others.

Judging from the traces at the scene, Yekura showed no signs of struggling or fighting back, as if she had succeeded in one strike.

That's way too easy!

This gave him an uneasy feeling: Was Yekura really dead?

It's unlikely that he was just seriously injured and then captured and taken away by Shimura Danzo; that would be troublesome.

Hopefully, that won't be the case. Otherwise, whether he's captured and persuaded by Danzo Shimura or killed and turned into one of those undead, it would be a huge threat to him.

Fortunately, he had kept his involvement with Haruko very secret, and only he knew about it. Even if Yekura and Shimura Danzo testified against him, as long as there was no evidence, he would have something to say.

After all, Danzo Shimura was an enemy, and the entire ninja world knew about Danzo Shimura's character and conduct.

Onoki and the others soon learned of Yekura's possible death. Although they were surprised and suspicious, they couldn't say anything. They could only be more careful to prevent being ambushed and killed by Konoha's strongmen.

What followed was surprisingly calm for both sides, while the warrior legions of the five nations fought fiercely, almost to the point of going berserk and looting like mad.

All kinds of resources in the Land of Fire were looted: food, metals, cloth, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, and so on. Anything that could be used was taken away.

As for people, they were all killed, regardless of age or gender; anyone they could see was killed.

This was a battle order personally issued by the daimyo of the four great nations. After learning from their own ninja villages that Konoha had the ability to take them down with them, they knew that Konoha and the Land of Fire could not be destroyed this time. Therefore, they could only inflict maximum damage on them and slow down their post-war recovery.

In an instant, the people of the Land of Fire migrated with their families to the capital and Konoha. The country's various systems collapsed, making it difficult to provide the front lines with various supplies, especially food.

Under these circumstances, farmers have no courage to go out and cultivate the land. Without income from new grain, they cannot sustain themselves for long by relying solely on their grain reserves.

This is also the second operational objective of the four great nations and the four great ninja villages: to completely throw the Land of Fire into chaos and ultimately bring it down.

This is war, war between nations, which is even more brutal and inhumane. Human lives are not even counted in such times, because no one will bother to keep track of them.

Tamura Hao was naturally unaware of these things. After learning that things were calm on the front lines, he settled down to cultivate in the Spirit World.

This is also the main reason for his return. After obtaining Minato Namikaze's eyes last time, he carefully studied the cells inside and discovered the mystery of the deep integration of Sage Art energy with the body, and even the transformation of the body.

The modified body will be more in sync with natural energy, making it easier to enter immortal mode and maintain it for a longer period of time.

For example, the Sage of Six Paths and his brother could maintain their powers indefinitely, which is why they were able to fight Kaguya Otsutsuki for months.

Furthermore, he discovered that Minato Namikaze's body contained pure Sage Mode energy, not the kind found in the Great Toad Sage, which led him to some speculations.

This pure magical energy is also more likely to merge deeply with the human body, constantly transforming it. This is the main reason why Minato Namikaze has improved so rapidly in the past two years.

Of course, he wasn't interested in improving Minato Namikaze's abilities; what interested him was the application of this sage technique, and he planned to apply it to himself.

Having a reference makes the process much simpler.

The body's cells are deeply nourished with primordial immortal energy, further enhancing their activity. Then, the immortal energy is used to construct runes that are imprinted inside the cells.

This is a very time-consuming process that requires meticulous control.

Even Tamura Hao could only rely on the Akimichi clan's secret medicine and the Yang attribute chakra of the Ten-Tails to help himself grow larger, thereby increasing the size of his body cells to operate more effectively.

That's right, the foundation of that immortal energy transforming the body lies in these immortal runes. He was no stranger to these immortal runes; they were the structure of immortal runes.

It is clear that Minato Namikaze fused with the Sage Art runes of Mount Myōboku, which allowed his body to undergo a transformation, just as the Sage of Six Paths used the Sage Talisman on Hamura Ōtsutsuki.

Not only did it heal Hamura's injuries, but it also granted him Sage Mode powers, enabling him to assist the Sage of Six Paths in fighting against Kaguya Otsutsuki until the final defeat and sealing.

He cultivated silently for half a year before he was able to build immortal runes in all the cells of his body.

With the complete formation of the immortal runes, the activity of all cells in the body is further enhanced, and at the same time, the cells autonomously absorb natural energy from the outside world to nourish them.

In this state, Tamura Hao doesn't need to deliberately control it; he can directly refine chakra into Sage Chakra simply by refining it, which is permanent Sage Mode.

Like the races of the three holy lands, these toad-like serpents are in a permanent Sage Mode state, constantly storing Sage Chakra within their bodies, which is why they can use it indefinitely.

"This is the true body of an immortal!"

Feeling the changes in his body, Tamura Hiroshi was very satisfied.

The idea that the Senju family possesses a "sage body" is actually not quite accurate. It refers more to the bloodline and physique inherited from the Sage of Six Paths. They cannot cultivate into a sage mode on their own and need to go to the three holy lands to cultivate with the help of a medium.

A true immortal body should be a system of cultivating immortal techniques and natural energy, while the bloodline constitution of the Senju clan is only reflected in the chakra system; more accurately, it should be a divine body.

Because the Otsutsuki clan calls themselves gods, and Kaguya Otsutsuki was once known as the Goddess of the Rabbit, the bloodline inherited by the Senju clan is essentially the bloodline of the Otsutsuki.

The current Tamura Hao is the true immortal body. This state allows the body's cells to merge with natural energy, continuously nourishing and extending the body's lifespan. This is how the immortals of the three holy lands have lived for so long.

This also raised new questions for Tamura Hiroshi.

"Logically, this state should be enough for the Sage of Six Paths and the others to live for hundreds of years, so how could they age like ordinary people?"

If even those beasts from the three holy lands could survive for so long by cultivating with immortal techniques, there's no reason why the Sage of Six Paths and Hamura Otsutsuki, who also possess perfect immortal techniques, would age so quickly and not even see their great-grandchildren.

"Perhaps we can only find the answer to this question in the Pure Land of the Dead."

Black Zetsu gave a direction, and I had some guesses in my mind.

"You mean they over-extracted chakra, damaging their bodies' foundation and causing them to age rapidly?"

Tamura Hao thought of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who died very young. The cause of death was that he overexerted himself in the battle at the Valley of the End, damaging his physical foundation. He passed away a few years later, which can be described as an untimely death.

With Hashirama Senju's immense life force and chakra, he could easily live to be eighty or ninety, if not a hundred.

After all, even Tsunade lived until Boruto, when she was at least seventy years old, and she looked like she could live for several more decades.

"Tobirama Senju's summary of the Uchiha is correct: the spirit of all Uchiha who awaken the Sharingan will gradually become extreme, and the higher the level of the Sharingan, the more extreme their thoughts will be."

"Hagoromo awakened the Sharingan, Mangekyou Sharingan, and Rinnegan in quick succession, which must have influenced his thinking. Even if it wasn't outwardly apparent, it would have undoubtedly changed him deep down, leading to certain decisions."

Black Zetsu agrees with Tobirama Senju's understanding of the Sharingan and the Uchiha clan on this point; the eyes of that system are indeed cursed.

"There are no normal people here."

Tamura Hao wholeheartedly agreed, even if the future Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi were not quite right in the head, and their thoughts had gone to extremes to some extent.

This subtle change was even more fatal, and then Itachi Uchiha destroyed his clan for the sake of the village and his younger brother, and even killed his own parents who gave him life.

How cruel!

"Never mind them. As for how to cultivate from now on, this level of modification probably won't satisfy you."

Black Zetsu was more concerned about his younger brother's future training direction. As for the Yomi Pure Land where Hagoromo and Hagoromo lived, they naturally wouldn't go in. The two of them had been setting up there for over a thousand years, and had absorbed the chakra and souls of countless ninjas from the ninja world over the past thousand years. The extent of the transformation must have been incredibly terrifying.

I reckon even if Mom gets in, it'll be a disaster. Maybe we should lure Isshiki Otsutsuki over there to scout things out later.

Or guide the mother's people to descend and go in to have a showdown with Yu Yi and the others.

"Pure natural energy is not enough, and there should be no natural energy in the universe, or very little. I need to refine other energies, and the best choice is the sun."

But that's too extreme and too far-fetched. Before that, I want to try out the power of lightning and fire.

Tamura Hiroshi next wants to try lightning and fire, integrating them into the celestial runes within his body's cells.

As for solar energy, he doesn't want to try it for the time being. He previously used his Tenseigan to create an energy absorption ball, just like Otsutsuki Toneri did, to absorb solar energy.

As a result, not only him, but even the bodies of the little ten-tailed fox and Kaguya were almost set on fire.

That attempt proved that solar energy can be absorbed, but it requires a strong foundation to support it. It's not just about having a strong physique; the intensity of the energy within the body must also meet the standard, at least at the level of a bloodline limit.

This is similar to the training of Sage Mode. If one's chakra and physical level are insufficient, one will not be able to resist the erosion of natural energy and will eventually be completely assimilated by natural energy and lose life.

Solar energy is far more powerful than natural energy, and the threshold for its absorption and refining is much higher.

Of course, if the absorption is successful, the benefits will be enormous, and there will be no shortage of energy to roam the universe in the future.

Tamura Hiroshi even wanted to see if he could cultivate himself into a superhuman being.

"Lightning and fire are among the few natural energies with inherent properties, and they are widely present in clouds and underground magma, making them easy to absorb and utilize."

Black Zetsu agreed, stating that these two types of energy were indeed easier to find and absorb in large quantities, and that their properties were similar to those of solar energy, which could serve as the foundation for absorbing and refining solar energy in the future.

Furthermore, at present, Kumogakure already has the Third Raikage who created the Thunder Sage Mode based on Lightning Release Chakra Mode and Sage Mode.

Creating the Flame Sage Mode next shouldn't be too difficult; we could even refer to the Lava Release Chakra Mode of the Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

With these as a foundation, mastering the immortal runes of both is only a matter of time.

"It's time to reclaim my sister's starting space."

Standing up, Tamura Hao stretched, then went to plan Kaguya Otsutsuki's origin space.

"Those eyes already show a lot of maturity."

Black Zetsu was also very much looking forward to it. Nagato's eyes had been completely stable and matured a month ago, and had even manifested on their own.

He also came a month ago, but his younger brother was undergoing a transformation at that time, so he waited until now.

"I'm going to take a shower and change my clothes first!"

Tamura Hiroshi was not in a hurry to go there. He planned to go back to the villa he built in the spirit world to rest for a few days and adjust his physical and mental state to its peak before going there.

After returning home, I took a shower and then soaked in the hot spring pool located on the side of the rooftop room.

This is a three-story villa. The top floor has only one bedroom, which is equipped with a standard oversized round bed. The other half is an artificial hot spring pool connected to the bedroom.

Although it is artificial, apart from the heating method being artificial, all other aspects simulate the formation factors of hot springs to the greatest extent possible. They even transported a lot of rocks from the land of hot springs, so it is no different from a natural hot spring.

"You lecherous brat, you've finally decided to come out!"

Not long after they soaked in the water, a tall figure flew over and landed with a pair of purple-black flame wings; it was Ye Cang.

She had long since recovered and reattached her limbs, which had been grown from her own cells. In the past few months, she had been training diligently in preparation for a final battle against that lecherous brat.

It's just that this lecherous brat has been in seclusion cultivating for the past few months, and she didn't want to disturb him, so she's held back until now.

Today I finally don't have to endure it anymore.

And she's not fighting alone.

"You fused the energy of the meteorite?"

Looking at the purplish-black flame wings, Tamura Hao was slightly surprised, sensing the energy of the meteorite from them.

"Sister Yekura, beat him up!"

At that moment, a girl enveloped in purple bird-shaped chakra flew down to cheer Yekura on, glaring fiercely at the big jerk. Needless to say, it was Natsumi Hoshi.

She was brought here last time and has been cultivating here ever since, which has greatly improved her strength.

"Has the Peacock Technique been incorporated?"

Tamura Hao suddenly realized that Yekura must have mastered the Peacock Technique with Xia Rixing's help. The Peacock Technique was indeed excellent in terms of form transformation, which perfectly made up for the shortcomings of the Scorching Release.

Although the Scorching Release technique is powerful, it focuses entirely on destructive power, while other aspects are much weaker, and it can only be used in one way: the Scorching Release fireball.

Now, combined with the Peacock Technique, it's no exaggeration to say it's like adding wings to a tiger.

Furthermore, Yekura has also mastered Sage Mode and is proficient in it. Even with the Sage Mode energy that I gave her back then, it is still amazing that she can use it to this extent.

It is evident that he has been diligently practicing for the past six months.

(End of this chapter)