Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

The ninja hawk first flew south for a distance, then turned and flew northwest.

The Hidden Cloud Village launched a surprise attack by taking a boat and landing on the western side of the Land of Earth. This was because the Hidden Stone Village had deployed its main force in the Land of Grass to the southeast, and an attack from the west would make it the least likely for the Hidden Stone Village ninja army to come back to reinforce.

This is precisely why the surprise attack force from Kumogakure was able to advance so rapidly and wreak havoc on the Land of Earth.

However, Tamura and his companions didn't care about these things. Their goal was to obtain the Tailed Beast Chakra from the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails Jinchuriki that Kumogakure had dispatched this time.

Once the ninja hawk reached the sky above Hoshigakure, Natsumi dropped the small package along with a written letter. The ninja hawk then continued flying and soon left the Land of Bears and entered the Land of Earth.

With the life energy supplied by Tamura Hao, the Ninja Hawk could fly indefinitely, at least for several days without getting tired.

The group landed in a spot near the battle zone where there were no ninjas around, and then simply waited.

"This attack on the Land of Earth by the Hidden Cloud Village was led by the son of the Raikage, accompanied by two Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts, and the ninja army he led consisted of three thousand, the elite of the Hidden Cloud Village."

The Third Tsuchikage led the village's last elite troops to meet the attack, continuously drawing ninja from surrounding areas to provide support, seemingly aiming to completely engulf the three thousand Cloud Ninja.

After reading the memories of a captured Iwa ninja, Yamanaka Inoichi presented the information he had obtained.

"Has the frontline demolition unit not been mobilized?"

Nara Shikaku asked, "It won't be easy to swallow up this elite force of Kumogakure. Ordinary ninjas won't be able to stop them. At least an equivalent elite force will be needed to stop them."

Iwagakure does indeed have such an elite force, the Explosion Squad. It is small in number, but all of them are ninjas from Explosion Release clans.

Only by deploying a demolition unit can the Cloud Village's elite forces be stopped and then surrounded and killed.

"He doesn't remember it; it was probably mobilized secretly."

Yamanaka Inoichi shook his head, not seeing any relevant information in that person's memories.

"How many people are still stationed in Iwagakure at this stage? Are there any Kage-level shinobi? Where are their two Jinchuriki?"

Tamura Hao suddenly asked, wanting to see if he could take the opportunity to make some money, since Iwagakure also had two tailed beasts.

Obtaining the tailed beasts is difficult, especially since acting rashly during peacetime could easily trigger a war. Therefore, he must acquire the power of all nine tailed beasts during this Shinobi World War.

"There is another Four-Tails Jinchuriki in Iwagakure, but he doesn't have a good grasp of the Tailed Beast's power, and his relationship with the Third Tsuchikage is not good either."

We don't have any information on the Five-Tails; we need to capture someone higher up.

Yamanaka Inoichi had just searched for information on this topic, but didn't find much. After all, they had only captured a Jonin, not a high-ranking member of Iwagakure. Higher-level information was not something an ordinary Jonin could know.

"It won't be easy to infiltrate Iwagakure; we alone are definitely not enough."

Nara Shikaku advised against venturing into Iwagakure, as it was a major ninja village, and even with their main forces and strongest members out there, it was not a place they could easily break through.

"I wonder if we can lure them out using the One-Tailed Beast's chakra."

Tamura Hao naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to rush into Iwagakure; his real idea was to lure out the two tailed beast jinchūriki.

"Luring them out and then setting a trap should be worth a try."

Nara Shikaku considered it for a moment and thought it was feasible. At least as long as they didn't enter the interior of Iwagakure, they could escape unscathed with the help of Ninja Hawk and Xiao Hao's Flying Thunder God Technique.

Moreover, they brought hundreds of millions of explosive tags with them on this trip, which should be enough to cripple those two imperfect Jinchūriki.

"We need to gather more intelligence, and we should wait until the battle here reaches its final stage before taking action, and have the Tsuchikage further mobilize the village's ninjas."

"How well do you control the power of the One-Tailed Beast?"

He then asked about the control of the One-Tailed Beast's power. That was the power of a tailed beast, and if they could control it, the plan would definitely be more successful.

"It can be perfectly controlled, and even the Tailed Beast Ball can be created, but it requires activating the Yin Seal to unleash enough chakra."

As Tamura Hao spoke, he guided the One-Tailed Beast's chakra within the seal to surge forth, condensing into a fist-sized, jet-black ball in his palm—the Tailed Beast Ball.

He had read books left behind by Mito Uzumaki in the Senju clan's territory, which contained his insights into the power of the tailed beasts and the condensation of chakra.

In the future, Naruto Uzumaki will be able to extract the Nine-Tails' chakra and activate the Golden Body Mode with the help of Kushina Uzumaki's chakra. As a true member of the Uzumaki clan and a master of the Uzumaki Sealing Technique, Mito Uzumaki will naturally be able to do the same.

There are even descriptions of that Nine-Tails chakra mode.

His current state is similar to that of Naruto Uzumaki when he extracted the Nine-Tails' original power, and he is exploring whether he can use the One-Tail Chakra to activate the One-Tail Chakra Mode, which is similar to the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

At least give me a Magnet Release Chakra Mode.

"That's it."

The three stared in astonishment at the small, black ball. Was this the Tailed Beast Ball?

"My chakra reserves are limited, so the Tailed Beast Ball I can create is definitely far inferior to that of a complete Tailed Beast. Moreover, my control over the One-Tailed Beast's chakra is not high enough, so I can only condense such a small Tailed Beast Ball. However, it should be enough to scare people."

Tamura Hao maintained the Tailed Beast Ball. This move is easy to do as long as one has mastered the Tailed Beast's chakra.

The One-Tailed Beast's chakra was purified by the cheat system and merged perfectly with his own chakra, which is why he was able to master this technique.

His Tailed Beast Ball was similar to the one Naruto used against Madara Uchiha during the Future Fourth Shinobi World War, and it was the limit of his current normal state.

If the Yin Seal is activated, more One-Tailed Chakra can be mobilized, and the Tailed Beast Ball that can be condensed will also be larger, but there is still a limit.

Moreover, among the nine tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails has the most chakra, followed by the Eight-Tails, and the remaining seven tailed beasts have roughly the same amount of chakra.

"It seems to be quite different from what Uncle Qufeng said."

Akimichi Choza, who had been eating rice all day, examined the fist-sized Truth-Seeking Ball. It was very different from what Uncle Torifu had described.

"Next, you continue to familiarize yourself with controlling the One-Tailed Beast's power; leave the rest to us."

Nara Shikaku was more confident about his next plan. Their main goal this time was to plot the power of the tailed beasts, and at the same time, they wanted to break through as soon as possible to avoid Minato Namikaze's breakthrough.

They were already elite Jonin, very close to that level, and after receiving the Senju clan's resources, they went even further.

Over the past year, with the life force provided by Xiao Hao, he has made great progress and has even touched that bottleneck. Once he breaks through, he will reach that realm.

Only those who reach that level can be called strong. The main reason why Minato Namikaze was able to compete for the Hokage position at such a young age was that he had reached that level.

In the ninja world, strength is the most important thing.

"Be careful. If you're in danger, use your chakra to activate the Flying Thunder God Technique seal in your headbands. I'll come immediately to get you out of here."

Tamura Hao knew that he really needed to go into seclusion and train for a period of time to properly master the power of the One-Tailed Beast, not only to explore the One-Tailed Beast's chakra patterns, but also to try to fuse it with Magnet Release.

Furthermore, from Sasori's memories, he learned of a method for quickly fusing Magnet Release techniques, which was also developed by Sunagakure.

The Magnet Release technique of Sunagakure was developed from the One-Tailed Beast, as was the case with the Third Kazekage. Later, Rasa also used that method to fuse Magnet Release.

However, their Magnet Release techniques were not complete. The Third Kazekage used iron sand, and Rasa used gold sand. Due to the different mediums required, their Magnet Release techniques were far less comprehensive than the sand Magnet Release techniques of One-Tailed Beast and Gaara.

This is the drawback of taking shortcuts, but there's no other way at this stage; as long as we can integrate them, that's fine.

After some discussion, Tamura Hao went into seclusion in the cave, while Shizune Natsumi and Might Guy trained outside and guarded him.

Here, the whirlpool vanilla created an isolation barrier that is difficult even for sensory ninjas to detect, making it very safe.

Nara Shikaku and his two companions, along with Uzumaki Vanilla, sought an opportunity to capture high-ranking ninjas from Iwagakure to gather intelligence.

They were very confident in their own safety, possessing the Peacock Technique's flight ability and the Ninja Hawk, plus Tamura Hao's Flying Thunder God Technique as a safety net. As long as they didn't encounter the Third Tsuchikage, they could all escape unscathed.

Furthermore, if the Third Tsuchikage were to actually come, Vanilla Uzumaki's sensory abilities would allow her to detect it in advance, so there is no danger.

Of course, just to be on the safe side, they all changed into the Iwagakure ninja outfits that had been prepared in advance, and even changed their skin color with paint.

Leaving aside the four-person team that went out to search for intelligence, Tamura Hao, in the cave on the other side, was experiencing the two additional attributes.

This was a gift from his cheat system when he fused with the One-Tailed Chakra. He guessed it might be related to his failed previous life, a legacy left to him from that life.

However, it seems that this legacy requires certain conditions to be triggered, which should be the bloodline limit, or the power of the tailed beast.

When I came into contact with the One-Tailed Beast's chakra, it sent out both wind and earth properties, which happened to be the basic properties of Magnet Release. This should not be a coincidence.

After sensing the two chakra attributes, Tamura Hao used the One-Tailed Beast's chakra to guide the fusion of the two attributes, following the method used by Sunagakure.

The method used in Sunagakure was researched by the Second Kazekage and perfected by the Third Kazekage. He didn't know the specifics of the method, but he understood the general idea. All he needed to do next was to try it out slowly.

Leaving aside Tamura Hao's stealthy development, the battle between Iwagakure and Kumogakure outside was extremely fierce, and even the Third Tsuchikage himself did not fare well.

Because Killer Bee has become a perfect Jinchūriki, he can transform into a perfect Jinchūriki and unleash the Tailed Beast Ball.

However, Aya's speed is extremely fast, making it difficult to hit her with Dust Release.

The two brothers led three thousand ninja soldiers, rampaging through this area and inflicting maximum casualties on the Iwagakure ninja.

However, after half a month of fighting, a change occurred: the Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village) explosives unit arrived, and the leader, Explosion Release: Hunting, was a powerhouse surpassing even a Jonin.

The appearance of the demolition team hindered the Cloud Village ninja army's offensive and even entangled them. Onoki also led tens of thousands of ninja soldiers to surround them.

Most importantly, they had penetrated too deep into the heart of the Land of Earth, more than 3,000 kilometers from the nearest coastline. Such a long journey made it impossible for them to break out.

Yotsuki A led the ninja army in a series of attacks, but they were unable to break through. As the encirclement of the Iwagakure ninja army continued to shrink, the Kumogakure ninja army began to despair.

"Damn Tsuchikage, he's too cunning."

Seeing that the ninja army had dwindled to less than a thousand men, Yotsuki Ai was filled with rage and fury.

By now, he knew he had fallen into a trap. He had been lured deeper and deeper by Onoki because he had become a little too complacent and thought that the Tsuchikage and Iwagakure were nothing special. But who would have thought that he would be taught a good lesson in the blink of an eye.

"Iwagakure and Konoha must have reached some kind of agreement, otherwise the demolition squad wouldn't have been dispatched."

Holding only his last ninja sword, Killer Bee no longer cared about his rapping habits; if he couldn't break through, he would die here.

Iwagakure's fighting style is too underhanded. They use the terrain to create layers of earth-style traps to surround them, intending to wear them down and kill them here.

Even if he launches a Tailed Beast Ball, it will be blocked by the opponent's massive earth wall, and sometimes it will even be disintegrated by the Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release.

"It must be Konoha's doing."

Ye Yue Ai angrily slammed his fist into the boulder beside him, realizing that the sudden appearance of the demolition team was suspicious.

The reason they chose to launch a surprise attack on the Land of Earth was because a major battle had broken out between Iwagakure and Konoha, and even the son of the Tsuchikage was severely injured by Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha.

Logically, the demolition team shouldn't have been able to withdraw from the front lines at that time; clearly, something had happened there.

Yugito, who had been following Killer Bee, was panting heavily, too exhausted to fight any longer.

She learned from Killer Bee and has only just mastered a little bit of Tailed Beast Chakra. She can create simple Tailed Beast Cloaks to enhance her taijutsu skills, but that's all.

After these few days of intense battles, she's almost at her limit.

Just then, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and landed on a rock not far away, revealing a burly figure.

"Dad!"

"Raikage-sama!"

Upon seeing that figure, Ye Yue Ai and the others were overjoyed.

"Can we fight again?"

The Third Raikage glanced at the remaining thousand people, suppressed his anger, and knew that what he had to do now was to lead them to break through the encirclement.

"able!"

Ye Yue Ai spoke first, and the others echoed her, taking out a handful of soldier's rations and stuffing them into their mouths, forcibly overdrawing their bodies' recovery.

"Come with me, I'll take you home!"

The Third Raikage was very pleased with the morale displayed by the group, and immediately took the lead in rushing westward.

We must break out before the Iwagakure ninja completely surround us, or we'll have no chance.

"Raikage, I've finally waited for you."

Meanwhile, Onoki received a report from a sensory ninja that tailed beast-level chakra had appeared, and he knew that the Third Raikage had arrived.

That was his real goal this time. As long as the Third Raikage was killed, Kumogakure would inevitably fall into chaos in a short period of time, so that Iwagakure could fight Konoha with peace of mind.

It was precisely to lure the Third Raikage over that he allowed the war to drag on for so long; otherwise, if he had unleashed his full power, he could have wiped them out yesterday.

"Pass on my order: all troops to attack. The primary target is the Third Raikage. Kill him here at all costs."

He gave the order decisively, and Onoki himself leaped into the air and headed to the front lines.

Tens of thousands of Iwagakure ninja soldiers quickly mobilized, accelerating the tightening of the encirclement. At the same time, they focused their efforts on the western side where the Kumogakure ninja army was trying to break out. There, they created massive earthen walls and used a large number of explosive tags to intercept them. Demolition teams also carried out ambush operations there.

The Iwagakure Ninja Army is known for its strict discipline and is skilled in large-scale earth-style warfare, operating like a massive and sophisticated machine.

Even with the Third Raikage leading the charge, progress was still slow.

But the Cloud Ninja fought desperately, and Killer Bee transformed into a giant Eight-Tails once again, unleashing Tailed Beast Balls one after another, blasting apart the earthen walls blocking their path.

After such a desperate struggle, the Cloud Ninja finally broke through the encirclement, but their numbers dwindled again, leaving them with less than five hundred men, all of whom were wounded.

"You guys go first, I'll cover the rear."

Looking at the few remaining people, the Third Raikage felt his heart bleed. These were the elite of their Hidden Cloud Village, and the loss was too great.

But for now, we can only protect these people. Otherwise, if the entire army is wiped out, it will be a greater blow to the village. In particular, the two tailed beast jinchūriki cannot be harmed, as they are the future of the village.

"That's an order!"

Seeing that his son was about to speak again, the Third Raikage gave a cold shout, signaling him to retreat as soon as possible.

"withdraw!"

Despite her worries, Ai Yotsuki could only lead the remaining troops in retreat, while the Eight-Tails stayed behind.

The Third Raikage glanced at them without saying anything, then turned to face the Iwagakure ninja army that had surrounded them again, as well as the Third Tsuchikage flying in the air.

Looking down at the Third Raikage and the Eight-Tails, Onoki's killing intent intensified.

The Hidden Cloud Village suffered heavy losses, as did the Cloud Village itself, with over five thousand ninja killed in the battle—far more than the number of Cloud Village ninja who died.

There was no way around it; after all, they were the elite troops of Kumogakure, especially since some of them had been deliberately lost in order to lure the enemy deeper into their territory.

However, as long as the Third Raikage is killed and the Eight-Tails is captured, all the losses will be worthwhile.

A new encirclement was rapidly taking shape and contracting, but the Third Raikage paid no attention to it. He deliberately used himself as bait to stay behind and restrain the Iwa ninja, especially Onoki.

An hour later, the encirclement shrank to its limit, with the inner space less than 200 meters in diameter. Outside were layers of earthen walls, where tens of thousands of Iwa ninja were hidden.

"Lord Raikage, I'll see you out."

The Eight-Tails suddenly spoke, and then assumed a launching stance.

The Third Raikage understood and leaped into the palm of the Eight-Tails.

With a powerful throw, the Eight-Tails sent the Third Raikage flying northeast like a cannonball, towards the location of Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village).

This is called "attacking the enemy will force them to defend," meaning that as long as Iwagakure itself is threatened, Onoki and the others will go to great lengths to intercept them, thus ensuring the safety of those who retreat.

After throwing off the Third Raikage, the Eight-Tails exploded into a cloud of mist, leaving only a writhing octopus tail behind.

Clearly, this is not the Eight-Tails' true form, but rather a clone created from its tail.

"Damn it!"

Realizing he had been tricked, Onoki hurriedly chased after the Third Raikage who had been thrown away.

The Iwa ninja army, under command, also quickly shifted their positions to pursue the Third Raikage.

Meanwhile, someone sent a message back to the village, instructing those remaining in the village to come out and stop the Third Raikage, lest he actually break into the village and cause trouble.

After everyone had left, an Iwa ninja leaped to the edge of the octopus tail.

"You got it so easily."

Looking at the enormous octopus tail, Tamura Hiroshi's mouth practically stretched to his ears in a wide grin.

I thought it would take some trouble, but I got it so easily.

Without delay, he took out the sealing ninja tool made by Uzumaki Vanilla and sealed the octopus tail inside. Then he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave and head towards Iwagakure.

At the same time, Nara Shikaku and his three companions rode in the Ninja Hawk to pursue Yozuki A and the others who were fleeing.

(End of this chapter)