Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

The Iwagakure ninja army was very efficient; they arrived at the front lines as soon as the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Boil, recovered from his injuries.

Tailed beast chakra is not very friendly to humans, especially if it is overloaded before it has been properly integrated with the body, it will inevitably backfire and harm the user.

The last time the Five-Tails unleashed its complete form, it caused considerable damage to Boil, who took half a month to recover.

Upon arriving at the front lines, Zi conducted a series of tests on it, and even communicated with the Five-Tails within it, reaching an agreement.

The agreement with the boy who stole their power was that he must be killed and the stolen power reclaimed.

During this time, the Iwa ninja on the front lines were also busy, recovering from the damage they suffered in the last great battle, treating those who needed treatment, sending the seriously injured back to the village for treatment, and replenishing all the ninja tools they had used.

They hadn't originally planned to have such a decisive battle so soon, but Konoha was too ruthless, attacking right up to their village entrance. If they didn't retaliate, how could Iwagakure maintain its standing in the ninja world?

Konoha's preparations were also quite good. They repaired one of the defenses that had been destroyed in the last war. As for the other one, it was destroyed too thoroughly, with even the deep foundations being damaged by the Iwa ninja using large-scale earth-style ninjutsu, making it impossible to repair.

The replenishment of ninja tools is also necessary, and both sides are ready for a decisive battle.

However, some changes occurred. Rumors began to circulate that Tamura Hao's information had been leaked, and that his purpose in that battle—to seize the power of the Five-Tails—had also been revealed. It was said that the Iwa ninja's attack this time was purely for revenge, and all the blame was placed on Tamura Hao.

"Investigate thoroughly, we must get to the bottom of this."

Jiraiya was furious, his face turning ashen. At this critical juncture, someone still dared to spread such rumors, which was disrupting morale.

Minato Namikaze and the others didn't look too good either; this kind of tactic was really disgusting.

However, Tamura Hiroshi and Nara Shikaku, who were present at the meeting, remained calm, a calmness that startled the others.

"Shikaku, Xiaohao, this is definitely an Iwa ninja spy..."

Jiraiya sensed something was wrong and hurriedly tried to explain, but was stopped by Nara Shikaku raising his hand.

"Lord Jiraiya, you should not interfere in this matter. This is not your problem, but our Ino-Shika-Cho trio problem, an internal problem of the village."

We all knew this in our hearts, and we were somewhat prepared when we came, but we just didn't expect their methods to be so low-level.

They used this trick to kill White Fang back then, and now they're using it on us again. They can't seem to come up with anything new. Those guys are really getting old.

Nara Shikaku wore a mocking expression, as if he were ridiculing the despicable and low-class methods used by certain people.

When the White Teeth incident was mentioned, the expressions of the people present changed slightly.

I had some doubts at first, but when I thought about the white teeth incident from back then, it seemed there was really no way to say it.

"We can investigate this matter, and I will definitely give you an explanation."

Jiraiya quickly made a promise, still harboring a glimmer of hope in his heart.

"You know very well that you can't give Jiraiya-senpai this explanation, so don't make grand pronouncements now, or you'll end up pleasing neither side."

Tamura Hao spoke, then turned his gaze to Namikaze Minato.

"Minato-senpai, we originally wanted to give you some more time to consider, but some people seem unwilling to give that time."

"So, give us your opinion today: do you want our support, Pig-Deer-Butterfly?"

They had anticipated this long ago. They had expected him to make a move after he revealed the Tailed Beast Dharma Form, which led to Sarutobi Shinnosuke's attempt to kill him. They had also anticipated that he would make a move after he revealed the Four Beasts Overlay Form in Iwagakure. It was just a matter of what move he would make.

Since they had anticipated this, they naturally made targeted arrangements, which was a perfect opportunity to turn the tables on them.

Regardless of whether the incident was committed by villagers or Iwa ninja spies, they would pin the blame on Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Those people wanted to plant a seed in the hearts of the ninja army here through rumors, so that it would quickly take root and sprout after the great battle when there were losses, and then blame everything on themselves and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

It was indeed quite insidious, but it could only fool ordinary ninjas. It was a good opportunity to let those who were worth recruiting see the true colors of those people.

Yuhi Shinku and Mitarai Shishou also turned their gazes to Namikaze Minato, with some guesses in their hearts.

Minato Namikaze gave a wry smile. How did this turn out to be happening to him?

This was a difficult choice for him, because it would mean breaking with the Third Hokage's faction, which could very likely lead to a civil war in the village, resulting in many deaths, and even the destruction of Konoha if things went wrong.

"I knew Minato-senpai, you lack this decisiveness and ruthlessness, you're far inferior to Orochimaru-senpai."

Perhaps you think you can gradually gain power and change the village after becoming Hokage, but what makes you think you can outmaneuver those people in terms of political maneuvering?

Tamura Hao showed a slightly disappointed expression, got up and left, seemingly too lazy to continue the nonsense.

Nara Shikaku also got up and left, not wanting to waste any more time. Before leaving, he even placed the Flying Thunder God Kunai he always carried on the table, formally declaring his separation from Namikaze Minato and that he would be wary of him.

After all, Minato Namikaze wasn't their choice to join them. They were just using his name to attract attention before switching to Orochimaru's side.

Moreover, they have already reached an agreement with Lord Orochimaru. They will first fully support Orochimaru in his bid for Hokage, and if those people act too ruthlessly, Orochimaru will decisively give up and transfer the manpower and power he controls to their side to fully support Lady Tsunade.

The reason they didn't choose Minato Namikaze was because he wasn't ruthless enough. Indecisiveness makes it impossible to be a good Hokage, let alone eliminate the darkness in the village.

Watching the two leave, Jiraiya opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

Minato Namikaze sighed, equally at a loss for words. He never imagined that competing for the Hokage position would be so difficult.

Yuhi Shinku and Mitarashi Shishou exchanged a subtle glance. Although Tamura Hiroshi and Nara Shikaku hadn't said much, the information they revealed was astonishing.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio used to support Minato Namikaze, but now they're switching their allegiance to Orochimaru.

Leaving aside the thoughts of the four on this side, Nara Shikaku summoned Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza, who had been holed up in their dormitory cultivating and breaking through, and relayed the statements made in the meeting room earlier.

"How do we break this deadlock?"

It was rare for Akimichi Choza to ask a question.

"To fight against the Hidden Stone Village is to initiate a high-level war."

The fact that Iwagakure launched a full-scale attack, even deploying the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, is indeed due to our own actions, and we bear responsibility for the damage caused after the start of the war. We cannot shirk our responsibility for that.

Only by initiating a duel between generals, allowing the ninja army to avoid direct combat, can the impasse be perfectly resolved.

Tamura Hao revealed his proposed solution: he had often seen this kind of duel between generals in TV dramas, especially the Three Kingdoms series of TV dramas and movies, where the battlefield was almost a personal show for the generals.

"Should we invite the old man and Lady Tsunade over?"

Yamanaka Inoichi inquired and confirmed that this was indeed a method, but it required demonstrating an overwhelming advantage, which they lacked on their own.

After all, they are two Jinchuriki of Tailed Beasts, and both have the experience of demonstrating their complete Tailed Beast transformation. Who knows if they will transform into their complete form on the battlefield?

Half-tailed beast transformation and fully-formed tailed beast are two completely different concepts; they are existences on different levels.

"I'm afraid that won't work. Sunagakure and Iwagakure are allied, and they're probably keeping a close eye on that area. Once Lady Tsunade and Uncle Torifu leave, war will surely break out immediately."

"After capturing Kikyo Mountain Fortress, Sunagakure will have a greater advantage in negotiations, an opportunity the other side won't miss."

Nara Shikaku shook his head. That was their base of operations, and they couldn't afford any problems there. They had to hold out until the peace talks ended and the Sunagakure ninja army withdrew.

This peace talk can even be seen as a strategic retreat by Sunagakure, and should not be taken lightly.

"Brother Hai, we're afraid we'll have to take some risks."

Tamura Hiroshi looked at Yamanaka Inoichi. He had originally wanted to wait a little longer, but now he had no choice but to take the risk.

"I'm actually looking for a strong opponent to spur me on to break through."

Yamanaka Inoichi laughed, a rare hint of madness appearing in his eyes.

He, Yamanaka Inoichi, is also a man of courage and determination!

"I'll go pick him up."

Nara Shikaku got up and left, returning shortly afterward with a captured Iwa ninja.

This is just a Chunin; it's not that we don't have Jonin prisoners, but that we dare not use them.

According to the rules of that forbidden technique, the stronger the sacrifice, the closer the strength of the resurrected dead will be to their original state.

They only need the Uchiha clan leader's memories and eye techniques; there's no need to fully restore his strength.

Without delay, Tamura Hao used a cluster of cells extracted from those Sharingan to perform the technique. Soon, a mass of impure earth emanating an ominous aura enveloped the Iwa ninja, transforming him into a middle-aged man wearing light purple layered armor amidst his screams.

Without delay, Shan Zhonghai first used the Spirit Transformation Technique to separate his soul from his body. Then, using his soul as a foundation, he used his Immortal Clan talent to draw natural energy to converge and merge into his soul, making further improvements.

This is a variation of his application of the talents of the immortals, since the soul is the source of spiritual consciousness and can also utilize the talents of the immortals.

Although it's just a preliminary exploration, and we can only do a simple way to draw in natural energy, with very limited improvement, every little bit helps at this stage.

After further elevating his soul with the help of natural energy, Yamanaka Inoichi plunged headfirst into Uchiha Tajima's soul.

As the soul entered his body, Uchiha Tajima's dormant consciousness was stimulated and revived. His tightly closed eyes opened, revealing a pair of Sharingan with intricate patterns—the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Tamura Hao even used a spell to suppress Uchiha Tajima's mental consciousness with the help of talismans. Although the current talismans are not perfect, they can still suppress it to some extent.

Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Choza are prepared to suppress the situation at any time. As for anything else, they can't do it at this stage and can only leave it to Yamanaka Inoichi.

He waited quietly for more than ten minutes before Uchiha Tajima's expression finally calmed down, revealing a hint of fatigue.

"Xiao Hao."

The fact that Yamanaka Inoichi's voice came out proved that it had been successful.

Tamura Hao breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly manipulated the ape demon that had been turned out earlier to lie down and stick its head out.

After being nourished with life energy and chakra for a period of time, the size of the ape demon increased dramatically, and its height has reached a giant of ten meters.

Fortunately, the basement is large enough, otherwise it wouldn't be able to accommodate this big guy.

Having grown to this age, Tamura Hao transplanted Hashirama's face onto Enma's forehead and connected the three eyes to the brain nerves, thus gaining vision.

Without any delay, Yamanaka Inoichi manipulated Uchiha Tajima's reanimated body to cast a spell. His Mangekyou Sharingan looked at the First Hokage's face on Enma's forehead and used the secret technique of transfer sealing to seal all the ocular power and ocular techniques in his soul.

The Transcribing Seal is a secret technique of the Uchiha clan, specifically developed for the Mangekyou Sharingan. It can seal the eye technique into the target's eye, and it will be revealed when the set conditions are triggered.

The future Itachi Uchiha sealed Amaterasu inside Sasuke Uchiha's eyes, intending to use it to kill Obito Uchiha.

Now, Yamanaka Inoichi is controlling Uchiha Tajima's reanimated body, transferring and sealing away all the eye power and eye techniques in his soul, so much so that Uchiha Tajima's Sharingan could no longer be maintained and turned into black eyes.

After doing all this, Yamanaka Inoichi first used a secret technique to transfer the memories of Uchiha Tajima that he had seen to Tamura Hiroshi, and then his soul returned to his body, whereupon he instantly fainted.

He hasn't broken through to that level yet, so it's very dangerous for him to invade a Kage-level powerhouse, especially since the opponent is someone who has awakened the Kaleidoscope Sharingan.

This time, they really went all out.

However, the results were gratifying. Uchiha Tajima's eye power and eye techniques were perfectly integrated with his eyes before his death, allowing those eyes to be completely restored.

Previously, he only used his life force and the Yang Release power of Hashirama's cells to repair the damage to his eyes, but he could not replenish his pupil power.

After all, only the eyes were transplanted, not the body, especially the most important brain and soul, so the pupil power cannot be restored out of thin air.

Now, thanks to the ocular power and techniques from the spirit of Uchiha Tajima, the ocular power in these eyes has recovered somewhat and is no longer in a state of depletion.

Even though it's still quite a distance from its peak condition, it's already usable.

"Let's take Brother Hai upstairs to rest first. I'll stay here and work on my eye power."

Shaking his head, which was still a little dizzy from the overwhelming memory, Tamura Hao said something and then sealed the Enma back into the Eight Trigrams Seal. He guided the power of the Tailed Beast and the power of the Creation Lotus to converge on it, attempting to merge it with that eye power and the Susanoo within.

Strictly speaking, the Kaleidoscope has three eye techniques. In addition to the two fixed eye techniques, the third is Susanoo, which is known as the power of a god. That is the focus of Tamura Hao's adventure plan.

Nara Shikaku nodded to Akimichi Choza, who had been silently eating, then picked up Yamanaka Inoichi and carried him over to prepare medicine for treatment.

It's clear that Haiyi has suffered psychological trauma, and it's unclear how long it will take for him to recover on his own. Using some medication might help.

In this regard, one has to admire the profound heritage of the Senju family and the medical skills of Lady Tsunade. After cooperating with them, the secret medicines of the three families were comprehensively improved and upgraded, with stronger effects and fewer side effects.

Even psychological damage can be aided in recovery with appropriate medication.

Below, Akimichi Choza continued eating while watching over Tamura Hiro, who was silently training.

Tamura Hiroshi guides the fusion of the tailed beast's power and the Mangekyou Sharingan within the Eight Trigrams Seal.

The future Uchiha Sasuke used Susanoo to carry and fuse the power of the nine tailed beasts, proving that this path was feasible, and he only needed to imitate it.

Moreover, he only obtained and fused with a portion of the power of the nine tailed beasts, and since they had all been purified by his cheat ability, the fusion was much easier.

What Tamura Hao didn't expect was that the power of the tailed beasts would amplify the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan, and even promote the fusion of the eye power with the Yang Release power of Hashirama's cells.

In particular, the Nine-Tails' chakra, which possesses the power of Yin-Yang Release, provides the greatest assistance in this regard.

Even the transplanted Byakugan and Corpse Bone Pulse powers were guided to merge deeply, as if the bloodline had reverted to its ancestral state.

"So it really is possible to revert to ancestral traits?"

Tamura Hiroshi understood and wasn't surprised by it.

After all, the Ten-Tails helped Obito Uchiha and Madara Uchiha evolve into the Otsutsuki form, and even grew those iconic bone horns. It's normal that it would promote the fusion of the Sharingan's power and Hashirama's cells.

As for the Shikotsumyaku and Byakugan, they were passed down from Hamura Otsutsuki. Both the bloodline passed down by the Sage of Six Paths originated from Kaguya Otsutsuki and are of the same origin, so it is normal that they can be fused.

Unfortunately, it did not produce the transformation that Tamura Hao most desired. It simply became more closely integrated with the ape demon's body, especially the Shikotsumi Meridian, which merged with his entire skeleton, extending the power of the Shikotsumi Meridian to his entire skeletal structure.

This caused changes to the ape demon's skeletal structure, with the most significant changes to the pelvis and lower limbs. It stood upright, and its legs became thicker and longer, moving closer to a human form.

The power of the Byakugan and Sharingan is also eroding and transforming Enma's brain, while the power of the nine tailed beasts is further integrated into Enma's body through the transformation of the Eight Trigrams Seal.

Although the integration is not extensive, it is a good start.

Not to mention Tamura Hao and his three companions who were making final preparations for tomorrow's battle, all sides were paying close attention to this battle and sent people to watch, and even Orochimaru came in person.

He was interested in how well his junior apprentice could utilize the power of the nine tailed beasts after obtaining it, and he was very much looking forward to it.

The people at Kikyo Mountain Fortress also learned of the battle here. Although Tsunade was worried, she was indeed unable to leave at the moment. The Seven-Tails had been wandering around the area during the day, clearly trying to keep them here.

"Orochimaru sent a letter and personally arrived in the Land of Grass. With him watching over things from the shadows, nothing will happen."

Akimichi Tokifu approached and handed a letter to Tsunade, who was pacing back and forth.

This can be seen as Orochimaru showing his sincerity. After all, they are now allies, and Minato Namikaze is unlikely to be ruthless. In the end, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio will still have to cooperate with Orochimaru and support him in competing for the Hokage position.

He will at least support Orochimaru. As for how the younger generation plots, he won't care, as long as things can be handled smoothly.

Tsunade quickly took it and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that it was Orochimaru's handwriting.

"I'm not worried about Iwagakure, I'm just afraid that the people in the village might have some schemes."

Tsunade remained worried, after all, that traitorous disciple had almost been killed last time.

"They're all smart; they won't make the same mistake twice."

Akimichi Torifu was relatively at ease. Last time, he really didn't expect the Sarutobi family to suddenly launch an attack. Their problems were more serious than he had imagined.

But after that experience, Xiao Haozi and the others will definitely be on guard, and this guard will be directed at everyone, so they will not be easily outmaneuvered again.

In addition, Xiao Haozi's Flying Thunder God Technique allows him to escape immediately if danger arises.

"How did the village become like this?"

Tsunade was furious. When her great-grandfather was alive, the village was peaceful, but now it was full of intrigue, assassinations, and murders, and even children were not spared.

Everything has a lifespan. Trees will eventually decay after they grow up. This is a cycle in the universe.

All we can do is try to revitalize Konoha, even if it means destroying it completely and having it sprout anew.

Akimichi Torifu's current thinking is rather radical; he believes the village's dark side must be eradicated at all costs, even if it means war breaking out within the village and reducing it to ruins. (End of Chapter)