Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

News of the events at the Hidden Mist Camp in the Land of Waves quickly reached Konoha, and Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two companions were utterly shocked by the detailed intelligence that arrived.

"Three minutes? Can he maintain that state for three minutes already?"

Turning to the dormitory, Xiaochun's face turned pale. Had she improved so much in just one year?

The one-minute display of power shown in the Land of Grass had already put them under immense pressure, and now they've shown three minutes of fighting prowess.

Three minutes and one minute is not a difference of three times the time, but a qualitative improvement, not to mention that it may continue to improve in the future.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. He was confident he could dodge the onslaught for a minute, but he wasn't so sure if it would last three minutes.

The main reason was that losing the Ape Demon greatly weakened his strength. Even though he chose a new partner from the ape clan, he was still far inferior to the Ape Demon, especially in terms of teamwork.

"It's a new form, much larger and more powerful."

Mitokado En's expression was also not good. He knew before that the kid had terrifying potential and room for improvement, but he did not expect him to improve so quickly.

Last time, on the battlefield in the Land of Grass, I had to use a scheme to kill the Five-Tails Jinchuriki and severely injure the Four-Tails Jinchuriki.

This time, however, he directly confronted them head-on, killing two fully-formed Tailed Beast Jinchuriki. This increase in strength was not just a little bit.

"Hiruzen!"

After a while, Koharu Utatane's emotions calmed down a bit. She turned to look at Hiruzen Sarutobi, now it was up to Hiruzen to decide what to do.

They really can't wait any longer. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio has already ended the war with Sunagakure, and now they've assisted Orochimaru in ending the Eastern Front. If they were to end the Grass Country Front as well, their immense prestige would be impossible to suppress.

We must find a solution as soon as possible.

"There are two options. The first is that I announce that I acknowledge the contributions of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, but deny them the opportunity to compete for the Fourth Hokage because of his young age. However, I can designate him as the future Fifth Hokage and give Ino-Shika-Cho a position as Hokage advisor. In return, we will give up some departmental positions."

This will allow them to first diminish the immense prestige gained by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio on the battlefield, and then they can slowly strategize and even integrate it into their strategy later.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the first to offer a solution, and Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado immediately frowned and their faces darkened.

Everything else is fine, but how should I give up this position?

Now, all the important positions in the village are controlled by these few families. Except for the police department, which is completely controlled by the Uchiha and cannot be interfered with, all other departments are already filled with their people.

How should we proceed?

And who should make that decision?

Let alone their own thoughts, even the clan members would definitely not agree. Forcing them would probably cause trouble within the clan.

In the face of interests and power, kinship and such are all illusory.

"The Ino-Shika-Cho trio is becoming increasingly powerful. How should we suppress them in the future?"

The two exchanged a glance and then raised another key point.

Putting aside the previous issues, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio's development momentum alone is incredibly strong. In the past year, they have cooperated with the ninja forces on the Grass Country front to suppress the Iwagakure ninja forces to the point of being unable to raise their heads, and have even achieved a reversal of the offensive and defensive positions.

During this period, the Konoha ninja army was on the offensive, while the Iwagakure ninja army was on the defensive.

If the Ino-Shika-Cho trio continues to develop, they will surely become the next Senju, and at their peak, especially with the presence of Tamura Hiroshi. They could very well reach the level of the First Hokage.

Furthermore, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio has now recruited Tsunade, Mitarashi Shishou, and Yuhi Shinku, and could even include Orochimaru.

Too strong!

Hiruzen Sarutobi saw both of their reactions and wasn't surprised, but he also realized he really couldn't suppress the growth and expansion of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

"The second option is to guide the four major ninja villages and the Amegakure village to surround and kill the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and even completely abandon that ninja army."

But to convince the four great ninja villages and that demigod, we must personally intervene, or even send people to join in; otherwise, they will find it hard to believe us.

He revealed his second option, which was his true thought: to destroy the Pig-Deer-Chocolate trio at all costs.

These words startled the two of them, and they immediately fell silent.

This is indeed a method, but it is very risky, much riskier than secretly plotting against the Senju clan back then.

"I'm going to check out Kirigakure, but that will inevitably come at a price."

After a long silence, Koharu, who was turning over to her dorm, spoke first.

She had met the Third Mizukage of Kirigakure once, so she should be able to exchange a few words with him.

Moreover, the Hidden Mist Village and the Third Mizukage should be extremely angry, or even terrified, and there is a high probability that they will take action if a certain price is paid.

"I'm going to visit the Third Raikage."

Mitokado Homura then spoke up, saying that he had met the Third Raikage during the First Shinobi World War, when the Third Raikage was just the captain of the Second Raikage's Shadow Guard.

"I will have Danzo persuade that demigod and Onoki, and Shinnosuke will make a trip to Sunagakure."

Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to eliminate the remaining three, and the combined power would surely be enough to annihilate the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Although there will certainly be many hidden dangers and the four great ninja villages will have something to hold against us, it will all be worth it as long as we can eliminate the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

Moreover, history is written by the victors. As long as they win, they can decide the truth for themselves. Even if there are problems, they will be resolved in ten or twenty years.

The three discussed the details further before leaving. That same night, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado used the tunnel to quietly lead people away from the village.

Hiruzen Sarutobi also secretly informed Danzo Shimura and his eldest son who was away that this matter had to be handled by someone of high standing, otherwise the Kage of the four great ninja villages and that demigod would not approve.

Unbeknownst to them, not long after they left, another person quietly left Konoha and went straight to the ninja army camp in the Land of Grass, where he sought out Tsunade.

Tamura Hao, who was studying Fat Sheep Teacher's research results, especially that Steel Release Chakra Mode, was called over.

"Teacher, you wanted to see me!"

Upon entering the secret room beneath the laboratory, Tamura Hao nodded and greeted Fat Sheep Teacher, his gaze then falling upon the aloof and beautiful woman sitting opposite the teacher.

To his surprise, the other person had a fan pattern on their body, which was the Uchiha clan crest.

Secondly, there's the diamond-shaped mark on the other person's forehead, which is a mark of the Yin Seal.

The combination of the two is a bit odd.

"Uchiha Chiri, my best friend."

Tsunade gave a casual introduction, which, though simple, contained a lot of information: the other person's identity and their relationship with her.

"Uchiha Chisato!"

"Hello, Sister Governance!"

Tamura Hiroshi was taken aback for a moment, then quickly greeted him after realizing what he meant.

He wasn't unfamiliar with this name; it should be the creator of Izanami. He was surprised to find that she was still alive and, moreover, a close friend of Teacher Fei Yang.

However, judging from the Naruto anime, this person did wear the Konoha headband, proving that he was from the Konoha era, which is normal since he was from the same era as Fat Sheep Teacher.

As for why so many Uchiha ninjas in that scene weren't wearing headbands, it's understandable. First, the Uchiha were powerful enough, and second, the Uchiha were having a falling out with the village at that time, so it's plausible that they weren't wearing headbands.

Of course, that only applies to some of the Uchiha; others are loyal to the village.

"You're not being honest. You've been secretly training such a valiant young disciple behind my back. Are you planning to raise him as your future husband?"

Uchiha Chiri sized up the young man before her and couldn't help but tease her best friend.

"You're in heat."

"Get to the point."

Tsunade rolled her eyes, but didn't care. After all, that was just her personality, especially after what happened back then, she changed a lot.

Tamura Hao was a little confused; that older woman was quite fierce.

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado left the village, heading towards the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water.

The other two countries probably also sent people there, and it's even possible that someone from the neighboring Rain Country was contacted as well.

With a serious expression, Uchiha Chiri got down to business. She had already received a letter from Tsunade asking her to keep an eye on those people in the village, and after receiving intelligence from the eastern front, she kept an even closer eye on them.

After seeing Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado personally take action, they realized that those people had finally lost their temper.

"You've set this trap to lure them into making a move, how do you plan to break it?"

She was very curious about this. As early as when Tsunade wrote to her asking her to keep an eye on things, she knew it was a trap, a trap to lure those people into making mistakes.

This is a preparation for a major cleanup of the village.

"Aren't you Uchiha going to step in and do something about it?"

Tsunade glanced sideways, trying to win over the Uchiha clan.

She was unaware that her best friend now wielded far more power within the Uchiha clan than even the clan head, Fugaku Uchiha, and possessed formidable strength.

Even though his eyes were ruined back then, he was still a Kage-level powerhouse. He also had two pairs of kaleidoscopes, which belonged to Uncle Jing and his son.

"Don't drag me into this. We already have enough headaches from Kumogakure. Those two eyes can't be touched either; they're reserved for Shisui."

Uchiha Chiri rolled his eyes. The Uchiha clan was not having an easy time on the battlefield in the Land of Hot Springs. Although Fugaku had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, genjutsu was ineffective against a perfect Jinchuriki like the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.

In addition, the villagers' rejection of them made the fight very difficult.

"You have to provide some support, right? If we get wiped out, your Uchiha clan won't have an easy time either."

Tsunade knew that since her best friend had chosen to come in person, she must have come with sincerity.

"These are all the eyes I have."

Uchiha Chiri tossed a small bottle to Tamura Hao as a token of her sincerity. She had heard about the boy and guessed that he possessed a pair of kaleidoscopes.

Tamura Hao reached out and caught it, discovering a pair of grayish-white eyes inside the small bottle. These eyes resembled those of someone who had performed the forbidden technique Izanagi or Izanami.

However, some of the pupil's power still remains inside.

"Those are the eyes that Madara Uchiha replaced back then. Although he extracted all the power from his eyes, some of it still remained."

His power is extraordinary; if you can unravel its secrets, breaking the deadlock won't be difficult.

Uchiha Chiri studied those eyes for a long time and determined that the power within them was different from other Mangekyou Sharingan, but he couldn't discern the specifics of the difference.

Perhaps my level is not high enough.

Now let's see if Tsunade can glean any insights from this.

"Madara Uchiha's eyes."

Tamura Hiroshi was both surprised and delighted, his heart burning with excitement.

He knew that Madara Uchiha was the reincarnation of Indra, and that his ability to evolve the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan must have been due to Indra's power.

Otherwise, relying solely on the method of brothers exchanging eyes, the Uchiha clan would have already mass-produced the Eternal Eye.

Therefore, the Eternal Eyes are exclusive to the reincarnation of Indra, while the current pair of eyes should originally belong to Madara Uchiha, which were removed when Madara transplanted his younger brother's eyes, and then sealed away by the Uchiha clan, or rather, for research.

Of course, the remaining ocular power within was secondary to him. The key was that the eye itself belonged to Uchiha Madara, and he could use the cells within to cultivate it as a medium for the Impure World Reincarnation, thereby resurrecting Uchiha Madara through the Impure World Reincarnation.

It should be noted that Madara Uchiha's soul contained both the power of the Eternal Eye and the power of the Rinnegan.

Once you obtain the power of the Eternal Eye and the Rinnegan, you can sweep through this era without any problem.

If it weren't for these eyes, he would have gone to the Land of Rain and stolen Nagato Uzumaki's Rinnegan.

"Go out and examine those eyes first."

Tsunade glanced at those eyes, then gestured for the traitor to go out and investigate; she had some things to discuss with her best friend.

"Teacher, Sister Zhili, I'm going out now."

Suppressing his excitement, Tamura Hiroshi nodded to the two men and quickly left.

Upon arriving at the lab, we first extracted a small amount of cells from those eyes and used life energy to stimulate their rapid division, creating a sufficient medium.

After studying the technology on the Spear of Heaven, he deepened his understanding of the power of life and mastered the technology of rapid cell division.

After confirming the stability of cell division, Tamura Hiroshi left and went to the huge basement below his dormitory.

The basement has been expanded again, and the upper floor is filled with ninjas from the Ino-Shika-Cho clan, so they are not afraid of outsiders coming to spy on them.

First, the Enma clone was transferred out, and then Madara Uchiha's eyes were transplanted onto Hashirama's face, using the power of Hashirama's cells to quickly restore the eyes' damage.

This Hashirama cell is no ordinary cell; it has been infused with some of the First Hokage's Yang Release chakra, making it even more vibrant, similar to the one transplanted by Madara Uchiha.

After nearly a day, the eyes were repaired, turning from gray to black and regaining their vision.

But that only restored the eyes themselves; the internal pupil power had not yet recovered.

But that's enough.

They removed those eyes and transplanted them into the eye sockets of a captured Iwa ninja, then used the cultured cells as a medium to perform the technique.

Soon, an ominous aura of impure earth surged forth, covering the anesthetized Iwa ninja and transforming him into a different form—Uchiha Madara.

However, Tamura Hao did not try to awaken this person's consciousness. Otherwise, with this person's strength, as long as they were awake, they could instantly break free from the shackles of the Impure World Reincarnation and return their soul to the Pure Land of the Underworld.

He couldn't forcefully control this person either. Back then, Inoichi almost lost when dealing with Uchiha Tajima, let alone this person.

Therefore, the only way to steal the other party's power is through other means. Even if we don't get the power of the Rinnegan, we must at least get the power of the Eternal Eye.

Without making any unnecessary movements, he simply waited quietly, and could sense the fluctuations of pupil power in those eyes, which was exactly what he wanted to see.

This was his plan: to use Madara Uchiha's original eyes to instinctively absorb and merge the eye power sealed within his soul. Since those were Madara Uchiha's eyes, there would be no rejection reaction, and Madara Uchiha's consciousness would not detect anything unusual.

Those eyes did indeed achieve the effect Tamura Hao wanted, absorbing the ocular power from the soul of Uchiha Madara, and even undergoing a transformation themselves, showing a faint tendency to turn into the Eternal Eyes.

This is inevitable, since the essence of the Eternal Eye is the fusion and transformation of pupil power, and the eyes are merely the carriers of pupil power.

Whether it's Madara Uchiha's original eyes or Izuna Uchiha's eyes, they can both serve as carriers of the Eternal Eye's power.

Unfortunately, the ocular power sealed within Madara Uchiha's soul was not enough to push his original eyes to break through, and he was stuck at that limit.

After two days, once the pupil power of those eyes stabilized and stopped fluctuating, Tamura Hao decisively dispelled the Impure World Reincarnation.

Madara Uchiha's soul began to leave that body, but his eye power was fixed in place by those eyes.

The loss of this eye power instantly awakened Madara Uchiha's dormant consciousness, but before he could react to what was happening, his soul was pulled back by the rules of the Yomi Pure Land.

After confirming that Madara Uchiha's Impure World Reincarnation had been lifted, Tamura Hao approached and took out the eyes, feeling the powerful ocular energy within them as he fell into deep thought.

He had been paying close attention to the changes in these eyes, so he knew that they hadn't undergone a transformation and were still lacking something.

He wanted an eternal eye, not a half-finished product.

After thinking for a moment, he turned to look at the ape demon clone and manipulated it to use the kaleidoscope as a base to perform a transcription seal, sealing the pupil power into those eyes and causing the pupil power within to surge again.

After doing all this, he removed the Mangekyou Sharingan from Hashirama's face and replaced it with Madara Uchiha's eyes, using the power of Hashirama's face to further nurture them, and even guiding the power of the Tailed Beasts to assist him.

With the help of Hashirama's cells and the power of the tailed beast, the ocular power in those eyes indeed began to merge rapidly.

Madara Uchiha was able to transplant and fuse his younger brother Izuna Uchiha's eyes and transform them into the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan. It's natural that Tajima Uchiha's eye power could also be fused with it, since they are blood relatives.

It's not even fusion yet, it's devouring.

Madara Uchiha's Eternal Eye power is too strong, far exceeding the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Naturally, the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan would be suppressed and absorbed when it comes into contact with it.

With the power of Uchiha Tajima's Mangekyou Sharingan, those eyes finally overcame that hurdle and successfully reached the level of the Eternal Eye.

"No eye techniques?"

After sensing it for a moment, Tamura Hiroshi was puzzled.

Although these eyes are eternal eyes, they only possess pure pupil power and do not contain any pupil techniques.

Let alone individual eye techniques for each eye, it doesn't even have Susanoo.

"Indeed, some things cannot be taken lightly."

He sighed. He had thought he could obtain the complete Eternal Eye, but now it seemed he had been too naive.

Perhaps the power sealed within Madara Uchiha's soul was flawed, or perhaps that eye technique was deeply bound to his soul and could not be obtained through such a trick.

Regardless of which one it is, he is destined to gain only eye power this time.

Fortunately, he not only gained the power of the Eternal Eye, but also sensed a higher level of power within it, which should be the power of those eyes.

Then there's the eye technique and Susanoo, which should be able to seal Uchiha Tajima's Mangekyou Sharingan through transcription and sealing.

Since it can absorb pupil power, it's believed that it can also absorb the pupil techniques of these eyes.

(End of this chapter)