Naruto: The Age of Ninja Swords Begins in Kumogakure

"It's that Ringo family. Their armor is very strong. My Rasengan couldn't break through it. One of them was so tough that it was hard to even leave a scratch. It would probably take an S-rank ninjutsu to break through it."

Secondly, some of them saw through the Flying Thunder God Technique and possessed a kind of Magnet Release power; I was careless..."

Minato Namikaze briefly recounted the situation of the battle, saying that in the end it was because he was careless; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so easily outmaneuvered by his opponent.

"It has an armor that can withstand Rasengan, can see through Flying Thunder God Technique, and also possesses Magnet Release."

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply; this Hidden Mist Village had been a source of shock and headache for him for quite some time.

First, the eldest son Shinnosuke's scheme failed, and he and Enma were even killed. The summoning contract of the monkey clan was also destroyed by the other party.

After that, he killed three giant toads from Mount Myōboku, and now he has severely injured the nearly invincible Minato.

These things all surprised him, and he didn't even have time to feel the hatred of killing his son.

"I have already killed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. This is their sword. I have also severely injured Yagura Karatachi, who is in charge of this front. If I defeat their ninja army, they should retreat."

As Minato Namikaze spoke, he took out a sealing scroll from his ninja tool pouch.

He casually stole those ninja swords mainly to use in the upcoming negotiations. Kirigakure would probably be very keen to get those swords back, so that Konoha could pay less.

"Take good care of your injuries and spend more time with Jiu Pin. We'll handle things outside the village."

Taking the scroll, Hiruzen Sarutobi gestured for him to spend more time with Uzumaki Kyuuhan, as the child was about to be born and the tailed beast seal would be weakened. He stressed the importance of ensuring the seal remained stable and preventing it from going berserk.

"Then the rest of the battle will be in the hands of the Third Hokage."

Minato Namikaze nodded; his wife's childbirth was indeed very important.

After discussing a few more matters, Hiruzen Sarutobi left and immediately ordered Jiraiya to lead the two thousand ninja troops who were confronting the Hidden Mist Ninja Army outside to launch a general offensive. At the same time, he dispatched four Kage-level ninja, including Kurenai Yuhi and Shishou Mitarashi, to assist him.

With the strongest members of the Hidden Mist Ninja Army now killed or severely wounded, it is time to counterattack. If this part of the ninja army can be defeated, they will be able to force the Hidden Mist Village to cease hostilities.

It's important to know that Kirigakure is fighting on multiple fronts, just like them. In addition to fighting Konoha, they are also fighting Kumogakure and Sunagakure, so they are under considerable pressure.

Indeed, this was the case. When Yagura Karatachi learned that the Konoha ninja army was attacking and that several Kage-level ninjas were leading the attack, he decisively ordered a retreat.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were all wiped out, and he himself was also severely injured, so he had no way to continue fighting.

If a bloody battle were to break out, everyone here would have to stay in the Land of Fire, and that would be a much greater crime.

They retreated in this manner until they reached the former territory of the Wave Kingdom before stopping, during which time they suffered heavy losses.

As for the Ringo clan ninjas, including Tamura Hiroshi, they had already retreated, and even received orders from Yagura Karatachi to arrive in the Land of Waves first to ensure the safety of this last camp.

Upon reaching the seashore, Jiraiya did not pursue them further. Although he was powerful and had brought many skilled fighters with him, he was not confident that he could defeat Kirigakure at sea, as a mishap could result in the annihilation of his entire army.

Next came the negotiations. After writing a letter back to the village, Yagura Karatachi received permission from the Mizukage to negotiate.

After all, the losses this time were too great. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were the strongest team in the village, and now not only were they all wiped out, but all seven of their swords were also lost.

Continuing to fight is pointless. The village can't send any other strong people to support them, and everyone knows that the head of the Ringo family is sickly and can't withstand repeated battles.

At this point, there was no other option but to cease hostilities.

Tamura Hao remained indifferent to these matters, continuing his own cultivation and research. After more than a month, he finally replaced the calcium and phosphorus elements in the bones of the Corpse Bone Vein with better metallic elements, mainly titanium.

Although the world is outdated in many ways, its technological development is not slow. We have computers, and there are specialized companies and factories for refining certain metal elements.

Although the production volume is not large, especially for elements like titanium, you can still buy a sufficient amount if you are willing to spend the money.

With enough raw materials, Tamura Hao combined Shikotsumyaku Chakra and Magnet Release Chakra, along with the unique properties of Kaguya's ninja bones, to ultimately create a silver-gray metallic skeleton.

Of course, what is being fused is not pure titanium, but a titanium alloy.

Tamura experimented with alloys of many elements, including tungsten carbide alloys, many of which surpassed titanium alloys in strength, but titanium alloys were the best in terms of overall performance.

At the same time, because this titanium alloy is integrated into the bone cells of the Shikotsumyaku (Shikotsumyaku chakra), it can also obtain the enhancement and amplification of Shikotsumyaku chakra, exhibiting even higher strength.

"Dad told me to tell you that we're about to leave."

On this day, Yu Yuli, who rarely stopped cultivating, came in to inform someone that they were about to depart.

"Is it October 1st yet?"

Tamura Hiroshi, who was conducting an experiment, looked up. They had agreed to depart on October 1st.

Is it time yet?

"Don't you remember the days?"

Yu Yuli glanced at him sideways. This freak would forget to eat and sleep once he started cultivating, and he never kept track of the days.

"Of all the days, I only remember your birthday, Little Apple."

Tamura Hao chuckled softly; teasing girls in his spare time was quite fun.

"Who asked you to write that down!"

"Hurry up, Daddy's waiting for you!"

Rolling her eyes at him, Yuri turned and left the cabin, her light steps revealing her good mood.

"By the way, what's your birthday again?"

The sudden words brought the light footsteps to a halt, and the next moment a replica thunder knife was swung out.

"Go to hell!"

That perverted bastard is utterly despicable.

"They still need some training!"

After making a remark, Tamura Hao immediately began packing his things, mainly some materials, which he would later use to help his father-in-law and others upgrade their armor.

"Any results yet?"

Inside the room, seeing her son-in-law carrying a huge scroll, Ringo Hyakuba's eyes flickered, and she guessed that her son-in-law had achieved something.

"Although there are still many tests to be done, they are not very important. Next, we can upgrade everyone's armor."

Nodding, Tamura Hao indicated that the armor could now be upgraded.

His testing is not yet complete, but the main tests are finished. The latest version of the cadaveric blood vessel cells is perfect, with a strength more than twice that of the previous ones.

"That's Konoha. Our people can't get close enough to investigate; we can only make some estimates."

Having received an affirmative answer, Ringo Hyakurin nodded in satisfaction, then pointed to the map on the table and said...

"If the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki really has the risk of going berserk during childbirth, then the birthing location will definitely not be in a village, but in a place far away from the village, and there can be no inhabitants."

Based on these conditions, several areas were roughly identified...

Tamura Hao looked at the map, which was a map of Konoha and the surrounding area for dozens of kilometers. It was quite detailed, with several circles drawn with red lines on it, which were the no-man's lands that might be selected.

"We will hide here. This is an outpost of Konoha, where three squads of ninja are stationed year-round, rotating every two weeks. If we can take it down, it will provide us with a hiding place for a while."

Finally, they pointed to an outpost 30 kilometers away from Konoha, intending to capture it and hide there to find an opportunity to strike.

This plan is not a must; it would be best if it succeeds, but there's no loss if it doesn't. There's no need to fight Konoha to the death.

"The targets of this plan are four places: the Hokage Building where the Book of Seals is stored, the Fourth Hokage's house, Kakashi Hatake's house, and the abandoned Senju clan territory."

According to the information extracted from those Sarutobi ninjas, there is a wooden building in the Senju clan territory, which was created by the First Hokage using Wood Release techniques and is protected by a powerful barrier that prevents anyone from entering. It is possible that the Senju clan's profound heritage is sealed inside...

Furthermore, when it comes to the target of this plan, they are mainly eyeing some of Konoha's heritage and traditions.

First and foremost is the Book of Seals, which contains many forbidden techniques. Secondly, we should look at the Fourth Hokage's house to see if we can find the scroll notes he used to practice the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Secondly, there's the legacy left by the White Fang, and finally, there's the wooden building in the Thousand Hands territory.

"These inheritances will inevitably have seals and barriers, which you will need to follow in the past to sense and break through."

Ringo Hyakka knew very well that a scroll of that caliber would inevitably be kept secret, which required an exceptionally strong sense to find and decipher.

This is precisely what this son-in-law excels at, and he is also the key figure in this plan. Even I have to listen to this son-in-law in the plan.

This can be considered a clear division of labor.

"I have been studying methods to break seals recently. As long as they are not too extreme, they can be broken. In addition, we have Minato Namikaze's blood."

By the way, did you get that fat sheep's blood?

Speaking of blood, Tamura Hiroshi thought of that fat sheep.

He had seen the intelligence about the Thousand Hands clan's territory, including the most suspicious wooden building.

Ninja clans mostly use blood and chakra as a medium to establish barriers, and it would be even better if they had a bloodline limit.

Just like that secret room beneath the Uchiha clan's shrine, no one else can open it, and it's even difficult for them to find it.

The same principle applies to the Senju family.

"Yes, but this is all we have; it was just delivered yesterday."

Ringo Molly, who had been standing to the side, took out something with a strange expression. This was something they had obtained from the person they had been following.

Upon seeing that thing, Yuri was simply curious and puzzled, while Tamura Hiroshi was completely speechless.

"That's fine, as long as the blood is still alive."

After making a comment, he took the thing and took out some things from the scroll on the back to extract and preserve the blood inside.

After much discussion, the group of twelve took off on a giant ninja hawk after nightfall.

This is a ninja eagle that the Ringo family bought at great expense. It is huge, with a wingspan of 15 meters.

When I bought it last month, its wingspan was only ten meters. But in the past month, it has been constantly consuming the flesh and blood of those toads, causing its size to grow wildly, which is why its wingspan has reached a huge fifteen meters.

Even so, it was still quite difficult to support twelve people.

This was only because everyone had put away their armor and sealed it in a sealed scroll; otherwise, although they could still fly with the armor on, they wouldn't be able to do so for long.

The flight lasted all night, and given that it was from west to east and October has long nights and short days, it took a total of fifteen hours to reach the destination.

Ringo Hyakka and the others went down first to capture the Konoha ninja at the outpost, and then Tamura Kosai and Amane Yuri controlled the ninja hawk to land.

After finding a small room, Tamura Hao took out materials and equipment from the sealed scroll and began to upgrade the puppet armor.

During this period, he made other puppet armors one after another, but the best ones were still these twelve, mainly because he used the best Kaguya skeleton on them.

Especially the armor of myself, Little Apple, my father-in-law, and my aunt.

His own armor and Yu Youli's armor had already been upgraded during the previous experiment. Next, he only needed to upgrade the armor of his father-in-law and the other ten people.

It took two days to complete one set at first, but as you became more proficient, you could complete two sets of upgrades in a single day.

By October 8th, everyone's armor had finally been upgraded.

After all the armors were upgraded, Ringo Hyakka and the others boldly began their plan, preparing to find an opportunity to strike.

Tamura Hiroto was put into action, dressed in a set of Konoha ANBU ninja uniform, and moved around Konoha Village to sense its presence.

This approach can't last long, but it can fool people for a few days.

Moreover, Konoha's Anbu members have been patrolling the area frequently during this time, so it's not surprising to see Anbu ninja squads appearing.

Not to mention, Tamura Hao can also rely on his superb sensory abilities to avoid encounters with Konoha ninjas, especially Anbu ninjas, in advance.

On the night of October 10th, Tamura Hiroshi roused himself even further.

Before he could wait long, a terrifying roar suddenly came from Konoha. Even ninjas without sensory abilities could feel the violent and suppressed chakra.

"The Nine-Tails has broken free of its seal?"

Ringo Hyakka and her companions immediately leaped to the top of the tree, where they could vaguely see several huge tails waving on the other side of Konoha.

Their location was poor; they were blocked by the Hokage Cliff and couldn't see the full view of Konoha.

But the beast's roar, the terrifying and oppressive chakra, and the multiple tails that could be seen in slivers all proved one thing.

The Nine-Tails has broken free of its seal!

"With Konoha's strength, they shouldn't have allowed the Nine-Tails to break free of its seal. Could there be a third-party force plotting this?"

Ringo Mari pondered, guessing that a third-party force might have intervened; otherwise, given Konoha's capabilities and the depth of its sealing techniques, the Nine-Tails' ability to drive its Jinchūriki into a berserk state would be its limit.

"Set off!"

Ringo Hyakka gave the order, and the group immediately rushed towards Konoha at top speed.

At this point, there was no need to hide their whereabouts anymore. A major incident had occurred in the village, so it was perfectly reasonable for them to rush there in their Anbu ninja outfits. Even if they encountered Konoha ninjas on the way, they probably wouldn't care.

Leaving aside the group running around, in Konoha Village on the other side, Hiruzen Sarutobi in the Hokage's office felt a headache coming on when he saw the Nine-Tails suddenly appear in the village.

"Minato, what exactly happened?"

He didn't understand how the Nine-Tails had appeared, and how it had suddenly appeared in the village.

"Sandaime-sama!"

Several ANBU ninjas appeared, kneeling on one knee and awaiting orders.

"Pass on my orders: Jonin, follow me to attack the Nine-Tails and drive it out of the village first. Chunin, do your best to assist the people in evacuating to the shelter."

Despite his shock and confusion, Hiruzen Sarutobi still decisively gave the order.

The two most important things right now are to stop the Nine-Tails and evacuate the people, but he is feeling frustrated.

If the Monkey King were still alive, he could use the Vajra Staff to push the Nine-Tails away, but now that the Monkey King is gone, none of his remaining methods can threaten the Nine-Tails, and it would be difficult to even break through its defenses.

Of course, there is one killer move, but it's a forbidden technique that risks one's life for another, and should only be used as a last resort...

As soon as Hiruzen Sarutobi gave the order, the Anbu ninjas sprang into action, launching various signal flares to transmit information, and all the ninjas in Konoha were mobilized.

All the Jonin rushed towards the Nine-Tails, and even some Chunin overcame their fear and charged forward.

Unfortunately, these people's attacks were nothing more than a tickle to the Nine-Tails, and they couldn't break through its defenses at all.

Meanwhile, Tamura Hao and his group arrived at Hokage Cliff and saw the current state of Konoha.

In the center of Konoha, a colossal creature roared and destroyed everything around it, turning most of the surrounding buildings into ruins.

"There are only seventeen strands of chakra left in the Hokage Building, four of which are at the Jonin level... Hmm, wait a minute."

Tamura Hao immediately formed hand seals and used his sensory ninjutsu, focusing on the Hokage Building below to sense the number and strength of the ninjas inside. However, he soon made an unexpected discovery.

Puzzled, he looked down at the Hokage Cliff beneath his feet. The others around him followed his gaze, but found nothing.

Tamura Hiroshi crouched down and placed his palm on the ground, using extremely precise control to manipulate the chakra to spread out. He quickly sensed a barely perceptible sensation and then activated it.

As that barely perceptible chakra was triggered, a series of explosive tags appeared, their sheer number sending chills down the spines of the group.

"Why would Konoha have placed so many explosive tags here?"

The group was quite surprised and puzzled. They knew that this was Hokage Cliff, and below it was the Hokage Building. If Hokage Cliff were blown up, the entire Hokage Building would be reduced to ruins.

"These explosive tags are the old-fashioned kind, they're pretty much obsolete now."

Ringo Hyakka examined the explosive tag and confirmed that it was a type that was about to be phased out.

"It might not have been arranged by Konoha."

Tamura Hiroshi thought of a character from the story, and that must be it.

"Rock Blade, create an earth clone and hide it here to act according to the situation."

Ringo Hyakka quickly came up with an idea about these explosive tags; naturally, they had to make use of them.

Ringo Iwato didn't say much. He raised his hand and formed a hand seal to create an earth clone. The earth clone then disappeared into the ground. Tamura Hao also released the chakra connection, and the explosive tags disappeared into the ground again.

The group then quickly removed their shirts, took out their respective puppet armor from the sealed scroll, put it on, and then formed hand seals to cast a transformation jutsu, transforming into the attire of the Konoha Anbu.

Immediately afterwards, three figures descended from the sky, and a black ninja eagle flew overhead; these were the remaining three Ringo ninjas.

Currently, only Yuri Amane remains on the back of the Ninja Eagle to observe and provide support; the rest are the executors of this operation.

Once everyone was present, they didn't hesitate for a moment. They jumped down from the top floor and rushed into the Hokage Building. Ringo Mari led the other eight people in three small teams to continue their journey, following Tamura Hiro's senses to kill the Konoha ninja inside.

Tamura Hao and his father-in-law went to the place in the Hokage Building where the Book of Seals was stored, and his father-in-law personally took care of the two Konoha ninja guarding the door.

This place is protected by a powerful sealing barrier that cannot be opened without special hand seals and a medium, and only the Hokage of each generation are qualified to enter.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

(Celebrating National Day!!! Wishing everyone a seven-day holiday!) (End of Chapter)