Naruto: Starting with Tsunade

Chapter 74 How to manage Konoha while with insects?

Elder Itachi's tone held a hint of surprise: "The Kusanagi Sword, you even know about that?"

Aokiji said with great interest, "I once saw something in the library when I was bored and just flipping through things. It seems to be one of the most powerful weapons in the world."

Elder Itachi pondered the information about the Kusanagi Sword and suddenly smiled.

Aokiji was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just remembered some legends about the Kusanagi Sword."

The Uchiha are a ninja clan that reveres power. In order to gain power, the Uchiha clan will try every means to collect things that can enhance their combat strength, and naturally, divine weapons like the Kusanagi sword are also among their collection targets.

In his early years, Madara Uchiha was quite interested in the legendary Kusanagi sword, and even collected one himself, during which he also learned some interesting secrets.

However, as his strength continued to improve, his clan passed down the Uchiha fan, which had been passed down through generations of Uchiha, to him. He then treated the Kusanagi sword as a collectible and rarely used it.

After all, aside from that one rather special case, the Kusanagi sword is nothing more than hard and sharp.

Compared to the Uchiha fan, which can easily deflect powerful ninja tools like tailed beasts, the Kusanagi sword is only fit to gather dust in the warehouse.

"A legend?" Aokiji's interest was piqued. "Could you tell me about it?"

Elder Itachi slowly explained the situation to him, giving him a brief explanation.

The Kusanagi sword does not refer to a specific weapon, but rather to a type of weapon.

The true history of the Kusanagi sword's creation is impossible to verify; there is only a very mysterious legend surrounding it.

Legend has it that in ancient times, a peerless monster lived in Qishan. It had eight snake heads, eyes like red lantern fruits, and a huge body, like a mountain peak. Its body was covered with moss, cypress, and cedar trees. Its belly was always bloody, as if it were rotting, and eight-colored dark clouds often floated above its head, making it terrifying.

It eats a large number of living things every day, and its favorite food is swallowing live people whole.

People feared it and named it Yamata no Orochi based on its appearance, meaning a giant serpent with eight heads and the size of a mountain.

The local people tried their best but failed to subdue the monster, and instead lost their lives in vain.

That's because this giant snake wasn't just large in size; it also possessed a variety of powerful abilities.

The ability to manipulate the wind.

The ability to manipulate fire.

The ability to manipulate lightning.

The ability to manipulate the earth.

The ability to manipulate water.

The ability to create illusions.

The ability of the body to regenerate indefinitely.

These seven abilities are somewhat similar to the seven natures of chakra, and each ability corresponds to seven heads.

Fortunately, the monster is not completely invincible. One of its eight heads is significantly larger than the others, and it looks like the main brain. It does not recover as quickly as the other heads when attacked. It seems that as long as this head is killed, the Yamata no Orochi will die.

Even so, getting close to the leader and severing its head is no easy task.

Two local brothers, Yagami and Kusanagi, heard rumors of immortals in the distant East. In order to defeat Orochimaru, the two brothers traveled through mountains and rivers, enduring countless hardships, and finally found the immortals and successfully learned their skills.

Before parting, the immortal bestowed upon the two brothers a magical weapon each: the Totsuka Sword and the Yata Mirror, one for offense and one for defense, both capable of both, to assist the two in subduing demons and monsters.

Back in Qishan, Yagami and Kusanagi Kyo, relying on the skills they learned from the immortals and their magical weapons, fought the Yamata no Orochi for three days and nights, finally succeeding in slaying the Yamata no Orochi and eliminating a great scourge from the human world.

However, the price paid was that Kyo Kusanagi was unfortunately struck by the fangs of Orochi while protecting Yagami, and died.

The immortal told Yagami that the Yamata no Orochi was a spirit born from the hearts of humans and could not be killed; it could only be sealed away.

So Yagami, following the immortal's method, divided the body of the Yamata no Orochi into eight weapons, each of which was the strongest weapon of its time, capable of cutting through iron like mud and possessing unparalleled sharpness and ferocity.

Following that, with the help of the immortal, Yagami Yagami infused the soul of Yamata no Orochi into a Kusanagi sword. However, this was not enough to completely seal Yamata no Orochi, so he also sealed the Yata no Kagami and the Totsuka sword into this sword.

Yagami gave each of the eight swords a unique name and collectively called them the Kusanagi Swords, in memory of his deceased brother, Kusanagi Kyo.

He kept the Kusanagi sword, which contained the Ten Perfect Sword and the Eight-Foot Mirror, for himself, while the other seven Kusanagi swords were scattered in various places.

Legend has it that finding these eight swords will allow one to revive the Yamata no Orochi and command it.

Upon hearing Elder Itachi's information about the Kusanagi Sword, Aokiji suddenly understood why Orochimaru in the original story was so fond of the Kusanagi Sword and liked to collect it:

"I see. Elder Itachi is truly knowledgeable."

Aokiji really felt that Elder Itachi was like his own Baidu (Chinese search engine); if he didn't understand something, he could just ask.

An old house where a treasure.

Loved it.

(P.S.: Just imagine this fanfiction: Orochimaru's obsession with collecting Kusanagi swords, and where Itachi found the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror.)

"It's nothing." Elder Itachi shook his head and sighed, "As people live longer, they naturally learn certain things, and their perspective on things becomes increasingly indifferent." A self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips as he spoke.

Aokiji nodded slightly in agreement.

Elder Itachi asked, "You like using a sword?"

"Yes, I'm a pragmatist. As the saying goes, 'an inch longer, an inch stronger,' and swords are very lightweight, which I think gives me a big advantage when facing ninjas who all like to wield swords. Plus, there's no reason I wouldn't like a weapon like a sword that's both cool and effective."

Elder Itachi smiled and said, "Well, I guess so."

"Actually, it's not just weapons, I think techniques should also follow pragmatism." Aokiji casually remarked, "Take the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, for example. At first glance, it looks impressive, but if you think about it carefully, if you had that much time to throw so many punches at the enemy, you could have turned them into a swarm of bees with a shuriken. And all that pressure point stuff is just fancy and useless."

Elder Itachi chuckled: "Although you are sometimes as timid as a mouse, you can be surprisingly arrogant at times, actually speaking so terribly of the Hyuga clan, which is second only to the Uchiha and Senju clans."

Aokiji shrugged, unconvinced: "I was just stating the facts based on my impressions."

"There's a reason why the Hyuga clan is second only to our Uchiha clan. The Hyuga clan was once known as the clan with the strongest taijutsu."

Elder Itachi commented, "It's just that it's declined now, well, that was to be expected."

When Madara Uchiha was young, he once fought against a top expert of the Hyuga clan. He vividly remembered how that move, Divine Void Strike, was able to shatter his Susanoo.

Among all the taijutsu ninjas he had fought, Madara Uchiha would call him the strongest!

"Was that to be expected?"

Elder Itachi gave a cold laugh: "You've heard of the Caged Bird Seal of the Hyuga clan, haven't you?"

Aokiji thought for a moment, then feigned ignorance: "I've heard a little about it. Apparently, because of the Byakugan's special strategic significance, all countries covet this power. To protect the weaker branch families, the Hyuga clan's main family implants the Caged Bird Seal into them. Once a branch family member's eye is taken, the main family can use this seal to seal or even destroy that eye, so that others won't covet the Byakugan."

"Hmph, this kind of trick can only fool an inexperienced brat like you. The Caged Bird Seal can not only directly destroy the Byakugan, but also make the branch family suffer unbearably, thereby playing a role in manipulating the branch family."

"Manipulating the division of the family?"

"Yes, manipulating the branch family. As long as there are caged birds, the children of the branch family will always be the children of the branch family, and the children of the main family will always be the children of the main family. The children of the branch family must serve as subordinates to the main family generation after generation."

"You may think I'm exaggerating, but if you think about it carefully, you'll realize that the idea of ​​using a caged bird to prevent someone from coveting your white eye is completely untenable. Although a caged bird can damage the white eye, it cannot hinder the flow of blood."

"If you really want to, just grab any member of the branch family, use illusion magic to manipulate him, force him to have sex with different women day and night, and he can soon have offspring with Byakugan."

"Otherwise, why do you think the Hyuga family has to implant the Caged Bird Seal into a newborn child at the age of three?"

"Furthermore, the main family's suppression of the branch family goes beyond this. They also restrict the branch family from learning advanced ninjutsu in order to prevent them from becoming stronger and thus make them serve the main family forever."

At this point, Elder Itachi snorted and sneered, "The Hyuga main clan calls itself a prestigious family, yet it can't even tolerate its own strong members. They're all petty and narrow-minded. It would be strange if the Hyuga clan didn't decline like this."

Aokiji sighed.

Elder Itachi proudly said, "True strongmen are never afraid of challenges. In our Uchiha clan, the capable rise and the mediocre fall. The clan leader has never been anyone's private property."

"For thousands of years, it is with this belief that the Uchiha clan has never declined and has always remained at the pinnacle of the ninja world."

At this point, he suddenly changed his tone, his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed, his tone full of dissatisfaction: "But look at Konoha now. Because they fear the power of the Uchiha, they exclude us at every turn and target me. How is this any different from the Hyuga clan's main family being wary of the branch family? In this way, Konoha's future decline is foreseeable."

Aokiji said weakly, "Even if you say that, I don't want to be..."

Before he could finish speaking, Elder Itachi pierced him with a sharp gaze.

Aokiji shut his mouth, not daring to utter a sound.

"How can Konoha be governed while surrounded by these insects!"

Elder Itachi snorted coldly: "For this, you must become Hokage and stop this decline. This is not just for the Uchiha, but also for the village, and even more so for world peace."

(End of this chapter)