They're promoting the "Konoha threat" theory, and spouting nonsense about the Hidden

Chapter 264 Jinchūriki of the Grim Reaper

Michiko Uzumaki's gaze toward Shingetsu Hozuki was filled with boundless hatred.

She is now the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of Konoha. Despite her current strength, she also has a boyfriend who is the "Yellow Flash," and she is highly respected in public.

But what kind of being is the Nine-Tails? Others may not know, but does she not know?

Whether from a ready-made example like Mito Uzumaki or from various records about tailed beasts, Michiko Uzumaki had a general understanding of her future life.

It can be said that since becoming the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, she has never had a peaceful night's sleep. Every time she opens and closes her eyes, she is fighting against the Nine-Tails inside her.

Especially after dating such a gentle and considerate boyfriend as Minato Namikaze, she deeply understands her future situation. The happier she is now, the more painful she feels about their future together.

Given her strength, talent, and status in Uzushio Village back then, no matter how she was chosen, it would have been impossible for her to come to Konoha as a so-called "good match".

However, because of Hozuki Shingetsu's decision to marry Uzumaki Kushina, the heavy responsibility of finding a possible way out for the family fell on her shoulders.

It is certainly extremely important for Konoha to cultivate a Jinchūriki who can firmly control the Nine-Tails. For the Uzumaki clan, before leaving their homeland, it was also very necessary to send a clansman to Konoha, demonstrating the cunning of having multiple escape routes.

But who can understand the situation of a child who left her home and family, abandoned by her parents and relatives, and suffered humiliation in Konoha?

It can be said that the root of her current tragic situation lies in Hozuki Shingetsu's choice back then.

She was almost at reconciliation with the past. With the passage of time and the care of Minato Namikaze, she had gradually begun to see herself as a Konoha resident.

However, at this moment, the situation in the ninja world suddenly changed dramatically, and Konoha was besieged by the four great ninja villages and seemed to be in imminent danger.

Once Konoha is destroyed, her fate as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is predictable.

Over the years of living and working together, she also learned that Minato Namikaze harbored a unique hatred for Shingetsu Hozuki.

With such old and new grudges, national and personal hatred, Michiko Uzumaki simply stopped thinking about anything else and seized the opportunity to take Shingetsu Hozuki away directly.

"grim Reaper……"

Looking at the grim reaper with blue eyes, fangs, and a ferocious face before him, Hozuki Shingetsu's expression turned solemn.

Although he was already quite familiar with the Grim Reaper in front of him because he had encountered the "Reaper Death Seal" ninjutsu several times before.

However, this time the situation is very different from the previous one.

While the Reaper Death Seal is indeed powerful, it has a fatal flaw: the Shinigami's attack speed is extremely slow. Usually, the Uzumaki clan needs to use sealing techniques to control the opponent's movements in advance before activating this skill to achieve a one-for-one exchange.

In previous encounters with this ninjutsu, Hozuki Shingetsu was able to use his speed advantage to escape.

However, due to the clone created by Limbo: Border Prison and the Vajra Chains, he was firmly controlled in place and unable to move.

In this situation, unable to rely on his speed advantage to dodge Death's attack, it's uncertain whether he can withstand Death's attack.

Even the Nine-Tails was split in two by Minato Namikaze's combined efforts. Hozuki Shingetsu's power lay entirely in his physical body, leaving his soul with virtually no protection...

Ok?

As Hozuki Shingetsu thought about this, he suddenly remembered the Spirit Transformation Technique that he had previously extorted from Shimura Danzo.

As is well known, Death's attacks target the soul.

The art of spirit transformation is precisely what allows the soul to leave the body. If he were to fly out in spirit form, wouldn't that be the perfect way to evade the Grim Reaper's attack?

No, he also had to guard against someone taking the opportunity to damage his body.

Hozuki Shingetsu suddenly thought of this. Although he rarely used spirit transformation techniques, he knew the importance of the physical body for a ninja, both from his knowledge of cultivation novels in his previous life and from his common knowledge of ninjas in this life.

Of the three enemies present, Nagato Uzumaki is unconscious and negligible, and Michiko Uzumaki is also unable to move after using the Reaper Death Seal, so she is not a threat either.

The only remaining threat to his physical body is Madara Uchiha.

Madara Uchiha's current strength is entirely due to the effects of the God Tree's chakra. Although Shingetsu Hozuki hasn't personally investigated this, he knows that the price of regaining youth must be high, and Madara Uchiha can't maintain this state for very long.

However, even though he only had a few seconds left, it was still enough for the clone created by Limbo: Border Jail to cut his body into pieces.

"So, to prevent this from happening, the only way is to use the Spirit Transformation Technique to infiltrate Madara Uchiha's body...?"

"But at such close range, we don't know if the Grim Reaper has any soul-tracking capabilities. Since that's the case, let's just go all in and try out that plan!"

A fierce glint flashed in Hozuki Shingetsu's eyes as he secretly made up his mind.

Not long ago, he had conceived a plan to combine the power of the four great monsters—Death God, Wraith, Evil God, and Enlightenment—to achieve the Six Paths.

However, no one travels this road, so it is easy to imagine that there must be many dangers involved.

Originally, he was planning to wait until he obtained the Rinnegan, then arrange for a trustworthy person to use the "Rinne Rebirth Technique" as a backup plan, giving himself an extra life before conducting the experiment.

However, seeing the Grim Reaper not far away remove the dagger from his mouth and raise it high, Hozuki Shingetsu had no choice but to take the risk and fight for it.

"Spiritualization Technique!"

And so, under the expectant gazes of Michiko Uzumaki and Madara Uchiha, just as the Grim Reaper's short sword was about to descend upon Shingetsu Hozuki's body, he struggled to raise his hands and clasp them together in front of his chest.

With a soft shout, a glimmer of light flew out from the top of his head, aiming directly at Uchiha Madara.

The smile that was about to appear on Madara Uchiha's face suddenly stopped, and his whole body froze on the spot, unable to move.

The Grim Reaper seemed to have never seen this scene before. The short sword that was about to strike Hozuki Shingetsu was abruptly stopped. A hint of doubt flashed in his usually calm eyes, and his gaze kept shifting between Hozuki Shingetsu and Uchiha Madara.

At this moment, within Madara Uchiha's mental world, Hozuki Shingetsu's mocking voice resounded in his heart.

"Lord Madara, I'm coming in!"

"You bastard, get out of my body right now!"

Madara Uchiha was furious when he saw Shingetsu Hozuki appear in his mental world.

The importance of the spiritual world to a person, especially to a ninja, is self-evident.

It was a place that was entirely his own private space, but now, such a place had been invaded by Hozuki Shingetsu without any reason. How could a proud person like Uchiha Madara tolerate such humiliation?

"Shh... don't get excited, maybe something even more exciting will happen in a moment."

Noticing Hozuki Shingetsu, whose Shinigami dagger had stopped in front of his body, and seeing Uchiha Madara's excitement, he smiled broadly.

Now that the first guess has been successful, it's time to move on to the next step of the plan.

So, if there are two souls inside Madara Uchiha's body at this moment, will there be any "accidental injury" when the Shinigami comes after him?

"?!"

Madara Uchiha, who hadn't yet grasped the meaning behind Hozuki Shingetsu's words, noticed the Shinigami gradually approaching after Hozuki Shingetsu's "kind" reminder.

In a flash, he understood Hozuki Shingetsu's idea.

"you……"

But before he could get excited, he saw Hozuki Shingetsu's spirit lunge forward and firmly control Uchiha Madara's spirit.

Although the Divine Tree Chakra restored his body to its prime, his soul remained that of the old Uchiha Madara.

Years of war and the dark, underground life had long since tarnished Madara Uchiha's soul, making him no longer the powerful figure he once was.

Therefore, with the blessing of the Spirit Transformation Technique, Hozuki Shingetsu easily gained the upper hand in the mental battle against Uchiha Madara thanks to his strong and powerful soul.

It was at this moment that the Grim Reaper finally discovered the trace of Hozuki Shingetsu's soul. Following the "scent," he arrived in front of Uchiha Madara, his short sword sweeping across, about to cleave Hozuki Shingetsu's soul in two.

"You bastard, what are you doing? Let me go right now!"

As the Death God's short sword drew ever closer, a look of panic finally appeared on Madara Uchiha's face.

Death was not frightening to him, and even the Rinnegan falling into Hozuki Shingetsu's hands was not unacceptable.

After all, he still has Obito Uchiha as a backup plan. As long as the Rinnegan is not destroyed, he will have a day to be resurrected.

However, it's a different story when the soul is sealed by the Grim Reaper. Once the soul enters the Grim Reaper's belly, it can't be resurrected, let alone reincarnated.

(Madara Uchiha was unaware of the secret of the Uzumaki mask)

This means that his "Eye of the Moon" plan, which he had painstakingly planned for many years, even faking his death to escape and sitting underground for decades, had all failed. How could he accept such an outcome?

But reality did not change according to his will. In his panic, he was gently tossed by Hozuki Shingetsu and thrown towards the Grim Reaper's dagger.

Wow!

As easily as a knife slicing through butter, there was no resistance when the two touched, and the short dagger smoothly cut through Madara Uchiha's soul.

"what……"

Faced with such soul-crushing pain, Madara Uchiha couldn't help but let out a bloodcurdling wail.

However, just as Michiko Uzumaki witnessed this scene and a look of despair appeared in her eyes, the originally incredibly smooth Death God's short sword seemed to suddenly encounter something hard and became stuck in Madara Uchiha's soul.

"Ugh...it hurts! What is disturbing my slumber...hmm? The remnants of the First God?"

Amidst Hozuki Shingetsu's satisfied smile, an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out in Uchiha Madara's mental space.

The origin of this sound was unknown, but it was filled with endless vicissitudes and pain.

The moment he heard that voice, Madara Uchiha was completely stunned.

He truly didn't know why his mental world was like a sieve, not only letting in a ghost lantern crescent moon, but now another person had appeared out of nowhere.

Moreover, it's easy to tell from his tone that this person seems to have been dormant in his own mental world for a long time.

"...Judging from its attributes, it should be a remnant related to death. Ha, as expected of my foolish younger brother! He can't even keep an eye on a remnant, and he still has the nerve to inherit 'Ninja Sect'?"

After a brief moment of confusion, Ōtsutsuki Indra quickly recognized the Shinigami (death god) opposite him.

It's not hard to tell from his tone that the Grim Reaper was originally sealed by Ashura Otsutsuki before being passed on to the Uzumaki clan.

The Grim Reaper on the other side naturally did not understand the meaning of Indra's words. Having already killed the wrong person, it was unwilling to give up in this situation and immediately tried to increase its strength to split open Uchiha Madara's soul.

Unfortunately, Indra was still the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths. Although he had been reincarnating for thousands of years without a physical form, he could still hold his own against the Grim Reaper for a short time.

"As expected... Otsutsuki Indra, the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths, still lives in his soul in this era before Madara Uchiha passed away and Sasuke Uchiha was born."

Hozuki Shingetsu, instead of feeling flustered by Otsutsuki Indra's incessant chatter, became even more invigorated.

As early as when he first conceived of gathering the power of the four great monsters to achieve the Six Paths, he had specifically imagined how to incorporate the Grim Reaper into his body.

Normally, when a Jinchuriki subdues a Tailed Beast, they control the beast and then use sealing techniques to seal it.

But death is something that either kills you when you encounter it, or you disappear before the time is right. Without any precedent, how can you control it and render it unable to resist?

Hozuki Shingetsu had been clueless about this matter until just now, at the critical moment, he suddenly realized a key point—the soul fragment of Otsutsuki Indra was hidden inside Uchiha Madara's body!

That's the eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths. In terms of soul strength, being able to reincarnate for a thousand years should be enough to put him in a stalemate with the Grim Reaper for a while, right?

Given this brief moment of paralysis, Hozuki Shingetsu is confident he can take the Grim Reaper into his soul.

As expected, the subsequent developments revealed that Indra's soul was indeed hidden within Madara's soul. Through Madara, Indra successfully challenged the Grim Reaper.

Seeing the Grim Reaper and Indra locked in a stalemate not far away, Hozuki Shingetsu couldn't help but reveal a sly, weasel-like smile.

Indra, having reincarnated for a thousand years, no longer possessed his former strength and inevitably fell into a disadvantageous position in the tug-of-war with Death.

Therefore, when he saw the Grim Reaper's dagger gradually sliding down, Hozuki Shingetsu knew that Indra's power was about to dissipate, so he immediately seized the opportunity and lightly formed a hand seal.

"Immortal Technique - Sealing Art - Spirit - Eight Trigrams Sealing!"

The instant the sealing technique on Hozuki Shingetsu's palm was completed, golden chains appeared from his palm as if equipped with autopilot. They nimbly spun several times in the air, one end tightly encircling the Shinigami, the other plunging into Uchiha Madara's body and seizing a dark soul.

Now that he has this opportunity, he naturally cannot be content with just being a Shinigami Jinchuriki.

What death god, what Indra, they'll all obediently become resources for my strength growth, bring them on!

(End of this chapter)