Warlock Invasion of Naruto.

If he hadn't been caught off guard and ambushed at close range by Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who were able to use the Nine-Tails' chakra, and hadn't stayed behind alone to hold off Kinkaku, Ginkaku, and dozens of radical Jonin from Kumogakure, Tobirama-sensei would never have died, given the mobility of the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Even so, when Tobirama mentioned the First Hokage and Madara, he admitted that he was inferior to them.

People of Hiruzen Sarutobi's generation only knew that the Nine-Tails was very strong and that its chakra was terrifying, but they didn't have a clear reference point as to just how strong it was.

After all, no matter how strong the Nine-Tails was, it was subdued by the First Hokage and Madara in turn, and then suppressed by Mito Uzumaki for decades, unable to cause any trouble.

It wasn't until Kushina unleashed the full power of the Nine-Tails' chakra, directly causing a change in the celestial phenomena, that Hiruzen Sarutobi realized how terrifying this was, standing directly opposite the Nine-Tails.

At the same time, he could no longer imagine what level of strength the First Hokage, Madara, and Mito had actually reached.

How could Hiruzen Sarutobi not be shocked when the masked man in front of him claimed to be Madara Uchiha?

The crimson Mangekyou Sharingan hidden beneath the mask unmistakably identified the person as a ninja from the Uchiha clan.

"You say you're Uchiha Madara?! As far as I know, Madara was killed by the First Hokage at the Valley of the End. To impersonate someone who has been dead for many years, and even an ancestor of your Uchiha clan, isn't that incredibly disrespectful to the dead? And how do you explain how Uchiha Madara knows the First Hokage's Wood Release?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi probed with his words.

Seeing this, Obito glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said with interest, "You were that kid who followed Tobirama back then? So many years have passed, and you've grown from a kid into an old man. Time really is merciless. As for whether I am Madara or not, you can take off my mask yourself to find out, if you have the guts."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze sharpened. He was still very hesitant to take action against the ninja who claimed to be Madara Uchiha. After all, if it really was Madara, they had no chance of winning at all.

"Playing tricks!" Nawaki sneered. "If you were really Madara Uchiha, who was on par with my grandfather, why would you be sneaking around and afraid to show your true face? My grandfather was reminiscing about his past with you before he died. I don't believe Madara is a ninja like you who hides his face!"

With that, Rope Tree shouted, and his chakra surged. He formed hand seals, and life energy filled his entire body.

'Wood Release: Advent of the World of Trees!'

Numerous tender green buds rose from the ground, growing rapidly from the size of a palm. Countless roots and trunks broke through the soil, and in the blink of an eye, they grew into a dense forest.

The surrounding thick trees, driven by Rope Tree's chakra, enveloped the Wood Release technique created by Obito and then tore it into pieces.

Obito, however, remained calm and stood motionless.

Seeing his arrogance, Nawaki became serious and controlled the surrounding trees to launch an attack on Obito.

boom!

boom!

boom!

With each lash of the massive tree trunk, huge craters were smashed into the ground, sending sand and dust flying everywhere.

"This is......"

"How is this possible?!"

Why did this happen?!

As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, the scene that was revealed inside stunned all the Jonin present.

The masked man stood unharmed at the edge of the crater. If it weren't for the huge pit in the ground, leaving behind trenches that stretched for dozens of meters, they would have thought that Rope Tree's Wood Release ninjutsu attack had missed.

Moreover, even if it didn't hit directly, being caught in the blast of such an attack would inevitably result in injury, especially since the opponent's clothes weren't even dusty.

Faced with Rope Tree's terrifying Wood Release attack, they knew they absolutely could not withstand it.

Although he knew that Nawaki had awakened the First Hokage's Wood Release and was very powerful, he mostly used Water Release and Earth Release when carrying out missions, and rarely used Wood Release ninjutsu.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi had never seen Nawaki use Wood Release to its fullest extent before. After such an attack, even Kushina and Shiraha would not be able to stand still and deal with it. No matter how strong a ninja is, they are still just mortals.

Could it really be Madara Uchiha?!

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes widened, and his heart sank.

"I told you, your Wood Release is far inferior to Hashirama's," Obito said calmly.

The strange occurrence before his eyes even made Nawaki waver, but he was unwilling to give up and once again manipulated the trees to attack Obito.

This time, however, he was manipulating vines as thick as his forearm. The soft vines that were dancing in the air suddenly became as hard as spears and thrust towards Obito.

Whoosh whoosh!

A series of fine, whistling sounds echoed through the air.

This time, Rope Tree controlled the vines to launch attacks in sequence, trying to see how the opponent dodged the attacks.

The next second, Rope Tree's eyes widened!

The spear-like vines pierced straight through—no, they went right through!

"I wasn't under a genjutsu? So, this is a space-time ninjutsu?!" Nawaki realized.

“That’s right.” Obito admitted directly. Taking advantage of Nawaki’s stunned silence and the moment he stopped attacking, his body twisted and he used Kamui to teleport.

Rope Tree did not intervene. The other party's abilities, identity, and combat strength were unknown. Since the other party was leaving on its own initiative, it would be unwise to try to stop it, especially since he probably couldn't stop it from leaving anyway.

"Third Hokage, should we return to the village immediately and check? There are only a handful of Uchiha clan ninjas who have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, they should be able to..."

A Jonin from the Anbu reminded him that he was an elite member of the original Root organization. After Danzo was imprisoned and sentenced to life imprisonment, Root was disbanded on the spot, and he was transferred to the Third Hokage's command because of his skill in sealing techniques.

"Don't make this public!" Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his hand to interrupt him.

Currently, it is known that four members of the Uchiha clan have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan: Fugaku Uchiha, who remained in Konoha, and Chiho, Shisui, and Issei, who left Konoha and joined the Land of Whirlpools.

Each ninja's abilities are crucial to their survival. If their abilities and information are known to others, targeted battle plans can be devised.

Each pair of Mangekyou Sharingan has a different eye technique. Currently, Hiruzen Sarutobi only knows that Shisui's eye technique is Kotoamatsukami, and he knows nothing about the Mangekyou Sharingan eye techniques of Fugaku, Chiho, and Issei.

Since Kushina herself was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and she and Hakuba were arguably the two strongest ninjas in the world, it seemed unnecessary for Chiho, Issei, and Shisui to launch a sneak attack.

The only thing Hiruzen Sarutobi could pose a threat to Kushina and Shiraha was the S-rank sealing technique 'Reaper Death Seal'. However, this sealing technique originated from the Uzumaki clan, and Kushina still knew how to undo it. Kushina also took back the Shinigami Mask.

This sealing technique can only have a deterrent effect at most. Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi has now recovered his peak strength, he knows that it is difficult to contend with Kushina and Shiraha at present.

Thinking about it that way, only Fugaku, who remained in Konoha, was left.

Hiruzen Sarutobi understood the meaning of the ANBU Jonin perfectly: he suspected Fugaku.

After Danzo's sneak attack on Shisui and the departure of most of the Uchiha clan from Konoha, the conflict between the Uchiha who remained in Konoha and the village intensified. However, Fugaku showed unusual restraint. Sarutobi Hiruzen initially thought this was due to his maturity and composure, but now he couldn't help but think more about it, because Fugaku was acting too cooperatively.

However, this is a special time, and we cannot draw conclusions without evidence.

As for asking Fugaku to explain his Mangekyou Sharingan abilities and prove his innocence, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't bring it up, as it would be tantamount to openly stating his inner suspicions and doubts.

"Return to Konoha immediately!" Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the people behind him, then looked at Jiriku beside him: "Master Jiriku, Konoha will compensate for all the losses of the Fire Temple. Thank you so much for your help this time."

"Lord Hokage, you flatter me." Jiraiya clasped his hands together.

......

July, Konoha Year 56.

The Land of Whirlpools, an underground laboratory.

puff!

A muffled thud was heard, and the eyeball floating in the petri dish suddenly deflated as if air had leaked out.

"Looks like getting the Mangekyou Sharingan for free is going to be pretty difficult..."

Bai Yu stroked his chin, lost in thought.

In just over six months, he has mastered cloning technology and has begun to attempt to clone the Mangekyou Sharingan using his own cells and pupil power as samples.

However, each time the eyeball is formed, it either shriveles up like this, bursts open, or its pupil power disappears completely, turning into an ordinary eyeball.

Having obtained the Mangekyou Sharingan from another world, Bai Yu successfully synthesized the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, but in his opinion, the increase in eye power was not a qualitative leap.

Clearly, cloning technology has some flaws, and it is at least very limited for organisms at a certain level.

However, this was within Bai Yu's expectations.

After all, if cloning technology is really that advanced, is it possible to clone someone else with the same bloodline level and purity as him?

Bloodline and chakra do not appear out of thin air.

The Mangekyou Sharingan brought back from the parallel world was too weak, not even comparable to Bai Yu's three-tomoe Sharingan state.

Clearly, during the process of cloning the Mangekyou Sharingan, the pupil power was constantly decreasing.

Of course, this is not to say that Shin Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan has no value.

Conversely, when combined into the Eternal Eye, its spatial capabilities are slightly enhanced, making it highly valuable for development and utilization.

If it could be combined with the [Teleportation] spell, it could serve as the core of an ultra-long-distance teleportation array, and even enable inter-world teleportation.

Thinking of this, Bai Yu looked at several pure white eyeballs floating in another petri dish. These were eyeballs cloned using English human cells and Hippocampus cells.

As an old friend, when Hyuga sent Hyuga Hizashi to Konoha to carry out clandestine activities, Bai Yu immediately removed Eito's Caged Bird Seal. As a result, Eito's Byakugan purity was increased, making him Bai Yu's top priority for cloning.

"Given this level of pupil power, it would probably require thousands of Byakugan eyes. The entire Hyuga clan would have to relocate to obtain enough clone samples..."

Bai Yu decided to wait for Hizashi's good news, and then turned his attention to the last petri dish. The huge petri dish contained only a piece of meat the size of half a palm, which was Urashiki's body tissue.

During this period, Bai Yu attempted to use Urashiki's body tissue to improve his bloodline purity and cell activity. However, after conducting the transplantation experiment, he discovered that his bloodline purity had decreased by 0.07%. Although his chakra had increased significantly, Bai Yu still stopped the cell transplantation.

After all, for him, the purity and quality of bloodline are the most important things, and he cannot put the cart before the horse.

Bai Yu himself hadn't expected that, in terms of bloodline purity alone, he was even higher than Urashiki, a true member of the Otsutsuki clan.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Urashiki's cells are useless to him. At least they can be used to improve the bloodline purity and chakra of Kushina, Kouji, Taiichi, and the incarnation. Before that, Shiraha needs to purify the remaining cells of Urashiki.

"Guoxin Jushi".

After turning his gaze away, Bai Yu called out to the empty laboratory.

"Lord Baiyu." Guoxin Jushi appeared in front of Baiyu in a flash.

"Let's go, prepare to summon the Samadhi True Fire."

"Yes."

Bai Yu was the first to walk towards the next room.

Guoxin Jushi followed without expression. He had become numb during this time. Every now and then, Bai Yu would have him summon the Samadhi True Fire to burn his body, just like getting regular health care.

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[237. Chapter 230 Begins (Part Two)]

In the dark and cold underground cave, the space suddenly rippled, like a stone thrown into a calm water, creating waves.

Obito's figure then appeared.