Immortality begins with the ninjas of Konoha

"Brother, it's all my fault. I made you come to the hospital to see me on the first day of the new year..."

Sasuke Uchiha, who had been forcibly training in throwing techniques, severely sprained his left ankle. He looked at Itachi with a guilty expression from the hospital bed next door. They had to spend this important holiday in the hospital.

"It's okay, Sasuke. Don't push yourself in the future."

“Ninja training is not a simple matter. Even if my father and I are not here, I still need to tell my mother.”

Itachi Uchiha gently gave instructions by the bedside, while Sasuke nodded repeatedly with a guilty look on his face. When he saw Mikoto Uchiha appear, he immediately cheered.

Watching his younger brother act spoiled in front of their mother, Itachi Uchiha silently left. When he arrived at the door, he noticed Shisui Uchiha leaning against the shadows.

"The clan chief is really going too far. At your age, you shouldn't be involved in such things."

"Itachi, it's not too late to back out now. This was my mission to begin with."

Uchiha Shisui crossed his arms and asked in a low voice, but Uchiha Itachi shook his head.

In a little while, he would cooperate with Shisui to kill the father who loved his son. Just thinking about what he had just witnessed, Itachi Uchiha felt a pang of heartache.

"What will happen to a seriously ill child without a father?"

Following behind Shisui, Itachi Uchiha quickly put the thought out of his mind; as a ninja, this was not something he should be considering.

...

Because of her son's serious illness, Kohinata Mukai sold the nice apartment she had just bought two years ago and moved to a simple wooden house near the dense forest on the west side.

When the middle-aged man returned home in the afternoon to prepare dinner for the mother and son, he quickly noticed something was wrong, and countless veins immediately appeared around his left eye.

"Blind eyes!"

With his Byakugan activated, Kohinata Mukai instantly jumped out of the kitchen window and escaped the smoke bomb's range, only to be immediately caught up by an Anbu ninja wearing a crow mask.

At the same time, countless shurikens rained down from the sky. Kohinata Mukai "danced" in the gaps, kicking away several kunai in succession and successfully changing the direction of the shurikens aimed at him.

The moment he landed, Kohinata Mukai's chakra erupted beneath his feet, allowing him to escape the ground covered by shuriken and dodge Uchiha Itachi's steel wire blockade.

Shisui's kunai, imbued with fire-attribute chakra, flew towards them, and Kohinata Mukai, who was in the air, quickly drew his kunai to block them one after another.

The explosion following the collision caused the middle-aged man, who had just landed, to cough lightly.

"It's an honor to be from the Uchiha clan's Anbu!"

"it's over!"

As soon as Kohinata Mukai finished speaking, Shisui's short sword imbued with wind-style chakra pierced through the middle-aged man's body from behind.

Despite seeing through the illusion at the last moment, Kohinata Mukai's lungs were still severely damaged.

After creating some distance, he could only kneel on one knee, cough up a mouthful of blood, and whisper:

"The kunai-no-gami is actually shrouded in illusion? When exactly did this happen...?"

Shisui did not answer the question. Noticing that Itachi Uchiha had not made a move, he used the Body Flicker Technique again. With the help of his Sharingan, he repeatedly attacked the opponent's vital points with his short sword.

When Kohinata Mukai's kunai was severed, a huge wound appeared, starting from his collarbone and running through half of his body, from which blood gushed out.

"So it was a tactile illusion... cough..."

As he lay on the ground, Kohinata Mukai murmured something and then looked unfocused. He didn't explain anything; from the day he became a spy, he knew his fate.

Uchiha Itachi bowed and approached the middle-aged man. Several other Uchiha clan ANBU ninjas then arrived.

"Take out his eyes! Lord Xiu needs this power."

"Itachi, you carry out this order. This is the clan leader's command!"

The masked clansmen all looked at Uchiha Itachi with cold eyes. Itachi's right hand trembled slightly as he noticed a trace of lingering affection in the middle-aged man's eyes, and a feeling of pain immediately welled up in his heart.

"Let me do it! It's too much of a strain for the clan chief to be seven years old."

"No, Shisui, this is what my father instructed."

Itachi Uchiha's eyes turned bloodshot. He regained control of his emotions and, under the watchful eyes of the others, finally completed the mission.

...

With a longing look in his eyes and a painful wail, Itachi Uchiha returned home looking dazed, kneeling before his father with his head bowed.

Fugaku Uchiha carefully read the mission report. Shisui hadn't mentioned Itachi's mistake, and a look of satisfaction quickly appeared on Fugaku's face.

"As expected of my son!"

"Itachi, you did a great job."

"Father, the battle has drained too much chakra. I'd like to rest for a while."

Uchiha Itachi remained as calm as ever, his small face showing little expression. Uchiha Fugaku was even more pleased and smiled reassuringly:

"Get some rest. These kinds of missions, which only the secret service can handle, will be of great benefit to your growth."

Itachi Uchiha didn't remember what his father said at the end.

Upon entering the restroom, Itachi scrubbed his right hand vigorously, and bloodstains seemed to keep appearing. Although he tried his best to control his emotions, tears still involuntarily streamed down his face.

Looking up at his tear-streaked reflection in the mirror, Itachi Uchiha felt a surge of burning chakra rush to his eyes. He realized his Sharingan had transformed into three tomoe, and his crimson eyes seemed to radiate an evil power.

"Sasuke, I will definitely change this cruel world..."

-

In the dark room, Osamu Furukawa was still reviewing documents. After obtaining the information from Root, he had to deal with many loose ends.

"Senior, mission accomplished!"

Shisui, wearing a crow mask, suddenly appeared and knelt on the ground to report in a low voice.

He didn't mention Fugaku Uchiha's irregularities, since it was an internal Uchiha matter, and he believed that as long as the mission was completed, Osamu Furukawa wouldn't care about the process.

"Very good! The opponent has mastered some Baguazhang. It seems your illusion techniques have improved further."

"Thanks to my senior's teachings on Yin Release, I was able to unlock the potential of the Sharingan."

"The same goes for swordsmanship; without our predecessors, we wouldn't have this power to protect everyone."

Shisui raised his head, his eyes filled with reverence. Furukawa Osamu approached his junior, patted him on the shoulder, and encouraged him:

"Don't say that, I've seen all your hard work!"

"How are you feeling with the new drug? If you experience any discomfort, please let us know."

"This is a drug that targets special chakra in the brain; don't underestimate its power."

Uchiha Shisui thought back carefully, then suddenly blushed. He had taken too much medicine and kept dreaming about his senior becoming Hokage and the days when he was protecting him.

Fortunately, the mask concealed his face, and Shisui finally responded seriously:

"Aside from the fact that my stagnant pupil power is slowly increasing again, I feel no discomfort."

The meteorite from Hoshinin Village possesses a unique chakra, which seems to have been absorbed from the roots of the Divine Tree and then mutated by combining with cosmic energy.

Furukawa Osamu was able to [collect] this life-giving energy, which he used to create mutated herbs, with excellent results.

"You've worked hard. Some of the ANBU have gone to support Lord Jiraiya. In the days to come, you will have to shoulder more responsibility!"

"Yes, senior!"

Uchiha Shisui bowed respectfully in response, then suddenly thought of Uchiha Itachi, but quickly muttered to himself:

"The clan chief probably won't continue to make things difficult for his son..."

Chapter 207 Intrigue and War... (Part 1)

In mid-January of Konoha Year 55, after the New Year had arrived, the Land of Bears once again suffered a calamity.

Not long ago, Hoshigakure was destroyed by an unknown enemy, Hoshikage was seriously injured, and a treasure passed down for a hundred years was lost, which caused the small ninja village to suddenly fall into ruin in a short period of time.

Just when everyone thought it was over, the new year arrived and another great war broke out. Rōshi, who had fled to the vicinity of the ninja village, quickly made the ninjas of the small village understand the strength of the five great nations.

Faced with the ninjas from Iwagakure, Konoha, Sunagakure, and Kumogakure who were pursuing him, Rōshi repeatedly used his Tailed Beast Transformation, and the giant red-haired ape left severe psychological trauma on the Hoshigakure ninjas.

What frustrates the ninjas of the small country even more is that the number of battles is increasing, many territories are being destroyed, and it is becoming more difficult to get money from the daimyo during the New Year. The village may not be able to hold on.

Old Zi, who had once again hidden in the Poison Gas Canyon, was covered in wounds, and his purple coat was stained with dried blood.

Leaning against the stone wall, clutching his chest and panting heavily, Old Purple looked dejected. He had only wanted to prolong the death of the tailed beast within him, but the ninjas of the great nations simply wouldn't give him that chance.

"It's no use. You'll be caught by them sooner or later. Using my chakra will only corrupt your body."

"Death is inevitable. This is humanity. We are always killing for various desires."

"I hope I won't be sealed away after my next resurrection. I have no interest in killing humans, and your war has nothing to do with me."

The Four-Tails sighed idly inside its body. The humans who sealed it during the Fourth Shinobi World War had caused a great deal of bloodshed, and it had long been fed up with this kind of life.

If death could bring complete freedom, the Four-Tails, as a tailed beast, would prefer that Old Purple die sooner, as such a struggle for survival seemed utterly ugly to it.

"It was indeed my fault. I should have stuck to my ninja way, but I was deceived by foolish words and dragged the village into war."

"But I can't die yet, I can't hand you over to them, otherwise the balance will be broken again, and war might break out."

"I apologize for using your power without permission earlier..."

Old Purple was about to continue pleading for the Tailed Beasts' forgiveness when a half-black, half-white creature suddenly appeared before him, its eyes filled with greed as it looked at them:

"They actually delivered themselves to our doorstep! How interesting!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lao Zi hurriedly jumped up, revealing his transparent tongue, which wrapped around Lao Zi's ankle. Just as the Four-Tails Jinchuriki turned his head and spewed out a huge magma ball, another figure suddenly appeared.

The puppet of the Hungry Ghost Path raised its hands, and the powerful Lava Release ninjutsu was silently absorbed.

As Rōshi was slammed to the ground, the Human Path arrived before him, vigorously pulling at his soul. Nagato emerged from the ground, looked at the Four-Tails Jinchūriki, and said softly:

"Since you also yearn for peace, then become my strength!"

"Let God rule you. If you stop resisting, I might consider preserving most of your consciousness."

With most of his soul torn out, Old Purple managed to speak with difficulty, looking at Nagato, who was dressed in a black robe and wearing a mask, and whispering in anguish:

"It's precisely because of guys like you that I don't want to hand over this power to you..."

"We can bring him back alive and recreate him as a puppet!"

Seeing that Nagato intended to completely extract Roshi's soul, Black Zetsu immediately whispered a suggestion, then added, remembering that sealing the tailed beasts required a certain order:

"By retaining only a sliver of consciousness and extracting the Tailed Beast, this body can still use the Tailed Beast's power."

Thinking of Konan's modification techniques, Nagato finally stopped extracting the soul, used Yin-Yang Release to quickly create black rods, and then inserted them into Rōshi's limbs and body:

"That's fine, sealing takes time anyway."

"Five Elements Seal!"

When Nagato's sealing technique ended, Rōshi, unable to refine chakra any longer, was utterly desperate. In addition to the ninjas of the Five Great Nations, there were also powerful and ambitious individuals who had emerged, and this world was destined to never achieve peace.

"We were able to capture the Tailed Beast this time entirely thanks to your intelligence. Are the ninjas from the Four Great Nations arriving soon?"

Behind the mask, Nagato asked calmly, and Black Zetsu, who had been flustered in front of Furukawa Osamu after receiving praise, replied with composure in his hoarse voice:

"We're almost at this valley. Jiraiya and the others are hot on our heels, and Minato Namikaze is here too."

"It seems that Konoha also has a plan to capture them."

Nagato pondered for a moment, a resolute glint flashing in his Rinnegan. He tossed out a scroll and released the Pain puppet, then retrieved the other puppets.

"We'll leave with the Four-Tails. This valley is perfect for using the Deva Path to make the ninjas of the great nations suffer!"

"With Minato Namikaze around, Jiraiya shouldn't die. Take this opportunity to spread the news that Konoha ninjas captured tailed beasts and killed ninjas from other villages."

Black Zetsu chuckled upon hearing the plan, and the White Zetsu possessing him also laughed, chuckling and remarking:

"If war breaks out again, that terrifying guy won't be chasing us anymore!"

"Thanks to this big monkey, it actually managed to get to our base."

When Lao Zi heard the conversation between the three, a look of pain appeared on his face again. He was already unable to control the sealing techniques on his body, and with the second sealing, he could not release the tailed beast.

The puppet Pain quickly became like a living person. As Nagato and Black Zetsu disappeared with Roshi, the Deva Path puppet's legs were covered in metal, flames shot out, and it instantly took off thanks to its advanced equipment.

When Konan and Furukawa Osamu modified the puppet together, they added various extra weapons, among which the leg thrusters were particularly amazing.

The "treasure" that Nagato found after using the Summoning Jutsu multiple times is a highly technologically advanced multi-functional boot. Fortunately, the amount of chakra required to maintain the equipment is not much, which the Gedo Mazo can easily provide.

Silently flying above the canyon, Pain channeled immense chakra into the puppet's body via black rods, beginning to gather power while muttering to himself:

"Feel the pain! How can someone who doesn't understand pain comprehend true peace?"