In the Land of Water, Kirigakure, many Kiri Shinobi had gathered in the Mizukage's office.
However, Kirigakure had yet to select a new Mizukage.
The current leader was still the elder, who had taken charge after the battle with Simu.
Kirigakure had suffered heavy losses. All seven ninja swordsmen were dead, along with many elite fighters.
As a result, choosing a suitable candidate for Mizukage was impossible at the moment.
The discussion in the meeting revolved around one main issue: whether to send troops with the other three major countries.
"Genji-sama, no matter how strong Konoha is, it's still just a village. If we don't send troops, we'll definitely be annexed by other nations!"
Some of the Kiri Shinobi Jōnin couldn't accept surrendering to Konoha. They felt humiliated, as Konoha had killed their Mizukage and now expected them to submit.
However, this proposal was soon countered.
"Konoha's strength is too strong. We stand no chance."
"Besides, Konoha's forces are already in the Land of Water. If we join the Three Kingdoms' alliance, we'll be the first to be attacked."
The debate between the two sides raged on until Genji raised his crutch and lightly tapped it on the ground.
"Quiet."
The entire room fell silent.
Most of the Kiri Shinobi still had great respect for the elderly leader, Genji, who had been there since Kirigakure's founding.
An old voice came from Genji-sama.
"Kirigakure will not support the Allied Forces of the Three Villages. If necessary, we will even provide full assistance to Konoha."
"What?!"
The statement shocked the room, and many of the senior fighters couldn't accept it.
Genji-sama's expression remained unchanged.
"Hanyu Simu's strength is far greater than what he's shown."
His words silenced the room.
But someone still questioned,
"Can't the Allied Forces of the Four Nations defeat him?"
Genji-sama paused, then shook his head.
"With his strength, he can't be dealt with by numbers alone."
"Even if Rasa, Onoki, and the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure fight together, I can't say they would win."
"Not to mention, Konoha has many talented fighters..."
At this point, Genji's eyes grew sad.
"If it were possible, who would be willing to bear such humiliation?"
Before anyone could respond, the lake around Kirigakure suddenly erupted with a deafening crash.
Several Kiri Shinobi Anbu appeared in the meeting room in an instant.
"Genji-sama, someone has attacked Utakata!"
Genji expression changed.
Utakata was the last Jinchūriki left in Kirigakure, the host of Six Tails, Saiken.
A black pyramid suddenly descended from the sky, crashing into the houses by the lake and destroying them.
The Anbu ninjas guarding Utakata were killed almost instantly.
The impact from the black pyramid created a massive hole in the lake, and the waves rushed wildly toward the shore.
A figure emerged from the depths of the woods, his face showing no emotion.
It was Jigen, a monk who had secretly been in the ninja world for thousands of years.
His fair face was marked with black lines, the wedge left on him by the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Looking at the lake before him, he remained indifferent.
It seemed that dealing with a Six-Tails Jinchūriki was as easy for him as a simple errand.
Crimson Chakra poured out from the base of the black pyramid, and the surrounding lake instantly began to boil.
A suffocating aura filled the air.
"Roar!"
Thick smoke billowed from the pyramid.
At that moment, the young Utakata had fully transformed into his Tailed Beast form.
His entire body was engulfed by Tailed Beast Chakra, and a stream of acidic mucus spewed from his mouth, dissolving the black pyramid that was pressing down on him.
Four thick white tails emerged from his back, lifting the heavy pyramid with ease.
With a powerful stomp, the ground and the lake beneath him shattered.
Utakata's Chakra-infused fist, in the shape of the Tailed Beast's paw, slammed towards his enemy.
Jigen remained unfazed.
The powerful air pressure from the strike ruffled his hair, but he simply raised his arms, slowly and deliberately.
He caught the incoming fist with his palm.
As soon as their hands made contact, a black vortex formed around Jigen's hands.
The Chakra from the Tailed Beast, wrapped around Utakata's body, was rapidly absorbed.
Utakata felt his strength draining quickly. Desperately, he attempted to break free, pushing to release the full power of Six Tails.
His body expanded, ready to transform fully into the beast's complete form.
But Jigen wasn't done.
He raised his other arm, and a long black rod materialized from the air, piercing Utakata's body.
With the rod's insertion, the Tailed Beast inside Utakata stopped moving instantly.
His Chakra became chaotic, and Jigen began absorbing it into his own body.
Utakata's body weakened, and even the Six Tails within him grew sluggish.
Just as Jigen was about to claim Six Tails, a sudden event occurred.
The ground beneath his feet cracked open, and a longsword shot out from the earth, heading straight for him.
Faced with the sudden attack, Jigen had no choice but to release Utakata and fly into the air.
The attacker wore gray armor with a gas mask covering his face.
Jigen frowned.
Having lived in this world for so long, he had a good understanding of the ninja world.
If he remembered correctly, this person was the former leader of Amegakure, Hanzō of the Salamander.
What was he doing here?
Was that technique called Impure World Reincarnation?
Hanzō of the Salamander was also a bit surprised to see Jigen.
Simu hadn't expected Jigen to show up so soon. In the original timeline, he should have still been recovering his strength.
Regardless, Hanzō wasn't going to let Jigen take Six Tails.
Hanzō quickly clasped his hands together.
In the next moment, a massive cloud of purple poisonous gas erupted from his mouth and flew directly toward Jigen.
Since the gas was a physical substance and not a ninjutsu technique, Jigen couldn't absorb it.
Without hesitation, Jigen disappeared.
Using a magic technique he had mastered to shrink his body, he charged straight into the poisonous gas.
As long as he held his breath, the poisonous gas wouldn't affect him.
However, this tactic was useless against Hanzō of the Salamander, who had mastered Observation Haki.
No matter how small Jigen became, Hanzō could still locate him through Haki.
Suddenly, the long knife in Hanzō's hand slashed toward Jigen's shoulder.
"Damn it, have you seen through me?" Jigen's voice hissed.
He quickly appeared in the air, narrowly avoiding Hanzō's strike.
Using his powerful waist strength, Jigen spun mid-air and delivered a heavy kick toward Hanzō.
The blow sent Hanzō flying, crashing into the ground and splashing into a puddle of water.
Jigen immediately looked up.
In the sky, a massive figure came crashing down.
"Hell Spike · Two Finger!"
Simu controlled his new clone to deliver his most powerful attack.
At this moment, Simu could only use the Two Finger technique, but with the enhancement of Armament Haki, it was as powerful as the Third Raikage's full-strength strike.
Simu's figure fell like lightning, slashing toward Jigen with tremendous force.
Jigen's expression change
In a panic, he used the Sukunahikona to enlarge the object in his hand, turning it into a massive black bowl that enveloped his body.
The Third Raikage's strike crashed down with terrifying force, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap.
Blinding thunder exploded against the black bowl, lighting up the gray skies over Kirigakure.
But no matter how powerful the strike was, the black bowl didn't break.
No one knew what it was made of, but even the Third Raikage Ai, known as the strongest spear, couldn't shatter it.
Inside the bowl, Jigen looked grim.
He had expected capturing a mere Six Tails Jinchūriki to be an easy task, but things had clearly gone wrong.
"Forget it. I'll wait until my strength is fully restored"
As a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan from the same era as Kaguya, Jigen's power hadn't yet reached its peak.
Thanks to Orochimaru's help, his recovery was faster than in the original timeline, but still not enough to conquer the ninja world.
With that thought, a black crack appeared before him, a space portal, a standard ability of the Ōtsutsuki clan's wedges.
Once you lock on to a location, you can instantly move there through this portal.
Jigen retracted the black bowl, stepped into the crack, and vanished.
The Third Raikage Ai landed, lightning crackling across his body.
He let out a heavy sigh.
"As expected… using ninjutsu alone against the Ōtsutsuki, especially their weapons, is still too difficult."
By the time Kirigakure's forces reached the battlefield, it was already over.
They could only see two blurry figures in the distance.
Hanzō of the Salamander picked up Utakata, and together with Third Raikage Ai, used the Reverse Summoning Technique to vanish.
The Kirigakure Anbu could only watch helplessly as their village's Jinchūriki was taken away right in front of them.
This was the cruelty of weakness.
They didn't even have the strength to resist, nor did they know who their enemy really was.
A similar situation was unfolding in Takigakure.
This time, the one sent to capture the Seven Tails was another Simu clone, Uchiha Madara.
At that moment, Fuu, the Seven Tails Jinchūriki, was imprisoned in a dungeon.
She had suffered years of discrimination and questioning simply because she was a Jinchūriki.
The dungeon was heavily guarded.
Each shift had five Jōnin assigned, which was already a significant force for a small village like Takigakure.
The guards were discussing the chaos spreading across the ninja world—
When suddenly, a shadow dropped from the sky.
For someone like Uchiha Madara, who had mastered the Moonwalk technique, it wasn't hard to bypass the defenses.
He avoided them entirely and landed directly at his target location.
"Enemy attack!" someone shouted.
As the enemy descended, a scout ninja finally sensed his presence.
Realizing the target was the dungeon, all the guards quickly grabbed their weapons.
"Is it someone from one of the great nations?" one of them muttered.
Takigakure, being a small village, naturally held deep resentment toward the major powers.
In every ninja war, it was the small nations that suffered the most.
The big countries never made their own land the battlefield, they always dragged smaller ones into the conflict.
And if a small nation refused to help, disaster would follow.
This long history of abuse left the smaller villages, especially Takigakure, with no goodwill toward the Five Great Nations.
Their hostility was even stronger since they were the only small country that had a tailed beast, their own "nuclear weapon."
But Uchiha Madara didn't care about any of that.
When the guards realized only one enemy had come, they didn't relax, instead, they grew more nervous.
Anyone who dares to come alone is either a fool... or so strong they don't need backup.
And this one, who had snuck into the village without a trace, was clearly the latter.
"Attack! Kill this lunatic!" the lead Jōnin guarding the dungeon shouted.
In an instant, all kinds of ninjutsu shot into the sky like a rainstorm.
But the intruder showed no fear at all.
Even as the attacks poured down, he continued his steady descent.
The air around him stirred, and a surge of blue chakra quickly formed a massive skeletal figure around his body.
Explosions echoed in the sky as ninjutsu, kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags slammed into the skeleton.
Thick smoke swallowed him whole
But a moment later, everyone froze in shock.
The figure rushed out of the smoke, completely unharmed.
Even the skeleton surrounding him, Susanoo, remained untouched.
Compared to the might of Third Raikage Ai, these attacks were nothing but tickles.
Simu smirked to himself.
Even in its basic form, Susanoo couldn't be broken by enemies of this level.
"Damn it, attack again!"
"Lightning Style: Big Thunder Explosion!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
A massive water dragon surged forward, crackling with thunder, aiming straight at Uchiha Madara.
At last, Madara opened his eyes.
His scarlet Sharingan swept over the battlefield.
Susanoo around him grew two powerful arms, ready to strike.
The blue lightsaber shot from his palm, cutting the thunder dragon in half with ease.
The once-mighty Thunder Dragon instantly shattered into countless arcs, flickering in the air as it vanished.
Had the Thunder Dragon turned into mere sparks?
This sight terrified the ninjas.
The two ninjas who had launched the combined attack were the strongest Jōnin present.
Even the Elite Jōnin from the great countries couldn't stop the combined power of their ninjutsu.
And yet, it was sliced apart by a single sword strike?
The Jōnin had hoped to raise the morale of their forces, but Uchiha Madara wasn't interested in small talk.
He formed another lightsaber in his other hand.
The two lightsabers crossed, slashing the ground in front of him, creating a massive cross-shaped cut.
The dungeon's defenses crumbled easily under the strike.
"Those who don't resist... don't have to die," he said coldly, stepping forward, leading Susanoo into the dungeon.
Walls and obstacles disappeared before him as the lightsabers tore through everything in their path.
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TO BE CONTINUED