Kei left the Pure Land, carrying the souls of Sakumo, his wife, as well as Kakashi, Obito, and Rin.
After handing them over, along with the special spring water obtained from Tonika Village, to Orochimaru, he began preparations to travel to other worlds.
The ninja world had now entered a phase of rapid development. With the merger of the Five Great Ninja Villages, a large number of people began gathering in Konoha and the newly established Five Elements Ninja Army base.
Ame and Kusa, which had suffered beatings and losses in multiple Ninja World Wars, practically had "Please take us in" written all over their faces. Their eagerness was off the charts.
Especially after Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan returned to Ame. With their formidable strength, Akatsuki gained some influence over the village. The high-ranking officials of Ame practically visited the Hokage's office every day.
With such enthusiasm, they unsurprisingly became the first target for assimilation.
Kusa had long mastered the art of shifting allegiances in the shinobi world, always positioning themselves for maximum benefit. This strategic flexibility had, paradoxically, led major nations to trust them as guardians of Hōzuki Castle.
Seeing Ame successfully integrated, the leaders of Kusa became even more proactive and were soon designated as the second target for assimilation.
At first, they merely requested equal treatment for their ninjas alongside those from other villages. The fact that some of their more prominent figures secured positions in the Five Elements Ninja Army was already an unexpected bonus!
With Ame and Kusa setting an example, other villages followed suit.
The leaders of Hoshi from the Land of Bears, Hana from the Land of Vegetables, and Yuki from the Land of Snow all settled in Konoha without any intention of leaving. Some didn't even wait for the integration process to begin—they had already brought their families and villagers to Konoha!
However, not all villages were as perceptive as these.
Takumi Village, long standing as the shinobi world's weapons manufacturer, openly declared their neutrality. They insisted they were merely blacksmiths, not ninjas, and refused to join the Five Elements Ninja Army.
Taki, still harboring resentment over the Raikage snatching the Seven-Tails from them, was the next to issue a statement. They questioned whether the Five Elements Ninja Army could truly provide fair treatment to ninjas from different villages.
The most absurd case was the Land of Iron.
The remaining samurai from the old era couldn't agree on whether to join the Five Elements Ninja Army, leading to an internal civil war. Reports indicated that in just half a month, over 20 high-ranking samurai and nearly 100 regular samurai had perished.
A newly formed branch of the Root division launched an investigation.
It turned out that behind Takumi Village, Taki, and the Land of Iron lurked a powerful force—the Underground Exchange House.
This organization, formed by countless nobles and merchants, thrived like maggots in a cesspit. They were secretly inciting division among the ninja villages, clearly aiming to fracture the Five Elements Ninja Army and plunge the ninja world back into chaos. However, most people weren't blind, they could see the current situation clearly and weren't easily swayed.
Kei had originally planned to wait until all ninja villages were assimilated before dealing with this organization, cleaning up missing-nin and traitors along the way.
After all, ordinary people who had become ninjas by chance still needed a path to survival. But since some people refused to see reason, he had no choice but to accelerate his plans—reducing unnecessary consumption of resources in the ninja world.
A total of 10,000 elite combat ninjas were mobilized from the Five Elements Ninja Army.
Under the leadership of Tobirama and Izuna, they split into two teams and launched direct assaults on Takumi Village and Taki.
Both villages were nearly wiped out. They didn't even bother with the internal strife in the Land of Iron.
Instead, they turned their focus to worldwide extermination of the Underground Exchange House!
Missing-nin from various villages, as well as the nobles and merchants behind the exchange house, were slaughtered mercilessly—leaving rivers of blood in their wake.
Seizing the momentum, the Five Elements Ninja Army declared to the entire ninja world: They were open to accepting and assimilating all independent ninjas and samurai.
Former missing-nin who had been wrongly accused would have their cases reviewed, and appropriate actions would be taken based on the truth. The internal strife in the Land of Iron resolved itself within a few days.
The samurai leader, Mifune, along with a large number of samurai, actively participated in the subsequent unification efforts. As for the smaller samurai leaders who had been misled by external forces… Well, considering that Mifune spent four whole days punishing traitors, it was clear what fate befell them.
With everything finally settled, Kei turned his attention to the next matter, discussing with Kushina about which world to visit next.
Previously, he had already handed over [Six Paths Yin-Yang Reincarnation] to Hikari.
With another Six Paths-level fighter joining the Five Elements Ninja Army, even if members of the Ōtsutsuki clan arrived, they wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble.
As for traveling directly to the Ōtsutsuki clan's homeworld, he had initially considered it. But after learning that, even with space-time ninjutsu, it would take several years to reach their ancestral planet, he immediately abandoned the idea.
Instead, he had the nine-tailed beasts donate some of their chakra to regrow the God Tree, planting it on the Moon, essentially using it as a fishing bait.
Regarding the Moon's original inhabitants, the descendants of Hamura…
A month ago, after sensing Kaguya's resurrection and finding that her presence never disappeared, they made a shocking decision.
They gathered their entire clan's power to forge a massive Tenseigan, over four meters in diameter.
Their plan? Use the Tenseigan's power to destroy the Earth, eliminating both Kaguya and the planet itself.
By the time Kei sensed the anomaly and rushed over, it was already too late.
Nearly all of Hamura's descendants had perished—only a handful remained. Left with no choice, he took the survivors back to Konoha.
And as for the colossal Tenseigan, it naturally ended up in Orochimaru's lab for research.
"Alright, let's draw lots! If you pick the paper with 'Big,' we'll go to a high-level world. If you pick 'Small,' we'll go to a lower-level one."
Kei held two small paper slips in his hands and extended them toward Kushina, who had just finished packing her belongings.
He had to admit, she had gotten a lot smarter lately.
After the massive battle a month ago, she immediately retired from active duty. Now, besides diligently improving her own strength, she spent as much time as possible by Kei's side. Since he was going on an adventure, there was no way she would miss out!
"Hmm… I choose this one!"
Kushina tapped her chin with her index finger, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the slip from Kei's left hand and opened it.
"Is it 'Big'? Hopefully, we won't end up running for our lives." Kei chuckled, making a small joke.
At this point, he had one Associated Trait Extraction and five Trait Duplication. So no matter which world they entered, he was more than prepared.
"…No way… right?" Kushina's mouth opened slightly as she stared at the other slip of paper, hesitating.
Kei was already this strong, if they still ended up getting chased down and beaten, wouldn't she just explode on the spot?!
"Hahaha! Just messing with you! Let's go, let's go! Time to head out!" Kei waved his hand, activating [Infinite Armory Domain] and storing Kushina's belongings inside Daikokuten's space.
After leaving a sticky note for Tsunade, he asked Kushina to wait inside a small personal world he had recently perfected, which he had named "Eden."
Then, without hesitation, he activated the power of [Multiversal Voyager], and disappeared into another world.