After harvesting the souls of several clan members and devouring a Storm Release ninja, Brook stepped back out of the Kamui dimension and returned to the battlefield.
It was time to wrap things up. He still had far too many things to do.
"What did you do to Killer Bee and Yugito, you bastard?!"
The moment the Fourth Raikage saw Brook reappear, he exploded into motion and unleashed a Hell Stab. But the attack passed straight through Brook's body as though it had struck empty air.
"You really think you're something special?"
[Kamui: Twist!]
Brook sneered and activated the long range distortion of his left Kamui eye. Space twisted violently around the Raikage's proud right arm, severing it in an instant and sending it straight into the Kamui dimension.
That technique could even tear off one of the Gedo Mazo's arms. A human body was nothing in comparison.
"Argh!"
The Fourth Raikage let out a muffled groan, but he suppressed the pain almost immediately, showing the toughness he was famous for. Still, the worry in his eyes could no longer be hidden.
This Konoha powerhouse was far too terrifying. With a single move, he had taken his strongest arm. And judging from the situation, Killer Bee and Yugito had most likely already fallen into his hands as well.
"Fourth Raikage, surrender. Otherwise your Hidden Cloud Village will end up just like the Hidden Stone, with even your Kage captured by Lord Brook!"
Jiraiya leaped behind the Raikage and cut off his retreat, while Fugaku landed on another side, sealing off his escape route completely.
Jiraiya and Fugaku were equally shocked that Brook had dealt with the two jinchuriki so quickly. After all, Killer Bee was a perfect jinchuriki whose combat power was no weaker than that of the Nine Tails' vessel.
"Give Killer Bee and Yugito back to us! We'll withdraw immediately and sign a peace treaty with Konoha!"
The Fourth Raikage was finally starting to lose his nerve. He had been forced into a disadvantage from the very start of this war, and everything had unraveled from there.
Brook's appearance made him realize that invading Konoha had been the worst decision he had ever made.
"Even after being beaten to this point, you still dare act tough. If someone hadn't stopped me, I would have already wiped out your Hidden Cloud."
Brook's voice was ice cold.
"Now you only have one choice. Go back and find the Sage of Six Paths' weapon. Then I may give you a chance to redeem those two little brats. Otherwise, both jinchuriki belong to me."
As he spoke, Brook unleashed a wave of Conqueror's Haki mixed with soul pressure, forcing the Fourth Raikage down beneath its crushing weight. If this man had possessed some bloodline limit Brook was interested in, he would have been killed on the spot just like the others.
"You...!"
The Fourth Raikage's eyes turned bloodshot with rage, but under that terrifying pressure, all he could do was grit his teeth and endure.
"I don't have time to keep playing with you!"
[Shinra Tensei!]
Brook casually blasted him away with a repulsive shockwave, sending him crashing back into the ruins.
"Orochimaru, this battlefield is yours now. If they still want to fight, then keep fighting."
Seeing there was nothing else here that interested him, Brook prepared to leave at once.
"Thank you, Lord Brook, for taking down the two jinchuriki and injuring the Fourth Raikage. Leave the rest to us."
Orochimaru appeared at Brook's side immediately and bowed with respect. With three of Kumogakure's strongest fighters already crippled, no one left on their side could truly threaten Konoha anymore.
"Thank you, Lord Brook!"
Jiraiya and Fugaku hurried to speak as well.
Even though Brook had not personally destroyed the main force of Kumogakure, by taking out three Kage level enemies, he had already removed the biggest obstacle standing in Konoha's way.
"I'm leaving."
Brook vanished on the spot, chose a direction, and flew toward the Land of Water.
Kirigakure still held many rare bloodline users, and the Three Tails was there too, quietly waiting for him to pay a visit.
As Brook disappeared, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Fugaku all turned toward the one armed Fourth Raikage, who had just dragged himself back out of the rubble. Excitement flickered in all three pairs of eyes.
It seemed the honor of capturing the Fourth Raikage might fall to them after all.
…
Brook no longer cared about either battlefield.
All he wanted now was to clear things out as quickly as possible and gather the remaining tailed beasts before the Sage of Six Paths interfered with his collection.
On the way, he used the [Illusory Body Technique] to contact Black Zetsu, ordering him to investigate the whereabouts of the remaining jinchuriki while also continuing the search for Jigen.
At the same time, he asked about Obito Uchiha's progress in Kirigakure.
The result left Brook speechless.
After losing the Kamui Sharingan, Obito had found it impossible to take control of the Fourth Mizukage in silence. Instead, he had simply charged in head on and caused a huge commotion in Kirigakure.
If not for White Zetsu Tobi and the support of Heavenly Path Madara, Obito would probably have been dragged down and beaten to death by the Mist ninjas already.
After all, Kirigakure was still extremely strong. The bloodline clans had not yet been purged.
The Kaguya Clan possessed Shikotsumyaku. The Yuki Clan wielded Ice Release. The Hozuki Clan had their Hydrification Technique. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was also a perfect jinchuriki of the Three Tails, and his strength was monstrous.
On top of that, even though the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had been badly injured before, they were still a significant force. Add Mei Terumi, the strongest rising star in the village, who possessed both Lava Release and Boil Release, and together they had nearly crushed Obito Uchiha despite his powerful Susanoo.
After destroying part of Kirigakure and reducing a small section of the village to rubble with Madara's Shinra Tensei, Obito had finally withdrawn under White Zetsu Tobi's concealment.
Now he and Tobi were hiding somewhere in the shadows, quietly recovering their chakra.
Once he recovered, Obito intended to start another large scale disturbance and drag Kirigakure into even deeper chaos.
When Brook heard that Obito had stirred up all that trouble and still accomplished nothing, he immediately concluded that this so called future mastermind was still too green.
Without Black Zetsu pulling the strings, Obito was just a teenager who had only recently fallen into darkness. His experience was far too shallow, and he simply did not yet have the capital to act as the true hand behind the curtain.
Even though Brook had stolen the Kamui Sharingan, Obito still had not thought of more efficient methods, such as defeating Kirigakure piece by piece or using others to do the dirty work for him.
For example, the Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure, much like the Uchiha in Konoha, was deeply disliked by the rest of the village. They were already dissatisfied with the Mizukage's faction and had thoughts of rebellion.
If Obito had used them properly, he could have stirred up an internal disaster from within.
But now Brook could no longer leave this task to him.
If Brook did not go to Kirigakure in person, Obito might fail to collect either the bloodline limits or the Three Tails.
So Brook had no choice but to take action himself.
Obito really was not a very capable subordinate.
Somewhere inside Kirigakure, Obito Uchiha was also cursing Brook in his heart.
Although the Mangekyo Sharingan Brook had given him was powerful and fun to use in battle, he still wanted his Kamui Sharingan back more than anything.
That eye had allowed him to come and go as he pleased, hide in the shadows, and manipulate everything from behind the scenes.
Without it, everything felt wrong.
-----------
The next day.
At the outer edge of Konoha's sphere of influence in the Land of Fire lay the ruins of Uzushiogakure, the village once founded by the Land of Whirlpool. Beyond those ruins stood the port.
Brook's route to Kirigakure in the Land of Water would pass through that port, then beyond the shattered remains of Uzushiogakure's island, and finally into the waters controlled by the Land of Water.
As he traveled, he recalled the Uzumaki Clan's Noh Mask Hall.
Inside it were twenty seven death masks worshipped by the Uzumaki Clan for over a thousand years, and [Death God: Sealing Force] was only one of them.
That thought immediately caught Brook's interest.
Could some of the other death masks also contain death gods?
Could Jin, the God of the Western Underworld, have sent more than one death god clone into this world?
That seemed unlikely.
Otherwise, why had only [Shinigami Mask] resonated with him?
A more plausible answer was that the other two Underworld Gods had also sensed the death of Hirasaka, the God of the Northern Underworld. Just like Jin, perhaps they had each sent in their own death god clones.
That was possible.
But if so, the number was a little ridiculous.
Brook quickly formed another guess.
Most of these Grim Reapers were probably native deities of the Northern Underworld, or incarnations and subordinates of Hirasaka himself.
They were avatars of death scattered across life bearing worlds in this star system. But after Hirasaka died and the cycle of reincarnation collapsed, they lost their source of power and most of their functions, falling into dormancy.
The only question was why all of them had gathered on this planet.
The more Brook thought about it, the more excited he became.
He had a feeling he had stumbled upon a massive opportunity.
He wanted to devour not only the clones of the other two Underworld Gods, but also the local death god avatars that once belonged to Hirasaka.
[Underworld Gate of Hell: Ghost Army!]
Brook immediately summoned his ghost legion and sent them to search the ruins of Uzushiogakure for the Noh Mask Hall.
His anticipation surged.
If all these death gods truly existed, and if they each carried power at the Six Paths level, then this would be a treasure beyond imagination.
His strength would leap forward qualitatively, enough to contend with the Otsutsuki Clan.
An hour later, Brook vanished and entered an underground temple.
This was the Noh Mask Hall of the Uzumaki Clan.
"No wonder nobody stole them. They were hidden underground and protected by sealing techniques."
Brook laughed softly as he looked at the twenty seven death masks hanging on the wall, three rows of nine.
He reached out and took down the third mask from the right in the second row.
It was the same mask once possessed by [Death God: Sealing Force].
"Who made these masks? They can actually contain the power of gods."
Brook stroked the surface of the mask and sighed in amazement.
After thousands of years of worship, the masks had not changed at all. The material itself had to be extraordinary.
He immediately extended his soul power and examined the death masks one by one.
Very quickly, he found what he was looking for.
The powers inside the masks were different.
Every single one was distinct.
"As expected. The other two Underworld Gods really did get involved."
Brook removed another mask, this one with an especially savage expression. The power sealed inside it was immense.
He focused and carefully probed it.
Within the masked space, a fierce soul slept with its eyes closed, as though it had not moved in countless years.
"Yama? Holy hell... what is this?"
Brook caught a trace of information through the power of Hell God Jin, and his heart jolted.
This was a death god clone from the Eastern Underworld, and its name was Yama.
Brook was stunned.
What kind of Yama was this? Was it the same as the King of Hell from the East?
And more importantly, this one was clearly stronger than [Death God: Sealing Force]. It had done far more, yet in the end it had lost contact with its main body and failed to return to the Eastern Underworld with the spoils.
This Eastern Underworld clone had actually managed to seize part of the Northern Underworld's reincarnation authority, and had even forcibly opened a contractual link with the Northern Underworld, the Rinnegan, and the Pure Land.
"Wait... this mask looks exactly like the face of the King of Hell when he uses [King of Hell: Reincarnation Technique] and [Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique]!"
Brook's eyes widened.
"No wonder this one feels so different. So you're from the Eastern Underworld. You even opened a backdoor into the Sage of Six Paths' Pure Land?"
Brook was overjoyed.
He had already decided to obtain this clone's power no matter what.
He steadied himself and turned toward the other two masks that stood out from the rest, probing the death god powers sealed within them.
And sure enough, what he found was the power of a clone from the Southern Underworld God.
Lin.
Then his expression changed.
Wait a second.
This was actually the real power of the Southern Underworld God Lin?
The left foot of the death god carried part of the power of time.
The right foot carried part of the power of space.
"Damn... the Southern Underworld God had it rough. He was actually dismembered and sealed by his own subordinates, reduced to a cripple and turned into a wedge to stabilize the world?"
That plot sounded strangely familiar.
Almost like a certain insanely popular shonen series.
Could this Southern Underworld God actually be that pathetic Soul King?
Brook suddenly remembered.
After the Soul King in the world of Shinigami's had been dismembered by his own subordinates and sealed, his severed limbs, organs, throat, and heart had each parasitized other beings and manifested terrifying abilities.
The resemblance was uncanny.
"That's right. The Soul King and his son Yhwach were said to possess omniscience and omnipotence. So how did they still end up destroyed?"
Brook muttered under his breath.
Could this have something to do with whatever stood above the Underworld Gods?
A chill crept up his spine.
Could it have foreseen that he would one day go to that world?
Brook narrowed his eyes and stared dangerously at the two masks.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
That useless, spineless Soul King could not possibly have the power to predict the fate of a transmigrator like him.
But then another thought surfaced.
If he had already been dismembered and sealed, how had he managed to send his two legs here?
Did he foresee his own betrayal?
Brook clicked his tongue.
Forget it.
Trying to understand the mind of a crippled king with a death wish was beyond him.
The real question now was simple.
Could [Death God: Sealing Force] devour the power of Yama's clone and the powers contained in the Soul King's left and right legs?
His eyes lingered on the masks.
Then he smiled.
The bold feast.
The timid starve.
Still, he needed to finish inspecting the remaining masks before acting.
He removed the rest and examined the souls of the death gods sleeping within.
"They really are clones of Hirasaka, the God of the Northern Underworld. But most of them have already been drained dry."
Brook's excitement cooled slightly.
"Did they burn through everything in the war against the Otsutsuki God?"
That conclusion seemed likely.
So many death god masks had become empty shells.
Even so, through special methods, they could still forcibly tear souls out of living beings.
The only question was whether these worn out death god masks still had enough power left to seal the soul of a Kage level expert.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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