Chapter 598: The Beginning of the Final War
Time flew by in the chaotic shinobi world, and two more years passed. In these two years, the biggest event was Konoha's rapid decline.
Almost every day, Konoha ninja were killed while performing missions within their own country.
Although Konoha tried hard to keep its share of missions in the Land of Fire, fewer and fewer people came to the village to post requests.
The biggest blow to Konoha was that about a year and a half ago, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire finally succumbed under the collective pressure of the Earth Daimyo and many smaller nations' Daimyo.
The Fire Daimyo publicly announced the cessation of all military funding to Konoha.
He split the funds originally allocated to Konoha in two: the majority went to Iwagakure, and a small portion was used to train his own Guardian Ninja.
Since then, even knowing it was dangerous to leave the village, Kakashi had been forced to send out large numbers of ninja on missions. Otherwise, Konoha would have had to disband due to lack of funds.
But this decision was like drinking poison to quench thirst; it only slowed Konoha's decline.
In the past two years, the Konoha Ninja Academy had drastically reduced its intake of new students.
Half a year ago, the Academy announced an intake of only about a hundred students, all children from former ninja clans.
This was partly because the casualty rate among Konoha ninja was so high that many died before marrying and having children, drastically reducing the number of ninja offspring.
On the other hand, many civilians lost faith in becoming ninja. Why become a ninja when there was a high chance of dying on the battlefield around the age of ten? Few parents were willing to send their children to their deaths.
According to Aono Shinichi's analysis, Konoha currently had about three thousand ninja.
Most of these three thousand were young. In Iwagakure, they would be fresh graduates or still in the Academy.
Even the Kumo refugees who had been staying in Konoha left over a year ago.
They didn't go to the Land of Water but traveled south, settling on a large island at the southernmost tip of the shinobi world, far from the Land of Earth.
It's worth noting that because all branches, including the Moon branch, were fully staffed, Iwagakure delayed the graduation of its Academy students by a year.
The contrast highlighted Konoha's misery.
Moreover, because Iwa kept the war contained within the Land of Fire, while the Fire economy was destroyed, the Earth economy boomed.
After acquiring Kumo's technology, the Land of Earth's economy took another leap. Many wealthy people originally living in the fertile lands of Fire moved their families to Earth.
It could almost be said that the civilians of the Land of Earth were already living a life of peaceful unification.
Under such unfavorable conditions, Konoha managed to hold together not because of Kakashi, but because of his three genius disciples.
Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke all displayed strength surpassing normal Kage-level.
And they were still young; no one could predict their limits.
All Konoha ninja looked forward to their growth, hoping that under their leadership, Konoha could achieve a magnificent comeback.
Konoha had faced crises before, and every time, a hero descended to save the village. The Sannin, the Yellow Flash, Might Guy—they were all such heroes.
Konoha ninja believed Hinata's trio could defeat Iwa.
Of course, they also knew most of them wouldn't live to see that day, but it didn't matter. From the day they became ninja, they were prepared to die in battle.
The Hokage told them they weren't dying in vain, but burning themselves with the Will of Fire to contribute to the growth of the village's new leaves.
But while Naruto's trio was strong, Iwa had plenty of monsters too.
Sakura, Karin, Kurotsuchi, Yakumo Kurama, and Riori Uzumaki—five newly promoted Kage-level ninja brought Iwa's total to a staggering number.
Counting Ishiro, Ōnoki, Ikura, Kitsuchi, Kawakita, Shinya Matsutani, Han, Rōshi, Sōkai, Uchiha Izumi, Deidara, Natsuki, Haku, Neji, and Shion, the total reached twenty.
Although Hinata's trio was stronger than a normal Kage, Iwa had people who could contend with them.
First was Neji, who had never lost a one-on-one fight. He had clashed with Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke multiple times, gaining the upper hand each time. Only, every time he prepared to finish Naruto or Sasuke, an "accident" would occur.
Second were Sōkai and Uchiha Izumi, who had rescued their own people from Hinata's trio several times. For some reason, they didn't strike as ruthlessly as Neji. They only intervened when their side was in danger and didn't pursue the kill after the rescue.
Finally, there was Shion, the high-status princess. Though she couldn't beat any of the three, she could stall one. Shion lacked combat methods, but her raw power wasn't lower than theirs. And unlike Naruto's trio, whose power spiked in stages, Shion's strength increased steadily.
Besides these four, Ishiro, who hadn't acted in two years, wasn't forgotten. The Iwagakure Bi-Weekly constantly touted its Tsuchikage as the strongest in the world.
Was Ishiro really the strongest? Not anymore. Until a month ago, he could contend for the title, but now there was no hope.
Aside from ancient monsters like the Sage of Six Paths, the current strongest in the shinobi world was Neji Hyūga!
That's right. A month ago, Neji successfully completed his final quickening and fully awakened his Tenseigan.
Actually, Neji's awakening came too late. Ishiro always suspected the Sage of Six Paths was interfering.
Finally, a month ago, Ishiro lost patience and came up with a special method to stimulate Neji's advancement. After all, Neji's delay meant Ishiro couldn't hitch a ride.
For his own training, Ishiro found a way for Neji.
Years ago, when Obito Uchiha was still alive, Black Zetsu had plotted against Ishiro. Ishiro had turned misfortune into a blessing, gaining a strange flame. Later, Kaoru Fujii's flame owed much of its effectiveness to this.
From that battle, besides the flame, Ishiro gained another prize: a part of Black Zetsu's body used to monitor him.
Of course, that part was small, and Ishiro couldn't do anything with it for years, just keeping it sealed.
This time, Ishiro used it to help Neji advance.
Neji's eyes had reached a critical point under the nourishment of the Giant Tenseigan's chakra. Crossing it meant reaching the Sage level.
Of course, this transformation aided by external force might not be strong among Sages, but it was enough to suppress everything in the current shinobi world.
Black Zetsu was created by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, a Bloodline Encompassing user. Ishiro didn't know Black Zetsu's strength, but his body was definitely Sage-level. Otherwise, how could he survive for a thousand years?
The small piece of Black Zetsu in Ishiro's possession was also alive. Though it couldn't think, it could maintain life without any energy supplement. And every time Ishiro released the seal, it moved toward the main Black Zetsu, trying to reunite.
So Ishiro used this piece as a catalyst, having Neji forcibly absorb the energy within it using the Giant Tenseigan to complete the crossover.
That day, Ishiro used Spirit Infiltration to stay inside Neji, undergoing a sublimation of life with him.
Ishiro didn't know how Neji felt, but he felt he had experienced countless cycles of life and death, blurring the boundary between them. It felt as if he had broken free from the barrier of life and death, and with one more step, he could control it.
The experience was wonderful; Ishiro was reluctant to wake up.
When he returned to his body, he felt disjointed for the first time. He felt his body was a huge cage, suffocating him, making him want to break out and exist as a soul.
But he held back.
If his soul had truly reached the Sage level, doing so might be fine. But it hadn't. Although his soul became very pure and improved in all aspects, it was essentially still in the third stage, not crossing into the fourth stage of Sages.
Not just Ishiro, even Neji said he hadn't.
Neji stated his body and soul were still at the mortal level; only his eyes reached the Sage level.
Those blue Tenseigan now shone brilliantly, daring no one to look directly at them.
But Neji also said the Tenseigan chakra produced by his eyes was constantly changing his body and nourishing his soul. He believed that over time, his body and soul would eventually reach the Sage level.
Of course, Neji didn't know how long this process would take. Maybe he wouldn't complete the transformation even at the end of his life.
The biggest change in Neji's appearance wasn't the brighter blue glow in his eyes, but a small horn that grew on his forehead.
Neji was uncomfortable touching the horn, but Ishiro wasn't surprised. In the original story, Obito and Madara had horns when reaching the Sage level. However, no vertical eye appeared on Neji's forehead.
Ishiro left Neji to adapt to his new power. The current Neji was beyond Ishiro's ability to guide.
Ishiro went straight to practicing the seventh layer of five-nature fusion.
Over the past two years, using the entire village's resources, Ishiro had finally designed the detailed structure of the seventh layer.
Because the design was successful, he was eager for Neji to advance.
Before Neji's advancement, Ishiro had tried, but he could only complete about 50% of the seventh layer.
He couldn't go further, failing many times around 50%.
But after hitching the ride, Ishiro smoothly passed the 50% hurdle, setting new records all the way to 90%.
Barring accidents, if Ishiro calmed down and familiarized himself with the seventh layer's structure, he might succeed in a year or half a year.
But Ishiro couldn't wait. Today, he wanted Uchiha Izumi to try absorbing a Black Zetsu body part too.
Ishiro had another piece.
He went to Iwa's secret vault and took out Obito Uchiha's corpse.
Then Ishiro, Neji, Sōkai, and the star of the day, Uchiha Izumi, went to the secret room housing the Giant Sharingan.
Ishiro unsealed Obito's body and said to Neji, "Neji, check this corpse. See if there's a Black Zetsu body part inside."
Though confused, Neji used his Tenseigan to inspect it carefully.
Neji didn't know whose corpse this was, but Sōkai and Izumi, who participated in killing Obito, knew very well.
While Neji checked, Sōkai asked, "Ishiro-sensei, you think Obito has a Black Zetsu part in him? Why? Aren't they partners? Why would Black Zetsu put his body inside Obito?"
Izumi had the same question.
Ishiro thought for a moment. Since Neji was Sage-level and Izumi was about to attempt it, telling them about the Sage's family matters was fine.
"This Black Zetsu is actually the source of all conflict in the shinobi world for the past thousand years."
"Black Zetsu is actually a life created by the Sage of Six Paths' mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, before she was sealed."
Ishiro explained Black Zetsu's origin in detail, and how he tampered with the Uchiha stone tablet, constantly provoking conflict between the Uchiha and Senju clans.
Sōkai and Izumi were dumbfounded. The Uchiha clan had always been pawns in someone else's game. Even Madara, who awakened the Rinnegan by his own power, was just a pawn?
While they were shocked, Neji used his fingers as a scalpel to gently open Obito's damaged head and remove a trace of black substance.
There was a Black Zetsu body part!
Ishiro laughed. "Black Zetsu lives up to his name. He didn't disappoint me!"
This part was secretly inserted by Black Zetsu when Obito had overdrawn his life force transferring the Gedo Mazo and fell into a coma.
Black Zetsu's goal was to have a trump card against Obito if they ever turned on each other.
He just didn't expect Obito, whom Madara had placed high hopes on, to die so casually at the hands of Izumi and Ishiro.
And this backup plan left on Obito now benefited Ishiro.
At Ishiro's signal, Neji placed the Black Zetsu part on the Giant Sharingan.
Then Izumi placed a hand on the eye and began controlling it to forcibly absorb Black Zetsu.
Ishiro didn't delay, immediately using Spirit Infiltration to enter Izumi's body.
Familiar with the process, he maximized his perception and waited quietly for Izumi's change.
With her current realm, Izumi could clearly sense Ishiro's action, but she ignored it.
She communicated with the Giant Sharingan, making it absorb the Black Zetsu part with all its might.
Like with Neji, the Black Zetsu part tried to flee but was firmly held by the eye's suction.
As Izumi exerted force, the eye's suction increased. The Black Zetsu part began to expand slowly, thinning as its area grew.
Soon, it covered more than half the eye.
At this point, it seemed to reach its limit, unable to expand further, but the suction continued to increase.
The Black Zetsu body was clearly tense, as if about to snap.
And indeed, when the suction reached a critical point, bang, the body shattered.
Truly shattered!
The Black Zetsu body was broken into countless minuscule particles, invisible to the naked eye.
Not only invisible to the naked eye, even Sōkai's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan couldn't see them.
Only Neji's Sage-level Tenseigan caught a glimpse up close.
"So that's it!" Watching the Black Zetsu body decompose, Neji finally understood why he could advance to the Sage level.
The decomposed Black Zetsu body acted like a guide, pointing Izumi toward the path to the Sage level.
Although Izumi didn't know the reason, her chakra instinctively gravitated toward the decomposed Black Zetsu body.
Calling it a Black Zetsu body didn't seem appropriate now. Neji felt "Chakra Origin" was more accurate.
As Izumi's own chakra was slowly assimilated by the Chakra Origin, her transformation began.
Neji and Sōkai heard a heartbeat simultaneously.
They looked at each other, seeing joy in each other's eyes. It was the sound of quickening, signaling the start of Izumi's transition from mortal to Sage.
Neji observed even more carefully. He hadn't watched his own transformation process. Back then, his Tenseigan hadn't reached the Sage level, so he couldn't see it even if he wanted to.
Now, Izumi's advancement was a precious experience for him. This observation would deepen his understanding of the Sage level.
Sōkai's face showed only excitement and nervousness, anticipating Izumi's change while worrying about accidents.
Time passed slowly. Finally, at a critical point, Izumi suddenly opened her closed eyes.
Neji saw clearly that the blood-red Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan with complex patterns in her eyes suddenly lost all color, turning pale purple.
Then the complex patterns quickly turned into ink and concentrated in the center of the eye.
The next moment, the ink spread out, forming ripple patterns.
Rinnegan!
The eyes Izumi awakened after advancing to Sage were pale purple Rinnegan.
Identical in appearance to the Rinnegan in Nagato's eye sockets.
...
A few minutes earlier, in a corner of the shinobi world, a small underground cavity.
Black Zetsu suddenly felt a wave of unease. He sensed carefully and found it came from a part of his body he had separated before.
"What's going on? This is the second time recently!"
"The last time was the body I left to monitor the Tsuchikage. After the panic, that part disappeared completely."
"This time it seems to be the part I left in Obito. Is someone slowly destroying my body?"
"Is it the Sage of Six Paths?"
Black Zetsu panicked, running around the cavity like a headless fly, muttering to himself.
A moment later, the panic disappeared, but Black Zetsu showed no relief; instead, his panic grew.
Because that part of his body also disappeared! Completely.
His sense wasn't wrong. It wasn't sealed like before, but directly erased.
Someone was actually decomposing his body, bit by bit!
This was terrifying. Black Zetsu suddenly felt the shinobi world was no longer safe.
This fear was extreme because Black Zetsu had been confident that no one in the shinobi world could harm him except the soul of the Sage.
Even Orochimaru couldn't do anything to him on the operating table.
But now everything had changed. Someone could kill him. Under this huge gap, Black Zetsu's mentality collapsed directly.
He wanted to run, feeling someone might kill him at any moment. But he felt nowhere was safe; maybe someone was luring him out.
So, Black Zetsu shivered alone in the underground cavity.
Unknown how much time passed, suddenly a person drilled out of the ground.
"Who?! What do you want?!" Black Zetsu screamed like a frightened bird.
The emerging White Zetsu clone paused, asking curiously, "Black Zetsu, what's wrong?"
Hearing the White Zetsu's question, Black Zetsu froze, and it took him a long time to realize he had lost his composure.
He didn't answer the White Zetsu. He sat quietly for a long time before adjusting his mentality.
So what if someone could kill him? Just avoid them.
The feeling just now came from the direction of Iwagakure. No need to guess, it must be Iwa's doing.
And most likely that evil Tsuchikage!
He would just avoid the Tsuchikage and steer clear of Iwa in the future.
Even if he couldn't save Mother now, he would wait a few years, decades, centuries.
He didn't believe the Tsuchikage could outlive him!
After adjusting, he asked the White Zetsu, "What are you doing here?"
The White Zetsu ignored the cold shoulder and replied, "Just received news. The Tsuchikage went to the Gedo Mazo again."
"Like the previous times, he stayed for a long while before leaving."
(End of Chapter)