Chapter 610: Three Questions
Long before the Great Ninja War broke out, Ishiro had arrived on the moon with Neji-kun, Sōkai, Izumi Uchiha, Shion, and Chiga.
Orochimaru entered the moon even one step earlier than Ishiro's group of six.
He had no intention of ditching Ishiro's group to seize the Giant Tenseigan first.
Primarily because Orochimaru wasn't certain of the Giant Tenseigan's exact location, and he also knew that Ishiro and the others were definitely following right behind him.
So Orochimaru waited for Ishiro's group on the other end of the spatial passageway, above a vast ocean on the moon.
Orochimaru had just finished observing the scenery on the moon when Ishiro's group of six emerged from the sea.
Orochimaru withdrew his gaze from the surroundings and looked at Ishiro and the others.
The next moment, his heart skipped a beat: "How is this possible?!"
Although Orochimaru's eyes were still in the form of Byakugan, his insight was long beyond comparison with the Hyūga family's Byakugan.
He had known about the situations of Neji-kun and Izumi Uchiha long ago, but what was going on with the others?
He noticed the abnormalities in Ishiro, Sōkai, and Shion at a glance.
In Sōkai's eye sockets, there was blatantly a pair of Rinnegan. Although these Rinnegan were red, different in color from Izumi Uchiha's, the pattern was consistent; they were definitely Sage eyes.
As for Shion, perhaps because she had advanced not long ago, the fluctuation of her aura was very intense. Orochimaru felt that even without these Byakugan, he could recognize at a glance that she had undoubtedly become a Sage as well.
Finally, there was Ishiro. Ishiro's situation was different from Sōkai, Izumi Uchiha, and Neji-kun.
Ishiro had reached the Sage level in both body and soul. Although Orochimaru couldn't see Ishiro's soul, he clearly saw the powerful chakra within Ishiro's physical body.
Orochimaru took a deep breath and thought to himself, "I miscalculated!"
Originally, in Orochimaru's expectation, this battle might be one against two, or at most one against three.
Perhaps Ishiro could interfere from the side with special means.
But the result turned out to be one against five.
Moreover, the opponents Orochimaru originally anticipated were rising stars like Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha.
Putting it nicely, they were rising stars; putting it bluntly, they lacked combat experience.
As a result, among the opponents of the same level he now faced, Ishiro was included.
Ishiro's combat experience was among the richest in the ninja world, not much inferior to Orochimaru.
Ishiro's restless character meant he had experienced no fewer troubles than Orochimaru.
Absolutely no chance of winning. In this situation, no amount of preparation would be useful!
Ishiro saw Orochimaru's thoughts in his eyes, so he said, "Orochimaru-senpai, I won't bully you with numbers. We'll go one by one. Please give us some pointers, Orochimaru-senpai!"
Orochimaru's gaze shifted. He thought for a moment and said, "Does the Tsuchikage mean to use me as a sparring partner to increase their combat experience?"
"Of course, I don't mind this point. I just have a few questions I'd like the Tsuchikage to answer."
Ishiro smiled and said, "Please speak, Orochimaru-senpai."
Orochimaru said, "First question. Through countless experiments over these years, I concluded that in this ninja world, bloodline power is the key that determines everything."
"No matter how talented or hardworking ordinary people are, they can't compare to having an excellent bloodline."
"At first, I didn't understand, but after hearing the story of the Sage of Six Paths from you, I understood completely."
"This was confirmed after I saw the Sage of Six Paths with my own eyes."
"If not for the Sage of Six Paths' help, I feel that even if my experiments were correct, I wouldn't have reached the Sage level in such a short time."
"So I'm very curious about how the Tsuchikage and this lady became Sages."
From Orochimaru's complex expression, Ishiro could see that he was truly very confused.
Perhaps before abandoning his own body, Orochimaru had also experienced intense ideological struggles.
But no matter what method he used, he found that his strength had reached a limit and could not progress further.
With no road to go, he chose to change direction.
So he showed immense surprise at the success of Ishiro and Shion.
Saying surprised was too light; saying shocked was more appropriate!
Orochimaru didn't believe anyone could do what he couldn't!
To put it more directly, this was actually envy on Orochimaru's part. Things he couldn't do were accomplished by Ishiro and Shion.
Was it really because his talent was poor or his will wasn't firm enough?
Ishiro smiled, shook his head, and said, "Orochimaru-senpai doesn't need to fret. In fact, your choice wasn't wrong."
"The ninja world indeed values bloodlines. A ninja's upper limit is determined at birth."
"Through cultivation, perhaps a ninja with only Chunin aptitude can become a Jonin, but it's basically impossible for them to become Kage-level."
"Similarly, for someone like Orochimaru-senpai, whose original upper limit was just an ordinary Kage-level, surpassing ordinary Kage-level through cultivation and luck is the limit."
"Wanting to become a Super Kage-level like Hashirama Senju is impossible, and wanting to become a Sage is nothing but a pipe dream."
"But some people are destined to become Sages from birth, such as Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze."
"The Sage of Six Paths prepared everything for them!"
"So Orochimaru-senpai abandoning your own body and successfully advancing to Sage by merging the bloodlines of Hiashi Hyūga and Kimimaro Kaguya was a very correct choice."
"Among these people beside me, the situations of Neji-kun, Izumi, and Sōkai are exactly the same as Orochimaru-senpai's."
"They all became Sages by developing their bloodlines to the extreme through special means."
Hearing this, Orochimaru thought of the Giant Tenseigan.
Ishiro continued, "Actually, Shion also possesses a bloodline no inferior to Sasuke Uchiha's."
"She is the Priestess of the Land of Demons. Priestesses are not life forms native to the ninja world; they are considered outsiders."
"The earliest Priestess split into two: one became the Priestess, and the other became the immortal Mōryō."
"As long as the two are fully merged, whether the Priestess devours Mōryō or Mōryō devours the Priestess, there is a chance to reach the Sage level."
It was the first time Orochimaru had heard of Shion's origin. After listening, his expression softened a lot.
Shion's mother passed away recently. When she died, she passed her Priestess power to Shion.
It was at that moment that Shion gathered all the Priestess power, plus the power of Mōryō, and completed the advancement all at once.
Shion's advancement was very sudden; even Ishiro didn't know how she just advanced out of the blue.
Even Shion herself didn't realize at first that she had inexplicably become a Sage.
Ishiro continued, "As for me, actually, I didn't reach this step relying on talent either."
"Leaving aside my early efforts, the path I chose was actually an idea I got from the Sage of Six Paths."
"Later, I succeeded in advancing with the help of Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Izumi Uchiha."
"In other words, without people like Neji-kun who possess Sage bloodlines, I couldn't have become a Sage either!"
"So neither Shion nor I broke the truth that bloodline determines the future!"
After hearing this, Orochimaru felt much more balanced in his heart. He grinned and said, "Thank you, Tsuchikage, for clarifying my doubts. Next is the second question."
"The Tsuchikage and these few have already reached this level. Why are you still so low-key, even wanting to borrow my hand to improve combat experience?"
"Who is the enemy the Tsuchikage ultimately wants to deal with?"
Hearing Orochimaru's question, Neji-kun and the others also looked at Ishiro in unison. They were equally curious.
Especially Neji-kun. He had become a Sage a long time ago. At that time, Orochimaru hadn't become a Sage yet, and he was the only Sage in the ninja world.
Iwagakure could have completely used his power to quickly complete the unification, but Ishiro didn't do so.
Ishiro seemed to be deliberately giving Konoha time, giving Sasuke and Naruto time!
Ishiro smiled and said, "Others might not guess the answer to this question, but I think Orochimaru-senpai definitely can."
Neji-kun and the others looked at Orochimaru curiously again.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and said, "You want to deal with the Sage of Six Paths?"
Ishiro shook his head.
The Sage of Six Paths was the person Ishiro least wanted to deal with. This guy had laid out plans in the ninja world for a thousand years. Who could say how many trump cards he had?
Moreover, Ishiro's growth was completely under the nose of the Sage of Six Paths, so he felt the Sage of Six Paths should be crystal clear about what he could do.
Being an enemy of such an existence was too unwise.
Orochimaru took a deep breath and slowly said, "There will be other invaders in the ninja world, just like the Sage of Six Paths' mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki."
"Your target is these people?"
Ishiro laughed loudly and said, "Orochimaru-senpai is truly Orochimaru-senpai. In the entire ninja world, the only person I admire is you."
"I possess the most detailed intelligence in the entire ninja world, which is why I could struggle all the way here."
"But Orochimaru-senpai truly walked step by step to this day relying on your own exploration."
"I am inferior to you!"
Seeing Ishiro confirm Orochimaru's guess, everyone was surprised.
Everyone knew who Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was.
Ishiro had told them that she was an existence that even the Sage of Six Paths had to join hands with his brother to seal.
And in the end, the Sage of Six Paths only sealed her, not killed her.
This showed how powerful she was.
If there were truly invaders like Kaguya Ōtsutsuki coming to the ninja world, how would the ninja world respond?
Ishiro laughed, "Actually, although Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was an outsider, she was also preparing for her kin who might arrive at any time."
"She didn't want to share the ninja world with her kin, so she cultivated war weapons like the White Zetsu clones."
"Of course, the White Zetsu clones we see should only be semi-finished products. Every White Zetsu Kaguya Ōtsutsuki wanted to cultivate should possess powerful strength."
"And after the Sage of Six Paths sealed Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, he also made similar preparations. I think Orochimaru-senpai should be able to guess what his preparations were!"
Neji-kun and the others suddenly felt their intelligence wasn't enough. Originally, after becoming Sages, they felt they shouldn't need to cultivate anymore.
Coming to deal with Orochimaru today, because they had the obvious advantage in numbers, no one felt there was any danger.
But suddenly, they felt that being a Sage seemed to be just the beginning. Outside the ninja world, there seemed to be many powerful enemies that even Sages couldn't deal with.
This made the hearts of Neji-kun, Sōkai, Izumi Uchiha, and Shion suddenly tighten from relaxation.
Seeing the reaction of Neji-kun and the others, Orochimaru smiled slightly. He understood that Ishiro wanted to use the conversation with him to make Neji-kun and the others serious again.
Orochimaru thought about Ishiro's words just now, then said, "The Sage of Six Paths' backup plan is Edo Tensei?"
Ishiro laughed, "I'm not clear about the Sage of Six Paths' true thoughts, but the souls of those former powerhouses brought out by Edo Tensei should be one of his backup plans."
"It has only been a few decades since the establishment of the ninja villages, yet nearly a hundred Kage-level figures have appeared, including Jinchūriki and the summons of the Three Great Sacred Places."
"And under the deliberate indulgence of the Sage of Six Paths, the ninja world has experienced a thousand years of war and strife."
"Well, this thousand years is also just a legend. Whether it's one thousand years or several thousand years, I can't say for sure."
"In these long years, I believe the ninja world must have given birth to countless strong individuals."
"There must be countless Kage-level ones, and there must have been quite a few Super Kage-level ones."
"However, I estimate the possibility of Sages appearing is not high."
"Besides this, I guess existences like Priestesses, Ryūmyaku, the Shinigami (Reaper), and Jashin are also the handiwork of the Sage of Six Paths."
"These might be things he drew from other worlds."
"Either to increase the ninja world's heritage or to intensify the ninja world's disputes."
"He should be cultivating war weapons belonging to him through this method."
"In addition, there are some Sage of Six Paths' tools circulating in the ninja world. The abilities of these tools are also strange and varied."
"Who knows if there are other divine artifacts."
Hearing this, Neji-kun and Sōkai suddenly thought of the Sword of Totsuka and the Yata Mirror on them.
These two were also said to be divine artifacts left by the Sage of Six Paths.
A strange laugh came from Orochimaru's mouth. The Sage of Six Paths' method of cultivating war weapons sounded familiar to him.
After leaving Konoha, he had established many bases in the ninja world. In these bases, he cultivated many capable subordinates.
A considerable part of them was cultivated through this Gu-like method.
Orochimaru nodded slowly, then said to Ishiro, "Thank you, Tsuchikage, for clarifying. It turns out the ninja world is even more exciting than I imagined."
"It turns out there is a broader stage outside the ninja world."
"I have one last question. Based on the Tsuchikage's understanding of chakra, is there a hierarchical division within the Sage level? If so, how should the strength be divided?"
Orochimaru was now at the same level as Ishiro. logically, Ishiro wouldn't understand questions he didn't understand.
But besides reaching the Sage level himself, Ishiro had also cultivated four Sages.
And the five of them were not of the same type.
So Orochimaru felt that Ishiro's understanding of chakra was definitely not something he could compare with.
He wanted to know, what level was his current strength exactly?
How did he compare to the Sage of Six Paths and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki?
If he had a future, in which direction should he cultivate?
Ishiro revealed an ambiguous smile. From this question, he knew Orochimaru should have a backup plan.
Combined with those weird means in the original story, Ishiro guessed that Orochimaru should have left himself a way out.
This question should be asked on behalf of himself after putting himself in a desperate situation and surviving.
However, Ishiro didn't care. As he said before, Orochimaru's pursuit was different from his own; he wouldn't be his enemy.
Ishiro said slowly, "I'm not clear about the strength division of the Sage level either."
" simply put, I believe that being able to fuse the five basic natures of Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, and Earth into one is the Sage level."
"Or fusing the two completely opposite natures of Yin and Yang into one can also reach the Sage level."
"I believe there is no essential difference between these two types of Sages, and their strength should be about the same."
"It's just that taking Orochimaru-senpai as an example, although your Byakugan hasn't changed its form, it definitely possesses special dōjutsu."
"So the strength of Sages at this level should be related to the ninja's special abilities."
"Of course, Yin-Yang fusion Sages definitely cannot compare with Five-Attribute fusion Sages in terms of Taijutsu."
"But similarly, Five-Attribute fusion Sages don't have those weird dōjutsu of the Yin-Yang fusion ones."
"And above these two situations, there is a more powerful level, which is a Sage who has fused seven natures: Yin, Yang, Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, and Earth."
"I call this level Kekkei Mōra. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths are definitely at this level."
"After reaching Kekkei Mōra, a Sage can condense something called Truth-Seeking Balls."
"This thing is miraculously effective in both offense and defense, and its strength naturally far exceeds the first two types of Sages."
Orochimaru, Neji-kun, and the others listened very carefully.
Especially Neji-kun and the others. After knowing that there were strong enemies outside the ninja world who could invade at any time, their desire to improve their strength became very urgent.
Ishiro's words didn't end. He continued, "The six of us are all the first type of Sage."
"To reach Kekkei Mōra, one needs to fuse seven natures into one."
"Regardless of how we became Sages before, without external help, the only way I can think of is to practice chakra fusion slowly."
"And the only external force I know of is to fuse the power of the nine Tailed Beasts of the ninja world."
"The nine Tailed Beasts originate from the Ten-Tails. I'm not clear about the Ten-Tails' specific level, but the Ten-Tails should be able to help a ninja achieve Kekkei Mōra."
"If my judgment is correct, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths might have achieved Kekkei Mōra with the help of the Ten-Tails' chakra!"
Hearing this, everyone was shocked in unison!
Orochimaru muttered to himself, "Ten-Tails?"
After everyone carefully digested what he had just said, Ishiro said, "Alright, starting now, please fulfill your promise, Orochimaru-senpai, and give us juniors some pointers."
Orochimaru's gaze narrowed. He withdrew his contemplative expression and looked at Ishiro.
He said slowly, "Since it's a wheel battle, who among you will go first?"
Ishiro laughed, "Of course, I'll go first. Without knowing Orochimaru-senpai's dōjutsu, it's better for me to test the waters first."
Actually, the most suitable person to go first was Neji-kun, because Neji-kun became a Sage the earliest, and his grasp of power at this level was stronger than Ishiro and the others.
But Ishiro wasn't reassured. The pupil power and dōjutsu of Neji-kun and the others were indeed Sage level, but their physical strength was inferior to the five-attribute fused Ishiro, as was their recovery ability.
Ishiro's margin for error was higher than Neji-kun and the others, so he was more suitable as the probing person.
And one point was also very important. Ishiro had at least seen the battle between Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and Naruto and Sasuke in the original story. At least he was mentally prepared for the various weird abilities that could erupt at the Sage level.
In case Orochimaru used some special dōjutsu, Neji-kun and the others might get distracted, but Ishiro wouldn't.
Ishiro and Orochimaru stood facing each other. Izumi Uchiha pulled Chiga and retreated far away with Neji-kun, Sōkai, and Shion.
They were ready to support Ishiro at any time.
Orochimaru didn't care about the nervous people off the field. His Byakugan was already activated, his eyes staring fixedly at Ishiro.
Ishiro had entered Sage Mode before coming. He also stared fixedly at Orochimaru.
After a long time, both moved simultaneously. Ishiro rushed forward quickly. While rushing forward, his hands immediately unleashed powerful ninjutsu one after another.
Senpō: Suiton - Suidanha (Sage Art: Water Release - Water Severing Wave)!
Senpō: Raiton - Chidori Nagashi (Sage Art: Lightning Release - Chidori Current)!
Senpō: Doton - Doryūdan (Sage Art: Earth Release - Earth Dragon Bullet)!
Senpō: Fūton - Atsugai (Sage Art: Wind Release - Pressure Damage)!
Senpō: Katon - Gōka Mekkyaku (Sage Art: Fire Release - Great Fire Annihilation)!
At the Sage level, with the enhancement of Senjutsu chakra, the power of these ninjutsu from Ishiro was surprisingly high. Every strike had an earth-shaking effect!
Orochimaru wasn't as reckless as Ishiro, thinking of closing the distance right from the start.
His tactics were just the opposite. He wanted to prevent Ishiro from approaching, so he chose to retreat.
While retreating rapidly, he defended with ninjutsu while using the Kusanagi Sword to slash and explode Ishiro's ninjutsu.
Iwagakure had collected almost all the ninjutsu in the entire ninja world.
And Ishiro had mastered most of Iwagakure's ninjutsu.
So although Ishiro was still testing Orochimaru and hadn't used special abilities, just the five-attribute ninjutsu were varied enough.
Regardless of how the battle went, Ishiro could always find suitable ninjutsu to attack.
Moreover, since Ishiro's soul had also reached the Sage level, he could cast the vast majority of his ninjutsu with a wave of his hand.
So Ishiro's attacks were endless, and his casting speed was not even weaker than Orochimaru's sword speed.
And many of Ishiro's ninjutsu required Orochimaru to swing his sword multiple times to break.
So on the surface, Orochimaru immediately fell into a disadvantage. He seemed to be attacked by Ishiro to the point where he could only dodge continuously, swinging the Kusanagi Sword to defend in the intervals of dodging.
He appeared somewhat wretched.
But Ishiro didn't underestimate the enemy. While rushing quickly toward Orochimaru to close the distance, he continued to cast various different ninjutsu to maintain pressure on Orochimaru.
When Ishiro rushed to a few meters in front of Orochimaru, Ishiro accelerated abruptly, arriving directly at Orochimaru's side.
At the same time, Ishiro's attacks changed suddenly, from single-attribute attacks to Porcelain Release, Scorch Release, and Storm Release attacks!
Porcelain Release was endless, Scorch Release absorbed the opponent's chakra to strengthen itself, and Storm Release was pervasive, instantly accelerating the rhythm of the battle by a large margin.
Seeing this, Neji-kun and the others felt a tinge of nervousness in their hearts.
And Orochimaru finally displayed some true strength.
Ishiro could clearly sense that Orochimaru's Byakugan instantly gathered a large amount of chakra.
The next moment, a shockwave spread directly from Orochimaru to the surroundings.
This wasn't a gravity-type ninjutsu, but an air attack similar to Wind Release.
While impacting, this move was also mixed with a large number of sword-qi-like attacks, which could cut everything around apart.
Ishiro's Porcelain Release was cut to pieces directly, and the Scorch Release and Storm Release were also dispersed instantly.
Ishiro, who had originally closed the distance and was about to attack Orochimaru, was also blasted away for a long distance by this blow.
However, Ishiro wasn't injured. After standing firm, a layer of hard rock shell quickly fell off his body.
Ishiro twisted his neck. He used to fight people using kiting tactics.
Now that he suddenly had to change tactics and choose close combat, he really wasn't used to it.