Chapter 266: The Sage of Six Paths
"Many more ninjas in Konoha are showing that golden light in their eyes!"
Ohnoki frowned deeply. He didn't know who in Konoha had developed this new technique, but he knew that every ninja whose eyes glowed with golden light had their strength greatly enhanced and seemed to no longer fear death.
This was preventing their attacks on Konoha from making good progress. Ordinary Konoha ninjas, bolstered by this technique, were becoming difficult to deal with.
"Are the people from Kirigakure and Sunagakure still not here?"
Ohnoki asked. Originally, he had thought that once those two villages arrived, he and the Raikage wouldn't have to be so wary of each other and could free up their hands to breach Konoha. But the fact that the ninjas from these two villages still hadn't appeared made him sense something abnormal.
"Intelligence says that great chaos seems to have occurred in the Land of Water... Kirigakure has also undergone major changes. They probably won't intervene in this war."
After asking, Ohnoki found the intelligence ambiguous. It only mentioned that Konoha's Uchiha Shisui likely launched an attack on Kirigakure earlier, causing significant casualties among important personnel.
However, because of the chaos in Konoha, this news wasn't taken seriously at the time. Thinking about it now, two of the five great ninja villages being attacked in succession was extremely bizarre.
Kitsuchi, wearing armor, flashed in from outside. With a solemn expression, he said to his father, "Intelligence just came in. The Royal Capital of the Land of Fire was attacked, and the Daimyo is dead!"
Ohnoki looked shocked. Attacking the Daimyo?!
In the ninja world, regardless of the stance of the major ninja villages, they were always loyal to their own country and Daimyo.
The Daimyo and the country supported the ninja village, and the ninja village existed as the country's most powerful war machine, the embodiment of the nation's military force.
Except for notorious rogue ninjas, few would target a country's Royal Capital and key nobles for assassination. Once such an act occurred, they would inevitably be hunted down by the ninja village with full force.
But now, someone had actually brazenly attacked and killed the Land of Fire's Daimyo?!
The next moment, another figure walked in quickly, glanced at the group, and said, "Lord Ohnoki, the Fourth Raikage, A, seems to have just quickly left the front line with several squads!"
"Which direction did they go?!"
Ohnoki vaguely caught onto something, but he wasn't sure, so he pressed for an answer.
The messenger recalled for a moment and said, "Roughly... in the direction of Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning."
Ohnoki's heart exploded. The thought that had been elusive just a moment ago became incredibly clear.
He flew quickly in the air for a moment before landing on the table.
"Not good! It's the group that attacked Konoha. They are hunting the high-level officials of various countries!"
...
Hyuga Hiashi's body was wrapped in bandages. He had been seriously injured when Mercenary Tao broke his [Rotation] with a single blow. Although medical ninjas tried their best to treat him, he still couldn't participate in combat and could only stay in the village's combat command room.
He remained wary of the mysterious woman, so he was unwilling to accept the so-called [Golden Grace].
But undeniably, everyone who accepted that grace had their physical fitness enhanced at a speed visible to the naked eye. Especially for Genin and Chunin, under the blessing of this power, their average combat power increased significantly.
This was why Konoha could still hold on under the pincer attack of two major ninja villages.
Suddenly, Hiashi stood up, as if seeing an incredible sight.
"What's wrong? Is there a new situation?"
Jiraiya, acting as the temporary combat commander of Konoha, was tense. These days, he had to be responsible for command within the village. At such times, there were many voices within the major clans, requiring him to step forward again and again to appease and coordinate.
On the other hand, Jiraiya also had to personally participate in the battle, working with Uchiha Shisui to hold off the top combat forces of the two villages.
Providence leaned against the window, not looking in the direction outside the village, yet seeming to know everything like the back of her hand. She chuckled and said, "Two days are up. We won this defense battle."
Hearing the woman's words, Jiraiya still couldn't quite believe it, but Hyuga Hiashi spoke hesitantly.
"The Raikage and Tsuchikage... seem to have left the front line. The ninjas of both villages are also retreating from the Konoha barrier in a retreat formation!"
Soon, the village's intelligence ninjas and Anbu reported one by one, confirming the intelligence that the ninjas of both villages had begun to retreat.
Jiraiya felt relieved. No matter what, they had ultimately defended Konoha.
Providence looked at the faint golden glow emanating from the back mountain, thinking that she had indeed borrowed a lot of Mercenary Tao's "momentum" this time. But sooner or later, that madman would demand it back with interest.
She had to prepare countermeasures before that happened.
Facing an anomaly like Mercenary Tao, Providence didn't think direct hostility was a good choice. He grew extremely fast and possessed a certain [Strong Luck]. Every guy who thought they were stronger than him and tried to hunt him down ended up being hunted instead.
In a place like the Infinite Dimensional Nexus, friends were always much more precious than enemies. The woman fell into thought.
Her relaxed state by the window suggested she wasn't worried about anyone assassinating her, which puzzled [Le Ren], who was standing on the other side holding his sword.
At this moment, [Le Ren's] eyes also had a golden luster. He had accepted the blessing of the [Golden Order]. Even if he would become a [Tarnished] in the future, this ability to gain extra attributes under the blessing was already powerful enough.
To some extent, it already had effects similar to the Nexus.
But he knew very well that introducing other power systems into a mission derivative world would cause great fluctuations in the world line. Furthermore, such fluctuations wouldn't produce high-level Singularities but would cause Reincarnators to suffer hostility from the World Will and be hunted down by powerful plot characters of the mission world.
He didn't understand why Miss Providence seemed completely unconcerned about anyone coming to kill her.
Unless... the person who planted the Golden Erdtree and bore the [Golden Order] wasn't her...
[Special Trial: Ultimate Benevolence, Phase 1 Completed]
[You have unlocked Special Trial: Ultimate Benevolence Phase 2]
[Phase 2: Find Minoru Hiranaka, who is spreading intelligence, within three days, and ensure he is not killed until the end of the mission.]
[Note: Plot character Minoru Hiranaka has undergone a huge change. The difficulty of this mission has changed. If this trial fails, the Card: Virtue will not be lost from your inventory.]
Kaito Shirogane looked at the Nexus notification refreshing before his eyes. This was the second time the Nexus had actively proposed a mission with reduced penalties, following the intrusion of Black King Luffy in the One Piece world.
This reminded Kaito Shirogane on another level that the difficulty of Phase 2 of this special trial had been raised to a terrifying level. In the Nexus's judgment, even he, a Reincarnator at the [Ordinary - Extreme] rank with rule-breaking combat power, very likely didn't possess the ability to complete the mission.
Only in this situation would the Nexus modify the penalty due to conflict with the fundamental rule of [Impossible-to-Appear Certain-Death Missions], giving the Reincarnator extra care.
Kaito Shirogane looked at Shimura Danzo, tied to the back of a summoning beast not far from him, and understood that this trial mission had indeed changed.
The Minoru Hiranaka questline, which was originally expected to be related to the Konoha or Uchiha faction—either rescuing him or killing a powerful plot character for him—had now changed to ensuring he wouldn't be killed.
The wording here was also very subtle.
[Ensure he is not killed]. There was no object pronoun added; it didn't specify who would kill him—a new Reincarnator, a Konoha ninja, or some plot character.
And considering the difficulty, for the Nexus to deem that a Reincarnator with rule-breaking combat power at the [Ordinary - Extreme] rank very likely had no possibility of completing the mission...
There were likely only two possibilities.
A high-level Reincarnator was deployed again, with a rating possibly approaching the [Fierce] rank or completely reaching the [Fierce] rank.
Or, those truly top-tier powerhouses who hadn't appeared in this world yet—plot characters above Kage-level, capable of raising the combat power level of this world, the Six Paths-level characters.
"I say, isn't it about time you gave up on killing me?"
Kaito Shirogane looked down at the beautiful woman, who was trying to draw a sharp blade from under her skirt with slow movements she thought were concealed.
At this moment, because of his huge size, just lowering his head created a terrifying pressure, making the woman's face pale as paper.
The ninja who had tried to assassinate Kaito Shirogane from behind with a kunai but failed was now engulfed in flames, struggling as he fell from the summoning beast's back, lifeless.
"You cannot kill me."
Kaito Shirogane informed her calmly, without any boasting or arrogance. He was merely stating a fact she didn't want to believe.
Even if Kaito Shirogane stood there without any defense, ordinary humans had no way to kill him. Whether it was sharp blades or poison, even if they could affect him, his regeneration ability and immortality would revive him.
The only feasible way for ordinary people to kill Kaito Shirogane was probably to trap him in an inescapable environment and starve him to death. After the body lost all sustenance, the cells would slowly lose activity, and the regeneration ability and immortality would finally be exhausted, leading to death.
Kaito Shirogane grabbed the woman and threw her casually into the crowd. Amidst screams, she knocked over a large group of people.
Now, such pure ordinary humans could give him almost no rewards. Whether it was Dimensional Points or Satsui no Hado, it was extremely difficult to gain improvement from such individuals.
Kaito Shirogane originally had an interest in playing with these ordinary people a bit longer, letting them see the gap between truly extraordinary creatures and ordinary humans, but the update to Special Trial Phase 2 made him lose interest.
Kaito Shirogane had realized what Providence's so-called true method of manipulating him was.
She actually made an originally ordinary plot character of this world, Minoru Hiranaka, the bearer of the Golden Order!
Kaito Shirogane turned his head and met the eyes of Hana Hiranaka, who was sitting on the summoning beast looking somewhat bewildered.
"Your husband really did something remarkable..."
Kaito Shirogane's cruel smile chilled Hana Hiranaka to the bone. She didn't know what her husband had done, but she knew very well that angering this Mercenary Tao would result in no good end, even for the big shots among those ninjas.
Minoru, what did you do... where... are you?
...
On the border of the Land of Fire, the Fourth Raikage, A, who was rushing back to the Land of Lightning's Royal Capital, suddenly saw a strange figure. Under the full moon, the figure wore pitch-black special armor and carried an overly huge sword on his back.
More importantly, the figure emitted specks of golden glow.
A didn't want to pay attention, but for some reason, he felt that this golden light was very similar to the light in the eyes of those Konoha ninjas. He suddenly felt a dislike for this person.
Minoru Hiranaka also sensed something at the same time. He turned his head, the golden rings in his pupils radiating light. He saw the group of ninjas, and floating in the air behind them, a looming white-robed old man holding a black shakujo (staff), with black magatama on the chest of his white robe.
That was... the Sage of Six Paths!
(End of Chapter)
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