Chapter 132: Izayoi and Nagato's Gains
"That brat, why does he also possess such power?"
Inside a room in the mobile fortress, Hyde watched Sasuke Uchiha below unleash Sage Art: Storm Release - White Dragon through the window. While shocked, his eyes were also filled with joy as he murmured, "Could he also be a descendant of that lineage? Does he also have the Gureiru Stone in his possession?"
Just as Hyde was preparing to continue observing, looking for an opportunity to capture Sasuke Uchiha, a voice suddenly echoed in his ears.
"Wood Release: Silent Killing Binding Technique!"
Wooden vines grew from the ground, binding Hyde into a cocoon-like shape.
"Who is it?!"
Hyde's expression changed drastically as he turned his head to look.
By the time he clearly saw the red-haired youth, his body was already immobilized.
Without the slightest hesitation, Hyde immediately activated the Gureiru Stone implanted in his right hand, absorbing its power. His hair instantly turned from brown to white, his eyes became red sclera with black vertical pupils, and his skin transformed from human flesh tones to the color of steel.
Crack... crack...
The branches on his body made crisp cracking sounds. Hyde broke free effortlessly, and then four fleshy pillars grew out from his back, rapidly expanding like the Akimichi clan's secret technique, ramming towards Nagato.
"Such a miraculous power, is it because of that stone?" Nagato stared at the stone on the back of Hyde's hand, which was emitting a faint blue light, while raising his hand and whispering, "Almighty Push!"
Boom—
A huge explosion erupted as an invisible repulsive force storm destroyed the room.
The four fleshy pillars that had been thrusting towards him were blown back, and Hyde's body shattered the wall, flying out of the mobile fortress.
"Hyde-sama!"
The sound of the explosion attracted attention below.
Looking at Hyde in the sky, Timothy shouted with a shocked expression.
At this moment, a figure flew out from the thick fog surrounding the mobile fortress.
Seeing this figure, it was Kakashi Hatake's turn to have a shocked expression.
"Naruto, run!"
Kakashi Hatake shouted loudly, while simultaneously performing hand seals and creating two shadow clones.
"Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning!"
Kakashi Hatake spat out a large amount of ash, obstructing Kisame Hoshigaki's vision.
Soon after, several figures burst out of the ash cloud. These were Kakashi Hatake and his shadow clones, who had grabbed Naruto Uzumaki and Timothy.
Another shadow clone went to protect Sakura Haruno, who had already secretly left the mobile fortress with Pakkun, returning towards the caravan.
"Let go of me, I need to help Hyde-sama!"
Timothy drew his knight's sword, released the power of the Gureiru Stone, shattered Kakashi Hatake's shadow clone, and rushed towards Hyde's direction.
"Timothy!"
Naruto Uzumaki shouted loudly, instinctively trying to break free from Kakashi Hatake's grip to go help.
"Idiot, do you want to get everyone killed?!"
Kakashi Hatake rarely shouted so loudly, scolding, "The one above is the leader of Akatsuki. Their goal is to capture the Tailed Beasts, which means the monster inside you. That boy isn't your friend, he was even your enemy before. He doesn't want to leave either. Going over there is suicide, and it will implicate us, even the village!"
Naruto Uzumaki, seeing Kakashi Hatake so furious for the first time, was stunned.
Kakashi Hatake even opened the First Gate of the Eight Gates, increasing his speed to the extreme, and brought Naruto Uzumaki to Sasuke Uchiha, who was stunned by Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo, whispering, "Sasuke, do you have enough chakra left? Use the largest scale Wood Release to cover our escape."
"...I understand."
Sasuke Uchiha glanced unwillingly at Itachi Uchiha, then performed hand seals and shouted, "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Rumble...
The waterlogged ground shook violently as numerous branches burst from the earth, rapidly growing leaves and transforming into ordinary trees, spreading out in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, a forest appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Itachi Uchiha, who was submerged by the wave of trees, dispelled the second form of his Susanoo, and his Mangekyo Sharingan reverted to the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Standing on top of a large tree, he looked at Nagato in the sky, then glanced at Team Seven rapidly fleeing into the distance, a sense of relief washing over him.
Not to mention Kakashi Hatake, even he was startled by the sudden appearance of Nagato.
He had thought Nagato was there to capture the Nine-Tails and had almost lost his composure.
Fortunately, the other party's target was the leader of the mobile fortress.
Kisame Hoshigaki teleported next to Itachi Uchiha, teasing, "Itachi-sensei, they ran away. Should we chase after them?"
"The Nine-Tails is not the target of this mission. Let's wait for the leader's instructions," Itachi Uchiha said expressionlessly.
Kisame Hoshigaki only smiled meaningfully, then looked in the direction where Team Seven's chakra signatures had disappeared, marveling slightly, "I didn't expect that in just half a year, your little brother, Itachi-sensei, has improved to the point where he could force out your trump card. If this continues, once he truly obtains the same eyes as you, will he slip out of your control, Itachi-sensei?"
"No matter, everything is within the plan," Itachi Uchiha said calmly, though his eyelids twitched slightly.
Continuously using Tsukuyomi and Susanoo had clearly taken a toll on him.
But fortunately, he had avoided fighting as much as possible these years.
All battles were handled by Kisame Hoshigaki, with himself only providing support, so his eye power hadn't been depleted much.
However, his physical condition was getting worse and worse.
His chakra reserves were shrinking every year.
At this rate, he could only last another three to five years at most.
Itachi Uchiha had originally worried that he might not be able to hold on until Sasuke Uchiha grew up.
Now it seemed there was no need to worry at all.
With Sasuke Uchiha's current strength, perhaps in another year or two, he would have the ability to kill him.
Even if he still had the three-tomoe Sharingan at that time, as long as Sasuke Uchiha killed him with his own hands, he would still awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, to avoid the truth being exposed and causing Sasuke Uchiha to walk a path of destruction, and needing someone to help Sasuke Uchiha obtain eternal eye power, Itachi Uchiha felt he still needed to leave a contingency plan.
It seemed it was time to find an opportunity to meet the future Sixth Hokage.
Itachi Uchiha thought inwardly.
At the same time, Nagato in the sky had also ended the battle.
"Universal Pull!"
Nagato, who had flown out of the mobile fortress, raised his hand and released a strange gravitational force. Like an invisible hand, it pulled the flying Hyde back. At the same time, he raised his other hand and extended several wooden vines, binding Hyde again.
This time, without waiting for Hyde to break free, Nagato increased his chakra output and whispered, "Sealing Art: Four Limbs Severing Seal!"
Blue chakra flames appeared on the vines, and tadpole-shaped black runes crawled out from the chakra flames, quickly spreading across Hyde's entire body.
Hyde instantly lost control of his body, and even his ability to speak was stripped away.
Nagato didn't land with Hyde but created a Wood Clone in the sky. The Wood Clone then placed its hand on Hyde's body, using the Preta Path to absorb the energy within him.
As the energy of the Gureiru Stone was absorbed, Hyde instantly reverted from his monstrous form back to his original appearance.
"This energy is..."
The Wood Clone absorbing the energy from Hyde suddenly widened its eyes, its body beginning to monstrously transform at a visible speed.
But soon, the monstrous transformation automatically reversed.
In its place, red eye shadow appeared at the corners of its eyes.
"So it's natural energy!"
Nagato slightly understood, digesting the information transmitted by the Wood Clone in real-time, murmuring, "No, this isn't ordinary natural energy. It also contains Yang Release power similar to Wood Release, more accurately, life force. Is it because of this stone?"
Staring at the stone on the back of Hyde's right hand, Nagato muttered to himself, "Is this the Gureiru Stone? Let me see what exactly this stone is."
Raising his hand and placing it on Hyde's head, who couldn't speak, Nagato ignored the pleading look in his eyes and directly used the power of the Human Path to extract and absorb Hyde's soul.
A massive amount of information instantly flooded Nagato's mind.
After layers of filtering, the information about the Gureiru Stone was quickly extracted.
Digesting this information, Nagato exclaimed with surprise, "Gureiru Stone, capable of creating inexhaustible water wells and livestock that grow overnight, also capable of creating continuously fruitful crops, and combining research and ecology to prevent aging... In the past ninja world, there was actually an empire built using this kind of stone? Why hasn't a single document been left behind?"
"No... it's not that none were left behind, but fewer and fewer people know about it, and they've moved overseas."
Nagato searched Hyde's corpse and found a photograph. Looking at the old man and the ferret on it, he whispered, "The answer might lie with him."
"Release Hyde-sama!"
At this moment, a shout came from below, rising towards them.
Nagato looked down and saw a green slash soaring into the sky, flying towards him.
Before Nagato could act, the Wood Clone beside him, who had instantly entered Sage Mode, flew down.
Without using the power of the Rinnegan, the Wood Clone simply threw a punch.
The fist collided with the slash, and the latter was shattered by the punch, transforming into roaring green shockwaves.
"Is this Sage Art chakra?"
The Wood Clone looked at its unharmed fist and exclaimed, "Natural energy and Wood Release are truly a match made in heaven! And the life force inside can actually enhance the power of Yang Release. If I had more of these stones, perhaps I wouldn't need Hashirama's cells, and my Wood Release could become even stronger."
Thinking of this, the Wood Clone looked at Timothy below, its gaze also becoming fiery.
This young man was one of the descendants of that empire, and so was the old man with the ferret.
Moreover, the former seemed to be some kind of key, while the latter might know the location of the Gureilu Stone mine left by that empire.
Obtaining these two people was equivalent to obtaining the Gureilu Stone mine.
Thus, Nagato's Wood Clone flew down and easily subdued and sealed Timothy with Wood Release.
And Nagato's main body performed an unrevealed hand seal, closed his eyes, and fully released his senses to find the location of Team Seven.
In the next second, Nagato's expression suddenly changed, as if he had sensed something.
He opened his eyes, his face grim. "Tenseigan, truly disgusting eyes."
Just now, Nagato had sensed a familiar chakra, the chakra of 'Otsutsuki Toneri.'
The other party's location was in the direction of Team Seven.
But soon, the other party's chakra, as well as the large and small energy fluctuations beside it, disappeared without warning.
Combining the vague features in his senses, those two energy fluctuations, one large and one small, were the old man and the ferret in the photograph.
Clearly, the other party had also taken action personally.
He had targeted this guy named Hyde, while Otsutsuki Toneri had targeted the old man.
At this moment, Nagato suddenly felt fortunate that he had taken action personally.
Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have gained anything this time.
"The Gureilu Stone mine is very likely hidden underground in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind," Nagato thought inwardly. "Currently, it can be confirmed that Otsutsuki Toneri's Tenseigan possesses enhanced Byakugan abilities, but it can't see Zetsu, who is integrated with the earth and plants, and like my Rinnegan, it can't see the existence of natural energy."
"I can have Zetsu's clones search for mineral veins similar to this stone underground in the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers, and also send Wood Clones to sense everywhere. Even if he finds the Gureilu Stone mine, his chakra will expose his location."
"Moreover, he doesn't have Wood Release and doesn't have a high compatibility with the Gureilu Stone. He can't easily absorb the energy inside the stone and fuse it with chakra into Sage Art chakra like me, using the Preta Path of the Rinnegan and Wood Release. The life force shouldn't provide much improvement to him either. The worst-case scenario is that he masters Sage Mode."
"Unless the Gureilu Stone mine isn't in the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind, he won't be able to monopolize this mine."
Thinking of this, Nagato felt a little more at ease.
Then he turned around and flew back to the mobile fortress to scavenge Hyde's last remaining supplies.
He had to prepare for the worst.
If he couldn't obtain the Gureilu Stone mine, even if his Wood Release couldn't be improved, he would use this last stone to be able to independently sense natural energy.
Once he could independently sense natural energy, he wouldn't need to rely on the Gureilu Stone to enter Sage Mode.
In the Land of Water, Izayoi's Wood Clone, who had gone to borrow some chakra from the Six-Tails Jinchuriki to change his chakra signature, had also obtained the information he wanted from the old man using a mental probe.
"A vast empire, a Gureilu Stone mine containing power that can easily destroy half a continent... I seem to have a slight impression," Izayoi吐槽 inwardly with black lines all over his forehead. "Although I still can't remember, I can be sure this is definitely something from a movie."
As for why Izayoi was so sure?
Because apart from the Ten-Tails, only in the movies were there things that could easily destroy the ninja world.
This Gureilu Stone mine capable of easily destroying half a continent was one.
The Ryūmyaku, which could destroy the entire earth if not handled carefully, was another.
Mōryō, sealed by the priestess of the Land of Demons and possessing the potential to destroy the world, was one.
And the Tenseigan and the Chakra Cannon were also products of the movies.
As the wielder of the Tenseigan, Izayoi understood the nature of the movies all too well.
Izayoi finally understood why he had no impression at all.
Because in his previous life, he had only watched a few of the more popular movies.
Any original plot from the TV anime, even if Izayoi had forgotten it, he would still have some impression.
However, Izayoi really had no impression of this Gureilu Stone at all.
"Instantly entering Sage Mode, it seems my guess was correct. These stones contain natural energy."
Recalling the scene of Nagato's Wood Clone instantly entering Sage Mode, the corners of Izayoi's mouth slightly curled up, and he thought inwardly, "Wood Release is indeed a cheat for cultivating Sage Mode."
"In this case, I don't need to deal with the three great holy lands. I can completely cultivate Sage Mode myself like Hashirama Senju."
(End of this chapter)
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