Chapter 134: Victory, Izayoi's Sage Mode
"Izayoi-kun, Hinata, Shino-kun, thank you."
Two hours later, outside a damaged iron battleship, Temari bowed deeply to Team 8, expressing her gratitude.
Izayoi looked at the Apes and Werewolves sealed by the Sand ninja, asking knowingly, "Is this enough?"
"Yes, as long as we capture these two, we'll have a way to extract the location of that army's main base from them," Temari nodded, confidently adding, "These armored individuals aren't ninja. Even if these two leaders can transform into monsters and use jutsu-like powers, they are ultimately just ordinary people. They're no match for our Hidden Sand Village."
"Since you don't need our help anymore, we'll head back to report to the Hokage-sama," Izayoi said.
"Izayoi-kun, please come back with us. Allow our Hidden Sand Village to show our hospitality," Temari extended a sincere invitation.
"No, not this time. Perhaps another opportunity," Izayoi shook his head, declining, and offered a reason, "Our Hidden Leaf's Chunin Exams for the first half of the year are about to begin, and Shino still needs to participate."
Seeing Izayoi's firm stance, Temari could only nod and smile, "Very well then. If Izayoi-kun ever wishes to visit the Hidden Sand Village in the future, you can have the guards contact me."
"Definitely. We're off now, Gaara~~"
Izayoi gave a sword-point gesture with a smile, then Shunshined away with Hinata and Shino Aburame.
Meanwhile, the battle on the other side had also concluded.
The already damaged iron battleship had been obliterated, caught in the crossfire.
On the yellow sand lay scattered wreckage.
Some were from the iron battleship, some from Sasori of the Red Sand's puppet army, and some from Izayoi's human puppets.
"You two are useless. Why didn't you summon your BOSS just now?"
Of the dozen or so human puppets, riddled with black receivers and capable of drawing chakra from their main body at any time, only five remained.
One of them, with dark skin and strong muscles, clearly a human puppet created from a Cloud Ninja's corpse, sat atop a puppet, teasing Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara, who were both impaled with black receivers, unable to move their bodies or even channel chakra.
"Hmph, a loss is a loss. My skill simply isn't as good," Sasori's main body stated arrogantly. "My art isn't as good as yours. Do what you will; kill me or slice me up."
Deidara, beside him, defiantly yelled, "Toneri-kun, if you're so brave, pull out these black receivers from me! This Big Bro still has a self-detonation jutsu, an ultimate art even more magnificent than C4 Garuda. Not even your Lightning Release can find any weakness in it. It definitely won't be inferior to your meteor shower... Hmm!"
By the end of his speech, Deidara closed his eyes, his face full of obsessive delight as he nodded.
"No need to see it, I'll never forget you," the human puppet said faintly.
"Indeed, idiots like him are hard to forget," Sasori agreed, nodding.
"If you don't believe me, then release me! I'll show you the ultimate beauty of a single moment!" Deidara struggled vigorously, but to no avail.
The human puppet stood up and said, "I had a lot of fun today. Try to pull out the black receivers from yourselves."
"You're not going to kill us?" Sasori of the Red Sand and Deidara were slightly taken aback.
"If you had summoned your BOSS just now, you'd already be dead," the human puppet chuckled. "But I appreciate your personalities. Consider this sparring practice, and thanks for last year's gift."
And thank you for your attributes too, he thought.
The human puppet, having completed its mission, vanished without a trace.
Gazing at where the human puppet had disappeared, Deidara's expression was excited: "So cool! Toneri-kun is truly an artist recognized by this Big Bro!"
"We got away with our lives this time, but it won't necessarily happen next time," Sasori of the Red Sand said calmly. "The Gedō Mazō is in the leader's hands. The two will engage in their final battle sooner or later. If we can't even defeat his human puppets, when the final battle arrives, even if he doesn't kill us, we'll likely die in the aftermath."
"A stage like that, just thinking about it is thrilling!" Deidara's eyes were full of anticipation. "When that time comes, this Big Bro will definitely self-destruct early, letting both of the ninja world's strongest witness this Big Bro's ultimate art!"
Sasori's forehead instantly became a mass of black lines.
The incident in the Land of Wind began mysteriously.
And with the intervention of the two strongest individuals in the ninja world, it also ended just as mysteriously.
By the time the Hidden Sand Village's interrogation unit extracted the location of the main base from Ranke, who could transform into an Ape, and Fūgai, who could transform into a Werewolf, and then led a mighty army to the Land of Rivers...
The moving fortress embedded within the mountain had already been taken away by Nagato.
The Hidden Sand Village thought the enemy had learned of their movements and relocated, so they continued their search.
Even after the Hidden Leaf's Chunin Exams for the first half of the year concluded, the Hidden Sand Village still found nothing.
However, seeing that the enemy was no longer attacking the Land of Wind, the Hidden Sand Village reluctantly withdrew its troops, putting the incident behind them.
And Team 7, whose client had been snatched away, received no punishment upon returning to the village.
After all, the one who snatched the client was Ōtsutsuki Toneri, a visitor from the moon.
The leader of that moving fortress also necessitated Nagato's personal deployment.
It was easy to guess that these two possessors of Sage Eyes, unable to decisively defeat each other in overt force, had begun to engage in a covert power struggle.
Even Minato Namikaze and Sakumo Hatake had the privilege of abandoning missions without penalty if they encountered certain individuals.
For Nagato and Ōtsutsuki Toneri, these two extraordinary combatants, it went without saying.
Tsunade was already incredibly grateful that all of Team 7 returned, so she would never blame them.
And the truth was exactly as Tsunade had thought.
After the Hidden Sand Village withdrew, Izayoi and Nagato continued their struggle in the territories of the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers.
The moving fortress was acquired by Nagato, and whatever remaining Grale Stone Hyd had was completely plundered by Nagato.
Timothy, the key, was also imprisoned in the Hidden Rain Village.
Nagato didn't know what kind of key Timothy was; he only knew from Hyd's soul memories that Timothy was a descendant of that empire and could perfectly integrate the power of Grale Stone without becoming a monster.
Izayoi, having obtained the old man and the ferret, knew that Timothy's blood could activate a summoning array for a Space-Time Hole, summoning the hole itself, which could suck the Grale Stone mine, capable of destroying half a continent, into the void.
This was a contingency left by that empire, and it was incredibly absurd.
Izayoi and Nagato's struggle was also very simple.
It was about... waiting it out!
Izayoi had already found the location of the Grale Stone mine from the old man's memories.
Before its demise, that empire had used its special methods to seal the mine deep beneath the mountains of the Land of Rivers.
This empire, capable of carving summoning arrays for a Space-Time Hole, possessed very advanced sealing jutsus. Even Izayoi's Tenseigan's long-distance sight and X-ray vision couldn't see those ores, and his Kagura Mind's Eye couldn't even sense that energy.
Clearly, Black and White Zetsu's Mayfly Jutsu also couldn't find that mine.
After all, the Land of Rain was right next to the Land of Rivers. If they could sense it, Black and White Zetsu would have long discovered that terrifying energy that, if unleashed, could destroy half a continent.
However, better safe than sorry, Izayoi still sent out several Wood Clones to take turns monitoring the Grale Stone mine's location.
Nagato, on his end, also dispatched a large number of White Zetsu clones, along with Black and White Zetsu, to search underground in the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers for any similar Grale Stone mines.
After all, Grale Stone's characteristics were too obvious: a blue-glowing stone containing natural energy and life force.
If such a mine existed underground, it would definitely be a sea of blue.
The White Zetsu clones, capable of merging with the earth and plants and moving at high speed by utilizing plant roots and underground water flow, could surely quickly scour the underground mines of the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers.
At the same time, Nagato also created numerous Wood Clones, disguised as ordinary people using Wood Transformation, scattering them throughout the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers. They used their powerful sensory abilities to pinpoint strong chakra signatures.
Should these chakra signatures change, or if Ōtsutsuki Toneri's chakra, or any other powerful chakra, appeared in their senses, he would act immediately.
However, a month passed, and neither Black and White Zetsu nor Nagato had any breakthroughs.
"Could I have guessed wrong?"
Receiving the secret scroll from Black and White Zetsu, informing him that they had searched the underground of the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers several times without finding the Grale Stone mine, Nagato secretly wondered, "Or is the Grale Stone mine hidden by seals and barriers that even I and Zetsu can't sense? Is Ōtsutsuki Toneri also waiting?"
Unwilling to give up, Nagato sent a command via secret scroll to Black and White Zetsu, instructing them to leave a portion of the White Zetsu clones behind to continue monitoring the chakra in the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers, cooperating with the Wood Clones.
Should any unfamiliar chakra enter the area, they were to immediately dispatch White Zetsu clones to monitor it.
He intended to continue this stalemate with Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
Little did he know, this very command gave Izayoi his opportunity.
When the Wood Clones responsible for monitoring the Grale Stone mine, occasionally using the Flying Thunder God Technique with Ranmaru to input Wood Release chakra into the ground and super-long-range sense the area, noticed that fewer White Zetsu clones were passing by...
Izayoi immediately confirmed that Black and White Zetsu and Nagato had no idea of the Grale Stone mine's location.
And it seemed they had given up on searching for underground mines.
However, to avoid falling into a trap, Izayoi still didn't act immediately, opting for further probing.
First, he placed a spiritual orb into an ordinary person, having them wander the area for a few days, while his Wood Clone, with Ranmaru, invisibly monitored the surface and underground.
Seeing no White Zetsu clones lurking nearby, the Wood Clone then left Ranmaru, allowing the ordinary person to carry Ranmaru invisibly into the underground ruins where the Grale Stone mine was located.
Such underground ruins were not uncommon in the ninja world; many tombs were constructed similarly.
In the mountainous regions of the Land of Rivers, there were also numerous natural caves and volcanic caverns.
This underground ruin was merely a disguise.
The true mine was hidden even deeper.
Ranmaru used his Red Eye ability to create a mirage of nothing unusual, then opened a certain mechanism. With the ordinary person carrying him, he entered a deeper underground chamber.
There, numerous ancient texts and jutsu formulas were carved, detailing the Grale Stone's abilities and dangers, as well as the rise and fall of the empire.
In the center of the chamber was a jutsu array, precisely the Space-Time Hole summoning array that required Timothy's blood to activate.
Ranmaru first left a Flying Thunder God Technique formula in the chamber, then began setting up a sensory-blocking barrier.
Finally, following the method from the old man's memories, he removed a section of the floor.
Beneath was earth, and within the earth, lay the Grale Stone mine.
Ranmaru's Red Eye, and the Wood Clone's Tenseigan, still couldn't see the stones and energy beneath the earth, indicating that the jutsu's effects were still active. However, he could excavate the stones from below.
So, Ranmaru used an Earth Release ninjutsu to liquefy that section of earth.
Then, that section of earth, along with some of the Grale Stone beneath it, instantly vanished into thin air.
Ninja Art: Heavenly Transfer Technique!
After transferring part of the Grale Stone away, Ranmaru immediately closed the floor, a green light flashing in the cracks.
Immediately after, Ranmaru, along with the ordinary person, disappeared using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"We won!"
In an underground base of a traditional building, Izayoi looked at the Grale Stone that had appeared out of thin air before him, a smug smile playing on his lips.
This was the power of information asymmetry!
Nagato clearly couldn't imagine that Izayoi's Tenseigan possessed a spiritual orb similar to, yet completely different from, his Human Path ability, capable of not only reading others' thoughts but also controlling their will and actions.
And Ranmaru, an ace that, unless a Tenseigan or Rinnegan was present, even a Byakugan or Kagura Mind's Eye simply couldn't detect.
In terms of setup and hidden cards, Nagato, the recipient of transplanted Sage Eyes, ultimately couldn't compare to him, the self-evolving cheat.
Even if this scenario presented no inherent advantage for Izayoi, he could still achieve victory.
"So this is Grale Stone?"
Izayoi picked up a blue stone the size of a billiard ball. If it were a ball of light and spherical, it would actually look quite similar to the Tenseigan's spiritual orb.
No one would have expected that this stone contained such powerful natural energy and life force.
If one didn't know how to extract it, the energy within this stone could very likely turn a person into a monster, a beast devoid of reason.
But if one understood how to extract it and utilize it, the energy within this stone could grant powerful abilities, create ever-flowing wells, make livestock grow overnight, or even prevent aging, and more...
"Let me see just how mysterious this natural energy, which even the Tenseigan and Kagura Mind's Eye can't sense, truly is," Izayoi muttered with interest, but he didn't rashly attempt to absorb it with his Tenseigan or Wood Release chakra.
His right arm suddenly wriggled, extending a branch that quickly transformed into a Wood Clone.
The Wood Clone didn't take the Grale Stone from Izayoi's hand. Instead, it picked up a larger, basketball-sized blue stone from the ground.
Immediately, it performed the Tenseigan's chakra absorption.
Green chakra surged forth, enveloping the blue stone, like a gigantic orb of light, emitting a dazzling glow.
But soon, the green chakra returned to the Wood Clone's body.
The blue stone also turned into a transparent crystal.
All the blue glowing energy within it had vanished.
And Izayoi's Wood Clone's expression suddenly turned feral. Its mouth widened, revealing sharp fangs, and its face and skin subtly showed signs of beast transformation.
However, in less than two seconds, these features vanished.
In their place, red markings appeared around the Wood Clone's eyes.
If the Tenseigan was deactivated, even its pupils would change from blue to golden.
With the Tenseigan—more precisely, the chakra absorption and Yin-Yang Release creation, along with Wood Release's assistance—the Wood Clone instantly mastered natural energy, fusing it with chakra to form senjutsu chakra, activating Sage Mode in seconds.
"So this is senjutsu chakra?"
Receiving the real-time information, Izayoi reached out and placed his hand on the Wood Clone's shoulder, absorbing the senjutsu chakra. Red markings immediately appeared around his own eyes.
Feeling the changes within his body, Izayoi's lips curled slightly: "Hmph... Nothing special, absolutely no difficulty."