The once-calm ninja world was once again thrown into chaos.
When news spread that both Iwagakure and Sunagakure had been attacked, the entire world was left in shock.
And for good reason.
Both villages were among the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Yet the ones who attacked them came from the same organization: the Xu Ye Palace.
The Senju Clan had dispatched only two men, members of the elite group known as the "Ten Blades."
They were not strangers.
Orochimaru and Sakumo Hatake!
Two men, alone, challenging entire villages — and the outcome defied everyone's expectations.
They won!
It was a clean, decisive victory.
Sunagakure was almost completely destroyed. The Third Kazekage was severely injured by Orochimaru. Ōnoki lost an arm. From now on, whether or not he could even rely on Sunagakure to recover was in doubt.
The terrifying strength of the Xu Ye Palace and the Ten Blades spread like wildfire across the land.
Still, the reason behind the attack left many with complicated feelings.
Sunagakure and Iwagakure had first broken their promises to the Senju Clan, refusing to deliver the reparations they owed.
In a sense, they had brought this disaster upon themselves.
Meanwhile, the ninjas from Kumogakure, who had previously protested paying reparations to the Senju Clan, fell utterly silent when they heard the news.
In this moment, they were deeply grateful for the Raikage's foresight.
Otherwise, their own village might have been next on the list.
Besides, Kumogakure knew they still bore the blood debt of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. One day, that debt would come due. They could only hope that when that day came, the one who came knocking wouldn't bring overwhelming hostility.
The entire shinobi world was boiling with unrest.
With Iwagakure and Sunagakure quickly gathering supplies and sending them to the Xu Ye Palace, the Second Great Ninja War was officially over.
The villages were too exhausted to continue fighting.
They needed to recuperate.
Moreover, the sheer dominance of the Senju Clan forced them to act with far greater caution.
After all, the Xu Ye Palace had sent only two people.
Swordsmen.
From their title alone, it was clear the Senju Clan had more than two such supreme warriors.
Eight "Blades" in total?
If that was true...
How could they possibly stand against the Senju Clan in the future?
The mere thought of such potential power sent chills through their hearts.
At this moment, the Senju were even more terrifying than they had been during the Warring States Period!
The reason was simple.
Back in the Warring States era, while the Senju Clan was immensely powerful, their leader — Senju Hashirama, the "God of Shinobi" — had been a man of compassion and wisdom.
The other villages' Kage had seen it firsthand.
Hashirama was the kind of person who would gently knock heads together at the First Five Kage Summit, pleading for understanding and peace.
At the time, they feared Hashirama's strength, but they also understood he wasn't a man who sought domination.
But now?
The Senju Clan was led by Senju Yukika!
A completely unreasonable, merciless person.
Unlike Hashirama, if you bit Yukika, he wouldn't merely scold you — he might just kill you on the spot.
They had every reason to report and fear him.
He was countless times more powerful than the First Hokage had ever been.
He was cunning and manipulative enough to topple the Third Hokage with nothing but schemes.
And his raw power was fearsome.
Although they didn't want to admit it, the rumors said that Senju Yukika had mastered Wood Release, and with that strange beam of light he commanded, he may have already surpassed Senju Hashirama himself!
A heavy, invisible shadow loomed over the entire ninja world.
At the very least, they knew one thing: if the Senju Clan ever chose to unify the world, there was nothing they could do to stop them.
Xu Ye Palace. Senju Palace. Espada.
With these forces combined, their dominating aura was undeniable.
...
The chaos in the ninja world continued to surge.
But it had nothing to do with Yukika's next plans.
The other villages might speculate about Senju moves to unify the world, but Yukika had no interest in such a goal.
What use was a unified, chaotic world?
The time wasn't ripe.
Right now, his primary objective was to strengthen the Senju Clan.
Inside the throne room of Xu Ye Palace, Yukika lounged in his chair, studying the replication functions of his system.
He had to admit — the existence of replicas had solved a major headache for him.
Still, there was a downside.
Repeatedly grinding the same replica with the same person produced diminishing returns.
Take himself for example:
The first time he spent five hours slaughtering enemies at the peak of a great war, his progress template jumped by 5%.
The second time, after another five hours of battle, his progress increased by only 3%.
Now, a month later, the benefits from that particular war replica had almost dried up.
Still, it didn't stop him from grinding it for resources.
He glanced at his system inventory and smiled at the devil fruits stored there.
Even though the drop rate was low, the principle remained — killing enough enemies would eventually yield rewards.
And among those devil fruits, there was one he particularly coveted: the Shiny-Shiny Fruit, once wielded by the uncle of Monkey D. Luffy.
A devil fruit from the One Piece world!
Eating it would bring massive power-ups. Once the fruit awakened, the boost would be extraordinary.
As for the traditional weaknesses of devil fruits, Yukika wasn't concerned.
The system had a solution: for 1000 function points, he could erase the sea water weakness entirely.
Thus, the devil fruits obtained from dungeons were even more valuable than those in the One Piece world itself.
This mattered a lot.
After all, the ninja world had no shortage of Water Release users — a devil fruit user vulnerable to water would be in real trouble.
But with the system's help, this flaw was easily removed.
He had plenty of function points stored up.
Still, Yukika hadn't decided who he should give the devil fruits to yet.
He didn't think he lacked speed, so the Shiny-Shiny Fruit might be better saved as a reward for promising juniors.
His focus shifted.
Yukika frowned as he studied the replica filtering menu.
[War at Its Peak]
Although he'd already "graduated" from it, he wouldn't abandon it just yet.
Orochimaru's Hollowfication experiments had sped up thanks to their conquests, and the Senju Clan's numbers had swelled to about 300 elite members.
All received generous rewards for their service.
Scene after scene flashed before Yukika's eyes.
"Huh."
He suddenly paused.
He spotted an unusual replica.
[The Battle of the Unfilial Sons vs. the Naïve Mother]
Replica Description: Thousands of years ago in the shinobi world, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was sealed away by her sons, Hagoromo and Hamura. After months of desperate battle, they succeeded.
Replica Structure: A special replica designed to match the host's current timeline.
The replica would preserve all memories gained but would not change the final outcome. Whether Yukika chose to kill Kaguya or her sons, it wouldn't alter history.
Moreover, the memories would be retained.
Time Limit: Maximum three days.
Limit: One entry.
Cooldown: Seven days.
This...
A replica of the same timeline, from a thousand years ago?
And it retained memories without altering the flow of time?
Intriguing.