novelraw Chapter 427 427: Bad News
Chapter 427 427: Bad News
The Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage were deeply troubled.
Their plan had been meticulous. They had poured in enormous resources and paid a staggering price, all to seal Brook, this calamity, in one decisive strike.
And yet, Brook had still escaped.
What awaited them next might very well be Brook's furious retaliation.
Even the seemingly unstoppable Ninja World Alliance had suffered a devastating blow after Brook forcibly reclaimed control of many of the experts who had previously fallen into his hands.
The Sage of Six Paths had also made a grave mistake. He had failed to inspect the Kage and Jinchuriki Brook had captured, and that oversight had turned into a disaster on the battlefield.
He even regretted listening to the Great Toad Sage's plan to ambush Brook. That decision had only escalated the conflict to an even more dangerous level.
Now the Sage of Six Paths no longer faced only the threat of the Otsutsuki clan. He also had to deal with Brook's revenge.
It was an unbearable burden.
This war had no victor.
Countless shinobi fell on the battlefield.
For a time, silence descended upon both sides.
Every hidden village in every land was plunged into grief, and cries of mourning echoed everywhere.
Brook, meanwhile, was recuperating in seclusion and reflecting on everything that had happened.
He had truly been careless.
He had never expected the Sage of Six Paths to act with such ruthless resolve against him, to the point of temporarily setting aside the danger posed by the Otsutsuki clan.
In the Sage's eyes, Brook may have already become a greater threat than the Otsutsuki themselves.
And if their plan had succeeded, Brook would have been sealed by the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage, the Ninja World Alliance would have crushed the United Ninja Kingdom, and the entire world would have returned to its old order.
Only after that would the Sage of Six Paths slowly search for Isshiki Otsutsuki and remove that final threat.
But both the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage had still underestimated Brook in the end.
Even after they greatly overestimated his power, prepared a flawless trap, and made every possible arrangement, they still fell short at the final step.
"Experience and judgment really can kill."
Brook absorbed a large number of harvested souls to recover from his injuries while forcibly breaking apart some of the soul sealing techniques that had been laid on him.
He had always thought the Sage of Six Paths was a gentle, upright figure, someone easy to sway and easy to outmaneuver.
He had been wrong.
Once that old monster became serious, he was terrifyingly dangerous.
Brook himself had been shaken by the battle. He had nearly fallen into a real trap.
"And that damned Great Toad Sage…"
Brook's eyes turned cold.
"The two brothers barely count as Six Paths level on their own, but their support techniques are absurd. When they joined forces with the Otsutsuki brothers, the four of them actually pushed their overall combat ability beyond the Six Paths realm."
Brook still clearly remembered the Great Slug Sage's overwhelming regenerative support. That thing was almost an unbeatable healer.
As for the Great Toad Sage, its talismans, sealing arts, and sage techniques had caused Brook endless trouble.
"Luckily, the White Snake Sage never joined the fight. If all of them had attacked together, especially in a battlefield they had already prepared in advance, even I might not have escaped."
Brook slowly clenched his fists.
His eyes burned with fury, but then a cold smile spread across his face.
The Sage of Six Paths and his allies had only gotten one chance to strike when Brook stood alone.
And they had still failed to finish him.
Next time, they would be the ones facing Brook's wrath.
The Pure Land of the Sage of Six Paths was a special alternate dimension. Once it closed, even Brook, despite possessing the Rinnegan, could not locate its entrance or find its position.
For the time being, he could not touch the Sage of Six Paths directly.
Jiraiya and Tsunade, contractors of Mount Myoboku and Shikkotsu Forest, had already been taken away, while Minato Namikaze's connection to Mount Myoboku had been severed.
It was obvious those sacred lands truly feared Brook's retaliation.
The Sage of Six Paths already knew Minato was dead and that his soul had been enslaved by Brook, which was why he had the toads sever Minato's summoning contract.
"It seems the only possible opening left is Ryuchi Cave. Otherwise, there's no way to find Mount Myoboku or Shikkotsu Forest."
Brook had previously left Flying Thunder God marks on Jiraiya and Tsunade. After they were taken away by reverse summoning, he had tried to trace them to those two sacred lands, but he found nothing.
Perhaps those two sacred lands were hidden behind barriers. Perhaps they existed in special spaces of their own. Or perhaps the two sages and the Sage of Six Paths had forcibly erased Brook's Flying Thunder God marks.
Brook did not grow impatient.
He continued recovering, preparing to return to the world in an even stronger state.
...
After that great war, the two major powers entered a period of uneasy peace.
Conflicts and disputes across the world fell to an unprecedented low.
Inside both the United Ninja Kingdom and the Ninja World Alliance, internal conflict nearly vanished.
A powerful enemy stood before them all, and neither side had the luxury of turning inward anymore.
Amid that tense balance, both camps began reforming their political systems.
Brook abolished the name United Ninja Kingdom and renamed it the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Nations. The lands under his rule were no longer called nations, only provinces, such as Fire Province, Wind Province, Rain Province, and so on.
Brook centralized all authority, established his own Brook royal house, and personally appointed governors for every province.
On the other side, the Ninja World Alliance had too many powerful players. Even if someone wanted sweeping reform, it could not be done easily.
None of the daimyo were willing to give up power, and the daimyo of great nations refused to stand on equal footing with the daimyo of minor lands.
In the end, the leading figures of the various hidden villages could no longer tolerate those daimyo, who only created chaos and hindered the alliance's development. They forcibly dismissed them and had the strongest figures of each village rebuild the ruling structure.
Because Brook controlled the Kage and Jinchuriki of several villages, the great hidden villages hated him to the bone.
In particular, Kurotsuchi of Iwagakure could not accept that her grandfather Onoki was still under Brook's control.
The one armed Fourth Raikage was equally furious, especially after Killer Bee and Yugito were taken again.
The push to overthrow the daimyo was led primarily by those two.
To unify the policies of the allied nations, they established a wartime alliance council and concentrated the authority of all member states into that body for a single purpose: defeat Brook and the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Nations.
Still, they intended to preserve the independence of each nation and restore the previous order once Brook was defeated.
Thus the two great powers transformed again and entered a new stage of military competition.
Ninja academies across the world expanded their recruitment.
Weapons factories increased production.
War preparations accelerated everywhere.
Brook could only feel bitter amusement.
He had originally intended to end everything quickly and bring the ninja world under one rule.
Instead, the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage had emerged to stop him.
Without them, neither the old Daimyo Alliance nor this new Ninja World Alliance would have been able to resist Brook.
Wasn't this just forcing him to go on an even greater slaughter?
Just as Brook finished recovering and was preparing to strike again at the Sage of Six Paths and his faction, Orochimaru brought him another piece of bad news.
The White Snake Sage had also been persuaded by the Sage of Six Paths and the Great Toad Sage to stand against Brook.
It had even erased Orochimaru's summoning contract with Ryuchi Cave out of fear that Brook might come seeking revenge.
That news silenced even Brook.
In the end, he could only suppress the boundless fury in his heart and return once more to training, while at the same time coldly rebuking Black Zetsu and ordering him to find Jigen as quickly as possible.
------------
The alliance between the three sacred lands and the Sage of Six Paths, along with the fact that the Four Tails and Six Tails had been hidden away by the Sage of Six Paths, left Brook feeling deeply stifled.
Those old monsters always found a way to ruin everything.
To make matters worse, Tsunade and Jiraiya had even joined the Ninja World Alliance, fighting to overthrow the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Nations and "liberate" the Land of Fire and Konoha.
That made Brook's heart grow even colder. At this point, he felt he no longer had any compassion left for this world.
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, and Killer Bee had all been turned into Edo Tensei bodies by Brook and Orochimaru, then thrown onto the battlefield as living weapons to burn through the Ninja World Alliance's manpower.
Brook also sent out the Six Paths of Pain, launching wave after wave of attacks against the alliance's defensive lines.
At the same time, he released one hundred thousand White Zetsu and ordered them all into the war, using them to trade lives with the alliance.
If the three great sages and the Sage of Six Paths did not step onto the battlefield themselves, then how was the Ninja World Alliance supposed to stop that kind of pressure?
And if any of those sages dared to show themselves, Brook would slaughter them without hesitation.
For now, the Sage of Six Paths stayed with the three great sages, watching Brook and waiting for the right moment to restrain him, preventing him from massacring too many ninja.
But if the war dragged on like this, the only ones who would keep dying were the ordinary ninja of the world.
Brook did not care in the slightest. If anything, he could just harvest more souls and grow even stronger.
If anyone was anxious, it could only be the Sage of Six Paths.
Brook, this alien god, did not care about the lives of ninja, and the three great sages did not care much about human lives either. Their only concern was stopping Brook from reviving the Ten Tails and releasing Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Brook even used money to recruit Kakuzu, the rogue ninja from Takigakure, then paired him with Obito Uchiha and sent the two of them into the lands of Earth, Lightning, and Water to begin a ruthless slaughter.
Since the Sage of Six Paths wanted to threaten him, then Brook would simply stop caring altogether.
He wanted to see whether the Sage could really endure it.
At the same time, Brook used his remaining Death Masks as the core of a formation, then used the power of the Rinnegan to constantly probe and erode the Pure Land's defenses, trying to steal part of its authority.
Brook's series of moves made the Sage of Six Paths see just how cold and ruthless he truly was.
That only strengthened the Sage's resolve to kill him.
And so, together with the three sages, the Sage of Six Paths began planning another ambush.
...
The fierce war in the ninja world had long since attracted Jigen's attention.
Especially after sensing the shocking clash between Brook and the Sage of Six Paths, he became even more determined to stay hidden and continue building his strength in secret.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would never ask the Otsutsuki clan for help.
If punishment came from above, he might be reduced to a mere guardian and turned into a sacrifice for the Ten Tails the next time the clan went to plant a Divine Tree on another world.
Then he would have to slowly revive himself through Karma once again, delaying his evolution into a god even further.
Whenever he thought about Kaguya's betrayal, Isshiki's hatred only deepened.
That low ranked Otsutsuki had actually dared to ambush him, a higher ranked Otsutsuki, ruining his mission on this planet.
What angered him most of all was that even now, he still had not found a truly perfect vessel.
After all these years, this trash race still had not produced one.
He had been searching for over a thousand years, yet still had not found a single flawless vessel.
His rage flared without restraint, and the violent force of it sent nearby trees crashing to the ground.
Only after venting some of that anger did Jigen finally calm down and leave, continuing his search for the perfect vessel.
Now that wars were breaking out all over the world, it would be even easier to find more orphaned children.
After he left, however, a pale head slowly emerged from one of the fallen trees, revealing an excited grin.
"Finally found you."
The white figure sank back into the wood at once and followed in pursuit, while the information was relayed to Black Zetsu, who was hundreds of miles away, through a special method.
The moment Black Zetsu received White Zetsu's report, he immediately contacted Brook through the Illusionary Body Technique.
Ever since Brook and the Sage of Six Paths had gone to war, Black Zetsu had become even more convinced that Brook would eventually release his mother. Because of that, he was more willing than ever to work for him.
He had searched countless countries and investigated countless places where children were trafficked before finally uncovering Jigen's whereabouts.
As soon as Brook received the news, he was thrilled and instantly vanished from the battlefield, ignoring the war entirely.
To avoid drawing the Sage of Six Paths' attention, he did not call for a ceasefire. He simply let the fighting continue, keeping the Sage and the three great sages locked in place.
No matter what schemes they were plotting, once he devoured Isshiki Otsutsuki, he could crush them all anyway.
Over the years, Brook had left Flying Thunder God markers in most countries, allowing him to reach Black Zetsu's location at incredible speed.
Black Zetsu himself also carried Brook's Flying Thunder God mark.
In less than ten minutes, Brook had crossed several countries and arrived in a remote little nation called the Land of Snow.
"Lord Brook!"
Black Zetsu was startled by Brook's sudden appearance. He had not expected him to travel from the battlefield so quickly.
"What have you found?"
Brook grabbed Black Zetsu and pulled him into the Kamui dimension at once, making sure Isshiki Otsutsuki would not notice them.
"White Zetsu found a lead," Black Zetsu said excitedly. "There is a cult in the Land of Snow called the Otsutsuki Cult, and its leader is named Boro. I think he must have some connection to Isshiki Otsutsuki!"
Brook had no interest in the cult itself.
All he wanted was Isshiki.
The thought of Isshiki's abilities and the juvenile Ten Tails under his control was enough to make Brook's blood stir.
"What about Jigen?"
"White Zetsu tracked him to a small village in the Land of Snow. He returned there with several children, then disappeared completely. I suspect there is a hidden base somewhere in that area."
Black Zetsu gave his analysis. After all, he himself maintained countless secret bases and supply points across the world.
"Good. Show me the way."
Inside the Kamui dimension, Brook moved with Black Zetsu toward a small village at the foot of a mountain.
Standing outside it, he activated the Rinnegan and looked through the layers of illusion, carefully examining the mountain itself.
Sure enough, there was something hidden inside.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]