novelraw Chapter 433: Battle Against the Sage of Six Paths and the Three Holy Lands
Chapter 433: Battle Against the Sage of Six Paths and the Three Holy Lands
At the very front of the battlefield, Hiashi Hyuga faced Kirigakure's Grand Elder, Genji.
It was a clash of vision against vision, the Byakugan against the murderous techniques of the Mist.
But Hiashi held an inherent advantage. He carried a Grim Reaper mask.
At this point, it was only a question of whether Genji's life was worth spending that mask on.
Meanwhile, the Ino Shika Cho trio, the Hyuga clan, the Aburame clan, the Inuzuka clan, and the other Konoha clans all turned their attention toward the bloodline clans of Kirigakure.
Their battlefield was not as savage as the one between the Cloud brutes and the Uchiha madmen. It looked much more like a proper large scale ninja war, coordinated teams, layered tactics, and disciplined advances.
Under the direction of the Nara clan, they pushed forward in an orderly formation.
Nara Shikaku, in particular, loved sending reckless White Zetsu forward first to grind down the Mist's manpower.
Or, when needed, he turned those White Zetsu into bait and traps, using them to slowly wear down the Mist ninja.
The fiercest battle, however, was still the one in the center.
There, Orochimaru, armed with the Six Paths ninja tools, was locked in a brutal fight against the half empowered Otsutsuki Tokuko.
And Orochimaru did not hold back in the slightest.
The moment the battle began, he used a Grim Reaper mask and severely wounded Tokuko in a single move. He had failed to take her down instantly, but he had successfully sealed the soul of one of her arms.
"As expected, it only works perfectly against ordinary Kage level opponents. Against a Super Kage level enemy, it is still a little lacking."
Orochimaru was not too disappointed.
He had already achieved his purpose. Tokuko's combat strength had dropped, and the fight was now within a range he could control.
Otherwise, he truly would not have been able to defeat the Tokuko who had been boosted by the Sage of Six Paths.
Even with the Six Paths tools Brook had left him, Orochimaru still felt it was not enough.
He had even borrowed another Grim Reaper mask from Hyuga Tokugawa, though he kept it only as a deterrent and had no intention of using it unless absolutely necessary.
When Tokuko Otsutsuki saw that one of her arms had been sealed away, she flew into a rage and charged straight at Orochimaru, determined to obliterate him.
Then Orochimaru calmly hung another Grim Reaper mask at his waist.
That single action made Tokuko regain her caution at once.
And that caution weakened her even further, because now a huge part of her focus had to remain fixed on guarding against another soul sealing attack.
From that point on, the battle between Orochimaru and Tokuko fell into a strange balance.
One side was overwhelmingly powerful.
The other was endlessly crafty.
Ninjutsu after ninjutsu erupted across the battlefield, each one more bizarre than the last, and the land itself was rapidly reshaped by their clash.
In the war as a whole, the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Nations still held the advantage.
The tens of thousands of White Zetsu played an enormous role in a drawn out war like this.
...
At the same time, the true decisive battle between Brook, the Sage of Six Paths, and the three holy lands had fully erupted.
The newly born tailed beast, Groot, had already locked onto the Slug Sage.
Among the three holy lands, the Slug Sage leaned most heavily toward healing and support, but at the same time possessed the richest chakra and natural energy.
To Groot, she looked like the fattest piece of meat on the table.
With Brook's orders driving it forward, and its own beastlike instincts flaring wildly, it pursued the Slug Sage with terrifying ferocity.
It practically chased her as if it wanted to swallow her alive on the spot.
Meanwhile, the greatly strengthened Gedo Mazo was violently beating down the already injured White Snake Sage.
Terrified, the White Snake Sage had no choice but to summon every major powerhouse from Ryuchi Cave, Tagorihime, Ichikishimahime, Takitsuhime, Shinga, and Manda, all of them joining the fight at once.
At this point, they no longer cared about how the damned toads of Mount Myoboku were handling Brook's Six Paths of Pain and Edo Tensei forces.
The fact that the White Snake Sage was still helping restrain the Gedo Mazo, which had already devoured seven tailed beasts, was already the greatest effort Ryuchi Cave could offer.
If the Toad Sage or the Sage of Six Paths dared to say one more word that displeased it, the White Snake Sage was prepared to flee on the spot, and the battle would collapse immediately.
Even Mount Myoboku, the strongest of the three holy lands, was already struggling.
Fukasaku and Shima, both half six paths level sages, led the powerful battle toads into combat.
Gamabunta, Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamatatsu, Iron Wall Gama, Rock Dwelling Great Gama, all of them were thrown into the war.
Yet even that was not enough.
Pain's Six Paths alone had already forced Fukasaku and Shima into retreat.
"These puppets include monsters like Madara Uchiha, Hanzo of the Salamander, Danzo Shimura, and Hiruzen Sarutobi!"
Fukasaku shouted in shock.
"And that is not all. We still have to face the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, and several Jinchuriki Edo Tensei bodies! How are we supposed to fight this?"
Even Pain's summoned beasts alone were enough to give them a headache.
The Great Toad Sage wanted to go support his subordinates, but the Sage of Six Paths himself could barely hold Brook back, leaving him no freedom to do so.
If he stepped away now, their side would be crushed outright.
"Otsutsuki Hagoromo! You damned toad! Today I will repay the ambush you set for me that day!"
Brook's eyes burned with fury. He had wanted revenge for a long time, and after devouring Isshiki Otsutsuki, he finally possessed the power to fight the Sage of Six Paths and the three holy lands head on by himself.
"Brook! If I hand everything over to you, the Pure Land, the Rinnegan, everything, can you calm your anger and stop destroying the ninja world?!"
The Sage of Six Paths, staff in hand, fought desperately alongside the Great Toad Sage to block Brook's assaults.
By now, he was already admitting defeat.
"Ahhh!"
The Great Toad Sage suddenly let out a scream and collapsed in agony.
His body had suffered some invisible, terrifying strike.
"Gamamaru! What happened to you?!"
The Sage of Six Paths shouted anxiously.
He knew immediately that it was Brook's doing.
Brook burst into laughter.
"Yohohoho! You old beast! You actually dared harbor killing intent toward me. My divine art can materialize that killing intent and reflect it right back onto you!"
"That means you had better not wish for my death!"
The moment he said it, the Sage of Six Paths understood part of the trick.
So that was it.
Brook had struck them both earlier and triggered some kind of divine counter.
But while the Great Toad Sage had suffered heavily from the reflected killing intent, the Sage of Six Paths himself had not.
Was it because Hagoromo's nature was too kind, and he still had not truly formed the desire to kill Brook?
Or was it because his chakra body was immune to that divine art?
Or perhaps it was something tied to his mixed Otsutsuki bloodline?
Brook did not know either.
He could not be bothered to think about it any longer.
This reflected killing intent was not his main weapon anyway.
"Damn you!"
The Sage of Six Paths immediately realized that the technique was troublesome, but not invincible.
As an enemy, how many people in the world could fight Brook without any killing intent at all?
Almost none.
Still, he noticed something important.
The Slug Sage and the White Snake Sage clearly also harbored murderous intent toward Brook, yet neither of them had suffered the same backlash.
That meant the divine art likely required physical contact to trigger.
The thought gave the Sage of Six Paths a sliver of relief.
At least Brook was not truly invincible.
The problem was that even knowing that, he still could not stop him.
That was what filled him with despair.
"Die, you old toad!"
[Soul King's Power: Time Stop!]
[Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!]
Brook moved without hesitation, unleashing a decisive killing blow directly at the injured Great Toad Sage.
A flash of golden light tore across the sky.
Pfft!
The Great Toad Sage was split cleanly in two by the massive chakra blade and crashed to the ground, his gigantic body severed and ruined.
That sight stunned the Sage of Six Paths and drove every toad of Mount Myoboku into terror and rage.
Brook had actually killed the Great Toad Sage.
------------
When the giant toad sage was split cleanly in two, Brook felt no joy at all.
He could not sense the old toad's soul.
And he did not believe that a monster that had lived for more than a thousand years would die that easily.
Sure enough, in the next instant, a flash of light appeared. The Great Toad Sage's severed body rejoined, fused back together, and fully recovered as though it had never been injured in the first place.
Not a single trace of damage remained.
Brook narrowed his eyes.
"How many resurrection talismans do you still have left? Can those things really prolong life? If they can, then why did you not use one to extend Hagoromo Otsutsuki's lifespan in the first place?"
His tone was calm, but killing intent already flickered beneath it.
Even if the Great Toad Sage could revive ten times like Danzo using Izanagi, Brook would still kill him every single time.
The Great Toad Sage did not hide it.
"The resurrection talisman can only revive beings who died recently and whose bodies remain relatively intact. It cannot revive someone who has died of old age."
Brook's lips curled into a cold smile.
"So if I completely erase your body, then you should not be able to revive at all, right?"
He was just about to use [Time Stop] again and kill the old toad once more when, with a bang, the Great Toad Sage turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished.
In its place, a tiny messenger toad remained behind.
Then the Great Toad Sage's voice came from its mouth.
"Brook, I know your strength has already surpassed all of us."
"I am willing to offer my life to ease your anger. I only hope you will not destroy the ninja world, plant the Divine Tree, or attack the Three Great Holy Lands. Is that acceptable?"
The tone was pleading, even humble, as if the old toad had chosen to use its own life to redeem the disastrous decision it had made before.
Brook looked at the little messenger toad with open disdain.
"Then why did you run so fast? Are you that afraid of death?"
The spatial vision in his eyes had already locked onto Mount Myoboku. At any moment, he could open a portal and storm into the holy land itself.
The Great Toad Sage replied calmly.
"I only wished to live a few moments longer, enough to beg for mercy. Otherwise, I would have been killed by you without ever calming your anger."
Those words made the many toads of Mount Myoboku tremble with fury.
As the strongest holy land in the ninja world, when had they ever suffered such humiliation?
Yet before they could even curse, Brook's Six Paths of Pain and the Impure World Reincarnation bodies beat them back again and again, crushing them so thoroughly that their outrage turned to miserable screams.
At that moment, the Great Toad Sage revealed another bargaining chip.
"We are willing to hand over the most original sage arts, not the modified versions used by the three holy lands, but the primal training method itself. It can greatly extend lifespan."
"We hope this can earn your forgiveness, calm your anger, and allow your descendants to enjoy long lives as well."
The moment those words fell, even the Sage of Six Paths, who stood nearby, was visibly shaken.
He had always known the Toad Sage had many secrets, but he had never expected it to hide something like this so deeply.
If he and Hamura had obtained those primal sage arts back then, perhaps they would not have died of old age in less than a hundred years.
For so long, he had believed he and Hamura, as half Otsutsuki hybrids, were destined to age like ordinary humans and could never attain the thousand year lifespans of the three great immortals.
But now it seemed the truth was much simpler.
The holy lands had never truly trusted him.
Not even him, the man who had protected the world for a thousand years.
The Sage of Six Paths forced out a bitter smile, and the light in his eyes dimmed slightly.
This was the world he had fought so hard to preserve.
Brook, however, only smiled.
"It is still not enough."
The greed in his tone made him sound like a child demanding more and more candy, yet no one present dared treat it lightly.
Brook had already begun looking at the entire planet differently.
A thousand years ago, this world had already produced a high quality Divine Tree fruit, one powerful enough to let Kaguya evolve. And yet the world itself had not withered or collapsed afterward.
Even more absurd was the fact that the descendants who inherited fragments of that power were strong enough to slaughter Otsutsuki who had consumed multiple Divine Tree fruits of their own.
That alone proved something terrifying.
The fruit born from this planet had been far more valuable than normal.
This world still held secrets.
Many secrets.
The Toad Sage's voice came again.
"I can also hand over Hagoromo's Pure Land to you."
The Sage of Six Paths' expression changed at once. That had originally been his own concession, yet the toad had now spoken for him without permission.
A faint unease rose in his heart.
Brook laughed.
"Yohoho, I really have to admire you, old toad. You're selling Hagoromo out so thoroughly."
But the Great Toad Sage pressed on without hesitation.
"I can even give you the tailed beasts. But you must promise not to plant two Divine Trees, and if Kaguya Otsutsuki is ever released, you must keep her under control."
This time, the Sage of Six Paths nearly lost control of his expression.
The toad had effectively pushed his mother into Brook's hands.
Was it trying to help him find a stepfather?
Was he supposed to call Brook "father" the next time they met?
Brook's laughter grew even louder.
"As expected of you. Your bottom line really is lower than I imagined."
Then his expression gradually turned cold again.
"Still, I suppose your sincerity does count for something."
"I can agree not to plant the Divine Tree."
"I can also spare the Three Great Holy Lands this time."
"But I will still unify the ninja world. You understand that, right?"
The Great Toad Sage fell silent for a moment.
Brook's conditions were far from ideal, but at least they left a path open.
Brook had no intention of cornering them completely. If he pushed too hard, even cornered beasts would bite back in desperation.
He had learned that lesson already.
Better to surround on three sides and leave one road open. That way, the enemy would cling to survival instead of gambling everything on mutual destruction.
Once he finished digesting the spoils he had gained today, he could slowly come back and take the rest.
For now, that was enough.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]