In Naruto With Gacha Template

Chapter 207: Chapter 210: The Ninja Tools of the Six Paths, and War Between the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Sand

August. Konoha had settled into the depths of summer.

The Hidden Cloud was hotter still.

Natsuki walked down a crowded street. Everywhere he looked, Cloud ninja and residents alike went about in light, cool clothing. The village might have been at war with the Hidden Mist, but you’d never have known it here—the fighting was far away, and every soul on the street took it as read that the Cloud would win in the end.

Natsuki gave a small nod. He had to admit it: the Hidden Cloud carried itself differently, with a kind of ferocity in the air. You could read it off the people, ninja and civilian both, all of them built heavy through the shoulders.

There was another trait too: skin tone tended to run darker here, though a good portion of the population was fair. Natsuki couldn’t quite work out the reason. Complexion tracks climate, more or less—by rights, if the village ran dark, it should have run dark uniformly. And yet the Hidden Cloud was split roughly down the middle.

A sudden swell of noise pulled his attention. He looked up to find a crowd packed around a large viewing platform.

The morning’s intelligence came back to him. Today was the Hidden Cloud’s Chunin Exams, and they’d already reached the third stage—the individual matches.

Unlike Konoha’s, the Cloud’s Exams had drawn plenty of the village’s leadership. Natsuki scanned the platform and picked out the Third Raikage seated at the height of it; the man’s features were distinct enough to place at a glance.

Then he looked at the Genin waiting by the field, and raised a brow. He recognized three girls among them.

Nii Yugito. Mabui. Samui.

For plot reasons, the source material had named very few ninja from the Third Raikage’s generation. The Fourth’s generation was another story, and its standard-bearer was Nii Yugito—Jinchuriki of the Two-Tails, Matatabi, and a perfect Jinchuriki at that, with real strength behind it. Her flaw was pride. In the source material, when she caught wind of Kakuzu and Hidan coming for her, she didn’t hide; she deliberately drew them out alone, convinced she could take both and kill them. The result was a brutal counter-kill, and the Two-Tails extracted.

Mabui was the Fourth Raikage’s secretary, occupying roughly the position Nara Shikaku held in Konoha, and famous for her intellect. Samui was close friends with both Mabui and Yugito—Jonin-level in the source material, though fairly standard otherwise. The one thing genuinely worth praising was her figure, which rivaled Tsunade’s. In the source material, Tsunade, Samui, and Hyuga Hinata were unquestionably the top three on that count.

Natsuki watched a while, then turned and left.

He hadn’t come to the Hidden Cloud for the show, of course, but for the corpses of Kinkaku and Ginkaku. He’d picked today deliberately, to save himself trouble—with the Third Raikage and the rest of the village’s leadership gathered at the Exams, nobody would notice what he was doing.

Natsuki made his way to the Raikage building. Standing in a corner, he called up his memory of a man named Dodai, glimpsed earlier.

Complete Mimicry!

His face and height shifted again, and in moments he’d become Dodai.

Natsuki walked in through the front.

"Lord Dodai." Cloud ninja greeted him one after another as he passed. He returned each with a small nod.

Soon he stood outside a room on the building’s basement level.

"Lord Dodai." Two Anbu appeared. "Please present the Raikage’s order. Without it, you cannot enter."

Natsuki met their eyes.

A flash of crimson. The Mangekyou Sharingan.

Caught cold, both Anbu fell under his control instantly.

"Open the door," Natsuki said. The corpses of Kinkaku and Ginkaku were sealed inside.

The two of them formed seals and dropped the barrier. Natsuki pushed the door open and stepped through.

"Lord Dodai?" The two Anbu inside stared at him.

Natsuki smiled faintly and used the Mangekyou Sharingan again. Like the pair at the door, they were unprepared, and both went slack in an instant.

Natsuki turned to Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

Blood-red chakra rose off their bodies. Nine-Tails chakra. And the corpses themselves looked freshly dead. Natsuki guessed the chakra was acting as a preservative—which made his life easier. Had they rotted, the Impure World Reincarnation would have been off the table entirely.

Natsuki took out a bow. There was a barrier laid over the bodies, and he chose the crudest way through it.

Sacred Arrow.

He drew, and loosed. The arrow struck the barrier, and with a sharp crack it shattered.

Natsuki produced a summoning storage scroll and sealed both corpses away. Then he wiped the four Anbu’s memories of the Mangekyou Sharingan, stepped into an Air Door, and vanished.

A moment later the four came to. The sight of the empty seals sent their faces white—and looking back, the horror only compounded. They’d blacked out after seeing Dodai.

Had Dodai taken the corpses of Kinkaku and Ginkaku?

No. With his rank and standing, he’d have no reason for it.

Which left one explanation: someone had worn his face.

The four sprinted for the arena and reported to the Third Raikage. He was instantly enraged, and sealed the whole village for a full investigation.

As for Dodai—he’d been at the Raikage’s side the entire time, and was above suspicion.

—

Natsuki arrived at Hozuki Castle in the Land of Grass. He stepped out of the Air Door onto an empty stretch of shore.

He unsealed the scroll and released the two corpses. At the same moment his forehead rippled, and the Black Grail flew out.

The Grail cast a beam of light that swallowed both bodies whole. Every trace of that enormous Nine-Tails chakra was drained into it.

The Black Grail returned to his forehead.

Natsuki took stock, and couldn’t keep the pleasure off his face. What he’d absorbed this time was no less than what he’d taken from Moryo and Satori before. Counting the Ryumyaku, he put the chakra now sitting in the Black Grail at roughly two Tailed Beasts’ worth.

Tailed Beasts other than the Nine-Tails and Eight-Tails, of course. Among the nine, those two held the most chakra by an enormous margin—and even the Eight-Tails’ stores hardly bore mentioning next to the Nine-Tails’.

That was probably why, among the Five Great Villages, only Konoha and the Hidden Sand had ended up with a single Tailed Beast each. Konoha’s case was down to the Nine-Tails simply being too powerful. The Hidden Sand’s was down to poverty—the First Kazekage, Reto, had turned down Senju Hashirama’s offer of two Tailed Beasts and asked for money and land instead. Seen from that angle, the Sand’s poverty was baked in from the village’s founding.

Natsuki sealed the corpses away again, opened an Air Door, and stepped into Mui’s office. Mui led the Hidden Grass Village now.

"Mui." Natsuki got to it. "Are the two prisoners ready?"

"Ready. They’re being held in the Anbu cells," Mui said with a nod.

Natsuki had come by earlier to tell him to prepare two ninja who’d committed capital crimes.

"Take me down." Natsuki paused. "And have a sealed solitary cell ready as well."

"Yes, Lord Natsuki." Mui led him straight to the Anbu cells.

Natsuki stepped in and knocked both prisoners out. They were under Mui’s Fire Release: Heavenly Prison, unable to touch their chakra—no different from ordinary men.

"You can go. Leave me to it," Natsuki said, waving him off.

Curious as Mui was about what he intended, an order was an order. He turned and left.

Once he’d arranged the two prisoners, Natsuki used the Impure World Reincarnation.

Paper-like chakra crawled over both men. Soon enough, they became Kinkaku and Ginkaku.

Natsuki erased their consciousness without hesitation. These two had killed Senju Tobirama in life; they might well know a way to work around the technique.

"Summon the Ninja Tools of the Six Paths," Natsuki commanded.

The brothers formed seals and used the Summoning Jutsu. Smoke flashed, and four Ninja Tools of the Six Paths appeared: the Golden Canopy Rope, the Bashosen, the Crimson Gourd, and the Seven Star Sword.

There was a fifth—the Amber Purifying Pot. It had belonged to Kinkaku originally, before the Third Raikage took it from him. Its function was sealing, provided the target answered when addressed; answer once, and you were sealed.

The Golden Canopy Rope made anyone who touched it blurt out their most-used word—their "soul word." It only worked in concert with the Seven Star Sword and the Crimson Gourd. The Seven Star Sword could sever that soul word and curse it. And the Crimson Gourd would suck the target in and seal them the moment they spoke the word aloud.

How to put it? The effects weren’t bad, but the drawbacks were glaring. First, all three ate an enormous amount of chakra. Second, getting a target to fall for the sequence was genuinely hard—it took a battle of wits, and the Golden Canopy Rope in particular required getting a hand on the enemy in the first place.

They were good tools for a con, at least.

Next to those three flashy pieces, the Bashosen was starkly practical. It fanned out wind of all five chakra natures—Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, Earth. Which is to say, it handed the user every nature transformation there was.

In the source material, Tenten used the Bashosen to kill the reincarnated Kakuzu. The gulf between Tenten and Kakuzu was vast. That alone says everything about the Bashosen. Its one drawback was the chakra cost—after putting Kakuzu down, Tenten collapsed on the spot.

Natsuki collected all four tools. Then he opened an Air Door and sent Kinkaku and Ginkaku on to the Hidden Rain. Since they were already reincarnated, they’d serve as the Akatsuki’s aces in the hole—useful at the right moment.

Natsuki returned to the tool shop Mikoto had set up for him in Konoha and studied the four Ninja Tools of the Six Paths, thinking.

First, all four needed reforging. Second, the Golden Canopy Rope, the Seven Star Sword, and the Crimson Gourd needed their functions rewritten entirely. The Bashosen could keep its own.

He had Senji Muramasa’s smithing techniques, along with the special materials the Hidden Sand and the Akatsuki had gathered for him. Reworking their functions wouldn’t be especially hard. And most importantly, he had the Senji Muramasa template’s third ability: Flame.

In short, brute force works miracles. He simply had to apply the brute force.

Natsuki considered it and settled on reforging the Bashosen first.

The Bashosen dealt in all five nature transformations, which meant it belonged with Nagato. Nagato had chakra to burn and commanded all five natures—no one fit better. Hatake Kakashi had seven natures, true, but in the source material he excelled at Lightning and Earth Release and was merely passable at the rest. And now, with the Blade of the Lightning Fang, his specialty had effectively become swordsmanship anyway.

The only open question was whether he’d still get the Sharingan. In Natsuki’s view, better if he didn’t. The Sharingan had held Kakashi back, in its way.

As for the tool’s shape, Natsuki didn’t deliberate long: a ninja sword. First, Nagato knew swordsmanship too. Second, it hardly mattered—any tool was the same to him, since Nagato’s Asura Path could wield anything. He didn’t have the Six Paths of Pain yet, but with all six abilities concentrated in one body, he could deploy them himself. The Asura Path was essentially a puppet frame, kitted out with armor, cannons, laser cannons, and the rest.

—

The next day.

Natsuki hadn’t even gotten out of bed before a knock came at the door.

He opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Yakushi Nonou’s face, and the pale sweep of her skin.

"I’ll get it." Natsuki got up and dressed.

He walked out to the living room and opened the door on Nawaki.

"Aren’t you heading out on a mission today?" Natsuki asked first.

"We’re leaving shortly." Nawaki nodded. "I came because your three students want to tag along."

"Sure." Natsuki thought a moment and agreed.

"Great." Nawaki smiled. "You can cover my Hokage Guard Platoon duties in the meantime."

"What duties could the Hokage Guard Platoon possibly have?" Natsuki waved him off.

"See you around." Nawaki turned and went.

Natsuki thought it over and decided to send two squads trailing them, in case of trouble. The ninja world wasn’t a peaceful place at the moment.

He shut the door and went back in.

Nonou was already up, washed, and starting breakfast. Natsuki stood in the kitchen doorway watching her, thinking her devoted-wife-and-mother air rivaled Mikoto’s outright.

And that made him think, suddenly, of Yakushi Kabuto.

Barring surprises, the boy would be three or four now. Natsuki figured he could have Pakura keep an eye out for him when she had time. Kabuto had been a war orphan that Nonou picked up during the Third Great Ninja War, and judging by the source material, he might well be a Hidden Sand ninja—Sasori had even had him under control at one point. Exactly when that started, Natsuki couldn’t say.

The odds of finding one boy in the whole world were slim. But Kabuto was worth looking for. In a sense he was the ceiling of what a ninja without a Kekkei Genkai could reach—and like Orochimaru, he had a real gift for research.

After breakfast, Nonou left for Konoha Hospital, and Natsuki for the Hokage building.

He pushed open his office door, and the scent of tea washed over him.

"Good morning, Natsuki." Mikoto came to meet him with a cup in hand, her expression soft.

"Thank you." Natsuki smiled.

The scene had become routine by now. Mikoto had always leaned toward the devoted-wife-and-mother mold; once their relationship crossed the line, she’d embodied it completely. Anything touching him, she did to the utmost.

Natsuki took the cup and sipped. The temperature was exactly right—neither hot nor cool.

"Want some?" He looked at her.

Mikoto shook her head on reflex, then caught something and nodded instead. She understood him well now. If he asked, he had a reason.

And sure enough—Mikoto watched Natsuki take a mouthful of tea and not swallow.

Her face colored faintly. She bent toward him, lips parting.

Natsuki leaned in and kissed her.

A long while later, they broke apart. Mikoto breathed hard, pulling in clean air. She said nothing, only looked at him with misty eyes.

But what she was waiting for didn’t come. Natsuki picked up a document from the desk and started reading.

Mikoto licked her lips and found her composure again quickly. She moved around behind him and began working at his shoulders.

Natsuki’s eyes narrowed at what he was reading.

After two months of investigation, the Hidden Stone had confirmed the Third Kazekage’s disappearance—and had formally declared war on the Hidden Sand. The two sides had clashed in the Land of Birds.

The numbers were modest so far; a thousand ninja apiece. How to put it—the Hidden Stone wouldn’t be going all-in on the Sand. They still had the Hidden Cloud and Konoha to watch. It was the same reason the Cloud hadn’t yet launched a full-scale war on the Mist.

Natsuki figured Konoha would be pulled in before long. The only question was which village moved first. His money was on the Hidden Cloud or the Hidden Stone—they were the strongest, with power to spare.

The Hidden Mist was a possibility too. In the source material, the Mist sent the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to infiltrate Konoha for a decapitation strike—and ran headlong into Might Duy, who beat them down to the three survivors that came to be called the "Auspicious Three."

But the first generation of Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been wiped out by Natsuki, to the last man, and he hadn’t even left them their swords. Whether the Mist would send a new generation to try the same thing was anyone’s guess.

Four of the new Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been confirmed so far: Hozuki Mangetsu, Karatachi Yagura, Hoshigaki Kisame, and Ringo Ameyuri. The first two needed no introduction. The latter two were young, but one carried naturally enormous chakra and the other had extraordinary talent for Lightning Release.

Beyond them, three more Mist prodigies were in the running: Terumi Mei, Momochi Zabuza, and Kurosuki Raiga.

Of the three, the most notorious was Momochi Zabuza—because when he graduated the year before, he killed every one of his classmates. The savagery of it shook the entire Hidden Mist. It was because of him that the Third Mizukage abolished the graduation exam that pitted classmates against each other.

Natsuki looked thoughtful.

He could make Terumi Mei one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. It would make farming prestige far easier for her—and shorten her road to the Mizukage’s hat considerably.

_________________________________________________

Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/Kaizo247

~ Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter

~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]