Brook had no interest in wasting time.
With a flick of his hand, a repulsive force erupted and sent Mei Terumi flying once more.
[Dead Demon Consuming Seal, Revised, New God of the Northern Underworld!]
A gigantic Grim Reaper in Brook's own image rose behind him. The moment it appeared, it seized complete control of Yagura's soul, instantly cutting him off from his own body.
[Sealing Technique: Nine Phantom Dragon Seals!]
Nine enormous chakra dragons shot out from the mouth of the Gedo Statue, wrapping themselves around the Three Tails' chakra cloak on Yagura's body and dragging Isobu out inch by inch by force.
"Stop!!"
Mei charged forward again, but before she could even close the distance, she was blasted away once more. A gruesome piercing wound tore through her shoulder, and blood immediately gushed out.
Around Brook, four invisible shadows stood like silent executioners, each one guarding him from a different angle.
They were the Rinnegan's special technique, Limbo: Border Jail.
These shadows could only be seen by someone with the Rinnegan, or sensed by those who had mastered Six Paths Sage Mode.
Clearly, no one present had reached that level.
"Sir, are you truly determined to make Kirigakure your mortal enemy? Release the Fourth Mizukage, and we can still negotiate a peace treaty!"
Elder Genji stepped forward at once. Although he was a man who coveted power himself, he still did not want the Mizukage to die here. In that regard, he was at least slightly better than Danzo.
Brook completely ignored the old man and continued extracting the Three Tails.
The ANBU of the Hidden Mist rushed forward one after another, desperate to save their Kage.
But before any of them could even get close, they were suddenly struck down. One after another, elite ANBU jonin collapsed to the ground as if some invisible force was hunting them in silence.
Seeing the ANBU elites fall without even touching the enemy, Genji's face finally changed.
Just what kind of monster was this?
At that moment, even someone like him, who had lived through the rise of the Five Great Villages, felt genuine despair.
Even the Asura of the Shinobi World, Madara Uchiha, and the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, had not given off such terrifying pressure.
As the tailed beast cloak around Yagura continued to peel away, Isobu was finally ripped out of his body. Yagura himself instantly lost a massive amount of life force and entered a dying state.
He did not have the vitality of the Uzumaki clan. He was nothing like Kushina, who could cling to life for hours after extraction.
In barely a minute or two, Yagura's life completely slipped away, and his soul was immediately harvested by Brook.
The Mist ninja could only watch helplessly as the Three Tails was devoured by the withered tree monster, while their Fourth Mizukage died right before their eyes.
Sorrow and fury spread through the battlefield in an instant.
Countless Kirigakure ninja wanted to throw themselves forward and avenge their Kage, even if it cost them their lives.
Kisame Hoshigaki and the wounded Mei Terumi were the first to charge again, both of them furious, both determined to tear Brook apart.
"That is enough for today."
Brook calmly stuffed Yagura's enslaved soul back into his body, then continuously poured positive chakra into him to restore his life force.
Mei and Kisame were sent flying once again by the shadows of Limbo: Border Jail. No matter how they attacked, they could not break through Brook's defenses.
After the Three Tails had been absorbed, Brook dismissed the Gedo Statue's summoning, sending the Ten Tails' shell back to where it belonged.
Underground, White Zetsu Tobi saw that things were wrapping up and wisely stopped while he was ahead. He began sealing away the corpses he had gathered into storage scrolls. Among them were quite a few bodies from the Kaguya clan.
After all, those lunatics had been the most reckless of all. They had charged Obito's Susanoo head on and even dared to go after Madara's Deva Path. Their casualties had been severe, which meant Tobi had more than exceeded his collection target.
"I originally planned to spare your Fourth Mizukage today, take the Three Tails, and leave."
Brook floated in the air and looked down at the Mist ninja indifferently.
"But your attitude has made me very unhappy."
"So I am taking your Mizukage with me. If you want him back, bring the Six Tails Jinchuriki to Konoha."
With that, Brook grabbed the newly revived Yagura and punched him in the stomach. Yagura let out a pained groan.
Mei and Kisame both stared in disbelief.
Even after having the Three Tails ripped out, the Fourth Mizukage was still alive.
"Remember this well. If I find the Six Tails Jinchuriki first, then your Fourth Mizukage will lose all value. At that point, you can guess for yourselves what his fate will be."
Brook knocked Yagura unconscious with a single blow and tossed him into the Kamui dimension.
Then he rose into the air.
Animal Path Danzo dismissed the remaining summons, leaving only a giant bird behind. Obito and White Zetsu Tobi immediately leaped onto its back.
Madara's Deva Path rose into the air as well and landed steadily on the bird.
Brook also appeared on the giant bird's back. With Flying Thunder God, he teleported the group straight out of the Land of Water and headed toward the Land of Fire.
Only after the enemy had completely left did Genji finally collapse to the ground, utterly exhausted.
The Three Tails was gone.
The Fourth Mizukage had been captured.
Nearly half of Kirigakure had been destroyed.
The disaster was even more severe than Konoha's Nine Tails incident. Unlike Konoha, Kirigakure did not have such a deep foundation. Losing both the Three Tails and the Mizukage was a devastating blow.
When Suikazan Fuguki, Raiga Kurosuki, and Juzo Biwa saw Yagura taken away, strange expressions appeared in their eyes.
If the Fourth Mizukage had been captured, then what right did he still have to sit on the Mizukage's seat?
That meant the Fifth Mizukage should appear soon.
The three exchanged glances, and their ambitions quietly began to swell.
Still, before any of them could dream of the title, they first needed to work together to push Elder Genji out. Only then could the three of them start fighting over the position.
Unfortunately for them, they were still too lacking compared to Genji.
The old fox had already gathered Kirigakure's ANBU and all the younger elite ninja around himself, instantly becoming the true acting leader of the village.
Using his status as elder, he promptly sent the three remaining Ninja Swordsmen out of the village to search for the Six Tails Jinchuriki, pushing them out of the power vacuum at the center of Kirigakure.
During the period in which the Fourth Mizukage was captured and the three swordsmen were gone, Genji intended to seize every ounce of authority for himself.
He immediately reported the invasion to the Daimyo of the Land of Water and successfully obtained the title of Acting Mizukage, thereby taking complete control of Kirigakure.
At the same time, the Land of Water formally lodged a protest with the Land of Fire, and negotiations began over the ransom for the Fourth Mizukage and the Three Tails.
The current Daimyo of the Land of Fire was both shocked and uneasy.
He was shocked that Konoha had crushed three great nations in a single stroke and forced all three to sue for peace.
He was uneasy because Konoha's ninja were now completely ignoring the authority of the Daimyo's court.
That powerful figure had even threatened the Daimyo's residence itself, and the entire delegation had been arrested. If Tsunade had not personally released them, he would not even have realized that Konoha had produced such a terrifying monster.
Still, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire had no intention of bowing to a mere ninja village.
He had already begun negotiating with Tsunade Senju, demanding the release of the two senior advisors.
At the same time, he wanted to remove the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and install Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage instead, hoping this would both win her over and serve as a warning to the lawless Brook Senju.
------------
Although the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, listened to Brook to some extent, the daimyo's court still believed it had the authority to dismiss him. In their eyes, that would be the perfect way to remind Brook who the real master of the Land of Fire was.
At the same time, recommending Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage was their way of showing goodwill and trying to win her over.
The daimyo clearly hoped Minato would distance himself from Brook, whose growing authority had already started to look a little too absolute. If Brook stayed with Minato, then the relationship between Konoha and the daimyo's court would only grow worse.
But Tsunade wanted nothing to do with it.
She had already taken a risk by offending Brook when she released the daimyo's delegation. Now, after the stream of news coming in from the front lines, she finally understood just how terrifying Brook truly was.
He was even more monstrous than her grandfather, Hashirama Senju.
He had captured the Third Tsuchikage, chopped off one of the Fourth Raikage's arms, seized the Fourth Mizukage, and even stripped away the tailed beasts. Compared to him, even Madara Uchiha, the Asura of the Shinobi World, seemed less ruthless.
More importantly, every single high value prisoner was in Brook's hands. Not Tsunade's. Not even Minato's.
By now, she had also realized that Minato, Orochimaru, and the others had all more or less fallen in line behind Brook. In Konoha, Brook's authority had already become absolute.
Even people like Fugaku and the other clan heads were beginning to lean toward him, hoping to gain more power for themselves.
The more Tsunade saw, the less she wanted to stay in Konoha.
This village was becoming a swamp.
The conflict between the daimyo's court and the Hokage had already turned ugly, and Tsunade had no interest in getting dragged into it. The moment Minato and Orochimaru returned in triumph, she had planned to slip away at once, but Jiraiya had dragged her off to drink and celebrate instead.
Until Brook returned, peace talks with the three great villages could not even begin.
After all, the bargaining chips were all in his hands.
...
At that moment, Brook was still taking his time devouring corpse after corpse with valuable bloodline limits.
Obito and White Zetsu Tobi had already been sent away by him to help Black Zetsu search for Jigen and the remaining Jinchuriki.
The two Paths of Pain he had brought to Kirigakure had also been placed into standby inside the Kamui space.
Then Brook used the Flying Thunder God Technique and returned to Konoha.
Instead of joining the village's celebration, he went straight to the cemetery.
With the help of several White Zetsu, he quietly dug up the corpses of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Second Hokage's bodyguard, Akimichi Torifu.
Inside Orochimaru's laboratory, Brook looked at the two corpses and smiled faintly.
"Don't waste it."
[Six Paths: Human Path!]
[Six Paths: Preta Path!]
After inserting six black receivers into each body and repairing them with chakra, Brook activated the power of the Rinnegan and bestowed the Six Paths upon them.
The moment the corpses opened their projected Rinnegan eyes, two new Paths of Pain were born.
[Human Path: Hiruzen Sarutobi!]
[Preta Path: Akimichi Torifu!]
"Third Hokage, now you can keep digging through souls and memories to your heart's content."
"And you, fatso, even after death, you can go on feeding endlessly on chakra."
Brook chuckled, then dressed both new Paths in black cloaks and masks before storing them in the Kamui dimension beside Deva Path Madara and Animal Path Danzo.
Asura Path Hanzo was still in Amegakure with Hirohiko and the others.
As for the Hell Path, the one responsible for restoration and revival, it had not appeared yet.
"I wonder which unlucky bastard is going to become the Hell Path."
With that thought, Brook vanished from the lab and reappeared atop the Hokage Rock, overlooking Konoha.
There were still plenty of useful things hidden in this village.
The Hyuga clan, for example, might need to hand over another pair of Byakugan soon. If he wanted to make a move on the moon, one pair would not necessarily be enough.
He had already taken one Byakugan from Ao in Kirigakure, but whether that alone would be sufficient was still unclear.
As for the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, there was also room for consideration.
Shisui's [Kotoamatsukami] Mangekyo still had some value, and Fugaku's Mangekyo also possessed decent abilities, something close to Tsukuyomi, along with a short burst of future sight.
Still, against true Rinnegan or Six Paths level power, Mangekyo level techniques were practically meaningless.
If [Kotoamatsukami] could somehow evolve into a Rinne Sharingan level ability, then perhaps it might even control an Otsutsuki with a single glance.
But that was for later.
For now, Brook also began thinking about the three sacred lands and the many spirit beasts tied to them.
Those were the original natives of this planet.
If there was profit to be squeezed out of them, he intended to take it.
Perhaps before leaving this world for good, he could still make one last enormous harvest.
...
"Lord Brook, so it really is you. You're back!"
A surprised voice called out from behind him.
Kurenai had spotted someone standing on Hokage Rock and hurried over. The moment she recognized him, joy flashed across her face.
This was the man who had crushed Iwagakure and Kumogakure almost single handedly, the hero who had saved Konoha from war.
And yet now, that same hero was standing here alone, looking out over the village.
Brook's aura had changed again.
It had become even more ethereal, as though he had somehow blended into the sky and the earth themselves. Even more striking, he was no longer wearing the black ribbon over his eyes.
Instead, he revealed a pair of deep, dark eyes that seemed to pull people in without warning.
Even Kurenai found herself staring for a moment.
"I only came back for a bit," Brook said with a smile. "I'll be leaving again soon."
After taking the giant Tenseigan on the moon, he planned to continue gathering tailed beasts. First Sunagakure for the One Tail, then Takigakure for the Seven Tails.
As for Roshi and Utakata, if Iwagakure and Kirigakure failed to use them in exchange for the Third Tsuchikage and Fourth Mizukage, then he would simply hunt them down himself.
"Are you leaving again so soon?"
Kurenai's voice turned nervous.
All of Konoha was celebrating, but the man who had saved it all was here by himself, stretched out atop Hokage Rock, far away from the cheering crowds.
For some reason, that sight made her feel a little sorry for him.
She wanted to drag him back into the village, let him taste some of that joy, make him feel that Konoha could be warm too.
"I want to become stronger," Brook said lightly.
Then he lay back and looked up at the moon again.
If he still failed to find a teleportation portal this time, then he would simply try flying up there himself.
But before that, he needed another spare pair of Byakugan.
Unfortunately, if he wanted the pure eyes of the Hyuga main family, then besides Hyuga Hiashi himself, the only other clean target was Hiashi's father, the previous clan head, Hyuga Tokuma.
That old man was only in his fifties, but he had already stepped down and become one of the senior elders of the clan.
As for Hinata, she was probably still in the womb.
After all, Naruto was already more than two months older than her.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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