So, this should be a glimpse of the future. Someone around me must have died, causing me to be reflected into the vision as well.
Kiyohara silently pondered.
He knew that the priestesss possessed a prophetic ability similar to that of the Great Toad Sage.
They could witness scenes involving the deaths of people nearby.
Within the shinobi world, techniques capable of materializing chakra into a gigantic physical form were extremely rare.
Kiyohara guessed that what Miroku had seen was his Susanoo.
As for whether the vision showed his own death...
Kiyohara did not believe that a mere Moryo could possibly kill him.
Besides, this prophetic ability had many flaws.
Naruto, for example, could trigger such a prophecy simply because one of his Shadow Clones disappeared.
"The seal imprisoning Moryo has encountered a problem."
Miroku looked toward Kiyohara and Tsunade.
Behind them, Kurenai and Shizune wore confused expressions. They had only vaguely heard the legend of Moryo before, knowing only that it was an unimaginably terrifying monster.
"Moryo's soul is sealed within the Land of Demons, while its body is sealed within the Land of Swamps. Only two people know these locations, myself and the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps."
She paused.
"But last night... my younger brother, the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps, disappeared."
After another brief silence, she continued.
"I fear... he has already allied himself with Moryo."
The great hall fell silent.
Tsunade frowned.
"You're saying that the Daimyo intends to release Moryo?"
"That is the worst possible scenario."
Miroku nodded.
"Moryo excels at corrupting people's hearts. For over a thousand years, it has constantly tempted humans into breaking its seal."
When it came to manipulation, Moryo had long since reached the pinnacle.
"If that's true, then we need to act immediately."
Tsunade spoke decisively.
"You all arrived quickly, but the other nations should have received my request for aid as well. More shinobi will arrive tomorrow or the day after. We should wait until everyone is here before setting out together."
Miroku shook her head.
She was deeply wary of Moryo's terracotta puppet army.
An immortal army like that could only be dealt with by killing Moryo immediately. Otherwise, any prolonged battle would result in countless casualties.
That night, Kiyohara's group stayed in the Land of Demons.
Minato, Kakashi, and Rin Nohara arrived the following morning. By the afternoon, shinobi from the other hidden villages began arriving one after another.
"Kiyohara!"
The moment Rin saw him, she hurried over and stopped in front of him.
"So you've arrived."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Yeah. Fortunately, we weren't much later than you."
Rin smiled.
"Kiyohara-san, you've had a hard few days, haven't you?"
"It's been alright."
Kiyohara replied calmly.
"How's the situation?"
Minato looked around the Land of Demons, noticing that everything appeared peaceful on the surface.
"Not very good."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"The Daimyo of the Land of Swamps has disappeared. There's a good chance he's already joined forces with Moryo."
Minato's brows knitted together.
"Then we should begin moving as soon as possible."
"The priestess wants us to wait for the shinobi from the other villages."
Kiyohara shook his head again.
"I see..."
Minato understood the threat posed by Moryo. It was only natural that every major village would send reinforcements.
About half an hour later, Kiyohara spotted the Sunagakure delegation.
Leading them was Baki.
Several familiar Sand shinobi followed behind him.
The moment Baki entered the hall, his eyes swept across everyone present.
Finally, they landed on Kiyohara.
He immediately strode over.
"Kiyohara!"
His voice carried unmistakable respect.
Baki had witnessed Kiyohara's battle against the Third Mizukage firsthand and understood just how terrifying his strength truly was.
"I didn't expect you'd be here too."
Kiyohara gave him a slight nod.
"Captain Baki."
Baki smiled.
"With you here, this mission is practically guaranteed to succeed."
Standing nearby, Tsunade's lips curved upward.
"Naturally."
She patted Kiyohara on the shoulder.
"He's my disciple. Of course he's outstanding."
Baki nodded in agreement without saying anything else.
Yet his gaze remained fixed on Kiyohara.
This young man had already become Konoha's greatest hero.
Slaying the Mizukage in battle.
Capturing the Raikage alive.
Suppressing Tailed Beasts.
Every single achievement was enough to be immortalized in shinobi history.
And yet...
He was still so young.
Whenever Baki thought about that, he became even more determined to maintain a good relationship with Kiyohara.
Meanwhile, Kiyohara looked toward the Sand shinobi, his thoughts drifting to Pakura.
Her injuries had long since healed.
She had simply remained at the orphanage to continue training.
The only thing keeping her alive now was the blazing desire for revenge burning within her heart.
Once she believed the time was right...
She would undoubtedly launch her retaliation against Suna.
"Quite a gathering of shinobi this time."
Uzumaki Kiyohara floated out from within Kiyohara's body.
His spiritual form had become noticeably fainter.
"There certainly are."
Kiyohara nodded.
Nearly every one of the Five Great Nations had sent shinobi.
He also spotted the Kumogakure delegation.
However, the Cloud shinobi deliberately kept their distance from him.
After all, both the Raikage and the Eight Tails' jinchuriki were still prisoners of Konoha, and negotiations regarding the matter were ongoing.
Naturally, they dared not allow any diplomatic conflict to occur at such a sensitive time.
"If you don't get your hands on the History of Warring States Seals soon, I'm going to disappear."
Uzumaki Kiyohara glanced around at the assembled shinobi before voicing the concern that mattered most to him.
"Once I become Hokage, or at least receive another promotion, I'll have a chance to obtain The History of Warring States Seals."
Kiyohara replied.
"It won't take much longer. I have a feeling everything will be decided once we return from the Land of Demons."
At the moment, the only issue was that the Hokage's seat remained temporarily vacant.
"That's good."
Uzumaki Kiyohara nodded before slipping back into Kiyohara's body and returning to the urn containing his ashes.
Kiyohara continued observing the steadily growing crowd inside the hall.
After a while, he noticed a woman with brown hair.
"Mei is here too."
Kiyohara immediately recognized her.
Terumi Mei also noticed him at the very first moment.
"Hmph."
She let out a light snort.
The memories of everything Kiyohara had done to her immediately made her blood boil.
Still, she understood the importance of priorities.
Their mission this time was to seal Moryo.
Rumor had it that Moryo had already created a massive army of terracotta puppets.
It had to be stopped before things spiraled out of control.
"What a coincidence."
Kiyohara greeted her first.
"Yes... what a coincidence."
Mei answered through clenched teeth.
Yet because of her naturally beautiful face, the expression only made her appear somewhat adorable instead of intimidating.
Kiyohara realized that Mei had already matured into something very close to the elegant beauty she would become in the original story.
Her strapless dress accentuated her impressive curves.
Her waist was slender, while her hips were full and graceful.
Afterward, Mei ignored him completely and led the Mist shinobi to another part of the hall.
As more and more people gathered, the atmosphere inside gradually became increasingly tense.
The recent war had only just ended.
Many of the shinobi present still harbored deep hatred toward one another.
"I never expected Kirigakure would actually come."
The Explosion Release user Gari from Iwagakure sneered.
"What? You stone eaters are allowed to come, but ours isn't?"
A Mist shinobi named Nakamoto Noya immediately shot back without giving an inch.
"During the last war, your village launched surprise attacks on quite a few of our outposts."
"The feeling is mutual. Your Iwa wasn't exactly innocent either."
Just as the confrontation threatened to escalate, Miroku interrupted them.
"Enough."
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
Miroku sat calmly in the seat of honor.
"You have all traveled a great distance. Did you come here to help... or to argue?"
Her voice remained calm.
Within the Land of Demons, her status was equal to that of the nation's Daimyo.
Even the assembled shinobi treated her with great respect.
"I have gathered everyone here today because there is something I must tell you."
She paused briefly.
"I saw something in a dream."
Everyone exchanged puzzled glances.
"A dream?"
"High Priestess, what do you mean?"
Ignoring their questions, Miroku slowly lifted her eyes toward Kiyohara.
"In my dream, I saw a gigantic purple-black monster."
"Moryo."
"And then..."
She paused once more.
"I also saw a golden giant."
Silence filled the hall.
"A golden giant?"
Someone finally asked.
"What exactly is that?"
Miroku slowly shook her head.
"I don't know."
"But in my dream... that golden giant effortlessly grabbed Moryo."
"It was as though it had simply picked up a snake."
The gathered shinobi stared at one another in disbelief.
A golden giant?
One capable of effortlessly restraining Moryo?
What level of power could possibly accomplish such a feat?
Standing among the crowd, Mei's emerald eyes filled with confusion.
A golden giant...
She had never heard of such a thing before.
"High Priestess."
Mei spoke up.
"Are you certain... that what you saw was real?"
Miroku looked at her calmly.
"The powers inherited by us priestesss have never been wrong."
Mei frowned slightly.
She had never been one to believe in prophecies.
However, she had certainly heard of the priestesss of the Land of Demons.
There had always been countless stories passed down through the generations claiming that every priestess possessed the ability to foresee the future.
If what Miroku said was true...
Then what exactly was that golden giant?
Among the crowd, Kiyohara's expression remained completely unchanged.
In the future that the priestess had foreseen, he had summoned Susanoo and effortlessly seized Moryo.
"Kiyohara-san."
Miroku's voice sounded once more.
"There is something I would like to ask of you."
Kiyohara raised his head.
"Please, High Priestess."
Miroku gazed directly into his eyes.
"Would you... be willing to serve as my personal bodyguard?"
Quiet murmurs immediately spread throughout the great hall.
A bodyguard?
Did the Land of Demons trust Konoha more than the other villages?
Mei's brows drew together.
She looked at Kiyohara before shifting her gaze toward Miroku.
Why...
Why had the priestess chosen Kiyohara of all people?
"High Priestess."
Mei finally asked.
"Why him?"
Miroku looked back at her.
"Because..."
She paused.
"He resembles the person I saw in my dream."
Silence once again settled over the hall.
He resembled the person from her dream?
What kind of reason was that?
Yet Miroku offered no further explanation.
She simply continued looking at Kiyohara.
"Kiyohara-san, will you accept?"
"Of course."
Kiyohara had no reason to refuse.
Besides, he also intended to borrow some of the priestess's chakra.
A faint smile appeared on Miroku's face.
Standing nearby, Tsunade glanced at Miroku before looking toward Kiyohara.
This brat...
How does he keep attracting women wherever he goes?
...
The Land of Swamps was located very close to the Land of Demons.
By the afternoon, the combined force of shinobi had already arrived.
Standing at the front of the formation, Kiyohara lifted his head and looked toward the endless mountain range stretching into the distance.
"I'll go take a look."
The moment he finished speaking, his figure shot straight into the sky.
Behind him, a gigantic pair of paper wings rapidly took shape.
Dance of the Shikigami!
The enormous wings gently flapped once.
His body immediately soared higher, piercing through the low-hanging clouds until he became nothing more than a tiny black dot in the sky.
Hidden from everyone's sight, Kiyohara's pitch-black pupils gradually transformed into a brilliant white.
The Byakugan!
At that instant, his already expansive sensory perception combined with the Byakugan's vision, allowing him to inspect every detail across the surrounding landscape.
Not a single movement escaped his notice.
After a short while, the tiny black dot in the sky gradually grew larger.
Kiyohara descended from the heavens.
Just before landing, the paper wings behind him dissolved into countless scraps that scattered into the wind before disappearing completely.
"Did you find them?"
Miroku asked.
Kiyohara nodded.
"Twenty kilometers to the west. Inside a cave."
He immediately shared everything he had discovered.
"There are a large number of puppets there. They're already marching out."
Miroku frowned slightly.
"The terracotta army?"
"Yes."
Kiyohara looked toward her.
"They're everywhere. At least a thousand of them."
Quiet discussions immediately broke out among the assembled shinobi.
Over a thousand terracotta soldiers...
Those things were supposedly immortal.
Standing near the edge of the crowd, Mei's emerald eyes became noticeably more serious.
She lifted a hand and tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear, revealing her delicate profile.
"If there really are over a thousand of those terracotta soldiers... then they're definitely going to be troublesome."
Not far from her, Gari let out a cold snort.
"Troublesome?"
He rolled his shoulders confidently.
"I'd like to see that for myself."
"So they're immortal?"
"That depends on whether they can withstand my Explosion Release."
Miroku slowly shook her head.
"The terrifying thing about the terracotta soldiers isn't their strength."
"It's that they never truly die."
She looked around at everyone before explaining.
"As long as Moryo remains unsealed, these terracotta soldiers will revive endlessly."
"Even if you blast them into dust..."
"They will simply reform again."
She paused briefly.
"So I will be responsible for sealing Moryo."
"And I'll leave the terracotta army to all of you."
Kiyohara nodded.
"No problem."
"I've wanted to see for myself just how durable these so-called immortal puppets really are."
Gari stepped forward with an eager grin.
"Kiyohara."
Rin looked toward him curiously.
"What if we use fuinjutsu techniques?"
"As long as we stop them from moving, it doesn't really matter whether they're immortal or not."
Standing nearby, Minato nodded approvingly.
"That's a good idea."
Kiyohara thought for a moment.
"It's worth trying."
He looked toward the distant mountains.
"But first, we need to see exactly what we're dealing with before deciding how to handle them."
The group continued moving forward.
After crossing several mountain ranges...
Kiyohara suddenly came to a stop.
"They're here."
The instant he spoke, heavy and disorderly footsteps echoed from ahead.
The sound was overwhelming.
It was as though an entire army was marching toward them.
Everyone looked up.
On the distant hillside...
Countless figures made from fired clay stood in perfectly ordered formations.
Each possessed a humanoid shape.
They had heads, torsos, arms, and legs.
Their entire bodies were constructed from grayish-brown clay.
The rough surfaces were covered in cracks and firing marks left behind during their creation.
Despite their crude appearance, their movements were remarkably agile.
Step after step, they marched steadily forward.
Each footfall slammed against the earth with a heavy, muffled boom.
Terracotta soldiers.
An endless sea of them.
They completely covered the hillside, occupying nearly everyone's entire field of vision.
"Those..."
"...are Moryo's immortal army."
Just then...
The ranks of terracotta soldiers suddenly split apart from the center.
A lone figure slowly emerged from behind them.
The Daimyo of the Land of Swamps wore luxurious ceremonial robes.
Upon his head rested the unique crown reserved exclusively for the nation's ruler.
Its shape resembled a fully opened folding fan.
The crest of the Land of Swamps was engraved upon it.
However...
The smile on his face was icy and sinister.
Miroku's pupils contracted slightly.
"Miroku."
The Daimyo spoke in a low voice.
"So you've really come."
"Indeed."
The Daimyo smiled.
Slowly, he spread both arms wide.
"Moryo has given me power."
"He has granted me eternal life."
"Look at these stone soldiers."
"They will never die."
"They will never tire."
"As long as I wish it..."
"I can lead them to conquer the entire shinobi world!"
His gaze slowly swept across everyone present.
Finally...
It landed on Kiyohara.
A playful smile suddenly appeared on his sinister face.
He carefully looked Kiyohara up and down.
His eyes lingered on the young man's handsome features for a moment before he chuckled.
"This shinobi is rather good-looking."
"As it happens, I am in need of a personal guard."
"If you're willing..."
"You may stay behind and serve me."
Mei raised an eyebrow.
Yet the corners of her lips couldn't help curling upward.
She looked as though she were waiting to enjoy a good show.
Kiyohara stared at the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps.
People from small countries really are arrogant.
Others might hesitate because of the man's status as a Daimyo.
Kiyohara had no such concerns.
"It seems His Excellency the Daimyo has already been possessed by Moryo."
"This is no ordinary crisis anymore."
"We have no choice but to strike with overwhelming force!"
Kiyohara immediately found himself a perfectly righteous excuse.
Then...
He casually waved his hand.
Smack!
The surrounding air compressed instantly before exploding across the Daimyo's face.
The smile froze on the Daimyo's expression.
Visible rage spread across his sinister features.
"You..."
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fury boiling inside him.
"Very good."
Originally, he had intended to capture several shinobi from the great nations so he could learn and steal their ninjutsu.
But now...
He had changed his mind.
At this moment...
There was only one thing he wanted.
Kill Kiyohara.
The Daimyo no longer looked at him.
Instead, he turned toward Miroku.
"Miroku."
His voice became strangely seductive.
"Moryo and the priestess..."
"...were originally one."
"You should understand."
"If the two of us join forces..."
"Do you realize how much power we could wield?"
"We could unite the entire shinobi world."
"We could make everyone kneel beneath our feet."
"Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Miroku quietly looked back at him.
"You have already fallen."
"Fallen?"
The Daimyo frowned.
He genuinely could not understand why Miroku refused to see things his way.
"I have merely chosen the path of greater power!"
"The duty of every priestess..."
Miroku interrupted him.
"...is to seal Moryo."
"That responsibility has never changed."
"Not in the past."
"Not now."
"And never in the future."
The Daimyo's face finally darkened completely.
"Good."
"Good."
"Good!"
He spat out the word three times through gritted teeth.
"Since every single one of you is so eager to die..."
"I'll grant your wish."
As his words fell...
Yomi slowly walked out from behind the ranks of terracotta soldiers.
Following behind him was a large group of shinobi from the Land of Swamps.
Although...
Calling them "shinobi" was no longer entirely accurate.
They could hardly even be considered human anymore.
Their bodies had undergone horrifying transformations.
Some possessed enormously swollen arms covered with purple-black scales.
Others had half of their faces twisted beyond recognition.
Eyeballs bulged grotesquely from their sockets.
Their mouths split all the way back toward their ears.
A sinister purple light seeped out through their bodies, as though something alive were writhing beneath their skin.
"The power of Moryo..."
Yomi slowly raised one hand.
Purple light surged from his palm before flowing directly into the bodies of the mutated shinobi.
The next instant...
Their bodies began shaking violently.
The whites of their eyes vanished completely.
Their eyeballs turned into nothing but endless blackness.
Something beneath their skin wriggled frantically, as though countless worms were burrowing beneath the flesh.
Their chakra signatures skyrocketed in an instant.
"So..."
Kiyohara activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.
His crimson eyes carefully observed every movement of chakra within their bodies.
"Is this some kind of dark medicine jutsu...?"
(End of Chapter)