Chapter 45: Shangri-La Testing, Danzō's Puppet Squad, and Sharingan Upgrade
Having just finished forging Dimension Square [Shangri-La], Naraku couldn't wait to leave the forging room and test it. He first placed a small mark on a spot. Watching the tiny Taiji symbol slowly fade away in front of him, Naraku knew the marking had succeeded.
Naraku moved far away from the marked location. Then, in a flash, his figure suddenly appeared at the spot he had just marked.
Naraku sensed the consumption from the move—it was roughly 0.1 Ka. That meant, without recovering chakra, he could perform about 100 moves of that distance.
Next, Naraku tried a shorter-distance teleport. He found that chakra consumption did not decrease.
Afterward, Naraku placed Dimension Square [Shangri-La] against his chest. During forging, he had specially designed a small device to securely hold the Teigu in place on his chest.
After all, a ninja's hands were extremely important—for hand seals, attacks, everything. He couldn't fight while constantly holding Dimension Square [Shangri-La] in one hand.
Overall, Dimension Square [Shangri-La] was very similar to the Flying Thunder God Technique—both divided into three steps:
Place the mark
Sense the mark
Teleport
But each had its advantages and disadvantages. First, Dimension Square [Shangri-La] required a relatively long 3 seconds to place a mark, while Flying Thunder God could mark almost instantly—even mid-battle, directly onto an enemy's body. This greatly limited Dimension Square [Shangri-La]'s usefulness in combat.
Everything else was an advantage for Dimension Square [Shangri-La].
Marks placed by Dimension Square disappear quickly after placement and only reappear when activated. Flying Thunder God marks remain visible forever.
Dimension Square has perception assistance—even non-sensor ninjas can sense the marks through the Teigu, with a range of up to 5 km. Flying Thunder God relies entirely on the user's personal sensory ability, and reaching 5 km is very difficult. However, Naraku generally did not plan to teleport long distances. If some powerful enemy discovered a pre-placed mark and waited there with a blade, teleporting over would be suicide.
Dimension Square can banish enemies to the edge of the world. Flying Thunder God cannot. (The third was something Naraku had only seen in anime—he wasn't going to test it on himself in reality. Who knew what the "edge of the world" was in the ninja world? He planned to find some expendable test subject later.)
Dimension Square can place marks in mid-air. Flying Thunder God cannot. With this, Naraku could scatter a large number of marks in one area. If enemies dared invade, they would experience the power of a domain—free movement within the domain, practically invincible.
Overall, Naraku was very satisfied with Dimension Square [Shangri-La]. With this, it would be extremely difficult for enemies to kill him. His personal combat power had greatly increased.
However, it also required him to prepare many marks in advance. Secondly, Naraku's own limitation was that he needed to improve his reaction speed and combat wisdom. Otherwise, even if he teleported instantly in front of an enemy, it would turn into a shameful "teleport-and-stand-there" scene! Some enemies might even look forward to him closing in so they could unload freely.
For reaction speed, Namikaze Minato was probably at the top tier in the ninja world. But handing his life-saving method over to Minato felt like putting the cart before the horse to Naraku. He had a feeling that as his fame grew, danger was lurking.
Besides, he could later use other weapons to acquire some of Minato's talents. There was also Rasengan—he planned to try learning it using the method Jiraiya used to teach Naruto when he had time. Rasengan, as a seal-less ninjutsu, was very suitable for space-movement attacks. Of course, Naraku could also combine space movement with Hatake sword style, optimize it slightly, and create his own personal Flying Thunder God Slash!
In Root's underground prison, Kurama Taro was desperately pleading with Danzō: "Lord Danzō! I really didn't betray the village!"
Danzō did believe the chance of Kurama Taro betraying the village was low. But this man had always been content with mediocrity. Despite possessing powerful genjutsu, he refused to help the village and just stayed holed up in his corner. Better to kill him with the ninja blade and let him contribute his strength to Konoha! Right now, the only thing missing from his 8-puppet slots was a powerful genjutsu user.
He had struggled with this for a long time and still didn't dare reach toward the Uchiha clan. But with the war coming, Uchiha blood might not be untouchable after all!
Danzō swung the blade without mercy—Kurama Taro's throat was instantly slit, killing him.
But very soon Kurama Taro stood back up. By now Danzō was surrounded by 8 ninjas.
Danzō looked at the 8 puppets around him—all of them jōnin-level, the weakest being special jōnin. Among them were experts in genjutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu, kenjutsu, and puppetry—a perfectly rounded team.
Plus, they covered Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Lightning natures. Danzō could completely control them to perform Hiruzen Sarutobi's signature technique: Five Release Great Continuous Bullet Technique!
In his eyes, the only things worth envying about Hiruzen were his taijutsu and five natures mastery.
And—whether because of Yatsufusa's ability—when Danzō controlled the puppets to use ninjutsu, the chakra consumption on the puppets was only half what Danzō had to pay.
In other words, if Hiruzen used Five Release Great Continuous Bullet Technique's chakra amount, Danzō could perform it twice.
Danzō smugly thought: Hiruzen! You're far behind me now! My current strength can completely crush you! As long as I make contributions in the coming war, you'll have to step down for me sooner or later!
As Danzō indulged in his fantasies, Yatsufusa emitted a faint, eerie glow.
...
On the other side, Naraku suddenly noticed another system notification.
Ding...
[Danzō Shimura has reached Intermediate utilization of March of the Dead [Yatsufusa]. Talent Replication activated: Danzō's right-eye Sharingan pupil power – Uchiha Kagami's right eye]
With Uchiha Kagami's right-eye pupil power pouring in, Naraku's Sharingan activated automatically once again. Finally, his left eye also became three-tomoe Sharingan.
Naraku had never imagined getting Uchiha pupil power as a reward from Danzō. All he could think was: Danzō, you really fucking deserve to die! Uchiha Kagami was your beloved comrade, your sworn brother—and you dug out his right eye!
--------------------------
Support us on patreon (+Gain access to 100 chapters in advance)
patreon.com/inkshield