On the battlefield outside Yoshiwara Town, by the time Matsushita Masato, Asuma, and their teams arrived, Tatsuya and his group were long gone.
Land of Swamps, Demon Sealing Mountain.
Within the Ancor Vantian fortress, a clone body stood in the center of the plaza. His hands began to move through a rapid, continuous sequence of hand seals, then he slammed one palm onto the ground.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Three plumes of white smoke erupted beside him, and Suijin, Kagutsuchi, and Jizo appeared at his side. After the three of them materialized, Kagutsuchi first glanced around, then the tomoe in his right eye socket immediately began to spin, transforming into the distinctive pinwheel shape of his Mangekyo Sharingan. As the Mangekyo Sharingan activated, an almost uncontrollable, savage expression flickered across Kagutsuchi's face. He quickly raised a hand to cover his eye and let out a low growl, "Open!"
As his word fell, a swirling spatial vortex appeared in front of Kagutsuchi. This phenomenon was almost identical in appearance to Obito's Kamui. From the plaza, as the spatial vortex steadily expanded, a colossal creature gradually emerged. It was the juvenile Ten-Tails.
After releasing the juvenile Ten-Tails, Kagutsuchi immediately struggled to suppress the surging, violent emotions roiling within him and quickly deactivated his right eye's Mangekyo Sharingan.
Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze~
Only after the Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye was closed did Kagutsuchi manage to take several deep, ragged breaths. In just those few short tens of seconds, the Mangekyo Sharingan had already exerted an immense strain on his mind. If it had remained active for even a little longer, this clone body of his would likely have descended into chaos due to the mental backlash.
Kagutsuchi's right eye was precisely the Mangekyo Sharingan transplanted from the one-eyed clone Tatsuya had created long ago. Over these past few years, Tatsuya had never ceased his research into this particular Mangekyo Sharingan because it possessed an extremely unique ability—a power remarkably similar to Obito's Kamui dimension, capable of directly transferring oneself or others into that separate dimension. However, because this eye from the one-eyed clone had the inherent ability to autonomously absorb external negative energies, it had for a long time remained in an uncontrollable, chaotic, and violent state. Its associated dimension had also been undeveloped and extremely unstable. Previously, this ability could only be used offensively, for destructive purposes.
But over these past few years, Tatsuya had been utilizing the Zero-Tails within Amaru to absorb the negative energy from this eye. After years of diligent effort, this alternate dimension had gradually stabilized. This time, for the specific purpose of capturing the Ten-Tails, Tatsuya had specially arranged for Kagutsuchi to have this eye transplanted, precisely to utilize its dimensional ability. Now that the objective had been achieved, Kagutsuchi would soon have this eye removed.
The juvenile Ten-Tails, now appearing in the central plaza of Ancor Vantian, was still in a deep slumber; the preceding fierce battle had not awakened it. Perhaps it still lacked sufficient energy.
Swoosh~
The sound of air being cut echoed, and Pakura's figure appeared in the plaza. Such a large commotion had naturally alerted her. In the distance, other Yakugakure ninja had also wanted to come and see what was happening, but Pakura had stopped them all.
"What is this?" Pakura asked, her expression grave as she looked at the massive form of the Ten-Tails. From its body, she sensed an incredibly vast amount of chakra. Pakura immediately determined that this creature before her was a Tailed Beast! The amount of chakra it possessed was even greater than that of Sunagakure's One-Tail, Shukaku. Yet, its appearance didn't match any of the known Tailed Beasts in the ninja world. Pakura was very puzzled by this.
Hearing Pakura's question, Kagutsuchi replied truthfully, "The Ten-Tails."
"The Ten-Tails!" Pakura's pupils constricted sharply upon hearing this. She didn't know exactly what the Ten-Tails was, but just from its name, she could infer its immense power. It had one more tail than the Nine-Tails, the strongest of the known Tailed Beasts!
"What do you plan to do with it?" Pakura asked again after a moment of silence.
A faint smile appeared on Kagutsuchi's face. "Nurture it." The current Ten-Tails was still in its juvenile state; it wasn't even possible to seal it within a host to become a Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, let alone plant it to grow a God Tree and bear a Chakra Fruit.
Therefore, what Tatsuya planned to do now was the same as Isshiki Otsutsuki's original plan: to continuously supply the Ten-Tails with large amounts of chakra to promote its growth. This would be incredibly difficult for others, but for Tatsuya, it wasn't a major problem. It would just require some more time and resources. Once the Ten-Tails matured, Tatsuya would then use the information he had obtained from Isshiki Otsutsuki to begin cultivating the God Tree.
Half a month later, within the encampment of the Konoha army stationed on the eastern border of the Land of Fire.
In the command tent, Tatsuya sat in the main seat, while Hyuga Hizashi and others were seated on either side. For this particular army contingent, Tatsuya was the supreme commander. At this moment, Tatsuya was holding an unrolled scroll, carefully reading its contents. This was a document that had just been delivered from Konoha Village, issued by the Hokage's office.
After reading the contents of the scroll, Tatsuya gently placed it down, then glanced at the assembled commanders below him. "According to the message just received from the Hokage's office, Kumogakure and Iwagakure, due to Akatsuki's recent successive actions, are now inclined to temporarily ease the current standoff. However, since neither the Iwagakure nor the Kumogakure armies have shown any intention of withdrawing their forces from the borders, Lord Hokage has ordered us to continue maintaining our vigilance here on site and not to relax in the slightest. This time, it is highly probable that we will be stationed here for an extended period. Everyone, go down and make the necessary preparations."
"Yes, sir!" Hearing his words, everyone below replied respectfully in unison. After speaking, the other commanders left the tent, leaving only Tatsuya and Hyuga Hizashi remaining. As they departed, expressions of disappointment could be seen on many of their faces. They had all thought that the threat of war was over, but who knew they would actually have to remain stationed here for a long time.
After the others had left, Hyuga Hizashi slowly spoke, "Tatsuya, have you heard the news from the Land of Rivers?" Hizashi's voice was filled with a deep gravity. In these past few days, Hizashi had learned through his clan's intelligence channels about the earth-shattering battle that had taken place in the Land of Rivers. The Divine Court clashing with an unknown power. A sword of light thousands of meters long! The suspected appearance of Wood Style! A Perfect Susanoo hundreds of meters tall! This series of revelations was simply too shocking.
Tatsuya nodded. "I've heard. The Hokage's office has also confirmed that these events are true."
Hearing this, Hyuga Hizashi took a deep breath. "So, it's also true that a member of the Divine Court might possess Wood Style?"
Tatsuya nodded again. "Correct."
Hyuga Hizashi fell silent. After a moment, he spoke again, "What does the village plan to do about it?"
Tatsuya replied, "For now, we will observe the situation quietly. The intentions of this Divine Court organization have always been unclear; no one knows their true objectives. Therefore, the village does not want to provoke them unnecessarily. Moreover, the Divine Court and Akatsuki have always been hostile towards each other. The Divine Court's appearance has also caused Akatsuki, which had been making successive moves, to become more subdued."
Hyuga Hizashi remained silent.
With the news of the battle between the Divine Court and the unknown power in the Land of Rivers spreading, the entire ninja world once again fell into a period of uneasy quiet. Akatsuki had once again vanished into the shadows. Although the standoff between Konoha Village and the forces of Kumogakure and Iwagakure had not been officially lifted, discerning individuals could all see that a full-scale war between them was now unlikely to erupt.