As expected, Brook captured all the nearby White Zetsu, erased their consciousness, and turned them into bodies fit for reincarnation.
The Impure World Reincarnation technique normally required summoning a soul and forcing it into a sacrifice.
But Brook was different.
As a soul body that carried the power of a Death God, he did not need that process at all. He could directly occupy the highly adaptable bodies of White Zetsu.
Brook's soul slipped into a White Zetsu body and began reshaping it, slowly molding it into the handsome appearance he had once had on Earth, finally casting off Brook's old "magnificent" look.
At the same time, he controlled more White Zetsu bodies and fused them into the corpses of Minato Namikaze and Kushina, merging those bodies together to inherit Minato's spatial affinity and Kushina's Uzumaki bloodline.
The bloodline potential of this new body rose again.
And from the soul memories of Minato and Kushina, Brook had already obtained their ninjutsu and sealing techniques.
That meant his new body was already terrifyingly complete.
"The divine authority Jin left behind in the Death God is absurdly useful."
Brook almost wanted to praise Western Underworld God Jin from the bottom of his heart.
The things that bastard left behind made it far too easy to invade and take over other bodies.
It even seemed possible that Jin had been eyeing the power of Hirasaka, the Northern Underworld God, all along. Using the Death God clone Jin to slip into Northern Underworld and secretly collect traces of Hirasaka's bloodline, that really was the logic of "no pain, no gain."
On the surface, Jin had used the low level Death God clone to gather information in Northern Underworld.
But in secret, he had also hoped to pick up the leftovers Hirasaka left behind.
Now all of it had fallen straight into Brook's hands.
At the very least, until the gods rotated shifts a thousand years later, Brook was relatively safe.
He did not need to worry about Jin crossing over to kill him and reclaim the Death God Jin.
Which meant Brook now had one deadline.
Within a thousand years, he had to become strong enough to leave the Sangri Domain, resist those gods, or even kill them.
Otherwise, once Jin and his superiors came for him after the shift, Brook would be hunted down and erased.
··
Watching Brook merge into a new body, Otsutsuki Hagoromo finally snapped out of the shock Brook's earlier revelations had caused.
He wanted to know whether Brook's words were true.
At this moment, Brook also summoned the souls of Minato and Kushina, injecting enough ghost energy and Underworld power into them to let them appear in the real world, much like the Spirit Transformation Technique of the Kato clan.
Minato and Kushina reappeared in soul form, both looking confused at the two terrifying beings before them.
But their souls were under Brook's control.
They could neither move nor speak.
They could only watch Naruto lying nearby.
The Third Hokage trembled in fear, as if he had just heard a secret too great for a man to survive knowing.
Brook wanted Hiruzen to hear everything.
That way, he could pressure Hagoromo into killing the old man himself. Otherwise, these secrets would inevitably spread through the ninja world.
Brook also sealed the Nine Tails' Yin chakra into his new body, turning it into a chakra battery.
"What proof do you have?" the Sage of Six Paths asked heavily.
He did not want any of this to be true.
But he also could not ignore the possibility that the ninja world was on the edge of disaster.
"Your mother, Otsutsuki Kaguya, has a partner whose status was even higher than hers," Brook said coldly. "But he was gravely injured by Kaguya's sneak attack and is still hiding in this world."
"As long as he passes word back to the Otsutsuki clan, this world will face their destruction. That is why your mother was so afraid, and why she wanted to build the White Zetsu army."
Brook spoke expressionlessly.
If Isshiki Otsutsuki had not wanted to personally clean up Kaguya and make up for his own failure, he would have asked the Otsutsuki clan for help long ago.
Aside from being severely injured, Isshiki had also been afraid of punishment from the higher ups of the Otsutsuki clan, which was why he had hidden for a thousand years, searching for a chance to kill Kaguya and replant the Divine Tree.
"Do you know where he is?" Hagoromo asked immediately.
He was already numb with shock.
He had once thought the entire ninja world was under his gaze, but now he suddenly realized there had always been a threat of this scale lurking beneath him.
"How much fighting strength do you still have?" Brook replied instead, voice lazy.
Against a threat like Isshiki, Brook wanted to know how much power this chakra body of the Sage of Six Paths could still wield.
He wanted to probe Hagoromo's true level.
To be honest, Brook had to laugh at the Sage of Six Paths a little.
Forget Isshiki, even Black Zetsu, the will of Kaguya, had escaped his notice.
People really had overestimated him.
Still, it was hard to blame him completely.
He was only a man who had once reached a high level of power.
His real body had long since died.
Now he was only a projection of chakra.
Hagoromo fell silent.
Back then, he had needed Hamura's help just to seal Kaguya.
And now Isshiki, someone of the same general class as Kaguya, had hidden for a thousand years.
Who knew how strong that monster had become by now?
"So what do you want?" Hagoromo asked at last. "Rebuild reincarnation so you can fight the Otsutsuki clan?"
"My duty is to gather the power of the old gods and restore reincarnation to this galaxy," Brook replied. "If I did not already know you are not one of the cruel Otsutsuki, I would have attacked you already."
"So now, if you do not wish to help, step aside and return to your Pure Land."
Brook did not have time to waste.
The Konoha forces were already on their way, and he intended to seize Konoha itself under the identity of the Fourth Hokage.
With a wave, he turned Minato and Kushina's souls transparent again.
Then his new White Zetsu body slowly reshaped itself into the appearance of Minato Namikaze.
At a glance, it was flawless.
Perhaps only the level of the Rinnegan could detect the difference in the soul.
"I can allow Ashura's chakra reincarnation to live," Brook said as he picked up baby Naruto. "But the Third Hokage must die."
Minato and Kushina's souls shook violently in terror, but they could not break free from Brook's control.
"I can erase his memory," Hagoromo said after a long pause. "Can you let him live? Let him raise the child."
"Minato and Kushina's souls will raise him," Brook answered coldly. "He dies today."
He pulled out a kunai, still wearing Minato's face.
He was about to act.
The Konoha army was already approaching.
Hagoromo sighed.
He did not want to clash head on with Brook before confirming the truth about Isshiki Otsutsuki.
"Then I will take his soul away."
Under the terrified gaze of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hagoromo finally compromised.
A moment later, Hiruzen's soul was drawn out and taken away by the Sage of Six Paths.
Seeing the Third Hokage die and Hagoromo disappear, Brook smiled in satisfaction.
The Fourth Hokage had launched the war, and the Third Hokage had died in it.
From this moment on, Konoha was his world.
-----------
With Brook's powerful soul perception, he made sure there were no other White Zetsu or ANBU nearby. Otherwise, they would all have been wiped out immediately to prevent any information from leaking.
He glanced at the corpses of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and the two ANBU.
Still wearing Minato Namikaze's appearance, Brook carried Hiruzen's body over and placed it beside the sealing altar, arranging everything to make it look as though the Third Hokage had used the forbidden technique, Shiki Fuujin.
As for Kushina's missing body, that was easy enough to explain away.
The Nine Tails had eaten it.
The souls of Minato and Kushina became even more restless as they watched Brook calmly stage the entire scene while using Minato's face.
"I didn't expect the souls of this world to retain consciousness even under my control," Brook said with a faint smile. "Strange. But not bad."
He looked at the two souls like a landlord inspecting newly acquired property.
"From now on, you'll still handle the Hokage's political affairs. And you'll personally take care of Naruto."
His smile widened slightly.
"I hope you do a good job for me. Otherwise, this little guy will… well, you understand."
He tapped his own stomach.
"I can recycle the Nine Tails' Yang chakra whenever I want."
In Brook's eyes, surviving in soul form and watching their son grow up should have been considered a blessing.
Then the Konoha reinforcements arrived.
The moment Brook sensed a large number of ninjas rushing over, he instantly shifted into the expression of a man crushed by grief.
After all, Minato's wife was dead, and his teacher, the Third Hokage, had died too.
It was tragedy layered on tragedy.
"Hokage sama!!"
"Fourth Hokage sama!!"
"Minato sama!!"
"Third Hokage sama!!!"
Ninjas rushed over one after another.
The moment they saw the Third Hokage's corpse, the two dead ANBU, and the exhausted Fourth Hokage standing there in visible grief, disbelief and dread spread across their faces.
Danzo and Orochimaru, who arrived shortly after, looked especially ugly.
The Fourth Hokage had survived.
But the Third Hokage was dead.
"Hiruzen! Hiruzen, what happened to you?! Fourth Hokage, what exactly happened here?!"
Danzo, along with Koharu and the others, rushed over to the body and immediately began loudly questioning Minato Namikaze.
"The Third Hokage… the Third Hokage sacrificed himself to stop the Nine Tails," Brook said while wearing Minato's face, guilt and grief written across every line of his expression. "He used the forbidden technique, Shiki Fuujin, to seal the Nine Tails and save Konoha!"
Of course, in Brook's heart, these old people had already been sentenced to death.
Anyone who could obstruct his centralization of power had to go.
Besides, they were already in their fifties.
They had lived long enough.
"Impossible! Hiruzen would never do that!"
Danzo still could not accept it. He simply refused to believe that his old friend would choose such an ending.
"This was the Third Hokage's own decision," Brook answered gravely. "He died for Konoha. He is Konoha's true hero."
He forcibly suppressed the urge to kill Danzo on the spot and continued playing the role of the Fourth Hokage.
As expected, impersonating someone else was deeply annoying.
He needed to find a chance to let Minato's soul handle public appearances for him.
"Danzo sama, the Fourth Hokage is injured and needs rest," Nara Shikaku said in a low, serious voice as he stepped forward. "Let us return to the village first and clean up the aftermath."
Ninjas from the Hokage's direct faction immediately gathered around Minato.
Nara Shikaku.
Yamanaka Inoichi.
Akimichi Choza.
The Hyuga brothers.
All of them subtly placed themselves between Minato and Danzo.
Now that the Third Hokage was dead, the old generation led by Sarutobi Hiruzen was naturally preparing to step down.
That meant Minato Namikaze would finally begin to truly control Konoha.
Until now, most of Konoha's real authority had still been held by the Third Hokage and the old figures around him, Danzo, Koharu, and Homura.
The heads of the major clans were all watching those advisory seats with sharp eyes.
After all, those positions influenced major village decisions and controlled much of Konoha's political machinery.
With Danzo clearly unwilling to let things go, the ninjas still escorted the weakened Fourth Hokage and the new Nine Tails jinchuriki back to the village. Orochimaru and his people handled the Third Hokage's body.
In this Nine Tails disaster, both Sarutobi Hiruzen and his wife had died.
The Sarutobi clan's power in Konoha would undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow.
After returning to Konoha, Brook, still disguised as Minato, settled Naruto first, then dragged his "weakened" body into work almost immediately.
Because the village's high level council had already convened.
They needed to investigate the truth behind the Nine Tails' rampage.
All the clan heads, senior officials, and jonin were already gathered in the Hokage building's conference room, waiting for the Hokage to arrive.
The moment Minato entered, Danzo fixed a dangerous stare on Uchiha Fugaku and opened the attack immediately.
"The man who attacked Konoha and triggered this disaster was a masked individual with the Sharingan," Danzo said coldly. "He was the one controlling the Nine Tails. Does Chief Fugaku have anything to say?"
Right now, Danzo had no clean way to move against Minato, a civilian Hokage with immense prestige.
So he could only turn his fangs on the evil Uchiha, as always.
"I do not know who that masked man was," Fugaku said with a frown. "This has nothing to do with the Uchiha."
In truth, Fugaku had wanted to confront that mysterious man himself.
Instead, he had been ordered to stay away from the battlefield and focus on evacuating civilians and maintaining order inside the village.
At the same time, he had been wondering which branch of the clan such a man could possibly come from.
Anyone capable of controlling the Nine Tails had likely awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
The thought had already begun to stir something dark inside Fugaku's heart.
"Fugaku," Danzo sneered, "do you really think someone capable of awakening the Mangekyo and controlling the Nine Tails would be some ordinary Uchiha?"
At the same time, Danzo's greed for the Sharingan only deepened, especially for the Mangekyo Sharingan.
And now, he had already begun to eye the brilliant young Uchiha Shisui, descendant of his former teammate, Uchiha Kagami.
"Hmph!"
The senior Uchiha behind Fugaku were already starting to bristle with anger, and Fugaku had to raise a hand to calm them before turning back to Danzo with a cold snort.
The other clan heads simply watched.
No one had any intention of interrupting the Uchiha and Konoha's Darkness tearing into each other.
"Danzo, was it?" Brook said at last, still wearing Minato's face.
He was already too tired of pretending.
Now it was time to remind everyone in the room who the Hokage actually was.
"Sit down."
A wave of Haki burst out from him.
This was completely different from the chakra pressure of Hashirama or Tobirama. It was not simply power.
It was will.
Mental domination.
Soul crushing pressure.
The people in the room instantly felt a fear they had never known before, as though some invisible hand had gripped their minds and squeezed.
Clan heads.
Senior jonin.
Veteran officers.
All of them stared at the "civilian Hokage" in shock.
How had he suddenly become this strong?
Could it be that Minato had become strogner after Kushina's death?
That the death of a loved one had triggered an explosive leap in power?
Wasn't that supposed to be the Uchiha clan's exclusive privilege, the madness of those red eyed lunatics?
How could a civilian genius like Minato Namikaze undergo such a transformation?
.....
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