It had lived for a thousand years and seen countless humans.
Greedy ones. Fearful ones. Arrogant ones. Lowly ones.
But never one like this.
Power, authority, immortality—any one of those alone was enough to drive humans mad.
And yet he didn't even care to hear the offer to the end.
"You… you'll regret this!"
Mōryō roared.
It violently broke free from the grip of that golden skeletal hand, turning into a streak of purple-black light as it shot toward the distant cave.
Mōryō's body was sealed inside that cave.
As long as it reunited with its true flesh, it would be able to unleash its full power.
Kiyohara watched the fleeing Mōryō, but didn't pursue.
It would be easier to wipe it out in one go after its soul and body merged.
Kiyohara was also very interested in that dark medical ninjutsu.
Mōryō's power could break the limits of the flesh, though the price was monstrous deformity.
If that power could be made controllable, it might be possible to cultivate a powerful army with it.
Kiyohara turned and looked down at Miroku below.
Miroku felt his gaze and looked up, staring at Kiyohara standing inside Susanoo.
There was a faint daze on that beautiful face.
Before coming here, she had already prepared herself to die.
Every time Mōryō was sealed, the priestess had to pay with her life.
That was fate.
From ancient times until now, it had never changed.
The only reason Mōryō had been sealed over and over through the generations was because one priestess after another had thrown away her life to do it.
That was also why the priestess held such a revered place in the Land of Demons.
Even if the people of the Land of Demons were asked to die for the priestess, they would consider it the highest honor.
But now, watching Mōryō flee in a panic after being beaten down by Kiyohara, rushing to retrieve its true body, Miroku suddenly felt that perhaps fate wasn't absolute after all.
Kiyohara extended a hand.
Susanoo did the same.
That enormous golden skeletal hand slowly lowered itself in front of Miroku.
Its palm faced upward, fingers slightly spread, silently telling her to step on.
Miroku froze for a moment.
"Come in."
Kiyohara's voice reached her.
Seeing that, Miroku stepped onto the golden palm.
Golden chakra flowed beneath her feet, and the hand slowly lifted, carrying her up in front of Kiyohara.
The chakra split open a gap for her to enter, then sealed itself again once she was inside.
Inside Susanoo, Miroku felt as if she were wrapped inside a mass of water.
And yet her breathing, speech, and even her vision weren't affected in the slightest.
If anything, it felt warm.
"Kiyohara-dono, Mōryō has gone to retrieve its body. We have to stop it as quickly as possible."
Miroku said.
From up close, she found Kiyohara even better-looking than he had seemed from afar.
Sharp brows, handsome eyes, and clearly defined features.
She couldn't help stealing a few extra glances.
But she quickly forced those feelings down. She already had a child—she wasn't some young girl anymore.
"I know."
Kiyohara nodded.
He wasn't concerned. If he had wanted to stop Mōryō, it would never have escaped in the first place.
"Mōryō has gone to merge with its body. Once it succeeds, its power will increase several times over. When that happens—"
Miroku was worried Kiyohara didn't fully grasp the seriousness of that, so she kept explaining.
"I know."
Kiyohara cut her off.
"I need your chakra."
Miroku blinked.
"My… chakra?"
"Yes."
Kiyohara nodded.
"The priestess's power is the only thing that can restrain Mōryō. Lend me your chakra, and I'll seal it."
"But—"
"There is no but."
Kiyohara held out his hand.
"Trust me."
Miroku looked at that hand.
She hesitated for a moment, then slowly reached out and took it.
At that instant, she began channeling her chakra into Kiyohara's body.
A priestess's chakra was very special.
Gentle. Pure.
It was a power, like the Dragon Veins, that could touch time itself.
Kiyohara remembered that in the movie, Miroku had once relied on the chakra she left behind to help the future Shion travel across time.
And the priestess's power of foresight was one expression of that same force.
Kiyohara could feel that chakra merging with the power inside him.
A subtle change began appearing across the surface of the golden Susanoo.
A layer of pinkish-purple light seeped out from within, tracing fine patterns over the golden chakra skeleton.
Those patterns looked like strings of tiny bells hanging from every corner of the frame.
With Kiyohara's breathing, those bells swayed gently.
Ting.
A clear, ringing sound echoed through the air.
Kakashi narrowed his Sharingan slightly, able to see through chakra flow.
He realized that Kiyohara's chakra was gradually taking on a pinkish-purple hue.
"So that's the priestess's chakra…"
Kakashi had already guessed that Miroku was lending her chakra to Kiyohara.
After all, the priestess's role was to seal Mōryō—her power had to be uniquely suited for it.
And for Kiyohara to need the priestess's chakra in order to seal Mōryō made perfect sense.
Suddenly, a roar came from deep within the cave.
A massive figure burst out of it.
Purple-black mist billowed out so thick it nearly covered the entire mountain.
That mist took the shape of a dragon, with multiple dragon heads thrusting out, much like Kiyohara's Eight-Headed Serpent Technique.
"Human, your arrogance ends here!"
Mōryō opened its jaws.
Purple light gathered and compressed in its throat.
The chakra fluctuations coming from it were now several times stronger than before.
"Kiyohara-dono!"
There was tension in Miroku's voice.
But Kiyohara only looked at the dragon calmly.
"Your chakra is interesting."
He raised his right hand.
Kiyohara controlled Susanoo to cast a jutsu.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique.
In midair, the flames condensed into a pinkish-purple fire dragon.
Roaring, it lunged at Mōryō.
Mōryō released its own attack at the same time.
The purple-black beam and the pinkish-purple fire dragon collided in midair.
Boom!
A blast of wind and force exploded outward, sending shockwaves in every direction.
But in the next instant, Mōryō's pupils shrank violently.
Its purple-black beam was collapsing in front of that fire dragon.
That pinkish-purple flame was like its natural nemesis, easily devouring everything it threw out.
The fire dragon tore through the beam and bit into Mōryō's dragon body.
"AAAAAAH!"
Mōryō let out a shrill scream.
The moment those pinkish-purple flames touched its mist scales, they began burning—and no matter what it did, it couldn't extinguish them.
"What is this… what is this?!"
Mōryō writhed madly, trying to shake the flames off.
But those flames clung to it like gangrene, only burning more fiercely.
"Still not quite enough to use Complete Body Susanoo, huh…"
Kiyohara observed his current condition.
If he advanced into Complete Body Susanoo, its size would increase even more, and it would gain a pair of wings, giving it the ability to fly.
After a moment's thought, Kiyohara, standing inside Susanoo, began releasing senjutsu chakra.
Emerald-green chakra wrapped itself around Susanoo like a second skin, rippling through the air.
Massive chakra horns also sprouted from Susanoo's head.
Sensing that Kiyohara had grown even stronger, Mōryō immediately began struggling harder.
Miroku turned to look at Kiyohara, her noble face filled with even greater astonishment.
"What is that?"
She had never once seen Mōryō display panic before.
And what was this green chakra?
The Land of Demons had always been isolated from the mainstream shinobi world, almost like a sealed-off ancient kingdom.
So she knew nothing about Kiyohara's Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode.
"Senjutsu."
Kiyohara explained flatly.
At this point, his Susanoo was being reinforced by both senjutsu and the priestess's power.
The suppression of Mōryō was becoming more and more obvious.
Sizzle…
Wherever the giant golden chakra hand gripped Mōryō's dragon body, white smoke was rising.
"That really is a convenient technique."
Watching Kiyohara completely overwhelm Mōryō, Minato couldn't help but sigh.
For him to materialize chakra and shape it into something that massive was basically impossible.
A power like that had to come from a kekkei genkai.
Without Sharingan, Minato could never do it.
"Kakashi, can you use that?"
Minato asked with a wry smile, pulling back from Mōryō and focusing instead on the terracotta soldiers trying to rush in and support it.
"I can't, Minato-sensei."
Kakashi shook his head.
Kiyohara's eyes were probably a Mangekyō Sharingan on the same level as Shisui's.
The Mangekyō stood above the three-tomoe Sharingan, and Kakashi had never unlocked that power.
Then, all of a sudden, Kakashi froze.
He remembered that when Rin had been abducted, his Sharingan had once surged with a strange ocular power.
But afterward, it had still remained at the three-tomoe level.
Could it be that he had simply never figured out how to draw that power out?
Minato, unaware of what Kakashi was thinking, nodded regretfully.
A technique this powerful was bound to be something only a handful of people in the world could ever master.
"What a gigantic figure!"
Gari stared at the giant chakra warrior Kiyohara had become, and Uchiha Madara suddenly came to mind.
The Third Tsuchikage had warned the ninja of Iwagakure countless times about the power of the Uchiha.
Gari remembered Ōnoki saying that once an Uchiha gained a technique capable of enlarging chakra into a giant form like this, they were nearly unbeatable.
Thinking that, Gari's mood sank.
The war had only just ended, and already Konoha's ninja were displaying power like this.
If they were given a few more years to recover, they would only grow stronger all over again.
If another war broke out, what then?
Gari had no illusion that such a fragile peace would last forever.
"Heavenly Foot of Pain!"
Tsunade kicked off the ground, leaped up, and came crashing down, splitting the earth and destroying huge numbers of terracotta soldiers.
"Don't just stand there staring."
Tsunade barked.
These terracotta soldiers seemed endless. If anyone let up for even a moment, they would regenerate completely.
Kiyohara and the priestess were dealing with Mōryō right now. They couldn't let these things interfere.
"Right."
Kakashi snapped back to himself.
He created a shadow clone, and both he and the clone used Chidori at the same time.
The Lightning Release chakra in their hands linked into a crackling line of lightning, and as they ran, any enemy touched by that lightning wire was cut clean in half.
Lightning Release: Lightning Transmission!
"Water Release: Wild Water Cyclone!"
Rin formed hand seals. After that brief disturbance, the Three-Tails' chakra inside her seemed much more cooperative than before.
The jutsu she unleashed was even stronger than usual.
A massive dragon-shaped torrent blasted out from behind Rin.
Rumble!
Huge swaths of terracotta soldiers were swept up by it and hurled far into the distance.
"Hah…"
Kurenai was fighting too.
Red Moon could siphon chakra from the terracotta soldiers.
She then turned that chakra back around into a series of Wind Release techniques.
Massive crescent-shaped wind blades sliced into the terracotta soldiers, the scale of destruction only slightly less than Rin's.
"Lady Mei, it feels like this crisis will be over pretty soon."
One of the Mist ninja sounded delighted.
With Konoha's shinobi taking all the pressure at the front, he could just hang back and slack off a little.
"Hmph. If you keep hiding in the rear and avoiding the fight, sooner or later you'll never step into the ranks of the strong."
Before Mei could even respond, another Mist shinobi from the Kaguya clan spoke up first.
To him, the meaning of life was to fight countless strong opponents.
And Mōryō, without question, was a true powerhouse.
He was simply too weak to take part in that level of battle.
So that Kaguya shinobi vented his frustration by slaughtering the ninjas of the Land of Demons instead.
Fortunately for him, once the Land of Demons shinobi mutated, even the weakest of them possessed jōnin-level strength.
That greatly satisfied the Kaguya clan shinobi's battle lust. He repeatedly used Shikotsumyaku as he tore through the Land of Demons shinobi.
…
As for Kiyohara, he had no intention of dragging things out any longer.
Any technique cast while in Susanoo state would be amplified.
Of course, the chakra cost also skyrocketed—but it was still easily within what Kiyohara could handle.
The giant chakra warrior began forming hand seals.
Rumble!
Kiyohara released a massive amount of Lightning Release chakra in one go.
That chakra spread over Mōryō like a dense electric net, leaping continuously across its body.
Even Mōryō, with its supposedly endless regeneration and near-immortal existence, was now being heavily suppressed.
"Priestess…!"
Mōryō glared at Miroku.
It was because of Miroku's priestess chakra that it was being crushed so badly.
For the first time in the thousand-year cycle of history, an outside powerhouse had broken the endless loop between priestess and Mōryō.
Just what had the shinobi world become?
Why did someone like Kiyohara exist?
Where had that absurdly vast chakra of his even come from?
"Priestess, seal Mōryō with me."
Kiyohara said.
At once, jet-black sealing markings began spreading outward.
"Alright."
Miroku nodded and began using the sealing art unique to the priestess.
Under the influence of her chakra, a second layer took shape on top of Kiyohara's sealing formula—a circular sealing barrier glowing pinkish-purple.
She chanted an incantation, drove chakra through her body, and formed a unique series of hand signs as pinkish-purple light poured out.
"No!"
Mōryō let out a terrified shriek.
It tried to flee.
But Kiyohara's pinkish-purple flames pinned it down so completely that it couldn't break free at all.
The sealing barrier descended and enclosed its entire body.
The formation began to contract.
Mōryō's enormous body grew smaller and smaller within that seal.
Until finally, it condensed into a fist-sized purple sphere.
The sphere hovered above the sealing formula, and inside it, a tiny dragon-shaped shadow could be seen struggling.
Kiyohara extended a hand.
The sphere slowly settled into his palm.
Golden chakra poured over it, forming layer after layer of seals on its surface.
When the final seal fell into place, the sphere went completely still.
Kiyohara placed the sphere into a sealing scroll.
And at that moment, everyone else was simply staring at him in stunned disbelief.
Mei hadn't expected the fight to end so quickly.
The terracotta soldiers and the Land of Demons shinobi in front of them had already lost the power Mōryō was feeding them.
The terracotta soldiers crumbled into piles of clay, while the Land of Demons shinobi began dying off rapidly.
Maki swallowed.
Mōryō…
had been sealed?
Just like that… sealed?
"Kiyohara actually sealed it."
Even Minato was deeply surprised.
It felt like he had only just finished warming up and was about to unleash his full strength—only for the match to already be over.
When it came to sealing Mōryō, his own contribution had been very small.
Even though Minato was skilled in sealing arts too, he had no way to suppress Mōryō himself.
Kiyohara was simply more versatile—he knew sealing arts, and he also had all kinds of direct suppression techniques that could pin Mōryō down and create an opening.
"This Hokage selection…"
Minato suddenly had a growing sense that the position of Hokage was slipping out of his hands.
"It's over."
Kiyohara's calm voice came from inside Susanoo's head.
Then he dispelled Susanoo.
Holding Miroku in his arms, he descended slowly to the ground.
"To be safe, I'll need to bring Mōryō back to Konoha for sealing."
Kiyohara said, turning to Miroku.
Miroku looked like she wanted to say something but held back.
She had her doubts about whether Konoha could truly keep Mōryō sealed forever.
After all, across the last thousand years, Mōryō had been sealed again and again.
And yet no matter how many times it was sealed, it always found a way to return.
"If Lady Priestess is worried, you could come to Konoha as well."
Kiyohara suggested.
After all, building a shrine for the priestess in Konoha wouldn't take much effort.
"To Konoha…"
Miroku fell silent at that.
"For now, the soul and body need to be separated again."
Miroku changed the subject.
Mōryō's soul and body had to be separated. Only that way could it be sealed for the long term.
"That won't be necessary. It'll be enough if Lady Priestess adds another layer of reinforcement later."
Kiyohara shook his head.
Mōryō was too useful to him.
If it were only the soul, it would need to possess someone in order to move.
If it were only the body, that flesh would just be dead matter.
What Kiyohara wanted was a continuous source of Mōryō's power.
Only that would be enough to support his research.
"This…"
Miroku was still hesitant.
"If it stays in the Land of Demons, it'll only lead to the same cycle all over again. Konoha is packed with powerful shinobi. If anything happens, it can be suppressed immediately."
Kiyohara said.
At those words, Miroku thought of the Daimyo of the Land of Demons.
That was true. Leaving it in the Land of Demons would only attract another power-hungry fanatic.
Those fanatics never once considered whether they could actually control Mōryō's power.
All they cared about was that releasing Mōryō would earn them whatever promises it made.
"Miroku…"
At that moment, Kiyohara heard someone calling her name.
Miroku heard it too.
The voice came from the former Daimyo of the Land of Demons, who had just been stripped of Mōryō.
Clearly, once Mōryō had reunited with its real body, it had abandoned the daimyo without hesitation.