The stone statue resting beneath the thirty-six-fold Sage Art sealing barrier was the subject of a wager placed over a century ago.
As a towering clan capable of contending with the Uchiha for a thousand years, the Senju clan had produced countless exceptional members throughout history apart from the brothers Hashirama and Tobirama.
Among them was an individual who represented the absolute darkest chapter in the Senju clan's historical records.
This particular Senju clansman was the very source of the Chimera Technique created by the Konoha rogue ninja, Chimera.
In the past, Chimera had traveled to the ancient ruins of the Senju clan, locating the relevant records and a trace of residual chakra left within some of the sealing vessels to construct his flawed version of the technique.
Unlike the highly defective Chimera Technique, this man's complete and pure Senju Kekkei Genkai was a constitution capable of perfectly merging with and adapting to other Kekkei Genkai.
However, absorbing a massive number of distinct Kekkei Genkai would inevitably cause one's personality to become increasingly extreme and manic, even carrying immense destructive impulses.
At that time, he had even birthed the notion of absorbing the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha clan. In his view, obtaining the Uchiha bloodline would make his constitution even stronger, creating a brand-new lineage that perfectly fused the Senju and the Uchiha.
His ambition was virtually attempting to encompass the entirety of the Ōtsutsuki clan's "All Creation" (Shinra Banshō) origin bloodline. Naturally, the Senju clan was filled with profound dread regarding this terrifying, aberrant concept.
Even though he was only sixteen years old at the time, everyone feared him. Even the clan leader of the Senju harbored deep terror toward his existence.
That year, the old clan leader was preparing to select the next successor. The candidate and his competitor had to complete a test—a wager using the cultivation of Mount Myoboku's Sage Mode to decide who would lead the future of the Senju.
However, from the very beginning, the so-called Sage Mode cultivation was nothing but a trap. Neither the Senju clan nor Mount Myoboku had any intention of teaching him the critical key to balancing nature energy.
This led to a catastrophic imbalance during the extraction of nature energy, causing his chakra to spiral out of control. Seizing the opportunity, the Senju clan executed a specialized sealing barrier to permanently entomb this freak of nature.
The thirty-six seals symbolized the thirty-six distinct Kekkei Genkai he had absorbed, with each layer tailored specifically to neutralize a corresponding power.
As the darkest page of the Senju clan, even the Senju brothers were left entirely unaware of his existence. Yet, the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku knew. If they wished to deal with Aoki Shiraishi, they had to release this final trump card.
Even after being sealed for over a century, his lifeforce remained intact. Despite the chaotic disorder of his Sage Art and chakra, and under the full weight of the Senju clan's seal, he had still survived—a testament to his monstrously powerful constitution.
Mount Myoboku's seal could no longer hold.
With the outbreak of the Great Shinobi War and the disorder across the realms, the giant stone statue—which relied on the natural energy of the mountain to maintain its barrier—was clearly no longer capable of suppressing this aberrant monster.
Moreover, he had already sensed the fresh Kekkei Genkai energies present in the outside world, sparking an instinctive, voracious hunger within his physical frame to devour them.
"Fukasaku, Shima! Keep maintaining the seal!"
"Yes, Great Sage!"
If the monster inside the statue managed to shatter the seal, it would mark the beginning of a disaster that could destroy the entirety of Mount Myoboku.
The Great Sage could ignore the storms of the war raging outside, but this unstable element within their own territory had to be controlled.
Having reached a mutual understanding with the Nine-Tails, Uzumaki Naruto's cultivation speed had grown exponentially. Right now, he was fast asleep, snoring away. However, even while asleep, his training with Kurama within his consciousness space continued unabated.
"Father... there is an incredibly powerful chakra signature approaching..."
In the sky above, a brilliant silver radiance condensed into a sharp, massive sword of light, slashing down toward Mount Myoboku with absolute, overbearing dominance.
Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!
Having locked onto the Nine-Tails' chakra long ago, Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki appeared above Mount Myoboku out of nowhere. The golden chakra sword in his hand sliced downward, instantly shattering the entire barrier of Mount Myoboku into glittering shards.
The current Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki, having fully devoured half of the giant Tenseigan's power, had grown exceptionally robust and towering, his entire body radiating a bizarre, chilling aura.
The clan from the heavens...
"Jiraiya, take Naruto and leave first!"
"But..."
Jiraiya was somewhat bewildered by the situation. The strange individual before them possessed a chakra fluctuation that occasionally felt immense and at other times completely imperceptible. But based on his instincts, Jiraiya knew this was a terrifying opponent.
"His target is the Nine-Tails. We will hold off this celestial clan member."
The celestial clan? What is that?
A flood of unfamiliar terms left Jiraiya in a daze, but he knew very well that this was no time for casual conversation. Furthermore, the defense of Konoha was far more critical.
Thinking of this, he immediately took the snoring Naruto and executed a Reverse Summoning Jutsu to depart from Mount Myoboku.
Beneath the shattered barrier, Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki's brow furrowed in irritation. He realized that the Nine-Tails' chakra presence that had just been here had suddenly vanished.
This left him in an exceptionally bad mood.
In order to defeat Shiraishi, he had chosen to first absorb the last remaining Tailed Beast scattered in the wild, but he had ended up empty-handed.
As for the strange native creatures of Mount Myoboku, they merely cultivated Sage Arts and possessed very little raw chakra, making them virtually useless to absorb.
Wait...
Sensing the presence of the stone statue, Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki flickered instantly to the sealing grounds.
"Interesting... I didn't expect this planet to have birthed a third clan member."
The Ōtsutsuki clan was born from the Chakra Fruit, and the only true native Ōtsutsuki on this planet were Kaguya and the Sage of Six Paths' brother. Since Kaguya was not born here, Ryushiki naturally perceived the individual inside the stone statue as the "third clan member."
The current Ryushiki was in need of a powerful servant, and the sealed entity inside the statue was the perfect candidate.
"Stop right there!"
Fukasaku and Shima attempted to rush forward to block him, but Ryushiki casually swept them aside with a violent gale of wind, crashing them onto the ground.
Though the individual inside the stone statue was not yet fully complete or mature, Ryushiki activated the Rinnegan on his forehead. Under the illumination of his powerful chakra, the stone statue began to emit an unknown, violent vibration.
With a thunderous explosion, the statue burst apart. From the drifting curtain of dust and smoke, a figure slowly stepped forward. Seeing this, the faces of Mount Myoboku's Sages turned completely pale and powerless.
The young man was dressed in traditional Warring States period armor. He possessed an exceptionally handsome face, and his long, silver hair fell loosely over his shoulders, giving him a serene and peaceful appearance.
His aura was entirely different from the past...
Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki seemed highly satisfied with this new servant. Walking forward slowly, he stared at the Senju clansman. Under the gaze of the Rinnegan on Ryushiki's forehead, the silver-haired youth seemed to realize something, quietly stepping forward.
"Your name?"
Faced with this question, the silver-haired youth remained silent for a long moment before finally letting out a faint smile: "I recall... in the past, my name was Senju Rona (Senju Rōna)..."
From start to finish, Senju Rona showed absolutely no interest or reaction toward Mount Myoboku, the place that had sealed him for a century. He simply did not place these toad sages in his eyes at all.
Just as Ōtsutsuki Ryushiki recruited Senju Rona as his servant, the distant Sasuke—having just obtained Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan—attempted to approach Itachi's body. However, he watched in shock as his brother's corpse suddenly erupted into intense flames.
Sasuke desperately tried to extinguish the fire, but the Transcription Seal (Tensha Fūin) left behind by Uchiha Kaede carried the properties of the Azure Flames. Conventional methods were completely useless against it, and Uchiha Itachi's body was rapidly being incinerated into ash.
This was the contingency plan Uchiha Kaede had left behind. Although he had ultimately failed to locate that little red snake, to prevent Konoha from ever using the Impure World Reincarnation on Uchiha Itachi, Kaede had pre-set this specialized Transcription Seal!
Watching Itachi's body slowly being devoured by the azure fire, a deep wave of hatred and grief flashed through Sasuke's eyes. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
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