Two days later.
Two figures dressed in black robes passed through forests and rivers, then stood atop a tall cliff, looking down at the land far from their homeland.
The Land of Demons.
"Judging by the flight speed of messenger pigeons and the time we spent traveling, more than five days should have passed since the priestess of the Land of Demons sent requests for help to the surrounding shinobi villages, right?"
Kisame Hoshigaki looked down at the ruins of the town below.
It had already been reduced to broken walls and collapsed buildings in the flames. Charred corpses lay everywhere, weapons still clutched in their hands. Bloodstains had been burned black by the fire, giving off a foul stench.
He could not help frowning.
"They didn't spare soldiers, and they didn't spare civilians either? That does fit the mental state of a lunatic who controls an immortal ghost army and wants to conquer the entire shinobi world…"
"It's not just that. The marching traces left in the ruins are strange too."
Standing beside Kisame, Shisui Uchiha, also dressed in a black robe embroidered with red clouds, activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and observed details that Kisame could not see clearly from such a distance.
"They don't look like human footprints. They're also far too orderly… and there are many broken weapon fragments scattered around as well."
"In that case, regardless of whether those things are truly immortal or not, the fact that they possess rather impressive defense is beyond doubt… That is bad news for the people of this country."
"Heh. As expected of the genius Lord Fourth insisted on keeping by his side and training despite the difference in positions. Your ability to analyze intelligence is pretty good, Shisui Uchiha."
Listening to Kisame's praise, which carried neither sincerity nor any clear sense of compliment, Shisui had no intention of retorting.
He took out a map depicting the Land of Demons and its neighboring countries from his pocket, marked the area where the two of them currently stood, then grabbed the small white snake lying on the Cursed Seal of Heaven at the back of his neck and stuffed it back into his sleeve.
Then he continued analyzing.
"Our first objective is to rendezvous with the priestess of the Land of Demons. Not only does the establishment of the mission request require her approval, but we also need to obtain more detailed intelligence from her about Mōryō and his army, which appeared in the Land of Demons out of nowhere."
"But the current problem is that this town isn't very far from the town where the priestess lives. If a town at this distance has already become like this, I'm worried that the priestess's town may already have fallen…"
"Even if the town has fallen, as long as the priestess isn't dead, the mission can still continue."
Kisame did not seem too worried about that issue. Instead, he raised his hand and pointed toward a small river that flowed through the town where the priestess lived.
"Let's go. We'll advance along this river and see if we can find soldiers from this country, or people who know the priestess's whereabouts."
"Why along the river?"
"If those things invading the Land of Demons really are ghosts, then the ones who get injured, bleed, and need to wash and bandage their wounds must be humans."
A terrifying smile appeared on Kisame's savage face, the kind that could stop a child from crying at night.
"And when it comes to tracking the scent of blood, sharks in the water will not lose to anything."
"That works. We'll follow your plan for now and try to find the mission target, Kisame-san."
After thinking for a moment, Shisui nodded and agreed with Kisame's suggestion.
Their figures vanished once more, swiftly heading toward the next target area.
…
"Hm. Looks like Shisui and Kisame's first time working together is going fairly smoothly. At least they don't seem like they'll clash too badly… They should be able to help me properly complete the task of testing the combat effects of the improved Cursed Seal of Heaven, right?"
Rei Kaguya lowered the fingers pressed against his right eye and withdrew the vision he had been using to remotely monitor Kisame and Shisui through the Cursed Seal of Heaven and the summoned white snake.
Then he stretched lazily and narrowed his eyes at Anko Mitarashi, who was currently stuffing herself with several skewers of dango and a bowl of red bean soup.
"Although I don't have any objections to growing children eating more, if you keep wolfing down carbohydrates like that, fat is very likely to pile up in places where it shouldn't, Anko."
"What does that matter? In any case, Lord Fourth, your Cursed Seal experiments have to use me as the first test subject. Compared to the consumption when activating the Cursed Seal, what does this little bit of nutrition count as? Mmph, ngh—"
Probably because she was talking while eating, Anko unsurprisingly choked.
She pounded hard on her already developing chest, finally forced the dango down with all her might, then wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with lingering fear and looked unhappily at Rei, who was laughing beside her.
"Wh-What? Am I wrong?"
"Not entirely. But for now, the Cursed Seal on your body is the Cursed Seal of Heaven after being reconstructed and perfected by me. Its main function is still squeezing out chakra and improving combat strength. In terms of controlling the body's nutritional intake, its effect is not very good…"
Rei shook his head, propped his face up with one hand, and said with a smile.
"Based on your current calorie intake, you would need to activate the Cursed Seal of Heaven's second state at least once and maintain it for more than a minute before you could burn off the excess calories from this meal…"
Anko's face immediately fell.
She looked at the sweetened red bean soup in front of her that she had yet to finish and said gloomily, "Then hurry up and develop that kind of Cursed Seal for controlling body shape, Lord Fourth…"
"What, changing your mind again?"
While sorting the development materials regarding the Cursed Seal of Heaven beside him, Rei casually replied, "Who was it who begged me before to perfect the Cursed Seal of Heaven as soon as possible, then share the data with Orochimaru? For some reason, I can't quite remember her name."
"Th-That's different."
Anko subconsciously touched the reconstructed and perfected Cursed Seal of Heaven on the side of her neck and defended herself in a small voice.
"It's because you said forbidden techniques like Cursed Seals had no secrets in front of you, Lord Fourth. You said you could casually complete the development of the Cursed Seal of Heaven and remove most of its side effects. That's why I hoped you could prioritize developing this…"
"Haven't I already completed the follow-up development of the Cursed Seal of Heaven very quickly?"
Rei tilted his head slightly and smiled gently at his experimental material.
"The side effects of the Cursed Seal of Heaven's first state have basically been completely eliminated. The burden on the body and the consumption of lifespan from the Cursed Seal of Heaven's second state have also been reduced to the point where, as a jonin-level desperate move, the price is not particularly severe. The only remaining issue is that the caster must be highly proficient in Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode…"
"But for Lord Orochimaru, doesn't the Cursed Seal of Heaven become completely unusable in this form?"
Anko bit her lip and pleaded in an extremely humble tone.
"Can't you solve this problem too, Lord Fourth?"
"That can't be helped. After all, every development and modification I made to the Cursed Seal of Heaven was built on the foundation that I had already mastered Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode."
Rei shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.
"If Orochimaru can't learn the prerequisite knowledge himself, then he can simply find a way to cultivate a subordinate capable of learning Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode, can't he? With his abilities, recruiting a loyal subordinate who will never betray him to help him complete this matter shouldn't be that difficult, right?"
…
"Hiss…"
A sudden urge to sneeze struck Orochimaru.
However, he suppressed it very well.
Standing in his secret base, which was piled full of experimental materials and equipment, he looked at the intelligence he had painstakingly received from his secret informant left in Root.
His expression was incomparably gloomy.
"Kabuto… the genius I set my eyes on. Why, at the very moment I need you, did you just have to run off to the Land of Water as a spy because of a mission Danzo issued before his death?"
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