After hearing the name Blacksteel Forest, Yayoi's expression went distant for a moment. His brows furrowed, as if he had remembered something.
In truth, this was not the first time he had sent a search unit to find the Seven-Tails.
The massive, pure chakra energy of a tailed beast was something he urgently needed at the moment.
Because of that, several months ago, on a certain night, he had gone to Blacksteel Forest alone to search for traces of the Seven-Tails.
The good news was that he had successfully found the Seven-Tails.
The bad news was that someone else had gotten there first.
It had been a black-haired man dressed in black ninja gear, with red layered armor worn over it.
On the back of his clothing was the crest of a fan, and he possessed a pair of striking red eyes.
The Sharingan.
There was no doubt that he was a ninja from the Uchiha clan.
Yayoi had hidden far away at the edge of the battlefield, watching the Seven-Tails fight that male Uchiha ninja who possessed the Sharingan.
No, not fight.
He had simply watched the Seven-Tails get brutally beaten by that man.
A massive warrior formed from chakra swung its chakra blade. The sword energy it released easily split apart several mountains miles away. Another slash cut straight through the heart of Blacksteel Forest, dividing it in two. A final strike sent the Seven-Tails fleeing for its life.
In the end, perhaps because he found the Seven-Tails too weak and unworthy of his status, the Uchiha man only watched its miserable figure flee in panic. He did not pursue it. Instead, he turned away in disappointment and left.
Because the chakra blade's attack range was enormous, the terrifying shockwave it created had even sent Yayoi, who was standing at the edge of the battlefield, flying and tumbling away.
Left with no choice, Yayoi had burned through a massive amount of chakra and used an Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall that exceeded his own limits. Only then had he barely managed to block the tsunami-like shockwave surging toward the edge of the battlefield.
After that, he did not think twice.
He turned and ran, afraid that if he was even a step too slow, he would die an accidental death.
After returning, Yayoi remembered spending the next few days in a daze, feeling as though the Naruto he had watched in his previous life must have been fake.
Whenever he thought back to that Uchiha man from that night, who had casually used basic attacks to cut the forest into pieces, collapse mountains, reverse the flow of great rivers, carve canyons into the earth, and, as a bonus, slash the Seven-Tails into fleeing like a beaten dog...
Yayoi felt that this Warring States era was complete trash.
Later, he also learned the identity of that Sharingan-wielding man.
One of the two future founders of Konohagakure.
The current clan head of the Uchiha clan.
Uchiha Madara.
A man whose name stood alongside the head of the Senju clan, Senju Hashirama.
"..."
Over the years, Yayoi had remained entrenched within the territories of the Land of Waterfall and the Land of Iron. His understanding of the outside world had mostly come from information passed along by traveling merchants.
By the time those merchants brought him news, it had already passed through who knew how many mouths. Much of it had long since become distorted.
He had only heard that the war in the Land of Fire was extremely fierce.
As for exactly how fierce, he had known nothing.
On top of that, he had once fought ninja from the Hyūga clan. Although the Hyūga clan was indeed powerful, if his side continued developing, they were not impossible to fight. At the very least, they were not so strong that they made him despair.
But Uchiha Madara...
That towering figure, like a demon god, left Yayoi unable to summon even the slightest will to fight.
Compared to that, the Susanoo used by Uchiha Itachi in the future was as fragile as a baby.
Yayoi recalled the scene from the original story where the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, fought the elderly Third Hokage after being summoned through Edo Tensei.
Even if he had been weakened, was that not too ridiculous?
Was the Third Hokage not supposed to be the strongest Hokage?
How many versions of upgrades did the First Hokage need before he could fight Uchiha Madara, who could split several mountains with one sword?
Also, how exactly had Kakuzu fought the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and survived?
Could it have been like Yayoi facing Uchiha Madara, casting one ninjutsu at the edge of the battlefield to block the aftershock of the other side's attack, then running away at full speed, and counting that as officially exchanging blows?
"Yayoi-sama, should we act now? The Seven-Tails has yet to recover from its serious injuries and is currently very weak. If we move to capture it now, our chances of success will be highest."
Kakuzu spoke up with a suggestion, interrupting Yayoi's thoughts.
"Mm. However, you and I will go alone."
Yayoi came back to himself and nodded.
Under the current rule of the Land of Night's bakufu, there were several thousand samurai who had mastered chakra jutsus, while the number of ninja was only around six or seven hundred.
Among them, the samurai and ninja who had reached jōnin level numbered only a little over twenty in total.
Kakuzu was one of the strongest among them, enough to be rated as an elite.
In later terms, he was roughly on the level of Kakashi at the beginning of the main story.
As for Yayoi, the leader, his strength was roughly equivalent to three current Kakuzus.
If his innate special active chakra was included, then with his healing ability and signless self-recovery, it could probably be counted even higher.
In terms of medical ninjutsu, he felt there were at most only a handful of people in the entire ninja world who could match him.
So, on that basis, perhaps another Kakuzu could be added.
After final calculation, his full-power combat strength was equivalent to four Kakuzus.
"We do not need anyone else?"
Kakuzu was slightly startled.
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Within the Land of Night, there were still several ninja whose strength was only a step below his. Against a tailed beast, they still possessed some ability to restrain it and would not be instantly defeated in a single blow.
"No. Too many people will only create chaos. When facing a tailed beast, it is best to rely on elites."
Yayoi shook his head and refused.
He knew the power of tailed beasts.
Such existences were not something ordinary jōnin could restrain.
He had too few elites under his command. Even losing one jōnin-level fighter would make his heart ache for a long time.
◎
Blacksteel Forest.
It was located within the former territory of the Land of Waterfall, and now naturally belonged to the Land of Night.
From far away, one could see dark mountain ranges stretching around the enormous forest.
Trees dozens of meters tall could be found everywhere.
It was a primitive paradise where poisonous insects and fierce beasts ran wild.
Yayoi wore a black, skintight ninja suit. Over it, he wore a black coat-like cloak. At the hem of the cloak were red patterns of the flower of death and rebirth, the red spider lily.
The aura that unnaturally leaked from him was filled with mystery and danger.
He and Kakuzu arrived there, and they could still faintly see the enormous cracks that stretched from the edge of the forest all the way into its depths, along with the distant mountains that had been split open by massive wounds.
An artificial canyon had been created there in the most casual way imaginable.
Yayoi recalled that night several months ago.
That man named Uchiha Madara.
It was here that the other party had explained to him what true "power" meant.
It was also the first time he had begun to suspect that the Naruto world he had transmigrated into was fake.
Now he had to carefully scheme to obtain the "trash" that the other man had not even bothered to look at.
For a moment, his feelings were rather complicated.
After sorting out his emotions, Yayoi's figure flashed, and he swiftly rushed into Blacksteel Forest.
Kakuzu followed just as quickly.
Cool traces of water splashed beneath both their feet.
At the same time, they used Water Body Flicker to increase their speed.
"We are here. It should be just ahead."
Although they had not yet seen the target, as they continued deeper, the two of them could sense malice filling the air around them. They also noticed that all kinds of fierce beasts and poisonous insects had scattered and fled.
From that alone, they knew their target was close.
Sure enough, after reaching a tree with thick, leafy branches, the two used it to hide their figures and saw the massive creature resting in the forest clearing ahead.
It was a gigantic creature that looked like a fusion of a beetle and a dragonfly. It had one tail and six enormous transparent wings like those of a cicada.
Its blue beetle-like shell looked incredibly hard. Under the sunlight, it reflected a dazzling metallic sheen, clearly not something ordinary attacks could break.
"Judging by its size, it has shrunk quite a bit."
The corner of Yayoi's mouth lifted.
This huge creature was precisely the target of his trip.
The Seven-Tails.
Although it still looked enormous, compared to the Seven-Tails he had seen that night several months ago, its size had been reduced by far more than a single circle. Even its aura seemed much "weaker."
Several months had passed, yet the Seven-Tails had still not fully recovered its strength.
It was probably only at sixty to seventy percent of its peak condition.
So this battle was guaranteed.
Yayoi calmed his mind, took out a scroll from his ninja tool pouch, and spread out a small section of it. Dense black curse markings covered the surface, surrounding the character "I" at the center.
Poof.
With a soft sound and a cloud of white smoke, a humanoid figure emerged from the smoke.
It was a young girl.
The girl's skin was snow-white and bloodless. Her long silver-white hair was neatly combed and smooth. A faint lavender glow swirled in her pupils, but there was no light of life in them.
She wore a blue kimono with open side slits, revealing slender snow-white legs that looked so fragile they might snap with a touch. On her feet were white tabi socks and black wooden sandals.
Her appearance was as beautiful and flawless as a fairy's.
Because she was too neat and delicate, she did not seem human.
If one had to describe her, she was a living work of art.
Without question, she was a puppet.
However, there were no visible mechanism joints at her mouth, eyes, knees, elbows, or other parts of her body. She looked like a real living girl.
Yayoi opened the five fingers of his left hand. Five materialized chakra threads immediately extended through the air, connecting to the body of the girl puppet.
The puppet girl's lifeless eyes immediately gained a slight human light, as though life had been injected into them.
Kakuzu watched from the side, and a look of amazement appeared on his face.
"No matter how many times I see it, she still feels like a real living person."
Oda Yayoi.
Shogun of the Land of Night.
Known by the title "Puppet Master."
He was a top-tier puppet master in the current ninja world.
When it came to the creation and control of puppets, he was undoubtedly the strongest figure standing at the peak of the ninja world today.
"Not yet, for now. But as long as we successfully capture the Seven-Tails this time, I can use its enormous chakra to automate this puppet. Speaking of which, the incomplete Yin-Yang Release scroll I obtained from the Hagoromo clan after destroying them gave me a great deal of inspiration."
Yin-Yang Release.
An ancient chakra art passed down from distant times.
According to legend, it could create all things and define life and death.
Although what he had was not the complete Yin-Yang Release, the incomplete scroll had still helped him greatly. Especially when it came to injecting the characteristics of life into formless things, it matched perfectly with his special active chakra, achieving an effect greater than the sum of its parts.
Yayoi licked the corner of his mouth.
The eyes with which he looked at the Seven-Tails were filled with burning eagerness.
As long as he obtained the Seven-Tails next, he could rely on its massive chakra to raise the puppet's performance to another level and complete its automation.
At that point, not only could he free his own hands, he could also add a powerful combat force to his side.
So-called puppet automation meant allowing a puppet to move and fight on its own without needing chakra threads, completely freeing the puppet master's hands.
Yayoi had named this type of puppet a "chakra automatic puppet."
In this era, personal strength was the only correct answer.
If he himself did not possess powerful military force, there was no way he could sit firmly in the position of shogun of the Land of Night.
Moreover, his strength of four Kakuzus did not include his puppets.
And puppets, under normal circumstances, were far stronger than the puppet master himself.
"It is practically a revolution for puppet masters. However, aside from you, Yayoi-sama, there probably is no other puppet master who can give life to a puppet."
Faced with Kakuzu's praise, Yayoi accepted it calmly.
The chakra he refined contained dense life characteristics. In pure energy form, it could directly produce healing effects similar to medical ninjutsu. This fact had long since spread through the underground black market, so it was not exactly a secret.
On the surface, it seemed rather similar to the chakra of the Uzumaki clan.
But in actual use, it was even broader and more comprehensive than the chakra of the Uzumaki.
The Uzumaki clan's special chakra could only be applied to animals and humans.
Yayoi's chakra, however, could grant life activity even to dead objects.
Because of that, he had been able to create a puppet infinitely close to a human being.
After obtaining the incomplete Yin-Yang Release scroll, that process had accelerated even further.
It was even more advanced than the human puppet technique that would appear in the future.
"Go, Irori."
Yayoi moved his fingers and softly called the puppet girl's name.
The puppet girl named Irori by Yayoi lit up with a purple glow in her eyes. Her small wooden sandals stepped against the ground, and her body shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Her fairy-like figure swept out from the dense leaves.
The moment she appeared in the Seven-Tails' field of vision, mist surged around her. Pale vapor drifted from her slightly parted rosy lips.
Then Irori clapped her hands together, and her purple eyes shone faintly.
Pale cold air spilled from her gently opened lips.
Ice Style: Ice Flower Pillars!
Boom!
One ice pillar after another, each several meters in diameter, instantly burst from the ground. They crossed and slammed into the Seven-Tails' body, producing a tremendous roar.
The Seven-Tails, still stunned, had no time to react. It let out a pained howl as the ice pillars erupting from underground struck its body and sent it tumbling backward.
Irori's figure moved like the wind.
She gave the Seven-Tails no time to react. Her hands remained pressed together.
Pale cold air poured from Irori's body like a flood, sweeping across the earth and sky, plunging this stretch of forest into the bitter cold of winter.
Ice Style: Thousand Killing Formation!
Cold stars seemed to shine in the sky.
One ice spear after another, each two meters long, transformed into endless silver meteors and rushed toward the Seven-Tails on the ground.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Every ice spear exploded with the force of an artillery shell, mercilessly bombarding the Seven-Tails' body.
The earth cracked apart.
The shockwaves produced were so powerful that even the surrounding trees were brutally uprooted and hurled into the distance.
From within the smoke created by the explosions came an earsplitting, furious roar.
It was the Seven-Tails, howling in pain.
"Damn humans!"
Several months ago, it had barely escaped disaster.
Yet before its injuries could fully recover, humans had come knocking on its door again.
Were these humans dogs?
Did they have to come one after another?
Rage and killing intent filled its chest.
Because the surrounding ground had been destroyed by Irori's Ice Style ninjutsu, Yayoi's figure was inevitably exposed.
Facing the furious Seven-Tails, Yayoi merely tugged on the chakra threads, making Irori retreat to his side. His expression remained indifferent and calm.
"Seven-Tails, your power is far too dangerous for ninja. I will suppress you."
What followed Yayoi's words were shuriken and kunai flying toward the Seven-Tails.
Clink, clink, clink.
They struck the Seven-Tails' body with metallic sounds as weak as mosquito bites.
Every shuriken and kunai was bounced away.
The Seven-Tails: "..."
Yayoi: "..."
Yayoi turned his head and glanced at Kakuzu, who had arrived beside him.
"This is tactics, Yayoi-sama."
Kakuzu replied without the slightest change in expression.
Before Yayoi could answer, the Seven-Tails flew into an even greater rage. It roared again and again, its emotions completely boiling over as it suddenly opened its huge mouth.
Tiny black and red balls of condensed physical chakra gathered inside its mouth.
A terrifying and violent aura spread wildly through the air.
The Seven-Tails, now completely stripped of reason, wanted only to use absolute power to destroy every living thing before its eyes.