MTLNOVEL Chapter 163: Chapter 173
"No… it's coming from Mount Myōboku—"
One of the snake girls noticed a sudden emergence in the direction of Mount Myōboku—a two-hundred-meter-tall blue Susanoo.
"Is that… the one our ancestor mentioned? The same blue Susanoo that clashed with the God Tree of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya a thousand years ago?"
"An illusion!?"
"No, the one standing on that Susanoo… I think that's the Uchiha Madara who Orochimaru summoned with Edo Tensei!" Tanokami Hime quickly shouted.
"…"
"…"
The snake girls exchanged looks.
"Should we… maybe hide too?" Tanokami Hime asked.
It was clearly a humiliating decision, but the three high-ranking members of Ryūchi Cave reached an immediate consensus.
Run!
Damn that Orochimaru! Why does he always summon horrifying beings from the afterlife!?
If he was going to flee, couldn't he at least tell them to run too!?
Chapter 091: When it comes to battle, leave it to Uchiha Madara! One slash to split the moon! (Please subscribe and auto-follow)
[Beep!]
[Today's live session from Kitahara Kaede's private group has ended.]
[See you all again tomorrow.]
"…"
[Beep!]
In the sandy zone of the Heavenly Middle Village, Shukaku was sitting with his back turned toward Kitahara Kaede and the others. Hearing the system notification, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The group stream was over for the day.
But...
Kitahara Kaede still hadn't taken that ninja rabbit away!
How terrifying was that!?
At first, after hearing that the Eight Tails had been brought back to Konoha by Kitahara Kaede, Shukaku wanted to laugh at how pathetic the Eight Tails was—almost turned into grilled octopus and then dragged back to Konoha.
He had no idea that the bunny—created from Ōtsutsuki Kaguya herself—was actually already living in Konoha.
So basically, wasn't food being delivered right to their door?
In the end...
It was him who was in the most danger now.
But...
He had no courage to explain things to Kitahara Kaede. Or rather… he was now terrified of that rabbit.
After all, it slapped him across the face the moment they met. Ever since Shukaku gained sentience, he had never been beaten before.
Even the Sage of Six Paths never hit him!
And it's not like he could complain to anyone. The Sage of Six Paths probably wouldn't even take his side.
Thankfully, once Kitahara Kaede picked up the ninja rabbit again, he left the area—leaving Shukaku behind.
The Heavenly Middle Village links to a space similar to an alternate dimension. Since it was confirmed that Ōtsutsuki Kaguya had access to it, Kitahara Kaede did too.
But for now…
"Some things came up today, so we'll have to go on a mission together another time," Kitahara Kaede said.
As he spoke, he gently picked up the dazed and overwhelmed little white bunny and tucked it into his pocket.
Clearly, he was getting ready to leave the Hyuga residence.
"Mm… okay."
Hinata nodded obediently.
She felt a little embarrassed too. She had originally thought she would go on a mission with Kitahara Kaede, but then she was asked to invite him home.
And now things had developed like this...
"I'm sorry…"
She whispered.
"This isn't your fault."
"If anything, it helped me realize the world is much bigger than I thought," Kitahara Kaede replied.
After leaving the Hyuga Clan, Kitahara Kaede went straight to the Hokage's office.
Before long, he was walking toward the village gate alongside the reanimated Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, who was carrying the Scroll of Seals.
"Kitahara-kun…"
"Er—Second Lord, Lord Kitahara!"
The gate guards—Izumo and Kotetsu—were still on duty. They had already heard from Kakashi that the Second Hokage had officially confirmed Kitahara Kaede as the next Hokage candidate.
So seeing the two of them arrive together made them straighten up immediately and salute.
"No need to be so tense."
Kitahara Kaede said, "We're here to retrieve the Eight Tails."
Retrieve… the Eight Tails?
The Eight Tails, also known as Gyūki, had been half-slumped at the village gate ever since Kitahara Kaede and the others returned yesterday.
It was resting—or more accurately, trying to recover from being half-grilled by its own Tailed Beast Bomb.
Izumo and Kotetsu looked serious.
There were already rumors that the Cloud Village had collapsed, and the 800 captured Cloud ninja were going to be absorbed into Konoha's forces.
But this hadn't been officially confirmed yet, so Tobirama hadn't made a public announcement.
Still, seeing such a massive Eight Tails beast right at the gate? That much was real.
Which meant those rumors… were probably true.
After all, if even the tailed beast from the Cloud was here, what more proof did you need?
And now the rumor that chunin and jonin would be re-evaluated—probably to integrate them with the Cloud ninja—meant…
Konoha had truly entered a new, unexpected era.
The two guards were stunned.
They were around Kakashi's age, and had once been in the same academy class. But unlike Kakashi, who became an elite jonin, they only made it to chunin—and ended up as gate guards.
Still, they'd fought in the Third Great Ninja War, so they knew the horror of war.
But in all those wars, the structure of the Five Great Shinobi Villages never broke.
Now?
Kitahara Kaede started out as a chunin—and in this short time, he'd turned the Sand Village into a Konoha branch, and the Cloud Village was now in ruins…
This… they'd never seen anything like this.
They never imagined the Five Great Nations could even be shaken—much less rewritten.
"Then, let's proceed with the original plan," Kitahara Kaede said. "We'll find some remote locations and mark them with Flying Thunder God seals."
"That way, if I need to launch my ultimate attacks, I can teleport them away safely."
"The original idea was to have the tailed beasts run to different areas and summon me via reverse summoning contracts. But since we haven't signed any contracts yet, that method's not usable right now," Kitahara Kaede added.
Tobirama nodded.
Even though the group stream had ended, since he was still under Edo Tensei, he didn't need to return to the Pure Land.
Kitahara Kaede had come to find him for one reason—to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And they were now going to establish Flying Thunder God markers in safe zones.
All this was in preparation after discovering the presence of Ōtsutsuki Toneri.
If not, as seen during the livestream, Ōtsutsuki Toneri's chakra overflowed to such a degree that Tobirama wouldn't doubt he could split Konoha in two instantly.
To avoid chaos when another such enemy appears, they had to act now.
Tobirama said,
"If it's about research, I can help. But I don't have much experience with summoning contracts."
"The best in sealing techniques are the Uzumaki Clan, and they're also skilled in summoning contracts—since summoning involves binding powerful beasts."
"If you could get help from the Uzumaki, that'd be ideal."
"Although my sister-in-law was the daughter of the Uzushiogakure leader…"
"The Uzumaki Clan… is gone."
"Right now, there are only two in the village—Naruto, who never learned these arts, and Karin, who was captured during the Chūnin Exams from Grass Village."
"But while Karin is of pure bloodline, she also lacks much clan knowledge."
"Still, your caution is wise. We must prepare more thoroughly," Tobirama added.
"If a huge Tailed Beast Bomb suddenly falls on the village, or a massive Susanoo strikes… we need Flying Thunder God seals ready to teleport it away immediately."
As Tobirama spoke, he placed his left hand on Kitahara Kaede's arm and touched one of the Eight Tails' tentacles with his right.
Boom!
The two of them—and the tailed beast—vanished instantly.
"…?????"
Izumo and Kotetsu were left dumbfounded.
Because—
Who the hell can just drop Tailed Beast Bombs on villages!? Or swing a Susanoo to cleave them in half!?
Was Konoha… seriously that unlucky!?
Meanwhile—
Kitahara Kaede and Tobirama had reappeared on the territory of the former Cloud Village.
The village was surrounded on three sides by ocean, and the sea covered a large area.
Kitahara Kaede and Tobirama decided to set up Flying Thunder God seals beneath the sea—deep under the ocean floor.
So if anything dangerous happened again—like Tailed Beast Bombs or Truth-Seeking Balls—they could teleport all that hazardous, volatile stuff into the open sea of the Cloud Village.
That way, Konoha would be safe.
"..." The Eight Tails.
"..." The Eight Tails.
Right. Konoha would be safe.
But didn't that mean the Cloud Village side would just get obliterated!?
Who the hell does something so cruel and selfish!?
Honestly, the Eight Tails wanted to speak up.
But the moment it opened its mouth, it chickened out.
After being sealed into the Cloud Village, it had seen three different jinchūriki. The last one, Killer Bee, had been fun to work with—and it had even lent him power willingly.
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