Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Rope Tree also quickly stepped forward, silently looking at his grandfather's body, a look of excitement on his face.

His grandfather had passed away before he was born, and he had no memory of Hashirama, only resentment and respect for him.

However, he didn't feel much grief when he saw his grandfather.

"Is this the remains of the God of Ninjas? What an amazing body! Even in death, he still gives me a very dangerous feeling. I wonder how powerful he must have been when he was alive."

Kirito stood to the side, looking at Hashirama Senju's body, and exclaimed in amazement.

How valuable is Hashirama Senju's body? The fact that his body still shows no signs of decay is simply a miracle.

The Wood Release bloodline limit is truly amazing, and the Hashirama cells still alive within its body are a treasure of the ninja world.

In the past, Kirito might have wondered why Hashirama Senju, who was in excellent physical condition, died after his battle with Madara Uchiha.

But now he is no longer surprised by this question, because in the ninja world, the death of a ninja is not only the destruction of the body, but also the death of the soul due to severe damage.

What would Madara Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan abilities be? Nobody knows.

However, Kirito now suspects that one of them might be a powerful eye technique involving the soul, or that he mastered some kind of powerful soul ninjutsu in order to defeat Hashirama Senju.

It is very likely that Hashirama Senju died from severe damage to his soul.

Otherwise, with such a strong and healthy body, it's hard to say that he died from severe injuries.

Compared to physical wounds, wounds to the soul are much harder to heal. Unless one's soul is extremely powerful, self-healing is virtually impossible; the wound will only continue to worsen until the soul is severely damaged and the person dies.

"Tsunade, Nawaki, place Lady Mito next to Lord Hashirama."

Momoka continued to look at Hashirama Senju's body for a while, then spoke to the two of them.

Tsunade and Nawaki immediately complied, carefully removing their grandmother's body from the coffin and placing it next to their grandfather.

Before her death, Mito activated the Yin Seal once again, returning herself to her youthful and beautiful appearance. She also used a special sealing technique on herself to ensure that she would continue to maintain her youthful and beautiful appearance even after death.

Therefore, apart from her completely white hair, Mito at this time could be described as a perfect match for Hashirama Senju, a handsome man and a beautiful woman.

"Alright, you two step back. I'm going to close the stone coffin again."

Tao Hua stared blankly at the two people lying in the stone coffin. Scenes of the two of them together when they were young flashed through her mind, and a nostalgic expression appeared on her face. Then she sighed.

Tsunade and Nawaki looked at the two people in the stone coffin with reluctance, and then slowly retreated.

Tao Hua immediately performed the hand seals again, restarting the sealing spell on the stone coffin and closing it once more.

"Lord Tao Hua, I think the defenses here are not strong enough. How about I set up a new sealing barrier here?"

At that moment, Kirito suddenly spoke.

When Momoka heard Kirito say this, she looked surprised and replied, "Kirito, although the defenses here are not strong enough, the outside is very powerful. Unless you are a Kage-level expert who is proficient in sealing techniques, it is impossible to break through the seal outside and come here."

The implication is that Kirito's actions might be somewhat unnecessary.

But soon, as if remembering something, she quickly changed her words, saying, "However, if you want to do it and don't mind the trouble, then do it."

"No trouble at all. You can leave here first. I'll be done in no time."

Kirito shook his head.

Then, he suddenly asked, "Lord Taohua, is this dead tree important?"

"Of course it's important. This dead tree has existed for a long time. It has a magical power that can keep the corpses around it from decaying for a long time. That's why our Senju clan transplanted it here. So, when you set up the sealing barrier later, you absolutely cannot harm it."

Upon hearing this, Tao Hua replied seriously.

"I see."

Kirito obediently nodded.

Before long, Tao Hua and the others left the island in the middle of the lake and returned to the edge of the underground lake.

Upon seeing this, Kirito immediately slapped his hand, and an astonishing surge of chakra energy erupted from his body, unleashing a multitude of sealing techniques.

These sealing spells quickly spread across the entire island in the middle of the lake, and even penetrated into the lake water.

To Momoka's surprise, the sealing techniques formed by chakra did not clash with the lake water, which would devour chakra upon contact with it.

The lake remained perfectly calm.

"This kid's sealing technique has actually reached such a level. Perhaps his sealing technique will surpass that of Lady Mito in the future."

Tao Hua noticed this scene and thought in surprise.

At this moment, Kirito is performing the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique. He has also added a sealing technique he obtained from the monk Fa Yi, which allows him to guide and manipulate natural energy through chakra, thus enhancing its power.

Without utilizing natural energy to enhance its power, this Inner Four Symbols Seal could at most seal the entire island in the center of the lake into another dimension. Now, with the addition of natural energy, it might be able to seal the entire underground lake as well.

The energy core supporting this enhanced version of the Inner Four Symbols Seal is the chakra within that withered tree.

Kirito used this dead tree as the sealing core to set up the Inner Four Symbols Seal.

If anyone forcibly opens any of the stone coffins on the island in the middle of the lake, the hidden Four Symbols Seal will be activated immediately.

Finally, Kirito added a sealing technique here: Nine-Layer Lamp Array.

This sealing technique is also maintained for a long time using the chakra within the body of the withered tree, and its activation conditions are the same as those of the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique.

The Nine-Layered Lantern Array is the highest-level binding sealing technique that Kirito can currently set up by himself. Once activated, even a powerful tailed beast would not be able to break free in a short time.

"It's best if no one tries to get their hands on this place, teacher. I absolutely will not allow anyone to desecrate your remains."

After Kirito successfully set up two powerful sealing techniques, he turned to look at the stone coffin where Mito was and murmured.

He then crossed the iron sand bridge he had created using Magnet Release, left the island in the middle of the lake, and then left the underground space with Tsunade and the others.

Mito's funeral thus came to an end.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Waves, in the underground prison of Gojo Makoto's residence.

The White Zetsu clone, disguised as Gojo Shin, arrives at a cell deep within the prison. There, a ninja who has lost all four limbs is bound by chains covered with sealing techniques; it is none other than Kakuzu himself.

Hearing the noise, he turned his head with difficulty to look at the White Zetsu clone outside the cell.

"Give up. I will not join your organization, and I will never submit to you."

Kakuzu saw the White Zetsu clone and said coldly.

For the past few months, this person, who used to be that damned mysterious warrior, claimed to be the leader of some Night Organization and invited him to join.

Who is Kakuzu? How could he possibly submit so easily?

Moreover, he doesn't trust anyone at all, so naturally he could never become someone else's companion.

Besides, this person in front of him had beaten him up to this state, and he was furious. It would be good enough if he didn't kill the other party, so how could he possibly agree to become the other party's subordinate?

Anyway, he wasn't afraid of death and had no fear whatsoever.

Kirito's expression remained unchanged when he heard Kakuzu's stubborn words, but his gaze towards Kakuzu was particularly cold today.

Kakuzu also keenly noticed this and immediately realized that today might be his death day.

Kakuzu simply gave a few indifferent sneers in response.

Death meant nothing to him; from the moment he was betrayed by the village, his heart had already died.

He survived because he was unwilling to accept such unfair treatment.

So he chose revenge, killing all the high-ranking members of the Takigakure who had betrayed him, and using the stolen Earth Grudge Fear technique to steal their hearts, causing them to die in long, agonizing agony.

After completing his revenge, he felt incredibly empty. Only when he discovered that money could fill that emptiness did he begin to believe in money and continue living in order to make money.

But gradually, he also began to feel a little tired of this day-to-day routine of making money.

Perhaps in the near future, even if no one kills him, he will choose to commit suicide after losing the joy of making money.

It's just a matter of moving the schedule forward a little bit; it's no big deal.

"Are you really not going to reconsider? If you agree, I can make you the financial manager of the Other Shore Flower Pharmaceutical Company, with an annual salary of 100 million. The Other Shore Flower Pharmaceutical Company has a very high turnover right now, which can completely satisfy your love of counting money."

Kirito makes one last attempt to win over Kakuzu.

It's impossible for Kirito not to want to recruit Kakuzu, a Kage-level powerhouse who is now on par with a major force.

After all, if we can successfully recruit Kakuzu, it will change Kakuzu's fate and there is a high chance that we can obtain enhancement points.

Unfortunately, Kakuzu's stubbornness was greater than he had imagined.

Although he had secretly used the Spirit Transformation Technique: Soul Search on Kakuzu to obtain Kakuzu's memories and understand his life and character, he still underestimated Kakuzu's obsession with not trusting anyone.

Even his offer of the huge bait of being the financial director of the Other Shore Flower Pharmaceutical Company was useless.

He really didn't know how Nagato managed to bring Kakuzu under his command. Perhaps Kakuzu changed for some reason, but the current Kakuzu was like a rock in a latrine, hard and smelly, with absolutely no possibility of subduing him.

"Impossible is impossible. Just end my life already, don't waste any more of our time."

Kakuzu rejected Kirito's invitation again without hesitation.

After saying that, he closed his eyes, no longer looking at Kirito, and quietly awaited death.

"Oh, that's a real shame."

Kirito received another rejection, sighed deeply, and looked regretful.

His patience was limited, and that patience was exhausted with the death of his teacher.

With his teacher gone, he was close to going to the battlefield, and before that, he needed to find a way to rapidly improve his strength once again.

Although the abilities of his Byakugan and Blood Dragon Eyes were continuously enhanced by the power of Wood Release and Sage Mode after he obtained them, causing his strength to increase rapidly, he naturally wanted to increase his strength as much as possible to ensure his survival on the perilous battlefield.

And the reinforcement points are the key to this.

When Kakuzu heard Kirito finally say that he wanted to kill him, he felt nothing and calmly opened his eyes again, looking at Kirito once more.

At that moment, Kakuzu's green eyes seemed to speak, and Kirito immediately understood what Kakuzu was saying.

It's saying, "I'll be waiting for you down here, and we'll meet again soon."

"You may not get your wish. I should live a long time, but who knows, we might meet again in this world someday."

Kirito sneered, then placed his hand on Kakuzu's head.

Kakuzu clearly didn't understand what Kirito had just said, and just as doubt began to arise in his mind, he found that his consciousness was rapidly fading away.

"So this is what death feels like. It doesn't feel anything special."

On his deathbed, Kakuzu thought this, and then he fell into eternal darkness.

[You have successfully changed Kakuzu's fate and gained two enhancement points.]