Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Sakumo Hatake left behind a broken piece of wood.

This is a substitution technique that Sakumo Hatake set up a long time ago, and it's perfect for use now.

The real Sakumo Hatake had appeared on a large tree two meters away, his right hand holding a short sword wrapped in dense wind-style chakra, and he swung it at his enemy.

A sudden gust of wind swept in, and a massive chakra blade of light slashed towards the enemy.

In response, the mysterious Hyuga ninja once again used Gentle Fist: Rotation to defend.

The defensive power of the spiral chakra ball created by Gentle Fist: Rotation is indeed astonishing, and can be described as absolute defense. It easily blocked the wind-style chakra slash wave that Hatake Sakumo unleashed with all his might.

However, the defense of Gentle Fist: Return to Heaven is not without its weaknesses.

As the mysterious Hyuga ninja unleashed Gentle Fist: Reversal, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from beneath his feet, grabbed his feet, and pulled him deep into the ground, leaving only his head standing out.

Then, a flash of light appeared, and the mysterious Hyuga ninja was beheaded by Hatake Sakumo.

Earth Release: Heart-Slaying Decapitation Technique!

Using the Substitution Technique to deflect the enemy's attacks, then using Chakra Wave to draw the enemy's attention, causing them to switch from offense to defense, while secretly sending shadow clones underground to use Earth Release: Heart Decapitation Technique to cooperate with the main body in killing the enemy.

With his outstanding combat experience and ability, Hatake Sakumo devised a tactic in an instant and then carried out a brilliant assassination in just one or two seconds.

However, Sakumo Hatake felt no sense of victory at this moment, because the enemy in front of him did not spit blood from his neck as he had seen countless times before.

After the enemy's neck was severed by his white-toothed dagger, his entire body shattered like a broken piece of porcelain, breaking into pieces of ominous gray paper, which then began to rapidly reassemble.

In no time, the enemy's neck was reattached, and he stood up again.

"dead."

When Hatake Sakumo saw this, he felt a chill run down his spine and realized that the enemy in front of him was just a puppet being controlled by someone else.

He himself was unaware of the forbidden technique, Impure World Reincarnation.

In fact, very few people in Konoha are familiar with the forbidden technique of Impure World Reincarnation. This ninjutsu, which manipulates the dead, is never given as a reward by the Hokage.

Hatake Sakumo was not someone who was obsessed with ninjutsu, so naturally he had no impression of this ninjutsu.

But he now knew what kind of troublesome enemy he was facing. The enemy was obviously immortal and could not be destroyed by normal killing. The only way to deal with such a troublesome and strange enemy was to use sealing techniques.

Sealing techniques are mentally taxing ninjutsu, and Hatake Sakumo was self-aware enough not to touch something he could only achieve so much of in his lifetime.

Therefore, he doesn't know any sealing techniques, not even the simplest one-element lamp array.

If it were the old Hatake Sakumo, he would definitely be disgusted by this seemingly unkillable enemy and would have no choice but to retreat. But luckily, he had a good subordinate under his command.

"I didn't expect to use it so soon."

Sakumo Hatake took out a sealing talisman with a complex sealing technique on it and sighed.

This sealing technique was given to him by Kirito before he left the Land of Wind. It is a high-level sealing technique, and it was personally made by Kirito, a renowned master of sealing techniques. It is a high-end item that money cannot buy outside.

In terms of value alone, this sealing technique would require completing several A-level quests to acquire.

He originally planned to use it as collateral for a loan when he didn't have enough money to buy a house, but he didn't expect to have to use it so soon. He felt a little heartbroken just thinking about it.

No matter how much I feel sorry for him, dealing with this enemy is a must.

Uchiha Homura was also attacked by an unknown enemy, and Chiyo, his assassination target, was now nowhere to be found. He didn't have time to waste here with this seemingly invincible enemy.

Suppressing his heartache, Hatake Sakumo affixed the sealing talisman to the enemy before the enemy could recover.

In an instant, the sealing talisman erupted with a powerful chakra surge, and a large number of black sealing techniques spread out from its body, quickly covering the mysterious Byakugan ninja and easily subduing him.

Meanwhile, in a man-made cave a few kilometers away, a person wearing a rat mask opened his eyes and said coldly, "What a Konoha White Fang! He actually has such a high-level sealing talisman on him. This must have been given to him by that person."

"White Number cannot be taken away by anyone, Zishu. You lost the item, so you must bring White Number back. Also, you cannot interfere with my killing of Uchiha Homura. That old man is already difficult to deal with. If Hatake Sakumo comes to cause trouble, it will be even more difficult to kill him. If the mission fails, you know what will happen to you and me."

The next moment, a person wearing a rabbit mask next to the rat-masked man spoke, his voice equally cold.

"Hmph, I know that without you saying it."

"I'm so annoyed," the rat said.

The two were none other than the core members of the old Root, Rat and Rabbit. They came from the Aburame clan and the Nara clan respectively. They were ordered by their superiors to come here to sabotage Konoha's mission to assassinate Chiyo, or more precisely, to kill Uchiha Homura and Hatake Sakumo.

For this purpose, they were allocated four immortal puppets created through the Impure World Reincarnation technique from the organization.

However, due to their limited strength, they can only control one undead puppet at most for combat. If they control more than one, they may not be able to suppress the will of the undead puppet and suffer a backlash from it.

After all, each of the four immortal puppets they brought was a powerful Shadow-level expert in life, and they would surely die if they suffered a backlash.

However, they never expected that Sakumo Hatake would possess a sealing talisman capable of suppressing these undead puppets, which was completely unexpected.

At this moment, relying on its parasitic insects, Zishu saw that Hatake Sakumo was about to intervene in the battle between Uchiha Homura and his enemy, and immediately and quickly completed the hand seals.

The next moment, just as Hatake Sakumo was about to leave, he saw a coffin suddenly appear behind the mysterious Byakugan ninja, and the coffin quickly took the mysterious Byakugan ninja inside.

Hatake Sakumo was unwilling to let the enemy he had captured at great cost be taken away, so he immediately drew his White Fang short sword to attack, but a terrifying wave of fire suddenly attacked from behind him.

To avoid becoming a roasted pig, Sakumo Hatake had no choice but to stop attacking and use the Body Flicker Technique to dodge.

Then, he saw an Uchiha ninja whose Sharingan had turned pale appear before him. The other party gave him the same feeling as the mysterious Byakugan ninja from before: lifeless and with a lot of cracks on his face.

"It's not just Hyuga clan ninjas, it's Uchiha clan ninjas too. Damn it, they're toying with the dead, toying with Konoha ninjas who died."

Looking at the Uchiha ninja wearing a Konoha Jonin vest in front of him, Hatake Sakumo felt a surge of intense anger.

The mysterious Byakugan ninja from before had no Konoha markings on him, so he probably wasn't from Konoha in his previous life. But the Uchiha ninja in front of us is clearly a Konoha ninja.

He had some recollection of this Uchiha ninja; he was a Jonin of the Uchiha clan, but he should have died many years ago. Now that he had 'come back to life,' it was clear that, like the Byakugan ninja before, he had been summoned from the Pure Land using some kind of vicious ninjutsu.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Homura is facing a huge crisis.

At this moment, Uchiha Homura had already used Susanoo: Second Stage, creating a half-body chakra giant with flesh and blood, holding a huge fan in both hands. He could create a fire storm instantly by controlling the Susanoo giant to fan the fan.

"Here we go again. This guy is impossible to kill. I need to find out who's controlling him as soon as possible."

Uchiha Homura watched as the kimono-clad boy in front of him was destroyed by the firestorm he created with his chakra fan, but quickly revived and even became much fatter. He immediately felt very troubled.

He now realizes that he seems to be under some kind of illusion.

This illusion wasn't directed at him, but rather at the surrounding environment. It caused a false change in the environment and then affected him visually.

He had seen this kind of illusory change before in the desert; it was a mirage.

Suddenly, a high-pressure water jet shot from not far away, hitting the Susanoo Giant and creating a small hole in its surface.

Upon seeing this, Uchiha Homura immediately manipulated the Susanoo Giant to fan the fan in his hand, creating a storm of fire that swept towards the direction from which the water guns were coming.

A storm of fire swept through, turning a large amount of vegetation to ashes. But a moment later, the scene before him changed. The vegetation was restored to its original state, though in some places it was slightly different.

At the same time, the kimono-clad boy, who had already become fat, suddenly grew fatter, his entire body rapidly expanding until he became a fat man, and he quickly moved towards Uchiha Homura.

"Boom!"

Within five meters of Uchiha Homura, the kimono-clad boy exploded, sending a terrifying burst of high-temperature steam in all directions.

With the Susanoo Giant protecting him, Uchiha Homura wasn't afraid of being burned by the high-temperature steam. However, the explosive power of the kimono-clad boy was astonishing. The entire body of the second-stage Susanoo Giant, which he created using the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan, was covered in cracks, and the chakra fan in his hand shattered instantly.

After the kimono-clad boy exploded, his body returned to its previous slender form, and he continued to charge towards Uchiha Homura with his large sword.

During the process, his thin body began to grow strong rapidly.

"There's no mistake, this ninjutsu is the Second Mizukage of Kirigakure's ninjutsu, Steam Explosion. Damn it, isn't the Second Mizukage already dead? How come someone in Kirigakure has learned this terrifying water-style ninjutsu?"

Witnessing the changes in the kimono-clad boy, Uchiha Homura finally remembered where this boy came from, and his expression grew increasingly grim.

Regardless of whether he was from Kirigakure or not, and whether he inherited the Second Mizukage's ninjutsu, he now had to make a choice immediately.

Because this kimono-clad boy is virtually unkillable. If he cannot quickly identify the enemy hiding in the shadows, even with his Mangekyou Sharingan, he will be worn down and killed here.

In less than a second, Uchiha Homura made a decision. The patterns on his Mangekyou Sharingan suddenly began to spin, and a powerful burst of chakra erupted from his body.

The Susanoo Giant's form changed once again; it grew legs, and the shattered chakra fan reappeared.

Susanoo - Stage 3!

Then, without hesitation, Uchiha Homura manipulated the Susanoo Giant to turn around and leave.

An unexpectedly powerful enemy appeared during the mission, turning what was originally an easy task into one fraught with danger. For the sake of the Uchiha clan, he could not afford to fight to the death with the enemy again. Temporarily retreating and joining up with other Konoha ninjas was the right choice.

However, before he could run a distance, a huge blue chakra arm suddenly burst from the ground and pinned his Susanoo to the ground.

Chapter 237: The Special Offering for Impure World Reincarnation

Uchiha Homura was flipped to the ground with one hand, something he never expected.

Keep in mind that he has already begun the third stage of Susanoo, which is the maximum extent he can currently unleash Susanoo. Even so, he is confident that he can go head-to-head with any taijutsu-type Kage-level powerhouse in the ninja world.

If his opponent hadn't been so formidable, and if he hadn't been unwilling to fight to the death, he was certain he would have achieved final victory, though the price he paid would have been heavy.

While the Mangekyou Sharingan is powerful, its side effects are far too great.

These are eyes born from the power of extreme darkness; if they cannot go any further, they too will be swallowed by darkness.

The power of darkness is a double-edged sword.

However, compared to being flipped to the ground with one hand, he was more surprised by the way his enemy had flipped him to the ground. The huge chakra arm in front of him looked so familiar. It was clearly a manifestation of the power of Susanoo.

who is it?

Could it be that among the enemies are Uchiha clan members with the Mangekyou Sharingan?

Upon realizing this, Uchiha Homura felt a chill run down his spine.

The surprise only lingered in Uchiha Homura's heart for about a moment before he quickly regained his composure and then used all his strength to control the third stage of Susanoo to counterattack. However, he was horrified to find that even with the power of his Susanoo using both hands, he could not break free from the blue chakra hand in front of him.

"A blue Susanoo, could it be him?!"

Upon seeing this, Uchiha Homura was immediately struck by a name that filled him with dread, and he exclaimed in alarm.

He only remembered two Susanoo users, but the one that impressed him the most was undoubtedly the Susanoo used by that user.

Susanoo is also blue.

Could it be the same person?

The next moment, he heard a voice he would never forget: "Yan, you've become much more thoughtful since you became the clan leader."

As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Madara, wearing a black robe, emerged from the ground, accompanied by a blue chakra giant with only half his body.

At this moment, Madara Uchiha had only activated the second stage of Susanoo, but the size of the Susanoo giant he formed already exceeded that of Homura Uchiha's third stage Susanoo giant. The difference in their development of Susanoo, the Sharingan eye technique, was evident.

"You actually survived, you sinner."