Thirteenth Meeting

But the problem is, while using the Black Shadow's power, the Black Shadow is also eroding the Jinchuriki's body.

In one experiment, after a Genin became a Jinchuriki, he used the Black Shadow's power for sixteen hours a day. After a week, he died.

After trials, it was found that after becoming a Jinchuriki, as long as the seal was secure and the Black Shadow's power was not allowed to leak out, the Jinchuriki's lifespan would not be affected in the slightest.

This means that every time the Black Shadow's power is used, it consumes the Jinchuriki's lifespan.

Although the Black Shadow's power is terrifyingly corrosive, there is some good news.

Because the Black Shadow has no Chakra, its power is not connected to the Jinchuriki's Chakra. This means that even if the Black Shadow is peeled away from the Jinchuriki's body, it will not harm the Jinchuriki's life.

After reading the report, the Third Hokage personally selected a Jonin loyal to Konoha and made him the Black Shadow Jinchuriki.

He also assigned him three Sealing Squad members to constantly repair the seal within his body, which was being eroded by the Black Shadow at all times, preventing even a trace of the Black Shadow's power from leaking out.

The level of protection for the Black Shadow Jinchuriki was only half a level below that of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Putting aside the Black Shadow's bizarre and deadly abilities, just the fact that it has no Chakra fluctuations and possesses spatial abilities alone would make it the deadliest assassin in the entire Shinobi World.

As the Third Hokage was rejoicing that Konoha had gained another trump card, he suddenly thought, since there are nine Tailed Beasts, is the Black Shadow only one?

At this thought, the Third Hokage became uneasy.

He immediately ordered the Anbu to investigate if any strange incidents had occurred in the Shinobi World recently.

Specifically, he wanted to know if any bizarre creatures with strange abilities but no Chakra had appeared.

It didn't matter if they investigated or not; when the investigation report landed on the Third Hokage's desk, he immediately summoned Danzō, Koharu, and Mitokado Homura for a meeting.

Because in the Shinobi World, bizarre creatures like the Black Shadow had appeared in various major countries. And their numbers were not small.

If the bizarre creatures in other countries also possessed abilities similar to the Black Shadow, they would have to discuss how to capture those bizarre creatures and bring them to Konoha without anyone noticing, before other ninja villages could react.

Initially, Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others were not overly worried about these bizarre creatures. After learning their weaknesses, they saw them as gifts from heaven.

The Anbu teams sent out did indeed capture two bizarre creatures, but these two Anbu teams suffered heavy losses. One team returned with two ninja, and the other returned with only one.

As for the remaining teams, their news was like a stone sinking into the sea. Sarutobi Hiruzen knew they were likely doomed.

After investigation, these teams either failed to find the bizarre creatures and were killed when they encountered people from other ninja villages while searching in other countries.

Yes, they attacked first. Because Sarutobi Hiruzen had given a strict order to bring back the bizarre creatures. However, these bizarre creatures had also attracted the attention of other ninja villages, who also dispatched many ninja. In the end, these unlucky Anbu members who encountered other ninja villages could only fight, and none of them had a good outcome.

Or they found the bizarre creatures but were completely wiped out. It was considered lucky that they managed to bring back two bizarre creatures.

Losing several elite ninja units at once pained Sarutobi Hiruzen for a long time. Fortunately, they brought back two bizarre creatures.

But a few days later, something went wrong while researching the two bizarre creatures.

For some unknown reason, the researcher in the laboratory studying one of the bizarre creatures did something, and the bizarre creature suddenly began a massacre. Several researchers in the laboratory died. If not for the quick reaction and timely sealing, it would have likely escaped.

From then on, they knew that bizarre creatures were not some ordinary cats and dogs that could be researched. They were as dangerous as Tailed Beasts, or even more troublesome.

Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen was hesitating whether to dispatch ninja to search for bizarre creatures.

A merchant came to Konoha seeking refuge.

According to the merchant's description, the ninja who received him thought the merchant had been attacked by a ninja with unknown ninjutsu.

After layers of reporting, the merchant's request landed on Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk.

Ordinary ninja might only think the merchant had been attacked by ninja, but Sarutobi Hiruzen saw something different.

The merchant's description was too similar to that of a bizarre creature.

Sarutobi Hiruzen summoned members of the Hyuga clan, but they found nothing. They couldn't detect any abnormalities on the merchant. Apart from his somewhat unstable mental state.

In the end, it was the Black Shadow Jinchuriki who discovered the strange aura on the merchant.

After settling the merchant, Sarutobi Hiruzen urgently convened a meeting.

The keen intuition honed by decades as Hokage, along with the intelligence reports from all over the Shinobi World on his desk, all told him that the Shinobi World was about to change!

He had originally thought that the number of these bizarre creatures might not be too large, after all, there were only nine Tailed Beasts.

And the initial intelligence reports confirmed this. Some countries had no news of these bizarre creatures, while others had discovered several. In total, there were about a dozen confirmed and unconfirmed ones.

It was still within controllable limits.

But a month after the first batch of Anbu teams returned with bizarre creatures, meaning about a month after the Black Shadow appeared, the latest news indicated that the number of bizarre creatures might have reached dozens. This number was still growing.

This was not good news.

Most importantly, in the following month, there were several confirmed and unconfirmed incidents of bizarre creatures killing people within the Land of Fire.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had already dispatched ninja to confirm them. At this critical juncture.

The first village to be annihilated by bizarre creatures appeared. This was a major event!

Except during wartime, only famine could lead to the extinction of a village.

But given the fertile land of the Land of Fire, famine was basically impossible.

At the same time, Sarutobi Hiruzen also confirmed that bizarre creatures might possess the ability to directly confront an entire army.

And there were dozens of such beings...

If they didn't quickly determine how to deal with these bizarre creatures, the world could descend into chaos.

During the meeting, Sarutobi Hiruzen revealed the appearance of the bizarre creatures, their characteristics, and the potential numbers without any concealment.

Initially, the various clan heads were somewhat disbelieving, but they trusted that Sarutobi Hiruzen wouldn't joke with them, so they were only half-convinced. They held a meeting for the entire afternoon, proceeding under the premise that the bizarre creatures truly existed.

However, after an afternoon of discussion, they found that the biggest problem was simply not having enough shinobi.

While the bizarre creatures were very dangerous, weren't Tailed Beasts also dangerous? Weren't they still captured and turned into strategic weapons for the major shinobi villages?