Sage Mode

Great fires raged, most of the wooden houses gradually collapsing. Amidst the acrid stench of burning, thick smoke hung like fog, and tiny embers danced in the air, accompanied by the swirling spirits of the departed.

"Where, I wonder, will this hatred and resentment flow..."

Watching the drifting souls, their faces vacant and dazed, still clinging to the terror of their final moments.

Yura had the answer.

The Pure Land—the final destination for all souls in the Shinobi World, a place of rest. The souls heading there would guide Yura to that very place.

So, what would it be like?

"And where, I wonder, is my own place of rest..."

She sat atop a towering Torii Gate, surrounded by roaring flames. On the stone path below, blood pooled and flowed, while corpse after corpse lay scattered in disarray. Amidst the faint sounds of ragged breathing and fearful sobbing, she locked onto the flickering flames of terror emanating from the surviving children and girls within her mind's eye.

In hidden corners, some hid under beds, others inside water vats, some huddled in their parents' arms, while others...

Yura was playing a little game with them.

A game of hide-and-seek with a ghost.

Yura was the ghost.

"Aaaaaah--!!!" With a shrill, frantic scream, an eight or nine-year-old child charged straight at Yura, wielding a ninja blade, his eyes and heart filled with immense, maddening hatred.

Lowering her eyelids, Yura looked at the brat and flicked her finger lightly.

Condensing sword energy into a single thread—in the world of cultivation, this would be called "Sword Qi into Silk," the mark of a true high-level sword immortal, a feat of divine power.

Suddenly, the child collapsed to the ground, sleeping peacefully.

A tiny crimson dot marked the center of his brow, while inside his skull, his brain tissue had blossomed like a trumpet.

"What a pity, you don't have the Sharingan..."

Accompanied by the sound of a body flicker, Shin-getsu landed beneath the Torii Gate, kneeling on one knee with both hands raised high above his head, revealing the scroll he held.

"Lady Yura, I have found it."

"You're too slow," Yura said. "I've already finished off all the ninjas. Don't tell me you were secretly memorizing the contents of the scroll."

With sweat beading on his forehead, Shin-getsu lowered his head. "I would not dare, Lady Yura."

"Don't be so afraid; I'm not actually a ghost." Yura flicked her finger, and strands of her hair shot out, coiling around the scroll to bring it into her hand. By the light of the flames, she opened it to inspect the contents.

One scroll contained the secret sword techniques of the Kusanagi Clan. Glancing over it, Yura's eyes paused, her gaze settling on a single sentence.

"Oh?"

Separate heart from body, unite intent with heaven.

Studying it for a moment, Yura realized this was an esoteric technique emphasizing the unity of nature and heart—a form of "flow state" in swordsmanship. Put simply, it was a primitive version of Sage Mode, but being in its nascent stage, it was a highly dangerous forbidden art.

It could be divided into two separate paths, both of which were perilous.

The first involved separating consciousness from the body, discarding all distractions, emotions, and feelings to reach a state of "no-mind," allowing the body to act on conditioned reflexes and achieving the absolute limit of speed and reaction.

The problem, however, was twofold: first, it placed a massive burden on the body; second, the calmer and more tranquil the emotions became, the less human one grew. If sustained for too long, one would lose all emotion and become a "Sword Ghost" dominated by the blade, developing an urge to cut down everything in sight.

Once that was achieved, the next step was to sense natural energy and unite the heart with nature. This was the most dangerous step of all. The Kusanagi Clan lacked convenient tools like Toad Oil or Toad Rods to help attract and disperse natural energy. Every practitioner recorded in the clan's history had fallen at this stage, without exception: they absorbed too much natural energy, failed to maintain the delicate balance, and their bodies warped and mutated into monsters—becoming evil spirits that killed anyone they saw.

It was somewhat similar to the symptoms of Jugo.

The entire text boiled down to one meaning: mere natural energy could be overcome by the power of the heart; one only needed to believe in the power of belief.

"I don't believe a word of it," she muttered softly. Swordsmen are all lunatics, idiots. Yura scanned the other secret techniques.

Since transitioning to the path of the ninja, the Kusanagi Clan had developed many ninjutsu-taijutsu-kenjutsu hybrids, primarily based on Wind Release. In Yura's eyes, even those labeled as "secret arts" were merely A-rank ninjutsu. They were strong to the average person, but nothing more.

They left Yura somewhat disappointed.

She had no need for standard five-element attack ninjutsu; her hair was more than enough. The only things she valued were secret techniques, auxiliary ninjutsu—such as Earth Release: Earth Spear or Earth Release: Flight—or techniques that provided enhancements.

She was more interested in the dazzling sword techniques, though she still had a long way to go before she could fully digest them and integrate them into her hair-manipulation style.

Moreover, it wasn't just swordsmanship; Yura was walking the path of mastering all martial arts, condensing them into one, pursuing the pinnacle of combat to encompass all of creation.

With that, she put away the secret scroll, unsealed a summoning scroll, bit her finger to press a blood seal, and after leaving her name, she tossed it casually to Shin-getsu.

Shin-getsu froze, his eyes complex.

There is a share for me?

"Shin-getsu..." Yura said.

"Ha!" Shin-getsu bowed his head in acknowledgment.

"I have a mission for you. The reward for this mission is your life," Yura said.

"Ha." Shin-getsu did not refuse.

"Infiltrate Konoha..." Yura said. "You can do that, can't you?"

The early days of the village's founding were the perfect time for infiltration. Everything was in its infancy, internal affairs were not yet settled, and there were loopholes everywhere. In a little while, it would reach the stage where the Five Great Villages sent spies to probe one another.

"Ha!" Shin-getsu accepted the order.

Yura stood up, cast one final, condescending look at Shin-getsu, then stepped forward and departed through the air.

Watching Yura leave, Shin-getsu gripped the Kusanagi Sword in his hand, his expression shifting between light and shadow. He had been cornered, it seemed. Looking at the flames engulfing his clan and sensing the chakra of the surviving children, a fierce glint flashed in Shin-getsu's eyes. He slowly drew the Kusanagi Sword, the blade shimmering with a cold, flickering light...

Ambition—truly a terrifying thing.

After spending nearly three hours settling matters with the Kusanagi Clan, Yura arrived at the designated meeting spot.

This time, it was Shuichi of the Uji Clan.

Walking through the deserted clan grounds, Shuichi led Yura straight toward the location where the clan's secret scrolls were kept.

Casually walking up to a bookshelf, Yura took down a scroll and began to flip through it.

Most of them were Water Style secret techniques. Their Water Style techniques were quite remarkable, especially one forbidden technique that involved splitting one's own spirit and soul to create a water-formed living entity for combat. Unlike Shadow Clones, which shattered at a single touch, this was an excellent combat partner that could be said to share one's very thoughts. Yura had seen this technique before in the conference room, used by that Uji jonin with the Water-Form Ninja Dog.

It was similar to Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation, which could grant life to inanimate, inorganic objects.

Compared to Shadow Clones, the downside was that if it were completely destroyed, the price paid would be significant.

All in all, it was not a cost-effective trade.

Looking at the scroll, Yura wore a thoughtful expression. These two techniques from the Uji Clan and the Kusanagi Clan both involved concepts at the level of the soul, merely differing in their forms of expression. The Kusanagi Clan separated the soul from the body to allow the body to establish conditioned-reflex actions; in other words, they allowed the body to possess its own life.

Or rather, the body had its own thoughts, no longer unified with the brain.

In this way, one person could play two roles, and the difficulty of Sage Mode—the requirement to both move and remain still—would be solved without effort.

By the same token, if this Uji jonin knew Sage Art, he could have his water-formed half assist him in achieving Sage Mode, just like the two Toad Sages on Jiraiya's shoulders, remaining motionless while continuously absorbing natural energy.

Both were excellent ways to solve the problem.

Yura put down the scroll and pulled out another to browse through casually.

"Come to think of it, once the Uji Clan is annihilated, how will you conduct yourself in the village? From then on, the Hero Clan will be the sole power, and the leader of the village will be inherited by that one family for generations," Yura said. "Huan is no pushover, you know."

Shuichi's expression stiffened.

"I have reasons I must do this," Shuichi said.

Yura nodded slightly. Who in the Shinobi World didn't have a story? But...

"Boring."

"Boring, you say? Huan will be an excellent leader; I would not approve of someone soft-hearted," Shuichi said. "At the very least, she still has a bottom line, whereas this boring clan deserves to be destroyed."

"I have a proposal. Would you like to hear it?" Yura said.

"Please, speak, Lady Yura."

"Become my subordinate," Yura said. "Infiltrate Kumogakure..."

Pointing a finger at the room full of secret scrolls, she added, "The wealth of these clans will become your capital."

"I have no room to refuse, Lady Yura," Shuichi said.

"Very good." Yura turned around and said, "Let's go."

As for this place, the Uji Clan's most important summoning scroll, the Hour of the Ox Worship, had not been left behind.