Sage Mode

The fire raged. Most of the wooden houses were gradually collapsing, and the acrid stench of burning hung in the air amid the smoke and haze. In the black smoke, which shrouded everything like fog, countless sparks danced through the air. Dancing alongside them were the drifting souls.

"Where will this hatred and resentment flow..."

Watching the drifting souls, Yura saw their dazed, bewildered faces, still marked by the fear they had felt in life.

Yura already knew the answer.

The Pure Land. It was where all souls in the Shinobi World went to find peace. The souls that went there would guide Yura to that place.

So what would it be like?

"Where, then, will I find my own resting place..."

Sitting atop a towering Torii Gate, surrounded by blazing flames, Yura watched blood pool and flow across the stone road. Bodies lay strewn everywhere, one after another, hacked down and killed. Amid faint breathing and fearful sobs, the fear of one surviving child or girl after another flared in her mind.

In hidden corners, some were hiding beneath beds, some inside water jars, some cowering in their parents' arms, and others...

Yura was playing a little game with them.

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

Yura was the demon.

"AAAAAAAH—!!!" Amid a bloodcurdling, frenzied scream, a child of eight or nine charged straight at Yura, Ninja Blade in hand, his eyes and heart filled with overwhelming, frenzied hatred.

Lowering her eyes, Yura looked at the little brat and raised a finger, flicking it lightly.

She condensed the sword into a single thread. In the cultivation world, this was called "sword qi woven into silk"—the mark of a high-level sword cultivator, profound in skill and wielding the methods of an immortal.

Suddenly, the boy toppled to the ground and fell into a peaceful sleep.

A bright red dot marked his brow. Inside his brain, his gray matter had blossomed into a trumpet-shaped flower.

"Too bad you don't have the Sharingan..."

With the rush of the Body Flicker Technique, Shin-getsu landed beneath the Torii Gate. He knelt on one knee, both hands raised above his head, holding out a scroll.

"Lady Yura, I found it."

"Took you long enough," Yura said. "I've already cut down all the ninjas. Don't tell me you were secretly memorizing what was written on the scroll."

Sweat beading at his temple, Shin-getsu lowered his head. "I wouldn't dare, Lady Yura."

"Don't be so scared. I'm not a demon." Yura curled a finger, and a strand of hair shot out, coiling around the scroll and bringing it to her. By the firelight, she unrolled it and examined its contents.

One scroll contained the secret sword techniques of the Kusanagi Clan. At a glance, Yura's eyes paused on a sentence.

"Oh?"

"Separate the mind from the body; unite the will with heaven."

After studying it for a moment, Yura realized it was an inner secret art that emphasized merging with nature and becoming one with the heart. It belonged to the heart-flow school of swordsmanship. Put plainly, it was Sage Mode—but only in its earliest, experimental stages, making it an extremely dangerous forbidden technique.

It could be divided into two separate paths, both fraught with danger.

The first involved separating one's consciousness from the body and discarding distracting thoughts, emotions, and feelings to reach a state of mindlessness. This would cause parts of the body to act through conditioned reflexes, pushing speed and reaction time to their limits.

But there were two problems. First, it placed a tremendous strain on the body. Second, the calmer and more tranquil one's emotions became, the less human one became. Keep it up for too long, and one could lose all feeling and become a sword demon, ruled by the blade and wanting to cut down anything and everything.

Once that stage was reached, the next step was to sense Natural Energy and unite the heart with nature. This was the most dangerous step. The Kusanagi Clan didn't have handy Toad Oil and toad staffs 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 its delicate balance, and became unbalanced. Their bodies warped and mutated into monsters, transforming them into evil spirits that killed everyone they saw.

That did bear some resemblance to Jugo's condition.

The entire scroll boiled down to one idea: it was only Natural Energy, so just endure it through the power of the heart. As long as you believed in the power of belief, you'd be fine.

"I don't believe a word of that," Yura muttered. Swordsmen were all madmen and fools. She continued looking through the other secret arts.

Since changing careers and becoming a ninja, the Kusanagi Clan had developed quite a few ninjutsu and sword techniques, mainly based on Wind Release. In Yura's eyes, even those worthy of being called secret arts were only A-rank ninjutsu. They were strong by ordinary standards, but nothing special.

Yura was somewhat disappointed.

She had no need for ordinary attack ninjutsu from the five basic nature transformations. All she needed was her hair. Aside from secret techniques, the only ninjutsu that could catch her interest were those with supportive functions, such as Earth Release: Earth Spear or Earth Release: Flight, or techniques that enhanced other abilities.

Some dazzling sword techniques, on the other hand, caught her eye. However, it would take her a while to master them and turn them into techniques for controlling her hair.

And she wasn't just pursuing swordsmanship. She intended to master every kind of martial art, melding them all together in pursuit of the pinnacle of combat and the myriad forms of creation.

For now, Yura put away the secret scroll and unrolled the Summoning Scroll. She bit her finger, pressed a bloody seal onto it, and wrote her name down before casually tossing it to Shin-getsu.

Shin-getsu froze, his expression complicated.

There's one for me too?

"Shin-getsu..." Yura said.

"Yes!" Shin-getsu lowered his head in reply.

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

"Yes." Shin-getsu didn't refuse.

"Slip into Konoha..." Yura said. "You can do that, right?"

The early days of a village's founding were the best time to infiltrate. Everything was still in its infancy, and internal affairs hadn't been properly handled. There were gaps everywhere. After a while, the Five Great Villages would reach the stage of sending spies back and forth to gather intelligence.

"Yes!" Shin-getsu accepted the mission.

Yura stood and gave Shin-getsu one last look from above before stepping into the air and leaving.

After Yura was gone, Shin-getsu tightened his grip on the Kusanagi Sword, his expression shifting. She had him completely under her thumb. Looking at the flames engulfing the clan grounds and sensing the chakra of the surviving children, a vicious glint flashed in his eyes. He slowly drew the Kusanagi Sword, its blade glimmering coldly...

Ambition really was a terrifying thing.

It took Yura nearly three hours to finish dealing with the Kusanagi Clan. Then she arrived at the agreed meeting place.

This time, it was Shuichi of the Uji Clan.

Walking through the deserted clan compound, Shuichi led Yura straight to the place where the clan kept its secret scrolls.

Yura strolled up to a bookshelf, took down a scroll, and looked it over.

Most of them contained Water Release secrets, and the Uji Clan's Water Release techniques were quite impressive. One Water Release forbidden technique in particular involved splitting one's spirit and creating a water-shaped life-form to fight. Unlike a Shadow Clone, which shattered at a touch, it made an excellent battle companion, almost perfectly in sync with its user. Yura had seen the technique before: the Uji Jonin with the Water-Form Ninja Dog in the meeting room.

It was similar to the Senjutsu technique Inorganic Reincarnation, which granted life to lifeless, inorganic matter.

Compared with a Shadow Clone, its weakness was that if it was completely destroyed, the price paid was considerable.

All in all, it wasn't a very worthwhile trade.

Looking at the scroll, Yura seemed lost in thought. The techniques of the Uji Clan and the Kusanagi Clan both involved concepts related to the mind, though they manifested differently. The Kusanagi Clan's technique separated the mind from the body, allowing the body to act through conditioned reflexes. In other words, it gave the body a life of its own.

Or, to put it another way, the body had its own ideas that didn't align with the brain.

That way, one person could fill two roles at once. One of the difficulties of Sage Mode—needing to move while also remaining still—would solve itself.

Likewise, if that Uji Jonin knew Senjutsu, he could have the water-shaped half of himself help him enter Sage Mode, just like the two Toad Sages on Jiraiya's shoulders. The water double could remain still and continuously absorb Natural Energy.

Both were good ways to solve the problem.

Yura set down the scroll and casually took another one to look through.

"Come to think of it, once the Uji Clan is wiped out, how will you fare in the village? The Hero Clan will dominate alone, and the village leadership will be inherited by that family for generations," Yura said. "Huan isn't exactly a kind soul."

Shuichi's expression stiffened.

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

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

"Boring."

"Boring? Huan will be an excellent leader. I wouldn't accept someone who was softhearted," Shuichi said. "At least she has principles. This boring clan deserves to be destroyed."

"I have a suggestion. Want to hear it?" Yura asked.

"Please, Lady Yura."

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

She gestured toward the room full of secret scrolls. "The wealth of this clan will become your capital."

"I have no choice but to accept, Lady Yura," Shuichi said.

"Good." Yura turned around. "Let's go."

The Uji Clan hadn't left behind its most important Summoning Scroll: the Hour of the Ox Worship.