Monster, Moryo

Rewind a month, while Taiichi was leisurely supervising his disciple's training in Sage Mode in Konoha, a disaster was brewing.

The Land of Rain, the Akatsuki Base.

The cold raindrops relentlessly pounded against the mountain rocks, and the cave was filled with an even more gloomy and damp atmosphere than usual.

At this moment, deep within the base, on the four fingers of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, stood four figures. Pain and Konan were the real Pain standing on it, while the other two were colorful phantoms. However, judging from their shapes, it was not difficult to tell that they were Obito and Zetsu.

"Zetsu, you've started making big moves again lately. Don't expose yourself unnecessarily. The Ninja World is watching us very closely." Pain's indifferent gaze swept over Zetsu's phantom, his tone clearly showing displeasure.

Zetsu's half-black, half-white body shrank slightly, and the White Zetsu immediately protested in an exaggerated, high-pitched voice, "Oh dear, I—I just wanted to gather more information, so my actions inevitably went a bit too far. That wasn't my intention."

"Shut up!" Obito interrupted him, his colorful phantom flickering. "No need for further nonsense. Gather us, preferably with truly valuable intelligence."

Black Zetsu took control of the body, his deep, hoarse voice rang out, tinged with a hint of smugness. "I recently Scout some interesting information that might bring us a—special ally."

"Oh?" Pain's gaze fell upon them, showing interest.

"In the Land of Demons, an ancient demon is sealed away, named Moryo," Black Zetsu said slowly, his voice echoing in the empty cavern. "Legend has it that its power nearly destroyed the world in ancient times."

Of course, the rumors are bound to be exaggerated, but a being that can survive from ancient times to the present and needs to be sealed away for generations must have unique power.

The organization is currently in need of personnel, and I think it's worth trying to win him over.

"Monsters? World destroyers?" Konan's eyes were full of doubt. She was the first to question, "You believe such a mythical rumor?"

Pain and Obito also looked at Zetsu in silence, waiting for him to give a more compelling explanation.

Having experienced the backlash from the "Tenseigan" rumors, they also began to question the reliability of Zetsu's information.

Black Zetsu was prepared and continued calmly, "This is not an unfounded rumor. According to my in-depth investigation, the Land of Demons is a very special country. It has no Daimyo and has been ruled by Shrine Maiden for generations, while maintaining absolute neutrality."

Before each generation of Shrine Maiden dies, they go to the Sealing Shrine in the Land of Swamps to reinforce the seal on the Moryo with their own souls. This is the fundamental reason why the Land of Demons is so special, and it is also the most powerful proof that the Moryo truly exist and possess terrifying power.

Most of what he said was true. The Moryo was indeed a monster born after the era of the Sage of Six Paths, created by combining otherworldly demons with negative emotions from the world. With its immortality, it once caused great chaos in the Ninja World.

The First Hokage Shrine Maiden sacrificed herself to seal it, but the seal was not perfect and required subsequent Shrine Maiden to continuously maintain it at the cost of their lives.

Black Zetsu, as a witness to a thousand years of history, naturally knew these inside stories.

He initially looked down on monsters that relied on negative emotions, believing their power to be limited. But now, with his plans repeatedly thwarted and Konoha's Taichi Matsushita becoming a major variable, his plan to resurrect his mother is fraught with uncertainty.

Now, any bargaining chip that might enhance our strength is worth trying. The Moryo can at least be useful in creating chaos and diverting the attention of the Five Great Nations.

"A power that nearly destroyed the world—" The voice behind Obito's mask carried a hint of amusement and scrutiny, "Sounds impressive. But how can we ensure we can control it, rather than be consumed by it? Or, is it even willing to cooperate with us?"

"The seal is its greatest constraint, but also our opportunity," Black Zetsu said with a sinister smile. "We can help it break the seal, or at least offer it the hope of breaking the seal."

As for control—if our plan succeeds, dealing with these monsters will be a piece of cake. Our immediate priority is to ensure the plan proceeds smoothly and gather all available resources.

Konan frowned, still harboring a deep-seated aversion to using such an obviously evil entity. "Even for the sake of the ultimate plan, wouldn't associating with such a monster betray our original intention of creating a peaceful world?"

Pain spoke slowly, his voice cold and resolute. "Peace requires strength to create, and it also requires strength to maintain. On the road to true peace, sometimes it is necessary to rely on the power of darkness. As long as the ultimate goal is light, the means of the process can be temporarily set aside."

He looked at Jue, "Are you sure you have a way to contact and persuade it?"

"We need to try." Black Zetsu didn't give a definitive answer. "The Moryo has been sealed away for a thousand years, and its greatest desire is undoubtedly freedom and revenge. We can start from there. Moreover, the Shrine Maiden of the Land of Demons is the core of the seal; perhaps—we can find a breakthrough through the current Shrine Maiden."

Obito snorted coldly, "I hope your intelligence and plans are more reliable this time, and don't get us into trouble like last time."

Black Zetsu silent, while the White Zetsu awkwardly shifted their bodies.

"Then, the choice," Pain decided. "Ze, you and San Tai (Blood Crow) will go to the Land of Demons. You will act according to circumstances. Your primary objective is to contact and assess the Moryo, attempt to establish contact, and take drastic measures if necessary. Be discreet and avoid attracting excessive attention from the Five Great Nations."

"Understood," Black Zetsu replied in a deep voice.

The meeting ended, and the illusionary phantoms dissipated first. Obito coldly and also canceled his Demonic Illusion: Mirage. Only Pain and Konan remained in the cave.

Konan glanced at Pain's cold profile, hesitating to speak.

Pain seemed to know what she wanted to say and slowly said, "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Jue's proposal is risky, but worth a try. Accumulating strength is urgent."

The Land of Demons, the Shrine Maiden Palace.

Inside a magnificent bedchamber, the current Shrine Maiden Miroku is fast asleep.

However, judging from her expression, she clearly did not sleep well. She frowned at times, breathed rapidly at others, and her eyeballs under her eyelids were rolling wildly. Before long, her entire forehead was covered with a thin layer of sweat.

Finally, as if he was extremely frightened, Miroku suddenly opened his eyes, pushed himself up with his hands, and sat up straight.

"Whoosh----whoosh----"

Rapid breathing filled the bedchamber, Miroku hurriedly raised his hand to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead.

It turns out it was all a dream, how terrifying!

Miroku let out a long sigh, turned to look at the child sleeping beside him—his daughter Shion, and reached out to stroke her delicate cheek.

But as she touched him, her hand, which had been caressing him, suddenly stopped, stiffening.

I just had a dream—why can't I remember anything about it?

You must understand that Shrine Maiden's dreams are not like the simple dreams of ordinary people; they often foreshadow some kind of future.

Especially their branch, which is particularly effective in this regard, makes it absolutely impossible for them to immediately forget their dreams.

As the saying goes: the unknown is the most terrifying thing.

As the Shrine Maiden of the Land of Demons, she knew her destiny from the moment she took over the position from her mother. Therefore, she was not afraid of death; it was simply her destined end, her final destination.

But now a problem seems to have arisen. The forgotten dream foreshadows a shattered future, and while this ending might be better, it is more likely to be even more tragic.

The terrifying feeling I had in my memory still lingered in my mind. Miroku simply couldn't imagine what an ending worse than death could be.

She looked down at her sleeping daughter, and her fear intensified.

Hoshigakure.

There is a palm technique called the Tathagata Palm, and there is also a Ninjutsu called Heavenly Fire Meteor.

As countless Phoenix Sage Fire streaked across the sky like shooting stars, they utterly obliterated the Chakra Beast, as well as the Ninjutsu unleashed by Kakuzu and Hiruko.

Taiichi descended from the sky with Hotarubi and the three little ones.

The entire scene fell silent for a moment, both the Akahoshi side and the Hoshigakure side were taken aback by this unexpected event.

The way they entered was breathtaking.

Only the crackling of burning flames and the rumbling of collapsing ruins remained on the field.

Taiichi surveyed the entire area with his gaze, his invisible aura spreading out. Those weaker members of the Hoshigakure unconsciously lowered their eyes, not daring to look directly at him.

His gaze swept back and forth between Akahoshi and the Akatsuki members behind him, finally settling on Akahoshi, or more precisely, on the wildly flailing Chakra Tentacle tentacles around him.

An even heavier aura locked onto Akahoshi, causing the already ferocious-looking Akahoshi to involuntarily take two steps back.

"You're the one who attacked and killed two Konoha squads, aren't you?"

Although it was a question, Taiichi's tone was so certain.

The three little ones, having landed, all turned their gazes toward Akahoshi. They hadn't forgotten that this was their real mission.

Upon hearing this, Akahoshi's expression froze, and his entire emotion became disjointed.

He was massacring villages and hamlets, committing heinous crimes, and you suddenly ask me about the two squads of Konoha Ninja who died.

But when he realized that he was Taichi Matsushita, a ninja from Konoha, Akahoshi felt relieved. However, after the relief came a surge of frustration and anger.

Then, Akahoshi began to provoke them with reckless words, "So what if I killed them? The ninjas of Konoha are nothing special. I only used a little force, and they fell down."

Upon hearing this, everyone stared at Akahoshi in astonishment, as if looking at a dead man, including Kakuzu and Hiruko behind him.

Brave! You're so brave to say something like that. Are you really in such a hurry to reach the Pure Land?

"Oh, since you've admitted it, there's no need for me to waste any more words."

Taiichi flashed a bright smile, a smile of joy at completing the mission.

Before Akahoshi could react, he suddenly leaped up and charged forward, covering the distance of more than ten meters in the blink of Akahoshi eye.

With a raised hand and a grasping motion, Chakra Light Blade instantly materialized and slashed down without hesitation at Akahoshi's head.

Taiichi was incredibly fast and caught everyone off guard; even though the three opponents were on guard, they still couldn't react in time.

Akahoshi's body shot backward, but he stopped abruptly just as he was about to jump.

Immediately afterwards, everyone saw him clutch his neck, stagger back two steps, and then, with a spurt of blood, he slowly collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and remained motionless.

"Dead—dead!"

Natsuhiboshi murmured in disbelief. The ruthless man who had driven them to the brink of despair had died so swiftly before their eyes, without even a chance to utter a harsh word.

Natsuhiboshi turned to look at Taiichi, who was already holding a knife and confronting the two accomplices. She couldn't quite describe her feelings, only that she felt incredibly insignificant.

On the other side, Taiichi no longer paid attention to the corpse of the Akahoshi at his feet. He turned his gaze back to the two Akatsuki opposite him, and then looked over Kakuzu and sized up Hiruko.

"A new member of the Akatsuki? Haven't we met somewhere before?"

Although Taiichi asked sincerely, it sounded like mockery to Hiruko.

He, Hiruko, was once Jonin of Konoha, and he even greeted you Taichi Matsushita. How dare you ask me, "Have we met somewhere before?"

"You— Taichi Matsushita, you've gone too far!"

With a loud shout, the extremely ashamed and indignant Hiruko a hand Hand Seals with his ten fingers pointing forward.

Storm Release: Ten-Finger Light Fang.

Ten purple beams of light shot out from Hiruko's finger, like ten whips of light lashing out at Taiichi from different angles.

Wherever the light whip passed, the rocks and ruins were sliced in two as if cut by a hot knife through butter.

"Oh, that's interesting."

Taiichi held the knife in his right hand, advancing instead of retreating, while his left hand formed a seal. He then took a deep breath and exhaled.

Wind Style: Great Breakthrough

A raging hurricane, accompanied by dense, fine Wind Blade, fanned out and enveloped the entire area in front of Taiichi.

The ten light whips that Hiruko unleashed shattered within a single breath of this Wind Blade, eventually dissipating into specks of purple light in the air.

With the obstruction gone, Taiichi moved Taiichi faster, closing in on Hiruko in an instant. He slashed down with his right sword, still having time to jokingly remark.

"Fine, don't talk then. What do you mean by 'going too far'? Weren't you just bullying the people from Hoshigakure? You can bully them, but I can't bully you? That's ridiculous."

Taiichi became more and more righteous and confident as he spoke, and his sword slashed faster and faster.

But in the end, he frowned.

"Are you... Shadow Clone?"

It wasn't him who noticed; even the Byakugan couldn't distinguish Shadow Clone, let alone someone like him with only normal vision.

As a master of Shadow Clone, he knew all too well the state of Shadow Clone when facing an enemy; to avoid being destroyed, both offense and defense would be hampered.

"Asshole!"

With Taiichi unleashed a power-up to the Chakra Enhanced Strength of the Light Blade. Hiruko Kunai was forcefully struck by the Light Blade, turning into a puff of white smoke and disappearing.

Despite the lengthy explanation, it was essentially just Hiruko a single Ninjutsu, which was immediately followed by Taiichi closing in and dominating him.

Once they got close, Kakuzu had no way to help; close-quarters combat was not his forte.

In that moment of hesitation, Hiruko's Shadow Clone was already destroyed by Taiichi.

"Foolish!" Kakuzu cursed inwardly, unable to even buy time.

His four clones exchanged a glance and immediately dispersed in all directions. Instead of attacking Taiichi, he took a detour and attacked the remnants of the Hoshigakure and Itachi and his two companions.

Seeing this, Taiichi was no longer in a hurry. Needless to say, none of these people were the real Akatsuki members. He also sensed and checked the surroundings but found no trace of other Akatsuki members, so it was clear that they had already run far away.

Since that's the case, there's no need to rush to eliminate these few; it's a good opportunity for the apprentices to practice.

The situation quickly changed. Taiichi intercepted one of the Wind Style clones, Hotarubi faced off against a Lightning Style Clone, Nine-Tails faced off against a Water Style Clone, and the last Fire Style clone was left to the three little ones.