The Rise and Fall of the Ninja Sect, Part 2

The year 105 of the Ninja World Calendar.

As time went by, the once-powerful Ninja Sect fell into an unprecedented internal predicament.

Because they were always wary of their increasingly powerful rival, the Ninjutsu School, the Ninja Sect Clan was constantly grappling with a fundamental question: what path should they take?

Should Chakra be temporarily used for force to completely eliminate Ninjutsu, the great enemy threatening the ideals of the Ninja Sect, or should we continue to follow the original path of using Chakra to serve the people and resolving conflicts peacefully?

The two factions each held their own version of events, and the dispute spread from headquarters to every branch, leaving the problem unresolved for a long time.

Neighboring countries have also expressed growing concern and have been engaging in increasingly covert maneuvers.

Some countries have begun to secretly contact Ninjutsu School, while others have imposed increasing restrictions on the presence of the Ninja Sect mercenaries within their borders.

In some countries, nobles began to restrict the humanitarian and medical activities of the Ninja Sect within their own territories.

There have even been some small-scale violent incidents, resembling those of civilian organizations, against members of the Ninja Sect.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Cloud Thunder Mountain Range, after several years of dormancy and development, the Ninjutsu School has significantly narrowed the gap with the Ninja Sect in terms of overall strength.

According to internal records of the Ninjutsu School:

Both the development of combat-oriented Ninjutsu projects and the quantity and quality of practitioners in various schools have seen a qualitative leap compared to a few years ago.

At the leadership level, those who enjoy the most resources, possess absolute power, and have been tempered and grown up in a strict environment of rules and a mindset that prioritizes power above all else...

The grandchildren who inherited the blood of Otsutsuki Indra have gradually grown into high-end combat forces in the Ninjutsu School.

Among them was a top genius who broke various cultivation records within his school, overcoming several bottlenecks considered "insurmountable" in just a few years.

He is widely recognized as the strongest being, second only to his grandfather Otsutsuki Indra.

The "Clan of Gods," which would influence the Era of Ninshu for hundreds of years, thus officially stepped onto the historical stage of the Ninja World.

The leaders of the Ninjutsu School astutely perceived the contradictions within the Ninja Sect at this time and promptly led their troops south, seizing this fleeting opportunity.

Through years of targeted development of various combat Ninjutsu by different Ninjutsu School, their elite combat strength has far exceeded the bottom line predicted by the Ninja Sect.

Coupled Jonin decades of growing discord among the surrounding nations, the Ninjutsu School ' military might almost relentlessly tore through the entire defensive line.

They routed the guards along the way and headed straight for the Ninja Sect's base.

However, just as the elite forces of the Ninjutsu School were about to reach the core area of the Ninja Sect, a young man from among the descendants of Otsutsuki Asura stepped forward.

He did not display overwhelming power sufficient to immediately change the course of the battle; on the contrary, he was far too ordinary.

He was unremarkable among Asura's many exceptionally talented grandchildren.

But it was precisely this ordinary boy, almost overlooked by everyone, who, just as the Ninja Sect's base was about to be completely surrounded and sealed off by Ninjutsu School schools,

Braving great danger, he crossed the outer defenses under the cover of night and then traveled alone through the surrounding countries for the next month, day and night.

No one knows what he said or did during that month or so.

But the final result was etched on the same page of the history books of both the Ninja Sect and Ninjutsu schools:

He miraculously united these nations that had been hostile and suspicious of each other for decades!

The boy himself is also growing at an astonishing rate during this process.

Although in terms of individual strength alone, he still cannot compare with the genius of the Ninjutsu School who is hailed as "second only to Indra".

But this boy now has a group of exceptionally talented companions by his side.

With their combined efforts, even the prodigy of that Ninjutsu School was dragged into a disadvantageous position and gradually forced back in several key battles.

Ultimately, this first large-scale battle since the Era of Ninshu ended in a Pyrrhic victory for the Ninja Sect.

Following this war, the Ninja Sect formally established an organization called the "Alliance" with neighboring countries.

The young man hailed as a hero naturally became the First leader of the alliance.

The power of the Ninja Sect, the power of Chakra, was thus truly transmitted to the various countries of this territory, becoming Alliance system covering the entire land.

Meanwhile, the Ninjutsu School that suffered defeats in the war also experienced severe upheavals.

The second-generation leader of Ninjutsu, the son of Indra who had always lived under the immense influence of his father, witnessed firsthand the devastation brought about by this war.

It led to a profound reflection on the radical path that the Ninjutsu School had long pursued.

He issued a series of reforms, streamlining some high-consumption Ninjutsu development projects that were only intended for offensive destruction.

The criteria for evaluating member levels have been redefined to reduce competitive pressure at the lower levels.

They also publicly stated their desire to improve relations with the Ninja Sect and neighboring countries, seeking a shift from confrontation to cooperation and common development.

However, on his way to negotiate with the Ninja Sect as the leader of Ninjutsu School, he was unexpectedly assassinated.

His guard was wiped out, and his body was found on the road leading to the Ninja Sect, with more than ten fatal wounds on his body.

The Ninjutsu School school nearly spiraled out of control that night. After receiving the news, multiple branches declared a state of maximum alert, with the majority of the hawks demanding an immediate southward march for retaliation.

At this critical juncture when internal strife was about to erupt, the genius who had distinguished himself on the battlefield and was hailed as the strongest after Indra resolutely ascended to the throne and became the Third Hokage leader of the Ninjutsu School.

He swiftly stabilized the situation, which was on the verge of spiraling out of control, and surprisingly continued the series of internal reforms initiated by the Second Hokage, except for those related to diplomacy with the Ninja Sect.

This allowed the Ninjutsu School to maintain its momentum after experiencing growing pains, and strictly restrained the calls from its forces to march south for revenge.

The Ninja Sect Alliance has repeatedly stated publicly that it has no connection to the assassination attempt and has provided solid evidence to prove this.

But all of this was to no avail.

The rift between the two major schools of the Ninja Sect and Ninjutsu has deepened to the point that no explanation can bridge it.

Once the seed of doubt is planted, it will grow deep in the soil and become an indelible root.

In the nearly two decades that followed, numerous wars, both large and small, broke out between the two sides.

Ultimately, the story ended with both leaders perishing in a final, large-scale battle.

Thus, fueled by nearly a century of blood feud, the conflict between the two major schools of the Ninja Sect and Ninjutsu sects has reached a point of no return.

In the years that followed, the long scroll of history was repeatedly painted with blood and fire.

The Ninja Sect's allied forces once penetrated deep into the heart of the Land of Cloud Thunder; on their farthest expedition, their vanguard even spotted the eaves of the High Heaven Pavilion).

But in the end, it was completely burned away by the black flames that seemed to surge from the depths of hell.

The Ninjutsu School once gathered three powerful Mangekyo users to besiege the Ninja Sect Alliance, attempting to sever the Alliance's fate with an overwhelming display of power.

However, they were stopped outside the Ninja Sect by a black-haired boy and a mysterious white-eyed girl.

The black-haired girl and the blond boy, who recognized each other's love and longed for peace, were ultimately pushed to opposite ends of the battlefield due to their opposing stances and ideals, where they faced each other with swords drawn and both died in battle.

In their final moments, they held each other's hands tightly...

This seemingly endless chain of hatred, steeped in the blood and sweat of generations, will eventually break one day.

The side that ultimately emerged victorious was Ninjutsu.

Over the course of four hundred years, the Ninja Sect Alliance, which was originally united by pure beliefs and fought side by side, has long lost the camaraderie it had when it first formed the alliance.

The infighting and conflicts of interest among the member states of the Alliance have deteriorated to an irreconcilable level.

Territorial disputes and trade disagreements that had been suppressed by a common enemy resurfaced during the long lull in peace, eroding the foundation of the Alliance.

As for the Ninja Sect, which publicly declared it would not covet power, yet maintained a core leadership position within the Alliance throughout the long years and wielded the strongest martial force...

The doubts in the hearts of various countries have turned from whispers into open clamor.

As a result of these cumulative effects of internal corruption, the Alliance's cohesion continued to decline.

In the final battle against the Ninjutsu School, which had ruled with iron and blood for hundreds of years and whose belief in the supremacy of the strong had never wavered, they suffered their most complete and utter defeat.

With the various nations of the Ninja Sect Alliance submitting to the Ninjutsu School, the Ninja Sect Alliance, which had existed for nearly 450 years, was officially dissolved.

The Ninja Sect, which was once the pillar and spiritual core of the Alliance, has fallen from a behemoth in the first tier of the Ninja World to a third-rate force, losing control over the vast majority of its directly controlled territories.

In order to maintain its last vestige of existence, the high-ranking members of the Ninja Sect had no choice but to declare their complete submission to the Ninjutsu School and send some of their direct descendants to the High Heaven Pavilion, where the Ninjutsu School was located, as a token of their "sincerity."

Nominally it was "exchange and learning," but in reality it was hostages, spoils of war, and a living surrender from the losers to the victors.

The four-hundred-year-long struggle between the two major schools of the Ninja Sect and Ninjutsu Cult has seemingly come to an end in the "present"...