The Era of Ninshu Draws to a Close

Year 530 of the Ninja World Calendar.

Otsutsuki Kou and Otsutsuki Ori have walked side by side for several years and have grown into fourteen-year-olds.

Kou had grown taller, and although he was still thinner than his peers, his once pale, almost transparent face finally had color in it.

His talent, which had been hampered for many years by his congenital physique, began to gradually emerge in this healthy body.

In just a few years, he transformed from a sickly boy who was ignored by everyone into a new generation genius that even the top leaders of Ninjutsu School had to take notice of.

Meanwhile, Zhi had been learning about Ninjutsu School from Kou's side all these years.

He studied more diligently than anyone else, not out of wariness of the enemy, but out of a deeper, more ingrained desire.

In that cramped wooden cabin, during countless late nights sitting face-to-face under the lamp, he had expressed that idea to Kou more than once:

If we could combine the Ninja Sect with Ninjutsu School, we could learn from each other's strengths and make up for each other's weaknesses, and develop together.

Perhaps this can truly end this blood feud that has lasted for four hundred years...

Kou remained silent for a long time before answering.

He harbored resentment towards the Ninja Sect member who had abandoned Zhi and sent her to this cold, stone city as a hostage.

This resentment is understandable; anyone would feel this way after watching their most cherished person being used as a pawn by their own people and sent into the enemy camp.

But when Oori mentioned Ninja Sect, he heard the reluctance, regret, and Ninja Sect family.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Kou expressed his opinion:

Since this is the future you desire, then I will strive to achieve it.

I will strive to become the strongest, to change this Ninjutsu School that fundamentally believes in the survival of the fittest, and to make it a place where your ideals can take root.

However, shortly after Kou made this promise, the higher-ups of the Ninjutsu School somehow obtained a batch of extremely detailed intelligence:

Despite their seemingly compliant exterior over the years, the Ninja Sect has maintained considerable preparations for resistance.

The non-combatants who were secretly trained, the core legacy that was dispersed and transferred, and the private communications that have not yet been completely severed with some former allies...

The accuracy of the intelligence far exceeded what ordinary undercover agents could obtain.

The Ninjutsu School ultimately decided to launch a complete purge of the Ninja Sect.

Around the same time, Zhi and Kou learned of this news from a short, dark figure wearing a straw hat.

The man's hat was pulled low, obscuring his features, but the information he provided was shockingly accurate.

The man offered to help Zhi return to the Ninja Sect and escape the pursuit of Ninjutsu School.

As for the reason for doing so, the shadowy figure simply gave a perfunctory explanation, saying that their ancestors had received the favor of the Sage of Six Paths.

Zhi made her decision without much hesitation.

He had to go back, even knowing the road ahead was fraught with danger.

On the night before she left, Zhi didn't pack her luggage.

In the little cabin where they had lived together for six years, he looked directly into Kou's eyes in the flickering light and earnestly invited him to come with him.

Kou stood by the window, his back to Zhi, gazing at the silhouette of the High Heaven Pavilion faintly visible in the night sky, and remained silent for a while.

He can't leave.

Only by staying in the most central position when the Ninjutsu School launches this siege can one possess even the slightest power to influence the course of the battle at crucial moments.

Only by staying here can we better protect the weaving.

He rejected Zhi's suggestion and instead proposed that the two of them have one last fight.

Both Zhi and Kou knew that in terms of talent and raw strength, Kou had already surpassed Zhi in just two or three years after Zhi's health improved.

But in the end, Zhi won, and Kou won by deliberately inflicting serious injury.

The news that Zhi had ambushed and severely wounded Kou, and then "defected," spread Ninjutsu School.

Kou's personality changed drastically after this incident.

His Sharingan had evolved into Mitsudomoe Sharingan, and the intense hostility he displayed towards the Ninja Sect during his recovery period...

These changes intertwined, gradually causing the higher-ups of the Ninjutsu School to abandon their suspicions about him.

The Ninjutsu School launched their full-scale attack on the Ninja Sect as scheduled.

However, to everyone's surprise, Otsutsuki Ori, the boy who had been a hostage in the Ninjutsu School for many years and had always been used as a pawn, actually led the Ninja Sect to repel wave after wave of attacks.

He even persuaded the nations that were once part of the Ninja Sect Alliance to stand together again and formally rebuild the Ninja Sect Alliance, which had been dissolved for decades.

The Alliance's flag rose again in the south, Ninja Sect finally managed to gain a foothold in those years, repelling wave after wave of attacks from Ninjutsu School.

History seems poised to repeat itself in that cycle that has been played out for four hundred years.

However, this time, reality did not favor the Ninja Sect.

Otsutsuki Ori and the Ninja Sect he fought so hard to protect were betrayed by the various countries.

The reason for the betrayal is very simple:

The Ninjutsu School made a promise to the various countries, acknowledging their independent national sovereignty and agreeing not to interfere in their internal affairs or foreign wars.

They also pledged not to interfere with the distribution of the Ninja Sect techniques after the war.

This promise is, in essence, a covert strategic shift for the Ninjutsu School.

They abandoned military expansion and turned to bribery, turning powerful external enemies into isolated individuals due to internal divisions.

The allies who had fought alongside the Ninja Sect for hundreds of years were already plotting to divide up the last remaining assets of what was once the number one Ninja World clan in the world.

However, due to external threats from Ninjutsu School, they have not taken any action for a long time.

When the Ninjutsu School presented them with this promise of "non-interference," these nations quickly deduced that it was the optimal solution to maximize their own interests.

Otsutsuki Ori.

The moment he learned that the nations had collectively turned against him and that his allies had become enemy forces on the blockade line overnight, he stood alone on the hillside, gazing at the cold moon that was half-hidden by dark clouds.

Having witnessed all of this, Otsutsuki Kou, while worried about his close friend's safety, also began to deeply question the Ninja Sect's philosophy of mutual understanding between people.

From its inception to its rise to prominence, the Ninja Sect has always pursued peace through mutual understanding and the connection of Chakra between people.

But when real interests are at stake, those so-called bonds prove incredibly fragile.

This organization, once embodying the ideals of peace, was sent to the guillotine by the very countries it had once protected.

The demise of the Ninja Sect was inevitable.

But almost no one knew that decades ago, a shadowy figure hidden in the Ninja World's thousand-year history had quietly approached the Ninja Sect, presenting a "generous gift" to its Ninja Sect- ranking members...

In their most desperate moments, under extreme pressure to survive.

The Ninja Sect, who once swore to dedicate himself to peace in the Ninja World, ultimately opened Pandora's box—a box carefully packaged by the shadowy figure as "the last hope"—filled with resentment and grief...

On the eve of the final siege, Kou, one of the core combatants of the Ninjutsu School, had made preparations to rescue his best friend.

The moment he crossed the last security line and arrived at the Ninja Sect base, he witnessed the most unforgettable scene of his life.

His best friend, Otsutsuki Ori... transformed into a monster whose entire body was crimson red like blood and whose body grew to several meters tall!

A strange branch, its surface covered with Uzumaki patterns, spread from his heart.

Weaving... no, that monster's power was enough to crush an entire allied army's formation with a single blow.

Its regenerative ability allows it to regrow severed limbs in an instant.

Its defensive capabilities are sufficient to withstand the direct impact of several high-level Ninjutsu without sustaining any damage.

Its destructive power is enough to turn a centuries-old city into scorched earth within 10 minutes...

Under its indiscriminate and devastating attacks, the allied forces of various countries and the elite troops of the Ninjutsu School...

Even the remaining fighting force of the Ninja Sect was trampled into a scorched plain covered in blood and mud within a single day!!

In this battle, apart from Kou, almost all of the Ninja World's high-end combat forces were destroyed!

Meanwhile, Otsutsuki Kou awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan during this battle.

In the aftermath of that devastating catastrophe, the ruling power of the Ninja World nations was significantly weakened, and the pent-up discontent of the people, which had been building up for hundreds of years, quickly found an outlet.

Uprisings spread like wildfire across the land, and large-scale defections and internal mutinies occurred within the headquarters of Ninjutsu School, plunging the Ninja World into unprecedented chaos!

In the chaos, Kou temporarily took over as leader of the Ninjutsu School and used his last strength to settle the survivors of the Ninjutsu School on the border far away from the war.

After doing all this, he found the remaining members of the Ninja Sect alone and pressed them for the truth with an unwavering gaze that left no room for evasion.

The surviving representative of the Ninja Sect told him the whole story:

After being defeated by Ninjutsu School decades ago, the Ninja Sect unexpectedly obtained a branch of God Tree.

That branch had been nourished by the blood of the Ninja Sect for decades before being transplanted to the forbidden land of the Wetbone Marsh, a place filled with Natural Energy.

It continuously absorbed Natural Energy there, gradually generating a massive Chakra no less powerful than that of Tailed Beast.

In order to control this power, the Ninja Sect spent decades studying and researching it.

Based on hundreds of years of accumulation, and the notes left by the Sage of Six Paths,

They successfully developed a "Sealing Jutsu" that can seal it within the human body and provide power within it.

This should have been considered an absolute taboo by the Ninja Sect, but in this moment of crisis, it became their ultimate trump card for counterattack.

Finally, Shi Zhi volunteered to become the first subject of this experiment.

However, what they didn't expect was that the final consequences would be so devastating.

The Ninja Sect thus announced its disbandment. This organization, which had lasted for over four hundred years, closed its final eyes in regret.

The Ninja Sect disciples who still choose to follow Zhi's unfinished wish hope to personally rectify this irreversible tragedy.

They asked to join Kou on his journey to track down his dear friend, who had transformed into a crimson monster.

Kou rejected their request without room for negotiation; his voice was colder than anyone could remember.

The chill was so intense that the followers realized at that moment that the gentle boy they had heard about was no more.

They stopped pressuring and embarked on their own hunting journey.

In the stories passed down through the ages, they were given the title "Demon Slayer Corps"...

The era of the Ninja Sect has officially come to an end.