The Beginning

"Since life existed, death naturally existed as its counterpart. The Uzumaki Clan had not chosen the wrong path, but they had underestimated the threat their creation posed to the Shinobi World. In the end, they were purged without mercy."

The Uzumaki Clan had been completely erased from the Shinobi World. Just how great was that loss? The sealing arts accumulated over a thousand years had been almost entirely destroyed. Only a few bloodline-based sealing techniques, such as Adamantine Sealing Chains, along with their final masterpiece, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, had been passed down.

If sealing arts had continued developing step by step, a "rune civilization" based on sealing arts might very well have emerged. Combined with the technological civilization currently flourishing in the Shinobi World, if it got on the right track, it might truly have been able to reverse the Shinobi World's steady decline toward the abyss.

By using rational methods to control divine power and using that as a foundation to advance the social development of the entire Shinobi World, the Shinobi World could have taken another path.

Of course, that opportunity had not been completely lost yet. With Mizuki's emergence, the process might merely have been delayed by a few decades. There was still a chance to start again. If someone in the future was willing to explore the rather tedious fundamentals of sealing arts, there would still be an opportunity to rise once more.

Fundamentally speaking, the Uzumaki Clan's explorations had benefited the Shinobi World. But things could not be viewed so simply. After the Shinobi World's power had suffered repeated declines, much of its authority had fallen into other hands. In particular, the laws of life and death had been damaged beyond recognition.

If the Shinobi World were regarded as a normal living organism,