The Offering

If you put it that way, there really was a question: why had the upper limit of the Shinobi World's combat power suddenly risen so much at this point?

Several decades ago, Madara Uchiha and the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had been evenly matched, with Hashirama Senju even holding a slight edge.

Yet during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Madara Uchiha's Edo Tensei body alone had been able to toy with Hashirama Senju's Edo Tensei body, along with the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Naruto Uzumaki. This was the clearest proof of the difference in the upper limit of power between decades ago and decades later.

And were the major events mentioned earlier that had occurred over those decades connected to this?

"If we regard the entire Shinobi World as an organic whole, we can draw an analogy..."

While Mizuki's original body was deep in thought, Gongzhi continued, "In a situation where it is terminally ill and steadily worsening, although the Shinobi World is beyond saving, it has not made no attempt to save itself. Not only did the Sage of Six Paths forcibly extend its life a thousand years ago, but the Shinobi World also has some corresponding measures..."

"You mean?"

Mizuki fell into thought.

"The bloodline of the Otsutsuki Clan?"

"Not just that!"

Gongzhi explained, "It includes every change caused by mutations from Chakra overflow and the God Tree's invasion..."

Because of its innate flaws, a power like Chakra, which was clearly somewhat against the rules, was a problem caused by an incomplete underlying framework.

But it was not fatal.

Excessive, unrestrained supernatural power would in turn damage this world and could even bring about a world-ending crisis.

But as long as it was restricted, Chakra would act like a