Nurturing New Life, Preview of the System's Ultimate Reward

Cold rain pounded madly against the carriage roof, creating a dense blanket of white noise.

In this long, treacherous border canyon of the Land of Wind, the air was thick with the earthy stench of mud and the foul rot of decaying leaves. Inside the carriage, Sosuke lounged against a soft brocade cushion, idly twirling a sharp kunai between his fingers.

Just moments ago, his hearing, far beyond that of ordinary people, had caught the faint sound of mechanisms scraping atop the cliff walls. Yet he had not raised any warning. Instead, he immersed his mind in the deep-blue system panel within his consciousness.

Last night at the Senju Main House, the system had only given an initial prompt. But now, as the pure vitality within Mikoto gradually stabilized, the system finally issued its complete ultimate preview.

[Ding! Offspring gestation status updated. Current maternal body (Uchiha Mikoto) health: 100%. Bloodline compatibility: extremely high (Senju Yang Release and Uchiha Yin Release have achieved perfect resonance).]

[Detected that this offspring possesses extremely high potential. If nourished through prenatal education with an enormous amount of high-grade chakra essence, there is a chance it will awaken a perfect Sage Body at birth!]

[Ultimate reward preview locked: once the offspring is safely born, the host will unconditionally unlock the god-tier ninjutsu—Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands (Fragment)!]

Along with that emotionless mechanical voice, a vast, suffocating image suddenly unfurled across Sosuke's vision.

It was an enormous thousand-handed Buddha that towered into the heavens, so colossal it could blot out the sun and moon. The Buddha sat atop the head of a ferocious wooden giant, while hundreds upon thousands of massive wooden arms fanned out behind it like a peacock's tail. Every arm contained world-destroying power capable of shattering mountains and crushing Tailed Beasts.

Compared to it, Susanoo and Tailed Beast Bombs were as insignificant as ants.

Sosuke's breathing grew heavy for an instant. He closed his eyes as the Yang Release chakra of his perfected Sage Body surged wildly through his limbs and bones like an ancient beast about to break free of its chains.

For this child, for this True Several Thousand Hands that could allow him to overturn the entire shinobi world's board, he needed nourishment. Enormous quantities of it. Exceptionally pure nourishment.

"Hidden Sand's puppet masters, the tens of thousands of troops at the front, even... that big tanuki in the Land of Wind." Sosuke slowly opened his eyes, an icy green gleam flickering deep within his black pupils. There was no trace of frailty on his refined, jade-like face now—only absolute dominance and ultimate killing intent, as though all things beneath heaven were mere weeds.

This war was never some mire of defending home and country. It was a lavish feast he had prepared for his unborn child!

Whoosh—!

At the instant Sosuke's killing intent boiled over, an incomparably sharp whistle suddenly tore through the curtain of rain.

On the steep cliff walls lining both sides of the canyon, dozens of rainproof sheets disguised as rocks were abruptly thrown aside. Behind them stood over a hundred bizarre Hidden Sand mechanical puppets, their joints glimmering with a sinister light. Their pitch-black launch tubes all aimed at the Uchiha convoy below.

"Enemy attack—!"

An Uchiha Police Force member on horseback let out a shrill cry, but it was cut short halfway through.

Poisoned senbon needles filled the sky like black rain, mixed with dozens of hissing explosive tags, pouring down without leaving a single blind spot.

Thud! Thud!

The muffled sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out one after another. The Uchiha member who had sounded the warning did not even have time to activate his Sharingan before more than a dozen senbon pierced his chest and throat. The black-purple poison killed on contact with blood. Without even managing a scream, he toppled from his horse, crashed heavily into the muddy water, twitched twice, and fell still.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosive tags detonated one after another amid the convoy. Frenzied flames and shockwaves overturned several supply wagons outright. The frightened horses let out agonized neighs, dragging their ruined carriages wildly through the mud as the entire formation instantly descended into chaos.

"Damn it!"

At the front of the formation, Uchiha Fugaku's eyes widened with fury. He yanked out the ninja sword at his waist, the three tomoe in his Sharingan spinning furiously as he tracked the trajectories of the weapons raining from the sky.

"Form up! Fire Release cover! Protect the advisor's carriage in the rear!" Fugaku roared, slashing several poisoned needles aimed at his face out of the air.

However, these Police Force lords, who had spent all year throwing their weight around in Hidden Leaf and grown accustomed to arresting petty thugs, had never experienced an ambush as brutal as a meat grinder. Faced with the merciless saturated assault of Hidden Sand's elite assassination force, the naturally arrogant Uchiha clan members completely panicked.

Some blindly formed hand seals and spat out fireballs, only for the rain and violent wind to weaken them instantly. Others tried to use the Body Flicker Technique to find cover, but ran headlong into wire traps laid in advance by the puppet masters. Sharp wires instantly severed their limbs, and they collapsed into pools of blood with heart-rending wails.

The thick stench of blood mixed with rainwater and rapidly spread through the canyon floor.

Meanwhile, inside the luxurious carriage at the very center of the convoy, an eerily extreme calm prevailed.

Thunk!

A poisoned senbon gleaming blue pierced through the carriage's thick wooden wall. Carried by a fierce gust, it struck the window frame less than three inches from Sosuke's cheek with perfect accuracy. Its tail still trembled violently.

Sosuke did not even raise an eyelid. He extended two slender fingers, elegantly plucked out the senbon, and held it beneath his nose for a sniff.

"Neurotoxin extracted from datura flowers, mixed with the stinger of a desert scorpion... That old hag Chiyo's formula is still this crude." Sosuke casually tossed the senbon onto the carpet beneath his feet, a mocking sneer curling his lips.

At that moment, the Senju clan bloodline within him produced an exceedingly subtle resonance.

It was a request to join the battle from Toka, the leader of the hidden guards lying in wait within the dense forest beyond the canyon. Transmitted through the Bloodline Network, it needed only a thought from Sosuke for fifty hidden guards at the peak of chunin strength to descend from the sky and tear these Hidden Sand puppet masters apart in an instant.

"Not yet."

Sosuke leaned back against the cushion and sent a cold order through the Bloodline Network. "Not enough Uchiha blood has been spilled. These elites Fugaku brought are all the most stubborn, arrogant hardliners in the clan. Let Hidden Sand's blade chop them to pieces. Only then will Fugaku, that dog, truly understand what reverence means."

"Without my order, no one is to reveal their presence. Let them properly savor the taste of war here."

The order was given, and the hidden guards outside once more fell silent.

At the canyon floor, the Uchiha clan's casualties were rapidly mounting.

In less than half an incense stick's time, more than a dozen of the fifty Police Force elites had already fallen. Hidden Sand's ambush was exceptionally vicious. They had no intention of engaging the Sharingan-wielding Uchiha in close combat. Instead, they exploited the terrain, controlling their puppets from the cliff walls and continually pouring down long-range firepower.

"Damn it! Wind Release squad, tear away the sheets above them! Lightning Release squad, sever their chakra strings!" Fugaku was worthy of being a clan head. After his brief panic, he used his powerful ocular abilities to see through the puppet masters' positions and began organizing a counterattack.

Several Uchiha elites fought desperately to break through, their hands flashing through seals.

"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The wind fed the flames. A massive fireball surged upstream like a meteor and slammed into the cliff wall on the left. The intense heat instantly evaporated the rainwater and blasted several puppets too slow to evade into charred wreckage.

"Good! Counterattack!" Fugaku's spirits lifted as he prepared to lead his men up the cliff wall.

But Hidden Sand's killing move had only just revealed itself.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

Accompanied by a hoarse roar, three Hidden Sand elite jonin clad in windproof cloaks formed hand seals simultaneously atop the high ground ahead of the canyon. An intensely compressed storm sphere formed in midair, then crashed down upon the Uchiha position like a cannonball.

The violent hurricane instantly tore apart the Uchiha's Fire Release. Trees and rocks in its path were ground into powder.

"Not good! Defend!" Fugaku cried out in alarm, raising his sword across his chest.

As the gale swept through, several Uchiha members who had exhausted their chakra were directly sliced into pieces by wind blades. Severed limbs and blood spun through the air.

And the final target of that devastating Wind Release was clearly the luxurious carriage at the center of the convoy!

Rumble—!

The sturdy wooden carriage was sliced apart by the wind blades as easily as paper. Wood chips and torn cloth exploded into the rain.

Everyone's gazes instinctively converged on the wreckage of the carriage.

Sosuke, dressed in a pure white haori, sat upright atop the one remaining plank. His face still held a sickly pallor, and every so often he covered his lips with a brocade handkerchief and gave a suppressed cough or two. Framed by corpses and blood everywhere around him, he looked like a helpless lamb that had wandered into a pack of wolves.

"So this is the useless Senju Clan advisor the higher-ups of Hidden Leaf sent?"

On the high ground, the leading Hidden Sand elite jonin licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with cruelty and greed. He flicked all ten fingers sharply, and ten chakra threads too fine for the naked eye instantly connected to a massive black coffin beside him.

Bang!

The coffin lid exploded apart, and a terrifying puppet covered in sharp barbs, like a giant centipede, burst out.

"Kill him! Cut off the head of that Senju orphan, and Lady Chiyo will surely reward us handsomely!"

The Hidden Sand jonin grinned viciously and controlled the ferocious puppet. Like a tiger descending the mountain, it lunged at Sosuke seated amid the ruins with a shriek that tore through the air. Its sharp poisoned blade was less than five meters from Sosuke's throat.