Counterattack Meets the Great Bell

Near the capital of the Land of Lightning, at a Ninja Temple.

"Sir, are you certain you want to buy our old bell?"

The abbot looked at the bald, dark-skinned man in a yellow kimono before him, hesitation in his voice.

Since ninja villages had risen to prominence, people no longer valued the little fighting strength the Ninja Temple possessed. These days, the monks were barely getting by.

He had never expected anyone to buy a bell as an act of devotion to the Buddha.

"Yes, Master. I, Biko, was born with an affinity for Buddhism. Just look at my hair."

Disguised as a certain famous figure—though with no desire to crash a plane—Yan pointed to his bald head.

"Well... all right. I'll arrange for someone to help you move it." Yan's reasoning was bizarre, but he had offered far too much money to refuse.

With that much silver on the table, Biko was clearly a remarkably devout man.

"No need. I have a ninja guard. He can carry it."

Yan called out, "Bixue."

A square-faced man in a green kimono jumped down from the carriage behind him.

The abbot silently studied the pair. Their outfits...

Yellow and green kimonos were hardly rare, but did they have to be that yellow and that green?

And were the guard's lips a little purple? Was he wearing lipstick?

But for the money, the abbot murmured "Amitabha" and led them to the temple's rear courtyard.

He summoned several monks to take down the bell with considerable effort. Bixue stepped forward and sealed it inside a storage scroll.

Yan handed over five thousand taels in exchange for the bell, a flash of scarlet crossing his eyes.

"By the way, Abbot, I hear your temple is going into the city tomorrow to beg— ahem, recite sutras. Might I have the honor of listening?"

The abbot accepted the additional thousand taels Yan offered without batting an eye. "Ahem. Your devotion to the Buddha is sincere, sir. Of course you may. You can stay at the temple tonight and accompany us into the city tomorrow."

After exchanging Buddhist blessings, Yan and Bixue followed a young monk to the guest quarters.

Once the two were gone, the abbot summoned another young monk. "Keep a close eye on them. Be ready to report to the ninja at any moment."

The young monk nodded.

In reality, the abbot was talking to himself, facing empty space.

Yan returned to his room. Bixue placed the scroll on the table, then vanished with a pop.

Ever since Orochimaru had pushed the front line into the Land of Lightning, Kumogakure had devoted all its energy to building strength for a counterattack. Besides, keeping daimyos out of ninja wars was an unspoken agreement.

No one would have imagined that Red Blade, whose fame was soaring on the Kumogakure front, would use the opportunity to slip into the Land of Lightning's capital.

Yan had come for one reason: to look at the Land of Lightning's historical records.

He had noticed that the daimyos of the Five Great Nations all seemed to be related. Their ties did not look like the product of repeated political marriages alone.

It was more as though they shared a single ancestor.

Yan suspected that a vast empire had once existed in the Shinobi World and established a system of fiefdoms, leading to the present arrangement of the Five Great Nations.

The ninja clans must have been involved in an empire like that. He might even find the graves of the Uchiha Clan's ancestors, then dig up the old grounds of Ninshu as well.

After that, he could learn Impure World Reincarnation and summon the ancestors to beat the hell out of Madara Uchiha.

As for buying a bell from the Ninja Temple, that was simply because Yan had spent all his Gold Coins maxing out Grab, then synthesized a new skill.

[True Immersion System (Mortal Realm Version)]

Gold Coins: 1100

Skills:

[True Immersion Substitution Technique] MAX: ...

[Counterattack] MAX: ...

[Dodge] MAX: ...

[Invincibility Frames] MAX: ...

[Heartbeat Timeout] (Special) MAX: ... Uses remaining: 3

[Synthesis] (Special) MAX: ... Uses remaining: 1

[If I Don't Move, What Are You Going to Do About It?]: ...

[Aura Suppression] MAX: ...

[Grab] MAX: You can actively cause your next binding skill or action to forcibly bind an enemy for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

[Counterattack Field]: You can actively expend Chakra to release a defensive aura with a 1-meter radius. Anyone hostile to you, along with attacks they launch, will be slowed upon entering the aura. The aura lasts for up to 15 seconds. When the aura triggers Counterattack, it counts as two Counterattack triggers while consuming only one Counterattack use, and you may unleash one tracking Grab.

Yan had synthesized the skill using Counterattack, Aura Suppression, and Grab.

The moment he saw what it did, he thought of the Buddha who had dominated the duel arena in his previous life.

With the aim of delivering salvation to all, Yan had come to the Ninja Temple and bought the Great Bell.

"Heh heh."

Yan rubbed his hands together and formed a Summoning Contract with the Great Bell.

Early the next morning, Yan disguised himself as Biko again, created a Shadow Clone disguised as Bixue, and followed the Ninja Temple's carriage into the city.

The war had not touched this city. People filled the streets, and vendors' calls rang out without pause.

Yan glanced at the towering palace in the city center. While ninja fought and died, the daimyos and nobles lived in drunken luxury.

The Ninja Temple's carriage stopped before a raised platform. This recitation had been arranged at the invitation of a noble who liked Buddhist teachings, so the noble could display his benevolence to the city.

Even listeners had to be searched. Fortunately, Yan had not brought any ninja tools this time.

Yan and his Shadow Clone found seats below the platform.

The nobles sat above, while commoners and lesser nobles sat below. The divide could not have been clearer.

The abbot glanced at Biko in the audience. Finding nothing amiss, he began to recite.

"Hachiman Great Bodhisattva..."

Yan's heart jolted. He had heard that name before, but not in the Shinobi World. He had heard it in his previous life.

What was the guardian deity of the warrior houses of Japan in his previous life doing in a Shinobi World where samurai power had waned? Was it coincidence, or was Kishimoto's hand at work?

Yan stayed alert. Pretending he needed the toilet, he left a White Snake with his Shadow Clone so it could pass along messages.

Once he reached the toilet, Yan created another Shadow Clone disguised as Biko and sent him back to listen. His real body leaped over the rear wall of the Daimyo's Palace.

The Daimyo's Palace in the Land of Lightning did have ninja guards. Unfortunately, they were too weak to stop Yan. One casual genjutsu was enough for him to slip inside.

"Where are the historical records kept?"

Yan grabbed a guard and demanded to know where the records were stored, but no matter how hard he pressed, the guard refused to speak.

Yan had no choice but to release him. Given their strength, someone caught in his genjutsu could not possibly have resisted it.

Which meant they did not know where the records were.

Yan felt a headache coming on. Was history taboo among the nobles? Why hide it so thoroughly?

He had no choice but to search room by room. As he reached the rear courtyard, voices that set his blood stirring drifted over.

"Mmm, ah, we can't. The daimyo is still..."

"Tsk, don't worry, my lady. The daimyo's gone hunting. He even took the sensory ninja with him. We can... heh heh."

Yan followed the voices to a room marked with a peach blossom.

He poked a small hole in the paper window and saw two pale bodies entwined.

Quite the intimate scene.

But Yan was in no mood to keep watching. He shoved the door open, startling the pair inside.

Before either could scream, Yan fixed them with his Sharingan, and both fell under his genjutsu.

The two knelt naked before Yan and told him everything.

The man was the Land of Lightning's Minor Counselor. The woman was the daimyo's favored concubine, Lady Peach Blossom.

When Yan asked where the historical records were, both looked utterly lost.

This was getting troublesome. Even an official like the Minor Counselor did not know. Did the nobles not keep records of their history?

Just as Yan thought the day would be a bust, he remembered the building where the Uchiha Clan kept its Book Collection.

"Is there an old building in the Daimyo's Palace that the daimyo rarely visits but still has people maintain?"

"Yes. I once asked the daimyo to tear down an old house on the west side so the palace could be expanded, but he refused."

Lady Peach Blossom answered in a daze.

With the answer he wanted, Yan turned and headed toward the place she had described.

Much later, the two finally broke free of the genjutsu. Before they could work out what had happened, a passing palace maid spotted them naked, setting off a commotion throughout the palace.

Yan had already reached the building Lady Peach Blossom had mentioned. He took one look and frowned. The building was old, but it appeared to be only about twenty years old.

There was a statue outside of a strange deity holding a Samurai Sword in its left hand and a bow in its right, with a thousand arms growing from its back. But the building was not even as old as the one on Uchiha Clan grounds.

Yan pushed the door open and entered. There were indeed rows of shelves inside, but they held only novels and storybooks.

Feeling he had been fooled but unwilling to give up, Yan activated his Sharingan and scanned the room for a hidden mechanism. He found nothing.

The statue outside showed nothing unusual either. Frustrated at the prospect of leaving empty-handed, Yan strode toward the door.

Thud.

When Yan planted his foot heavily on the floor by the doorway, it sounded hollow underneath.

He carefully lifted the floorboard, revealing a staircase leading underground.