Cao Ya

Biodata

Power Progression

• Outer Scenery Ninth Heaven remains a goal: the Masters of This World incarnation vows to remain in seclusion until reaching it, but is still Seventh Heaven in the supplied chapters 39.

Background / History

Cao Ya originally came from Earth and transmigrated into several worlds simultaneously. His incarnations are versions of the same person, not unrelated people who happen to share a name. System Space brings them together and enables them to exchange their experiences and abilities 1 2.

In The Masters of This World, he arrived as an infant during a famine that killed his relatives. A passing eminent Shaolin monk rescued him when he was near death in his mother's arms. Raised at Shaolin, he took the religious name Xuanjie and cultivated to Outer Scenery Seventh Heaven 1.

Six incarnations had already discovered System Space before the opening gathering. The Naruto and Global Martial Arts versions increase their number to eight; the later arrival of the Dragon Raja and Grave Robbers' Chronicles versions brings the group to ten 1 17 18.

Documented Incarnations

Appearance

• Identical faces: the incarnations look alike in System Space, but differ in clothing and temperament 1.
• Shaolin incarnation: bald and dressed as a monk 1.
• Smiling, Proud Wanderer incarnation: wears blue robes with a wine gourd at his waist 2.
• Global Martial Arts incarnation: initially appears gentle, refined, and teacher-like 1 2.
• Naruto incarnation: initially presents a silent, aloof manner that discourages approach 1 2.
• Grave Robbers' Chronicles incarnation: appears healthy and rosy-faced, remaining comfortable in Changbai Mountain's cold with far less clothing than his companions 20 23.

Personality

Cao Ya generally favors caution when powerful enemies can still threaten him. His Shaolin incarnation wants to cultivate without attracting higher beings' attention; his Global Martial Arts incarnation avoids taking Fang Ping as a disciple because of the secrets, scrutiny, and trouble surrounding him. The Naruto incarnation similarly conceals his new strength before confronting Danzo 3 5 11.

When confident of his advantage, he prefers direct force to prolonged intrigue. His tomb-robbing incarnation plans to destroy the objects behind centuries of factional conflict rather than unravel every conspiracy. In Dragon Raja, he offers Cassell College terms but makes clear that its trustees cannot veto him 32 33 49.

His willingness to share martial arts coexists with practical safeguards. He releases accessible methods to strengthen humanity but withholds his fundamental art while enemies and hidden powers remain active. He also expects compensation and authority proportionate to his contributions 16 40 50.

The incarnations' experiences produce distinct temperaments. The Mysterious Revival version becomes cold and unsmiling after witnessing mass deaths caused by ghosts, while the calmer Naruto and tomb-robbing versions retain a mischievous streak. The Detective Conan version is conspicuously lazy by comparison 2 39.

Abilities & Skills

System Space Sharing

System Space allows Cao Ya's incarnations to exchange memories, power, and cultivation improvements 2 3 11.

• Physical contact transfers memories; an incarnation can choose to withhold particular memories 2.
• An advancement made by one incarnation becomes available to the others at their next meeting 3 11.
• Recipients gain the same degree of mastery, rather than merely learning that a technique exists 22.
• Shared power remains usable in worlds whose restrictions otherwise impede local cultivation 19 23 35.

Indestructible Diamond Divine Art

A supreme Shaolin Dharmakaya technique and Cao Ya's principal defensive art. Its cultivation path can lead to the Immovable Wisdom King Dharmakaya, though Cao Ya has not reached that realm 11 16 39.

• Produces a golden combat form and makes every part of his body usable as a weapon 14 15.
• Withstands Danzo's Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves without its defenses breaking 7.
• Allows him to take a direct hit from Heavenly Gate City's lord while escaping 15.
• Enables the imprisonment of ordinary malevolent ghosts, but is insufficient against the most dangerous rule-based ghosts at his current realm 39.
• His tomb-robbing incarnation regards even nuclear weapons as nonlethal to him 18 22.

Golden Bell Shield and Martial Arts Instruction

Golden Bell Shield serves as an introductory path that can lead to a Vajra Dharmakaya and transition into the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art 16 35.

• Releases Golden Bell Shield and other accessible methods in Global Martial Arts, drawing worldwide attention 16 17.
• Teaches Golden Bell Shield at Cassell College while keeping his core art private 50.
• Considers offering it to his tomb-robbing companions, but cannot guarantee that their world permits successful cultivation 35.
• Does not force established martial artists to abandon their original cultivation paths 16.

Physical Combat and Golden-Light Attacks

Cao Ya combines Outer Scenery power, blood-and-qi strength, and ninja combat experience into a predominantly close-range fighting style 7 13.

• His finishing punch against Danzo creates a trench hundreds of meters long and dozens of meters deep 7.
• Pulverizes a lengthy rock obstruction with a golden palm strike 27.
• Kills nine giant Volcano Centipedes with one slap and eight punches, then destroys a swarm of strange birds with a golden punch 34.
• Pierces the Thousand-Hand Guanyin Corpse with a golden-light finger attack 35.
• Manifests an enormous golden hand to seize and shrink Meteorite Jade 37.
• Breaks through Angers's Time Zero restraints by brute force and later flies over Cassell College 45 49.

Ninja Techniques and Tactical Evasion

The Naruto incarnation possesses jonin knowledge, but his original ninjutsu and genjutsu are comparatively weak. His enhanced strength is chiefly expressed through taijutsu 5.

• Uses substitution to evade Danzo's attack and strike from behind 7.
• Exhausts the ten Sharingan on Danzo's arm by repeatedly killing him through Izanagi revivals 7.
• Cannot directly counter Kotoamatsukami; instead, leaves Danzo's line of sight before it takes effect 5 7.
• Kills Danzo quickly enough to prevent the Reverse Four Symbols Seal from activating 7.

Ghost Investigation

The Mysterious Revival incarnation studies ghosts as manifestations of rules while refusing to become a Ghost Controller 39.

• Imprisons several ghosts using his own strength, avoiding the ghost-revival risks associated with controlling them 2 39.
• Keeps his distance from ghosts that invade dreams or memories or manipulate time and space 39.
• Uses gold for safe housing and ghost containment because ghost powers cannot affect it 39.
• His golden martial power leads observers to invent an erroneous “gold-type ghost” explanation for his abilities 40.

Foreknowledge and Leadership

• Uses knowledge of the original stories to anticipate Konoha Crush, recognize tomb mysteries, and identify hidden dangers surrounding major characters 3 20 32 39.
• Cannot always replace practical expertise: his tomb-robbing incarnation follows the Iron Triangle because he cannot independently locate the sites he wants to investigate 22.
• As Hokage, establishes research departments, revises academy teaching, and promotes agriculture 10.
• Organizes martial arts education in Dragon Raja around training ordinary humans rather than relying on dragon bloodlines 41 46.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Staff — obtained through Li Changsheng at the Logistics Department to increase his destructive power in the Catacombs; used to injure Heavenly Gate City's lord 12 15.
• Golden safe house — residence of the Mysterious Revival incarnation, containing imprisoned ghosts 39.
• Cultivation manuals — Golden Bell Shield and other methods distributed publicly; the Indestructible Diamond Divine Art remains restricted 16 17 50.
• Meteorite Jade — seized and reduced in size during the Changbai Mountain expedition, then studied for its unusual properties 37 38.
• Wine gourd — carried at the waist by the Smiling, Proud Wanderer incarnation 2.

Relationships

• Xuanbei — fellow Shaolin monk and close acquaintance. Cao Ya knows his family connection to Meng Qi and ranks immediately behind him within the Xuan generation 1.
• Meng Qi — his arrival and entry into Six Reincarnation Space signal increasing danger to the Shaolin incarnation, prompting Cao Ya's decision to enter seclusion 1 38 39.
• Danzo Shimura — former superior and target of revenge. Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal forces obedience until Cao Ya kills him 3 7.
• Kakashi, Might Guy, Anko Mitarashi, and Kurenai Yuhi — friends and trusted subordinates who support his leadership of the Hidden Leaf Village 10.
• Lü Fengrou — fellow veteran teacher who quietly wishes him a safe return before his Catacombs expedition 12.
• Li Changsheng — colleague who provides his staff and seeks instruction in the new cultivation system after his original advancement prospects have been ruined 12 16 17.
• Fang Ping — Magic Martial student whom Cao Ya deliberately avoids recruiting as a disciple; later studies Cao Ya's Golden Bell Shield 3 16 17.
• Zhang Tao — receives Cao Ya's proposal to share cultivation methods and supports their dissemination without demanding his stronger techniques 16 17.
• Fatty — tomb-robbing friend who has worked with him twice and arranges his participation in the Changbai Mountain expedition 18 19 20.
• Wu Xie and Poker-Face — expedition companions. Cao Ya protects Wu Xie and relies on the Iron Triangle to reach important tomb locations 21 22.
• Angers — defeated opponent and subsequent collaborator in the proposed absorption of Cassell College into Cao Ya's martial arts university 45 46 47.
• Old Tang — Cao Ya intends to spare him rather than awaken Norton's will and kill someone he considers not to be a bad person 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

System Space and the First Eight Incarnations

• The eight Cao Yas exchange memories and compare their circumstances, giving the previously constrained Naruto incarnation the means to challenge Danzo 2.
• They agree that the two newcomers should develop chakra and blood-and-qi cultivation alongside the shared system from The Masters of This World 3.

Danzo's Death and the Fifth Hokage

• Cao Ya prepares to exploit Konoha Crush without warning Hiruzen Sarutobi, whom he condemns for his political conduct 3.
• Kills Danzo in the Forest of Death, removes the obedience seal through Danzo's death, and declares himself Root's new leader 7 8.
• Displays overwhelming strength before the assembled ninja and subsequently secures recognition as Fifth Hokage from the Land of Fire's daimyo 9 10.
• Uses Root's intelligence and political pressure to silence opposition, then expands research, education, and agricultural programs. He prohibits coerced human experimentation by Orochimaru 10.
• Continues to regard Akatsuki and the Otsutsuki as obstacles to lasting peace 10.

Heavenly Gate City and a New Cultivation Path

• Enters the Magic City Catacombs alone and challenges Heavenly Gate City despite its ninth-rank lord 12 13.
• Devastates the city during battle, injures its lord, and withdraws when the spirit plant's assistance and wider Catacombs activity make continued fighting less favorable 14 15.
• Returns safely, boosts human morale, and agrees to a Grandmaster banquet 15 16.
• Publishes Golden Bell Shield and other methods, attracting researchers, factions, and prospective students. The resulting attention drives him to hide at the Logistics Department 16 17.

Changbai Mountain and the Bronze Gate

• After acquiring shared power, the tomb-robbing incarnation abandons his avoidance of “It” and joins Fatty's expedition 18 19 20.
• Protects companions during the journey, clears blocked passages, and overwhelms the creatures guarding King Wannu's coffin 21 25 27 34 35.
• Targets the objects coveted by “It,” the Wang Family, and the Zhang Family rather than pursuing each faction separately 32 33.
• Seizes Meteorite Jade; the expedition's aftermath reveals the Bronze Gate shattered and its cavern emptied. He next plans to seek the larger Meteorite Jade in Serpent Marsh Ghost City 37 38.

Seclusion and Supernatural Headquarters

• The Shaolin incarnation chooses seclusion after learning that Meng Qi has entered Six Reincarnation Space 38 39.
• The Great Sun City incarnation continues cautious ghost research and refuses a headquarters meeting, demanding the captain position, delegated authority, and supernatural items owed for his work. Cao Yanhua agrees to his terms 39 40.

First Martial Arts University and Cassell College

• The Dragon Raja incarnation obtains official backing for a team and proposes mass martial arts training to prepare humanity against dragons 41.
• Demands a Dragon Raja corpse as compensation for Cassell College's unauthorized Three Gorges operation, then defeats Angers 42 45 46.
• Names his planned institution the First Martial Arts University. He accepts a delay in public enrollment and disclosure while construction is arranged 47.
• Arrives at Cassell College with a display of flight and golden light, offering either incorporation as a branch campus or continued independence while he takes items that interest him 49.
• Begins sharing martial arts instruction while leaving existing personnel considerable freedom, provided they carry out his orders 50.

Notable Quotes

“I just want to cultivate quietly and do my part for humanity.” 3

“Of course it's martial arts. I've just attained a little success, that's all.” 27

“I still have to be cautious, cautious, and more cautious!” 39