"Why does that brat also possess such power?"
Inside a room of the Mobile Fortress, Hyde, peering through the window at Sasuke Uchiha below unleashing Sage Art: Storm Release White Dragon, was shocked, his eyes also filled with delight as he murmured, "Could he also be a descendant of that lineage? Does he also have a Gelel Stone in his possession?"
Just as Hyde was about to continue observing, hoping for an opportunity to capture Sasuke Uchiha, a voice suddenly echoed in his ear.
"Wood Release: Silent Killing Binding Technique!"
Wooden vines sprouted from the ground, binding Hyde into a cocoon.
"Who is it?!"
Hyde's expression changed drastically as he turned his head.
By the time he saw it was a red-haired youth, his body was already immobilized.
Without the slightest hesitation, Hyde immediately triggered the Gelel Stone implanted in his right hand, absorbing its power. His hair instantly turned from brown to white, his eyes became red with black vertical pupils, and his skin transformed from human flesh to the color of steel.
Crack...
The branches on his body emitted crisp cracking sounds. Hyde broke free effortlessly, and then four fleshy pillars grew from his back, rapidly expanding like the Akimichi Clan's secret technique, crashing towards Nagato.
"What amazing power, is it due to that stone?" Nagato stared at the stone on the back of Hyde's hand, which was flashing a cyan light, and simultaneously raised his hand, softly uttering, "Almighty Push!"
Boom—
A massive explosion erupted, and an invisible storm of Repulsion destroyed the room.
The four crashing fleshy pillars were blasted back, and Hyde's body shattered the wall, flying out of the Mobile Fortress.
"Lord Hyde!"
The explosion attracted attention below.
Timushi, gazing at Hyde in the sky, shouted in alarm.
At that moment, a figure flew out from the thick fog of the Mobile Fortress.
Seeing this figure, it was Kakashi Hatake's turn to be shocked.
"Naruto, run!"
Kakashi Hatake hurriedly shouted, while forming Hand Seals with both hands, creating two Shadow Clones.
"Fire Release: Ash Dust Concealing Technique!"
Kakashi Hatake spat out a large amount of ash, obstructing Kisame Hoshigaki's vision.
Before long, several figures burst out from the ash, it was Kakashi Hatake and his Shadow Clones grabbing Uzumaki Naruto and Timushi.
Another Shadow Clone went to protect Sakura Haruno, who had already secretly left the Mobile Fortress with Pakkun, heading back towards the caravan.
"Let go of me, I need to help Lord Hyde."
Timushi drew his Knight Sword, releasing the power of the Gelel Stone, blasting away Kakashi Hatake's Shadow Clone, and then charged towards Hyde's direction.
"Timushi!"
Uzumaki Naruto shouted loudly, subconsciously trying to break free from Kakashi Hatake's restraint to go and help.
"Idiot, do you want to kill everyone?"
Kakashi Hatake rarely scolded loudly, "The one above is the leader of the Akatsuki, their goal is to capture the Tailed Beasts, which means the monster inside you. That boy is not your friend, he was even your enemy before, and he doesn't want to leave. Going over there like this is just throwing your life away, and it will implicate us, even the village!"
It was the first time Uzumaki Naruto had seen Kakashi Hatake so angry, and he couldn't help but be stunned.
Kakashi Hatake even opened the first gate of the Eight Gates, increasing his speed to the extreme, and took Uzumaki Naruto to Sasuke Uchiha, who was suppressed by Itachi Uchiha's Susanoo. He whispered, "Sasuke, do you have enough Chakra left? Use the largest range of Wood Release to cover our escape."
"...I understand."
Sasuke Uchiha glanced at Itachi Uchiha unwillingly, then formed hand seals and shouted, "Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
Rumble...
The waterlogged earth shook, and a large number of branches broke out of the ground, quickly growing branches and leaves, turning into ordinary trees, spreading in all directions.
In the blink of an eye, a forest appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Itachi Uchiha, who was submerged by the wave of trees, dispelled the second form of Susanoo, and his Mangekyo Sharingan also degenerated back to the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Standing on top of a large tree, he looked at Nagato in the sky, then glanced at the Seventh Squad rapidly fleeing away, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Not to mention Kakashi Hatake, he was also taken aback by the sudden appearance of Nagato.
He thought Nagato was here to capture the Nine Tails, and almost lost his composure.
Fortunately, the other party's target was the leader of the Mobile Fortress.
Kisame Hoshigaki appeared next to Itachi Uchiha in a flash, and teased, "Mr. Itachi, they ran away, should we chase after them?"
"The Nine Tails is not the target of this mission, let's wait for the leader's instructions." Itachi Uchiha said expressionlessly.
Kisame Hoshigaki just smiled meaningfully, then looked in the direction where the Seventh Squad's Chakra signature had disappeared, and exclaimed slightly, "I didn't expect that in just half a year, your brother, Mr. Itachi, has improved his strength to the point where he can force out your trump card. If this continues, when he really obtains the same eyes as you, Mr. Itachi, will he escape your control?"
"It doesn't matter, everything is within the plan." Itachi Uchiha said calmly, but his eyelids were trembling slightly.
Continuously using Tsukuyomi and Susanoo obviously took a toll on him.
But fortunately, he has tried his best not to take action in recent years.
All battles were handled by Kisame Hoshigaki, and he only provided support, so he didn't consume much Eye Power.
However, his physical condition is getting worse and worse.
The amount of Chakra is shrinking every year.
If this continues, he can only last for three to five years at most.
Itachi Uchiha was originally worried that he might not be able to hold on until Sasuke Uchiha grew up.
Now it seems that there is no need to worry at all.
With Sasuke Uchiha's current strength, perhaps in another year or two, he will have the ability to kill him.
Even if he still has the three-tomoe Sharingan at that time, as long as Sasuke Uchiha kills him with his own hands, he will still awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, to avoid the truth being exposed, leading Sasuke Uchiha down a path of destruction, and needing someone to help Sasuke Uchiha obtain eternal Eye Power, Itachi Uchiha felt that he still had to leave a backup plan.
It seems that it is time to find an opportunity to meet the future Sixth Hokage.
Itachi Uchiha thought to himself.
At the same time, Nagato in the sky had already ended the battle.
"Deva Path!"
Nagato, who flew out of the Mobile Fortress, raised his hand and released a strange Attraction, like an invisible palm, grabbing the flying Hyde back. At the same time, he raised his other hand and extended several wooden vines, binding Hyde again.
This time, before Hyde could break free, Nagato increased the output of Chakra and whispered, "Sealing Technique: Four Limbs Heavy Sealing!"
The vines emerged with a blue Chakra aura, and tadpole-like black spells crawled out of the Chakra aura, quickly spreading all over Hyde's body.
Hyde instantly lost control of his body, and even his ability to speak was taken away.
Nagato did not land with Hyde, but created a Wood Clone in the sky. Then, the Wood Clone reached out and placed his hand on Hyde's body, using the Preta Path to absorb the energy from his body.
The energy of the Gelel Stone was absorbed, and Hyde immediately changed from a monster back to his original form.
"This energy is..."
The Wood Clone that absorbed the energy in Hyde's body suddenly widened his eyes, and his body began to monsterize at a speed visible to the naked eye.
But soon, the monsterization was automatically lifted.
Instead, red eye shadow appeared at the corners of his eyes.
"So it's Natural Energy!"
Nagato suddenly realized, digesting the information transmitted by the Wood Clone in real time, and murmured, "No, this is not ordinary Natural Energy. It also contains Yang Release power similar to Wood Release, or more precisely, the power of life. Is it because of this stone?"
Staring at the stone on the back of Hyde's right hand, Nagato said to himself, "Is this the Gelel Stone? Let me see what this stone is."
Raising his hand and placing it on Hyde's head, who couldn't speak, Nagato ignored the other party's pleading eyes and directly used the power of the Human Path to extract and absorb Hyde's soul.
A massive amount of information immediately appeared in Nagato's mind.
After layers of screening, the information of the Gelel Stone was quickly extracted.
Digesting this information, Nagato exclaimed in surprise, "The Gelel Stone can create wells that never run dry and livestock that grow overnight. It can also create continuously solid crops, as well as research and ecological integration to prevent aging... In the past Shinobi World, there was actually an empire built with this kind of stone? Why hasn't a single document been left behind?"
"No... it's not that none have been left behind, but that fewer and fewer people know about it, and they have only moved overseas."
Nagato searched out a photo from Hyde's body, looked at the old man and the ferret on it, and said softly, "The answer may be on him."
"Release Lord Hyde!"
At this time, a shout came into his ears from below.
Nagato looked down and saw a green slash rising into the sky, flying towards him.
Before Nagato could take action, the Wood Clone next to him, who had opened Sage Mode in seconds, flew down.
Without using the power of the Rinnegan, the Wood Clone simply threw a punch.
The fist collided with the slash, and the latter was smashed into pieces by the punch, turning into a green wave of air roaring open.
"Is this Sage Chakra?"
The Wood Clone looked at his unscathed fist and couldn't help but exclaim, "Natural Energy and Wood Release are simply a match made in heaven, and the power of life inside can actually enhance the power of Yang Release. If I had more stones, perhaps I wouldn't need Hashirama Cells, and my Wood Release could become stronger."
Thinking of this, the Wood Clone looked at Timushi below, his gaze also becoming fervent.
This young man was one of the descendants of that empire, and so was the old man with the ferret.
Moreover, the former seemed to be some kind of key, while the latter might know the location of the Gelel Stone mine left behind by that empire.
As long as he obtained these two people, it would be equivalent to obtaining the Gelel Stone mine.
Thus, Nagato's Wood Clone flew down and easily subdued and sealed Timushi with Wood Release.
As for Nagato's main body, he formed a single Hand Seal, closed his eyes, and fully released his senses, searching for the location of Seventh Squad.
The next second, Nagato's expression suddenly changed as if he had sensed something.
He opened his eyes, his face unsightly as he said, "Tenseigan, truly disgusting eyes."
Just now, Nagato had sensed a familiar Chakra, precisely Toneri Otsutsuki's Chakra.
The other party's location was in the direction of Seventh Squad.
But soon, the other party's Chakra, along with the large and small energy fluctuations beside it, disappeared without warning.
Combining the vague characteristics in his senses, those two energy fluctuations, one large and one small, were the old man and the ferret in the photo.
Clearly, the other party had also taken action personally.
He had his eyes on this guy named Hyde, while Toneri Otsutsuki had his eyes on that old man.
At this moment, Nagato suddenly felt fortunate that he had taken action personally.
Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have gained anything this time.
"The Gelel Stone mine is very likely hidden underground in the River Country and the Wind Country," Nagato thought to himself. "Currently, it can be confirmed that Toneri Otsutsuki's Tenseigan possesses an enhanced version of the Byakugan ability, but it cannot see Zetsu, who is integrated with the earth and vegetation, just like my Rinnegan, it cannot see the existence of Natural Energy."
"I can have Zetsu's clones search for mines similar to this stone underground in the Wind Country and the River Country, and I can also send Wood Clones to sense everywhere. Even if he finds the Gelel Stone mine, his Chakra will expose his location."
"Moreover, he doesn't have Wood Release and doesn't have a high compatibility with the Gelel Stone. He can't use the Rinnegan's Preta Path and Wood Release like me to easily absorb the energy inside the stone and fuse it with Chakra to become Sage Chakra. The power of life shouldn't increase him much either, the worst outcome is just that he masters Sage Mode."
"Unless the Gelel Stone mine is not in the River Country and the Wind Country, he won't be able to monopolize this mine."
Thinking of this, Nagato felt a little relieved.
Then, he turned around and flew back to the Mobile Fortress, scavenging Hyde's last remaining supplies.
He had to make the worst-case scenario plan.
If he couldn't obtain the Gelel Stone mine, even if his Wood Release couldn't be improved, he would use this last stone to be able to autonomously sense Natural Energy.
Once he could autonomously sense Natural Energy, he wouldn't have to rely on the Gelel Stone to enter Sage Mode.
In the Water Country, Izayoi's Wood Clone, who had gone to borrow some Chakra from the Six-Tails Jinchuriki to change his Chakra signature, had already obtained the information he wanted from the old man using the Spiritual Sphere.
"A vast empire, a Gelel Stone mine, containing the power to easily destroy half a continent... seems like I have some impression of it," Izayoi mentally complained with a face full of black lines. "Although I still can't remember, I can be sure that this is definitely something from a movie."
As for why Izayoi was so sure?
Because other than the Ten-Tails, only movies had things that could destroy the Shinobi World at every turn.
This Gelel Stone mine, which could easily destroy half a continent, was one of them.
The Dragon Vein, which could destroy the entire earth with the slightest carelessness, is one.
Moryo, who possesses the potential to destroy the world and was sealed by the priestess of the Demon Country, is one.
And the Tenseigan, as well as the Chakra cannon, are also products of the movie versions.
As the owner of the Tenseigan, Izayoi knows the nature of the movie versions too well.
Izayoi finally knows why he doesn't have any impression at all.
Because in his previous life, he only watched a few of the more popular movie versions.
As long as it's the original plot of the TV animation, even if Izayoi forgets it, he will have some impression more or less.
However, Izayoi really has no impression of this Gelel Stone at all.
"Instantly opening Sage Mode, it seems that, as I guessed, these stones contain Natural Energy."
Recalling the scene of Nagato's Wood Clone instantly opening Sage Mode, the corner of Izayoi's mouth raised slightly, and he thought to himself, "Wood Release, is indeed a cheat for cultivating Sage Mode."
"In this way, I don't have to deal with the Three Great Holy Lands, and I can completely cultivate Sage Mode myself like Hashirama Senju."
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