Chapter 123: Senju Tianren: Did I Overestimate Himiko?

Chapter 123: Senju Tianren: Did I Overestimate Himiko?

These voices rang out, announcing to everyone that the Empire had emerged victorious in this battle!

The Konoha ninjas were overjoyed and immediately flattered Tsunade, exclaiming:

"Wonderful! Hokage! Your decision was the best! Allying with the Empire is undoubtedly the wisest choice Konoha has ever made!"

"Long live the Hokage!"

The group of ninjas shouted in unison.

Tsunade waved her hand and said, "Forget about the Hokage stuff. From now on... we are all just ordinary members of the Empire."

"You're still our Hokage to us!" the ninjas replied.

The ninjas from the Hidden Leaf Village stood there dumbfounded, murmuring to themselves:

"Are we... saved?"

"Is it... over? Is it really... over?"

"The Emperor from another world has forgiven us. We should surrender quickly!"

"Tsuchikage! Let's surrender!"

"Raikage..."

"Mizukage, you were right from the start. It turns out that we were the foolish ones all along! We should have just honestly submitted to the Empire."

"Kazekage, let's surrender!"

The ninjas pleaded with their respective Kage.

They had absolutely no courage left to face the Empire again.

Even Senju Hashirama said:

"Tsunade's decision was correct. Even if the Great Toad Sage predicted that the world would be destroyed... we couldn't have resisted anyway. Now the only thing we can do is probably pray that the mighty Emperor is a benevolent ruler."

"Hmph... what an incredible man... with unimaginable power..." The Second Hokage muttered, his face still reflecting his awe.

The nine rescued tailed beasts remained silent, not displaying their usual playful and arrogant attitudes. Instead, they cowered, shrinking their bodies.

They had just realized how dangerous these ninjas were!

Aside from being brutally beaten and captured while inside their Jinchuriki hosts, they had retained their consciousness even after being extracted and placed within Uchiha Madara. They had witnessed the entire previous battle.

Who could have imagined this outcome?

Especially that guy with the thick eyebrows and big eyes, who had beaten Uchiha Madara like a grandson, despite Madara having absorbed all their powers and possessing the eyes of the Sage of Six Paths!

And Uchiha Madara was a being capable of treating them like grandchildren and toying with them!

As for the woman who appeared later, she was even more terrifying. She was the mother of the Sage of Six Paths, an existence of legend.

Yet, in the end, she was still instantly killed by that horrifying shadowy figure!

It was too terrifying!

What was even more frightening was that... they would probably have to coexist with such beings from now on. If they accidentally angered them, would they be beaten to death?

Boo hoo hoo... the tailed beasts were truly scared!

Whoosh!

A sharp sound of tearing through the air startled everyone.

The figure of Empire Kai descended, standing before the Empire's group. He revealed his pearly white teeth and gave them a thumbs-up.

Before he could even speak, the nine tailed beasts shrank back in unison.

Empire Ai spoke up first:

"Your Excellency Kai! Was that final attack truly the Emperor's doing? Has he been here with us all along?"

After speaking, he looked around, trying to find traces of Senju Tianren.

"It was him, and yet it wasn't," Empire Kai explained. "The final move was made possible by a heart that belonged to the Emperor, which he gave to me before I left. It was sealed with his attack.

As long as one expends a large amount of qi or chakra, the seal can be unlocked, unleashing his strike.

So you could say it was him intervening, but in truth, he never set foot in this world."

Empire Kai paused, a hint of embarrassment creeping into his voice as he continued:

"It's embarrassing to admit, but even though the Emperor sent me to rescue you all, in the end, I could only rely on his power."

"Not at all, Your Excellency Kai," Empire Ai reassured him. "You've done an excellent job.

And it's thanks to you that we were able to witness the Emperor's power firsthand! In the twenty-two years since he's been gone, his strength has clearly grown by leaps and bounds!

This only further proves the limitless potential of the Martial Way!"

Empire Ai's words resonated with the group.

"Indeed! The Martial Way is full of infinite possibilities! We still have so many paths to explore!" Empire Kai exclaimed, his entire body glowing with golden light.

This radiance bathed the Empire's people, visibly healing their wounds at a rapid pace. Soon enough, they were lively and energetic once more.

They then began tending to the wounded ninjas from Konoha, and once they had finished, the Konoha ninjas joined in to help heal the ninjas from the other villages.

In this Great Ninja War, the initial number of surviving ninjas had been at least twenty thousand.

But now... more than half had perished!

Ten thousand lives had been lost!

However, the majority of these deaths had not occurred in the conflict with the Empire, but rather at the hands of Uchiha Madara.

A portion of the casualties were caused by the aftershocks of the battle between Empire Kai, Uchiha Madara, and Kaguya Otsutsuki.

Once everyone had been treated and recovered, they gathered together, their expressions complex.

They all sat cross-legged on the ground, each one looking like a well-behaved child, meekly watching the original Empire group in the central position.

The Empire group... had just opened a strange object, and then... the man from the azure firmament had appeared!

In the instant they saw this man,

All the shinobi from the ninja villages dared not breathe.

All the Empire members bowed and greeted the man, then proceeded to report the situation.

Senju Tianren listened thoughtfully, nodding as he said, "Kai, you did well. However, the attack I launched by borrowing your power and that of this world did not completely eradicate Kaguya Otsutsuki. Her body is now scattered all over the world, and as long as she has enough time, she will still be able to resurrect."

"Resurrect? Even after being utterly annihilated, that woman can still come back? Just what level of immortality is this?!"

Empire Ai was taken aback, feeling that the opponent was a bit outrageous.

"The Otsutsuki clan's immortality is indeed extraordinary and is what makes them so troublesome. It's their advantage over us, after all, as humans, our bodies are fragile."

Senju Tianren paused, remembering the information about the Otsutsuki clan from Boruto that he had seen in his previous life.

There was that being named Isshiki, Kaguya's superior, who was supposedly assassinated but eventually resurrected by possessing another person's body.

Wasn't it normal for them to be able to be reborn even from ashes?

In terms of immortality, his current Martial Way had not yet reached such a level.

However... this Kaguya Otsutsuki seemed a bit weak. She couldn't even withstand a single attack from me...

To be fair, in his original world,

Out of caution and a reluctance to damage the Empire's flora and fauna,

He had never actually used this attack before.

And through this battle, comparing Kaguya to the Sage of Six Paths,

Senju Tianren did not feel that Kaguya's strength surpassed that of the Sage.

This made Senju Tianren carefully recall the original story, trying to piece things together.

In the original story,

Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha's frontal assault was no match for Kaguya, and in the end, they sealed her using the Six Paths: Chibaku Tensei.

Thus, the power gap between them should not have been that significant.

And where did this power come from?

If he recalled correctly, it was bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths.

Recalling further, what was Naruto and Sasuke's strength like before they obtained the Sage's power?

At that time... weren't they instantly killed by Uchiha Madara, who had not yet obtained the power of the Ten-Tails?

Killed by Madara, who was not yet at the level of the Sage of Six Paths.

That was the strength of Naruto and Sasuke without the Six Paths power.

With Sasuke in his Rinnegan Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan state and Naruto in his Tailed Beast Sage Mode,

After obtaining the Six Paths power and its boost, Naruto entered Six Paths Sage Mode, and Sasuke unlocked his Rinne Sharingan.

Then... Naruto gained the power to single-handedly suppress Madara, who possessed the power of the Sage of Six Paths, achieving a heaven-defying leap in strength.

In other words,

If the Sage of Six Paths had not given them his power, would he not have been able to seal Kaguya himself?

That... was hard to say.

After all, the Yin-Yang Release powers they used were bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths.

Evidently, the Sage's strength was not inferior to Kaguya's, and as a master of sealing jutsu, he had an advantage over her.

Thus, it was understandable that he was not weaker than Kaguya.

After all, the Sage of Six Paths had a millennium to grow and improve after his creation by Kaguya.

Naturally, he would be far stronger a thousand years later.

He hadn't thought carefully about this relationship before, and now he realized that Kaguya wasn't as formidable as he had imagined.

It seemed he had been overly cautious.

However, when dealing with the Otsutsuki clan, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Who knew just how strong this alien race could be?

"Your Majesty is right," the Empire members agreed with Senju Tianren's words.

Then,

Empire Setsuna glared at the people from the ninja world and asked, "Your Majesty, these people went back on their word. Do you think they need to be punished?"

"..."

Senju Tianren did not respond, merely casting a indifferent glance at the people from the four great ninja villages.

These people felt their scalps tingle and their bodies tremble as they suddenly lost control of their bodies! Even the elite jonin, special jonin, and kage from the various villages were not exempt.

Only the Impure World Reincarnation bodies were able to move freely due to their unique nature.

The Second Tsuchikage, seeing the living people from his village scared stiff, was about to step forward and say something.

But at that moment,

The Third Raikage, Sarutobi, took a step forward, biting his tongue and letting the blood flow from the corner of his mouth. Using the pain to overcome his fear of Senju Tianren, he said, "Your... Your Majesty... please forgive us. This is all because of Jiraiya's lies and my lack of conviction. If you must punish someone, then punish this old bone. I am willing to bear all the consequences, so please spare everyone else!"

As he spoke, he knelt on the ground, his forehead touching the floor.

"That's right... It was all my fault. Your Majesty, please punish me."

Jiraiya didn't try to defend himself and directly admitted his mistake, kneeling on the ground.

"Your punishment will be decided by the Department of Penal Laws later. Now, everyone, prepare to evacuate. This world is no longer suitable for humans to live in, so we will move to the Empire. Also, remember to bring the souls of Obito Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Sarutobi, and Danzo with us to the Empire. Their punishment is not over yet."

Senju Tianren didn't focus his attention on the two old men.

"As you wish, Your Majesty!"

The members of the Empire respectfully replied.

"Oh, right. Don't think that you can rest on your laurels just because you're in the Empire now. There are still some enemies in our Empire that we must overcome. I hope that after you arrive, you will work hard to improve yourselves and serve the Empire. Understood?"

Senju Tianren looked at the people from the ninja villages and said.

"What? Even such a powerful Empire has enemies? How is that possible?"

The people from the ninja age were bewildered. They had just witnessed the might of the Empire's people and couldn't imagine what kind of existence could rival them.

"Could it be... another Empire from another world?"

Someone speculated.

"No, it's the Otsutsuki clan!" Empire Kai gave them a thumbs-up.

"The Otsutsuki clan? What's that?" The people from the ninja world looked puzzled.

"The woman I defeated in the end was Kaguya Otsutsuki from the Otsutsuki clan." Senju Tianren explained.

The ninja world inhabitants gasped: "The Otsutsuki clan... a whole clan... Aside from that woman, are there many more like her or even stronger in that clan?"

"Of course, that's why the Empire has to be on guard against them and even confront them. The Otsutsuki clan is a group that can traverse the universe and invade weaker worlds. There are countless members of the Otsutsuki clan as powerful as Kaguya, and the extent of their stronger members is unknown. That's why we must respond with all our strength. This is also the reason why I didn't want anyone to use force against you initially. Because, ultimately, we are all in the same boat. However, it's always more difficult to achieve a peaceful surrender than expected. People can only grow through experiences. I know this very well."

Senju Tianren said.

A group of people from the ninja world showed embarrassed and ashamed expressions.

Even Empire Ai, Kisame, and some others revealed awkward smiles.

Apparently, they had also resisted Senju Tianren's unification efforts in the past and only calmed down after being thoroughly beaten.

"We're sorry, Your Majesty. We misunderstood you."

"Your Majesty is so great, yet we judged you with petty minds... We were truly disrespectful..."

The people from the ninja world expressed their shame.

"It doesn't matter. I won't hold it against you."

After Senju Tianren finished speaking, his shadow disappeared.

Everyone began to act according to Senju Tianren's instructions.

Soon after.

The Jinchuriki, the ninja world's Obito, and Itachi reappeared,

opening their eyes once more.

They looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar world and the gathered villagers.

The few of them were dumbfounded.

What surprised them even more was.

Some people standing at the very front.

Naruto looked at Minato and Kushina, feeling a bit dazed.

Kushina immediately ran to his side, hugged him tightly, and sobbed: "Naruto! My Naruto! Waaahhh!

It's all that Sarutobi jerk and that idiot Minato's fault!

If it weren't for their incompetence, you wouldn't have had to become a Jinchuriki, and you wouldn't have had to die like I did! Waaahhh!"

"Mom? Are you... my mom?"

Naruto asked in a daze.

"Yes! Naruto! I'm your mother, your real mother in this world!" Kushina said.

"Mom..."

Naruto's heart stirred, and he gently hugged Kushina, murmuring:

"It's so good to see you again, even in the afterlife... But... why are there so many more people here? Did everyone die?"

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end