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Chapter 299: The Calm Before the Storm
🕑 Added 2024-11-12 11:11:00 +0000 UTCAlthough Black Zetsu didn't know much about Otsutsuki Urashiki's pills, he had observed Urashiki extracting chakra from others multiple times and transforming it into pills. At critical moments, Urashiki would eat the pill to boost his chakra.
In any case, it seemed like a good thing, right?
Under Urashiki's watchful gaze, Black Zetsu opened its mouth and swallowed the pill.
Immediately, Black Zetsu felt a massive surge of chakra within itself, and visible chakra started to emanate from its body.
"My power has increased so much!" With the pill consumed, Black Zetsu could clearly feel its strength growing significantly.
"Not bad. It seems that the absorption of the pill worked well for you!" Urashiki nodded slightly as he observed the changes in Black Zetsu's chakra.
"The effect of this pill is indeed impressive!"
Feeling the enhancement in his chakra, Black Zetsu was overjoyed.
No matter how you looked at it, his power had increased, which could only be a good thing, right?
"Alright, I have said everything I needed to say. I will leave now."
The pill's effect was an unexpected bonus for Black Zetsu. After thoroughly feeling the increase in his strength, Black Zetsu spoke to Urashiki.
"Okay, you may leave," Urashiki nodded, then sat back down.
He cast his fishing line into the river below and quietly waited for the next fish to take the bait.
Watching Urashiki, Black Zetsu hesitated for a moment, not immediately departing.
"What's wrong? Do you still have something to say?" Noticing that Black Zetsu hadn't left, Urashiki asked.
"I'm just curious." Black Zetsu replied, "If you don't actually want the fish, then why are you fishing?"
Indeed, Black Zetsu was very curious about Urashiki's behavior.
When he first arrived, he had seen Urashiki catch a large carp, only to release it back into the water.
"The catch isn't the important part. It's the process of fishing that I enjoy," Urashiki said.
"Quite refined!" Black Zetsu nodded in realization and even raised a thumb in praise of Urashiki's attitude. After understanding what he wanted to know, Black Zetsu had no intention of lingering and sank back into the ground, disappearing quickly. Despite praising Urashiki's elegance, internally, Black Zetsu couldn't help but think he was crazy.
Not wanting the fish but loving the act of fishing?
It's like working hard without wanting a salary—what else could you call this but madness?
Although his injuries had mostly healed, Urashiki wasn't in a rush.
His primary objective was still to obtain the chakra of the Nine-Tails, which was his main focus.
As for Kaguya? He decided he would deal with that after acquiring the Nine-Tails chakra.
Initially, Urashiki had thought that, having traveled to this timeline, it would be relatively easy to obtain the Nine-Tails chakra.
But it turned out that this timeline also had its fair share of powerful individuals, and things weren't as simple as he had expected.
"If I had known this, I wouldn't have traveled just a few years; I should've gone back by several decades, maybe even centuries!"
The image of Akira transforming into a golden dragon flashed through Urashiki's mind, and he thought back to how he had underestimated the timeline, assuming there wouldn't be such formidable foes.
Indeed, he had never anticipated encountering a powerful enemy like Akira in this timeline.
He had heard that the Nine-Tails had existed for over a millennium.
Had he known, he would have chosen a period devoid of such strong adversaries.
Originally, as a member of the Otsutsuki clan, Urashiki hadn't considered the shinobi world's so-called "strongest" much of a threat.
But after being defeated by Akira, and previously being pushed back by Sasuke and Naruto from another timeline, the repeated setbacks had made him realize something.
The shinobi world indeed had strong individuals capable of threatening him.
It wasn't the easy "ride-over-all" scenario he had initially envisioned where he could easily accomplish his goals!
Let's leave Urashiki's current situation aside for now.
On the other side, everything had been quite peaceful recently, and Akira's attention was focused mainly on Hinata's development of the Tenseigan.
Practicing gravitational pull and repulsion, Hinata had become more skilled. She was getting better at controlling the coins that spun around her wrist, making them move smoother.
These days, Hinata had been getting more and more proficient in her control of the Tenseigan.
Hinata had officially stepped into the realm of Kage-level shinobi.
From a comprehensive standpoint, Hinata was now the only member of the Hyuga clan to evolve to the level of the Tenseigan, making her arguably the strongest Hyuga clan member!
Moreover, it wasn't just Hinata who had been training these days; everyone else had been intensifying their training as well.
Kage-level shinobi had once been considered the pinnacle of power in the shinobi world.
But with the successive emergence of the Rinnegan, and individuals like Akira and Sasuke who were above Kage-level, those Kage-level shinobi had witnessed even higher mountains.
Therefore, no one was complacent just because they were Kage-level.
Everyone—the Sannin, Kakashi, Might Guy—they all focused on training even harder.
Sasuke, as the sole Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan user, primarily trained to enhance his visual prowess.
Although his overall strength had nearly doubled, his chakra levels hadn't increased; it was mainly his ocular abilities that had improved.
With his enhanced visual prowess, Sasuke could now reach the fourth stage of Susanoo, where the Susanoo was covered in armor.
Of course, the next step would be reaching the point where his Susanoo could stand on two feet and walk upright.
When he finally reached that level, there would be a qualitative change, and his Susanoo's size would increase significantly!
"No, it's not enough. Still far from it!" Sasuke muttered as he looked at his Susanoo, which lacked legs. His heart was full of determination.
Akira was only an ordinary Mangekyou Sharingan user, yet each of his wooden clones could summon a fully-formed Susanoo.
And here he was, an Eternal Mangekyou user, still unable to match even one of Akira's wood clones?
This was something Sasuke simply couldn't accept!
Shaking his head silently, Sasuke pushed himself to focus harder and continued his training.
Meanwhile, over at Mount Myoboku—one of the Three Great Sage Regions—Naruto sat cross-legged with toad oil applied to his body to help him sense natural energy.
Next to him were Fukasaku and Shima, the two Great Toad Sages, standing by as his guardians.
Should Naruto mess up during training, they would use their sticks to disperse the natural energy around him, preventing him from turning into a frog statue!
However, thanks to Akira giving him two opportunities to experience Dragon Sage Mode, Naruto found his training for the Toad Sage Mode going smoother than before.
Having experienced Sage Mode before, Naruto was eager to grow stronger, knowing that only through mastering Sage Mode could he truly leap in power.
Elsewhere, Kakashi was also working hard on his chakra training.
Kakashi knew very well that his greatest weakness was his limited chakra reserves.
Thus, if he wanted to increase his power, focusing on boosting his chakra reserves was key!
Though chakra control was also important, even the most skilled cook can't work without ingredients.
Without enough chakra, it wouldn't matter how well he could control it.
Jiraiya and Tsunade were also training, although their progress wasn't as fast as the others.
Reaching middle age meant that, no matter how hard they tried, their physical capabilities were what they were.
So their desire to push their strength beyond current limits wasn't as urgent.
More importantly, once you're middle-aged, unless there's an extraordinary situation, dramatic increases in strength aren't very likely!
Interestingly enough, among the Kage-level shinobi in the Leaf, Roshi and Han had the easiest path to growth!
Being Jinchuriki, their strength primarily relied on the chakra of their respective Tailed Beasts.
Though they had previously been able to use some of their Tailed Beasts' chakra, they couldn't fully achieve something like Yugito Nii or Killer Bee, who could transform at will.
However, this issue was nothing before Akira!
With Roshi and Han, Akira simply displayed his Mangekyou Sharingan in front of them. The overwhelming ocular power subdued them instantly.
Before long, the Four-Tails Son Goku and Five-Tails Kokuo inside them became much more docile!
With the Tailed Beasts inside them behaving, Roshi and Han's overall strength naturally rose significantly!
And just like that, two more months went by in the blink of an eye!
During these two months, the shinobi world was unusually peaceful, with everyone working silently to improve their strength.
Everything seemed like the calm before the storm, with everyone preparing for the potential war ahead—a storm on the horizon…
