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My Journey as Fourth Kazekage 182
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 16:00:08 +0000 UTCChapter 182: The Sage of Six Paths
Ten-odd minutes later.
Inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, the place was a wreck, with evidence of intense battle everywhere.
Massive trees twisted and sprawled, while golden sand floated through the air.
Rasa, in his Edo Tensei form, stood atop the floating gold dust. Beneath his feet, hanging from the gnarled branches of a tree, were two utterly broken corpses.
Even in death, Danzō's remaining left eye was filled with deep unwillingness.
It wasn’t just the frustration of dying so abruptly and inexplicably, but also the shock of seeing Rasa wield Wood Release. But Rasa only glanced at him briefly before losing interest.
He had to admit, maybe it was the age, but this era's Danzō really was weak.
In his original timeline, defeating Danzō required careful planning, leveraging asymmetrical intelligence, and launching a surprise attack to secure victory. But this Danzō…
Rasa had eliminated him completely in under ten minutes.
Perhaps the years of power and comfort had dulled Danzō’s vigilance to an extreme.
The moment Rasa launched his sneak attack, he severed Danzō’s right arm and stole the three-tomoe Sharingan from his right eye, giving him no chance to use Izanagi. The battle ended soon after with Wood Release.
As for the Yamanaka clan shinobi, he had been utterly consumed like an ant within the Sea of Trees. However, even though his objective had been achieved, Rasa had no intention of leaving yet.
He had something to confirm. Even though this Edo Tensei body was unable to utilize senjutsu chakra and thus couldn’t access the Yomi World, he possessed an alternative approach.
"Summoning Technique: Gate of Yomi!"
With the summoning complete, a massive stone gate rose from the ground.
Seeing the gate appear, Rasa grinned in satisfaction.
“Success.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped through.
Before him stretched a familiar scene, a vast, empty, white world that seemed even larger than the last time he came. However, due to his current inability to access senjutsu chakra, he couldn’t sense the natural energy of this realm.
Fortunately, that wouldn’t be a problem for long. He was about to regain his senjutsu chakra. However, before that, there was still one answer he needed. This answer was not hard to find. Just a few minutes later, he arrived at a familiar location: the very center of this Yomi World. There, Rasa immediately saw what he was looking for.
Seated cross-legged in complete stillness was another Rasa, identical in appearance. But this Rasa had his eyes shut tightly, showing no sign of life, like a soulless corpse. At that moment, there were two Rasas in the Yomi World. One was the Rasa reincarnated through Edo Tensei. The other was the Rasa of senjutsu chakra.
Observing this scene, Rasa finally understood.
“So, the Edo Tensei merely summoned my soul into the future…”
Inexplicably, a theory began to form in his mind.
“So that means… after I replaced the original Fourth Kazekage Rasa of this world, I became a unique existence in time and space. The soul that Orochimaru intended to summon with Edo Tensei had already vanished, replaced by me instead. That’s why… I was summoned into the future?”
Rasa grinned.
“How fascinating.”
Rasa thought of something else.
In the original future plot, the Fourth Kazekage would be summoned twice more, once by Kabuto during the Fourth Great Ninja War, and once at the very end, when the Sage of Six Paths summoned the previous Kage.
Now the question was whether the changes in the timeline had erased that future altogether, or, just like now, led to the creation of a parallel world.
If it were the second case, that would be truly interesting. Rasa was inclined to believe the second possibility.
The answer was simple. He looked down at the [Kāma] on his hand. Two corners of the black diamond-shaped mark remained unchanged.
But that was a matter for the future.
For now, it was time to return to his body. With that thought, Rasa immediately released the Edo Tensei on himself. He felt his soul lifting from his body. This was his first time seeing what his soul looked like. It wasn’t his former self from his past life, but rather the current Fourth Kazekage Rasa. It seemed his original soul had fully merged with this Rasa. But then, all of a sudden, an ominous sensation struck, and Rasa’s expression shifted dramatically.
It was a feeling much like a summoning technique, a force from the outside world pulling at him uncontrollably.
Fortunately, the Yomi space erupted with energy, effectively countering that external force. Rasa, however, showed no hesitation. He immediately returned to his original body. Then, without pause, he raised his right hand and absorbed all the Edo Tensei chakra present in the area.
Only after confirming that the Yomi world was now completely devoid of chakra did he take a deep breath and speak.
“That immense power… was it the Sage of Six Paths?”
---
Deep within the Shinobi World, in a realm accessible only to souls, known as the Pure Land, a low voice slowly echoed.
“That power… is that Mother’s? And also… time-space power?”
In the distance, a man hovered cross-legged in mid-air. Beneath him floated black orbs. He wore a long white robe, had brown hair, two horns, six black tomoe across his chest, and a red spiral mark on his back.
This was the founder of ninshū, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, also known as the Sage of Six Paths.
In truth, ever since Rasa had arrived in this world, Hagoromo had sensed something unusual.
As the originator of chakra across the world, every shinobi’s soul was linked through chakra and firmly under his surveillance.
To prepare for the arrival of the Ōtsutsuki clan, foes foretold by his mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Hagoromo had gathered all deceased shinobi souls in the Pure Land, intending to train them as a force against the impending threat.
Among them, the ones that mattered most were the former Kage, the peaks of shinobi power.
But then, when Orochimaru used Edo Tensei to summon the Fourth Kazekage Rasa, Hagoromo realized that this soul, which had just been recalled from the Pure Land, had suddenly escaped his control.
So, using the chakra as a link, Hagoromo began monitoring this rogue soul.
From the moment it broke free of the Edo Tensei, to its absorption of Indra’s reincarnation, Senju Hashirama’s chakra, to its entry into that strange realm, Hagoromo had been watching.
Naturally, he also noticed the strange diamond-shaped mark on Rasa’s right palm.
