But this cowardly Slug Sage… was far more useful to the demon.
Uchiha Shiran stared coldly at her, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Since you're being so cooperative, I've got a question. Answer it honestly."
It was rare to find such an 'accommodating' ancient creature. Might as well extract whatever use he could before killing her.
The Slug Sage trembled on the ground, as if terrified beyond reason, acting like she hadn't heard a thing.
"Drop the act. Do you want me to cut you down right here?"
In an instant, Uchiha Shiran's chakra surged even more violently.
The Slug Sage went completely limp, not even twitching.
"Enough. Cut the performance. Stand up and answer properly. If your response satisfies me, I might let you live."
The Slug Sage hesitantly lifted her head, a flicker of hope in her voice.
"Really? I don't believe you."
Shiran replied, "I never go back on—"
A flash of white light.
The Slug Sage's mountainous body exploded, breaking apart instantly. Countless tiny slugs scattered in every direction. Some surged toward Uchiha Shiran—they were the sacrificial rearguard. The rest fled the Shikkotsu Forest.
The Slug Sage's lifeform was unique. As long as even one of those fragments escaped, she could survive. She'd just hole up in some remote, forsaken corner of the world and live on for another thousand years. She would still be the one and only Slug Sage.
The sight of countless slug-like creatures squirming across the ground was like something out of a madness-inducing nightmare. Shiran casually picked one up.
"You've got some tricks, I'll give you that. I can't tell which of these is your main body—or maybe… every single one of them is the main body."
A rather shameless survival method. In the past, the Slug Sage's clones were all connected to her core consciousness. But just now, when she'd pretended to cower, she had severed that connection. The clones had become independent, each one a weakened Slug Sage in its own right.
"Not bad. But it's your misfortune to have run into me."
Shiran smirked coldly. He had more than a few ways to erase her completely. He had once traveled to a bizarre dimension where he was imprisoned as a living specimen. Before escaping, he'd looted plenty of dangerous items from that place. The red ice contaminating the oceans had come from there.
Now that the Slug Sage had split herself into an entire species, the first thing he thought of was the Book of Species Extinction. But that came with a steep cost. After thinking it over, he opted for a different method.
As he made his decision, countless uneven compound eyes suddenly sprouted across Shiran's forehead. They twitched erratically, scanning the slugs around him. A strange energy descended.
"Bzzzz—"
The air warped. The dim light of the Shikkotsu Forest twisted into a prismatic hue that made every living—or dead—creature feel deeply unsettled. A bizarre, dissonant melody echoed all around. It had no source—sometimes it seemed to come from the sky, sometimes from underground. It sounded like wailing, whispering, sobbing, pleading. Like a scream carried through the cracks of the abyss. Listen closely, and it almost resembled a mournful hymn played deep inside the cochlea.
"Wh-What is this—!"
The Slugs' gentle, feminine voices distorted under the influence. Their minds frayed. They opened their mouths wide and began biting each other at random in a frenzy.
Starting from Shiran's position at the center, the mist-shrouded Shikkotsu Forest began to rapidly mutate. Its surface grew tumors, cysts, and writhing tendrils that reeked of rot and swayed like seaweed in a foul breeze.
In the face of such horrific change, the Slugs tried to reestablish communication with Shiran. But he had no intention of giving them the chance.
And so, despair set in.
The Slug Sage could only watch as grotesque things began to grow from inside her own body. Even worse, the same transformation overtook every one of her clones—without exception.
"No! I… I don't want to die!"
Hordes of slugs lunged at Uchiha Shiran, desperately pleading for mercy.
Splurt. Splurt splurt…
The moment they came within a meter of him, they burst. Reduced to clumps of fungal threads, pus, and shredded organs—disgusting, putrid remains.
The Slug Sage was dead.
Uchiha Shiran retracted the compound eyes from his forehead.
"The memetic contamination of the Evil God… always gets the job done."
...
No one could summon the Slug Sage anymore.
Tsunade noticed the problem while inside Orochimaru's laboratory.
Shizune's condition had taken a serious downturn. After a joint evaluation by Orochimaru and Yamanaka Haiichi, they agreed: Shizune's spirit had likely become trapped in a dream. Outwardly, it looked like insanity, but in truth, she was dreaming—and unless she woke up on her own, they couldn't bring her back.
Haiichi wouldn't risk diving into her dream. He feared getting trapped himself.
Left with no choice, Tsunade placed Shizune in a nutrient capsule in the lab, hoping that one day she'd awaken on her own.
Tsunade had reached out to Orochimaru and Haiichi in secret. She thought she was being discreet. Once everything was done, she planned to leave. Haiichi said nothing—but Orochimaru stopped her.
"The shinobi world is too dangerous now. You'll be safer here," he said.
Tsunade replied, "I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening," and exchanged a few blows with him. That's when she discovered she couldn't summon the Slug Sage anymore.
"Something happened in the Shikkotsu Forest too?"
Tsunade's expression darkened.
Orochimaru looked thoughtful. He seemed to know what had happened.
"If even the sacred lands aren't safe anymore… Tsunade, are you really going to keep wandering around?"
"Disaster and war are about to descend. You have hemophobia. If something happens out there, no one's going to come save you. You do realize… Konoha is gone."
That last sentence was the real warning.
Orochimaru was reminding her—she no longer had special privileges.
And the shinobi world was rotting far worse than anyone imagined.
The Land of Water had suddenly attacked the Fire Country's border. Most ninja had assumed Kirigakure was still mired in bloody civil war across its island chain. Even during past great ninja wars, the Mist hadn't made any major moves. The only noteworthy event was their raid on Uzushiogakure during the Second War.
But even that incident was shrouded in mystery. Many forces had a hand in the destruction of the Uzumaki clan—Kirigakure just seemed like the most likely culprit afterward.
So when word spread that the Land of Water had attacked the Land of Fire, most assumed Mist shinobi had stealthily infiltrated to cause chaos.
But in reality, the attackers were… refugees.
The Land of Water had suffered a natural disaster. A famine. And while ninja were powerful, they couldn't feed the common people. Starving civilians had become refugees. Taking advantage of the fact that the red ice hadn't yet sealed the seas completely, countless people fled their homeland. They landed on the coasts of other nations and kept moving inland, searching for fertile land with abundant resources.
The Land of Fire, unfortunately, was just such a place.
A massive influx of refugees led to fierce conflict and tension—inevitably sparking war. This was no longer a simple ninja war.
No…This was shaping into something far greater.
A world war.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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