The old woman's clothes were nothing special, but she was the only person Hyuga Mirai had seen wearing head ornaments. Though somewhat unattractive by Mirai's standards, the key point was the natural energy radiating from her.
Both Hyuga Mirai and Tsunade were adept in the Six Paths Sage Techniques, while Hinata Hyuga practiced natural energy. She could sense the old woman's natural energy very clearly.
"Do you need something?"
"I am Fuyutake, the former priestess of Natachi Town in the Land of Bamboo. I saw you wanting to enter the village, so I came to ask."
Hearing this, Mirai's expression brightened with realization. He said, "So it's Priestess Fuyutake. The three of us are contract holders of Ryūchi Cave. We intend to go to the Land of Saints, but we haven't traveled much before, so we don't know the route."
"The Land of Saints, I see. Are you going to confront the Goddess of the Rabbit? I've heard of Ryūchi Cave—it was the contracted summoning beast of the Autumn Nation priest a hundred years ago. Because of its greed, the priest nullified the contract. You should be careful with Ryūchi Cave."
Hearing Mirai's explanation, the old woman's stern expression softened. So these young people were friends aiming to confront the Goddess of the Rabbit. Though contracted to Ryūchi Cave, they might have been deceived.
"If it's about the route to the Land of Saints, I happen to know. It's just a bit unfortunate—the current priest of Natachi left yesterday. But I can draw a map for you. Every priest, before succeeding, travels elsewhere, and I happen to be familiar with the Land of Saints."
With that, Fuyutake led the three into the village.
Natachi Village wasn't large, but in this era, nearly two thousand people made it a considerable town. Any place with simple trade could be considered a town; some capitals of certain countries weren't even this large. The Land of Bamboo had no sovereign—they worshiped the Bamboo God, and the priests governed everything within the land.
'Were ancient nations all this small? Even a single town in the Land of Fire is larger.'
'It's not bad. Even with wars depleting the population, after thousands of years of development, their population would be thousands or tens of thousands of times larger.'
Tsunade and Mirai exchanged glances. They noticed the pride in Fuyutake's description of the Land of Bamboo. Tsunade, having seen true prosperity, felt that even a major ancient nation couldn't compare to a bustling district in the modern era.
By the standards of the time, the Land of Bamboo was relatively prosperous, with fifty guards and two priests skilled in natural energy.
Fuyutake led Mirai to a central house in the village and drew a rough map. Though simple, directions were clear.
Mirai studied it and realized they had deviated, almost tracing an L-shaped path.
"Thank you, Priestess Fuyutake. This map will help us greatly."
Fuyutake shook her head. "It's nothing. You three are going to confront the Goddess of the Rabbit—this is a service to the world."
Mentioning the Goddess of the Rabbit, her face showed clear hostility. Seeing Mirai and the others linger, she recounted the goddess's deeds.
Her origins were mysterious. No skilled seer, priest, or shrine maiden could predict her history. Soon after a meteor fell, she appeared in the Land of Ancestors with the Divine Tree.
The tree's appearance directly impacted the Land of Ancestors. They saw it as a miracle, protected the tree, and worshipped the accompanying woman as a goddess day and night.
Over time, the Divine Tree absorbed natural energy faster and faster. Before they could react, the amount was unimaginable. Fuyutake's face still showed fear; it felt as if the sky would collapse.
For ordinary people, changes in natural energy were negligible. But for priests, shamans, and gods, losing access to natural energy was catastrophic. Without it, they were like ordinary humans.
They lost the ability to communicate with yin and yang, alter celestial phenomena, and summoning beasts lost intelligence, reverting to animals.
The Divine Tree was the greatest menace. If the Goddess of the Rabbit planted it again, it would be a disaster for all priests, shamans, and gods.
As Mirai prepared to leave, Fuyutake warned him: if he could find other summoning beast clans, he should release them from their contracts with Ryūchi Cave.
After leaving Natachi and returning to the White Snake, Tsunade finally said, "So planting the Divine Tree can cause such events on a planet."
Mirai tilted his head. "Weren't you aware? There should have been information in Isshiki's memories about planting the Divine Tree. Did you not notice?"
"Of course not. I only decoded partial information, and the most memorable segment didn't show him planting the Ten-Tails."
Tsunade rebutted, "Life information isn't easy to decipher. Memories are only a fraction; if fully decoded, you could recreate a complete Ōtsutsuki Isshiki."
"Enough about that. Let's head to the Land of Saints."
Before leaving, Mirai left a surveillance robot in Natachi. Soon, except for chakra, all training systems would vanish. It was better to record everything, so future methods of restoring planetary life energy could be rediscovered in the Ninja World.
With the map, Mirai and the others knew the route. He intended to find practitioners of natural energy in this era and, with the surveillance robot, document their treasured techniques.
Without him, these traditions might be lost in war. Out of respect for knowledge, he preserved it in his own way.
Tsunade didn't yet understand his intentions, often teasing him. But those bearing the burden must walk alone—Tsunade would eventually be curious enough to ask.
With the map, there was no need for the White Snake to crawl slowly. Mirai opened a spatial path via Yomi Hirazaka, estimating the distance, and arrived near the Land of Saints.
"The environment is nice, almost like the Land of Fire," Tsunade said upon leaving the spatial path, surveying the area. Despite sparse buildings, it was clearly fertile land.
Following Mirai's signal, Hinata Hyuga began channeling natural energy. Soon, the nearby buildings detected her movements.
Cautious priests of the Land of Saints came to investigate and saw Mirai, Tsunade, Hinata, and a large white snake.
"Who are you?"
The White Snake caused some speculation, but the others were unfamiliar.
The snake swayed its massive head toward the priests. "Hey, you came to Ryūchi Cave recently, why don't you recognize me now?"
"Retract!"
Mirai tapped the snake's head and said to the priests, "We are contract holders of Ryūchi Cave. We came at the invitation to discuss confronting the Goddess of the Rabbit."
"So, you are Ryūchi Cave's masters. You've arrived just in time; in two days, the God Master will convene."
Curious, the priests asked, "Are you a family?"
Mirai shook his head. "No, why?"
"Just curious. Please follow me." The priests apologized and led them inside.
Tsunade clenched her fists but followed.
The Land of Saints likely had the largest population, with over a thousand guards and dozens of natural energy-trained warriors and priests. Most importantly, it had divine protection. Only the God Master knew the full truth; others occasionally witnessed miracles.
Mirai and Tsunade showed only basic natural energy control; Hinata Hyuga needed no concealment. With her modifications by Orochimaru, her skill level was unknown, but she likely knew the three major sacred arts.
The White Snake wasn't allowed inside; smaller summons could follow their master, but a massive snake had to stay outside, preserving farmland.
The capital of the Land of Saints dwarfed Natachi. Using Byakugan, Mirai estimated over ten thousand people, with at least twenty thousand including laborers outside.
"Why only one room?" Tsunade complained.
"Given ancient conditions, having shelter is sufficient. Their archives are plentiful, showing they valued legacy even then." Mirai replied.
Unfortunately, the archives were preserved, so the robot couldn't yet record them. Mirai prepared a duplicate body to copy them later.
Scanning the area, Mirai asked, "Natural energy is dense. Can you sense their deity?"
"Are you asking me?"
Tsunade looked at the three beds prepared by the priests. Mirai noticed and said, "Don't worry about them. If you can't sleep here, I can provide a Meimusi mattress."
Hinata went outside; only Mirai and Tsunade remained. His Rinnegan detected nothing suspicious—its insight was undeveloped but maximized for combat. Compared to the Rinnegan, it lacked the ability to discern life and death boundaries.
"Unrelated!" Tsunade clicked her tongue. "I understand."
Using her Rinnegan and the Hell Path's King of Hell statue, she scanned the surroundings. "No signs of gods, but the yin-yang boundary is shallow. With effort, I could see inside the Pure Land. Want me to show?"
"Is that their temple?"
"Yes."
Mirai nodded. "Not yet. Let them focus on Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. It's incredible—a planet with a Pure Land-like space. Was it man-made?"
If natural, such a Pure Land is impossible, or it was constructed by ancient practitioners.
If Mirai learned this method, combined with a spatial capsule, it would be equivalent to a space ring.
"Rest. Once their discussion concludes, we'll leave." Mirai instructed Tsunade and deployed the surveillance robot to gather data using the Land of Saints map.
The world had nearly a hundred nations. Thanks to priests and divine workers, humans had more living space than the Ninja World. Priests traveled farther than ninjas, reaching Mount Myoboku and Ryūchi Cave.
From maps, the Land of Saints seemed the largest, even larger than the future Land of Grass. Kaguya's Land of Ancestors was near the sea, some distance away.
At night, all priests attended a banquet hosted by the God Master. Mirai and Tsunade sent shadow clones with Hinata, staying hidden.
Mirai deployed hundreds of clones to copy training methods discovered by the robot. Some techniques were oral traditions, which he intended to document later.
Studying the priests' techniques, he realized slight modifications could yield powerful Sage Techniques. Adding chakra reduced their effectiveness, as the world was dominated by natural energy and divine presence. Techniques resonated with natural energy, central to priests' and shrine maidens' power.
Chakra mixed in was like adding sewage. Only Six Paths-level chakra could surpass natural energy. Ordinary ninja chakra couldn't match priests' techniques, even in Sage Mode.
Only mastery over advanced Yin-Yang transformations could make chakra qualitatively surpass natural energy.
"Tsunade, help out."
Mirai suddenly said, causing her to hesitate. "What is it?"
"Deploy 2,000 clones to find Ōtsutsuki Isshiki. If he could raise the Ten-Tails, he must have Divine Tree seeds. His knowledge likely exceeds Kaguya's."
Tsunade frowned. "Search the entire ninja world? That won't be easy."
Mirai nodded. "Jigen is a wandering monk. Even under Isshiki's control, traces of his life remain. Four thousand clones will suffice."
"You really know how to command people. Fine!"
Tsunade followed Mirai to a secluded valley and split into 2,000 shadow clones, each comparable to First Hokage-era Wood Release clones.
Mirai also split into 2,000, altering appearances slightly, and dispersed to gather information on Isshiki.
The sudden increase in wanderers might attract attention, but most divine workers were in the Land of Saints, unlikely to report anomalies.
After preparations, the God Master concluded the banquet. Discussions lasted four to five hours, deciding on a direct assault: 1,300 warriors, 120 priests, shrine maidens, and contracted summoning beasts.
A large force but with little strategy. The God Master's main asset was divine protection in the Pure Land.
After the banquet, a priest from the Land of Forest noticed Hinata. He learned her name and escorted her back, despite Mirai and Tsunade clones nearby.
"Miss Hinata, after defeating the Goddess of the Rabbit, will you continue traveling? I invite you to visit the Land of Forest…"
Before he finished, Mirai interrupted, "Return. Do not disturb us again."
"What? You—"
"Return."
"Yes."
Mirai's clone used voice genjutsu to enforce the order. Even without genjutsu mastery, he could control Kage-level opponents.
After they left, Tsunade remarked, "Hinata is popular—even in the past, she had admirers."
Mirai nodded, glanced at Tsunade, then looked away. Tsunade noticed and scowled, gesturing with a fist. "What did that look mean?"
"Nothing, just happened to glance that way."
"You were speaking ill of me, weren't you?"
"Don't dwell on it. Here's your mattress—go rest."
Mirai didn't answer directly, pressing her head back and handing a soft Meimusi mattress.
"I won't participate in recruiting—my power is too weak. Ancient history is fascinating, like mythology but without exaggeration. Gods, huh."
Orochimaru, examining historical scrolls from the priests, was enthralled. The uncovered truths were a paradise of knowledge.
"Excuse me, may I borrow your fire? I've run out of torches and need to cook."
Seeing someone approach, Orochimaru smiled. "Of course, go ahead."
The person said, "Apologies. There's no village nearby to resupply torches. Have you eaten dinner? If not, I'd like to treat you to a specialty from Kiyomizu Temple."
Orochimaru waved off the offer. "I've eaten."
He studied the person carefully. No natural energy traces, yet polite and well-mannered for this era.
A wandering noble? A fallen royal branch? Either was possible. Orochimaru's curiosity flared briefly, then he returned to his scrolls.
In the forest at night, two strangers—one reading, one eating quickly.
The eater's manner and quantity of food exceeded ordinary standards, yet with elegance.
After a while, he paused, smiled at Orochimaru, and said, "Apologies. I hadn't eaten lunch today due to no fire."
"No problem, I understand."
Orochimaru shook his head internally. No ordinary person would insist on cooked food when starving—his manners were extraordinary.
(End of Chapter)
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