"Hmph, it's about time. If you'd used me during that fight with that bastard earlier, you might've sealed him already," Kurama snorted coldly.
"Heh, wouldn't that have been too boring?" Natsuro replied with a smile, gazing into the distance.
He still wanted to witness the Ten Tails' full rebirth, sealing Madara now would've gone against his plans.
Besides, the earlier cataclysmic event likely meant that the Ten Tails was about to enter its final form. That meant it was time for him to start collecting some interest. After nurturing it for so long, he deserved a reward.
"Is your amusement really more important than the fate of the ninja world?" Kurama muttered, exasperated.
"They're both important," Natsuro answered casually.
If he could both satisfy his personal goals and save the ninja world, that was a win-win.
Kurama shot him a sideways glance. If it had been anyone else, he would've been roaring in protest by now. But this guy…
Forget it. I can't beat him and can't argue with him.
Kurama just lay there silently. Still, he could feel something, a familiar presence releasing massive amounts of power in the distance. It was… his other half?
Could it be that the other half of him had completely made peace with a human?
If he remembered right, his other half had been sealed within the Fourth Hokage's son… Kurama thought deeply.
Natsuro chuckled softly and began heading leisurely in that direction. From the intel his main body had received, Naruto wasn't in any immediate danger so there was no need to rush. Plus, he still needed to process the power he had just sensed, the five natural chakra natures.
Truthfully, he hadn't expected the Ten Tails' appearance to trigger such a drastic "heaven and earth upheaval." If he had known, he definitely would've thanked the beast in advance.
The Ten Tails had manifested the forces of wind, lightning, fire, earth, and water right before his eyes, all natural elements, which perfectly aligned with the path he was currently exploring. It had drastically shortened the time he'd otherwise need to figure it all out on his own.
So really, how could Natsuro not thank the Ten Tails?
As for why Kurama was now in Natsuro's body, well, that explained why Natsuro had been a little late in showing up against Madara, even with Flying Thunder God.
After wiping out the White Zetsu army, he had gone to retrieve Kurama's chakra from inside the Shinigami.
At the same time, he'd taken the chance to test something he'd been wanting to verify for a while, namely... Could Hidan, the so-called immortal cultist of the Jashin faith, be killed by erasing his soul?
So when heading toward the Uzumaki Clan's Mask Temple outside Konoha, he brought Hidan along too.
He still remembered how Hidan kept yelling "traitor!" during his capture, probably never imagining that the one who apprehended him would be none other than Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kisame had effortlessly caught Hidan using a simple Water Prison Jutsu, a jutsu that turned out to be Hidan's perfect counter, given his lack of versatility.
....
At the Mask Temple, Natsuro stood before a wall of dozens of masks. Among them, only one was connected to the Shinigami. The others… probably just decoys.
It was highly unlikely that every mask represented a different "deity." If that were true, then the world's waters would be deeper than anyone imagined.
Besides, if the Uzumaki Clan really did have that many divine connections, it would've been illogical for them to be wiped out. Even the dumbest clan should've been able to protect their village with that kind of divine support.
So clearly, all those extra masks were just there to conceal the one true Shinigami mask.
Unfortunately, such a trick was meaningless against someone like Natsuro.
Elsewhere, a bound and gagged Hidan was still yelling, "You bastard! Let me go! Fight me face to face! How is it fair to have that traitor sneak attack me?!"
He didn't just protest, he also cursed up a storm. But Natsuro ignored every word.
Soon, Natsuro pulled out a grotesque, snarling oni mask which was clearly the Shinigami mask and looked toward Hidan.
"Y-You! Don't come any closer!" Hidan screamed, panic in his eyes as he looked at the mask in Natsuro's hand.
For the first time in his life, the man who feared nothing suddenly felt genuine fear. His instincts told him that the mask radiated an ominous power, one that might actually be capable of killing him.
And so, Hidan… was afraid.
But despite his struggles, Natsuro pressed the mask onto his face.
Immediately, a part of Natsuro's soul separated from his shadow clone and entered Hidan's body, taking control and beginning the hand seals.
"Dead Demon Consuming Seal."
At this point, Hidan's meager soul resistance posed no challenge. Even using Hidan's body, Natsuro could perform jutsu freely.
As the hand seals completed, he felt a deep, eerie sensation... the primal fear of life facing the concept of absolute death.
Nearby, Natsuro's clone watched with a serious expression as the Shinigami materialized behind Hidan with long hair, purple skin, devilish horns, and rows of sharp teeth.
It was the god of death in the Naruto world.
Without hesitation, he pulled out a short blade and sliced open Hidan's no, his own belly. Simultaneously, the Shinigami behind him mirrored the action, cutting open its own stomach with its ritual dagger.
Moments later, a blue glowing soul orb emerged, it was the spirit of the Fourth Hokage.
With that task complete, Natsuro exited Hidan's body and returned to his shadow clone and he looked at the Shinigami, which seemed to glance back at him.
But he felt no fear. After all, in the original series, Orochimaru had avoided the Shinigami's grasp using Reanimation and soul-splitting tricks. If Orochimaru could do it, so could he.
And even if the Shinigami wanted his soul, he wouldn't give it.
Thankfully, the Shinigami's gaze didn't linger long. It began devouring the offering, Hidan, he had prepared.
At that moment, Hidan stared blankly ahead, mumbling, "You... what did you... do to me...?"
And with that, the light faded from his eyes. His so-called "immortal" body had lost all its power.
"As I thought..." Natsuro nodded.
He had always suspected Hidan wouldn't be able to resist the power of the Shinigami. Now, he had proof.
Though called a "god," Natsuro felt the Shinigami was more like a program, a rule-bound system. It didn't seem to have free will.
After all, if it did, the Edo Tensei technique would never have been allowed to exist. No real god of death would tolerate souls being stolen from the afterlife.
But the Shinigami seemed like a script, a subroutine in a grand system. And like any program, it could be exploited. Orochimaru had already exploited it once, now he had done the same.
....
After the ritual, Natsuro returned the mask to the wall and looked at Hidan's corpse.
As a so-called cultist of the "Evil God," one had to wonder, if the Shinigami was real, then did the Evil God exist too?
Probably, but like the Shinigami, likely just another scripted force, a programmed rule with no true consciousness.
Still… Natsuro would've loved to see the Shinigami reap a cultist's soul, and then go to war with the Evil God.
Now that would be a sight worth seeing. He really was curious which one was stronger.
Unfortunately, that fantasy was probably impossible.
After devouring Hidan's soul, the Shinigami vanished, leaving Natsuro with a hint of regret.
Regret that… the Shinigami was holding something he wanted, its dagger.
A blade capable of directly severing souls. If he could fuse that with his Ink Sword, its power might rise to an entirely new level.
It would become a weapon that could cleave souls directly, a true trump card, maybe even one capable of catching a Six Paths-level opponent off guard.
Sadly, the Shinigami disappeared before he even got a chance to ask.
After lamenting for a moment, Natsuro turned his attention to the soul of the Fourth Hokage.
He had considered using Edo Tensei to summon Minato Namikaze, but he hadn't mastered Orochimaru's improved version of the technique.
If he were to use the original version of Edo Tensei, the results wouldn't be particularly meaningful, the summoned soul would be greatly diminished in intelligence and combat ability, even basic communication would be difficult.
So Natsuro gave up on reviving the Fourth and instead placed his hand on Minato's soul, initiating a conversation.
Their exchange didn't last long. He simply confirmed his identity and gave the Fourth Hokage a summary of the current situation in the ninja world.
Minato, true to his character, didn't hesitate at all, and handed over Kurama to Natsuro without resistance.
Feeling the Nine-Tails settle inside his body, Natsuro hadn't even bothered using a sealing technique. He just created a space within himself, a tailed beast chamber, and placed Kurama there.
After all, Kurama's power wasn't particularly overwhelming for him anymore. Even if the Nine-Tails tried to rampage, he could suppress him with one hand. So a seal was completely unnecessary.
Still, he couldn't help but feel a little sentimental. There was a time when he didn't want to become a Jinchūriki.
Back then, he had been worried that he lacked the mental strength to control a tailed beast. He also didn't want to be targeted by the Akatsuki for having one, so he naturally never considered it.
But now, things were different. All the things he had once feared were no longer even concerns. Those limitations no longer applied.
As for the challenge of connecting with a tailed beast on a deeper, emotional level. That part was admittedly still tricky. With his personality, he wasn't likely to form a friendship like Naruto did.
Still, he figured he could just bump fists with Naruto and let the yang Kurama in Naruto's body have a talk with his own yin Kurama. That would probably do the trick.
As he pondered this, Natsuro set down his teacup and glanced around. At this moment, he was the only one left in the Allied Shinobi Forces' war command hall.
Even the Fourth Raikage had finally lost patience, he hadn't even informed Natsuro and had used Kumogakure's Heavenly Transfer Technique to head straight for Naruto's battlefield.
Most likely, the Fourth Raikage assumed this version of himself was just a shadow clone.
In his mind, if Natsuro didn't consult everyone before going to the front lines, then he certainly didn't need to ask a shadow clone for permission to do the same.
So he didn't mind. Whether the Raikage stayed or left didn't affect him.
He strolled slowly to the window and looked toward the final battlefield. He had a feeling, he'd be taking action soon.
Honestly, the fact that his Spiritual Shadow Clone had made it this far already exceeded expectations. Being a clone, its physical abilities were inherently limited.
The clone's strengths were ninjutsu and nin-taijutsu, but even its nin-taijutsu wasn't effective against truly extreme opponents. For example, it couldn't handle someone like Might Duy with the Eight Gates fully opened.
In fact, Duy's strength with Eight Gates wasn't even on par with his son, Might Guy, but the Eight Gates technique itself was a qualitative transformation. Even if Duy wasn't as strong as Guy, he was still far beyond most people.
Just look at current Lee, even if he threw his life away, he'd probably only be able to open seven gates. He couldn't even touch the eighth gate.
So the fact that Might Duy could open all eight said a lot.
However, Duy wasn't capable of using something like Night Guy, if he had been, Natsuro's clone would've been long gone in that battle.
Even if the clone had used Susanoo, there's no way it could've blocked an attack like Night Guy.
"It means if Edo Tensei Madara couldn't do do enough damage... than he is weaker than I expected." Natsuro muttered quietly to himself.
Their clash had allowed him to tear off the veil of legend, and beneath it, Madara Uchiha wasn't as untouchable as the stories claimed.
In fact, Edo Madara was stronger than the living Madara of legend. After all, the living version never had the Rinnegan, he only awakened it shortly before death.
Once he awakened the Rinnegan, his body was already old and failing, unable to wield its full power.
So in terms of raw ability, Edo Madara was stronger than his living self.
But if Madara were resurrected in his prime body and then obtained the Rinnegan, even without becoming the Ten Tails' jinchūriki, he'd be far more dangerous.
Just the fact that such a Madara could use the Rinnegan's ocular technique Limbo: Border Jail was proof enough.
Even though Limbo is often treated as a "side" ability among the Rinnegan's many powers, the truth is… to anyone at the Kage level or below, it's a devastating threat.
So how far could his Spiritual Shadow Clone go in this war?
He himself was curious. Now that it had the Nine-Tails, it had a brand-new trump card. Perhaps it could even exceed expectations once again.
"Alright then… let's set a small goal....
Let's finish the Fourth Great Ninja War, without help from the Sage of Six Paths."
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Currently on Chapter 413 - Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy