Chapter 441: Returning to the Past
Judging by the Great Toad Sage's lifespan, the era of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki and the Sage of Six Paths was well over a thousand years from Ino's time.
How many years exactly? It was hard to say. Ino hadn't asked, and the Sage hadn't said. The old fossil himself had set the travel time to the point when he rebelled against his mother and killed his brother, Hamura, with his own hands. He certainly wouldn't get that wrong.
Ino arrived in the world of a thousand years ago. As she stepped out of the time passage, she immediately felt an intense pressure. The very air was filled with a heavy, murderous aura. No wonder the old fossil rebelled against his mother. It wasn't just a matter of mother-in-law issues; this suffocating atmosphere had to be a deeper reason.
Ino appeared in a dense forest. The Treasured Tool, Plow, reverted to its small pot shape and informed her that she could awaken it when needed, and it would then take her back to her time.
That was nice. One charge for a "round-trip ticket."
Without needing keen powers of observation, she saw the colossal tree soaring into the clouds on the horizon—the God Tree, evolved from the Ten-Tails! It was said that the core ability of Wood Release came from the God Tree, and that was indeed true. But just as the Rinnegan had a hugely suppressive effect on Ino's three-tomoe Sharingan, merely seeing the God Tree from eight hundred li away made the chakra within her want to lie down and give up. Under this suppression, she couldn't use her Wood Release at all.
The God Tree's oppressive presence covered most of the planet, and intelligent life basically lived within its domain.
The Chakra Fruit had already been eaten by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The tree was still there now, and Kaguya was using it to create her army of one hundred thousand White Zetsu to fend off the future arrival of Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki.
Kaguya was under a lot of pressure.
Seeing a woman circling her son, she didn't hesitate. Up the tree you go!
She directly erased Haori's personality, turning her into an emotionless White Zetsu. It had to be said, this mother-in-law's methods were truly terrifying.
Other mothers-in-law might just set some rules, make you serve tea, or sweep the floor. She, on the other hand, went straight for your life.
Ino reckoned if she were the old fossil, she would have fought back to the very end too.
Gamamaru's instigation was just a trigger; the real reason was that the old fossil himself wanted to rebel.
Ino hid in the bushes, looking around with extreme caution.
She had to be careful. At this point in time, the old fossil himself was just a son; his mother was the real powerhouse! Facing a Kaguya Ōtsutsuki who had eaten the Chakra Fruit, if Ino were to charge in recklessly, it would be one hundred percent suicide.
Ninjutsu was ineffective against Kaguya; only senjutsu and taijutsu could harm her. And Ino's greatest strength was ninjutsu.
If she were to fight Kaguya now, she wouldn't even be able to break through her defenses.
She had no intention of fighting Kaguya head-on, nor could she win. The main reason she took on this mission was because of the one and a half god-tier jutsu she had mastered.
One god-tier jutsu was the Shadow Clone Technique, and the half was the Flying Thunder God Technique. It had to be said, the Second Hokage was truly a god forever! The ninjutsu he developed had value in any era and against any enemy.
Although she didn't know Sage Mode, Ino was already halfway there. She could sense natural energy, and she felt that the natural energy in this era was minuscule, likely absorbed by the God Tree. No wonder the three great sage regions were located in the middle of nowhere. They had no choice; natural energy was just too scarce.
The night was vast and dark. Time quickly passed into the dead of night. Ino didn't dare to light a fire. She took out a military rations pill and gnawed on it, which counted as dinner.
She lay on the grass with her hands behind her head, tilting her head to look at the God Tree towering into the clouds.
What was the origin of chakra, really? Uchiha Madara said Kaguya ate the Chakra Fruit and then obtained chakra. Kaguya gave chakra to the old fossil Sage and Hamura, and the old fossil then distributed it to the people of Ninshū, which included the ancestors of the Yamanaka clan. Without the Sage's permission, ordinary people couldn't use this energy called chakra.
Considering Black Zetsu deliberately deceived Madara to show his mother's power, this statement could be wrong. But thinking about the actions of the old fossil and Ninshū, the statement seemed to hold up.
A capitalist reaps the money from the leeks, then the capitalist's two sons rise up in rebellion and distribute the money to the leeks. Can you say the money came from the capitalist? It seems you could, but also maybe not. The key is how you define the source of the money.
The origin of chakra was a muddled mess, impossible to sort out.
If the old fossil Sage was secretly monitoring the ninja world, then Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was now openly monitoring it.
Kaguya had the Byakugan, and that glutton Hinata also had the Byakugan, but their Byakugan were definitely not the same thing! Plus, she had the Rinne Sharingan, hailed as the progenitor of all dōjutsu, and a truly immortal body. Ino didn't dare to run around recklessly.
She didn't dare to run around, but the trouble she encountered forced her to run.
"Damn it all..." she cursed under her breath.
Where on earth did the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura live? She had no idea! This world was sparsely populated; you could walk for ten or eight li and not see a single living thing. Where was she supposed to find them?
Would using sensory ninjutsu be detected by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki? Ino was utterly frustrated.
The old fossil was so vague in his instructions!
He definitely wouldn't have treated his own sons this way.
He assumed Ino could find the path to the underworld, assumed Ino could figure out how to charge the Treasured Tool, Plow, and now he also assumed Ino could find the brothers Hagoromo and Hamura in this era.
Everything was an assumption. He really trusted her abilities… There were no roads here at all.
Ino could only use the Shadow Clone Technique, then send the clones out to search for human villages.
It took a full three days before she found the so-called divine landing site of the Rabbit Goddess in an area over three hundred li away in a straight line.
The old fossil still assumed Ino understood the precautions of time travel. She was being as low-key as possible, even asking for directions with extreme caution, absolutely not using force or ninjutsu, just to avoid causing any major changes to the timeline.
"Hey, who are you?" Ino was lying in the grass, observing the layout of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's village, when a voice suddenly sounded to her right. Before the voice appeared, she hadn't noticed anything unusual. This level of presence concealment was too high, wasn't it? She took two steps back to create distance, then turned to look. No one.
She looked down again and saw an orange toad wearing a necklace with the character for "oil" (油) on it.
The toad spoke in human language. "Who are you? Why do I sense Hagoromo's aura on you? Your eyes are…?"
Even though Ino hadn't activated her Sharingan, the toad still saw a hint of something.
This Great Toad Sage was amazing even when he was young! If nothing else, just this sharp eye of his shows that his power is far greater than he lets on. Much, much stronger.
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