After departing the Pure Land with the souls of Sakumo Hatake and his wife, along with Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara...
Kei Yamanaka handed them over to Orochimaru, together with the special spring water obtained from Tonika Village.
Then he began preparations for traveling to other worlds.
The ninja world was now entering a period of rapid development. The merger of the Five Great Ninja Villages prompted large groups of people to gather in Konoha and at the newly established base of the Five Spirit Ninja Army.
Villages like Amegakure and Takigakure, which had suffered repeated defeats during multiple Great Ninja World Wars,
had "Take me with you!" written all over their faces.
Their enthusiasm was off the charts!
Especially after Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan returned to Amegakure, using their overwhelming power to grant Akatsuki a foothold in the village.
Ame's leadership became a daily fixture in the Hokage's office building.
With such an attitude, they unsurprisingly became the first target for integration.
Grass had long been regarded as the "swing state" of the ninja world.
That's exactly why it earned the trust of all major nations and was chosen as the guardian of Hozuki Castle.
Seeing how well Rain had succeeded, Grass leadership quickly jumped on the bandwagon, becoming the second target for inclusion.
Though several of their top officials saw a drop in rank,
as the saying goes—"Under a big tree, the shade is cool."
Initially, they only requested equal treatment for their ninjas within the Five Spirit Ninja Army, so having prominent figures from their ranks earn positions was already a pleasant surprise.
Inspired by the examples set by Rain and Grass,
leaders from smaller villages like Hoshigakure (from Bear Country), Hanagakure (from Vegetable Country), and Yukigakure (from Snow Country) literally relocated to Konoha and refused to leave.
In fact, even before the official merging process started, they'd already sent their entire villages' worth of ninja, families in tow, rushing over.
However, not all ninja villages showed such foresight.
Takumi Village made a loud declaration: they were blacksmiths, not ninja. They would not join the Five Spirit Ninja Army and insisted on maintaining their neutrality.
Still bitter about the Third Raikage A seizing the Seven-Tails, Takigakure quickly followed up by expressing doubts about whether the current Five Spirit Ninja Army could ensure fair treatment for all its shinobi.
Things got even crazier in the Land of Iron.
Old-school samurai who remained from previous eras clashed internally over whether or not to join the Five Spirit Ninja Army—eventually turning their swords on each other.
It was said that over twenty high-level samurai and nearly one hundred regular ones died within half a month.
According to the newly established Root division's investigation,
behind Takumi, Takigakure, and even the Land of Iron loomed a single shadowy force.
The Underground Currency Exchange Group!
This organization, quietly cultivated by nobles and merchants like maggots feasting on rot, was actively stirring unrest behind the scenes.
Clearly aiming to fracture the Five Spirit Ninja Army and plunge the ninja world back into chaos.
But most people weren't fooled—they could see the game being played and refused to be pawns.
Kei Yamanaka had originally planned to deal with this organization after all the hidden villages were incorporated, consolidating unaffiliated freelance ninja and eliminating rogue ninja from each village.
After all, one should always leave a way out for ordinary people who became ninja by mere chance.
But since some people refused to get the message…
Then he had no choice but to speed things up, cutting down on the ninja world's "resource drain" sooner than planned!
A total of ten thousand Five Spirit Ninja Army soldiers—ninja whose sole purpose was combat, not construction or other support roles—were dispatched.
Under the ruthless command of Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha, they lightened their load and split into two teams, attacking the Hidden Artisan Village and Hidden Waterfall Village respectively.
After nearly exterminating the ninja from both villages, they paid no heed to the ongoing civil strife in the Land of Iron.
Instead, they launched an immediate crackdown on underground currency exchanges worldwide!
Alongside them, rogue ninja from various hidden villages, along with nobles and merchants funding these exchanges, were mercilessly executed.
The Five Spirit Ninja Army then publicly declared to the entire ninja world:
We will accept and integrate all freelance ninja and samurai.
Former rogue ninja not found guilty would be investigated and handled appropriately once the facts were clear.
The internal chaos within the Land of Iron resolved itself within just a few days.
Their samurai leader Mifune, an elderly man well past his prime, actively participated in the subsequent mergers.
As for those minor samurai leaders who had been incited before...
All one had to know was that Mifune personally served as a kaishakunin for four straight days to grasp what happened to those traitors.
Seeing all matters settled,
Kei immediately discussed with Kushina which world they should travel to next.
Earlier, he had already passed [Six Paths Yin-Yang Cycle], a Six Paths-level golden skill listing, to Hikaku Uchiha.
With another Six Paths-level fighter added to their ranks,
Even if Otsutsuki clan members arrived, they wouldn't pose much of a threat.
As for traveling directly to the Otsutsuki Clan?
He did have such intentions initially.
However, once he learned that even with Space-Time Ninjutsu, the journey to the Otsutsuki's ancestral planet would still take several years,
He dropped the idea immediately.
Instead, he directly asked the Nine Tailed Beasts to contribute partial chakra to regrow the God Tree, and planting it on the moon to build a base and go fishing!
As for the original inhabitants of the moon—the descendants of Hamura Otsutsuki—
Because they had sensed Kaguya Otsutsuki's resurrection during the crucial battle over a month ago—and her presence had never vanished since then—
They actually combined their clan's power to forge a colossal Tenseigan over four meters wide!
Their goal was to use the Tenseigan's power to obliterate the Fragile Little World, destroying both Kaguya and the planet in one strike!
By the time Kei sensed something abnormal and rushed over,
Most of the Byakugan descendants were already dead, leaving fewer than ten survivors!
No choice.
He could only bring those survivors back to Konoha.
And that absurdly oversized Tenseigan naturally wound up in Orochimaru's lab.
"Alright then. If you pick the one with 'big,' we go to a high-power world; 'small,' and we head to a lower-tier one."
Kei held two small rolled papers in each hand, offering them to Kushina, already packed and waiting with her large bags in hand, standing right in front of him.
Needless to say, Kushina still had a bit of cunning left in her!
Right after that crucial battle phase over a month ago, she immediately retired from active duty.
Every day, aside from working hard to boost her strength, she spent as much time as possible by Kei Yamanaka's side.
Now that Kei was heading out into the world again, naturally, she wouldn't miss this opportunity either.
"I choose… this one!!"
Kushina raised her index finger and tapped it against her chin. After a brief hesitation, she grabbed the paper ball in her boyfriend's left hand and unfolded it.
"Big one? I hope we won't end up running away with our heads tucked between our legs."
Kei Yamanaka chuckled lightly, cracking a small joke.
Now possessing three Keyword Copy opportunities and five Keyword Detach slots,
no matter which world they went to, he felt fully confident.
"N-no way… right?"
Kushina parted her lips slightly, eyes wide with shock, as she hesitated while staring at the other scrap of paper.
If her boyfriend was already this incredibly powerful, then if they still ended up fleeing like scared rabbits, wouldn't she just explode on the spot?
"Hahaha~ Just kidding! Come on, let's go! Time to move out!"
Kei waved his hand, packing all the big and small bags Kushina had prepared into Daikokuten: Shokatsu's space within the Boundless Realm.
After leaving a sticky note for Tsunade,
he let Kushina temporarily stay inside his recently perfected little world, the Chen Ge Hu.
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