"Indeed, Shisui… to reach this realm, you have truly forged your own path."
Naruto spoke with sincere admiration as he suppressed the sharp aura around him.
The surrounding sword intent gradually faded.
Now, Uchiha Shisui rarely relied on the power of his Uchiha bloodline. Instead, he focused primarily on expanding his Sword Dao.
That did not mean he had abandoned his roots.
On the contrary, his mastery of the Sharingan had only grown deeper.
"Hahaha, thank you, Naruto!"
Shisui replied sincerely, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.
At last, he could truly help Naruto instead of merely acting as the chief administrator of the Shinobi World.
Although that position placed him below one man and above ten thousand, commanding immense respect, it had never been what Shisui truly desired.
What he wanted was simple.
To stand on the front lines.
To fight alongside Naruto.
"Don't be modest," Naruto said with a faint smile. "This is your own achievement. Reaching this level is the result of your own effort."
Naruto had indeed provided guidance.
But that was all.
Shisui's progress was ultimately the result of his own talent and relentless hard work. Naruto had merely shown him a possible path.
Whether Shisui could truly reach this realm had always been uncertain.
Naruto had long prepared himself for the possibility of failure.
But Shisui had not disappointed him.
With Shisui's current mastery of the Sword Dao, his offensive power was terrifying. In terms of combat strength alone, he was already capable of rivaling a Three-Revolutions Half-God expert.
This further strengthened the overall power of the Shinobi World.
More than a hundred years had passed.
Despite the Shinobi World's rapid progress, Half-God-level experts were still extremely rare.
Might Guy possessed Half-God-level combat power, but his life essence had not yet truly reached that realm.
Shisui, however, had now fully stepped into it.
Meanwhile, the Uchiha Clan had grown considerably.
There were now several hundred clan members, most of them descendants of Uchiha Itachi.
What surprised many people was that, without attracting much attention, Uchiha Itachi himself had quietly stepped into the Six Paths level.
When Naruto first heard the news, he could not help but sigh.
In terms of pure talent, Itachi was one of the most extraordinary geniuses in the history of the Uchiha Clan—perhaps even surpassing Sasuke.
Reaching the Six Paths level was not impossible for him.
The only reason he had taken longer was because much of his energy had been devoted to rebuilding and developing the Uchiha Clan.
The other great clans were also thriving.
Children born in the Shinobi World now displayed far greater talent than previous generations.
The world itself had changed.
The natural environment had improved, and the strength of the parents had risen dramatically. Combined with the widespread practice of cultivation, the new generation possessed far greater potential.
Someday, the human race of the Shinobi World might become a high-talent race, similar to the Ōtsutsuki Clan, with naturally powerful starting points.
Shisui shook his head.
"Without you, Naruto, none of this would exist. I wouldn't have reached this level… and the Shinobi World wouldn't have its current prosperity."
He looked toward the sky as he spoke.
The Shinobi World's status in the universe had changed completely.
In the past, it had been like a group of uncivilized hunters fighting inside a small forest.
Now, however, the Shinobi World had become a well-known power within the universe.
Only one year remained before the Ōtsutsuki Clan's invasion.
Foreign merchants who had once traded within the Shinobi World had already begun gradually withdrawing.
If the Shinobi World could survive this coming war…
Then it would truly establish itself as a cosmic civilization.
It would become an existence admired by countless races across the universe—perhaps even a top-tier power beneath the five peak races.
Naruto did not respond directly.
Instead, he said calmly,
"So… there's only one year left until the Ōtsutsuki Clan arrives, correct?"
It sounded like a question.
But in truth, Naruto already knew the answer.
Shisui's sword aura had now completely vanished. He looked like an ordinary person again.
"Yes," Shisui replied quietly. "The Solar System Front will be fully completed in another six months."
During the past decade, Naruto had not spent all his time cultivating.
He had transformed the entire solar system into a massive defensive barrier.
Battlefields had been established outside the system, divided into several combat zones.
After all, the Shinobi World was his home.
There was no reason to fight a war in his own backyard.
Thus, Naruto created external battlefields.
Multiple space teleportation arrays had been constructed on planets outside the solar system, forming interconnected war zones and defensive lines.
Building such an enormous system required the efforts of countless people.
Not every shinobi chose a life dedicated purely to combat.
The ninja professions had become highly specialized.
Most people now pursued one primary specialty and one secondary field—one for mastery and one for support.
This system allowed everyone's talents to be fully utilized.
Even combat-oriented shinobi were required to learn a secondary discipline.
In the past, people simply learned whatever they could, often resulting in shallow development.
Now, however, shinobi followed structured training paths.
Some individuals chose to dedicate themselves entirely to non-combat professions, specializing deeply in their chosen field.
These specialists had played a crucial role in constructing the Solar System Front.
The front lines were far more complex than simple fortifications.
Instead of stacking buildings, the construction teams engraved massive rune formations, forming enormous barrier arrays across entire planets.
According to intelligence gathered from the Shinigami Clan, the Ōtsutsuki Clan was not idle either.
They were actively preparing for war.
Ōtsutsuki Shiki had already begun gathering the clan's main combat forces.
Even now, the entire Ōtsutsuki Clan was not focusing all of its attention on the Shinobi World.
This campaign was mainly being handled by Ōtsutsuki Shiki. The rest of the clan had their own responsibilities elsewhere in the universe, as the Ōtsutsuki faced more than a single enemy.
To them, the Shinobi World was far from their greatest threat.
Across the cosmos, countless ephemeral civilizations rose and fell. In the end, only the five peak races remained standing.
In truth, many races in the universe had long harbored resentment toward the Ōtsutsuki.
This race had a habit of traveling through the cosmos and planting Divine Trees wherever they pleased, draining entire planets of life.
Naturally, such actions did not earn them many friends.
After the upheaval in the Shinobi World, rumors spread that several other races had begun secretly stirring in the shadows.
The resentment against the Ōtsutsuki had accumulated for far too long.
Meanwhile, Ōtsutsuki Shiki had already assembled a massive army.
More than one hundred million White Zetsu.
The number alone was terrifying.
Every White Zetsu possessed at least Chūnin-level combat power, and among them were over a hundred individuals whose strength was no lower than the Six Paths level.
Even in the vast universe, Six Paths–level experts were extremely rare.
Most who reached that level did so either through extraordinary talent or by obtaining some powerful cosmic treasure.
Each race possessed its own methods of cultivation, but the path toward the Six Paths level was often incomplete.
It was as if some crucial inheritance or cultivation method had been lost over time.
Only the Shinobi World currently possessed a clear cultivation path that led directly to the Half-God level.
This was the true reason behind the Shinobi World's rapid rise.
Many civilizations across the universe experienced a major discontinuity in power.
Their cultivation systems often stalled at the Super Kage level, with only a handful of geniuses managing to break through and reach the Six Paths realm.
The Shinobi World of the past had been even worse.
Back then, even the path to the Kage level had once been broken.
Naruto had personally witnessed how fragile the Shinobi World's foundations used to be.
And yet, another thought often lingered in Naruto's mind.
From his perspective, this Naruto universe seemed… a little small.
Yes.
Just a little.
But when he considered that it might actually be a dimensional universe, the situation suddenly felt far less strange.
(End of Chapter)
⚒️ Pa-treon-com/LordMerlin
😊 Thank you for your support!