Aoki Yoru flipped through the mission list, his brows furrowing. "Why are these all A-rank or higher, and there are even several S-rank missions? Shouldn't Kakashi-sensei or Lord Jiraiya be handling these? Why would they assign them to an ordinary Jonin like me?"
"Don't say that. I know your strength, young man. Keep it up." Tsunade walked to his side and patted him on the shoulder, wearing an expression that said, 'I believe in you.'
Aoki Yoru's mouth twitched violently. Looking at Tsunade's "I totally believe in you" expression, he felt his temples throbbing.
Finally, he sighed helplessly and resignedly tucked the mission list into his pocket. "Fine. After all, you're the Hokage."
Afterward, they both left the Hokage Building. After bidding farewell to Kakashi, Aoki Yoru headed home.
He had originally intended to find a mission to leave the village. The reason he was late for the fourth round of the Chunin Exams was that he had come up with a brilliant idea, which seemed feasible after some deduction.
If it truly worked, he would gain a deeper understanding of the formation and structure of the Evil God. At that point, his path toward the Six Paths level would become much clearer.
However, it might also attract the attention of the Evil God, so he needed to find a place far away from Konoha. Otherwise, if his home were destroyed, it would be too late for regrets.
The next day, Aoki Yoru dropped Nao off at Grandma Chiju's house and gave her some money, asking her to occasionally take Chino out for a nice meal.
After leaving Konoha, Aoki Yoru summoned Yatagarasu, jumped onto its back, and took off with the wind, heading toward his mission objectives. He wanted to complete the missions as quickly as possible so he could attend to his own affairs.
The Land of Birds. It was a small country located between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. Its territory was small, resources were scarce, and it had survived for years in the cracks between two major powers.
There was no established Ninja village here, and it relied solely on a small number of local guardian Ninjas to barely maintain order. It was one of the most inconspicuous fringe countries in the Ninja World.
Thanks to Yatagarasu, Aoki Yoru completed the missions in just three days.
His methods were simple and brutal. Every time Aoki Yoru arrived at a location, he didn't bother entangling with the enemies, instead using powerful techniques to clear the area directly. As for whether there were any innocent people inside, he could no longer concern himself with that.
Those high-difficulty missions that originally required a squad to spend days or even months were merely a matter of a few hours in his hands.
In three days, he swept through all those A-rank and S-rank missions. The red crosses on the mission list were dense and neat.
After handling these, he immediately boarded Yatagarasu and arrived here. The Canglang Mountain in the northwest of the Land of Birds.
Aoki Yoru carved out a cave on the mountainside. The entrance was blocked by a giant boulder, and the surroundings were covered with dense sealing runes. The surface of the runes was overlaid with Natural Energy that Aoki Yoru had brought with him.
After preparing everything, Aoki Yoru took a deep breath and quickly formed hand seals: "Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique!"
"Poof—" With a puff of white smoke, a Wood Clone appeared before him.
At this moment, Aoki Yoru's face was pale. To verify his hypothesis, he had injected 90 percent of his Chakra into the clone.
"Original body, is this really possible? I still feel like it's a bit whimsical."
"We have to try. Otherwise, my strength will reach at most the Super Kage level. Think about the opponents ahead: Uchiha Madara, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki..."
Thinking of these people, Aoki Yoru shuddered. The opponents were too strong; even keeping a low profile didn't feel safe.
Aoki Yoru said with a wary expression: "They keep popping up one after another. Even if I dodge one, what if my luck is bad? For example, if I get grazed by the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball, that would truly be a certain death with no chance of survival. I still prefer to keep my life in my own hands."
Aoki Yoru had come here this time to see if he could create a small Evil God. That's right, he wanted to personally create an Evil God.
Before this, he had never entertained such a thought; after all, he wouldn't put himself in danger.
As for letting others try, even if they were very loyal, it would be fine if they failed, but what if they succeeded and turned on him?
In his past life, Xun Ge once said, "I have always been unafraid to speculate about people with the worst of intentions." This saying applied to all humanity.
However, on the night before the third round of the Chunin Exams, he had a flash of inspiration. Thinking of the Wood Clone, he was overjoyed.
A Wood Clone could not only inherit almost the complete Chakra and combat power of the original body, but its physical body was also forged from Wood Release life energy, making it far tougher than an ordinary clone. It wouldn't easily dissipate even if it suffered heavy damage.
Even more remarkably, the Wood Clone could autonomously absorb Natural Energy from the world to maintain its existence.
Of course, the Wood Clone was not the original body; it wouldn't recover its Chakra on its own after consumption. He had already planned to integrate a White Zetsu's body into the Wood Clone to provide a continuous supply of Chakra.
Also, he had to thank Kisame for sending Samehada. The effect of Samehada absorbing Chakra and feeding it back to the host made his plan even more solid.
He intended to have the clone go to the Land of Iron to see if Samehada could be crafted into something like a bracelet. Otherwise, it was too conspicuous; taking it out would let interested parties know it was related to Aoki Yoru.
As for how to create the Evil God, Aoki Yoru already had a concept. Last time he investigated the Evil God, although he was critically wounded, it wasn't without gains.
In that instant when the Evil God appeared, he could clearly detect and perceive endless darkness, boundless malice, and endless pain converging together.
Aoki Yoru guessed that the Evil God was a conglomerate of negative will, born from the negative soul energy that spilled out from a large number of humans in moments of extreme pain, despair, and death, which had condensed and settled over a long period in the cracks between the Underworld and the living world.
But this was just a guess. Could negative emotions alone create an Evil God? Was there any blessing from the rules of the world involved? Perhaps faith had to be added as well? After all, there were legends of becoming a god through incense offerings in his past life.
These were all outside his range of knowledge, so he could only keep experimenting. Just like reading novels in his past life—the world of Shenmu had a Heavenly Dao, while the world of Zhetian did not, only laws. So, what about the Ninja World? What were its operational rules?
All of this was unknown, and it was also the thorny path that someone like him, without the Ōtsutsuki bloodline, had to tread if they wanted to reach the Six Paths level.
Fortunately, he had the Evil God phantom fragments and Evil God energy in his hands. He had already thoroughly researched what he could; as for those unknowns that remained outside his knowledge blind spot, they could only be temporarily shelved—after all, time waits for no one.
"Release!" Aoki Yoru took out a scroll, Chakra surging at his fingertips, and unsealed the White Zetsu's corpse.
Afterward, his eyes turned cold. He formed hand seals, and a sealing formula instantly unfolded, completely dismantling and fusing the White Zetsu's body. Using Wood Release as a catalyst, he forcibly sealed it into the torso of the Wood Clone.
"How does it feel?" "Better than ever. I can feel the consumed Chakra being instantly replenished by the White Zetsu." The Wood Clone stretched its limbs, seeing the consumed Chakra being continuously replenished by the White Zetsu, and said with satisfaction.
"Then, you must be careful next. I will seal the Evil God fragments and that energy inside your body, but I will leave a gap. You must do your best to fuse with the energy that leaks out, or you could even say, eat it."
Upon hearing this, the clone nodded seriously, its mental energy spreading outward, trying its best to gather Natural Energy into its body to prepare.
Afterward, Aoki Yoru took out another, smaller scroll and slowly pulled it open, revealing the layers of sealing runes already inscribed upon it. That was the multiple-layer seal he had set up to confine the Evil God fragments and energy.