With a wave of Uchiha Kei’s hand, the Four Gods of Chaos sent projections toward the four corners of the world before returning to Kei’s side.
The Sanike Sword and Ame-no-Tokotachi also decided to join the commotion. One sent its projection into the earth, while the other shot its projection straight into the heavens.
Because their divine-artifact attributes had awakened, the two weapons had also developed consciousness of their own.
Naturally, they wanted to join the fun.
"Four directions of Heaven and Earth? Dream on. Fine, then. You two can be the Four Emperors!"
With Uchiha Kei’s words, the projections of the four spirits representing the four directions returned to primordial Chaos and merged with the will of the universe.
The vortex formed from the emotions of desire, joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure generated by the inhabitants of the shinobi world filled the space within.
Then four Tailed Beasts were born.
This was the feedback the will of the universe had given Uchiha Kei.
Pride. Wrath. Lust. And Sloth.
Feeling this power, Kei gained another insight into life.
Good and evil were merely concepts defined by humans according to their own interests.
The universe itself had no inherent distinction between good and evil.
"The god of knowledge who appeared humble on the surface fell into corruption and became Tzeentch, Lord of the Changer of Ways—the embodiment of pride. And the decaying Father Nurgle, whose indiscriminate mercy caused hope itself to become corrupted, represents sloth!"
With that, Uchiha Kei had acquired four Tailed Beasts in a single stroke.
Together with Hypocrisy, which already existed within Kei, and Jealousy, which had yet to be bestowed upon anyone, he now possessed six Tailed Beasts.
He only needed one more—the Tailed Beast representing Greed—to complete the Seven Deadly Sins as defined by Uchiha Kei.
The concept of Tailed Beasts had been created by the Sage of Six Paths and had long since received recognition from the world.
Now, because Uchiha Kei had returned emotional value to Heaven and Earth and received the approval of the will of the universe, the Tailed Beasts he created had not only obtained a status equivalent to those created by the Sage of Six Paths, but had also gained the qualification to undergo the trials associated with four divine seats.
"I’ve made a killing! This is an absolute jackpot!"
Chaos gathered in the sky.
Within the unseen threads of fate invisible to mortals, four enormous spheres revolved around the world, radiating immeasurable light into the void beyond the world.
They seemed to possess a powerful deterrent effect against entities beyond the world.
One represented the revival of all things, overflowing with vitality and flourishing life—the warmth of spring.
One represented the scorching heat of summer, when the circulation of blood and vitality reached its peak—the heat of summer.
One represented the crisp autumn air, when the winds grew strong and everything became dry—the dryness of autumn.
And one represented the bitter cold of winter, when Heaven and Earth froze and all things withered—the cold of winter.
The projections of the Four Gods of Chaos occupied the four directions and took charge of the four seasons.
This was something the world had bestowed upon them.
It was both the responsibility and authority of the four newborn gods.
They could barely be considered temporary employees of the divine realm.
"The seasons shall change, but the Uchiha shall endure forever!"
After receiving this inspiration, Uchiha Kei began spouting nonsense once again.
The Four Emperors in the heavens heard Uchiha Kei’s divine decree.
They immediately gathered the emotions they had absorbed and concentrated them in the sky.
Ame-no-Tokotachi then transformed that emotional power into the purest chakra and shot it into the earth.
Using one’s authority for personal gain was something humans were supposed to do.
Mythology was mythology.
Kei was still the same selfish human being.
Then the Sanike Sword diligently wove a vast chakra network.
The network covered all the territory occupied by the Uchiha Clan.
Together, they created something resembling a magical web—a Chakra Network.
From this point onward, everyone belonging to Nanga could draw upon the power of the network.
For this, Kei lost two weapons.
In exchange, he obtained a pool of power.
And Hyakki Yagyō, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, would now be controlled by the recognized Uchiha clan leaders.
The first Uchiha to master the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons would receive a gift from Heaven: an illustrated catalogue of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
It became Uchiha Kei’s newest weapon.
Konoha
Tianzen was organizing the forces for the Western Expedition when he suddenly sensed something strange in Heaven and Earth.
Mythological phenomena could not be seen by ordinary people, but believers could sense them.
Especially when they were closely connected to the mythology itself.
For example, the Kōga shinobi and the Iga graduates who had gathered together suddenly reached the point where their chakra began leaking out because of the phenomenon.
Their rampaging chakra intertwined, producing an overwhelming aura.
For a moment, the sheer strength of the assembled military force made the Konoha shinobi feel ashamed of themselves.
"As expected of the Uchiha, a clan favored by the gods. Every one of them possesses such an astonishing presence!"
The observing leaders and deputy leaders of the Nanga Alliance were filled with awe.
The Konoha Joint Chūnin Examination had already concluded.
The Fūma Clan of the Land of Rice Paddies, the Demon Brothers of the Land of Waves, and Maki, the student of the Sand shinobi missing-nin Pakura, had all distinguished themselves.
But compared with the graduates of Nanga, these rising stars seemed dim.
Anko, representing the Land of Rice Paddies, stood among the various leaders with a skewer of dango in her hand.
Her presence made the Nanga Alliance look almost like a joke.
"Maybe we shouldn’t go at all. I have a feeling that if our shinobi go, all they’ll be doing is cheering from the sidelines!"
Anko spoke without the slightest restraint.
Yet no one dared to look down on her because of her young age, much less dismiss her words.
After all, standing behind her were the five jōnin of the Fūma Clan—Arashi, Sasame, Kageno, Hakkiri, and Jigumo.
These were shinobi who had become jōnin through their own innate abilities.
After joining Orochimaru, they had undergone further modifications.
They were now unquestionably elite shinobi.
And, more importantly, Anko represented Orochimaru.
Even if she spoke an inconvenient truth, nobody dared contradict her.
Even Monga, the Sand missing-nin and leader of the Allied Forces from the Land of Rivers, chimed in without enthusiasm.
"Exactly. Whether I’m there or not makes no difference! There’s no point in going. We still have plenty of matters to deal with in the Land of Rivers!"
Pakura remained in Nanga, seeking divine favor and worshiping the gods.
Monga, who knew how to read the situation, had already taken over her position.
Pakura herself did not even know about it yet.
This conversation left Hokage Uchiha Fugaku with an expression as dark as iron.
The delight he had felt after his own strength had increased vanished completely.
Fortunately, Mitokado Homura, who was also participating in the meeting, spoke up.
"Whether we go or not is a matter of attitude. Whether we can contribute anything is a matter of ability. If our abilities are insufficient, does that mean we should also leave Nanga with the impression that our attitude is improper?"
Because the other allies had sent important members of their own factions rather than their leaders, Mitokado had used this reasoning to deprive Kushina of the qualification to attend the meeting.
Hearing this, Fugaku nodded repeatedly.
As expected of a veteran of the political world. He really knows how to speak.
Homura’s words also blocked the allies’ escape route.
They did not want to fight to the death for the Hidden Whirlpool Village.
But they dared not let the Uchiha think that their attitude was improper.
And so, the coalition’s prewar mobilization was completed.
Each faction contributed several hundred to more than a thousand shinobi.
Together with the people of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, they now had nearly four thousand shinobi.
Nanga sent 1,500 Red-Eyes, 2,000 students, and 100 members of the Uchiha main family as commanders.
This deployment had practically emptied Nanga’s reserves.
The eight-thousand-strong army contained more than half elite shinobi.
Kushina was deeply moved.
She swore that the friendship between the Land of Whirlpools and Nanga would endure forever.
Nanga had sacrificed far too much for the Land of Whirlpools.
Unfortunately, Nanga did not care about Kushina’s friendship at all.
They were merely using this as an excuse to become stronger.
Helping the Land of Whirlpools restore its country was the excuse.
Keeping the Land of Water occupied was the real objective.
Nanga’s militaristic ideology was rampant.
Become stronger.
Fight wars for Lord Kei.
That had always been Nanga’s pursuit.
The people of this generation intended to complete the bloodiest phase of primitive accumulation within their own lifetime.
Through plunder, they would turn Nanga into a society of permanent wealth.
That was Lord Kei’s plan.
It had already become Nanga’s ideology.
Pharmacist Inari, who had changed his surname to Uchiha, was especially fanatical about it.
At this moment, because of the changes occurring between Heaven and Earth, he had successfully awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Having a good father really did give one an advantage.
After the seven children of the Pharmacist family took their mother’s surname following her remarriage into the Uchiha Clan, they had become members of the Uchiha main family.
Therefore, what had been implanted into them was not merely the Red-Eyes.
It was the Sharingan—eyes salvaged from the remnants of Uchiha traitors.
Kei had bestowed more than a dozen of these eyes upon Jūbei.
And that was not even counting his sons.
Even his wife, Uchiha Nono, had received a transplanted Sharingan.
The problem was that because they did not possess Uchiha blood, controlling the Sharingan consumed enormous amounts of chakra.
Fortunately, Nanga’s medical ninjutsu was exceptionally advanced.
After conducting experiments on hundreds of thousands of human bodies, the Nanga Clan had enough confidence to claim that its medical ninjutsu surpassed even Tsunade’s.
Practical experience created true knowledge.
Although the bloody experiments were cruel, the benefits they produced ultimately benefited the Uchiha.
No one understood the human body better than they did.
Furthermore, Inari and Chikudo Hachiman had a powerful father backing them.
Thus, the seven children of the Pharmacist family had received comprehensive modifications.
Dissecting the group led by Uchiha Shōmei had allowed some outstanding Iga graduates to acquire partial Uchiha blood.
This ensured that the Sharingan would not become a burden.
The outstanding graduates included the seven children of the Pharmacist family, along with several other top students.
Jūbei’s achievements were enough for him to stand at the Iga graduation ceremony and ask:
"Who supports this? Who opposes it?"
As the first-ranked contributor in Iga, even Granny Huan was reluctant to casually contradict him.
Jūbei was also intelligent enough to promote only the ideologically correct aspects of the policy while never interfering with administrative arrangements.
And so, the seven children, who had originally relied upon their own strength, became famous throughout Nanga as privileged heirs.
Perhaps that was the only disadvantage of having a powerful father.
It was far too easy for one’s own efforts to be dismissed.
Sometimes, working hard and doing nothing produced exactly the same result.
Success came far too easily.
For example, the power of the Cursed Seal gave them explosive strength in moments of crisis.
Normally, surviving the transformation required absolute willpower.
But they had received surgery personally performed by Little Bean Saijō.
That miraculous surgeon had a one-hundred-percent success rate.
If even someone without sufficient willpower could survive, then they certainly could.
Previously, their young age and limited chakra reserves had been their greatest weaknesses.
Now, the support of the Chakra Network had even made up for their lack of chakra.
If they encountered the five members of the Sarutobi Clan again, Inari felt that he could deal with all five single-handedly.
At present, all the elder brother Inari wanted was to reach the Land of Water as soon as possible and kill more members of the Kaguya Clan.
That way, his younger brothers and fellow clansmen could also receive skeletal modifications.
The bloodline modification would make their swordsmanship even more flexible.
It would also allow them to rely on military achievements to prove themselves and shed some of their spoiled-heir image.
But when he saw his younger brother Kabuto pestering Kakashi without a care in the world, Inari felt that his family already had one spoiled heir too many.
Nanga
On the stage, the Three-Tomoe Red-Eyed Hyōma’s eyes suddenly blazed with fire.
His previously transplanted Red-Eye, whose power was equivalent to the Mangekyō Sharingan, had finally awakened its own dōjutsu as the laws of the will of the universe became complete.
"Kotoamatsukami! Rise, Sin God—Yamata no Orochi!"
A phantom of Yamata no Orochi emerged.
According to the causal structure of Japanese mythology, the story told by Susanoo consisted of:
The Judge — Amaterasu.
The Executioner — Susanoo.
The Sin God — Yamata no Orochi.
The Prophet — Tsukuyomi.
The storyline of Naruto fit this framework perfectly.
Thus, the Uchiha Clan had been chosen as the divinely selected clan.
They became the vessel for the mythology of the Executioner—Susanoo.
Among the Uchiha, the person bearing the destiny of Heaven would be a man who united Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo within himself.
He would become eternally entangled with Yamata no Orochi, the Sin God, because of the sins of ōyamatsumi.
According to the mythology, Yamata no Orochi devoured the descendants of ōyamatsumi, leaving behind only Ashinazuchi, Tenazuchi, and Kushinadahime as the three gods who knew the truth.
Likewise, in Naruto’s story, it was difficult not to wonder whether Orochimaru, in a timeline without Uchiha Kei, had secretly harmed Uchiha members and researched the Sharingan.
Orochimaru was absolutely capable of such a thing.
If so, this was essentially another version of the Susanoo myth.
Therefore, Ashinazuchi, Tenazuchi, and Kushinadahime became the facilitators and witnesses of this mythology.
Yet when the true name Yamata no Orochi was transmitted, something unexpected happened.
Susanoo remained completely silent this time.
He allowed the serpent’s mythology to spread throughout Nanga and inspire fear.
This was quite intriguing.
Could anyone truly explain the relationships between gods?
Could anyone guarantee that there was no backroom deal between the Sin God who absorbed fear and the benevolent gods who absorbed faith?
Without making people afraid, where would the faith come from?
As Uchiha Kei transformed the negative aspects of emotion into gods and returned them to Heaven and Earth, the Sin God was also recognized.
Although it remained weaker than the benevolent gods, it had broken free from its shackles and could now exercise its own power.
The moment Hyōma, despite being a member of the Uchiha main family, opened his Kotoamatsukami Red-Eye while serving as a leader among the branch family, a realization suddenly appeared within the hearts of the Red-Eyes.
Even the gods who pitied them were merely tools of the gods who favored the Uchiha Clan.
If that was the case, what did they have left to resent?
"Loyalty! Honor!"
As Hyōma’s aura continued to rise, the Red-Eyed Uchiha shouted toward the Uchiha main family the slogan representing the will of the entire branch family.
It was an oath of absolute loyalty to the Uchiha Clan.
Meanwhile, the Heaven-Extending Divine Realm experienced another period of explosive growth.
The blessings of various concepts—divine descendants, the race of Sin Gods, descendants of the Creator, and others—caused a new generation of Snake Sages to emerge from the ranks of the Divine Realm.
The power of the Cursed Seal rose accordingly, while its side effects were reduced to almost nothing.
This comprehensive enhancement meant that Nanga’s small population was no longer a weakness.
More than two hundred members of the Uchiha main family.
Three thousand members of the branch family.
Two thousand graduates.
Any one of them could now hold their own against a famous shinobi.
"Glory!"
The cry echoed throughout Nanga.
At that moment, Uchiha Mikoto, the Hokage’s wife, and Uchiha Izumi, the future Hokage’s wife, were chatting in the Sarutobi family’s courtyard.
The next moment, both women suddenly felt a sharp pain in their eyes.
They were about to awaken their dōjutsu.
As women, they were among those most inclined to believe in the gods.
They were believers in all the divine systems and myths of Nanga.
And perhaps this was Heaven’s will.
Two women who were not even shinobi had successfully awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan from nothing under the coverage of the Chakra Network.
They might even have the potential to awaken something beyond it.
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