Chapter 728

Very soon, amid the waiting of the Shinigami and the Ishgar crowd, the great war of the Shinobi World finally began; at a gathering place, the Five Kage were looking out over the entire Shinobi Allied Forces, a faint smile on their faces.

For them, this might well be the best possible moment — the Shinobi World, never before united as one, beginning its punitive campaign against the others.

For the Five Kage, although they did not know how long this state could last, in truth they too very much wanted to see it.

After all, for them the most important thing right now was still to defeat the Akatsuki organization and the mysterious Uchiha Obito; as for the others, they simply did not care that much.

And beside the Ishgar crowd and the Shinigami, the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, had long been poised for action; ever since he discovered that his younger brother had been sealed away by some unknown power, he had felt a sense of crisis — for him, such a situation was absolutely not permitted.

Therefore, in Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's eyes, the most important thing now was still to find that powerful being who had sealed his brother, Ōtsutsuki Hamura, because it was precisely this powerful being that had caused his brother's sealing.

Since such a person could seal his brother, for him it was also a very bad omen, because even though his strength was somewhat greater than his brother's, it was not by all that much.

"This batch of shinobi is still quite strong — at least in our world, we couldn't find that many experts to take part in this battle; in our world, there really aren't that many people who can fight."

Looking at the Shinobi Allied Forces before him, Makarov's face was full of an expression of astonishment; for him, what lay before him now was an utterly terrifying sight.

Because by a rough count, the Shinobi Allied Forces gathered here already exceeded one hundred thousand, which was still utterly inconceivable to the Ishgar crowd.

Because they knew this was only the people of the Five Great Shinobi Villages and the Land of Iron; as for the Shinobi World, there were still many, many small nations that had not taken part in this battle, so for them, these people were not the full roster.

Looking at everything before him, Makarov was somewhat at a loss for words, but he also knew that if Ishgar were truly to continue existing in peace, then forming an allied force like the shinobi was still very necessary.

Just a few Mofagong Society branches meant nothing at all for Ishgar's rather vast territory, and besides, what the people of Ishgar needed was not a few high-end combatants, but rather people who could fight.

Because Ishgar was not short on high-end combat power — although compared to the Wizard Saints and Natsu, Yamamoto Genryūsai's burden and the others, there was still some gap — but measured against the Five Kage, the Wizard Saints' strength might still be a bit higher than theirs.

Under such circumstances, the combat power the people of Ishgar could bring forth was even less than one-tenth of the Shinobi Allied Forces'.

This might be because the cultivation of mages was overly difficult, or perhaps because the rules were different, but after seeing this scene, in his heart Makarov wanted to reform certain things — though those would be matters for after he returned to Ishgar, because for him, the most important thing now was still to defeat Aizen.

· ·······Begging for flowers····· ·····

Therefore, no matter what strange thoughts were in Makarov's heart now, he would not let them come to fruition — he would only let them stay in their hearts, to be spoken of later.

Looking at Makarov's appearance, a faint smile also played on Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo's face; although he had never liked war, in truth being able to see so many outstanding juniors was not bad either.

After all, for Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, the present Shinobi World was still quite good — there were quite a few people around, and such people, once they came to the Pure Land in the future, could also become his fighting force.

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But in truth, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo was still somewhat worried; after all, once he had returned to the Pure Land, he discovered that the souls of no small number of powerful beings had vanished.

This might well be the handiwork of that traitor Hitsugaya Tōshirō mentioned, because even he could not summon so many Pure Land souls into the present world in one go, and this also made him worry whether he could defeat Aizen.

But for Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, these were no real problems; after his last parting with Hitsugaya Tōshirō, Natsu, Chōjūrō, Temari, Kurotsuchi, Darui, and Haruno Sakura — seven people in all — he had gone to seek out the Toad Sage, Gamabunta.

Although the Toad Sage Gamabunta had lost the ability to speak, a blessing in disguise — he had also gained the ability to move about normally.

With this, together with the Snake Sage whom Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had persuaded, the four of them — the four most senior sages — had once again become companions; for the Sage of Six Paths, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, this could be counted as one of the few pieces of good news amid his injuries and impending death.