Chapter 269: Six Paths Sage (3k)

"Many more ninjas in Konoha have had that golden light appear in their eyes!"

Onoki frowned deeply. He did not know who in Konoha had developed this new technique; he only knew that every ninja with that golden light in their pupils saw their strength increase significantly, and they seemed to no longer fear death.

This made it impossible for them to make good progress in their attacks on Konoha, and ordinary Konoha ninjas began to become difficult to deal with under the enhancement of this technique.

"Have the people from Kirigakure and Sunagakure not arrived yet?"

Onoki asked. Originally, he had only intended to wait for those two villages to arrive so that he and the Raikage would no longer have to be wary of each other and could free up their hands to break through Konoha, but the fact that the ninjas from those two villages had still not appeared made him sense something abnormal.

"There is intelligence saying that a great chaos seems to have occurred in the Land of Water... Kirigakure has also encountered a major change; they likely will not intervene in this war."

After Onoki asked, he discovered that the information in the intelligence was ambiguous, only stating that Uchiha Shisui of Konoha had very likely launched an attack on Kirigakure previously, and that Kirigakure had suffered casualties of important personnel.

It was just that because of the great chaos in Konoha, these reports were not taken seriously at the time. Thinking about it now, it was very strange that two of the Five Great Shinobi Villages had been attacked one after another.

Huangtu flashed in from outside wearing armor at this moment. His expression was grave as he said to his father:

"Intelligence just came in: the Royal Capital of the Land of Fire has been attacked, and the Daimyo is dead!"

Onoki's expression was one of shock. Attacking the Daimyo?!

In the world of ninjas, no matter what the stance of the various ninja villages might be, they were always loyal to their own country and Daimyo.

The Daimyo and the country supported the ninja village, while the ninja village existed as the country's most powerful war institution, the embodiment of a nation's military might.

Aside from those notorious rogue ninjas, few ninjas would ever target the royal capital of a country or high-ranking nobles for assassination. Once such behavior occurred, they would inevitably be hunted down with the full force of the ninja village.

But now, someone had actually struck brazenly and killed the Daimyo of the Land of Fire?!

The next moment, another figure walked in quickly, glanced at the group, and said:

"Lord Onoki, the Fourth Raikage Ai seems to have just left the front line rapidly with several small teams!"

"In what direction did they go?!"

Onoki vaguely caught onto something, but he was still uncertain, so he pressed for an answer.

The person recalled for a moment and said:

"Probably... in the direction of the Cloud Hidden Village and the Land of Lightning."

Onoki felt a jolt in his heart; that thought which had been elusive just a moment ago became incomparably clear.

He fluttered rapidly in the air and landed on the table.

"Not good, it's that group of people who attacked Konoha; they are hunting down the high-level officials of every country!"

Hyuga Hiashi was wrapped in bandages. He had been heavily injured when Tao Baibai broke his 【Rotation】 with a single strike. Although medical ninjas had tried their best to treat him, he was still unable to participate in battle and could only stay in the village's combat command room.

He remained wary of that mysterious woman, and therefore was unwilling to accept the so-called 【Gift of Gold】.

But it could not be denied that everyone who accepted that gift had their physique enhanced at a speed visible to the naked eye, especially the Genin and Chunin, whose average combat power had increased greatly under the enhancement of this power.

This was the reason Konoha could still hold on under the pincer attack of two major ninja villages.

Suddenly, Hiashi stood up, as if he had seen some incredible sight.

"What is it? Is there a new situation?"

Jiraiya, who was temporarily serving as the combat commander for Konoha, had his nerves stretched tight. These days, he had to be responsible for command within the village, and at such a time, there were many voices within the clans that required him to step forward time and again to appease and coordinate them.

On the other hand, Jiraiya also had to personally participate in the battle, working with Uchiha Shisui to block the top-tier combatants of the two villages.

Tian Yi leaned against the window, not looking in the direction outside the village, but she seemed to have everything at her fingertips. She chuckled and said:

"The two days are up. We have won this defensive battle."

Hearing the woman's words, Jiraiya still could not believe it, but Hyuga Hiashi did indeed speak with some hesitation.

"The Raikage and the Tsuchikage both seem to have left the front line, and the ninjas of both villages are also withdrawing from the Konoha barrier in a retreat formation!"

Soon, the village's intelligence ninjas and Anbu all came to report one by one, confirming the intelligence that the ninjas of the two villages had begun to retreat.

Jiraiya felt a sense of relief in his heart; no matter what, they had ultimately defended Konoha.

Looking at the golden radiance vaguely emanating from the back mountain, Tian Yi thought to herself that she had indeed borrowed quite a bit of 【Momentum】 from Tao Baibai this time, but such a gift would sooner or later be demanded back twofold by that madman.

She had to prepare a countermeasure in advance before that happened.

Facing an abnormal person like Tao Baibai, Tian Yi did not think that directly becoming his enemy was a good choice. The opponent's growth speed was extremely fast and accompanied by a certain 【Strong Luck】; every person who thought they were stronger than him ended up being hunted in turn during the process of hunting Tao Baibai.

In a place like the Infinite Dimensional Space, friends were always far more precious than enemies, the woman mused.

Her state by the window was very relaxed, as if she were not worried at all that someone would come to assassinate her, which made 【Leren】, who was standing on the other side holding a sword, feel somewhat puzzled.

At this moment, 【Leren】's eyes also held a golden luster; he had accepted the blessing of the 【Golden Order】. Even if he were to become a 【Tarnished】 in the future, this ability to gain extra attributes under the blessing was already powerful enough.

In a certain sense, it already possessed effects similar to the space itself.

But he was very clear that introducing other power systems into a derivative world of a mission would cause the world line to undergo major anomalies, and such anomalies could not produce high-level Singularities, but would also cause Reincarnators to suffer the hostility of the World Will and be hunted by powerful Plot Characters of the mission world.

He did not understand why Miss Tian Yi seemed completely unworried about someone coming to kill her.

Unless... the person who planted the Golden Tree and carried the 【Golden Order】 was not her...

——

【Special Trial: Ultimate Benevolence, Stage 1 completed】

【You have unlocked Special Trial: Ultimate Benevolence, Stage 2】

【Stage 2: Within three days, find Ping Zhongshi, who is spreading intelligence, and ensure he is not killed until the mission ends】

【Note: A huge change has occurred with the Plot Character Ping Zhongshi; the difficulty of this mission has changed. If this trial fails, Card Virtue will not be lost from your Backpack】

Bai Cangshu looked at the refreshed space prompt before him. This was the second time since the Black King Luffy intruded into the Pirate World that the space had proactively offered to reduce the penalty for a mission.

This also reminded Bai Cangshu from another level that the difficulty of Stage 2 of this special trial had been raised to a terrifying level. In the space's judgment, even he, a 【Bing-Extreme】 rank Reincarnator with Breaking the Rules combat power, likely did not possess the ability to complete the mission at all.

Only in such a situation would the space modify the penalty due to a conflict with the fundamental rule of the space that 【Impossible-to-complete, certain-death missions do not appear】, granting the Reincarnator extra care.

Bai Cangshu looked at Shimura Danzo, who was tied to the back of a Summoning Beast not far from him, and understood in his heart that this trial mission had indeed changed.

The Ping Zhongshi mission line, which was originally expected to be associated with the Konoha or Uchiha factions, was no longer about rescuing him or killing a powerful Plot Character for him, but had become about ensuring he would not be killed.

The wording here was also very subtle.

"Ensure he is not killed"—this contains no object pronoun, and does not specify who he will be killed by; whether it is a new Reincarnator, a ninja from Konoha, or some Plot Character.

And based on the difficulty, for the space to consider that even a Bing-Extreme level Reincarnator with Breaking the Rules combat power would likely have zero possibility of completing the mission...

There are likely only two possibilities.

A high-level Reincarnator deployed again, with a Rating possibly approaching the Fierce level or even having already reached the Fierce level.

Or, those truly top-tier powerhouses who have not yet appeared in this world, those Six Paths Level Plot Characters who are above the Shadow Level and capable of raising the combat power level of this world.

"I say, it's about time you gave up on trying to kill me."

Bai Cangshu lowered his head, looking at the beautiful woman, who was currently using slow and what she thought were covert movements to try and draw the sharp blade beneath her skirt.

Because of his massive size, Bai Cangshu merely lowering his head carried a terrifying sense of oppression, making the woman's face as pale as paper.

That ninja who had tried to assassinate Bai Cangshu from behind with a Kunai to no avail was already engulfed in flames, struggling as he fell from the back of the Summoning Beast, and then went silent.

"You cannot kill me."

Bai Cangshu informed her flatly, without any hint of showing off or complacency; he was simply stating a fact that the other party was unwilling to believe.

Even if Bai Cangshu stood there without any defense, ordinary humans would have no way to kill him; whether it be sharp blades or deadly poison, even if they could take effect on Bai Cangshu, his Regeneration and Immortality would allow him to recover.

The only feasible way for ordinary people to kill Bai Cangshu would probably be to trap him in some environment from which he could never escape, and then starve Bai Cangshu to death; after the body loses all sustenance, the cells would slowly lose their activity, and the Regeneration and Immortality would eventually be exhausted, leading to death.

Bai Cangshu grabbed the woman and tossed her casually toward the crowd, knocking over a large group of people amidst a chorus of exclamations.

Nowadays, these kinds of pure ordinary people could hardly give him any rewards; whether it was Dimension Points or Killing Intent Wave, it was extremely difficult to obtain any improvement from such individuals.

Bai Cangshu had originally been interested in continuing to play with these ordinary people, letting these humans witness the gap between a true Transcendent Creature and ordinary people, but the update to the Special Trial: Phase Two had made him lose interest.

Bai Cangshu had already realized what the true method of that Heaven's will manipulating him was.

She had actually made an originally ordinary Plot Character of this world, Ping Zhongshi, the vessel for the Golden Order!

Bai Cangshu turned his head and locked eyes with Ping Zhonghua, who was sitting on the back of the Summoning Beast with a bewildered expression.

"Your husband really has done an extraordinary thing..."

Bai Cangshu's cruel smile made Ping Zhonghua's whole body turn cold; she did not know what her husband had actually done, but she knew very well that angering this Tao Baibai would result in no good end, even for those big shots among the ninjas.

Shi, what have you done... where... are you?

On the border of the Land of Fire, the Fourth Raikage Ai, who was making a long-distance raid to rush back to the Royal Capital of the Land of Lightning, suddenly saw a peculiar figure; under the full moon, the other party was wearing a suit of pitch-black special armor, with an overly large blade strapped to his back.

More importantly, the other party was emitting specks of golden radiance.

Ai had originally not wanted to pay any attention, but for some reason, he always felt that this kind of golden light was very similar to the light in the eyes of those ninjas from Konoha Hidden Village, and he suddenly developed a sense of dislike for this person.

Ping Zhongshi also sensed something at the same time; he turned his head, the golden rings in his pupils emitting a luster, and he saw that group of ninjas, as well as an old man in white robes floating in the air behind that group of ninjas, appearing and disappearing; the other party held a black tin staff, and there were black Magatama on the chest of his white robe.

That is... the Sage of Six Paths!

(End of this chapter)