Naruto: Talent Entry Perks

  "Hokage-sama, are you okay?"

  "No casualties—thank goodness. It's all thanks to Lord Izayoi's timely action!"

  "So strong, that punch just now... I feel like it could smash a mountain."

  "As expected of the legendary Wood Release!"

  "..."

  As the battle ended, the small black room shaped like a ghost mask slowly opened.

  The Konoha ninjas surged forward, surrounding the confused Tsunade and others. They checked the bodies of the unconscious Anbu and other ninjas and came up with results that made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

  Thanks to Izayoi's timely rescue, all the injured and bleeding companions were saved.

  This attack by Otsutsuki Toneri destroyed only the Hokage Building.

  "You're saying that aside from the Hokage Building, there were three other places also trapped by the Four Red Yang Formation?"

  Tsunade, who had just come back to her senses, frowned upon hearing the report from Nara Shikaku.

  "Yes, Hokage-sama," Shikaku nodded respectfully. "The other three formations were at Lord Izayoi's residence, the Uchiha clan's territory, and a waterfall in the suburbs."

  "Why did that guy suddenly attack us, and with such clear targets?" Tsunade frowned deeply. "Is he trying to hunt us, use our corpses to make human puppets, and strengthen his puppet army?"

  "I think it's a bit strange."

  Nara Shikaku remained calm. "Based on my own observations and those of the Hyuga clan, although the human puppets targeted high-level combatants like you, their chakra fluctuated strangely. When they faced multiple opponents, their chakra would surge, sometimes matching or surpassing the strongest one."

  "In one-on-one fights, the puppet's chakra either equaled the opponent's or was slightly lower."

  "Even more peculiar is that their attacks weren't aimed to kill. They would insert those black rods to block chakra flow and then knock the target out."

  "They never finished the job or took the unconscious with them. Instead, they teleported away."

  "This happened to the Anbu, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto."

  "It doesn't look like they're hunting top combat power. It looks more like... a test."

  "A test?" Tsunade frowned again. "You mean he's using us to test those puppets' strength?"

  "I think that's more likely than hunting." Shikaku nodded. "The requirement for activating the Four Red Yang Formation is four ninjas with Five Kage-level chakra. That means sixteen of these puppets had that level of chakra just for the formations alone. And those fighting you, Jiraiya-sama, and Lord Izayoi also had the same level of chakra."

  "The rest of the puppets were at least Special Jonin in chakra level."

  "All that chakra was funneled through those black rods into the core. It's completely absurd, like they're tailed beasts. It's far beyond the puppet army that attacked the Hidden Cloud Village last year."

  "If I'm right, Otsutsuki Toneri has obtained a tailed beast and may have become a Jinchūriki."

  Hearing Shikaku's analysis, Tsunade couldn't help but sigh. "Looks like the second round of the Sage's Eye is coming soon. Against such overpowered enemies, our Five Great Villages are just guinea pigs. It's really frustrating."

  "If it really is just an experiment, then the other villages probably didn't escape either." Shikaku added. "Maybe, just like he said, in the eyes of someone who possesses the Sage's Eye, we are all just monkeys."

  "I hope his only goal is to retrieve the Outer Path Statue," Tsunade said solemnly. "If he takes it and goes back to the moon to keep being their so-called 'god,' then I hope in this second round, Otsutsuki Toneri wins."

  Shikaku remained silent. This was beyond what he could understand.

  But if things were really as Tsunade said, then he too hoped the moon visitor would win.

  As long as that visitor took the Outer Path Statue and left the ninja world, unwilling to share the same air as the "monkeys," then the future would belong to Konoha's Wood Release users.

  Since Konoha was full of his own people, and he didn't want to accidentally kill his future subordinates, Izayoi waited until Uchiha Sasuke was defeated before ending the attack.

  The other ninja villages weren't so lucky.

  Those instantly killed were considered fortunate.

  Those who escaped the first wave of Lightning Chakra Mode + Yin-Yang Black Rod usually ended up dead or crippled.

  Unless they had a purple entry, Izayoi's wood clones didn't bother to waste time playing around. They would immediately start with wide-range or high-power techniques.

  Ninjas with purple entries were spared and carefully "played with."

  After all, the reason Scorpion and Deidara were spared was because they had good personalities and dual purple entries.

  Purple entries had a one-year cooldown—just like crops you could harvest annually. Killing the goose for the golden eggs would be a waste.

  So, 95% of the casualties in the four major ninja villages were those without purple entries.

  If someone with a purple entry was accidentally killed, their corpse would be taken to strengthen the puppet army.

  After over an hour, the chaos ended, and the puppets retreated.

  All that remained were the ruins of the Five Kage buildings.

  The surviving Kage wore expressions of rage and frustration, boiling with killing intent.

  But all of it was just impotent fury.

  They wanted to slice Otsutsuki Toneri into pieces—but that was just wishful thinking.

  Against such overwhelming power, even the Five Kage were no better than ordinary people.

  Their current enemy was equivalent to Uchiha Madara without a Senju Hashirama to hold him back.

  Two days later, Otsutsuki Toneri's fearsome reputation once again spread throughout the ninja world.

  Smaller ninja villages not targeted couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief—and even gloat.

  Thankfully, they were too weak to be worth attacking.

  They hoped Otsutsuki Toneri would continue weakening the major villages.

  In doing so, even if they weren't strong enough to challenge them, their status in the eyes of the major villages would rise.

  And their wish was soon granted.

  A week later, after comparing notes and analyzing the attacks, the Five Kage hesitated about holding a Five Kage Summit...

  The puppet army descended again.

  Barriers rose once more in the five major ninja villages.

  This time, the number of puppets had doubled, though not every barrier was a Four Red Yang Formation.

  Only the ones trapping the Kage or Jinchūriki were still Four Red Yang Formations. The others were Four Purple Flame Formations, targeting purple-entry ninjas who had survived or weren't targeted last time.

  After a week of recovery, these ninjas were back to full health—ready to drop more entries.

  Five wood clones managed the puppet army, while two more were in charge of recording data—tracking which enemies had exploded entries and which hadn't.

  The assault was as targeted as before.

  Izayoi wouldn't stop until all purple entries were cleared.

  He often lamented how thin the "skin" of the ninja world had become.

  With the Senju extinct, bloodlines diluted, and clans like the Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hozuki, and Kaguya destroyed... there were too few bloodline-limit clans left.

  Only the Hyuga clan still thrived.

  But they were Hinata's maternal family.

  And Hinata was the only one who knew about Izayoi's Rinnegan and the secret that he was actually Otsutsuki Toneri.

  Even though he knew Hinata wouldn't blame him, Izayoi still couldn't bring himself to beat up his future father-in-law.

  In this era of peace, talented ninjas were scarce.

  Konoha was ruined by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, and the Hidden Mist Village was weakened by Uchiha Obito's manipulation.

  These two had once had the most bloodline-limit clans.

  If Izayoi had been born during the First, Second, or even Third Ninja World War, he could've easily farmed a fortune in points.

  Maybe even obtained the Otsutsuki bloodline, upgraded to red entries, and reached a level beyond the Sage of Six Paths.

  But at least he still had Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Toneri to work with.

  His current focus was on Naruto and Sasuke. Raiding the villages was just extra farming.

  One red entry was worth at least 100,000 points—even the worst ones.

  If luck was on his side, he could even get 990,000 points and break into a new tier beyond red.

  So...

  Every week, the puppet army descended to harvest.

  Eventually, the Five Kage realized Toneri was using them for training.

  Most of their troops were knocked out or injured—deaths only happened by accident.

  The Five Kage were humiliated, but powerless to stop it.

  If the Hidden Cloud had a chakra cannon, the hot-tempered Fourth Raikage might've shot the moon already.

  ...

  The Akatsuki, of course, couldn't ignore the situation. With White Zetsu's clones all over the ninja world, they saw everything.

  In Kamui space, Nagato, Uchiha Obito, and Black and White Zetsu met to discuss the Jinchūriki and the tailed beasts.

  "Except the not-yet-resurrected Three-Tails, all Jinchūriki from One-Tails to Nine-Tails are alive. That outrageous chakra doesn't seem to come from the tailed beasts." Black Zetsu reported, while White Zetsu looked confused. "Toneri even attacked all of them—One-Tails in Sand, Four and Five in Stone, Two and Eight in Cloud, and Nine-Tails in Konoha—and still didn't kill them or extract their beasts."

  "It's the worst-case scenario," Obito said coldly. "He's obtained the Gray Stone mine."

  Nagato tapped a Wood Release-made table. "Gray Stone only provides pure natural energy and life force. Hyde's mobile fortress used it to make armored beasts—not chakra-based puppets like these."

  "If it were military training, they should be like Hyde's monsters. Instead, these puppets have absurd chakra."

  "Which means Toneri has either advanced drastically—or found a tailed beast-level chakra source."

  Black Zetsu stayed silent, growing increasingly uneasy.

  Only the practitioner—or the one caught by the Reaper Death Seal—could see the Shinigami.

  Otherwise, only someone at that dimension could perceive its existence.

  And Nine-Tails' chakra was immense. Even halved, it was still stronger than the full Eight-Tails.

  Black Zetsu had no idea the Shinigami had split the Nine-Tails into Yin and Yang halves.

  Like Nara Shikaku, he had guessed Toneri got a tailed beast.

  If that were true, it wasn't that alarming—at least the beasts weren't dead.

  But after investigating with White Zetsu, they confirmed that no Jinchūriki were missing.

  And that... was terrifying.

  Where exactly did that chakra come from?

  Was it from Toneri himself, or from another source?

  Either way, it was bad news.

  Nagato, no longer as reckless as before, couldn't figure it out either. He said to the Zetsus, "Zetsu, move faster. My gut tells me—once Toneri finishes whatever he's doing—he'll come for us next."

  "Understood!"

  ...

  Just like that, two months passed.

  Another new week came.

  The Five Great Villages had already grown used to the puppet army's weekly visits and maintained high alert.

  But this time—no puppets came, even late at night.

  The next day, still none.

  And the third day... still nothing.

  The Five Kage and all their ninjas looked bewildered, as if unsure whether the nightmare was really over.

  Only after a full week passed without incident did their tense nerves finally relax.

  Some mentally strong ninjas even cried tears of joy.

  It's over—finally over!

  The demon who never killed them but kept tormenting them had finally let them go.

  They didn't know... they had simply lost their value—for now.

  When the "leeks" regrew, the scythe would surely return.

  ...

  "It's almost time... almost time..."

  In a hot spring pool, Izayoi looked at the personal panel before him and muttered.

  On the points column, a six-digit number glowed:

  [Points: 799999]

  After more than two months of frenzied hunting, Izayoi had earned... 500,000 points!