Chapter 149: The Legend of the Sage of Six Paths

Chapter 149: Chapter 149: The Legend of the Sage of Six Paths

Naturally, Hyuga Kagami had no masochistic tendencies. The reason this thought had even occurred to him was because Uchiha Madara had once removed his own Rinnegan and secretly transplanted them into the young Nagato.

Although after the transplant, the Rinnegan within Nagato remained dormant for a long time, only gradually awakening after he reached adulthood and suffered an enormous emotional shock, there was no denying that Madara had indeed transplanted his own Rinnegan into Nagato.

"Perhaps when Madara removed his eyes, he also left behind a portion of his soul."

After pondering it for a while, Kagami arrived at this conclusion.

There was no doubt that Madara, in his later years, wasn’t completely ignorant when it came to matters of the soul.

Otherwise, before his death, he couldn’t possibly have attempted to create ’Black Zetsu’ to monitor Obito.

What Madara hadn’t anticipated, however, was that the ’Black Zetsu’ he believed he’d created by splitting off a portion of his own soul would be taken over by another ghost that had wandered the shinobi world for a thousand years.

Right beneath his nose, that ancient ghost had pulled off the perfect case of stealing another’s nest!

Kagami didn’t remain inside the Type-A clone for long. His soul soon returned to his original body.

Before he could begin developing the Water Release clone, he first needed to deal with the Dragon Vein sealed within his original body.

After all, once his soul descended into the Water Release clone, the power remaining within his original body would no longer be enough to suppress the Dragon Vein and its incomparably vast reserves of chakra.

It might not cause any problems for a short while.

But given enough time, without the suppression of his Tenseigan chakra, the Dragon Vein would inevitably run rampant.

This hidden danger had to be dealt with first. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

So after leaving a shadow clone behind in the village, Kagami’s true body quietly slipped out of Konoha...

......

Land of Demons, Priestess’s Palace.

"Lady Shion, slow down! Be careful not to fall..."

A large group of maids noisily chased after a little girl.

The little girl running at the front held up a brightly colored kite as she ran, panting heavily. She seemed to be struggling a little, but her flushed little face was filled with excitement.

The guards nearby could only shake their heads and sigh.

Clearly, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.

Inside the main hall, the Priestess was going through a stack of documents, her delicate brows tightly furrowed.

"You..."

"What..."

Suddenly, several startled cries came from the guards stationed outside the entrance.

Before their voices could even rise, they abruptly fell silent.

Immediately afterward, a figure walked into the hall.

The Priestess’s expression darkened as she demanded,

"Who are you?"

The figure who had entered the hall removed the mask from his face and smiled.

"Your Highness, there’s no need to worry. It’s me!"

Upon seeing Hyuga Kagami’s face, the Priestess let out a long sigh of relief. But immediately afterward, she asked in confusion,

"Huh? How did you sneak in? I clearly activated the barrier!"

Kagami replied, "I had no choice but to sneak in without warning in order to conceal my identity. Please forgive the intrusion, Your Highness."

The barrier the Priestess had erected around the palace might as well have been an impregnable fortress to most people, but to Kagami, who possessed the Tenseigan, it wasn’t much of an obstacle.

He had merely spotted a tiny flaw in the barrier, then used the ’Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion’ to slice open a small gap, allowing him to slip inside without anyone noticing.

And Kagami had his reasons for choosing to infiltrate the palace rather than entering openly.

Although the Land of Demons maintained its independence, the surrounding great nations had never stopped trying to infiltrate it. So even within the Priestess’s palace, there was no guarantee that spies from other nations weren’t lurking among its people.

Therefore, Kagami couldn’t openly meet with the Priestess.

The Priestess didn’t dwell on the matter and asked,

"You came to see me in such a hurry. Is something wrong?"

Kagami briefly explained the situation regarding the Dragon Vein, then asked,

"I want to seal the Dragon Vein into a ritual vessel, but this kind of sealing technique isn’t my specialty. So I came here to ask for your help."

The Priestess didn’t seem particularly surprised.

"So you really were the one who stole the Dragon Vein."

Every sealing formula on the Artificial Tailed Beast scroll had been personally taught to Kagami by the Priestess, and even the Purple Clay Gel had been supplied by her.

So when she’d heard that the Dragon Vein had been stolen, Kagami had naturally been the first person who came to mind.

Kagami smiled.

"I didn’t expect the Artificial Tailed Beast Project to be completed so quickly either."

"What a daring experiment!"

After sighing in admiration, the Priestess thought for a moment before saying,

"If you want to seal away an enormous amount of chakra like the Dragon Vein, an ordinary ritual vessel won’t be able to contain it."

Kagami hurriedly asked,

"Then what kind of ritual vessel could?"

The Priestess stood up and retrieved a scroll from a nearby bookshelf, then slowly unfurled it in front of Kagami.

Kagami’s attention was immediately drawn to the map depicted on the scroll.

It was an extremely detailed map of the Land of Demons, marking every town and village within the country, as well as its famous mountains, rivers, and lakes.

The Priestess then tapped her finger against a mountain marked ’Mount Zaō’ and said,

"There’s a treasure here. Your timing couldn’t have been better!"

Kagami looked curious.

"What kind of treasure?"

The Priestess deliberately kept him in suspense and smiled.

"You’ll know when we get there."

After publicly announcing that she was entering seclusion to study sealing techniques, the Priestess quietly slipped out of the palace together with Kagami and headed toward Mount Zaō.

Along the way, Kagami asked,

"Your Highness, when I infiltrated your palace earlier, I noticed that the security was extremely tight. Everyone looked as though they were preparing for a powerful enemy. What exactly happened?"

The Priestess sighed helplessly.

"Haah... the Yomi Cult has risen from the ashes again."

Kagami’s gaze sharpened.

After pondering for a moment, he said,

"Don’t worry, Your Highness. This time, I’ll help you completely wipe out the Yomi Cult."

The Priestess immediately thanked him.

"Then I’ll be counting on you!"

Before long, the two arrived at Mount Zaō.

After entering deep into the mountain and walking for roughly fifteen minutes, the Priestess stopped in front of a rock wall. She formed a series of hand seals, then cast a technique toward it.

In an instant, a flash of light swept across the wall.

The incredibly lifelike rock face before them gradually became hazy and transparent before finally disappearing altogether.

Kagami’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"The sealing techniques of the Priestess’s lineage really are extraordinary. This concealment technique almost managed to fool even my Tenseigan."

The Priestess beckoned to him.

"Come in!"

Following behind her, Kagami passed through the concealing barrier and entered a hidden valley nestled within the mountain.

The Priestess pointed toward a green vine hanging from a distant cliff and smiled.

"The treasure is right over there!"

Kagami followed the direction of her finger.

Yet all he saw was an unremarkable gourd vine, with a single small gourd hanging from it.

The Priestess explained,

"According to legend, the Sage of Six Paths once spent twenty years waiting here on Mount Zaō. In the end, he obtained a gourd and refined it into an immensely powerful Six Paths ritual vessel."

She smiled before continuing,

"Of course, that’s only a legend passed down through the Land of Demons. As for whether it’s actually true... even I don’t know."