The reason Aoba was able to gather the divine authorities of most of the deities across the entire Shinobi World was because of the Shinigami acting as a broker. Yet in the end, it was only the Shinigami who backed down.
Or perhaps, the Shinigami had his own plans from the start. Aoba had gathered countless divine authorities, and his combat power had already reached an immeasurable level.
But that didn't mean he was guaranteed to win against the Sage of Six Paths. After all, chakra, as a form of energy, had seeped into the very fabric of the Shinobi World over the ages. In terms of intensity and quality, the Sage of Six Paths, who had absorbed vast amounts of chakra authority, was no pushover.
The Shinigami's scheme, or rather, his open scheme was very simple: let Aoba and the Sage of Six Paths battle it out, and then he'd reap the benefits as the third party.
However, the situation was far more complex than it appeared on the surface.
On paper, Aoba and the Sage of Six Paths were on the same level. The Shinigami was one tier below. But as the only deity in a thousand years who had neither been killed, reborn, nor fallen into slumber, he still held a certain advantage.
Judging by the effects of the Reaper Death Seal, the Shinigami had lost control over the Pure Land, but still retained significant authority over death. That was his key reason for daring to get involved in this conflict.
In mathematics, triangles are stable. But the so-called tripartite balance in the Shinobi World was anything but.
That was because neither Aoba nor the Sage of Six Paths wanted to drag this out. Aoba feared that if it dragged on, the Sage would fully master the Pure Land, making him far more difficult to deal with.
The Sage, on the other hand, feared that Aoba would produce more Rinnegan users and siphon away even more authority, preventing him from becoming the new progenitor of chakra.
One must remember that lurking behind this tripartite standoff was an as-yet-unseen Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. Though she was currently sidelined, she was still the previous master of chakra.
As long as the Sage failed to complete his final step, once Kaguya returned, her authority would still dominate everything.
And the Shinigami had his own concerns. For him, both Aoba and the Sage of Six Paths were already terrifying enough. Either of them alone was more than he could handle.
Only if the two were to gravely wound each other would he have a chance. But seeing how things were developing, he feared that even in the event of mutual destruction, he still wouldn't be able to beat the survivor.
After all, he'd been playing it safe for so many years that his remaining combat strength was truly limited. Though he retained a degree of authority over death, his direct combat ability didn't even reach the Six Paths tier. He was far from a real threat.
Thus, this so-called three-way standoff was in a delicate and fragile balance. Once that balance was broken, it would lead to a battle that would decide the very survival of the Shinobi World. As for who would win or lose, it remained to be seen.
Aoba had never liked the "Chosen One" route. Finding one or two children of destiny, burdening them with heavy fates, and having them save the world in a last-minute turnaround.
As a child, he had loved such stories, loved imagining himself as the savior who saved the world.
But when it came time for him to actually play the savior, he found he had little interest. Now, as a more mature person, he preferred a more conventional and methodical approach to achieving his goals.
Why rely on some so-called savior to rescue the world? Why entrust the fate of you, me, and the world itself into someone else's hands?
If the world needs saving, then it should be done with the strength of the whole world.
And that's exactly what Aoba was doing now. He opened all resources, nurtured Rinnegan users, and cultivated Six Paths-level combatants.
The Six Paths level was a foundational threshold. Once one crossed it, the Sage of Six Paths could no longer easily interfere with your chakra.
Because at that level, your control over chakra began to touch upon its very origin, akin to having grasped part of chakra's core authority.
This was the root reason why the Sage feared Aoba's plan. Even raising ten thousand Kage-level fighters would mean little. Because the authority those people grasped was still secondary. Against the Sage, they wouldn't even qualify to fight.
In truth, they couldn't even defeat Sasuke. The current Sasuke, unless you were at the Six Paths level, could kill any number of ninja in his domain with just a thought. However many came, he could kill them all.
Now, Aoba was proceeding step by step, constantly cultivating new Rinnegan users, steadily dividing the Sage's authority, forcing him to eventually emerge for a decisive battle.
Besides the Rinnegan, the Ōtsutsuki Completion Project was also proceeding in full force. Hinata, Neji, and Hanabi's transformation had already entered its final phase.
Once the three of them succeeded, the entire Hyuga Clan would begin a comprehensive completion process.
Apart from the Rinnegan, the full Ōtsutsuki body itself was one of Aoba's trump cards. No matter what, the Ōtsutsuki clan were the ancestors of the Sage of Six Paths.
In terms of bloodline, the Sage was merely a second-tier Ōtsutsuki. And in the Ōtsutsuki clan, even Kaguya's bloodline wasn't considered high-ranking.
When the final battle arrived, Aoba planned to bring along a dozen Rinnegan users, plus dozens of people with Tenseigan and completed Ōtsutsuki bodies, to gang up on the Sage.
When it comes to war, the best method is to fight many against one, righteously and overwhelmingly, to completely crush the opponent.
.....
In the Shinobi World, in a secluded valley far from the Five Great Nations...
A small mountain village lay hidden within, cut off from the world. For who knows how many years, war had never reached this place.
For decades, the village lived a self-sufficient life, never interacting with the outside world.
Until today, when an outsider set foot on the village's land.
The moment he entered, most of the villagers seemed to be subtly affected. But they merely looked up for a moment before lowering their heads and continuing their work.
The outsider had white hair. Beneath his somewhat flippant face lay traces of sorrow and exhaustion.
He didn't move forward, instead standing still as three men walked toward him.
The three looked cautious, forming a semi-circle to surround the white-haired man.
"Sorry, we don't welcome outsiders here."
"Is that so? I'm just a lost traveler. May I trouble you for a bowl of water?"
"..."
Among the three, the oldest extended his right hand. Without any extra motion, a lump of clay appeared in his palm, squirming and quickly forming a bowl. At the same time, the bowl was filled with water.
To ordinary people, it was a miracle. To ninjas, it was a pinnacle-level application of elemental jutsu.
Single-handedly, without seals, using both Earth Release and Water Release simultaneously, this level of chakra control was something even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage known for his elemental prowess, might not have been able to do.
Yet the old man performed it as naturally as breathing.
Most crucially, the white-haired ninja's perspective was far beyond that of ordinary ninja. He even noticed that the old man had only used Earth Release to create the bowl. As for the water inside, it wasn't created using Water Release.
Because water made with chakra would vanish the moment the user died or their chakra was cut off. For thirst, it was only a temporary fix.
The water in the bowl had been transported from elsewhere at the moment the bowl was formed, using some kind of summoning technique. It was real water.
From a ninja's point of view, this kind of control was even more outrageous than using two elemental jutsu at once.
"Drink it. Then leave."
If you would like to read more...
The novel has be completed (Chp. 362) on the patreon -> SaintXI