Standing atop the high cliff, Tatsuya and the four kunoichi gazed towards the distant Miko's Palace. Layer upon layer of terracotta soldiers completely encircled the entire palace complex. If not for the protection afforded by the glowing defensive barrier surrounding it, the Miko's Palace would likely have been overrun by these relentless puppets long ago.
Tatsuya mentally estimated the staggering number of soldiers besieging the palace – at least twenty to thirty thousand, possibly even more. Seeing such an overwhelming force, Tatsuya's expression couldn't help but turn grave. Facing such a massive army of seemingly immortal terracotta soldiers, it would be impossible for their small team to quickly break through and reach the Miko's Palace by conventional means.
"There are people over there!" Beside him, Kurenai, having quietly performed a broad-range sensing technique, suddenly pointed towards a specific direction off to their flank.
Following the direction Kurenai indicated, Tatsuya and the others could vaguely make out another group of figures standing atop a different, adjacent hill. This group was larger than their own, numbering several dozen individuals.
Hayate thought for a moment. "Senpai, could they be ninja from other hidden villages who also accepted the mission request?"
Tatsuya nodded slowly. "It's very likely."
Yugao's face brightened slightly. "If they're here for the same mission, perhaps we could cooperate with them?"
Tatsuya considered for a second, then decided. "Whether they're other villages' ninja or not, let's head over there and rendezvous with them first. Besides, that position is significantly closer to the Miko's Palace."
Saying this, Tatsuya immediately leaped from the cliff edge. While still airborne, his hands rapidly blurred through a familiar sequence of summoning seals.
Poof!
With a large plume of white smoke billowing outwards, the massive form of Seiryu materialized beneath him.
"Seiryu, charge!" Once Kurenai, Anko, Hayate, and Yugao had all quickly jumped onto the great snake's broad back, Tatsuya gave the command, directing Seiryu to surge powerfully towards the other occupied hill.
Crash! Thump! Thump!
Seiryu swung its enormous, muscular body, beginning to carve and crush its way through the seemingly endless ranks of terracotta soldiers blocking its path. Its massive tail whipped back and forth relentlessly, each powerful, sweeping strike instantly smashing dozens of the stone puppets into clouds of fine dust.
"Leader, assisting ninja have arrived over there!"
On the distant hill occupied by the group clad uniformly in black robes, one member observed Seiryu's imposing, destructive advance and urgently reported to the imposing man standing at their forefront.
The leader of this sinister black-robed group was none other than Yomi, the head of the nefarious Yomi Cult. (Tatsuya noted with internal recognition – this was the same individual who, in the original story's plotline over a decade later, would command these very same terracotta soldiers against Naruto and his team.)
The Yomi Cult was known as an evil organization primarily active in the remote territories of the Land of Demons and the neighboring Land of Swamps. The organization itself wasn't particularly powerful on a grand scale – its leader, Yomi, possessed combat skills roughly equivalent to a Konoha Special Jonin – but they had a long history of committing numerous despicable and disruptive deeds within their limited sphere of influence. If the cult hadn't wisely confined its activities primarily to small, relatively insignificant island nations like the Land of Demons and the Land of Swamps, they likely would have been swiftly eradicated by one of the major hidden villages long ago.
"Quickly! Stop them!" Hearing the report, Yomi's expression darkened instantly as he issued the cold, sharp command.
"Yes, sir!" Receiving the order, the assembled Yomi Cult members immediately began focusing their efforts, directing the surrounding terracotta soldiers via hand signals and commands to swarm towards the approaching giant snake.
An unending, suffocating stream of terracotta soldiers converged densely from all directions, quickly managing to completely surround the charging Seiryu. Although Seiryu's natural movements were incredibly fast and powerful, its forward speed rapidly decreased under the relentless, overwhelming siege of the countless stone soldiers impeding its progress.
The fearless, automaton-like terracotta soldiers regenerated almost instantly after being shattered, throwing themselves back into the fray again and again, attacking Seiryu relentlessly. While each individual blow caused relatively minor damage to the massive, chakra-infused snake, the sheer cumulative effect of thousands upon thousands of persistent strikes quickly became significant, chipping away at Seiryu's defenses.
HSSSSS!
Trapped and bogged down, Seiryu thrashed its immense body violently, emitting loud, frustrated hisses and angry roars.
"Senpai, what do we do?" Atop Seiryu's rapidly constricting coils, Hayate and the others watched the desperate scene unfold, their faces paling with worry. Caught in this seemingly boundless sea of terracotta soldiers, if Seiryu couldn't break free or hold out, they would likely all perish here.
"Don't worry," Tatsuya reassured them, his voice remarkably calm despite the situation. He then brought his hands together, palm-to-palm, closing his eyes briefly as he entered a deep state of natural energy perception.
Shortly after, distinctive golden-orange pigmentation appeared around Tatsuya's eyes, spreading outwards like dramatic eyeshadow. Simultaneously, the hair on his head seemed to stand slightly on end, floating subtly as if imbued with life, despite the complete lack of wind.
He had entered Sage Mode.
Thanks to the integration of the unique Blood Silkworm Silk grafted onto his body years ago, Tatsuya could now transition into Sage Mode extremely quickly. While not yet truly instantaneous, the activation time was now remarkably close. Boosted by the potent influx of senjutsu chakra, Tatsuya's physical appearance subtly shifted, taking on a slightly uncanny, yet undeniably striking and handsome, quality.
Simultaneously, an immense, almost tangible aura of raw power began to radiate slowly outwards from Tatsuya, pressing down on everyone nearby.
"This is a Sage!" Beside him, feeling the almost overwhelming pressure and power emanating from Tatsuya, Anko, Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao were utterly shocked, their eyes wide. Compared to his normal state just moments before, the sheer amount of chakra now coursing through Tatsuya felt like it had increased several times over. Anko, especially, stared – she had never witnessed Tatsuya in such a powerful state before.
Without wasting a second after entering Sage Mode, Tatsuya leaped decisively down from Seiryu's back towards the chaotic ground below. Simultaneously, his hands flew through another, different set of intricate hand seals.
"Sage Art: Inorganic Reanimation!"
Instantly, Tatsuya directed the vast reservoir of potent senjutsu chakra now flowing within him, channeling it directly into the very earth beneath their feet.
RUMBLE!
As the powerful Sage chakra surged into the ground, the earth surrounding Seiryu began to twist, heave, and reshape itself violently. Massive, brutally hardened spikes of rock and raw earth erupted continuously from the ground all around them, impaling, crushing, and utterly pulverizing the dense ranks of terracotta soldiers in the immediate vicinity.
Dust and debris filled the air, the ground trembled violently under the force of the technique, and the area directly in front of Tatsuya and Seiryu was suddenly, forcefully, cleared of the stone puppets.
Atop Seiryu's head, Anko, whose hand had instinctively shot out to grab Tatsuya as he jumped, hadn't even had time to retract her arm. Her lips parted slightly in stunned, silent awe.
This... this is Sage Art!
In that moment, Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao were equally awestruck, completely stunned by the devastating, terrain-altering power of the Inorganic Reanimation technique they had just witnessed.
"Seiryu, CHARGE!" Having forcefully cleared a path through the stone army, Tatsuya shouted the command upwards to his summon.
HSSSSSS!
Receiving Tatsuya's emphatic order, Seiryu let out a long, triumphant hiss towards the sky and immediately began surging rapidly forward along the wide, clear path Tatsuya's Sage Art had violently created.
"Th-this... this is..."
On the nearby hill, the assembled members of the Yomi Cult were completely flabbergasted, stunned into terrified silence by the sudden, overwhelming turn of events. Hailing from the remote, isolated corners of the Land of Demons and the Land of Swamps, they had simply never witnessed ninjutsu of such terrifying scale and raw power before.
"Yin-Yang Seal: Release!"
Tatsuya followed closely behind the charging Seiryu on foot, continuously manipulating the Inorganic Reanimation technique to keep the path ahead clear. This constant, large-scale application rapidly depleted even his augmented senjutsu chakra reserves. Seeing his Sage chakra running critically low, Tatsuya immediately activated and released one of the reserve Yin-Yang Seals stored on his body.
A vast, secondary surge of stored chakra instantly flooded his system, replenishing his reserves and allowing Tatsuya to continue fueling the demanding Sage Art technique without pause.
Quickly, utilizing this renewed power, a direct, clear path leading straight to the base of the hill occupied by the Yomi Cultists was carved through the remaining terracotta soldiers. Covering the distance of over two thousand meters in mere moments, Seiryu arrived at the hill's base almost instantaneously.
By the time the Yomi Cult members arrayed on the hilltop managed to fully react to the snake's blindingly fast approach, Seiryu had already surged powerfully upwards, its massive head looming directly over them with terrifying, predatory might.
WHOOSH!
The enormous snake head rose menacingly above the cliff edge, its two huge, slitted golden serpentine eyes radiating cold, undisguised murderous intent upon the figures below.
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"
Positioned strategically atop the snake's head, Kurenai's hands flashed through seals with practiced speed. She instantly cast a powerful genjutsu, specifically targeting the stunned cult leader, Yomi. Instantly, Yomi felt an overwhelming wave of unnatural drowsiness wash over him, his eyes slowly, involuntarily drifting shut under the illusion's effect.
"Konoha Style Kenjutsu: Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
Simultaneously, Hayate leaped into action beside Kurenai. His body blurred, splitting swiftly into three identical, phantom-like figures in mid-air. The three Hayates attacked Yomi's exposed vital points in perfect coordination from the left, above, and right. This was Hayate Gekko's renowned signature assassination technique.
Caught completely unaware and undefended within Kurenai's genjutsu, Yomi, the leader of the Yomi Cult, had no chance. He was nearly sliced clean in two at the waist by Hayate's deadly, high-speed kenjutsu assault.
"Ah! Spare us! We were forced into this!" "We surrender! Please, mercy!"
... ... ...
Seeing their leader collapse, lying near death in a rapidly spreading pool of his own blood, the remaining Yomi Cultists on the hilltop were utterly paralyzed with terror, completely losing their nerve. As Yugao leaped gracefully down from Seiryu's head on the other side, katana drawn and poised to begin a slaughter, the surviving cultists snapped back to their senses just enough to immediately, shamelessly throw down their weapons and surrender wholesale to the three Konoha ninja standing before them.
Honestly, the overwhelming Sage Art Tatsuya had just displayed, combined with Seiryu's terrifying presence and the instant, brutal dispatch of their leader, was simply too much. These Yomi Cultists, whose individual combat strength mostly capped out at the Chunin level, couldn't even muster the faintest will to resist.
Seeing the mass surrender, Yugao paused mid-stance, her gleaming katana raised high, momentarily unsure whether she should proceed with the execution or accept their plea.
A few minutes later, when Tatsuya landed lightly on the now-secured hilltop, the first thing he saw was Hayate, Kurenai, and Yugao standing guard over the grievously wounded, near-bisected Yomi. The remaining several dozen Yomi Cultists were all kneeling collectively off to one side, heads bowed in submission.
Tatsuya had deactivated Sage Mode by now, the golden pigmentation around his eyes fading, and he was breathing slightly heavily from the massive chakra expenditure. Carving a clear path through tens of thousands of densely packed, regenerating terracotta soldiers had nearly drained his reserves dry, even with the significant boost provided by releasing the Yin-Yang Seal.
"Senpai!" Seeing Tatsuya safely arrive, Hayate, Kurenai, and Yugao visibly relaxed, breathing a collective sigh of relief. Guarding several dozen potentially treacherous surrendered cultists with just the three of them had understandably made them slightly uneasy.
"What happened here?" Tatsuya asked calmly, taking in the scene – the downed leader, the kneeling prisoners.
Hayate quickly reported, gesturing towards the barely conscious Yomi, "Senpai, this is the leader of the Yomi Cult. After I successfully... uh... incapacitated him, all these other guys surrendered immediately!"
"Which of you can control these puppets?" Hearing Hayate's concise report, a flicker of calculation crossed Tatsuya's eyes. He stepped forward, briefly assessed Yomi's critical, likely fatal, condition, then turned his sharp gaze upon the kneeling cultists.
"I can!" "Me too!" As soon as Tatsuya finished speaking, several cultists near the front immediately responded, raising their hands hesitantly.
"Good," Tatsuya nodded curtly. "Then get over to the edge and bring those puppets under control. Withdraw them from the palace, now!" he commanded instantly.
The designated cultist controllers immediately scrambled to their feet, hurried to the edge of the hill overlooking the valley, and began remotely manipulating the countless terracotta soldiers below using hand gestures and focused commands. Tatsuya stood nearby, observing them closely. He noticed they were each utilizing a specific command talisman held firmly in their hands to exert control over the puppet army. The talismans themselves were crafted from some kind of unfamiliar, dull black metal, which struck Tatsuya as vaguely, inexplicably familiar for some reason he couldn't quite place.
Soon, under the somewhat clumsy but effective direction of the few controllers, the innumerable terracotta soldiers surrounding the Miko's Palace began to slowly disengage, withdrawing from the barrier and gathering into more organized formations in the distance.
While the controllers were preoccupied managing the vast stone army, Tatsuya beckoned one of the other surrendered cultists over and began questioning him thoroughly about the situation and their motives.
It turned out, as Tatsuya might have suspected, that these wicked followers of the Yomi Cult had been secretly conspiring with the ancient, sealed demon known as Mōryō. The vast army of terracotta soldiers currently devastating the Land of Demons had apparently been created by the Yomi Cultists themselves, utilizing Mōryō's potent, leaked chakra. Their explicit goal was to besiege and effectively trap the Miko within her palace, thereby preventing her from traveling to the Land of Swamps to perform the critical sealing ritual required to contain Mōryō. They foolishly hoped that once Mōryō inevitably broke free and fully revived, they could leverage its immense power to create even more terracotta soldiers, eventually allowing them to conquer the entire world.
Tatsuya couldn't help but scoff inwardly at their laughably grandiose, yet ultimately pathetic, ambition. While the demon Mōryō was undoubtedly powerful in its own right, the idea that it alone, even backed by an army of stone puppets, could be used to conquer the entire shinobi world was pure, unadulterated delusion. The ninja world was filled with countless, terrifyingly powerful individuals hidden within the shadows, forces that the Yomi Cult clearly knew nothing about. Leaving other legendary figures aside, even just considering the current political landscape, someone like Nagato, having already awakened the legendary Rinnegan, could likely suppress the demon Mōryō single-handedly without much difficulty.
Having gotten a clear, detailed understanding of the immediate situation, Tatsuya didn't waste any more time lingering on the hilltop. He regrouped with Kurenai, Anko, Hayate, and Yugao, gathered the several dozen surrendered Yomi Cult members as prisoners, and immediately headed towards the now accessible Miko's Palace. Tatsuya decided pragmatically to keep these Yomi Cultists, especially those who could control the terracotta soldiers, alive for the time being – their utility might prove useful. For this reason, even the nearly-dead, grievously wounded cult leader, Yomi, was stabilized just enough to be brought along as well.