As the sky gradually cleared, the dark clouds faded, and Orochimaru descended from above, carrying the severely wounded Kabuto.
The battle on the sea had ended. With the sages retreating, the pirates on the ten or so ships all surrendered.
But Orochimaru didn't look pleased.
He hadn't expected that even after slicing that guy's body in half, the enemy still wasn't dead.
"Sorry, Orochimaru-sama."
Kabuto looked a little embarrassed. In the end, it was because he wasn't strong enough that he got held back by the enemy.
And on their side, he was the only sage.
It wasn't that Orochimaru couldn't sense natural energy—it was just that he had been in the sky at the time and couldn't afford to split his focus.
"It's fine. Losing one sage is still something of a gain."
Orochimaru didn't say much, just stared in the direction where the sages had fled. The next time they met, things wouldn't be so simple.
It had taken a lot of effort to lower their guard like this, yet because of his own strength limitations, they had managed to escape.
"The gain might be bigger than we thought."
Just then, Hiruko leapt back onto the ship from the water, carrying half of a body. It wasn't the body of the sage that had been killed.
"This is the severed half of that sage's body. It looks like something changed in it… as if some method was used to make him stronger."
Hiruko didn't quite understand what was going on yet, but with this in their hands, he was confident they'd figure it out soon enough.
Orochimaru and Kabuto looked at the lightning energy coursing through the body. Just looking at it made Kabuto's scalp tingle—it was the same power used by Kiyosu Iemitsu.
That half-body, naturally, belonged to Kiyosu Iemitsu.
"Orochimaru-sama, this natural energy… something about it feels off. The intensity is different from normal lightning in nature."
"Yeah."
Orochimaru nodded.
"I think I get the gist of it."
He didn't have all the answers yet, but he had a general idea.
"Study it as soon as possible. This body has already been abandoned—it'll only last about five days. Make sure it's not wasted."
There wasn't much else they could get from this. As for what Hiruko could gain from it, Orochimaru had no way of knowing.
As for Kabuto, even though he was a sage, his growth in strength probably wouldn't be as fast as Hiruko's.
But the war ahead wasn't just about individual strength.
Right now, both Kabuto and Hiruko were strong enough to step into the battlefield of top fighters, and that was enough.
"Five days, huh? Looks like I need to move fast."
Hiruko's face was serious. Five days wasn't a lot of time—it wouldn't be easy.
Still, at least he had a chance to use the power of a sage to take his strength to the next level. Otherwise, fighting against sages with his current power would be way too frustrating.
A few days later, Kiyosu Iemitsu, carrying the unconscious Yamano Shishi, finally found an island to rest on.
The other two sages had also made it there.
Seeing the terrifying state Kiyosu Iemitsu's body was in, the two sages suppressed their shock. Even in that condition, he had still managed to take that last step and become a top-tier sage.
"Rest up. That guy probably won't come after us."
Kiyosu Iemitsu's voice was weak as he leaned tiredly against a tree.
"Are you okay?"
One of the sages walked over to support him, while the other checked on Yamano Shishi.
"I'll be fine. My body is just too weak right now—I won't be able to use much power for a while."
Kiyosu Iemitsu didn't bother hiding his condition. He was already so weak that there was no point in pretending otherwise.
"You... didn't succeed?"
"You're overthinking it. Taking that final step isn't that easy.
Reaching the same height as the heavens—sounds simple, but it's not something you can achieve in one go. The power I released earlier was just to scare Orochimaru a little."
Kiyosu Iemitsu sat on the ground, weak and helpless.
The energy he had unleashed was all just for show. He could only maintain that state for a short time, and even then, he had to grab Kabuto to use as leverage against Orochimaru.
In other words, even at full power, he still couldn't defeat Orochimaru.
Orochimaru knew it, and Kiyosu Iemitsu knew it too. These two were the only ones confident enough to believe they could match top-tier sages. Did they really think this kind of power was unbeatable?
"What about your body?"
"I'm fine. I used some tricks to rebuild it.
But at this point, I've pretty much hit my limit. The world's will on the dragon vein is now locked inside half of my body, cutting off any path forward."
Kiyosu Iemitsu shook his head. The people here were ones he had gathered. They weren't necessarily lifelong friends, but they had some level of connection.
Since he had already failed, it was only right to at least point them in the right direction.
Right now, his body was completely locked down by the world's will. If he tried to break through from within, his body would collapse.
But there was one benefit—his body had become even more resistant to Conqueror's Haki.
You could say it was a kind of special buff.
That said, Kiyosu Iemitsu didn't want this kind of buff at all.
He had been just one step away from becoming a top-tier sage. And then Orochimaru landed that one cheap shot, leaving him half-dead.
"Kiyosu Iemitsu, what's the deal with Orochimaru?"
Hearing his words, the two sages silently took note of the situation. It seemed like they'd need to be much more cautious moving forward.
"We underestimated how strong Reverse Sages are."
Reverse Sages aren't what some idiots think—people who failed to become sages.
They are people who could have become sages but chose not to.
From the very start, the path they took was one that opposed the world, completely different from ours."
Kiyosu Iemitsu explained, and after fighting Orochimaru, he had a much clearer understanding of how terrifying these people were.
"Sage Mode and true sages both represent the ultimate pursuit of life's evolution. That's why natural-born sages, barring any accidents, have incredibly long lifespans.
For those who train in Sage Mode, if they continue to deepen their mastery, they can greatly extend their lifespan as well."
"But Reverse Sages are different. They take the power that belongs to sages and forcefully compress it into a limited space.
Because being in a Reverse Sage state means directly opposing the world's will, their strength naturally becomes even greater. At the same time, though, the period during which they can maintain their power is much shorter."
"But at the same level, Reverse Sages completely dominate us."
Kiyosu Iemitsu explained. Now he finally understood what kind of insane mode Shanks had developed.
This technique was another way of pushing oneself to the limit—except it used the world's will to squeeze out every last bit of strength.
It was an extremely dangerous training method, far riskier than Sage Mode, and the price to pay was much higher.
Of course, the rewards were just as great.
"Completely dominate?"
The two sages found it hard to believe. They hadn't felt that kind of overwhelming power from Orochimaru at all.
"Don't be so shocked."
Orochimaru took the wrong path, went in the wrong direction. You've fought him, so you should have noticed—he can block our attacks with just his body.
Having such a tough body is already crazy.
So, in comparison, Orochimaru's attack power isn't that outrageous.
But he still has a way to unleash attacks far beyond his limit in a short time. That makes him really dangerous.
At this point, Kiyosu Iemitsu shook his head.
"No wonder he's considered a legendary being. As sages, we underestimated him."
Hearing Kiyosu Iemitsu's thoughts on Orochimaru, the two sages sighed.
"So, does that mean we're out of options?"
"There's no way we can use Conqueror's Haki to train now."
"If Orochimaru has such insane defense, then Shanks must be all about offense. If we fight Shanks, our attacks should be able to hurt him."
The moment those words were spoken, Yamano Shishi, who had been unconscious nearby, twitched violently and snapped his eyes open.
Then, using every ounce of his remaining strength, he lifted his right hand—
And flipped off the sage who had just spoken.
Right after, he passed out again.
So, these two idiots didn't fight Orochimaru, and now they're talking big like it's nothing?
They couldn't even handle Orochimaru, and now they think they can take on Shanks?
"The only wound on Orochimaru's body… was left by Shanks."
"But you're not wrong. We could hurt Shanks—if we can land a hit. Otherwise, we won't even get the chance to fight back."
"That bad?"
One of the sages looked doubtful. Was Shanks really that strong?
"Maybe even scarier than we thought."
"To be honest, Fukuda Kiyomu might already be dead at Shanks' hands."
Kiyosu Iemitsu paused for a moment and looked at his two companions.
"Orochimaru fights against the will of the world using his monstrous body.
What do you think Shanks is using?"
This was the question that struck him—one that many others hadn't even considered.
Because those people hadn't been beaten half to death by Orochimaru's dirty tricks.
Only someone like him, who had experienced the brink of death, could understand just how terrifying that power was.
"..."
"..."
So, when Kiyosu Iemitsu asked that question, the other two fell silent.
One of them simply took out an intelligence scroll on Shanks. It detailed everything they knew about him.
"Shanks… said to have the strongest Conqueror's Haki and the most terrifying sword skills."
"That guy… he didn't just take the hit, did he?"
Thinking about it, their expressions started to crack.
If that were true, then Fukuda Kiyomu was definitely a dead man.
"I've never seen Shanks in action, but… I think that guy really might have just charged straight back at him."
"You all know… that guy Shanks… he's not right in the head."
Kiyosu Iemitsu tapped his temple. This wasn't just something the sages agreed on—it was basically common knowledge across the entire ninja world.
Shanks was famous for being unpredictable. No one could ever figure out what was going on in his head.
So, if you couldn't understand what Shanks was doing, it meant your thinking was normal.
And if you saw Shanks do something that made absolutely no sense, it meant he was acting just the way he always did.
Now, after realizing that Shanks wasn't "defending" against the world's will but was actually clashing with it, the two sages were stunned.
This guy was seriously crazy.
"But still, using Conqueror's Haki is one thing… but can swordsmanship really go up against the world's will?"
"For most people, probably not. But if it's Shanks, I wouldn't be surprised if he could slice through it with a single swing.
Besides… before Shanks, was there ever anyone in the ninja world who could cut with a single strike and leave nothing but sword light behind?"
The sages weren't ignorant.
There were swordsmen in the ninja world who could unleash a wave of sword light with one strike.
But come on—who the hell swings a sword once and sends out a hundred-meter-long slash?
That kind of thing only started happening after Shanks showed up. The number of powerful swordsmen in the ninja world exploded after that.
Simply put, Shanks had already shattered the world's will once before, which was why the ninja world suddenly had so many high-level sword techniques.
Basically, Shanks had raised the upper limit of a specific power system.
The moment he used "Divine Evasion" for the first time, he completely broke through and pushed the limits of swordsmanship in the ninja world.
Even if the world's will tried to repair itself and fill in the gap, it couldn't fully erase what had already changed.
And from there, things only became more straightforward.
As long as Shanks' swordsmanship improved and his power grew, the ninja world's entire power system would continue shifting in that direction.
This change had been happening from the start, but even Shanks himself had no idea what was going on.
At first, the sages didn't notice either, and ninjas weren't exactly known for studying the world's will.
Even the Three Great Sacred Lands didn't bother researching this stuff—it was too much of a headache.
Besides, there weren't that many sages in the Three Great Sacred Lands to begin with.
It was only the sages of the ninja world, who had way too much free time, that spent their days studying secret arts and occasionally stepping in to clean up ninjas who broke the rules.
Most of the time, they just focused on their own research.
They had no choice—being at the top meant they had everything they needed, with no competition.
As for chasing after power or indulging in pleasures?
How low-level.
"I'm already cultivating to become an immortal. Why would I care about beauty?"
"I'm aiming for the ultimate evolution of life, standing equal to the heavens. Why the hell would I waste time on beauty? If I cared about that, I might as well quit cultivation altogether."
Even though the sages came from different backgrounds, when it came to their personal goals, they were completely serious.
"Orochimaru is unbeatable, and Shanks is even worse. So… what do we do next?"
"There's still a pirate called Dark… but honestly, we probably don't stand a chance.
Let's just find some random pirate crew and settle for now."
Kiyosu Iemitsu slowly closed his eyes to rest. After taking a beating, he had finally come to his senses.
Right now, he had no other thoughts. His strength had already reached its limit, so there was no point thinking about improvement. But there was one thing for sure—Fukuda Kiyomu, that old man, wouldn't get away with this easily.
Trying to play them? That old man would have to pay the price.
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