What exactly is the Evil God?
Not even the people of Konoha might know, and perhaps not even the Yashin Cult itself understands.
They create mayhem, revel in bloodshed, and draw power from ritualistic killings. From Akaba's perspective, they were nothing more than madmen who had mastered a certain research capability.
Of course,
they could never compare to Orochi from the manga.
Manga Orochi was also labeled a madman by Akaba, but he was a rational one—a madman with purpose and ambition.
As for the Yashin cultists...
In short, the Yashin cultists must die.
Akaba wasted no time. He left behind two shadow clones—one to continue updating Naruto, the other working on One Piece.
Though he longed to master Marine's Six Styles soon, his current priority remained resolving the Yashin Cult threat.
As a backup force, he needed to conserve a considerable amount of chakra, which was why he left only two shadow clones behind. That meant each volume updated today would contain just five chapters.
But that was fine.
If he could eliminate the Yashin Cult quickly, he could always return and resume the updates.
Although the Yashin Cultists possessed bizarre abilities, none among them posed a real threat to Akaba. Even if they created another Hidan, it wouldn't matter to him.
This world had no Haki—physical intangibility handled everything.
Worth mentioning, upon hearing the news, Orochimaru immediately volunteered to join this hunt against the Yashin Cult.
These were all live test subjects.
Human experiments were inhumane—but were these cultists even human anymore?
On this point, even the Third Hokage silently agreed and gave approval.
A team swiftly headed toward the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water, with many skilled members from the Military Police joining the Scouting Unit.
Combined, the forces numbered about three to four hundred Chunin and over fifty Jonin.
However,
Just before departure, Akaba spotted an unexpected figure.
Kozuke.
He still carried that large black pot on his back, hiding a blade within. His appearance didn't resemble typical Chunin or Jonin attire.
Like Akaba, he served as a backup.
While moving in a scattered formation, Kozuke walked alongside Akaba. Holding a small knife, he skillfully carved wood while running—multitasking effortlessly.
When sword techniques reached such a level, such mastery became possible.
Only someone like him could pull it off.
For bushi (samurai) families like Kakashi Windseer's, such behavior would be unthinkable.
By the time they reached the border, Kozuke had already completed his carving.
It was a statue of the Second Hokage.
"We'll set up base here—it's central ground, capable of supporting every surrounding location."
"Yes, Senior Kozuke."
Akaba raised no objections.
In terms of raw strength, he definitely surpassed Kozuke significantly. But when it came to battlefield experience...
Even ten of him wouldn't match Kozuke.
Kozuke sat down, casually setting aside his giant pot, then formed a shadow clone to go find food.
He himself remained seated, continuing work on his unfinished carving.
Akaba took a glance.
The Tobirama Senju wooden sculpture was exquisitely detailed, nearly perfect in facial features and aura—exuding quiet authority at first glance.
From the wood carving alone, one could tell he held an extremely high status in Kozuke's heart.
Halfway through carving, Kozuke glanced around and, seeing no one nearby, spoke up, "Akaba, since both genin and jonin are ninjas who can contribute to Konoha, why must we insist on distinguishing between their ranks?"
"Senior, in my humble opinion, the main difference lies in command capability. An experienced jonin can properly lead others into battle, avoiding unnecessary casualties, while a genin merely follows others' plans."
Akaba stopped there without continuing.
Kozuke was famously known as the eternal genin. Although this era hadn't yet developed much disdain toward him like future generations would, people still secretly looked down on him somewhat.
He clearly had jonin-level strength, yet he chose to remain a genin.
From the perspective of jonin, Kozuke wasted his abilities and failed to live up to the Second Hokage's cultivation.
"You mean command ability—like Kakashi, right?"
Kozuke mused.
Three years later, in raw power, Kakashi wasn't much stronger than Naruto, but in battle experience, Kakashi completely outclassed him. Experience and command—these were exactly what genin lacked.
Then, Kozuke told him about his own past experiences. The details were almost identical to those shown in the manga. The command mistake back then led to the tragic deaths of two teammates, after which he swore an oath before the Second Hokage.
Akaba listened carefully.
After Kozuke finished speaking, Akaba took a second or two to think before replying, "Senior Kozuke, I suppose you already understand the consequences of poor command decisions if I should offer some advice."
"That's right!"
Kozuke understood Akaba's meaning.
Since he understood, he needed to have the courage to take responsibility.
Remaining a genin forever was simply running away from responsibility.
This was precisely what the Third also wished to say.
Sighing, he didn't know how to respond and silently continued carving his wooden sculpture.
The next moment,
"Senior, I sense chakra fluctuations in two locations—one eight miles south, and another..."
"I'll go to the closer northeast direction; you head south for support. After finishing your battle, return here and regroup."
Kozuke decided immediately.
Each squad carried specially designed kunai; Akaba could offer support faster than Kozuke could.
Akaba set off promptly.
The next instant, the Flying Thunder God arrived at the battlefield.
The enemies were five massive figures, seemingly possessing the body-enlargement ability previously displayed by the cultists.
"Akaba, be careful!"
The leading jonin called out a warning.
However—
The next second, all five enemies froze on the spot. Injuries suddenly appeared across their bodies as they collapsed helplessly to the ground, slipping into unconsciousness.
Genjutsu.
Although it had no effect against Madara, against these weaker opponents, it was absolutely devastating. Even though evil god chakra surged within their bodies, they still couldn't resist the Sakuma clan's genjutsu.
"You handle this."
Akaba released his perception, quickly sensing another battle happening elsewhere.
[Flying Thunder God], [Genjutsu].
In an instant, the enemies fell.
Within a few breaths, Akaba had neutralized enemies across three or four battlefields.
Seeing is believing; words can be misleading.
Although everyone knew Akaba was powerful, they hadn't truly grasped just how strong he was—until today. Only now did these jonin and chunin finally understand his real strength.
To put it simply, killing them was nothing more than a passing thought.
No exaggeration at all.
What worried the jonin most was that even someone as strong as Akaba couldn't handle Madara. Just how powerful must Madara be?
Nobody had an answer because aside from Akaba and Mito Uzumaki, anyone else who had seen Madara was already dead.
Akaba returned to the rendezvous point.
Kozuke hadn't come back yet, so he sat down to recover his chakra.
With the Uzumaki clan's physical constitution, recovering chakra didn't take long. Once his body condition improved, Akaba thought for a moment, then sat down to draw.
This story segment was called "Naruto and the Old Veteran."
It was going to be part of a flashback later on. After hearing Kozuke's story, Akaba decided to draw it up right away.
There were many reasons behind this decision.
On one hand, Kozuke's experiences deeply touched Akaba.
On the other hand,
he hoped this volume would encourage Kozuke to make a choice.
He began putting pencil to paper.
Being on the battlefield prevented Akaba from fully concentrating on drawing, so his progress was somewhat slow. However, page by page, thanks to his fast hands, he quickly completed content equivalent to one full chapter.
Kozuke belonged to the category of anime characters whose stories were fragmented, mostly occurring within flashbacks, yet he indeed possessed incredible survival abilities—having lived from the era of The Second all the way through to The Fourth Great Ninja World War.
After deep consideration, Akaba continued drawing the next chapter.
Adapting an anime storyline into manga required some modifications, especially since this particular volume focused entirely on Kozuke's story arc, necessitating further adjustments.
Plot development, recollections, and battles.
By the time Kozuke returned, Akaba had already finished all the story segments.
Five chapters in all.
It wasn't a lot of material, but it included everything Akaba wanted to show—the responsibilities of jonin and the Will of Fire.
"Wow, you're so fast! I never expected that while I went off for reinforcement duty, you'd finish your own support mission, then come back and draw an entire stack of comics."
Kozuke smiled.
Blood stained his body, clearly indicating he'd experienced fierce combat.
"They just happened to be weak against my techniques."
Those cultists had strong regenerative abilities, yet they proved weak against genjutsu techniques from the Sakuma clan. Plus, Akaba's spirit points had reached 215.
Killing them was simply too easy.
"Senior, I hope you'll be the first person to read this volume."
Akaba organized the comic pages numerically, compiling them into a complete book from beginning to end before handing them to Kozuke.
Kozuke glanced at the cover.
Naruto and the Old Veteran.
After cramming a bunch of manga lately, he realized this wasn't part of the official story but still loosely tied into the main plot—as what they called an OVA, like a side story.
Kozuke accepted the book and started flipping through it.
The story opened with events taking place shortly before the Konoha Destruction Plan, when the Third entrusted Kozuke with certain words. The plot then proceeded to developments after the destruction plan commenced.
His squad was assigned to monitor Rock ninja movements.
Kozuke was part of that squad.
From beginning to end, Kozuke became increasingly silent. When he finished reading, he handed the stack of papers back to Akaba, then sighed deeply before saying, "What an amazing story."
"I adapted it based on your situation. Hope you don't mind."
Akaba collected the papers.
Kozuke shook his head without saying a word.
Soon after, the Shadow Clone returned with a haul of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and other food supplies. He set down the large cooking pot and lit a campfire.
Halfway through the cooking process, Kozuke finally spoke again: "Kid, what you're trying to say is that Jonin have authority, but they also lead the charge into battle and are the first to sacrifice themselves, while Genin—"
"Genin represent Konoha's future. They belong to the protected rank—at least according to The Second's philosophy."
Akaba replied.
Why did Tobirama Senju establish the Ninja Academy?
Originally, it was precisely to keep children away from war.
After all, back then, most of his brothers perished in childhood due to conflict. Tobirama and Hashirama Senju were unwilling to repeat this tragedy.
In the manga, Kozuke was powerful, yet like Naruto, remained a Genin. Thus, under the command of Jonin, others sacrificed their lives or were severely wounded and killed, while he and Naruto remained safe.
Of course, this also reflected Naruto and Kozuke's strength—but when it came to sacrifice priority, Genin were not expected to be at the front line.
Understanding this point, Kozuke began questioning whether his own approach had been correct. Was remaining a Genin for life truly an appropriate path for atonement?
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