The Ten-Punch Sword swelled the moment Raizen poured chakra into it. Crimson light rushed along its length, flames licking the blade until it stretched into a massive, burning greatsword—something straight out of a myth about Amaterasu's own arsenal.
I tightened my grip.
Good. It wasn't just reacting—it was obeying.
Below, Masayori stared up at the transformation, eyes wide.
"He… truly mastered it," she whispered, voice almost swallowed by the crackling air.
Her expression said the rest:
Nangka Shrine would never see this blade again.
I held the sword steady a moment longer, savoring the weight and the raw force rippling through Susanoo's grip, then allowed the chakra flow to settle. The avatar stepped toward the gathered onmyōji, its shadow swallowing the courtyard.
They exchanged looks—fear, awe, a little despair. Finally Masayori stood, bowing her head.
"Since Hokage-sama can command the Ten-Punch Sword… we will offer it without further resistance."
A low murmur rippled through the priests.
"Masayori-sama…"
"Must we really hand it over…?"
She silenced them with a glance.
"For thirty years, the sword slept in Nangka Shrine, untouched. We could not awaken it. If Hokage-sama can wield it, then letting it rot here is the true disgrace."
Reluctant but defeated, the priests fell silent.
I didn't bother with false modesty. "Then I'll accept it."
I sealed the blade away and turned from the shrine. The mission was done. Or it should've been.
But the moment I crossed the shrine's boundary, a tremor crawled across my skin.
That chakra again.
I stopped cold.
"…Why is there Sage-like chakra leaking from this place?"
A weak signature, subtle enough to miss in the rush of battle—but now unmistakable.
Not from a person.
Not from any priest.
Something old.
Something hidden.
I'd felt it before, faint as a dying breath, while walking the halls. No one in the shrine possessed chakra that fused so cleanly with nature.
So where the hell was it coming from?
"Ahead is a small city. Go wait there," I told the Anbu.
They hesitated. "Hokage-sama—"
"I'll be back. I'm not wandering into enemy territory, just checking something."
I didn't wait for approval. I vanished.
Using Kamui, I slipped straight back into the shrine grounds, bypassing every guard and every talisman. They wouldn't even know I'd returned unless they suddenly developed Byakugan.
The chakra trail tugged at me like a thin thread. I followed it across the courtyard, past the prayer hall, through the outer structures—until it pulled me into the shrine's backyard.
Then past that.
Into the mountain behind it.
"…You've got to be kidding me. It's in the damn cliffs?"
Climbing into the ridge, I found a hidden basin. There, half-swallowed by time and weather, lay the shattered remains of a once-massive structure—collapsed pillars, fallen walls, worn reliefs buried in dirt.
Hundreds of years old. Maybe thousands.
And the Sage-like chakra buzzed right beneath it.
"Yeah, no way the priests knew about this."
To them it probably looked like abandoned ruins nobody cared to clear.
I crouched, pressed my palms to the earth, and sank downward using Kamui's distortion. Soil swallowed me, then—thud.
Something stopped me.
"…A barrier?"
My Rinnegan flared. The world twisted, and I slipped through the invisible wall like stepping through a ripple in water.
Inside, it was pitch black.
Not that it mattered—Rinnegan and Byakugan made darkness a joke.
It looked like a collapsed stone chamber. Half the room was missing, eaten by time. Dust coated everything. Nothing felt alive.
But something was alive. The Sage-like chakra pulsed beneath my feet.
"A normal room wouldn't be protected by a barrier infused with natural chakra," I muttered. "So where's the trick?"
I paced the chamber. Nothing.
No markings.
No seals.
No hidden compartments.
So I checked the collapsed portion.
"Fine. Let's do it the brute-force way."
I clasped my hands. Thick roots and vines erupted from the floor—iron-strong, straining upward, shoving aside the boulders blocking the ruin.
Stone groaned. Dirt spilled.
And beneath it all…
An altar.
A stone tablet rested on top of it, covered in ancient, densely carved script.
My breath hitched.
"…Well. That's definitely not normal."
And the Sage-chakra was humming directly inside the tablet.