The Box of Paradise...
Uchiha Nagi frowned, looking at the large container. Legend had it that this box had destroyed many nations in ancient times because it could grant a person's wish.
However, after granting a wish, it would unleash a great disaster, destroying the world.
To put it plainly, it was a cursed item with side effects. The four faces of the box were carved with the eerie visages of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure, enough to send a chill down anyone's spine.
Nagi had been a transmigrator for so long that he had forgotten many things, but he still remembered that this item had something to do with Naruto. It required the massive chakra of the Nine-Tails to be activated. His own current chakra, while greater than that of the One- or Two-Tails, was still child's play compared to the Nine-Tails.
It was said that this was how the Sage of Six Paths had divided the Ten-Tails: he split it in two, using Yin-Yang Release to create the Nine-Tails from one half, and then continued to divide the other half, leaving a portion to create the Eight-Tails...
Whether the Eight-Tails' chakra was equal to the sum of the One- through Seven-Tails combined was another matter, but it was a fact that the Nine-Tails alone had more chakra than all the other Tailed Beasts put together.
In other words, the chakra of the One- through Eight-Tails combined could only just compare to the full version of the Nine-Tails.
Then, the Nine-Tails was split in half by Namikaze Minato. If the half of the Nine-Tails inside Naruto was nearly drained, it should be enough to satisfy this box, though it probably depended on the magnitude of the wish.
He would study it later. For now, Uchiha Nagi was satisfied with the box. It was, at the very least, a treasure, wasn't it?
Compared to the other trashy tools like the Shichiseiken and the Benihisago, this box, despite its terrifying side effects, was at least valuable.
In Nagi's opinion, among the treasured tools of the Sage of Six Paths, aside from the Kohaku no Johei, the rest were complete garbage.
Of course, the Bashosen, as useless as it was, was perfect for Naruto.
A jinchuriki like Naruto, with more chakra than he knew what to do with but no jutsu other than making Rasengans, was the ideal user for the Bashosen. It allowed one to use ninjutsu of five different chakra natures, as long as you had the blue stuff to power it. It was practically tailor-made for him.
The Cloud Village, of course, would never give away the Kohaku no Johei. The other treasured tools all had to be used in combination. The Bashosen was useless to Nagi, so after much consideration, they had sent him this.
The Cloud Village envoy had also explained that while this box could grant wishes, it came with many side effects and would cause disaster. It also required a massive amount of chakra to open.
"I wonder if they're still holding a grudge against me for killing their Raikage. Hehe, sending me such a cursed object," Nagi chuckled, stroking the Box of Paradise.
At that moment, the faces on the box seemed to look at Nagi, and a strange mental energy emanated from within.
[Open me...]
[Open me...]
[I can grant you all your wishes...]
Nagi just shook his head slightly and dispelled the mental wave. Beside him, Kimimaro's eyes were still unfocused.
Nagi waited quietly. After a good while, Kimimaro finally came to his senses.
"Sensei, this box... it's a bit evil. It seems to be able to bewitch people's minds," Kimimaro said, looking at the box and taking a few steps back, a wave of fear washing over him.
If he hadn't transplanted the Byakugan, he really would have been bewitched, or even controlled by the box.
"Yes, but it's not a major problem. We just need to put it in the sealing room. Besides, it can't bewitch those with strong wills and great power. Otherwise, it wouldn't have ended up in the Cloud Village's possession."
Nagi said, "Kimimaro, take this box to the sealing room in the Sky Fortress. In the future, if I ever get my hands on the Nine-Tails, I'll test this box's abilities."
"Yes, Sensei," Kimimaro nodded and took the box away.
Nagi then turned to Yukihime and Uzumaki Honoka. "Since the Cloud Village has shown such sincerity this time, we'll form a temporary alliance with them. They're worried about the mysterious man attacking their village and hope to get our support when the time comes, correct?"
"That's right. Because of the last time that mysterious Rinnegan user went to the Cloud Village and nearly destroyed it, they have no way to deal with him. The envoy also said that the Kohaku no Johei has already been used once, and they believe the Rinnegan user won't fall for it again this time," Uzumaki Honoka replied.
"They have already evacuated the old, the women, and the children of the village to the surrounding areas of the Land of Lightning. Most of the child ninja have also been dispersed throughout the country. They don't plan to rebuild the village until the mysterious man has been dealt with."
"In addition, news has also come from the Land of Earth. Their village has also suffered heavy damage. They hope to form an alliance to eliminate this mysterious person together."
Nagi shook his head. "It really does take an external threat to bring peace to this world. A single Otsutsuki Urashiki who doesn't play by the rules nearly wiped out several shinobi villages."
Obito is such a fool, Nagi thought. If he had just taken one Tailed Beast and used Kamui to travel around, he could have wiped out all five great nations. A nuclear peace would have been so much better. Why did he have to foolishly summon the Ten-Tails later on and fight them to the death?
Become the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki? How idiotic. He didn't need to become a jinchuriki at all. As long as he brought nuclear peace to the shinobi world, a beautiful new world would dawn. Without the shinobi villages, the entire world would be at peace.
Then, without any need for the Eye of the Moon Plan, he could have easily unified the world. How easy would that have been? The hundred thousand White Zetsu, the Edo Tensei army... it was all just nonsense.
With Kamui, which came and went without a trace, a space-time ninjutsu even more perfect than the Flying Thunder God, even if the five great shinobi villages knew about it, they couldn't defend against Obito. He could just sneak in, drop a few Tailed Beast Bombs, and it would be over.
The thought of Nagato gave Nagi a bit of a headache. Even now, with Nagato being a skeletal shell of his former self, the power of his Rinnegan was still there. He was the one opponent Nagi had the least confidence in defeating at the moment.
As for Obito, he no longer saw him as a threat. Now that he had Kakashi's Mangekyo, Obito's Kamui was no longer a secret. If he dared to show his face, Nagi was confident he could cut him down.
"Nagi-nii, you nearly died at their hands that one time. Why did you agree to an alliance this time?" Yukihime asked, confused.
"Times have changed. There are no permanent enemies. As long as the goal is the same and there are common interests, you are friends. Look at the Sand Village and Konoha. Haven't they also recently reconciled?" Nagi smiled.
The plague in the Sand Village a few years ago had fueled their vengeful hatred towards Konoha. But in the end, their Kazekage had died and their Tailed Beast had been lost. Sensing things were not going their way, they had immediately sent an envoy to request a truce. They had no choice. If Konoha decided to retaliate, an army of tens of thousands of ninja would be more than they could handle.
At that time, Tsunade had taken office and agreed to the reconciliation. The two villages had not only made peace but had also formed an alliance. To put it bluntly, with the Otsutsuki running around targeting the Tailed Beasts, the threat to the shinobi world was too great.
Of the five great shinobi villages, two had already been wiped out. Iwagakure and the Cloud Village had been bombed to smithereens by Urashiki's Rasengans. Konoha hadn't been hit yet, but it was only a matter of time.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Otsutsuki Urashiki dropped one giant Rasengan after another from the sky. With three Tailed Beasts, he had plenty of chakra. He blew the Cloud Village to smithereens.
Although the new Raikage, Darui, knew that Urashiki would definitely come back for revenge and had dispersed the villagers, many had been unwilling to leave. Urashiki, without a second word, had started his mushroom-cloud-seeding operation.
"Tell me, where did the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee, go?" After the bombing, Urashiki captured a ninja and began to interrogate him.
"Lord Raikage... arranged for him to flee towards the Land of Iron," the ninja said, his eyes hazy as if in a dream. He was under the influence of a Rinnegan genjutsu.
Otsutsuki Urashiki's Rinnegan, of course, hadn't evolved from a Sharingan, but it still possessed immense spiritual power. Hypnotizing a ninja below Kage-level was no problem at all.
Snap!
After getting his answer, Urashiki twisted the ninja's neck. The Land of Iron was vast, with many villages. He had no interest in bombing all the ninja hiding in various places. His target was one and one only: the Eight-Tails.
"So, both the Eight-Tails and the Three-Tails have gone to the Swordsmith Village. I hear the previous Raikage died there. The people of this place are really..."
But the thought of his opponent's space-time ninjutsu made him frown. The most difficult ninja to deal with weren't the heavyweight types like Pain, but the space-time users.
Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Nagi, and the guy he had met not long ago who called himself Uchiha Madara.
That guy was strangely indescribable. No attack, not even Shinra Tensei, could touch him. For someone encountering him for the first time, it was completely baffling. But thankfully, that guy didn't seem to be able to fly...
Against an enemy who couldn't fly, half of Urashiki's apprehension was gone. During a battle, he could just fly into the sky, and his opponent could only glare up at him helplessly. Hehe.
"Oh well. I'll go to Konoha then. That white-haired dead toad... hmph. This time, I'll greet him with a Tailed Beast Bomb. Let's see what he can do then."
Otsutsuki had decided. When in doubt, throw a Rasengan. Just fly up into the sky and throw it. That Jiraiya couldn't fly either. And it seemed to take time for him to summon those two sage toads. If he threw the Rasengan early enough, he could take care of him.
And then...
If he accidentally blew up the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki while seeding his mushroom clouds, it didn't matter. The Tailed Beast would just revive in some corner of the shinobi world in a few years. He could just capture it then.
At that thought, Otsutsuki Urashiki nodded and flew towards the Land of Fire, towards Konoha Village.
In the training grounds on the mountain behind Konoha...
Naruto was training desperately. Training with him were his classmate, Sakura, and his teacher, Kakashi.
The three of them were conducting a drill similar to the bell test from their early days. Because of Uchiha Nagi's changes to the timeline, and the village-destroying disaster brought by Otsutsuki Urashiki, a sense of apocalyptic crisis had descended upon all the villages that possessed Tailed Beasts.
Naruto, as a jinchuriki, had started his training earlier than in the original timeline. Unexpectedly, the Nine-Tails had secretly reached an agreement with him. Being sealed as a jinchuriki, the Nine-Tails could bear it for a hundred years or so. But being captured by Otsutsuki Urashiki meant death.
And so, without ever having gone to Turtle Island or played tug-of-war with the Tailed Beast, Naruto was slowly becoming a perfect jinchuriki. If Uchiha Nagi knew, he could only curse the protagonist's halo, that damn child of prophecy.
So Naruto's chakra had grown by leaps and bounds. Creating over a thousand clones at once and making Rasengans was no problem at all.
"Go, brothers! Thousand-Fold Rasengan!"
"Alright! Charge!" +1000
An army of over a thousand shadow clones charged at Kakashi. Kakashi's eye twitched. So many clones... if he got hit by one Rasengan, it was all over.
At this point, Kakashi, without Obito's eye, had transplanted an ordinary one. His strength had actually increased greatly. He was no longer the type to run out of chakra after a few ninjutsu.
And because he wanted to go to the Swordsmith Village to challenge Uchiha Nagi and take back his best friend's eye, he had picked up his father's sword style again, wielding a sharp short sword made of chakra metal.
As Naruto's army charged at him, he was still looking for where Sakura was hiding. He then used a Water Dragon Jutsu, washing away over a hundred of Naruto's clones.
Then another Earth Style jutsu, an Earth-Style Wall, blocked Naruto's view.
By the time Naruto's army had broken through the wall, Kakashi had already completed another technique.
"Ninja Art: Hiding in Mist Technique!"
A dense fog began to spread around them.
"Ah! Kakashi-sensei is too cunning! He's using Zabuza's thick mist! We can't see anything!" Naruto complained loudly.
"Hehe, Naruto, a ninja uses every trick in the book," Kakashi smiled.
"Haha! I found Kakashi-sensei's voice! He's over there! Everyone, charge!" Naruto, with his own brand of cleverness, heard the voice and immediately rushed over.
Kakashi: "..."
Soon, the sounds of fighting echoed from within the fog. Various Rasengans collided, and Naruto's loud voice could be heard, suspecting that Kakashi had used a transformation jutsu to hide among them.
"Ah! I can't find him! I'll just dispel the shadow clones then."
Poof, poof, poof~~
After a series of puffs of smoke, Naruto dispelled the remaining few hundred shadow clones. He then saw that there were still three Narutos standing there.
"Haha! Found you, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto pointed at the clones. Needless to say, it was definitely Kakashi in disguise.
As Naruto rushed over, Kakashi also dispelled his transformation, returning to his original form. He raised his short sword and smiled at Naruto.
Because Naruto's taijutsu was his weak point, he was no match for Kakashi in close combat. The correct choice would have been to overwhelm Kakashi with his chakra.
As Naruto charged at Kakashi, he suddenly grinned strangely and threw a punch.
[Monstrous Strength Fist]
"...?!"
In that critical moment, Kakashi sensed the massive chakra in his opponent's fist and dodged. At that moment, the real Naruto leaped out from the ground and snatched the bells from his waist.
"Haha! We got it! Kakashi-sensei, we got the bells!" Naruto jumped up and down in celebration.
"That was fast. It's only been less than three or four months."
Kakashi was filled with emotion. But it wasn't so much that Sakura had learned the Monstrous Strength Fist, but that Naruto could communicate with the Nine-Tails and use its chakra...