Naruto: Creating Immortal Techniques at Six, Shocking Uncle Snake

Chapter 123: The Sage of Six Paths' Conspiracy! The Rules of the Afterworld!

Whoosh!

Ishihara felt himself moving, surrounded by a gray haze, as if shrouded in chaos. His speed was swift, and suddenly, he sensed an increase in the intensity of the fluctuations ahead. His vision began to clear.

"What… is that?!"

Suddenly, Ishihara's eyes widened in shock as he looked to the side. There, in the gray void, stood an ancient palace! It emanated an aura of age and desolation, unmistakably a structure built by human hands.

Taking a deep breath, Ishihara struggled to calm the turmoil within. "It seems someone explored the afterworld before I did. Who could it be?"

A name flashed through his mind.

The Sage of Six Paths!

Only he could surpass Ishihara in the arts of Yin-Yang Release. Only the Sage of Six Paths, who could summon the spirits of the dead to the living world, might have ventured into the afterworld!

Ishihara tried to direct his body toward the palace, but he couldn't alter his course and could only brush past it. He gazed deeply at the palace, feeling that one day he would clash with its master.

"Let's hope you'll give me a pleasant surprise!"

As the palace disappeared from his sight, Ishihara turned his gaze forward. The afterworld was finally within reach!

---

Inside the palace.

Moments after Ishihara entered the afterworld, a figure emerged. It was none other than the white-haired Sage of Six Paths.

"Someone else has arrived here?"

He glanced at Ishihara's receding figure, frowning slightly. A thousand years ago, after sealing away Kaguya Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths became the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki. Yet, he also discovered intelligence about the imminent arrival of the Otsutsuki clan—a clan in which nearly every member was at a level comparable to himself, with beings far more powerful than Kaguya!

The Sage of Six Paths knew the Otsutsuki were a threat far beyond the capabilities of the ninja world—or even himself. And now, as he had already become an Otsutsuki, there was a significant risk he might one day serve as a sacrificial offering for the Ten-Tails!

It was a certain path to death.

Yet, the Sage of Six Paths, who had tasted great power and the allure of immortality, was not willing to accept such a fate. So he began his quest for alternative means of eternal life.

At the peak of his power, wielding the Rinnegan and the Ten-Tails' power, he was nearly omnipotent. Scouring the ninja world, he finally uncovered the existence of the Shinigami! His studies shocked him—he found the essence of the Shinigami to be more powerful and longer-lived than the Otsutsuki. Even more compelling was that this strength and longevity did not rely on external sources!

Thus, the Sage of Six Paths divided the chakra of the Ten-Tails into nine parts, creating the nine-tailed beasts, and faked his own death. But no one knew that his soul had entered the afterworld!

In the thousand years since, he had slowly begun his transformation into a Shinigami while secretly consolidating control over the afterworld. The Sage of Six Paths had already come to regard the afterworld as his domain. Ishihara's intrusion displeased him greatly.

What disturbed him even more was the faint presence of the Shinigami that he sensed in Ishihara.

"Could it be that he, too, seeks to become a Shinigami…?"

The Sage of Six Paths gazed at Ishihara's direction with a grave expression. This was a unique ability he had developed over the millennia, allowing him to peer into the afterworld without spatial constraints, though only temporarily.

---

Whoosh!

Ishihara felt as if he had passed through some kind of barrier, entering another world where even his vision transformed, and his body finally came to a halt. Glancing around, he noticed a spirit beside him.

It was the elder of the Hozuki clan, whom he had once studied and now completely controlled with Kotoamatsukami.

"Lord Ishihara!" The elder greeted him respectfully, almost as if he were a servant. Ishihara nodded, surveying his surroundings with a frown.

The area around him was blanketed in a gray mist, limiting his sight to about a hundred meters. Beyond that, even sensory abilities were ineffective. The spirits within the afterworld seemed confined to this hundred-meter space, as though trapped in an invisible cage.

After asking several questions, Ishihara finally understood the rules of the afterworld. Spirits were restricted to a hundred-meter radius, and even if they moved, the "cage" followed them, preventing them from encountering other spirits. More importantly, their movements consumed energy, quickly fatiguing them until they slipped into a natural sleep to recover. Consequently, most spirits spent their time in slumber, and with spatial limitations, they lost all sense of time.

Reflecting on this, Ishihara muttered, "Zanpakutō." Instantly, a black blade materialized in his hand. A grin spread across his face—since he could wield his Zanpakutō, he could now put his plans into action.

With a swift strike, he slashed at the startled Hozuki elder and calmly remarked, "Time for you to rest."

The elder looked at him with a trace of resentment. "Lord Ishihara, I could sleep without being cut, you know."

"Less talk."

At Ishihara's glare, the elder obediently lay down, closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep.

"Indeed, besides chakra and natural energy, there's a third type of energy in the afterworld!" Ishihara felt a thrill as he expanded his senses. He could perceive a faint energy being absorbed by the Hozuki elder as he rested—a type of energy he had never encountered before but found familiar because it matched the aura within the Shinigami's arm.

"Spiritual particles!"

Ishihara named this energy "spiritual particles" and immediately unsealed a special container he had brought with him. Boom! A severed arm appeared—the Shinigami's arm! The moment it emerged, a strange transformation occurred. The arm began to dissolve, breaking apart in radiant motes of light.

"This… could it be the ultimate destination of souls?" Ishihara murmured, momentarily lost in thought.

But he was unaware that, at this moment, in the palace within the afterworld, the Sage of Six Paths sensed the aura of the Shinigami. His expression turned frigid.

"So, he too desires to become a Shinigami!" Murderous intent flickered in his eyes.

He would not allow anyone else to share his supreme status or authority as a Shinigami. Nor would he tolerate anyone else claiming dominion over the afterworld. However, as he was in a crucial phase of his transformation, he could not leave the palace for now; otherwise, he would have eliminated Ishihara's soul directly.

"For now, the only option is to ensure his death in the physical world," he thought coldly, turning his gaze to the real world. There, he wouldn't need to take action himself.