Naruto: The Sage Body of Konoha

Inside the cave.

In the end, Heiyan did put on the Two-Tails Catgirl Armor—not because he had any kind of cross-dressing fetish, but simply out of curiosity. He wanted to know what changes had occurred in this living armor after absorbing half of Nekomata's chakra.

First was the physical transformation.

After donning the Two-Tails armor, Heiyan's height increased from 185cm to over 190cm. His proportions were now perfectly balanced—a classic nine-head build, with legs that stretched over a meter in length, truly a golden-ratio physique.

Cat ears, cat eyes, whiskers, and feline claws, along with an elongated tail and blue-toned skin—his current appearance somewhat resembled an Avatar.

Heiyan took a few experimental steps forward, only to find himself instinctively swaying his hips, using the power of his hips to drive his thighs forward, with his legs crossing each other as he walked, while simultaneously swinging his tail back and forth for balance.

Was this what they called the "catwalk"?

Undeniably, this posture looked incredibly graceful and noble. But for Heiyan inside the armor, it felt far too embarrassing.

Heiyan could only convince himself not to dwell on these trivial matters, and instead focus his attention on studying the abilities of the Two-Tails armor.

He felt it surge within him.

A massive amount of scorching-hot chakra surged within this armor, like a blazing flame mantle engulfing his entire body.

Slowly, he stretched out his right hand.

WHOOSH!

A bright blue flame flared up from his palm, roaring with fierce intensity and lighting up nearly half of the cavern.

[Ghost Cat Fire]

This was the power of the Two-Tails.

Nekomata, known for its incredible speed and Fire Release techniques, particularly the signature technique "Ghost Cat Fire"—a deep-blue flame considered one of the most powerful Fire Releases in the ninja world.

And now, wearing the Two-Tails armor, Heiyan could summon Ghost Cat Fire effortlessly, as if this ability had been innate to him all along.

This meant he had instantly ascended into the ranks of the top-tier fire-element ninjas across the ninja world.

Though it sounded totally incredible, Heiyan had pulled it off—and no one else in the entire ninja world could ever do the same.

Suddenly, an idea struck Heiyan.

He realized he could follow the same approach—locate the remaining Eight-Tails, first use [Heavenly Release: Celestial Binding Chain] to extract their chakra, and then inject it into a living armor created via [Terrestrial Release].

Eventually, he could gather all nine Tailed Beast armors, acquiring the powers from One-Tail to Nine-Tail.

This would include Kekkei Genkai such as Magnet Release, Lava Release, Ice Release, Boil Release, and more, as well as unique traits like the Seven-Tails' invisibility, the Eight-Tails' regeneration, and the Nine-Tails' malevolent sensing.

By then, wouldn't he become invincible?

However, Heiyan also realized this was an ambitious plan, something that couldn't possibly be completed overnight.

After all, even in the original timeline, Akatsuki's full forces had spent untold time and effort searching across the world hunting and capturing just those nine beasts.

For Heiyan, perhaps this was something better left to fate—no need to rush.

After all, his true strength still came from the Sage Transformation itself. There was no need to abandon the essential for the secondary.

With that thought, Heiyan formed a seal and released the Two-Tails armor from his body.

Then, he put on the white Shanwenjia armor and cape, slung the unconscious Two-Tails Jinchuriki over his shoulder, and walked out of the cave.

Hmm?

As soon as he arrived outside, Heiyan noticed a large number of Cloud ninja spread throughout the mountain ranges. They had set up a tight cordon, searching high and low across the hills.

His actions—pretending to be part of the Kin-Gin Clan and kidnapping the Two-Tails Jinchuriki—had really pissed off the Third Raikage, who was now throwing everything at finding him.

Heiyan glanced at the unconscious Two-Tails Jinchuriki slung over his shoulder. To him, she no longer held much value, but she could still serve one final purpose.

So, he placed a Flying Thunder God formula at a concealed spot on her body, then tossed her unconscious form near a team of Cloud ninja.

"It's the Two-Tails Jinchuriki! Hurry and report to Lord Raikage!"

The few ninja quickly discovered the Jinchuriki and sent someone back to inform their leader.

Before long, the furious Third Raikage, accompanied by a large group of subordinates, arrived at this location with killing intent radiating from them all. However, they were destined to find nothing.

From a distance, Heiyan watched as they arrived, then slipped away unnoticed and stealthily returned to Kasuga Shrine.

His primary reason for returning the Two-Tails Jinchuriki to Akagakure, aside from diverting their attention, was actually to monitor the movements of Mist's high-ranking elders.

Incidentally, Heiyan's mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique had also improved significantly compared to before, mainly reflected in the increased sensing range.

Currently, he could sense any Flying Thunder God seal within a radius of fifty kilometers; under Sage Mode, this distance could even extend to one hundred kilometers.

In other words, as long as the Two-Tails Jinchuriki participated in any military operation launched by Kirigakure and entered Heiyan's sensing radius, he would detect her immediately.

After leaving such a contingency plan behind, Heiyan came before the well at the shrine's backyard, summoned Guagua, and with its help, used the [Far Body Water Technique].

A year later, Heiyan returned to Uzugakure and went straight to the Uzumaki clan's meeting hall, where he found the clan head, Ashina Uzumaki.

Without hiding anything, he directly informed them about the impending invasion plan involving Kirigakure, Kumo, and the Golden Exchange, urging the Uzumaki clan to enter a state of battle readiness. At the same time, Heiyan promised Ashina Uzumaki that he'd head back to Leaf Village right away, report the situation to the Third Hokage, and bring back reinforcements.

"I know. This day was bound to come eventually."

Ashina Uzumaki said this much. As the head of the Uzumaki clan, he had long been aware of Uzugakure's precarious position and had mentally prepared himself for being dragged into war.

In fact, preparations for war in Uzugakure had begun a full year ago, and by now had progressed to the point where every villager was essentially armed and ready. Both inside and outside the village, numerous sealing barriers and traps had been laid out.

Whoever attempted to launch a major invasion into Uzu Country would certainly pay an extremely heavy price.

Moreover, the Six-Tails Saiken that Heiyan had previously handed over to the Uzumaki clan was now also being utilized—it had been sealed within a member of the Uzumaki family.

With Ashina Uzumaki's introduction, Heiyan met this new Six-Tails Jinchuriki. The man's name was Genichiro Uzumaki, currently the strongest ninja in Uzugakure, and also the most promising candidate to inherit Ashina Uzumaki's position as clan head.

All in all, he seemed like a very reliable man.

In addition, Ashina Uzumaki had already prepared an escape route—if Uzugakure ultimately fell under attack and became irredeemable, surviving clan members would use pre-dug tunnels to flee from the battlefield.

After understanding these circumstances, Heiyan felt slightly reassured.

At that moment, inspiration struck him. Thinking about possible future evacuations for the Uzumaki clan, he came up with a better plan. That was—

To borrow the power of the Sage Slug, using it to collectively transport the entire Uzumaki clan to Shikkotsu Forest for refuge during times of crisis. This way, their safety could be absolutely guaranteed.

Heiyan was dying to find out if this plan would actually work. Of course, he also needed to consider whether the Sage Slug would agree.

Thus, after explaining his idea to Ashina Uzumaki, Heiyan arrived at the courtyard behind the meeting hall, finding himself a quiet place undisturbed by others.

Closing his eyes, he clasped his hands together and quickly entered Sage Mode.

In this state, his sensing ability expanded to its maximum range. As if guided by instinct, he visioned a distant sea-bound pocket dimension—an island he recognized filled with towering bone-like trees.

That's right—it was Shikkotsu Forest.

The next second, Heiyan opened his eyes and rapidly formed hand seals, performing the Reverse Summoning technique.

"Puff!"

He vanished from the courtyard in a cloud of white smoke. When he reappeared, he had successfully arrived at the island of Shikkotsu Forest.

"It worked."

Looking around, Heiyan saw nothing but barren, pale trees and countless little slugs crawling everywhere. He felt a sense of relief.

This was his first time using the Reverse Summoning technique to travel to Shikkotsu Forest. His daring experiment proved successful.

But actually, only Heiyan could do this.

Because since mastering the Senjutsu of Shikkotsu Forest, Heiyan had, in effect, become its master just like Katsuyu. The unique natural energy here had established some sort of connection with his Sage Transformation, allowing him to sense Shikkotsu Forest's location no matter how far away he might be.

This meant Heiyan could reverse-summon himself from anywhere in the ninja world, instantly transporting back to Shikkotsu Forest. Even in the middle of battle, so long as he wasn't trapped inside a sealing barrier and could secure enough time to execute a summoning jutsu, he could always make a clean getaway. No one could ever kill him.

For anyone else, recklessly attempting what Heiyan did would almost certainly result in only one outcome—being caught in spatial turbulence, dying without even a grave.

Even someone like Tsunade, who had signed a contract with Katsuyu, relied on the Sage Slug's guidance. She maintained a transportation seal similar to Enshinsui within the First Hokage's residence to safely travel back and forth between Konoha and Shikkotsu Forest.

Soon, Heiyan met with Katsuyu and explained his idea.

"I can send a clone to Uzugakure to set up a teleportation formation capable of transporting over one hundred people at once."

Katsuyu was happy to accept Heiyan's proposal but brought up two major challenges.

"However, this teleportation formation will take at least one month to complete. Moreover, only Lord Heiyan has enough chakra to activate it and transport people here."

"So it really will take a whole month."

Hearing that, Heiyan frowned—it aligned exactly with what he had expected.

Techniques like Enshinsui could have their formations set in just a few hours, but those only allowed small frogs to pass through. Gamamaru once almost got stuck inside a well because of his increased size. Thanks to Guagua, the Stealth Frog, Heiyan had managed a free ride, yet even Guagua couldn't carry more than three to five people at once.

Therefore, if they wanted to evacuate a large number of Uzumaki villagers, they had to rely on a large-scale teleportation formation.

The problem now was that according to the plan by the three powers—Akagakure, Kirigakure, and the Golden Exchange—the war against Uzugakure would begin in twelve days.

In other words, there wasn't enough time.

Unless… Heiyan could somehow delay their attack and buy more time for Katsuyu to prepare the formation.

Actually, if Konoha's High Council was fully willing to assist the Land of Water, Uzugakure could definitely hold its ground, and Heiyan wouldn't need to go to such great lengths.

However, Heiyan held little hope regarding Konoha's High Council's attitude. Otherwise, in the original fate, the Land of Water wouldn't have fallen so suddenly.

It seemed necessary to personally visit both the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water.

Heiyan thought quietly to himself, then bid farewell to Katsuyu and left Shikkotsu Forest.

First, he returned to Uzugakure and communicated with Ashina Uzumaki. Afterwards, the latter led him to a secret underground passage.

At the end of the tunnel lay an open space quite suitable for setting up the formation.

Summoning Jutsu!

Heiyan formed the seals again and summoned a clone of Katsuyu. It towered five meters high and stretched over ten meters long—like a living mountain.

Under his instruction, the slug began arranging the teleportation formation.

After giving Ashina Uzumaki a few final instructions, Heiyan departed confidently, using the Enshinsui seal to return once more to the Kasuga Shrine in the Land of Lightning.

[Lord Takemikazuchi is here! Die already, old Raikage scoundrel!]

As soon as Heiyan appeared, he leaped onto the shrine's rooftop and let out a loud roar, appearing as arrogant as possible.

At that moment, several Akagakure ninja were still retreating nearby along with the remaining Cloud forces. Upon hearing Heiyan's audacious challenge, they immediately felt shocked and furious. They launched fierce attacks toward Heiyan while simultaneously sending messengers to notify the Third Raikage.

Ten minutes later.

When the furious Third Raikage finally arrived at the shrine, Heiyan's feet stood over countless fallen ninja from Akagakure, lying scattered all around.

"Die!"

The Third Raikage instantly became bloodshot-eyed, roaring like an enraged bull covered in lightning energy, charging furiously toward Heiyan.

[Lightning Oppression Horizontal!]

This was an A-rank ninja taijutsu move demonstrated by the Third Raikage in his Lightning Release Chakra Mode. It involved rapidly charging into opponents and delivering a fatal blow with immense arm strength.

"Haha, you think you can handle this?"

Heiyan laughed arrogantly, completely immersed in the character of King and Silver's kinsman.

Facing Raikage's ultimate attack, he made no attempt to dodge. Instead, he charged recklessly forward, raising his right arm mid-rush and throwing a punch straight at the Third Raikage.

[Half-Sage Mode: Monster Strength!]

The clash was like two planets colliding — their chakra and physical strength exploded upon impact in a violent burst!

Boom!

As both punches collided head-on, a powerful gust of air erupted from the impact point, spreading outward in all directions.

In that instant, the surrounding trees, flowers, stone benches, wind chimes, and shimenawa (sacred ropes) were blown into disarray, while large sections of the shrine's roof tiles flew off in pieces.

Following immediately after was the Third Raikage.

Boom!

His massive body, like a small hill, was sent flying backward by Heiyan's punch. Along the way, he crashed through three consecutive walls before finally being buried within the rubble.

The Yotsuki Clan's Lightning Release Chakra Mode had ultimately been outmatched by Heiyan's Sage Mode.

"The Raikage... actually lost."

Many ninja from Rakugakure wore expressions of horror, their understanding completely shattered. In their eyes, the Third Raikage had always been invincible — a force no one could match in brute strength.

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