Bountiful Harvest

"Stop him!"

Yota moved with incredible speed. Ordinary jonin could barely withstand a single blow from his taijutsu attacks. The Third Hokage could not keep up with him at all, and in mere moments, Yota had severely injured seventeen or eighteen jonin.

Taijutsu was nothing like the Dark-Dark Fruit’s power—it was not so easy to control. Some of the jonin struck by his fists had died on the spot, while the rest had been crippled.

The Third Hokage’s heart bled. Konoha had only just emerged from the Ninja World War, and its strength had fallen to an unprecedented low. There were barely a hundred jonin left. If Yota kept this up, Konoha would truly lose an entire generation.

The Konoha Sannin had either defected or left. Had the Yellow Flash not emerged out of nowhere, the entire village would likely have had only him, a single Kage-level fighter, holding things together—at most, there was the half-crippled Danzo, who counted as half a Kage-level fighter, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Now that the Nine-Tails had broken free, the Jinchuriki was certainly finished. Minato Namikaze was sealing the Nine-Tails inside the barrier, but after using the forbidden Sealing Jutsu, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, he was beyond saving as well.

If Yota killed all the jonin here too, Konoha’s strength would probably fall to the same level as the Mist Ninja and Sand Ninja!

Just as Yota was running rampant, a gigantic skeletal hand suddenly descended from the sky and blocked his path.

Yota threw a punch, making the entire skeletal hand tremble violently and nearly snap in two. Still, it ultimately stopped him.

Fugaku Uchiha’s eyes had turned completely red, intricate patterns appearing within them as bloody tears streamed down his face.

Bearing an enormous burden, Fugaku Uchiha gathered more power. Flesh gradually grew over the skeleton, and Susanoo raised its fist before smashing it down.

With a cold snort, Yota condensed black mist in his hand once more, blocking Susanoo’s attack.

What surprised Yota was that although the Dark-Dark Fruit could still draw Chakra from Susanoo, it was far more difficult than draining ordinary ninjutsu. Even beneath that terrifying black mist, Susanoo would not be completely absorbed right away.

"Is it because the Chakra quality is higher, so its resistance to the suction is stronger?"

Yota felt that the Dark-Dark Fruit was not pulling its weight, but Fugaku Uchiha certainly did not feel that way. The Dark-Dark Fruit was practically sucking him blind!

Susanoo did not merely consume Chakra. It also consumed the ocular power of the Mangekyo Sharingan.

In just a few seconds, Susanoo had nearly collapsed from being drained. Fugaku Uchiha had continuously poured ocular power into it, barely maintaining its form.

The consequence of constantly pouring in ocular power was that his eyesight plummeted off a cliff. Waves of agony surged from his eyes, leaving him so dizzy that the world seemed to spin.

One of Yota’s hands continuously released the black mist of the Dark-Dark Fruit, while the other fended off the attacks of Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had caught up. Though Hiruzen Sarutobi was not weak, without the Adamantine Staff, more than half of his taijutsu prowess had been cut away. His Five Elements Ninjutsu was inherently countered by the Dark-Dark Fruit’s dual properties of space and gravity, leaving him no way to break through Yota’s defenses.

If the Third Hokage had already learned the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, he would probably have wanted to drag Yota down with him!

Crack! Fugaku Uchiha, who had been continuously pouring in ocular power, finally could not hold on any longer. His Susanoo rapidly regressed, eventually returning to its ribcage form. Yota’s punch shattered it completely, and blood suddenly sprayed from Fugaku Uchiha’s eyes.

The black mist swept over him in an instant. Fugaku Uchiha let out a pained groan before his entire body was taken into the Dark Space.

As for why Yota did not simply gouge out the Mangekyo Sharingan? Fugaku Uchiha possessed the pure bloodline of the Uchiha clan, and the Munch-Munch Fruit could devour bloodlines as well!

At that very moment, the sealing barrier surrounding the Nine-Tails battlefield shattered with a crash.

Yota’s eyes lit up. The black mist around his body instantly surged, forcing Hiruzen Sarutobi back as it flooded toward the battlefield.

On the battlefield left behind after the sealing space broke apart, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki lay silently on the ground. The golden-haired infant, Uzumaki Naruto, wailed loudly as black mist rolled toward them like a tidal wave.

"You dare!" the Third Hokage roared. His figure flashed as he rushed toward the battlefield and grabbed Uzumaki Naruto first.

Yet the black mist had already caught up. Hiruzen Sarutobi gritted his teeth and could only retreat helplessly, watching as the black mist swept away the bodies of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

Joy immediately appeared on Yota’s face. Half of the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Minato Namikaze’s body, while Kushina Uzumaki was a pure-blooded member of the Uzumaki Clan. These two were undoubtedly his greatest gains.

He no longer bothered with the Third Hokage or Uzumaki Naruto. With a flash, he vanished before the many ninja, disappearing without a trace after several Body Flickers.

"Damn bastard!" Though the Third Hokage’s face was filled with grief and fury, he ultimately gritted his teeth and did not pursue him.

Yota was simply too strong. Even under normal circumstances, all of Konoha might not have been able to do anything to him. Now that Konoha had suffered such heavy casualties, it had no strength left to chase him.

"Hahahaha! A harvest—a bountiful harvest!"

Inside a temporary underground base created with Earth Release, Yota was so excited he nearly rolled around on the floor as he laughed triumphantly.

Just moments ago, he had inspected the items he had obtained within the Dark Space.

First was the complete Scroll of Seals, taken from the Hokage Building. It contained nearly every ninjutsu Konoha currently possessed aside from clan secret techniques, including the Shadow Clone Technique, Impure World Reincarnation, Eight Gates Formation, Flying Thunder God Technique, and a series of other techniques Yota needed most.

Although the Scroll of Seals had been protected by powerful Sealing Jutsu, Yota used the Dark-Dark Fruit to directly drain away its Chakra, causing the seals to break on their own.

Besides that, Yota had also discovered a large quantity of Hashirama Cells in the laboratory within the Root base, along with all kinds of human experimentation records, two pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and research materials and tissue samples related to other bloodlines.

Finally, there was Kakashi Hatake’s Kamui Sharingan, which he had acquired from the Nine-Tails battlefield; the unconscious Fugaku Uchiha and his two Mangekyo Sharingan; Kushina Uzumaki, a pure-blooded member of the Uzumaki Clan; and half of the Nine-Tails sealed within Minato Namikaze.

This was a truly massive haul. Once he digested all these gains, his Chakra system would immediately rival or even surpass his Devil Fruit powers and Haki, becoming his strongest system. It might even reach a level close to Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.

"Set the Scroll of Seals aside for now. I should modify my body first. Hashirama Senju’s body cells and the Mangekyo Sharingan should help me the most!"

The physical enhancement provided by Hashirama Cells no longer meant much to Yota. Their vigorous healing ability was still somewhat useful, though for someone with the Munch-Munch Fruit, it was merely icing on the cake. However, they could alter his body, allowing Yota’s already formidable Chakra to surge once more, and they could also let him learn Wood Release.