Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 256

In the Naruto movies, there had been many so-called world-threatening crises, but Moryō was definitely one of the more unusual ones.

That was because Moryō wasn't something from the shinobi world. It was a monster from another realm, summoned by the dark ninja Yomi through some kind of ritual.

This also implied that beyond ninja techniques, there were other strange and niche powers that existed in the shinobi world.

However, based on Kagami's own experience, Moryō's power wasn't as exaggerated as the stories claimed.

In the original movie, Moryō had been summoned many years ago. Tsunade described it as a disaster that nearly destroyed the world.

But in Kagami's version of events, Moryō appeared three years before Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy. That was right after the death of the Fourth Mizukage.

At that time, Kagami had been sent to the Land of Water by Danzō, the then-Fifth Hokage, to gather intelligence. During this period, Yomi summoned Moryō and created a Ghost Army that swept across several countries.

By the time Kagami finished the mission and brought Haku back to Konoha, Moryō had already been sealed away by the priestess of the Land of Demons, and the Ghost Army was wiped out.

This was why Haku had no memory of that incident, and Kagami, who wasn't in the village at the time, missed the war entirely.

But to be honest, the war itself wasn't as grand as one might think.

Moryō's Ghost Army mostly roamed between small nations, targeting places without ninjas. They never reached the borders of any of the five great nations with hidden villages.

Danzō was afraid that if the army kept advancing, it would reach the Land of Fire and turn it into a battlefield.

Following typical ninja war strategies, Danzō aimed to keep the conflict away from home soil. He sent a team of ninjas to intercept the Ghost Army at the borders of the small countries.

So, what was portrayed as a war of epic scale was really just a battle involving some Konoha ninjas and regular soldiers from minor nations. The other four great ninja villages had nothing to do with it.

Now, six years later in the present time, Yomi had summoned Moryō again and planned to make a comeback.

In the original timeline, Kakashi, Guy, and other jonin and chunin formed a frontline defense unit. They didn't need to do much. The real responsibility was left to Naruto.

However, because Kagami changed the timeline, he used the Necronomicon to draw Orochimaru out of hiding. Jiraiya, in turn, went to the Demon Desert in search of Orochimaru and took Naruto with him. As a result, Naruto's return to the village was delayed.

In the original timeline, Moryō appeared right as Naruto returned to the village. At that point, Naruto hadn't yet re-formed Team 7 with Sai. He had only just come back.

But due to Kagami's actions, Naruto came back late. Moryō was resurrected on schedule.

This time, since Naruto wasn't around, the original team lineup stayed the same. The only difference was that Naruto was replaced by Haku, who had the Ice Release bloodline.

According to Kagami, Yomi's four followers could exchange elemental jutsu among themselves by sharing chakra. This gave them some tactical flexibility, but they only had fire, water, wind, and earth styles.

In theory, Haku's Ice Release could counter any of those styles without being at a disadvantage.

On top of that, the four subordinates had very little chakra. They burned through it quickly and didn't know how to conserve it. They were probably operating below half-capacity most of the time.

Even if the four of them attacked together, Kagami guessed that Haku could handle them alone.

What really concerned Kagami wasn't the four ninja but the sealing ritual.

In the original timeline, the priestess Shion messed up the ritual. That allowed Moryō's physical body to be released and merge with its spirit.

If Haku were to follow the same path Naruto originally took, Kagami didn't believe Haku had the same kind of protagonist's luck.

In the end, Naruto was only able to survive Shion's death prophecy and defeat Moryō because of that plot armor.

If Haku didn't have the same luck, he would be walking straight into a death trap.

Kagami didn't want that to happen. Losing Haku would take away a lot of his joy.

So Kagami was determined to change this version of events.

Above the Hokage building, once Kakashi and Guy finalized the five-man teams, they immediately departed from the village.

This frontline operation force was made up of 120 ninjas, grouped into teams of five. There were 24 teams in total.

Each team included two jonin and three chunin. Since Moryō's Ghost Army had already appeared once six years ago, many of the chunin who were promoted quickly had no prior combat experience against them. But the jonin did.

Kagami's team was led by Kakashi and Guy. Elsewhere, Kurenai and Asuma led Hinata, Kiba, and Shino, forming another five-man squad.

It had been three years since Hinata had her skull surgery, which required shaving her head. Her hair had grown back.

It wasn't as long as it should have been based on the original timeline, so she looked a little less like a mature woman.

At that moment, Hinata noticed Kagami staring and asked, "Kagami-senpai, is there something strange on my face?"

"Ah, no. Nothing at all."

---

By dusk, all 120 ninjas of the frontline force had gathered.

Since they were facing a Ghost Army, which by definition couldn't die, they didn't plan to throw all their forces into one big battle. The strategy was to fight in stages and wear the enemy down bit by bit.

The first planned encounter was a grassy plain near the border of the Land of Demons.

It was the widest and most open route out of the country, not suitable for ambushes but perfect for marching. That made it the most likely path the Ghost Army would take to reach the Land of Marshes.

On the plain, all the jonin stood in a line at the front. The chunin lined up behind them, also in a straight line. Everyone stared into the distance, waiting.

Kagami didn't know exactly how the frontline battle would play out.

But his intel-gathering ability was excellent. His spider vision was especially useful for tracking large movements.

He quickly accessed one of his spiders about twenty kilometers away. As expected, he spotted the Ghost Army moving steadily through the forest in perfect formation.

They looked like clay soldiers, puppets controlled by Moryō's power. Their movements were a bit slow, but even if broken apart, they reassembled instantly.

At the center of the army, surrounded on all sides, a lazy-looking figure sat on a makeshift wooden palanquin, carried by four clay warriors.

This was the one responsible for the Moryō crisis, Yomi.

---

As midnight approached, the intel ninja at the front sent a report: the Ghost Army's warriors had stopped at a cliff five kilometers across the prairie. The entire Ghost Army appeared to have entered a state of rest.

In response to this, Kakashi believed it was likely because Moryō's power hadn't fully recovered, so they couldn't continue advancing.

Guy thought this was a perfect opportunity for a surprise attack, but Kakashi immediately rejected his suggestion.

"The Ghost Army can't be killed by normal ninja methods, and the same goes for Moryō. A surprise attack might end in failure or even lead us into an ambush."

"Our mission at the front line is to delay the Ghost Army's advance as much as possible. The final victory still depends on the Priestess of the Land of Demons."

"Since they've stopped to rest, we should do the same. The battles ahead will be tough, so we'd best conserve our strength while we can."

With Tsunade in the rear, command of the front-line forces had been handed over entirely to Kakashi.

Under Kakashi's leadership, a large number of ninjas retreated to the rear and set up camp, leaving only a few to stand guard on the prairie.

---

In the camp, Kagami was sitting with two fellow chunin from his squad, eating ration bars around a campfire.

At that moment, a curvaceous female ninja in a combat uniform approached.

"Kagami-kun? What a coincidence! You're in the combat unit too?"

Kagami looked up. "Yeah, Anko-senpai, you too? What a coincidence."

What a load of crap! You kept glancing back at me while we were on the prairie, and now you say this is a coincidence? That's way too fake.

Anko had recently been promoted from special jonin to full jonin. Earlier, while forming the defensive line, she had been among the front-line jonin.

"Mind if I sit here, little brother?"

As Orochimaru's former student, Anko had learned some facial expressions that ordinary people simply couldn't pull off.

She flashed a devilish smile at one of the chunin next to Kagami, and that steely-hearted man was instantly charmed, mind and soul.

"Ah, sure! Go ahead!"

Blushing, the unknown chunin gave up his seat, and Anko promptly sat down right next to Kagami.

However, the moment her butt touched the ground, Kagami suddenly stood up.

"I'm full. You all take your time. I'm a bit tired, so I'm going to sleep."

He turned and walked into the darkness behind them.

Seeing that Anko, still stunned, hadn't followed, Kagami let out a sigh of relief.

Ever since he turned eighteen this year, Anko had begun openly approaching him. Compared to her subtle flirtation before, she had grown far bolder.

On one hand, this was due to the primal Shoggoth inside her body, which could not resist being near its creator, Kagami.

On the other hand, now that Kagami was an adult, Anko's brain seemed to have completely abandoned any concern about their age difference.

But tonight, no matter what, Kagami couldn't let Anko follow him.

He leaped up into a tree and pretended to sleep

---

At the base of the pitch-black cliff, only two points of light flickered.

On a wooden throne sat Yomi, cross-legged and quietly meditating.

Under the light of two candlesticks behind him, Yomi's face looked haggard. He was even a bit thin.

But that didn't take away from his charismatic, handsome older-man image. In both looks and demeanor, he closely resembled a weathered but dignified warrior.

However, he wasn't fully in control of this body. Moryō was also residing inside.

Moryō's soul couldn't survive in this world without a vessel. Until he could recover his original body, he had to stay within Yomi, sharing the body like a tailed beast jinchūriki.

"Where are the Gang of Four?"

Yomi suddenly opened his eyes and called out in a low voice.

As soon as he spoke, four figures appeared in response.

"We await your command."

They were Yomi's former subordinates, modified using dark medical ninjutsu. Though their chakra levels weren't high, they could be supplied externally with chakra and corresponding abilities.

"My power can't be fully unleashed in a human body. I need to rest periodically. If this continues, the priestess of the Land of Demons will reach the location where my body is sealed before I do."

It was clearly Moryō speaking from within Yomi. The tone was far more sinister than Yomi's, inhuman.

"So hear my command!"

"Go to the Land of Demons and eliminate the priestess who inherits the sealing technique."

This voice was loud and clear again, this time, clearly Yomi.

"As you command."

The Gang of Four knelt on one knee and prepared to depart. But then, the sinister voice of Moryō rang out once more.

"Come out now!"

"You hiding in the shadows, I can smell you."

Moryō's words instantly put the Gang of Four on high alert as they scanned the area nervously. Then, from a shadowy corner they hadn't even noticed, a tall figure slowly emerged.

"As expected of the interdimensional demon. You were able to sense my presence."

It was the Black Pharaoh.

"I smelled you the moment you entered this space. That decaying and evil aura... You're different from any human I've met. You're... special."

Though Moryō sounded proud of his sensing abilities, he couldn't clearly perceive this anomaly's true nature.

He had sensed the Black Pharaoh from the start but had held back, trying to gather more insight.

Even after multiple attempts, all he could feel was an abyssal, bottomless void occasionally exuding a faint stench of rot and malice.

This human was unfathomable.