Yurei was sitting inside the underground cave. It was a vast area. The seals covered all the walls, roof, and ground. He designed this place with Jinchuuriki in mind. They could let loose and use all their powers to their full extent without being worried about damage.
Sometimes, they liked to spar with each other here. But mostly, they used it to meditate. To further their communication with their Biju and to better use their powers. Yurei was here for a similar purpose. Remerging with Naruto meant that there were changes to his body. The damages Naruto took over the years were now added to his own injuries. Of course, there was the fox tail.
That thing had a mind of its own. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help reacting to his emotions. He could still keep a perfect poker face, but his tail would betray his emotions. When he was happy, it would wag around uncontrollably like an excited puppy.
When he was thinking, it would move around lazily. When angry, it would stand on end. How he came to experience all these emotions in such a short time, he wasn't sure. And that thing was so sensitive. The smallest touches would send a weird sensation all over his body.
It was just impossible to control that thing. His summons also laughed their asses off when he asked them about the matter. So here he was now. Trying to meditate and train to get used to his new body. Han was going to join him later for a spar. He was always happy to spar with the man.
The giant man was very skilled, and his demeanor made him easy to get along with. He was even training a team in Uzushio. They still didn't have a solid academy-like structure. There weren't nearly any children. But they had quite a few people willing to teach.
Especially the jinchuuriki, who were always isolated before. They took those of suitable age who were willing to learn under their wings and trained them. Their first genin team even went on a few missions outside their border.
When those who were more well known wanted to leave the village, they used specific henge seals developed that even the sharingan couldn't disperse. They could detect the presence of it but not dispel it.
So nobody was really bound to the village. Of course, they kept a strict watch on who came and went, but they were free to do so.
Yurei only needed a little more time, and then his plan would be set into motion.
Yurei was in a clearing. It's been six months. He finally hit his growth spurt, which meant he wasn't the size of a baby anymore. He was wearing an entirely black costume, not unlike the ones ninjas wore. He was wearing a blank black mask. There were slits in place of his eyes but otherwise no features. He looks like a shadow if someone just caught a glimpse of him.
He waited. The Konoha team came directly toward him. he was obviously waiting on their path after all. It was an ANBU team led by Shisui. They looked at all the professional parts of the ANBU. The clearing was surrounded by rocky cliffs, so there was no avoiding confrontation.
They spent a few seconds assessing each other. "Move aside. We want to pass through." Shisui said in a cold tone. It was strange to hear the cold tone from him. The man was always cheerful.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. While I have no intention of killing any of you, I can't let you go without a fight." Yurei said. He was using a seal in his mask to change his voice. Much similar to the ANBU.
There was no room for idle talking. Shisui brought a hand behind his back. No doubt, he is trying to discretely give his team the orders. Then they attacked. It was a quick clash of weapons. Yurei used a simple black Katana. He was holding it with both hands to better handle the force of attacks.
They clashed over and over. It was hard handling this many opponents, so Yurei used water clones. His clones split up to take care of the others while he started fighting Shisui. He just needed one opening. He jumped back to send water bullets toward Shisui, but he intercepted them all with fire.
Yurei tried to use the steam as cover to get close, but Shisui wasn't the fastest shinobi after Minato for no reason. He avoided the attack and started using his famous shunshin. This was getting out of hand.
Yurei took a deep breath. It was not his first time fighting the man. He also didn't want to hurt or kill him. He just needed to touch him. he started fending off the afterimages. Just as Shisui tried to strike his shoulder, he used a one-handed doton to make the earth under his front foot dip. As Shisui tried to recover from the stumble, it was all the time needed to reach his hand and touch the bare shoulder.
The moment his hand contacted his skin was the moment everything exploded. There was a burst of chakra, sending everyone flying back. Yurei used it to leave the clearing into his hiding spot, hidden by seals. No one could detect him here.
Shisui was knocked out on the ground. His teammates quickly approached him, checking him. They looked around, trying to locate him, but when they had no luck, they decided not to risk it and grabbed Shisui and ran. No doubt, I'm wondering what just happened.
Yurei didn't have to wait long, only a few minutes, and Zetsu emerged from the ground. "Are you sure it came from here?" the white half asked.
"Yes, I definitely sensed that pest Indra from here, but now it's disappeared." The black half said.
"Well, that's not good at all. We spent all these years searching for him. With Asura constantly avoiding us, we can't risk them meeting each other. Lord Madara would not be pleased," The white half said.
"Let's check for any residual cha…." Just as the black half was about to finish, the barrier around them went off.
Naruto, specifically this one, for one purpose. You could go in, but there was no going out unless the person holding the barrier stopped. His clone was currently holding the barrier.
Both halves of Zetsu were trying to fight. To get away. But Yurei didn't care to pay any attention. He took out the Totsuka blade and sealed both halves of the creature away.
Yurei came across Indra's chakra accidentally. Even since he traveled back in time, one of his main focuses was trying to contact the sage. He wanted to see about the possibility of keeping Indra's power away from Sasuke.
He tried everything from trying to contact him by using Asura's or a tailed beast's chakra to visiting historically significant places. Nothing seemed to work. He even once summoned Shinigami in a complicated ritual to see if he knew anything, but nothing worked.
Then, one random night, he fell asleep only to wake up in the same place he first met the sage. He told the sage everything. About his plan, the past, and what he wants for the future. The man patiently listened to his story.
He was not happy about how events turned out or what Naruto planned for the future, but he was willing to help them. So he sealed Indra's power in Yurei, but there were a few conditions.
He couldn't use the power, just pass it to any of Indra's descendants that he deemed worthy. He couldn't also take his choice back and had to stick with it.
Yurei gave it a lot of thought. He couldn't give the power to Itachi. While he was strong. His strongest point was mastery of genjutsu, and Rinnegan would hinder that ability. He couldn't also give it to a random person.
So it had to be Shisui. While he would suffer for a short while to get used to the changes and discover his new abilities and their extent, he would make the best use of them.
Yurei was getting ready for his next mission. Kisame, Han, and Roshi were accompanying him. Yurei was going to finish Obito while they took care of the hidden white Zetsu army. There was no telling how many of those things existed.
They couldn't take any risks, so Yurei took this team. They were all experts when it came to mass destruction. Plus, it's been a while since any of them had been outside the village, so it could be a way for them to blow some steam and relax.
It happened pretty often that the shinobi that were used to back-to-back missions or on-the-road lifestyle became restless when couped in the village. So they would force them to go on missions and get rid of the pent-up energy once in a while.
Of course, if it was the case that they were used to back-to-back missions, they had another program. They would ease their difficulty before increasing the downtime little by little. There were still cases when extreme action was needed, but for the most part, they had everything under control.
He was grateful for all the time he spent with Ino and Fu, learning about shinobi's psyche and how to mentally take care of himself and others. Even now, they have a psychology program going on. Karin's mother, Hanami, was actually a psychologist.
She used her sensing abilities to better connect with her patients and help them in recovery. She was now training Karing and a boy named Sadao, who showed enthusiasm to follow in her footsteps. Little by little, people in Uzushio were thriving and following their dreams.
Now, they were heading for the cave. It took them a while to locate it. They needed all their jinchuuriki to sit in a prepared area and meditate so they could sync their chakras. Then, as the one with the power of the sage, Yurei would use his sensing abilities to amplify their chakra and make an echo.
He would send a pulse through the ground, and by having a steady stream, he would expand it in all directions or the directions he wanted. If there was a hit, he could easily detect it. Since the Biju were originally a part of the statue, their mixed chakras were close enough to the statue to cause a hit.
It was a tedious process, so instead of sending the pulse in all directions, Yurei would control it. He would go in a direction as far as needed and then move his search. He had a world map of elemental nations and would fill it in as they searched.
The statue could not be moved without Rinnegan, and Nagato wasn't in a state to move it. So it had to be in the same place as Madara left it. He initially believed it to be in the path of Konoha to Kiri since it was where the Rin incident happened.
But as he searched more and more, there wasn't any sign in the area or anywhere near it. Then it dawned on him. Zetsu must have used his ability to bring Obito to that place on that day. There was no other explanation.
Yurei even sent many clones and summons to detect the existence of any cave or hollowed ground of that size, but there was nothing to match their description. So they had to do it the old-fashioned way and search everywhere.
Finally, when they were over 80 percent of the map, they found it. It was located in between the land of earth and wind. It wasn't a location with many visits, so it was perfect. After sending clones to scope the area and the situation, they were finally ready to act.
The journey was going to be long, so they had to rest a lot to make sure they were in shape when it came to it. But they couldn't stop the anticipation.
