Desolation of the Caged Bird Chapter 46 - Big Fish, Small Fish

A white-clad figure floated across the ocean, gazing into the sunken, hidden eyes of a giant turtle that housed upon its back an island. Winds blew from East to West, then from West to East, and from East to West again. Thick, heavy mist clouded the vision of many, but not of Zi Wuji, not with his eyes, which saw all things clear, and all things as they were.

Man and turtle stood in silence, the words last uttered lingering and banging in Zi Wuji’s head. There have been others here before me?

“Across the Ten Thousand Worlds…” the turtle’s voice transmitted to him. “From which do you hail?”

Zi Wuji clasped his hands behind his back. “This one comes from the Rain World.”

“Ah…” There was a reverent hum. “Yu Huan’s World.”

Zi Wuji sucked in a deep breath. He clasped his hands courteously.

“Dare I ask, what name does the honored Heavenly Beast bear?”

“In this age, I am called Genbu,” the turtle declared. “But in the age of the Primordial Dao, I was called Xuán Wǔ.”

“Xuán Wǔ…? The Black Celestial Tortoise?” Zi Wuji blinked. “The one rumored to have become the sworn-mount of the Heaven Cessation Immortal Venerable?”

“Hahaha! That runt is still remembered, even now?”

“An entire era of history was wiped clean due to his actions. Only fragments remain,” Zi Wuji shook his head. “It is said you were butchered into endless pieces and scattered across the Ten Thousand Worlds, never to reform.”

“I was. Fragments of me yet drift through the currents of time and space. One fragment found this place… This barren world that slumbers beyond Heaven’s gaze.”

Beyond… Heaven’s Gaze?

“This realm lies outside the Heavenly Dao?”

“It does and it does not.”

Genbu paused.

“The worlds beneath the Heavens are innumerable. Some rise to prominence from inception, given the favor of the Dao, whilst others fall into silence when the Dao departs. This one… is such a world. This universe. Its Qi was exhausted aeons ago. Its skies sealed, its ley-lines plundered, and its history buried under mortal dust.”

“Sealed?” 

Zi Wuji lifted a brow.

“By Heaven’s will?”

“By man’s.”

Zi Wuji did not ask why.

He did not need to ask such a question.

What reason was anything ever done?

Benefits.

“Sealed… A Sealed Realm…”

He was in a Sealed Realm, sealed to be exploited for benefits.

Zi Wuji had no shortage of experience with Sealed Realms, or, if they went by another term, Secret Realms. Countless cultivators would enter varying Secret Realms in hopes of finding a fortuitous occurrence, a chance, or an opportunity to advance when they were stuck in their bottlenecks. 

Secret Realms were considered once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. This was because many only opened once after several years. If one missed such an opportunity once, they would be out of their prime to ever have it again. The shortest time frame, to Zi Wuji’s knowledge, was the Mysterious Union Secret Realm, which opened once every fifty years. If one missed it as a youth, at eighteen, then when next it would appear, they would be sixty-eight. If one missed it again, then, and they had not yet cultivated to a stage that granted them increased longevity, then they would be over a hundred years old when it appeared, and would long be dead.

The rules of Secret Realms were often varied and unknowable. Most prevented anyone above a certain cultivation level from ever entering; for others, there were ‘natives’ inhabiting such places, locals within the Secret Realm, who had never met or heard of cultivators, or who used a different form of cultivation system instead of Qi. Oftentimes, hunting down these locals, culling them, and absorbing their power and benefits was encouraged. Rarely, however, there were a few of said primitives and savages whose methods could rival a cultivator.

All Cultivators looked down upon those natives and considered their means and methods inferior, and their existence to be beneath them. Such that there had been a stir, once, when it was discovered that the Empress of the Vermillion Bird Empire had taken a man from a Secret Realm as a husband. Outcry had come from all sources, challengers had come relentlessly, and on the wedding day, forces had ganged up together to slay her husband, believing such a person was not worthy to sully such a woman. 

However, the entire thing was revealed to be a cleverly concocted scheme by the Vermillion Bird Empress to round up all of her enemies in one place, ruthlessly counterattacking, and killing them all!

Following doing so, she publicly mocked the world for believing she would ever lower herself to such a state to take such a lowly person as her spouse, and proclaimed that anyone who thought she would had wasted their years of cultivation.

That was how dismal the opinion the Rain World had of the natives of Secret Realms and Sealed Realms.

Not even worthy to be a slave!

There were merits and demerits to his discovery that this universe was within a Sealed Realm. 

The greatest demerit was that leaving had just become more troublesome. The power sealing this realm was likely to be grander and vaster than his own. Even if he found a crack, or a loophole, or a method to leave, such a method would draw attention, raise alarms, and be noticed. He would be marked as an escapee of a Sealed Realm and hunted down wherever he was.

Such went against Zi Wuji’s cultivation plan and goals. After all, with endless chakra and Shadow Clones, he could cultivate peacefully to immortality. Why risk such actions that could cut off his Immortal Path? What benefits were there to making such haste?

However, in misfortune there was fortune, and in fortune there was misfortune.

Sealed Realms had designated opening times. 

He did not need to hurry to leave. Once it opened and cultivators began traversing it to plunder, he could steal the body of one such being and use them as a means to escape, hijacking their identity. On doing so, once he returned, he would abandon that identity, find a new place, and cultivate in peace.

“Even this Sealed Realm must have a time when it opens. A time when those responsible for sealing it come to plunder from it.”

“Once every fifty thousand years.”

Zi Wuji sucked in a deep breath. The longer the opening time for a Secret Realm, the higher the danger, and the higher the odds that such a realm was accessible only by top-tier Cultivators. More so, fifty thousand years…?

Ascended Cultivators.

This was a realm sealed by Ascended Cultivators. Only for such entities was such a time frame feasible. 

“When last did it open?”

“Forty-nine thousand, six hundred and sixty-seven years ago.”

Zi Wuji let out a smile.

“So there are three hundred and thirty-three years left before it opens once more…”

A strange thought struck Zi Wuji. If such were the case, did that not mean the moment it opened and he stole a Cultivator’s body, not only would he return to the Ten Thousand Worlds, but he would also have… ascended directly?

Wherever he went to, clearly, would be bursting with such potent Qi that when he used his Shadow Clone Technique to cultivate, it was possible to break through several realms at once. 

Although there would still be a need to find Heaven and Earth Spiritual Treasures, such things would be like cabbages and potatoes in a Higher Realm.

Three hundred and thirty-three years.

If he added in the number of years since he had been reborn…

It meant it would take him less than three hundred and fifty years to Ascend. 

Less than three hundred and fifty years! To! Ascension! 

It should be known that most of those Old Monsters who managed to Ascend were thousands of years old. Even the youngest amongst them was at least a thousand years old.

Using only three hundred and fifty years to ascend to a higher realm was completely unprecedented! In the eyes of many, he would not even be considered an infant! Such a speed would be record-breaking, across all the Ten Thousand Worlds!

Yet, such a method was only possible because he had reincarnated here, in this world, this Sealed Realm belonging to Ascended Cultivators. No one else would ever be able to replicate this method.

None!

Zi Wuji bore a content smile, his gaze, his Divine Sense peering across the world with a sense of melancholy.

Three hundred and thirty-three years…

For a High Level Cultivator, that was an amount of time neither too short nor too long. Yet, not a single mortal alive in this world today was going to be alive in three hundred years. Not one. Konoha was not even up to a hundred years old. The Tailed Beasts were only about a thousand years old.

So much had changed in the mere ten years that Zi Wuji was in seclusion. In three hundred years, this world would be completely unrecognizable.

“You have been in this Sealed Realm for so long. Have you no desire to leave?” Zi Wuji asked.

“I dare not leave,” Genbu said gravely. “Even in my weakened form, in Yu Huan’s World, I would be honored and revered, and may even be given the role of a Sect's Ancestral Guardian Beast. But in this weakened form, to the eyes of those Cultivators who come to plunder this Sealed Realm, I am a mere reagent. They will refine me into a pill and give it to their infants. I lack the means and the power to oppose them, unlike the defenders of this realm. ”

Zi Wuji’s brow rose. “Defenders?”

“Once,” Genbu began. “This universe had cultivators, too. They reached for the Dao. Yet, as it was sealed, and they lacked guidance, they tore the heavens apart seeking it. Their desperation devoured the final remnants of Qi that once sustained them. They grew manic. Lost. They sought a new means to fight back against the plunder… and so they began plundering their own. The descendants of those Qi starved cultivators traveled the stars of their universe, sacrificing countless worlds, turning them into fruits, and consuming the energy within such worlds to power themselves. They plunder others across this realm, to build their strength to fight back against those who will come to plunder them.”

Zi Wuji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had suspected as much, that something was odd in this world, ages ago, when he saw how young it was. Chakra was not something these people were born with, but rather, it was a thing they were bestowed. Receiving the memories of his past life all but confirmed it, as that past life had fought against the woman known as Kaguya and aided in sealing her into the moon.

Kaguya must have come from somewhere, and the answer was clearly that she came from another world, not native to this place. She was, in Zi Wuji’s eyes, no doubt someone sent to go out and gather experience, hone themselves, and acquire strength. 

Yet, in this world, no one would ever seek to gather strength without cause. Pressures, either external or internal, were what would motivate one to seek improvement and seek betterment.

So, the clan from which Kaguya comes… the Ōtsutsuki… are descendants of cultivators, natives of a Sealed Realm…

And every fifty-thousand years, this realm opens, such that powerful Cultivators come here to plunder from it… and from them…

For that reason… members of that clan travel this universe, implanting seeds on worlds, harvesting and consuming fruits of chakra to grow their strength in preparation to fight back…?

Zi Wuji chuckled, opening his eyes that shone with an understanding light.

The big fish eats the small fish, the small fish eats the little fish, and the little fish eats the kelp.

Indeed, no matter where, no matter when, such a cycle will always continue. 

“So, that is the case.”

But what does that have to do with me?

My Dao is not to struggle against the incoming tide, but to use its flow to carry me to greater heights.

His gaze swept over the body of Genbu and found within it, in a private home, the location of the man known as Killer Bee. Zi Wuji’s right hand pointed out. 

“Banshō Ten’in.” 

Gravitational forces pulled. The man’s body was sent soaring out from the home, tearing off the roof, and hurtling through the air before he directly landed in Zi Wuji’s hand.

“Wha—”

With a quick pulse of chakra, the power of the Human Path was invoked, and the man’s soul was disrupted. He rapidly lost consciousness. Zi Wuji heaved him over his shoulder casually.

“If you are willing to swear your loyalty to me and serve as my mount,” Zi Wuji declared. “When I return to the Ten Thousand Worlds, I will take you out of this Sealed Realm and aid you in finding your missing parts, so you may become whole again.”

“You…” Genbu’s voice wavered. “Are you confident?”

“Of course.”

“Have you no reservations about the difficulty of such a task?”

“None.”

“Have you no worries there are hidden motives I possess?”

“What need is there to worry? If you turn against me, the only thing I need to think about is finding a large enough pot to cook turtle soup.”

“Hahahaha!”

Genbu’s laugh shook the ocean. 

“You remind me of him… yes, that sort of domineering attitude…”

The waves began to rise. Genbu, the giant turtle, too, began to rise out of the water. 

“Very well. Henceforth, I, Genbu, will follow you to the ends of this universe… Zi Wuji!”

XXXXX

“According to the information we’ve received, Kumogakure no Sato has fallen.” 

Shibuki, the Leader of Takigakure no Sato, spoke to the gathered elders within the home of the Chief of Takigakure. Takigakure no Sato did not have a Kage, as it was a minor village, and such villages lacked the titular Shadows that cast long gazes and protected them. Yet, as the Chief of his village, Shibuki ruled with a collection of other individuals, all of whom had been under the spell of one Uchiha for the longest time.

Now that they had finally broken free of such influence, now that the dust seemed to be settling, this had happened. An event so terrifying that not a single soul could explain how it happened, and not a single soul could have foreseen it happening. 

Making his announcement, as the sound of waterfalls gushed from the said features by which Takigakure earned its name, not a single soul spoke a word.

“The reports are still inconclusive, but it is suspected that the Fourth Raikage is dead, and that this attack was done by a single individual, or two at most… from Konoha.”

The Elders remained quiet. Shibuki could not blame them. The information was almost impossible to accept. Kumogakure no Sato, one of the Five Major Shinobi Villages, had been completely overtaken, without warning, and without explanation. Takigakure could not compare, neither in numbers, nor in combat power, nor in elite shinobi. If a force much stronger than theirs could fall so easily, what hope had they?

“The Fire Extinguishing Alliance is rushing to push the Shinobi Leader Summit forward. We—”

Shibuki took a long, slow breath, collecting his thoughts.

“When Namikaze Minato took out Amegakure no Sato, everyone thought it was an event that could not be repeated. They doubted that Konoha had the means to repeat such an action. They claimed that if Konoha could do so more than once, they would have done so and wiped out other villages that opposed them.”

Shibuki paused.

“Now, it is confirmed that Konoha does have such a means, we must consider our next course of action carefully. To avoid following in the fate of Amegakure and Kumogakure no Sato… we need to make our stance clear as soon as possible.”

“What are you suggesting, Shibuki-sama?”

Shibuki closed his eyes. The next words that would emerge from his mouth would either seal his fate as the greatest traitor to his village or possibly shorten his already destined-to-be-short lifespan as a shinobi. The next words he uttered would make it so he would have to, henceforth, watch every single meal he consumed, and sleep with an eye open, awaiting those who would plunge a kunai into his neck.

“Complete, unconditional surrender to Konoha,” Shibuki announced. “Becoming a subsidiary force of it, and accepting Konoha as our liege lords.”

The room exploded into rancor.

“Impossible!”

“Please reconsider, Shibuki-sama!”

“You cannot be serious!”

Refusals, rebuttals, and rejections all came one after the other, as the room burst into vitriol. Spittle flew from lips, veins popped on foreheads and throats, the room was a cacophony of voices, each one clamoring louder than the last to be heard, each opinion screaming louder than the one that came to be voiced.

Shibuki understood their frustrations. The reluctance to bend the knee was innate in the blood and pride of every living being. Yet, throughout history, it had always been the case. One must bow to another. A wise man must bow to circumstances.  Some would believe that death was better than subservience, but Shibuki was not among such numbers. He would rather live on his knees, still able to see the beauty of waterfalls, and feel the warmth of the sun, than see his home and his people be eliminated to the last.

Shibuki’s gaze flickered to the side, to Fū, who was amongst those present for the discussions, and remained silent, not voicing her thoughts.

For your sake as well… this is the only choice…

“All of you, be quiet! Shibuki-sama did not make this decision lightly!” Fū finally spoke up. “Are there any alternatives? Do any of you have a plan? A means to fight back against the ones who could take out a village like Kumogakure no Sato on their own? Do you?”

“With the Fire Extinguishing Alliance, there is still strength amongst numbers. We can—”

“INTRUDER!”

Shibuki’s heart jumped into his throat. The village’s alarms began to ring. Every single individual present leapt to their feet, lunging out of the room and to the outside.

Dear… Kami…

Takigakure no Sato had been deprived of the brilliance of the sun. 

A vast and terrifying shadow moved across the face of the earth and turned day to night.

Men, women, children, and shinobi were pointing upwards, whilst many stood, staring, with their hands covering their mouths. There, in the sky, blotting out everything, was a gargantuan turtle. Shibuki’s neck strained to see where the head began, and he could not see at all where the tail ended. The turtle floated in the air, the sky, with its soft underbelly exposed to them all. Said underbelly had thick black rods, the size of girthy trees, embedded within it.

The creature was larger than the entirety of their village. Yet, a creature of such size and magnitude floated in the sky, flying, no, swimming, as if the sky itself was water, and it was naturally at home within it. If the creature were to land on the village, just perform something as inconsequential as a belly-flop, it would, without a doubt, completely wipe Takigakure no Sato from the earth.

What were they supposed to do? Attack the creature? Doing so would guarantee it would collapse on their village and bury them all. Were they to leave it be, and hope it was merely passing over? Yet, no records in the village had ever spoken of something as ridiculous as a giant flying turtle that migrated across the world. Such a sight absolutely would not be forgotten by anyone who saw it.

Just as Shibuki could not, and did not believe that matters could get worse, a voice boomed across the entire village, nearly deafening the ears of all who heard it.

“My Master has sent me for the Jinchūriki of the Seven Tails.”

Shibuki’s heart chilled. It… speaks? No, such was not as terrifying as the knowledge that such a creature had a… Master.

“Give the Jinchūriki to me, and I will depart. Refuse, and…”

The turtle began to rapidly descend. It began to fall. The mere pressure of a being of such size rapidly descending sent massive gusts of wind downwards that flattened people to the ground, crushed trees, and buildings. Screams emerged, cries gathered, and the hearts of people collectively went cold.

Death had come, was the sole thought, running through every mind, and lingering in every soul.

“Stop!”

Fū flew upwards, a series of wings emerging from her lower spine, taking her into flight.

“Stop it!”

The descent of the giant turtle slowed. Shibuki held his chest, breathing roughly, harshly. As they were a village of shinobi, they were all prepared to meet death at any time and any moment, but that was against an enemy, a foe to whom they could struggle against. This creature, this giant turtle, there was no fighting it. If it landed, they would all be crushed, all be killed, without even the tiniest opportunity to resist. That sort of death was the most terrifying death of all.

“You are the one. Come with me, and your village will be spared.”

Fū, in the air, yelled, “Y-your master, who is he?!”

“I was not sent to answer questions. Decide now.”

“Fū!” Shibuki barked. “Follow it for now!”

“S-Shibuki-sama?”

“There is no time, Fū! Follow it! This is an order!”

If Fū delayed any further, the entire village could be eliminated, and if there were survivors, they would all transfer that hatred and grief towards her. They were almost certain to want to kill her for it. 

From the perspective of a friend, he had to prevent that. However, from the perspective of a Leader, if Takigakure no Sato was destroyed, what value was there in holding on to a Jinchūriki? There was none to be found.

“Y-yes! Go! Leave the village!”

“Go, Fū! Leave our village!”

“It only wants you! You can go with it! We don’t want to die because of you!”

“Leave! Leave! You’ve always been a monster, so… leave!”

Shibuki ground his teeth. The entire village began to clamor for Fū to leave. The young, the old, and even children. Their voices carried upwards, their screams engulfing the entire village. He could not blame them. It was a numbers game to give up one individual for the sake of the many. Takigakure was not somewhere like Konoha, said to have a belief that they would never sacrifice their own. 

Rather, it was the contrary. This was the village that invented the Jiongu art and Hero Water, and had long possessed such traditions where the needs of the many came before the needs of the few. His own father had died using such a thing, having such a mentality, that his sacrifice was for the sake of others.

Under the endless barrage of screams to leave, Fū turned to him, and Shibuki had no choice but to harden his expression, his face.

“You were given a direct order!”

I’m sorry, Fū… you have to understand. Please… forgive me…

Drowned in screams and cries to leave, and seeing even his own face, Fū said nothing. She flew, with the wings, upwards, beyond the gaze of all of them, to the top of the giant turtle.

“Hm. Wise.”

The gargantuan turtle ascended higher and higher into the air, into the sky. Ascending beyond the clouds at a speed that made Shibuki’s scalp numb, it vanished off into the horizon, as though it were never there.

The resulting silence that lingered was so thick, it could be cut in half with a knife. Though they had been spared certain death, not a single person present would or could ever forget such a sight. Not for as long as they lived.

Fū…

For too long, people feared the Tailed Beasts as unspeakable forces of nature, yet that giant turtle made a Tailed Beast look like a mere wild rabbit in comparison. Even if Fū had unleashed the full power of the Seven Tails, the size difference alone meant the turtle could have squashed the Seven Tails underneath its belly as if the Beast were a common bug. Being able to speak, being able to follow commands…

Just who, possibly, in this world, could have tamed such a beast, such that it referred to him as Master?

“Contact the Fire Extinguishing Alliance immediately,” Shibuki said. “We… no, the world needs to know… what just happened here.”

XXXXX

…Hamura is being proactive. He is no longer masking his intentions or true purpose. Collecting the jinchūriki means he can prevent Mother’s return…

A shadowy figure in Takigakure no Sato sank into the earth, blending in with the earth, and traveling a vast, immense distance across space. Somewhere else in the world, within a cave, a half-plant, half-man figure crawled out of the ground.

The cave was one of the many, many hidden hideouts belonging to Orochimaru of the Sannin, and thus, to the Akatsuki. Emerging out of the ground, he turned his attention to six motionless figures, their eyes containing the Rinnegan, and their bodies stabbed with black chakra receivers.

I cannot handle him as he is. There is no choice. This was not my initial plan… but, if I let Hamura take the initiative, there will be no hope… none whatsoever that Mother will be able to be free.

To be able to handle him and Uchiha Itachi, there really is no other choice.

The half-man, half-plant walked past the six figures, and stood directly in front of four coffins, each one raised upright.

It took me some time to gather these… Namikaze would have been amongst them, but I could not find his body…. 

No, even if I did, I cannot be certain there is not another Izanami trap within…

Zetsu reached out, stroking one of the four coffins.

These four will have to do. If I do not take action now… I will not have another chance.

This is… the final attack. 

Hamura… Itachi… 

Soon…

We shall have our fated conflict.