[Year 23]

After obtaining the Rule of Water, you chose not to continue traveling along the coastline. Instead, you decided to walk across the Shinobi Continent on foot, slowly exploring and observing the world.

At the same time, you sought to broaden your knowledge and further develop your strength.

The first thing you wanted to do was attempt to merge the Rule of Fire with the Ultimate Meaning of the Sword. As of now, the only rules you have fully mastered are Water and Fire.

If you could integrate both into the Ultimate Meaning, it would undoubtedly make you far stronger.

...

[Year 24]

After countless attempts, you finally succeeded in fusing the Rule of Fire into your Sword's Ultimate Meaning.

With the power of the rules supporting you, you had no doubt that even without chakra, relying purely on your fully developed potential, you could level the entire Shinobi Continent in a single strike.

While you could also achieve that using chakra and the Tenseigan—perhaps even more easily—you were still thrilled. The Ultimate Meaning powered by rules was clearly a force that could continue to evolve.

Unlike the Tenseigan or Rinnegan, which, beyond the divine realm, offer no further path forward, the Ultimate Meaning of Rules was limitless.

In pursuit of even greater strength, you attempted to fuse both Water and Fire into the Ultimate Meaning simultaneously. Unfortunately, despite repeated efforts, you made no progress. It seemed a single Ultimate Meaning could only bear one rule at a time...

So you turned your focus to attempting the fusion of rules like Death or Void—rules you hadn't yet fully mastered...

...

[Year 25]

You succeeded.

You successfully fused either the Rule of Death or the Rule of Void into your Ultimate Meaning. Though the resulting boost in power was significant, it still couldn't compare to fully mastered rules like Water and Fire.

Moreover, Death and Void were still incompatible with each other. Through this, you finally grasped the general mechanics of "Rule Ultimate Meaning."

Only one rule could be fused at a time.

However, by maintaining the fusion state over time, you could enhance your mastery over that rule. Frequent usage might even lead to perfect mastery.

Thus, you kept the fusion state between the Rule of Void and the Sword's Ultimate Meaning active for the long term.

This caused your aura to become increasingly subdued. From the outside, you looked like an ordinary youth—aside from your impossibly beautiful and inhuman face.

You noticed that activity among the shinobi across the continent was growing more frequent again.

You also eliminated quite a few who harbored malicious intent toward you.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, you donned a plain hemp robe and wore a tattered straw hat to hide your horns and cover your face, continuing your journey across the land.

...

[Year 26]

You sensed that another great shinobi war was brewing.

Not long after, you returned to Konohagakure, retrieved your mantis clone, and absorbed the jutsu it had recorded—though the experience felt dry and uninteresting.

The Uchiha Clan Massacre, rewritten by your hand long ago, had been nothing more than a minor footnote to Konoha. Now, after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, the village was a completely different place.

You retrieved the wooden clone that had faked your death and lay buried in a grave, disguised as your real body.

You also learned that the current Hokage of Konoha was the Sixth, Kakashi.

Naruto, having lost his status as Asura's reincarnation, still followed the prophecy and went to Mount Myōboku to learn Sage Mode. Though he achieved Perfect Sage Mode, he never truly reconciled with Kurama.

He remained a powerful asset of Konoha—but not its Hokage.

During the last Shinobi War, Konoha had been surrounded by the combined forces of several major villages. However, thanks to the presence of your mantis clone, the skill level of Konoha's shinobi had risen drastically. In the end, they repelled the allied forces.

Afterward, Nagato's Akatsuki seized the moment of global recuperation and launched another war, aiming to use mass slaughter to make the world fear conflict and thus achieve peace.

Unfortunately, Nagato was far too naïve and lacked guidance from Black Zetsu or Obito. Even though he gathered chakra from all nine tailed beasts, he failed to create the ultimate weapon.

Eventually, he was eliminated by a coalition of the Five Great Nations. The Rinnegan and the Gedo Statue were also taken and divided among them.

Thus, the war came to an end.

Much like the original Shinobi War, the joint effort to defeat Nagato led to a wave of peace. However, there was no Black Zetsu, no reincarnations of Indra and Asura to influence events—

And Kaguya was never released.

Now, the Five Great Nations, emboldened by the power inherited from Nagato, were once again preparing for war...

At present, Nagato's Rinnegan was being researched in Konoha. Though Orochimaru was gone, Amado had become the village's chief scientist.

At the same time, you discovered signs of activity from the Kara organization.

...

[Year 27]

You sealed the Rinnegan inside a scroll and left Konoha, returning to the volcanic cave in the Land of Iron where the old Sword Saint had resided for years.

After seeing the current state of Konoha, many things became clear to you. You gained profound insights.

Your Ultimate Meaning of the Sword also advanced as a result.

You finally understood a question that had bothered you for a long time—why taijutsu copied by the Sharingan was always hollow and lacked true form.

Naturally, the answer was "will."

Will cannot be copied. Otherwise, go ahead and copy the Will of Fire.

By that logic, the resonance between body and soul also cannot be copied. That's why, through swordsmanship or taijutsu, constantly tempering oneself has become a path completely separate from ninjutsu.

With this realization, you felt no further desire to explore the outside world.

You only wanted, like the Sword Saint of old, to break through your limits, surpass even perfect mastery, and catch a glimpse of the "shackles" he once spoke of.

...

[Year 28]

A former disciple of Mifune sent you a new student.

While teaching them, you compiled your knowledge of swordsmanship into a manuscript, nailing it to the back of the Sword Saint's Sword Manual as a way to organize your own learnings.

...

[Year 29]

Mifune's disciple's disciple felt they had no further potential and left on their own accord.

You began preparing for your own breakthrough.

But having witnessed the Sword Saint's failed attempt firsthand, you took great care in preparing every detail.

The Sword Saint had lived over two hundred years and possessed only a mortal's body. Even after absorbing vast amounts of natural energy, it wasn't enough for his needs.

Let alone shattering the shackles.

You, on the other hand, bore multiple bloodlines and were vastly more powerful than the Sword Saint even after his breakthrough. Yet this only meant the energy required for your breakthrough would be even greater.

To gather the needed energy, you recalled all the ant clones scattered across the shinobi world and transformed them into a massive biomass, which you would use to recover stamina post-breakthrough.

You also recalled that shortly after fully developing your potential and elevating your sword intent into Ultimate Meaning, you had directly drawn out and mastered the Rule of Water.

You theorized that there's a brief window around the moment of breakthrough, during which it's particularly suitable to fuse with rule-based powers.

As it happens, you still had the fruit containing the Yin-Yang Taiji powers of Indra and Asura stored in your divine realm.

And as for Black Zetsu—ever since achieving Ultimate Meaning, you had devised a method that could make him reveal the truth...

...

[Year 30]

----------------

Fanfic is finished on Patreon (324 chapters in total.)

Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)