The next day.
Inside the Miko's palace.
After visiting Uzumaki Eri and Karin, Shishou once again found Miko Miroku, who was guiding Shion in her studies.
He inquired if there was any way to keep the soul of a deceased person in the world for a long time and allow it to move freely.
Shishou wanted Kushina to have enough time to teach Uzumaki Eri and her daughter the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan.
Miko Miroku, although unsure why Shishou was asking this, still gave it serious thought.
After some contemplation, she shook her head, indicating that she knew of no such method.
Then, Miroku turned her words.
"If it's just about preservation, you can consider using a sealing technique."
"But in that case, the soul wouldn't be able to move freely; it would be more like a state of slumber."
Hmm, that's what Kushina did.
She sealed her soul inside Naruto to come out and help when necessary.
Shishou nodded, signaling Miroku to continue.
Seeing that Shishou didn't want that kind of method, Miroku continued:
"To keep the soul of a deceased person in the world for a long time, you need to sever the connection between the soul and the Pure Land."
"It's said that there is a unique stone in the ninja world that can temporarily house a person's soul."
"If you use this stone as a material and let the soul enter it, then apply a sealing technique to the stone to sever the connection between the soul and the Pure Land."
"Since the sealing technique is applied to the stone and not directly on the deceased person, the soul wouldn't fall into slumber."
"This might achieve the result Mr. Shishou wants."
Hearing Miroku's words, Shishou was taken aback.
He suddenly thought of the Fourth Hokage training in the belly of the Death God to master the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
This showed that the Fourth Hokage's soul in the Death God's belly wasn't sealed or asleep; it had its own consciousness and could move around.
This was because the Death God itself severed the connection between the Fourth Hokage's soul and the Pure Land, and the Fourth Hokage wasn't sealed.
This was very similar to what Miroku described.
Thinking of this, Shishou quickly asked,
"Miko, do you know where I can find this kind of stone?"
Seeing Shishou's eager gaze, Miroku quickly turned her head aside and said,
"Mr. Shishou, please just call me Miroku."
"This kind of stone is extremely rare and can only be found in the Land of Marsh. If Mr. Shishou needs it, I can have people keep an eye out for you."
"But it may take a very long time, and there's no guarantee we can obtain it."
Hearing this, Shishou smiled, took Miroku's hand, and said,
"In that case, I leave it in your hands, Miroku."
Miko Miroku's face instantly turned red. She quickly pulled her hand away and walked towards the door.
"I... I need to go teach Shion now."
Watching Miroku flee in embarrassment, Shishou smiled slightly.
...
Konoha Year 59, July.
Fire Source City's underground fighting arena.
Wearing a mask, Shishou led the equally masked Mikoto, Pakura, Izumi, and Yugao into a crowded fighting arena.
Leading them respectfully was Takeko.
Fire Source City had a wide variety of mining industries, attracting many forces to the city.
With many people and limited resources, conflicts and bloodshed were common.
To maintain the stability of Fire Source City's mining industry,
the city held an underground fighting tournament every three years to allocate mining rights for the next three years.
If your representative could enter the top ten, you would gain an extra mining right. The higher the rank, the better the selection priority.
Additionally, there would be extra taxes.
Most forces would stop fighting after securing one or two mining rights.
Firstly, the more mining rights you had, the higher the taxes, which most forces couldn't afford.
Secondly, it was easy to offend other forces and become a target.
Of course, if you were powerful enough to withstand the attacks of other forces, it was okay to take all the mining rights.
As long as you paid enough taxes to the Land of Fire, the country didn't mind such things.
Because the Land of Fire's officials were behind it, Shishou didn't dare to use force and had to participate in the competition honestly.
Konoha was the military organization of the Land of Fire, and Shishou didn't want trouble from Konoha.
"Sir, how many participants will you send?"
Takeko respectfully asked Shishou after leading them to the VIP room.
Shishou activated his Sharingan to observe the other forces, noting that they mostly sent wandering ninjas and samurai.
Though some had the strength of Jōnin, they were no match for Shishou.
Official ninjas were prohibited from participating in such activities.
To avoid drawing too much attention, Shishou decided to take fewer shares this year.
He decided to take half.
So, Shishou turned to Takeko and said,
"Five people."
Ten mining rights, he would take five.
That was enough.
"Understood."
Surprised but respectful, Takeko left to register the participants.
Five people, costing 25 million ryo.
Each participant required a 5 million ryo registration fee, so most forces only sent one or two skilled fighters.
The Land of Fire made billions just from hosting the tournament.
Adding the gambling, they easily made tens of billions.
Soon, the tournament began.
The matches were drawn, with two fighters facing off.
The winner advanced until the top ten and rankings were determined.
Members of the same force were intentionally separated to avoid internal conflicts.
With five participants, Shishou naturally joined Mikoto and the others in the competition.
"A woman?"
"Beat her, beat her."
"Beat this bi—"
Yugao Uzuki, the first to fight, was recognized as a woman due to her slender figure.
Angry at the crowd's vulgarity, she gritted her teeth.
"Heh, women should stay home with the kids. What's the point of coming here?"
Her opponent, a wandering samurai using swordsmanship, sneered at her.
"Begin!"
The referee glanced at them and announced the start of the match.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Yugao and the samurai clashed in the arena.
Yugao launched a rapid assault, overwhelming the samurai.
Her constant training against the three-tomoe Sharingan of Izumi had honed her fast attack techniques.
Only by doing so could she fight Izumi to a draw.
Bang!
Half a minute later, Yugao found an opening and kicked the samurai out of the ring.
Sheathing her sword, she left the stage without waiting for the referee's announcement.
The audience was stunned for a moment before erupting in deafening cheers.
"That woman is amazing."
"What a useless samurai, so weak."
"..."