The fuse for the Third Ninja War was the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. Sunagakure suspected that the disappearance was related to Konoha and attacked the border of the Land of Fire, declaring war on Konoha Village. In reality, the Third Kazekage had been killed by Sasori, who didn't even leave the body behind and turned him into a puppet.
In truth, the disappearance of the Third Kazekage was just an excuse to start the war. Even without the Third Kazekage's disappearance, the Third Ninja World War would have still broken out. Sunagakure had long been eyeing Konoha Village, and it wasn't just Sunagakure that had its sights set on Konoha. The Land of Fire, where Konoha Village is located, is rich in resources, making it a prime target.
To put it bluntly, the Ninja World War was a battle over interests, with mutual conflicts and hatred being secondary factors.
"Sasori of the Red Sand, and the Third Kazekage… I'll steal their limelight," Kisaragi mused. He had thought about killing the Third Kazekage himself to ignite the Third War. But it wasn't the right time yet— the nations might not start fighting immediately.
It was only the 40th year since Konoha's founding, and according to the original timeline, the Third Ninja World War wouldn't break out for a few more years. However, Kisaragi wasn't going to wait that long. At most, within a year, he would trigger the war.
Once the war erupted, Kisaragi could rapidly accumulate evil points. Although killing one person only earned a hundred points, what if he killed a lot more? While it might take some time for the Third Ninja War to break out naturally, Kisaragi had his own plans to accelerate the process.
It didn't necessarily have to be the death of the Third Kazekage that started the war—there were other methods. For instance, if Kisaragi weakened Konoha's strength, wouldn't the other hidden villages, like wolves, pounce once they got wind of the situation?
"I'm really going all out just to earn these evil points," Kisaragi sighed as he opened the system mall for a quick look before closing it again.
His ultimate goal was to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, so he was unwilling to spend his evil points on anything else. No matter how tempting Kamui, Flying Thunder God, or the Sage Body seemed, Kisaragi was determined to resist until he acquired the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
There were various types of Sage Bodies available in the system. While he couldn't afford the perfect Sage Body just yet, he could purchase the Sage Body of the Senju or Uzumaki clans. However, Kisaragi wasn't satisfied with those. What he needed was the perfect Sage Body of Senju Hashirama. The Sage Body of Hashirama was on an entirely different level compared to the rest of the Senju clan.
The next day, Kisaragi went to the training ground after waking up. He was accompanied by Uchiha Mikoto. He had no intention of keeping her at home like a vase, so he brought her along to train with him.
Mikoto was skilled in ninjutsu and genjutsu. When it came to taijutsu, most female ninjas were generally less proficient compared to their male counterparts, but there were exceptions, such as Tsunade Hime, one of the Sannin, and Uzumaki Kushina, Mikoto's good friend.
Both Tsunade and Kushina were special because they possessed the Sage Body. Not only did it grant them a large reserve of chakra, but it also significantly enhanced their physical strength. Mikoto was adept at Fire Style and Lightning Style ninjutsu, and Kisaragi taught her Lightning Style: Chidori without holding anything back.
Mikoto was touched by his unreserved teaching. In the ninja world, even between father and son, ninjutsu is rarely taught without reservations. While Kisaragi had obtained her body through less than honorable means, and she still harbored some resentment, she couldn't deny that Uchiha Kisaragi was treating her well now.
Mikoto was easily satisfied, and that was to Kisaragi's benefit.
Kisaragi was in the process of developing new ninjutsu. He had been working on it for over a day now, researching the Lightning Style: Raikiri since he bought Chidori from the system.
Finally, he made progress.
"Lightning Style: Raikiri!"
Kisaragi successfully executed Raikiri, piercing straight through a solid steel pillar. The power was indeed worthy of being classified as an S-rank ninjutsu.
Compared to Chidori, Raikiri was more powerful and didn't have the same limitations. The flaw of Chidori is that it requires a sprint to increase the power of the stab, making it difficult to control without the Sharingan. The running speed can make it easy to miss the enemy, leaving the user vulnerable to counterattacks.
With the insight granted by the Sharingan, these issues can be avoided, but sprinting reduces the power over distance, which is another disadvantage of Chidori.
However, Raikiri didn't require sprinting and could be used while standing still, without sacrificing power.
"Incredible," Mikoto said, shocked by Raikiri's destructive power.
A solid steel pillar, as thick as a person, had been pierced right through. If it could penetrate steel like that, flesh and blood would stand no chance. It could probably even breach the defense of Susanoo.
"Still, it's probably not as strong as the Third Raikage's Hell Stab," Kisaragi mused. That move was hailed as the strongest spear, and Kisaragi was eager to see it in action someday. Since the Third Raikage was still alive, he might just get that opportunity.
After developing Raikiri, Kisaragi didn't stop. He continued working on other ninjutsu, like combining Rasengan with Nature Transformation. The Rasengan technique had a lot of potential, as demonstrated by Uzumaki Naruto, who refined it all the way to the series finale.
"Fire Style: Rasengan!"
The fiery red, spiral-shaped sphere spun in Kisaragi's palm before he launched it. It exploded a little over ten meters away, engulfing the area in flames. Kisaragi used the Body Flicker Technique to escape just as the flames consumed the spot where he had been standing.
"It's still not stable enough," Kisaragi muttered. The attack exploded prematurely, before hitting the intended target. Ideally, the flames would only erupt after striking the enemy, engulfing them entirely.
Although it wasn't perfected yet, Kisaragi wasn't discouraged. He just needed more time to experiment. Even in its incomplete state, the jutsu covered a wide area with flames, engulfing everything within tens of meters. The temperature of the flames was extreme, making it a formidable attack.