The slaughter inside the mountain belly continued!
The roar of explosions, hoarse yells of anger, and near-hysterical curses echoed ceaselessly within the cavernous space.
Clang...
Parrying a tentacle shot by Mōryō once again, Mifune gasped for air while struggling to control his trembling hands.
Even exerting all his strength to cover the comrades behind him could only delay the pace of Mōryō's slaughter.
His own chakra and stamina were draining rapidly amidst the constant exertion. At this moment, he felt he could barely hold the katana in his hands.
From the dark purple mist came Mōryō's mocking voice: "Old man Mifune, how much longer can you last? One minute? Two minutes?"
Mifune scanned the surroundings. There were only a mere eight surviving comrades left in the mountain belly, and every one of them was injured.
This situation indicated the operation was a complete failure. It was even uncertain whether news of the defeat and its cause could be transmitted out.
But Mifune did not give up. Instead, he shouted: "I'll hold them off, you blow up this cave immediately!"
The survivors exchanged glances, then moved with determined eyes.
Blowing up this snow peak from the inside to bury both Mōryō and Shinnō within the mountain belly was undoubtedly the last thing they could do now.
Almost all those surviving at this moment were Jonin, their judgment and experience beyond doubt. So they knew exactly which walls to blast and which supports to destroy to cause the entire mountain belly to collapse.
Swish swish swish...
Mōryō naturally wouldn't sit by and watch the ninjas blow up the cave, so he shot out tentacles again, attacking the surviving ninjas.
"Hah..."
Mifune exhaled a breath, then poured all his chakra into the katana in his hand, meeting the tentacles shot by Mōryō.
According to his calculation, as long as he could protect three of the eight survivors, they might have a chance to complete the final gambit and blow up the cave.
Crack...
However, the instant his katana parried the tentacle, a crisp sound came from the blade. Then, under his astonished gaze, his long-rusted katana snapped in two.
As the katana broke, a tentacle instantly pierced his shoulder, pinning him to the ground.
Without the cover of the strongest Mifune, the injured eight naturally couldn't complete the detonation mission. Before long, they were hit by tentacles one after another, pinned to the ground unable to move.
Mōryō didn't seem in a hurry to kill them, but slowly retracted the tentacles, letting Mifune and the others lying on the ground slowly experience despair amidst blood loss!
At this time, Shinnō by the corpse pile shouted: "It's about time!"
Hearing this, Mōryō put away his complete form, reverted to human form, and walked slowly out of the dark purple mist.
Looking at this body missing both hands and covered in blade wounds, Mōryō curled his lips: "So troublesome, have to change bodies again!"
Shinnō said: "Time's up, let's start!"
Saying this, Shinnō began forming hand seals, then placed one hand on Mōryō who couldn't form seals due to missing hands.
In a hidden underground palace.
Swish...
Swish...
Accompanied by two soft sounds, the chakra projections of Mōryō and Shinnō appeared successively in the underground palace.
Undoubtedly.
This was the ultra-long-range communication ninjutsu 'Magic Lantern Body Technique' activated by Nagato using the 'Deva Path'. Everyone connected by Nagato's 'thought waves' could gather together through projection.
Before Mōryō or Shinnō could speak, Deidara's projection aside shouted: "Hey hey hey, why are you two so slow? We've been waiting for you for ages!"
Shinnō's projection looked around, seeing all members of the organization were present, so he explained towards the 'Deva Path': "Just spent some time dealing with the ninjas of the Ninja Village Alliance."
Hidan's projection opposite said: "Oh, you were targeted too?"
Mōryō said coldly: "Just a bunch of fools rushing to die!"
Facing Deidara and Hidan, two guys who always liked to mock him, Mōryō's tone was cold, hiding killing intent.
Shinnō didn't want to offend colleagues for no reason, so he talked about the three waves of ninja armies they encountered successively, and finally smiled: "The Ninja Village Alliance probably used Shinji Uchiha's 'Takamagahara' to simulate fighting us, but judging from the results, Shinji Uchiha's Mangekyo Dojutsu is nothing special!"
Hidan mumbled: "We ran into some trouble here. The opponent targeted me specifically. Kakuzu and I almost capsized in the gutter!"
Kakuzu was speechless: "Shut up!"
Clearly, it wasn't just the Mōryō and Shinnō group that was attacked; Kakuzu and Hidan were also raided by the Ninja Village Alliance.
And unlike Mōryō and Shinnō who easily dealt with three waves of Ninja Village Alliance forces, Kakuzu and Hidan obviously encountered big trouble. This indicated that Shinji's 'Takamagahara' simulation wasn't completely ineffective, it just depended on who it targeted.
Obito interjected at this moment: "Don't underestimate any kind of Mangekyo Dojutsu! Otherwise, you will suffer greatly!"
Standing in the main seat, the 'Deva Path' scanned everyone and said indifferently: "Besides Kakuzu, Hidan, Mōryō, and Shinnō, who else encountered attacks?"
The underground palace fell silent.
No one answered, indicating others hadn't been attacked for the time being.
Pondering for a moment, Sasori suddenly said: "The Ninja Village Alliance has been making big moves recently. Just based on what I know, more than a dozen strongholds have been attacked, and some strongholds have lost contact. I suspect they were mostly raided by the Ninja Village Alliance too."
Hearing this, Kakuzu doubted: "How can the Ninja Village Alliance lock onto our strongholds so accurately?"
Kakuzu's words obviously suspected there were spies within the organization members.
Konan was also secretly observing everyone.
The Ninja Village Alliance's action this time was not only swift and decisive but also very precise, as if they had obtained detailed intelligence.
And the only ones who could accurately know the intelligence of so many strongholds were the official members present!
The 'Deva Path' didn't seem to care about possible traitors. Seeing no other members reporting attacks, he spoke: "The war with the ninja villages has begun. Our goal remains the Tailed Beasts. The Three-Tails, Eight-Tails, and the other half of the Nine-Tails are all valid targets!"
"Understood!"
"Finally can do something big!"
"War... really something to look forward to!"
Hearing the 'Deva Path' declare the official start of the war with the ninja villages, the projections of all members present were somewhat eager to try.
Obviously, in the eyes of this group of Akatsuki members, war wasn't terrifying!
The 'Deva Path' continued to instruct: "Hiruko, Ranmaru, Sasori, Deidara, you two groups are responsible for the Three-Tails! Itachi, Jūzō Biwa, Mōryō, Shinnō, you two groups are responsible for the Eight-Tails! Kakuzu, Hidan, you are responsible for the other half of the Nine-Tails!"
The Akatsuki members responded respectively, then their projections disappeared from the underground palace one after another...