Chapter 182: A Small Shock
Despite having just personally executed two comrades who had led the surrender—displaying ruthlessness beyond the norm—when Ōdo met Uchiha Dali's gaze, his soul still involuntarily trembled.
That look, like a death god's gaze, sent a chill down his spine.
This was the man who had just killed his father, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, with a single move.
Compared to him, Ōdo was painfully aware of the vast gap in strength.
"Even knowing you're flying into the fire like a moth to a flame, you still choose to resist?"
Uchiha Dali asked with a faint smile, half amused, half indifferent.
Ōdo hesitated for a moment, his face steely, then coldly snorted. "Even if we know we'll die, we absolutely will not surrender!"
"Then you can't stop those who do want to live," Uchiha Dali immediately retorted.
Those words were like a beacon to the Iwagakure shinobi who were already wavering, igniting the flickering flame of hope in their hearts.
One by one, the Kumogakure ninjas began to echo their support.
"Cut the crap! Anyone who dares to surrender is a traitor to Iwagakure! Against traitors, every shinobi in the village has the right to enact wartime combat strategy!"
"You're authorized to eliminate any and all traitors!!"
Ōdo shouted at the thousands of followers behind him.
Then, turning back to Uchiha Dali, he declared, "The Third Tsuchikage was my father. You killed him—did you really think we'd ever bow to you!?"
"Prepare to die!"
"Either you die, or I do!"
As he spoke, he began weaving hand seals, his fury blazing as he seemed determined to fight Uchiha Dali to the end.
Uchiha Dali scratched his brow, looking utterly exasperated.
"I die, you live?"
"That's a pretty unrealistic dream you've got there."
"But fine… let me help you realize it—in reverse."
As he finished speaking, he slowly raised his hand, palm aimed at Ōdo.
At that moment, Ōdo completed his seals: "Earth Release: Seismic Rock!"
He unleashed a massive Earth-style technique, and two towering mountains of solid granite erupted on either side of Uchiha Dali, each over a hundred meters high. They closed in with crushing force, clearly intending to pulverize him between them.
Caught in the center, Uchiha Dali didn't move a muscle, as if petrified—he made no attempt to dodge or resist.
"He's not moving?! He's done for!!"
Just as Ōdo thought he had him, an earth-shattering burst of energy exploded from Uchiha Dali's body.
This overwhelming, tyrannical aura instantly manifested as a physical attack: a 360-degree bladelike shockwave that slashed outward in all directions.
BOOM—
The twin mountains on either side of him immediately shattered and collapsed with a thunderous roar, breaking apart within a blink and completely failing to trap him.
Meanwhile, front and back, shinobi began collapsing like dominos.
Ōdo himself felt a wave of dizziness crash over him—he couldn't even stand straight.
It was like the moment just before losing consciousness from a drunken stupor.
The sudden, inexplicable turn of events left Ōdo stunned, staring in disbelief at Uchiha Dali across from him.
Behind him, someone called out, "L-Lord Ōdo…"
Before the sentence was even finished, the man's eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
Ōdo turned around and saw his subordinates sprawled all over the ground—hundreds of them had collapsed in dense, chaotic piles.
His pupils shrank in shock once more.
"What… what is this?!"
Ōdo stood frozen, dumbstruck.
He had seen powerful shinobi before.
He had also witnessed countless strange and rare jutsu.
But this—this was something he had never seen.
"Is it genjutsu?"
Recalling that Uchiha Dali was a member of the Uchiha clan, wielder of the Sharingan bloodline limit, his first instinct was that it must be some kind of illusion.
Ōdo tried dispelling genjutsu to rid himself of the disorienting sensation, but it had no effect.
Then he noticed something strange about those who had collapsed unconscious nearby—they weren't all weaklings. There were jōnin, chūnin, and even genin.
Clearly, it wasn't just the weak who had been affected.
At the same time, not everyone had fallen—some remained standing, seemingly unharmed.
These people varied in strength too.
But if there was one common trait among those still standing, it was this: none of them had been on his side.
Some were shinobi from small nations.
Others were Iwagakure shinobi who had just moments ago called out to surrender to Uchiha Dali.
Ōdo examined the scene carefully again, almost unable to believe what his own eyes were telling him.
Meanwhile, others who had been affected by the mysterious burst of power began to recover.
Many of them were Ōdo's loyal followers.
One of them noticed the strange pattern too.
"Lord Ōdo, everyone who collapsed… they're all our people!"
A veteran Iwagakure elite jōnin called out in alarm.
"They're not dead—just unconscious," another reported after checking the fallen.
At this point, Ōdo could no longer deny what he was seeing—Uchiha Dali had unleashed a selective, targeted attack against only their side.
An indescribable sense of shock welled up inside him.
"What kind of power can distinguish the identities of every single shinobi from among tens of thousands?"
"And what kind of power allows this man to strike with such perfect precision—hitting only those loyal to me?"
In that moment, Ōdo felt an icy chill seep into his bones.
It was as though he'd been plunged into a frozen river in the depths of winter.
Once again, Uchiha Dali had used a single move to instill within him an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
The man before him was like an insurmountable chasm…
No, more like a being from an entirely different dimension—one who didn't even belong in the same world.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead."
Uchiha Dali, having knocked out nearly every hostile shinobi with a single burst of Conqueror's Haki, said this calmly to the shocked and pale-faced Ōdo.
It was only after hearing that voice that Ōdo snapped back to his senses.
"I'll give you one final chance. Choose: death… or surrender?"
As Uchiha Dali spoke, he slowly raised his hand.
In his palm, a brilliant orb of light began to form.
This familiar power was deeply intimidating to the Iwagakure shinobi—because it was the Dust Release, the same technique Uchiha Dali had just used to kill Ōnoki.
Sensing the deadly aura gathering in the growing Dust Release sphere, even Ōdo began to show a hint of fear.
As for the shinobi who had already been considering surrender, they no longer hesitated.
One after another, they rushed to stand behind Uchiha Dali—without even a moment's pause.
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