Countless White Zetsu climbed out of the deep pit, densely packed, numbering at least tens of thousands. Taking the wind, high in the sky and far away, they looked like maggots, making one feel incredibly nauseous.
Torifū now roughly guessed what these White Zetsu wanted to do, nothing more than wanting to split the moon to save their mother Kaguya Otsutsuki. And finding another Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in this world was as difficult as ascending to heaven, so they had to take the risk.
"I knew it, changing the plot wasn't that simple."
Torifū muttered to himself; with such a large number of White Zetsu to restrain him, Madara must have already been taken away by Black Zetsu. There was no other way; he could only hope that this interlude wouldn't affect his KPI within the system.
The swarm of White Zetsu finally stopped pouring out—likely having reached the absolute limit of what Black Zetsu was willing to sacrifice. After all, the rest still needed to serve as "impressive backup" when recruiting new members for his "Free Kaguya Support Group."
'Look, my dude! I've got this massive army of White Zetsu, all ready to follow your orders!'
'You're destined for greatness!'
Not that it was hard for Black Zetsu—an ancient, scheming entity—to manipulate these kids. Hadn't Uchiha Obito and even Madara himself been mere stepping stones in the end? Just pawns on his chessboard.
Hashirama, who was watching the show on a nearby mountaintop, didn't know what these white people were. Since they all looked the same, they definitely weren't normal people. Hashirama was a little worried that if these white monsters were allowed to wander around, it would have a significant impact on the entire Land of Fire! But if he took action at this time, it might anger the one in the sky, and Hashirama was temporarily caught in a dilemma.
But before long, there was movement in the sky.
Only to see Torifū in the sky slowly rising into the clouds and disappearing. Just when Hashirama thought that this great person had finally left and was preparing to annihilate these white monsters, another change occurred!
All the clouds in the sky rotated and converged in one direction, and the clouds within a few hundred miles were all affected, converging towards the center point. Just when all the clouds were gathered together, almost condensing into a small white dot in the air! Suddenly, it exploded! In an instant, all the gathered clouds poured out frantically, spreading outward with Torifū as the center.
At the same time, a large number of clouds began to rise continuously, forming layers of cloud rings, nine layers in total!
"Myriad Celestial Array! Rise!"
As soon as the words fell, the nine layers of cloud rings instantly turned into nine layers of heavenly palaces! On each layer, there were pavilions and towers, cranes flying in the clouds, and rare beasts standing on the clouds overlooking the earth!
[T/N: My good lord, he summoned the heavenly pavilion immortals. OwO]
Immediately, countless beams of light lit up on each heaven, and each beam of light released an incomparably powerful pressure that swept the ground! The beams of light dissipated, and figures appeared in the clouds, some fat, some thin, with different shapes, some male, some female, but without exception, all wore jade crowns, white robes, and held sharp swords! All were people with immortal demeanor.
Tens of thousands of White Zetsu couldn't stand up under this pressure, and Hashirama was already stunned at this time, completely forgetting why he wasn't affected. Hashirama had never seen or heard of that magnificent heavenly palace, let alone that there were thousands of people on each layer of clouds! Each person's strength was many times stronger than his! And they all seemed to be listening to the man standing in the sky.
"Everything, for the sake of the common people."
"Myriad Celestial Array! Activate!"
Torifū pinched a hand seal, and countless cloud swords fell like a torrential rain, frantically reaping the lives of the White Zetsu! At the same time, all the immortals on the nine layers of heavenly palaces pinched hand seals together, and in an instant, lightning, storms, fire, extreme ice, gold, and rain frantically attacked the White Zetsu on the ground!
If the previous giant sword was the power of destruction, then Hashirama couldn't find the words to describe this attack. Lightning and extreme ice shards accurately struck the heads of the White Zetsu like divine punishment, taking the lives of dozens of White Zetsu with just one strike! Then the fire burned all the corpses to ashes, and the gold and rain constantly filled the cracks in the earth and extinguished the spreading fire!
With the devastating offensive of the Ten Thousand Immortals Formation, the 'wounds' of the earth were gradually healing. Except for the scorched earth caused by lightning and fire, the deep pits and cracks that had been created before had been smoothed and disappeared. It was just a matter of planting some trees, and it would be exactly the same as before.
After continuous 'cleaning', not a single White Zetsu could be seen on the ground. To put it bluntly, using this kind of technique to fight these tens of thousands of White Zetsu was really overkill. But for Torifū, he had saved up money for a year, just to enjoy this day! You're not going to let me? Are you even human?
And through these ancestral moves, Torifū could completely confirm that the ancestor was not from this world! Because every technique Torifū used didn't require hand seals at all, and the energy used wasn't chakra either. Torifū himself couldn't say what kind of energy it was; after all, he didn't know anything about how the ancestor cultivated.
[T/N: This won't end up a cultivation novel, author said so.]
"Myriad Celestial Array, Return."
With that said, the nine layers of heavenly palaces, along with the cranes and rare beasts, turned into clouds and mist and dissipated, and the thousands of immortals rode on the rosy light and disappeared.
Only then did Hashirama come back to his senses; it seemed that the battle was over, but it should be his turn soon. Hashirama was a little uneasy; judging from the posture of the person in the sky, it seemed that he was a friend rather than an enemy. But he still had to be cautious.
Torifū turned into a shooting star and flashed to not far in front of Hashirama in just an instant. Hashirama, who was still uneasy, was startled, and it took him a long time to recover. He quickly saluted and paid his respects.
"This junior, Hashirama Senju, pays respects to the elder. May I ask for your honorable name?"
Torifū quickly stopped Hashirama from bowing—no matter how powerful this "temporary upgrade" made him, at his core, he was still Torifū. Letting his own teacher bow to him? That'd probably shorten his lifespan!
"No need for formalities. I know what troubles your heart," Torifū said calmly, his voice carrying a soothing effect that gradually eased Hashirama's nerves.
Though in reality, Torifū had just slipped a Calming Mind Technique into his words—seemed to work well enough.
"I am the progenitor of the Kumotsuru Clan, Kumotsuru Kajin."
Hashirama's eyes widened. Just as I suspected! He had guessed this person might be from the Kumotsuru Clan, but to think he'd be facing their founder?!
He must be at least hundreds, if not thousands, of years old! How does he look younger than me?!
"Today, I must thank Elder Kajin for your assistance," Hashirama said sincerely.
Truthfully, he hadn't done much tonight—yet everything had been resolved. Konoha remained unharmed. The only regret was Madara's death, but they had both staked their lives on this battle. In the end, luck had simply favored him.
Torifū waved a hand with practiced elder-like grace. "No matter. That man disturbed the peace of this wandering spirit. Consider it punishment."
Then, as if recalling something, he added:
"Speaking of which... I believe a descendant of mine still walks this world?"
（A/N: The protagonist will not cultivate immortality! The protagonist will not cultivate immortality!）
[T/N: Dats wat the Author said. :p]