Most who had become jonin possessed sharp minds. After reflecting on Aizen's words, many of them turned pale.
"Wait a second. If we mistook the Third Raikage and the Second Tsuchikage, what about others? Could what we saw actually be real?"
"Could it be that we've been trapped in a genjutsu all along? Then what exactly have we been doing?"
Their faces turned deathly pale. Even if they suspected such a possibility, what could they do about it?
Imagine someone telling you that suicide could free you from the illusion—but what if you really died?
What they saw, heard, and felt seemed too real to distinguish the boundary between reality and illusion.
Hell! What are we supposed to do now?
At this moment, Aizen, who had been watching from the front like a spectator, suddenly looked up at the sky and laughed, "This tedious charade ends here. The real main event has arrived!"
Following his gaze, Lord Seiki's towering figure appeared in the sky.
Everyone felt a surge of hope, but concern remained.
Is this Lord Seiki real? Could he also be another illusion created by that guy?
Instantly getting into character, Seiki roared, "What are you doing? Stop immediately!"
Everyone was momentarily stunned, but quickly snapped back to reality.
Since Lord Seiki wasn't under genjutsu, what he saw must be the truth.
Was reality truly different from what they had seen?
Aizen smiled lightly, "They won't stop. Or rather, they can't stop!"
Seiki asked in a deep voice, "Did you trap them using genjutsu?"
Aizen gave no clear answer, "What do you plan to do? Perhaps another hostage exchange?"
Seiki shook his head slightly, "After being threatened by you using the same method seven years ago, how could I not prepare?"
Aizen smiled with interest, "Then let's see what you've got!"
"As you wish!" Seiki's gaze darkened. With his Soul Pressure wrapped around his chakra, power erupted suddenly. "Wake up, all of you!"
[King's Haki – Soul Pressure]
The space itself seemed to tremble. Purple-black lightning surrounded Seiki as an invisible force rapidly expanded across the battlefield like wildfire.
Everyone's consciousness jolted, and then the scenes before their eyes burst like bubbles.
The jonin finally realized their opponents hadn't been monsters but rather the reincarnated powerful figures from the Impure World Reincarnation.
Meanwhile, the chunin and genin discovered those hunting them weren't jonin but other chunin and genin.
The White Zetsu Army had been stationed around them like guards all along.
At that moment, everyone understood.
Only those mentally wounded monsters had been completely controlled. As for them, their senses had merely been interfered with!
Or perhaps their shock at seeing fifty thousand controlled White Zetsu soldiers had simply given the enemy an opening to exploit!
Even so, terror still gripped everyone's hearts.
Being completely manipulated by the enemy through their hearing, vision, and feelings was simply too terrifying—they had unknowingly become nothing more than puppets controlled by the enemy!
As panic and fear gripped their hearts, a "thud" echoed around them as someone fell.
Looking around, they saw that the entire White Zetsu Army of 500,000 had collapsed unconscious.
Aizen clapped his hands together, boasting self-satisfactorily, "By channeling my spiritual energy into my soul and instantly stunning half a million soldiers, this is truly the battle with my most valued enemy!"
Upon hearing his explanation, everyone finally understood what had happened.
"Truly worthy of being Leader-sama! What incredible overwhelming power!"
"What it took all of us exerting our full strength to achieve, Lord Seiki accomplished alone!"
Though stunned, they couldn't help but feel discouraged.
Even someone as powerful as Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha could not completely ignore their combined strength.
Yet for Seiki and Aizen, numbers had lost all meaning!
To suppress an army of hundreds of thousands with a single thought was simply beyond human comprehension!
Seiki remained unimpressed, speaking coldly, "Now you have no hostages left. Let our battle be the final conclusion to this war!"
Aizen smiled calmly, "It's still not time for our final confrontation. Look forward to our next meeting!"
With that, he instantly vanished from sight as if he'd teleported.
No one was surprised; it made perfect sense for someone like Aizen, who stood at the pinnacle of the shinobi world, to master Space–Time Ninjutsu.
However, Minato suddenly spoke up, "Something's wrong, there was no spatial fluctuation!"
"No spatial fluctuation?" Everyone was confused. How did he leave then?
"Wait, are we still trapped in his Genjutsu?"
"Could it be that even Lord Seiki is just a hallucination we created?"
One after another, fear filled their hearts, suffering from that classic "once bitten, ten years wary of a well-rope" sensation.
Among them, Orochimaru maintained a calm expression, but inwardly sighed—this fear was something he'd experienced four years ago.
The complete inability to distinguish reality from illusion felt like being severed from the world itself!
Seiki found it quite amusing. He had let Aizen leave the Dream World simply to deepen his mysterious image; he hadn't expected to scare them this badly.
"Don't worry, the Genjutsu has already been dispelled!"
Hearing Seiki's words, everyone finally relaxed and burst into loud cheers.
"Hahaha! We've finally won!"
"Waaah! It's been so difficult!"
"Never did I imagine we'd survive such an intense battle!"
No wonder they were so excited—this war had been absolutely insane!
Although this Great Ninja World War had lasted much shorter than the previous three, its intensity and unpredictable twists far exceeded them all!
It had drawn in not only the entire ninja world but also powerful figures from various eras, with twists and turns at every step!
Initially, they'd believed the final boss was Nagato, then discovered it was Madara, and finally found out it was Aizen!
So after this war, it felt as though they'd fought ten major battles, completely drained both mentally and physically!
Yet within this joyous, celebratory atmosphere, quite a few people still wore frowns.
Had they really won?
That man, Aizen, defeated them all with a single move, looking down on them with arrogance, toying with them as if they were mere chess pieces.
Even after Seiki uncovered his plan, he showed no regret at all. He remained as calm as if the outcome were just another game!
Rather than a retreat, it seemed more like he had come simply to warn them, to provoke them, or perhaps for some deeper reason entirely.
Just thinking about it made many people's hearts tremble with fear.
If even Aizen went through so much trouble planning this, only to leave so casually afterward, then his true target could only be Leader-sama—our highest authority!
Some also recalled what Seiki said back then—when he finally revealed [Light Release] after keeping his power hidden. Suddenly, everything became clear.
"Lord Seiki had already noticed there were still enemies lurking, which was why he concealed part of his strength. However, we never expected the enemy to be even more alert than he had judged!"
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