As soon as Aizen appeared, no one present could keep their composure.
The nightmare from eight years ago—being controlled like puppets—resurfaced in everyone's mind.
Hiashi's breath quickened. "It's him! He's finally here! The shadow lurking behind the Xu organization is truly him!"
Fugaku broke into a sweat. "Is this real or an illusion? Or maybe both?"
Minato's expression darkened. Knowing more than the others, he feared Aizen even more. "The man who once schemed and plundered everything in the Parallel World has finally cast his shadow over this land again!"
Seeing their elders react with such intensity, almost fear, Naruto and his companions stood there stunned.
Never having experienced that battle eight years ago, they naturally couldn't understand the others' terror.
"Is this man really that terrifying?" Neji asked instinctively. "Even with the teacher here, he still can't calm their fear!"
"Think about it," Sasuke said solemnly. "Of the seven members the Xu organization sent, all made it to the top 32; five reached the top 16; two went as far as the top 8, with Toneri otsutsuki crowned champion! The man who leads them must unquestionably be powerful!"
Isshiki, who defeated Toneri, was actually...!" Raiga's mouth dropped open. Since they hadn't personally witnessed Aizen's power eight years ago, hearing about it afterward simply wasn't as shocking. Now that they saw it with their own eyes, they finally understood their leader's might.
Kisame narrowed his eyes. With Aizen's strength, why would he agree to take orders from Yahiko? Why not just attack the Five Great Nations years ago?
"Could it be that Aizen was cultivating opponents? Nurturing someone like Seiki Shimaseki who could threaten him and push him forward?"
Meanwhile, Isshiki had also regained his composure. The fact that he fell for Genjutsu was indeed impressive, but after all, Genjutsu was a dirty ability that could be countered with just a little caution.
Isshiki spoke calmly, "Have you ever gazed upon the vastness of the starry sky? Do you understand what true grandeur and insignificance mean?"
Aizen smiled. "What a bug considers grand or insignificant has never interested me in the slightest!"
Isshiki chuckled lightly. "I almost don't want to kill you anymore. Such a ridiculous clown—if you die, the world will definitely lose some entertainment!"
"Then why not give it a try? I've never actually experienced the feeling of being killed before!" Aizen smiled slightly. "Lord Isshiki, perhaps you'd like to share your feelings when your own subordinates killed you?"
With his old wound ripped open in front of everyone, Isshiki could no longer remain composed. His voice turned icy. "Since you're so eager to experience it, I'll be happy to oblige!"
[Great Black Coffin]!
Activating his eye power, countless giant cubes rained down from the sky, smashing toward Aizen.
Boom!
Aizen didn't dodge. He was crushed flat into a pile of meat paste!
Having experienced this before, Isshiki naturally didn't believe the enemy had truly died. His expression turned grim. "Have I fallen into Genjutsu again? Release! Release! Come on, release already..."
Boom!
As Isshiki kept shouting "Release!" frantically, suddenly a spectral war hammer struck him from nowhere, sending him flying.
As he steadied himself, he saw the puddle of flesh reforming into Aizen's shape!
"Hmm? So I wasn't under your genjutsu just now?"
Aizen sighed. "So quickly unable to tell reality from illusion already?"
Isshiki didn't get angry, but calmly observed, "Looks like my theory was right. As long as I'm prepared, your genjutsu has no effect on me!"
Even so, Isshiki didn't relax his vigilance.
Though the opponent's illusions couldn't affect him, they could deceive the world itself!
Such ability was extremely rare even in the vast starry sky!
"Truly underestimated, huh!" Aizen lightly sighed, then waved his hand and suddenly thousands of sword blades appeared in formation above the sky!
These flying swords radiated golden light, surrounding Isshiki completely!
[Materialization from Intangibility? Interesting!] Isshiki commented calmly.
"Then please, taste this!" Aizen smiled and snapped his fingers.
In the next moment, ten thousand swords simultaneously attacked!
The most dazzlingly radiant sword was held in Aizen's hand as he flew forward to battle Isshiki directly.
Previously handling the sword attacks casually, Isshiki immediately felt increased pressure once Aizen joined the fight.
Seiki, on the main platform, quickly set up a barrier.
Any stray force hitting the barrier would cause it to tremble slightly, making the onlookers' hearts pound with fear!
Isshiki's strength was certainly not comparable to someone like Momoshiki. Once familiar with the fighting pattern, he handled it increasingly skillfully.
At first, the sword formation could still make him slightly frantic, but after the sword array was exhausted, he had already become completely calm!
"Hmph, so that's all you've got, huh!" Just as Isshiki was about to mock, suddenly he spat out a mouthful of blood. Looking down, he saw a flying sword piercing through his chest!
In disbelief, Isshiki asked, "Why? I clearly shattered all those swords!"
Aizen followed with, "Yeah, why?"
Isshiki twitched his lips, "Did I fall into another illusion again?"
Aizen raised his index finger to his lips, "Don't ask me, ask your heart!"
Under normal circumstances, making Isshiki fall into illusions would indeed not be easy.
But that was only the case if he could fully concentrate on defense!
He wasn't just a ninja who relied on genjutsu. Trying to stay alert against his illusions while fighting fiercely was simply impossible!
Isshiki quickly realized this, but the problem was, he really couldn't spare any attention to guard against illusions!
Dividing attention for illusions meant getting attacked by Aizen himself; focusing completely meant being hit by illusions!
Under these circumstances, no matter what he did, it would be wrong!
While getting hit, Isshiki quickly thought of a countermeasure in his mind, "Got it, introduce outside interference!"
"Judging from those ninja's reactions, they also seemed to hold deep resentment against this man known as Aizen. As long as I break the barrier and drag the guy watching from outside into this, I should be able to escape today!"
The more Isshiki thought about it, the better it sounded. "Three sides at each other's throats, keeping everything in perfect balance!"
Twelve years ago, Seiki still needed to fuse with others to defeat this opponent.
But now?
Both his clones and his main body now possessed the strength to fight against Isshiki—and even suppress him!
Although Isshiki wasn't at his peak, he hadn't reached his limit either!
"I wonder how my Gatai stacks up against Kaguya in her prime? At the very least, judging from things now, my power is still far too weak!"
As Seiki was lost in thought, he suddenly noticed Isshiki silently shifting the battlefield toward the arena's edge.
Knowing him, he quickly figured out Isshiki's intention and couldn't help but chuckle, "That guy's something else alright. Getting beaten up by Aizen wasn't enough for him—he's basically asking us to double-team him now, huh?"
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