The Land of Swamps lay just to the left of the Land of Demons.
In less than half a day, Kitazawa and his group crossed the border into the Land of Swamps.
They didn't continue forward immediately, choosing instead to stop and regroup.
Kitsuchi took three of his team members and went ahead to scout out Mōryō and its undead army.
Kitazawa and the others stayed where they were and waited.
An hour later, Kitsuchi and the others returned.
"Mōryō and its undead army are in the mountains to the north," Kitsuchi reported.
"They're looking for Seal," Shion replied. "That's where Mōryō's physical body is sealed."
"Are we going to stop them now?" Kitsuchi looked at her and asked.
"Mōryō has two goals."
Shion took a deep breath. "One is to find its body. The other is to kill me—because I'm the only one who can seal it."
"So we stop the undead army, and you go seal Mōryō's soul?" Baki thought for a moment and asked.
"I can only seal it at the Sealing Shrine or at Sealing Mountain," Shion explained.
"The Sealing Shrine is in the Land of Demons. It just escaped from there. Without its body, it'll be very hard to lure it back."
Ao considered briefly. "The best option is to seal it at Sealing Mountain."
Kitazawa recalled the original story.
In canon, Shion and Uzumaki Naruto defeated Mōryō in a cave.
That cave was, without a doubt, Sealing Mountain.
"Can you seal its body and soul together?"
Kitsuchi asked. Up to now, the Priestesss had always sealed Mōryō's soul and body separately.
"Yes."
Shion nodded, then added, "I'll lure it to Sealing Mountain. Before that, all of you have to stop the undead army and protect me."
Even though her current premonition differed from what she'd seen before, with no better information she could only follow the original plan.
Ao, Kitsuchi, Baki, and the others had no objections.
They all understood what Shion meant—she intended to sacrifice herself to seal Mōryō.
After all, that's exactly what the previous Priestess, Miroku, had done.
As jōnin, they'd long since grown used to life and death. And they'd only met Shion this once, so their hearts barely rippled.
The group continued forward.
Before long, they heard a heavy, chaotic marching sound.
Kitazawa looked up and saw a densely packed mass of terracotta soldiers.
"That's Mōryō's undead army," Shion explained. "As long as Mōryō isn't sealed, they can't die."
"They're not very strong, just a bit troublesome," Kitsuchi said after a quick look. "Priestess-sama, you can trust us."
"Mm."
Shion nodded. "Then let's go."
With that, she walked straight toward the undead army.
Taruho hurried to follow.
The next second, all the terracotta soldiers turned their heads in unison toward them—more precisely, toward Shion.
"Shion!"
Yomi suddenly appeared, his voice rumbling oddly from his abdomen, sounding gloomy and dark. "You finally came!"
"Mōryō!"
Shion forced down her fear and mustered her courage. "Just like my mother, I'm going to seal you away!"
"Why do you insist on sealing me?"
Mōryō tried to tempt her. "If we combine our power, we'll be invincible. You could rule the entire shinobi world."
"I'm not going to side with you."
Shion refused without the slightest hesitation.
In the original timeline, it was only after Miroku rejected that offer that she sealed Mōryō.
"Fool!"
Mōryō instantly flew into a rage. "If you won't cooperate, I'll devour you!"
As its voice fell, the entire undead army charged straight at Shion.
"Move!"
Seeing this, Kitsuchi shouted immediately.
Hyūga Neji and Hyūga Hinata drew their bows at the same time.
Two Yin Release arrows shot out one after the other, precisely piercing the foremost terracotta soldiers.
In the blink of an eye, those two soldiers were drilled clean through.
Their bodies shuddered, then crumbled into rubble that scattered across the ground.
Kitsuchi, Baki, and the others instinctively glanced at the bows in their hands. Just from the look of them, those weapons were clearly no ordinary gear.
They could more or less understand why Kitazawa had brought them along.
With the Byakugan and those bows, dealing with an undead army that topped out around chūnin-level strength was more than doable.
But what about Kitazawa's other two students?
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
Naruto shouted excitedly.
With a bang of smoke, hundreds of shadow clones appeared.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
"Power Prelude!"
"Great Leaf Whirlwind!"
Naruto and his clones charged in and plunged into a wild melee with the terracotta soldiers.
For a moment, the undead army's forward momentum was completely stalled.
"Amazing!"
Shion couldn't help exclaiming in surprise.
So this was a shinobi?
She had always known shinobi existed, but this was her first time truly seeing their power.
Before this, she had always stayed inside the shrine, never once leaving.
Baki was stunned.
What the hell?
A boy who looked barely into his teens had just produced hundreds of shadow clones in one go?
When he'd seen Kitazawa bring four students along, he had thought Kitazawa was overconfident.
Now he realized it wasn't overconfidence—Kitazawa's students really did have the strength to back it up.
"How can he have that much chakra?"
Kitsuchi was just as stunned as Baki. The usually steady man now had shock written all over his face.
His three jōnin teammates were no different.
Ao shook his head slightly.
At the exchange event between Konoha and Kirigakure, he'd made the same face when he first saw Naruto using the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
Brilliant lightning flared.
While everyone was still frozen in surprise at Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and charged into the undead army.
Gripping the Sword of the Thunder God, he swung, unleashing a torrent of lightning in every direction.
Every terracotta soldier near him was instantly engulfed in the lightning and shattered into pieces.
"A three-tomoe Sharingan?"
Baki's eyes widened again.
"At such a young age, and he's already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan?"
Prompted by him, Kitsuchi finally noticed Sasuke's eyes.
Ao and Chōjūrō were also startled.
At the Konoha–Kirigakure exchange, Sasuke had only had a two-tomoe Sharingan.
And now, in such a short time, he'd reached three tomoe?
A jōnin-level Sharingan user that young?
It was… beyond comprehension.
Shion glanced left and right, equally baffled.
She wasn't a shinobi, so she didn't understand why Baki and Kitsuchi looked so shocked.
But one thing was clear: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were anything but ordinary.
"Everyone, this is not the time to space out."
Kitazawa smiled as he reminded them.
Watching Kitsuchi and the others react, he felt even more certain that bringing Naruto and the others along had been absolutely the right decision.
It was a great chance to build their reputation.
Of course, greater fame came with both benefits and drawbacks.
Especially since Naruto and the others were still very young. Other villages might try to assassinate them to cut their growth short.
Once they got back to the village, Kitazawa planned to speak to Hiruzen and the others about this and strengthen protection for the Genius Class.
"Earth Style: Fist of Rock!"
With a Body Flicker, Kitsuchi appeared in front of Shion.
He swung his fist; his right hand turned to solid rock and smashed a terracotta soldier to dust.
"Wind Style: Whirlwind Technique!"
Baki raised both hands.
Wind gathered into razor-sharp blades that sliced through the air, chopping the terracotta soldiers into pieces.
"Water Style: Water Shock Wave!"
Ao slapped his hands together, and streams of water appeared out of thin air.
Centered on him, the torrent surged outward in all directions.
The water bore tremendous force, sending all the terracotta soldiers nearby flying.
The other jōnin all began unleashing jutsu as well.
In the blink of an eye, the area around Shion and Taruho became a complete dead zone, free of enemies.
"With so many powerful shinobi here… why did my mother have to sacrifice herself to seal Mōryō last time?" Shion couldn't help asking in confusion.
"Priestess-sama, we need to hurry to Sealing Mountain," Taruho said, deliberately ignoring the question.
It wasn't that he didn't know the answer—he just didn't want Shion to lose hope.
The truth was simple: Mōryō's strength exceeded that of these shinobi.
During the previous Mōryō crisis, the Five Great Villages had sent many jōnin, but they still couldn't do anything to it.
In the end, Priestess Miroku had no choice but to use her life to seal it.
"Okay."
Shion nodded and headed toward Sealing Mountain.
"After them!"
Mōryō's voice rang out.
It had already guessed where Shion was going, so it didn't try to stop her.
After all, it wanted to go to Sealing Mountain as well.
But before that, it could exhaust these shinobi's chakra a bit.
"So they really are an undead army…"
Sasuke noticed the terracotta soldiers he'd shattered earlier reassembling themselves and standing up again.
"Sasuke, youth is immortal too!"
Naruto felt zero fear and yelled excitedly, "Leaf Gust Kick!"
He launched a three-hit spinning kick combo that sent the terracotta soldier in front of him flying to pieces.
"Idiot," Sasuke muttered.
"Naruto, try to conserve your chakra," Neji reminded him.
"Their attack frequency has dropped a lot," Hinata said calmly, face tense.
"Exactly."
Sasuke nodded. "The real fight will be at Sealing Mountain."
Shion was going to lure Mōryō there.
And Mōryō planned to break the seals at Sealing Mountain, reclaim its body, and then kill Shion.
Both sides would be fighting to the death.
"I see…"
Naruto scratched his head.
It felt like everyone but him had already grasped the key points of the mission.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
Kitazawa leaned back and spat out a massive fireball.
It followed a set trajectory and landed not far from where Naruto and the others were fighting.
Boom!
A large number of terracotta soldiers were burned to ash in the flames.
"Everyone, gather up. Don't stray too far for now," Kitazawa ordered.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Sasuke and the others broke away from the fight and ran back to his side.
The shinobi from Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure did the same.
Everyone formed a circle around Shion, only striking down the terracotta soldiers that came close.
"There—that's Sealing Mountain!"
Ten-odd minutes later, Shion raised a hand and pointed at a mountain in the distance.
Kitazawa glanced over. From the outside, it looked completely ordinary, no different from the nearby peaks.
Without Shion leading the way, they probably never would have found it.
"I need ten minutes to set up the sealing formula for Mōryō's soul," Shion continued. "After ten minutes, you can let its soul in—but you must keep its undead army out."
"Shion!"
Mōryō's voice rang out again. "I'll ask one last time—will you join me?"
"Sorry, I refuse," Shion said, shaking her head.
Then she walked resolutely toward Sealing Mountain.
At that moment, Yomi's body shuddered, and purple-black chakra began pouring out of him.
"Everyone, be careful!" Kitsuchi warned at once. "That's Mōryō's soul!"
Baki, Ao, and the others didn't answer, but their faces all turned grim.
The undead army couldn't do much more than be annoying and hard to kill.
Mōryō's soul was different.
Even without a body, it was terrifyingly strong.
A mass of purple-black Mōryō appeared before them.
Mist shrouded its form, with tentacles writhing within, eerie and unsettling.
"Shion!"
Mōryō roared.
Every terracotta soldier suddenly moved at once.
They hurled themselves fearlessly at Kitsuchi, Baki, and the others.
Kitsuchi's fists flew.
In a flash, he knocked five terracotta soldiers flying.
But more kept surging forward.
"Earth Style: Sandwich Technique!"
Seeing this, Kitsuchi quickly formed a string of seals.
The ground shook violently. On both sides, the earth heaved upward, rising higher and higher until they formed two half-mountain domes.
Under Kitsuchi's control, the two giant domes closed toward the middle.
Countless terracotta soldiers, along with Mōryō itself, were herded together like ants and then crushed.
"Incredible!" Naruto blurted out.
"He really is stronger than Asuma," Neji nodded, though he added silently, not as strong as Kitazawa.
He had witnessed the battle between Kitazawa and Wu; in terms of sheer spectacle, Lightning Style: Kirin was no less impressive than this Sandwich Technique.
Kitazawa and the others like Baki weren't surprised.
Kitsuchi's Earth Style was famous across the shinobi world.
Kitazawa knew even more.
In the original story, Kitsuchi had used the Sandwich Technique twice.
The first time, against the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he failed because its power was simply too overwhelming.
The second time, after receiving Nine-Tails chakra, he managed to briefly suppress the Ten-Tails.
Of course, the greater the power, the greater the cost.
Mōryō burst out of the mountains Kitsuchi had created.
Rumbling filled the air.
Boulders tumbled down as a massive purple-black mass of chakra surged toward them.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Ao quickly spat out a colossal water dragon.
But as soon as it crashed into the purple-black chakra, it was rapidly corroded and fell apart into a puddle on the ground.
Ao frowned.
"Wind Style: Blade of Wind!"
Baki lifted his hand.
The roaring wind flowed around his arm like water.
With a sudden swing, a blade of wind shot out.
It was "wind" in name, but it felt more like the sharpest of blades.
Everything in its path—stone, rubble—was sliced cleanly in two.
Its momentum didn't falter as it cut into the purple-black chakra.
The mass of chakra split in two, but before Baki could breathe a sigh of relief, the halves rejoined.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
Kitsuchi and his three teammates leapt forward and formed seals in unison.
Four earth walls rose up in front of them.
The purple-black chakra slammed into the walls and halted.
Then, suddenly, the chakra exploded, sending invisible mental shockwaves blasting outward.
Kitsuchi and his three teammates froze on the spot.
They clutched their heads instinctively, feeling as though their skulls were being split open, screaming in pain.
Those closer, like Baki, also felt waves of discomfort crash over them.
The formless mental shock kept spreading.
"Shadow Wall!"
Kitazawa formed hand seals.
Their shadows on the ground suddenly came alive and rose up in front of them like a pitch-black wall.
The invisible shockwaves crashed into it.
The Shadow Wall shook violently, but it didn't shatter.
"Thank you."
Ao let out a long sigh of relief.
Kitazawa shook his head, saying nothing.
Shadow Wall was a technique he'd created for Nara Shikamaru; he hadn't expected it to be so useful here.
Kitazawa quickly moved to Kitsuchi and the others and raised his hands.
A soft green chakra enveloped them.
"Thanks," Kitsuchi said heavily once he recovered. "These ten minutes are going to be rough."
"Rough or not, we have to hold."
Baki gritted his teeth. "The Priestess of the Land of Demons, Shion, has a big reputation. If we fail this mission, the fallout won't be small."
On paper, shinobi villages were just mercenary organizations.
Failed missions would cause clients and employers to lose faith in them, leading to fewer jobs.
Sunagakure had suffered from that more than most.
Because of their defeat in the Third Great Ninja War—especially the disappearance of the Third Kazekage—the Wind Daimyō had been gravely disappointed in them.
He cut their funding and handed many missions to other villages, especially Konoha.
That's why the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had ended up mining for gold.
Without that, Sunagakure couldn't keep its finances afloat.
But that was only a stopgap.
In the original story, desperate for money, Rasa chose to ally with Orochimaru and launch the Konoha Crush.
Unfortunately for him, he picked the wrong partner—Orochimaru killed him and then impersonated him.
"Worms!"
Mōryō cut their conversation short.
With a sharp, cracking sound, all the shattered terracotta soldiers reconstituted themselves.
Mōryō's soul rippled in midair, and countless tentacles stretched out of the mist.
"Spiral Arrow!"
Hinata immediately loosed her bowstring.
A Yin Release arrow spun as it shot forward.
Neji followed a heartbeat later with his own.
Mōryō's tentacles whipped toward the two Spiral Arrows.
To everyone's surprise, the tentacles that tried to wrap around the arrows were pierced straight through.
"Damn you—die!"
Mōryō howled in pain and fury.
The remaining tentacles lit up with blackish-purple light and instantly coiled around the two Spiral Arrows.
With a crunch, the arrows shattered into dust.
"Those are Yin Release arrows?" Kitsuchi asked in disbelief.
The damage those two arrows dealt was noticeably greater than their jutsu.
"Excellent bows," Ao couldn't help praising.
Baki curled his lip.
All he could think was how obscenely rich Konoha was.
They'd actually given two weapons this powerful to a pair of kids. It made him burn with envy.
A sharp rushing sound tore through the air.
After dealing with the two Spiral Arrows, Mōryō's tentacles lashed toward them.
Kitsuchi, Baki, and the others immediately unleashed more jutsu to intercept.
Many tentacles exploded in the barrage, releasing more formless mental shockwaves.
Even before they hit, everyone's faces twisted in discomfort.
"Shadow Wall!"
Kitazawa once again raised a wall of darkness from their shadows.
This time it held for only two seconds before breaking apart.
But two seconds was enough.
Kitsuchi and the others quickly retreated.
As soon as they fell back, the terracotta soldiers surged past them, charging straight toward Sealing Mountain.
"This isn't working!"
Kitsuchi punched a terracotta soldier away. "We can't keep blocking Mōryō's mental attacks!"
"Kitazawa-sama, do you have any other cards to play?" Ao asked, thinking of the Shadow Wall Kitazawa had shown just now.
"I do."
Kitazawa felt the time was right. "I'll handle Mōryō. The rest of you fall back and hold the entrance to Sealing Mountain."
"Just you alone?" Ao's expression turned doubtful.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Baki snapped, irritated. "You looking down on us?"
He had never had much affection for Konoha.
One reason was that their countries bordered each other, and many of Wind's missions got handed to Konoha.
The other was that Konoha was simply too rich—it made them jealous.
"Don't forget, besides Mōryō, there's still an entire undead army," Kitsuchi said. "If Kitazawa-sama is confident he can take Mōryō, then we'll handle the army."
"Agreed," Ao nodded.
"That works too," Kitazawa said with an easy smile. "Just be ready to back me up."
Baki frowned.
Kitazawa had a big reputation, but the three of them weren't ordinary jōnin either—they were major players in their home villages.
To Baki, those last two lines sounded plain arrogant.
If it weren't for the fact they were in the middle of a mission—and for the fact he knew he couldn't beat Mōryō—he'd have challenged Kitazawa to a fight on the spot.
"As expected of Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke said.
Neji, Hinata, and the others naturally trusted Kitazawa without question.
In their minds, they had never once seen him fight seriously.
"Yang Release Chakra Mode!"
Kitazawa's entire body seemed to burst to life as though injected with a stimulant.
His chakra surged explosively in an instant, his aura skyrocketing. Invisible streams of chakra flowed around him.
"What kind of jutsu is that?" Baki and Ao felt an indescribable pressure settle over them.
"Such terrifying chakra…" Neji's eyes widened.
He'd kept his Byakugan active from the start, and now, in his sight, Kitazawa had turned into a walking mass of chakra.
No exaggeration—compared to Kitazawa, Hyūga Hiashi's chakra wasn't even a tenth as much.
Hinata instinctively nodded, her respect for Kitazawa deepening yet again.
"It feels a lot like Lightning Release Chakra Mode," Kitsuchi said suddenly.
In the Third Great Ninja War, Iwagakure's ten thousand shinobi had surrounded the Third Raikage and literally fought him to death by exhausting him.
Kitsuchi had been there and had seen Lightning Release Chakra Mode with his own eyes.
When that mode was active, the user's whole body was wreathed in lightning.
In Yang Release Chakra Mode, it wasn't lightning that wrapped the user, but streams of Yang Release chakra.
Baki and Ao exchanged looks.
They had never heard of Konoha having a jutsu similar to Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
But they had no time to dwell on it, because something even more shocking had seized all their attention.
"Wood Style: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
Kitazawa formed hand seals and interlaced his fingers.
A torrent of chakra poured out of him. The earth shook violently, and countless vines erupted from the ground.
They coiled and straightened, growing into towering trees whose branches spread in all directions.
Everywhere the branches reached, terracotta soldiers were snared and hoisted into the air.
Since the soldiers could revive after being destroyed, he'd just trap them in a state where they couldn't die—but couldn't move either.
In the blink of an eye, a primordial forest sprawled across the front of Sealing Mountain.
Hanging among the trees were the very terracotta soldiers that had been causing them so much trouble.
"How can a worm possess power like this?"
Mōryō instinctively rose higher into the air, staring in disbelief at the forest covering the mountainside.
Counting this time, it had broken free twice.
Both times, the shinobi it encountered were no stronger than elite jōnin. It had never faced anyone this far beyond the norm.
The appearance of Nativity of a World of Trees shook it to the core.
"W–Wood Style…?" Ao stammered.
He couldn't help it—Wood Style was legendary in the shinobi world.
With it, Senju Hashirama had swept across the ninja world, established the one-country-one-village system, and been hailed as the God of Shinobi.
That title alone said everything. Back then, even the other Kage had been beaten into submission.
Kitazawa suddenly unleashing Wood Style was far beyond anything Ao had expected.
Not just beyond his expectations—beyond everyone's.
Baki's face went tight with unease.
Konoha had always been Sunagakure's great enemy.
Partly because they were close neighbors, and many of Wind's missions went to Konoha.
Partly because Konoha was just too strong and too wealthy—it made them covetous.
Aside from the First Great Ninja War, Sunagakure had gone to war with Konoha in both the Second and Third.
Unfortunately, Konoha's abundance of powerful shinobi meant they walked away with nothing.
Whatever the case, the feud was there. If Konoha produced another God of Shinobi, would Sunagakure be able to survive it?
Baki doubted it.
Kitsuchi had the same thought.
Even though Konoha hadn't initiated a war since Hashirama's death, the revival of Wood Style made him feel… uneasy.
Iwagakure had no desire to see Konoha grow even stronger.
After all, the Land of Fire and Land of Earth also bordered each other.
And Iwagakure's grudges with Konoha ran deep.
When he was young, Ōnoki had followed the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, to Konoha to seek an alliance—only to be turned away by Uchiha Madara.
Being refused would've been one thing; Madara had also beaten them half to death.
All at once, the shinobi of Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure were each lost in their own dark thoughts.
But Kitazawa was still not Senju Hashirama, and for now, these were only fears and speculations. The future remained uncertain.
"What kind of jutsu is that?" Naruto scratched his head. "Why have I never seen it before?"
"Of course you haven't," Neji said, taking a deep breath. "That's Lord First Hokage's Wood Style."
"It's insane… he just created an entire forest out of nothing!" Naruto finally processed it, exclaiming in awe.
He'd heard stories about Senju Hashirama, but he'd never imagined seeing Wood Style with his own eyes.
"The Forest of Death outside Konoha was left behind by Lord First Hokage," Sasuke said, snapping out of his shock.
"Then doesn't that mean Kitazawa-sensei's power is on par with the First Hokage?" Hinata asked reflexively.
To her, this forest was in no way inferior to the Forest of Death.
"I don't know," Sasuke said, shaking his head.
"Looks like there's nothing left for us to do. What a shame," Naruto said wistfully.
With all the terracotta soldiers bound by Nativity of a World of Trees, there was no need for them to lift another finger.
Kitsuchi and the others now understood why Kitazawa had said he'd handle Mōryō alone.
"Wood Style… how can it be Wood Style?"
Hidden in the shadows, Itachi's chakra fluctuated so sharply he almost gave away his position.
More than anyone, he understood what Wood Style meant to Konoha.
Without exaggeration, the next Hokage would undoubtedly be Kitazawa.
No one in Konoha could compete with him anymore.
Konan instinctively thought of Nagato.
Once, Hashirama had been called God of Shinobi for his overwhelming Wood Style.
Nagato, with the Rinnegan, had also claimed to be a god.
Which was stronger—Wood Style or the Rinnegan?
Konan knew Konoha was one of Nagato's eventual targets.
She'd once thought Kitazawa was no match for Nagato. But now that he'd revealed Wood Style, she honestly didn't know who would win.
Her feelings grew complicated.
In front of Sealing Mountain, the air grew heavy.
Mōryō and Kitsuchi's group alike had all been stunned by Wood Style's sudden appearance.
Only the terracotta soldiers hanging from the trees continued to struggle mindlessly.
Recovering from its daze, Mōryō flew into a rage.
How could it have been frightened by a mere worm's jutsu?
Its body shuddered, spilling black, bottomless mist.
Its tentacles, wrapped in the fog, whipped through the air.
The next second, dense clusters of purple-black chakra rained down from the sky like meteorites.
Standing on the treetops, Kitazawa swept his hand.
All around him, the trees came alive.
Branches surged outward, linking together and weaving into an enormous net in an instant.
The purple-black chakra crashed into it and was immediately entangled.
Boom!
The chakra exploded, and another wave of invisible mental shockwaves rippled outward.
"Fall back!" Kitsuchi shouted.
Ao didn't hesitate, pulling the Mist-nin away to a safe distance.
Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata did the same.
Baki retreated reluctantly.
He genuinely hadn't expected that the jōnin-level elites would end up as bystanders.
Kitazawa activated a nondescript three-tomoe Sharingan.
The invisible mental shockwaves became perfectly clear in his vision.
He didn't dodge. With a slight tremor of his three-tomoe eyes, he wiped them out.
When it came to Yin Release, no one surpassed the Uchiha.
"Impossible…"
Seeing his attack so easily nullified, Mōryō could hardly believe it.
"Any other tricks?" Kitazawa asked mildly.
"Worm, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Mōryō shook with fury.
The purple-black chakra shifted, condensing into pure mental power.
The pressure was so terrifying that even the sky seemed to dim.
Kitazawa's brows rose.
This mental power felt very familiar—almost identical to the wave Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan released when he controlled a target.
Obviously, if he got hit, he'd become Mōryō's puppet.
This had to be how it controlled Yomi and, by extension, the undead army.
In a shinobi battle, intelligence was everything.
If Kitazawa hadn't deduced what that mental power was, he might actually have fallen for it.
But now, he simply chose to avoid it.
He vanished from sight.
Mōryō's attack slammed into the forest and did absolutely nothing.
Kitazawa reappeared a moment later.
"Damn you!" Mōryō snarled. "If I had my body, you'd have died a hundred times over by now!"
In its current soul state, it could only use Yin Release techniques.
With its body, it would have more than Yin Release—the sheer size alone would give it the power to lay waste to everything.
"In that case, I'll make sure you lose fair and square," Kitazawa said calmly. "Itachi, go to Shion and tell her to release Mōryō's body."
His goal was to make Mōryō the spirit bound to his bow. Naturally, he needed more than its soul.
Only by sealing both its soul and body into the bow could he fully exploit its potential.
"What did you say?" Mōryō was stunned.
"Kitazawa-sama!" Ao blurted. "Please reconsider!"
Once Mōryō recovered its body, its strength would skyrocket.
If Kitazawa's Wood Style couldn't handle it, they'd be in serious trouble.
"Kitazawa-sama, the mission comes first," Kitsuchi urged.
"If anything happens, Konoha will be held responsible," Baki said darkly.
Inside the cave at Sealing Mountain—
Shion was in the middle of inscribing the sealing formula when Itachi appeared in front of her.
"Priestess-sama," Itachi said quickly, "by order of Kitazawa-sama, please release Mōryō's body."
"Who are you?" Shion froze, instantly on guard. "Kitazawa-sama would never give that order!"
No sane person would let Mōryō's body loose for no reason and make it stronger.
"My apologies, Priestess-sama."
Itachi activated his three-tomoe Sharingan.
Shion's eyes glazed over, and she walked toward the place where Mōryō's body was sealed.
With a few hand signs, she broke the seal.
Mōryō's body burst through the rock wall and shot toward its soul in the sky.
"W–what did you make me do…?" Shion snapped back to herself in a daze.
She slumped to the ground and stared at Itachi, too crushed even to be angry—only despair remained.
"You don't need to worry so much," Itachi said with quiet confidence. "Kitazawa-sama will take care of Mōryō."
He believed in Kitazawa. He believed in Wood Style.
"That's impossible…" Shion muttered, convinced he was talking nonsense.
At that moment, Mōryō's body and soul merged into one.
A massive, tentacled monster appeared before everyone.
"It's over…" Shion whispered, face twisted with pain.
She wasn't even sure anymore that sacrificing herself would be enough to seal it.
She was far less experienced—and far weaker—than Miroku had been.
"Wait…"
Shion suddenly blinked.
Since when had Sealing Mountain been surrounded by a forest?
"Hahahahaha!"
Mōryō laughed wildly. "Worm, you may be an idiot—but you actually did me a favor!"
"Did I?"
Seeing Mōryō in its complete form, Kitazawa actually relaxed.
Its aura was stronger than Wu of the Box of Ultimate Bliss, but nowhere near Nine-Tails level.
"If you kneel and submit to me, I'll spare your life," Mōryō said, mood soaring.
"Not interested," Kitazawa replied, already forming hand signs.
Mōryō's gut clenched.
For all its arrogance, Nativity of a World of Trees had genuinely rattled it.
It didn't hesitate—it poured all its chakra together at once.
Terrifying power rippled outward as purple-black chakra condensed into a tangible mass, flowing around its body like water.
"This is bad!" Kitsuchi's expression changed. "This level of power is on par with a jinchūriki!"
Iwagakure had two jinchūriki. He'd seen them use their jutsu; the sheer amount of chakra was enough to crush hope.
"If he loses, we run," Baki snorted.
This whole mess was entirely Kitazawa's doing.
They might be temporary teammates, but under these circumstances, retreating was perfectly within the rules.
"Let's wait a bit longer," Ao said.
He'd seen Kitazawa's strength with his own eyes.
After all, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, had fallen to him and Tsunade.
"Kitazawa-sensei is definitely going to win!" Naruto clenched his fists.
Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata all nodded.
"You don't—"
Baki stopped mid-sentence, dumbstruck.
"Wood Style: Wood Dragon Technique!"
Kitazawa finished his seals.
All of his chakra surged into a nearby seed.
The seed sprouted and shot skyward, growing into a massive wooden dragon more than fifty meters long.
Its body bristled with spikes, and it moved as if it had a will of its own, lunging straight at Mōryō.
"What?"
Mōryō was genuinely stunned when a wood dragon larger than itself exploded into existence.
But it reacted quickly, opening its jaws to spit out a huge mass of purple-black chakra.
The sheer size of it was like a mountain tipping over.
The wood dragon slammed into it without hesitation.
The massive chakra sphere was knocked away.
While Mōryō was still reeling, the wood dragon coiled around its body.
In moments, leaves sprouted all over the dragon's form.
Mōryō felt an irresistible constriction.
It thrashed instinctively, but the more it struggled, the tighter the wood dragon squeezed.
On top of that, every place where they touched began to drain its chakra.
Mōryō screamed.
Now that it had its body again, it was immortal—but it could still feel pain.
"…?"
Hearing its screams, Shion opened her eyes in disbelief.
What was going on?
She saw a sight she would never forget.
The mighty Mōryō was utterly helpless within the coils of the wood dragon, unable to resist at all.
Baki, Kitsuchi, Ao, and the others were all stunned speechless.
They had fought Mōryō's soul themselves; they knew how strong it was.
And when its soul and body had reunited, the aura it released had been enough to chill the blood.
Yet this terrifying monster could do nothing but howl in the grip of the wood dragon.
Deep inside Naruto, Kurama opened one eye.
The commotion from the Wood Dragon Technique was too big, and the familiar Wood Style chakra was impossible to ignore.
Kitazawa's Wood Dragon was far weaker than Hashirama's had been—but Mōryō was also far weaker than Kurama.
Kurama sighed. "What a pathetic way to go."
~~~
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