Chapter 250: Shukaku Unleashed, the Situation Rapidly Deteriorates
At this very moment, Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi had also completed their first round of clashes within the barrier, and neither had been able to get the better of the other.
Hiruzen was constantly worried about the situation outside.
After all, Rasa was out there. Could his four main generals hold him off on their own?
And where was Jiraiya? Shouldn't he be here to meet his old friend?!
Fortunately, his subordinates did not disappoint him.
Although Guy couldn't take down Rasa with the Sixth Gate open, Rasa was also unable to focus on anything else. Kakashi, realizing he couldn't beat Kabuto in close combat, had widened the distance and started using mid-to-long-range ninjutsu, forcing Kabuto to dodge in a panic.
Asuma and Baki were also in a stalemate. But Baki relied on Wind Style, while Asuma used chakra blades. If this continued, Baki would definitely be the first to fold.
Finally, there was Gaara's side. Seeing Sakura control Gaara with the Water Prison Technique, Hiruzen revealed a gratified smile.
His endurance until now had not been in vain. The new generation of Konoha could shoulder the village.
However, his smile lasted less than a second before his expression changed drastically due to Orochimaru's ninjutsu.
Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!
Three giant coffins rose from the ground, marked "First," "Second," and "Fourth."
Hiruzen hurriedly tried to stop it. But at this moment, a wave of evil chakra washed over him. The hypnotized Gaara didn't even need to use the Feigning Sleep Technique himself.
Shukaku drilled directly out of his body. Its massive form forcibly burst Sakura's Water Prison Technique. After landing, the giant One-Tails roared at the sky. Gaara had officially entered his complete form.
"Haha! Hahahahaha!"
The One-Tails Shukaku laughed maniacally. "I can finally come out! And I smell that stinking fox as soon as I do!"
"Good, very good! I like this greeting gift. Then—"
Shukaku had absolutely no concern for the surrounding buildings in Konoha and directly used a Tailed Beast-level chakra attack.
Wind Style: Air Bullets!
A massive air cannon filled with high-density chakra, like a miniaturized Tailed Beast Bomb, destroyed everything around it with crushing force. The huge storm blew away all the teams that were still fighting.
Sakura and the others were lucky not to be swept up in the blast thanks to the assistance of Kurenai, Guy, and Asuma. But the buildings of Konoha were not so lucky; the entire street was almost destroyed.
The only fortunate thing was that Naruto had just used his Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu to evacuate the people in the area, so basically no one was killed in this attack.
However, seeing the familiar street turned into ruins, Naruto's eyes immediately turned red, and the Nine-Tails' chakra began to leak from his body.
Sasuke's Cursed Seal of Heaven also began to spread, and his body began to emit an evil power. Although his aura was far inferior to Gaara's, it was enough to make the surviving ninja frown.
Even Kakashi, looking at the opposing lineups, couldn't help but feel bitter. How were they supposed to fight this?
But this was not the end.
Inside the barrier, Hiruzen looked despairingly at the three slowly opening coffins. He had failed to stop Orochimaru's Edo Tensei.
But then, the coffin marked "Fourth" showed no movement, which reignited hope in Hiruzen's eyes.
Orochimaru frowned at the fourth coffin. Edo Tensei can fail?
He didn't know that Minato Namikaze's soul had already been devoured by the Shinigami, so he naturally couldn't summon it from the Pure Land.
But two people are enough— Looking at the figures of the First and Second Hokage, a triumphant smile appeared on Orochimaru's lips. "Teacher, how does it feel to be reunited with old friends?"
Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju slowly opened their eyes and looked at Hiruzen, speaking mechanically. "It's you, Sarutobi. Why are you so old?"
"Indeed, it's been a long time, Sarutobi."
Hiruzen sighed softly. "I didn't expect to see you two again under these circumstances... It's truly regrettable."
"Since you are here, please prepare yourselves. I will send you back to the Pure Land."
Hiruzen was full of imposing manner, but the Anbu ninja guarding outside the barrier felt as if the sky were falling.
They had seen Hiruzen's decline in strength. He was already struggling to deal with Orochimaru, who was in his prime. Now he had to deal with the God of Shinobi and the Master of Forbidden Jutsu as well. How were they supposed to fight?
Outside the barrier, the One-Tails Shukaku was still wreaking havoc.
It seemed to be playing a game of shooting mosquitoes with a cannon, bombarding Naruto and the others with Air Bullets.
Fortunately, Shukaku didn't listen to anyone's orders, and even found time to fire a few cheap shots at Rasa, the guy who had sealed him many times. This prevented the situation outside the barrier from becoming completely one-sided.
"I see... Was it this young man who summoned us with Edo Tensei? It seems Konoha's situation is not good."
"Sarutobi, it seems we must fight. Prepare yourself."
Hashirama and Tobirama used their last moments of consciousness to give Hiruzen a final pep talk, and then Orochimaru inserted the kunai with the control tags into their heads.
"You old folks should stop chatting. And Lord Tobirama used to do this kind of thing often back in the day, didn't he?"
"Now, Teacher—please enjoy the feeling I have now, the pleasure of hurting one's own teacher!"
As Orochimaru clapped his hands together, the battle inside the barrier entered a deathmatch phase.
Outside the barrier, taking advantage of Shukaku's sneak attack on the Gold Dust, Naruto successfully summoned Gamabunta. The collision between Water Style: Gunshot and Wind Style: Air Bullet turned the area within a kilometer radius into a rainstorm, and the confrontation between the two sides returned to a seemingly evenly matched state.
However, both sides knew they couldn't drag this out.
The Konoha ninja knew that the Third Hokage definitely couldn't hold out much longer. The battlefield was right in the center of the village. If this dragged on, even if not many people died, Konoha would have to be rebuilt.
For a Konoha that had only just walked out of the shadow of the Nine-Tails' attack a few years ago, this was an unacceptable loss.
The Sand Village also knew they couldn't drag this out, because Konoha still had many retired but powerful old ninja. Once Konoha had settled the civilians, these ninja would all attack together, and the Sand and Sound combined wouldn't be a match for them.
It had to be a quick battle!
Rasa simply wrapped himself in gold dust, withstood three of Guy's attacks, used Magnet Release: Sand Cushion to fly high into the sky, and then mobilized all his chakra to launch a Magnet Release: Gold Dust Funeral with a diameter of nearly one kilometer, encompassing Naruto and Gamabunta within it.
Not only that, but Rasa said grimly, "Shukaku, after this battle, I can set you free. But if you deliberately cause trouble, I guarantee that as long as I live, you will never see the light of day again."
"Stupid human, do you think I, the great Shukaku, can be threatened at will?! Just you wait! I'll settle the score with you after I deal with this stinking fox and stinking toad!"
Shukaku was still arrogant with his words, but the Air Bullet in his mouth was already aimed at Naruto. Whether this was submission or not, only Shukaku knew.
What Kakashi and the others knew was that the situation was terrible.
Kabuto and Baki were still watching them like tigers, so Kakashi and the others didn't dare to separate. And the result of not separating was being bombarded by Rasa and Shukaku together.
Guy, with the Sixth Gate open, looked at Rasa flying hundreds of meters in the sky with a solemn expression. He took a deep breath, preparing to open the Seventh Gate.
After opening the Seventh Gate, he was confident he could hit Rasa in the air with Hirudora. But at this distance, plus the opponent's gold dust defense, he wasn't sure if he could kill Rasa in one hit.
If Rasa didn't die, then Konoha would fall into a hopeless situation.
At the same time, Makoto had arrived at Jiraiya's side.
"Rasengan!"
Jiraiya slammed a Rasengan into the Cursed Seal Level 1 Kimimaro, driving him into the ground. Looking at his twisted body, a normal person would definitely be dead.
But Kimimaro simply calmly released his Level 2 state. His skin turned dark brown, black markings appeared on his face, his back bulged completely, and he grew a tail.
As for the injuries from just now, they disappeared without a trace during the transformation process.
Immediately after, Kimimaro pulled out his spine and used the Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Clematis: Vine.
His spine lashed at Jiraiya like a whip. Although Jiraiya easily dodged all the attacks, his expression remained grave.
He had intended to kill the snake summoned by Orochimaru first, and then go to the Chūnin Exam arena to solve the Shukaku problem.
But Kimimaro had jumped out of the three-headed snake's mouth. He couldn't be killed, and he clung to him relentlessly.
With his ability, it would have been easy to dodge Kimimaro, but seeing that he couldn't stop him, Kimimaro would instantly attack the surrounding civilians indiscriminately. This forced Jiraiya to stop and buy time for the people around him.
Jiraiya in his base form didn't have particularly strong sensory abilities, but the huge explosions coming from the center of Konoha were enough to make him understand how bad the situation was.
For Konoha, it wasn't just about winning. More importantly, they had to display enough strength. Otherwise, after this war, Konoha would have to face the covetous eyes of the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning.
If Ōnoki and A joined forces to attack Konoha at this time, the village would truly be in danger.
Just as Jiraiya was feeling anxious, Makoto suddenly appeared above Kimimaro's head.
His fist, seemingly powerless, struck towards Kimimaro's head. Kimimaro didn't dodge, but instead used the Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Larch, extending dozens of bones from his body and spinning his whole body.
Anyone who tried to attack him with taijutsu at this time would be sliced into pieces by the bone blades, and Kimimaro himself wasn't afraid of damage anyway.
However, what Kimimaro hadn't expected was that Makoto's entire body would erupt with brilliant lightning. The Lightning Release Armor appeared on his body, and then he used it to take the hit from Kimimaro's bones head-on, smashing down with this punch infused with a massive amount of chakra.
Chakra Enhanced Strength wasn't a ninjutsu, but a chakra control technique. Coupled with the fact that he used it first and then activated the Lightning Release Armor, he was able to combine the two techniques.
The sudden burst of power directly shattered half of Kimimaro's body and buried him completely in the ground.
Makoto flipped backward and landed lightly.
He shook his fist, not looking particularly happy, as if he had just done something trivial.
In fact, he had just wanted to test the power of his Lightning Release Armor. The facts proved that this move was indeed not very meaningful for him. Armor that could be cut open even by Kimimaro's bones... he might as well just tank it with Unconscious Healing.
However, his calm demeanor shocked Jiraiya.
If his old eyes hadn't failed him, hadn't Makoto just used the Flying Thunder God and the Lightning Release Armor?
Although he hadn't used the two moves simultaneously, and although his Lightning Release Armor wasn't yet perfected, looking at his age, he was less than 20 years old. When had such a powerful young man appeared in Konoha?
He opened his mouth to ask for his identity, but Makoto said, "Sannin Jiraiya-sama, what are your plans now?"
"Go to the center of Konoha, or protect the civilians? I think we can split the work."
Just as Makoto finished speaking, giant bone blades extended from the ground, accompanied by Kimimaro's roar.
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