join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments
A brilliant white light overflowed from the center of the vast desert, engulfing the entire forest.
Even the small lake located in the very center of this oasis was completely shattered by the violent impact, swallowed up by infinite light and heat like silent mud, quietly turning into molecules that dissipated beneath the endless desert, all scattering into mist and being completely leveled.
Looking down from the Sky Fortress, the scene was even clearer and more spectacular.
Dozens of pure white spherical shapes, like rising bubbles, continuously ascended from the horizon one after another, and the scattered radioactive dust, like mushroom trees, stood tall and lingered for a long time.
A fierce wind stirred up a sandstorm, engulfing the Konoha army that was close at hand like a tide.
Normally, nuclear weapons would not be so easily detonated when not activated.
However, this time, they were directly hit by Chakra cannons that had been accumulating energy for a long time.
The moment the intense energy in the form of high-density beams simultaneously shot into the ground, the high temperature and high energy, enough to instantly melt a human body, broke through the surface safety mechanisms of each nuclear landmine, causing the highly stable uranium core clusters to rapidly collide and explode.
After the first explosion, the second, third, and subsequent ones detonated in quick succession.
In just three to five seconds, the entire forest oasis was completely leveled, with no traces of nature's uncanny craftsmanship remaining.
Only the towering mushroom clouds and deafening echoes reverberated several miles away to the Konoha main camp.
Everyone present looked on in horror at the scene unfolding before their eyes.
Although most people did not know why Sawara would suddenly order the aerial units to fire a salvo at the oasis ahead, at this moment, their hearts were filled only with lingering dread, their heartbeats seemingly pausing for half a beat.
Only Sawara Kiri quietly watched this scene.
The sandstorm drifting from a distance towards this area was completely blocked by the Limitless that Sawara Kiri kept activated around him, maintaining a clear view ahead and allowing him to see everything distinctly.
Kakashi, whom he protected behind him, also widened his eyes, his gaze fixed, as if two small balls floated above his black mask, and his entire body stiffened.
Although they had brushed shoulders with nuclear weapons at close range during the battle in Iwagakure, that time, everything went black and they remembered nothing.
This was his first time witnessing the power of nuclear weapons with his own eyes.
"Th-that's a nuclear bomb?!"
Obito spoke in a daze.
He didn't even realize that his voice had become as sharp as a girl's the moment it left his lips.
But at this moment, no one laughed at him.
No one dared to imagine what a tragic outcome would await them if they had truly entered this forest unprepared earlier.
"It's very powerful, isn't it?"
Sawara Kiri replied with a smile, "To be honest, even I didn't expect that guy could create something like this until I saw it with my own eyes."
It was a pity that his light and airy tone did not soothe the agitated hearts of the young men and women as it usually did.
Besides them, another group of people also had their hearts pounding.
However, what filled the hearts of these people was not horror and fear, but an extreme unwillingness and despair born of anger.
"Whoosh—"
Sasori's figure burst through the sand dune from the deepest part of the ground.
The forest that had originally been enough to conceal his form had disappeared, and his broken body stood starkly in the center of the conspicuous sandstorm like a target.
At this moment, his skin showed obvious signs of ulceration and cracking, and viscous pus and blood continuously flowed from his body, completely unstoppable.
However, at this moment, Sasori no longer cared about these things.
Now, he was completely alone.
According to the original plan and arrangement, they should have passed through the temporary underground passage, avoided the first wave of impact and radiation, and exchanged less than half of their sacrifices for thousands of enemy casualties, and due to severe radiation, a small number of people, including Sawara Kiri, would lose further attack capabilities, successfully blocking their offensive against Hidden Sand Village.
But now, all assumptions had been completely overturned.
Hidden Sand Village had lost its last straw.
"Sawara Kiri."
A hoarse shriek squeezed out from Sasori's bleeding throat.
His facial skin rapidly ulcerated, blood streamed from his eye sockets, and with a crimson gaze, he stared directly at the figure on the opposite dune, who was looking down at him from above, letting out an uncontrollable roar from the deepest part of his soul:
"Sa! Wa! Ra! Ki! Ri!—"
Sasori took a step.
With a faint rustling sound, pieces of puppet plating covering his body fell off him, and his running speed became faster and faster.
At this moment, Sasori no longer cared about anything else.
Neither the reason for this operation's exposure, how Hidden Sand Village should face the monster's attack next, nor his own life.
His short hair, like flames, fluttered, mixed with fresh blood splitting from his scalp, scattering in the air like stars with inertia and wind, outlining a continuous arc. Sasori himself was like a fire burning along a fuse, launching the last charge of his life at the cost of exhausting his life.
"Nuclear Release!"
The radioactive dust pervasive in the air was his best medium for casting techniques.
Although Sasori was now infected by this high-concentration radiation field, which was enough to make a Geiger counter emit a sharp screech, making him look neither human nor ghost, ironically, this was the best place he had ever encountered for casting techniques since he developed Nuclear Release.
Sasori could clearly sense it.
Radioactive isotopes surged through his blood vessels, nuclear fuel and radionuclide residues spewed into his lung cavity with every breath, and induced radioactive substances activated by neutron flux intertwined with every inch of his meridians like ignited flames, collapsing and transitioning along with Chakra.
This feeling was unprecedentedly good!
He grinned with his cracked lips, pushed his hands forward, and shouted:
"Depleted Uranium Dust Explosion!"
In an instant, the radioactive dust, which was diffused like mist behind him, all gathered at lightning speed in the direction Sasori pointed, rushing towards Sawara Kiri like an overwhelming torrent.
The next moment.
"Boom—!"
An earth-shattering explosion erupted, almost directly in front of Sawara Kiri and the army, rising with a roar.
However, this was not enough.
Sasori completely ignored the bulging veins on his skin, controlling the continuously gathering radioactive dust around him like sand, and raised his fingertips.
"Strong Radiation Neutron Burst!"
This time, the commotion caused was far less astonishing than the previous attack.
However, invisibly, a violently surging neutron beam spread across the entire desert in the form of super radiation.
One could vaguely see that everything around, whether lizards buried in the sand, birds flying in the wind in the sky, or scurrying insects, all froze the moment this strong neutron beam scattered, as if suddenly losing life and solidifying in place.
The scene in front of them had been swallowed by the backward-flowing sand, and the high-rising sun in the sky seemed to be covered by night under the concealment of the mushroom cloud.
But, it was still not enough!
Sawara Kiri would never die so easily.
Sasori seemed to have completely forgotten his already unsustainable mental state, and his body, rapidly decaying like an octogenarian under intense Chakra consumption and strong radiation erosion, as if to squeeze out every drop of blood and marrow from his body, once again clasped his hands together, closing his palms towards the direction he remembered.
Crimson blood vessels spread in a grid pattern over his already bloodshot eyes.
"...Heaven's Punishment: Three Phases!!!!"
Almost the instant these words fell, Sasori's withered body trembled violently for a moment, as if the last trace of his soul had been extracted.
Immediately after, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and rapidly surging winds swept up the mushroom cloud that reached the heavens, drawing it in an inverted manner into the inexhaustible blue hole above.
Finally, it transformed into a sun falling from the sky.
Turning into ultimate light and heat, black and white.
Whether it was the impact or the sound, in the face of this scene, which was like a true Heaven's Punishment, they seemed to lose all meaning, transforming into the purest inertia and vibration in all definitions, making one lose the ability to perceive their existence.
Beneath this sun, even the Sky Fortress, which had already taken evasive action and was several kilometers away from the epicenter, swayed unsupportably, like a small boat caught in a raging ocean, becoming a massive object with an incredibly fragile feeling.
As for the ground where Sawara Kiri and the others stood, it was completely swallowed by this scene, making it impossible to see from high altitude.
Only that dark red body, completely covered in blood, still stood firmly there, like an iron tower cast in blood, letting out the most extreme roar from its soul, surpassing all sounds.
Until an unknown amount of time passed.
All these cataclysmic scenes finally faded.
Faint light penetrated the thick radiation clouds in the sky, falling into the sunken sand, illuminating the scene under the dark night.
Sasori still stood there, his entire body withered and decayed, like a corpse that had been dead for an unknown period.
However, seeing his slightly trembling skin, one could tell that he was still using his last life force to try and confirm the final result of everything he had gambled, including his life.
However, when his Chakra sensed everything that existed before him.
His ulcerated face couldn't help but tremble.
Sawara Kiri still stood there quietly.
This was actually within Sasori's expectations.
But the people behind Sawara Kiri also stood there as quiet as chickens, seemingly not having moved a single step from the beginning.
If Sasori's eyeballs, which were now streaming pus and blood from his eye sockets, were still connected to his optic nerves, he would have seen...
From the initial radioactive dust, to the neutron beam, or even his final all-out explosion, everything was intercepted by a barrier as thin as a cicada's wing.
At the same time, this Limitless barrier did not, as Sasori had expected, only maintain Sawara Kiri's safety.
On the contrary.
The barrier separating Sawara Kiri formed a winding Great Wall, extending hundreds of meters along the boundary between him and Sasori, creating a distinct dividing line.
Inside and outside the line, they were separated into clearly defined yellow and black.
Looking down from above, one could see the Konoha army surrounding Sawara Kiri, as if they were covered by an invisible bowl, separated into two worlds from the pitch-black scorched earth that spread for several kilometers outside.
Even the sand dune they stood on was forced into a columnar peak, standing dozens of meters high.
The people behind Sawara Kiri were not calm either; they had all, by common accord, lost the ability to speak and even forgotten how to think under the terrifying scenes that had unfolded earlier.
"H-how could this be..."
Sasori, who had lost his vocal cords, emitted a distorted sound from his throat that was barely discernible, only a sharp, trembling noise could be heard.
His withered body seemed to want to step forward, but as soon as his foot lifted, he fell to the ground with a thud.
Only his mouth kept repeating.
"How could this be..."
He had lost Sunagakure's last hope, gambled everything in his life, and launched the strongest attack forged with his life.
Even a Tailed Beast could never reach this level.
Pus and blood replaced tears, sliding down his wrinkled, ulcerated face, melting into the pitch-black scorched earth, flowing with his unwillingness.
Only this time, Sawara Kiri did not, as before, mock his enemy from a high position.
He took a step, walked in front of Sasori, gently touched the opponent's almost completely disappeared eyelids, and said:
"No Ninja can surpass you in an attack of this magnitude."
"Sasori."
"I acknowledge you."
Although Sasori's entire plan had no chance of success from the beginning.
However, Sawara Kiri also knew very well.
Even he, if he had encountered such an offensive at close range with a large army before obtaining 'Limiter Release', would probably have found it very tricky.
The only regrettable thing is that reality has no 'if'.
The moment he heard these words, Sasori's slightly trembling body suddenly stopped.
In the blurred light and shadow, one could seemingly see the outline of Sawara Kiri as he leaned down to look at him, and his indifferent yet calm gaze.
He was so gentle.
Sasori thought this, and his consciousness gradually sank into eternal darkness.
Sawara Kiri stood by quietly for a while, until the man completely lost his vital signs, then he bent down and buried Sasori's body.
Afterwards, he straightened up and turned to look in another direction.
At the far end of this death zone, a figure carrying a puppet stood quietly.
The Konoha army behind them quickly retreated from this radiation zone, minimizing physical damage.
That figure, however, walked step by step towards Sawara Kiri.
Karura was still as silent and calm as usual, stepping into this pitch-black giant crater as if oblivious to the surrounding radiation zone, until she stood face to face with Sawara Kiri, then finally stopped.
"It's been a long time, Fourth Kazekage."
Sawara Kiri's smile was still gentle and warm, but in this radiation zone symbolizing death, it seemed a bit out of place.
"Did you anticipate this outcome all along?"
"I originally only wanted to take a look from afar."
"But... because the opponent is you, it's not entirely unexpected."
Karura's voice was unexpectedly calm, and she quietly unfastened the puppet from her back, letting it stand beside her.
Sawara Kiri looked at the woman who appeared alone before him, and her almost suicidal action, his gaze somewhat puzzled.
After the bandages on the puppet were undone, revealing the still lifelike Rasa, Karura suddenly looked at him and spoke unhurriedly:
"Sawara Kiri."
"What will the future world be like?"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments