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What is this... this inexplicable sense of unease?
Shikamaru instinctively took a step back. But very quickly, he retracted that step.
The current situation was this: everyone here had a circle drawn beneath their feet. Without permission, no one was allowed to step outside their circle. The reason for this was to guard against the White Zetsu.
The White Zetsu could perfectly disguise themselves as shinobi of the Allied Forces—even their chakra could be disguised. Currently, besides Naruto's method of sensing malice, the Allied Shinobi Forces had no other reliable way to detect a White Zetsu's disguise.
So, to prevent "traitors," they had no choice but to resort to this measure.
However, Shikamaru was no longer concerned about the so-called White Zetsu at all. His eyes were locked onto the coffin that had appeared within the Four Violet Flames Formation.
Logically speaking, once the Four Violet Flames Formation was established, it was impossible to break from the inside. When Orochimaru had invaded the Leaf Village, he had also used the Four Violet Flames Formation to trap the Third Hokage. From this, one could see that this barrier could contain even a Kage-level expert.
This coffin had been summoned directly into the Four Violet Flames Formation. So, at the moment of its summoning, it should have been effectively trapped, left with no choice but to await sealing.
So what was this sense of unease?
Cold sweat trickled down Shikamaru's forehead. Shikamaru was an extremely intelligent person—there was no doubt about that. But at this moment, the smarter a person was, the more they thought. And the more they thought, the more afraid they became!
Shikamaru didn't believe the caster behind the Impure World Reincarnation was a fool. If anyone thought that a person capable of performing such a large-scale Impure World Reincarnation was a fool, Shikamaru would give them two slaps. So the question lay here—since the caster wasn't a fool, why would he resurrect someone directly inside the Four Violet Flames Formation?
To be trapped? Impossible!
It could only be that the caster believed this resurrected person could break the Four Violet Flames Formation!
"That can't be..."
Shikamaru muttered to himself. If an enemy capable of breaking the Four Violet Flames Formation appeared before them, then for these people who had just endured several battles, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous disaster.
Whoosh!
At that very moment, a figure radiating golden light rushed over.
No need to guess—in the entirety of Naruto, the only one who could maintain this constantly golden, glowing appearance was Naruto in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
This was one of Naruto's shadow clones. Its original purpose here was to help identify which ones were White Zetsu and which were Allied shinobi. But the moment Naruto arrived, he noticed something was wrong with the atmosphere. Everyone's gaze was fixed on one spot.
There, a purple barrier of light stood. Inside it was an Impure World Reincarnation shinobi Naruto didn't recognize. Beside him was an upright coffin, its lid still closed, hiding whoever was inside.
"What's going on, Shikamaru?"
Unable to understand the situation, Naruto immediately asked Shikamaru.
Shikamaru glanced at Naruto and gave a bitter smile.
"Naruto, you're here. As you can see, there might be a troublesome enemy inside that coffin up ahead. It looks like the task of identifying the White Zetsu will have to be postponed for a bit."
Clatter!
It was at that very moment that the coffin lid was pushed open from the inside.
"Yuki? Are you there?"
Kagaya stepped out of the coffin and looked around, somewhat dazed. He seemed to be trapped inside a purple barrier. Outside the barrier, there were many shinobi, along with numerous corpses.
What was going on?
Where was Yuki?
"Who are you?!"
Kato Dan was the first to shout at Kagaya. Although the coffin had been summoned by Kato Dan's own hands, he had merely been controlled. He didn't know whom he had summoned.
Kagaya glanced at Kato Dan but said nothing. He closed his eyes.
Although the surrounding scene far exceeded Kagaya's expectations—so much so that he momentarily had no idea where he was—
Kagaya wasn't about to panic either. He immediately began using the unique properties of the Impure World Reincarnation to trace back to the caster.
"So far away!"
Kagaya noticed something off. The caster was extremely far from him. Logically, if Yuki were resurrecting him, she shouldn't be this far away.
Furrowing his brow, Kagaya realized something major must have changed. So he began carefully examining the people around him.
Shikamaru, Naruto, Choji, Ino, Choza... Hey, hey, is this for real?!
Kagaya's eyes widened. How could these people be appearing before him?!
One had to understand—when Kagaya had died, it was long before the Warring States era. How could he, upon resurrection, have arrived in the Naruto era of the Hidden Leaf—and even landed in the middle of the Fourth Great Ninja War?!
"So the world after death has no concept of time, huh?" Kagaya muttered to himself.
In the Pure Land, it had only felt like a few minutes had passed. But in the outside world, hundreds of years had likely gone by. Everything had long since changed beyond recognition.
What had happened to Yuki and the others? And what about the Five-Tails?
With a brief sensory probe, Kagaya immediately detected the Five-Tails within his body. He awakened it.
"Kokuō, what happened? Why did it take this long for me to be resurrected?"
After waking, the Five-Tails immediately heard Kagaya's question. It was silent for a long while before answering.
"After you died, the Mangekyo wielders of the Uchiha clan came hunting."
Kagaya froze. This development—how should he put it? It was within expectations. Yet, at the same time, it was beyond expectations.
Kagaya had indeed considered this possibility. But he hadn't expected those Mangekyo wielders of the Uchiha clan to actually dare to hunt them down.
"What happened after that?"
"After that... they hurriedly created your Impure World Reincarnation body. But before they could resurrect you, they..."
"They died?"
"No. They managed to escape. I relied on the genjutsu you left behind to barely hold off those shinobi. But your genjutsu wasn't permanent. Once it ran out, I would immediately be controlled by them. There were too many of them, and I couldn't kill them all at once. Left with no choice, I fled with your coffin."
"Then you entered my body and waited all this time for someone to resurrect me?"
"Yes."
"Then what about Yuki and the others? What happened to them in the end?"
"Yuki had me separate from them. The Uchiha's objective was the Mangekyo in Yuki's eyes. So if we split up, the probability of me escaping with your coffin was greater. So... I don't know what ultimately happened to them."
Kagaya fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.
"May I ask who you are?"
Outside the barrier, Shikamaru suddenly spoke up.
From the Impure World Reincarnation enemies they had encountered before, some were the type unwilling to fight them—people who had no choice but to raise their weapons because they were being controlled.
Take Kato Dan, for example. Though controlled to fight Shikamaru and the others, he would still tell them how to defeat him while fighting.
So, Shikamaru wanted to test whether this newly appeared enemy was the "forced into control" type.
Kagaya snapped back to his senses and glanced at Shikamaru. But he didn't answer the question. Instead, he began examining the barrier around him.
"The Four Violet Flames Formation, huh? Whatever the case, first things first—I need to get my eyes back. By the way, Kokuō, where are my eyes?"
The Five-Tails replied. "Not long ago, they were still in your coffin. But when you awakened me just now, they were already gone. I'd guess they're in the hands of whoever awakened you."
Kagaya closed his eyes and once again used the connection between the resurrected and the caster to confirm the caster's location.
"I understand now. This is the Fourth Great Ninja War. So the one who awakened me must be Kabuto. I'll go find him first."
Kagaya currently had eyes and could activate the Rinnegan. But those were merely fake eyes created by the Impure World Reincarnation. Once truly resurrected, these fake eyes would vanish completely.
Besides, fake eyes could never compare to real ones.
Clenching and unclenching his fist, Kagaya sensed that his chakra had been reduced by more than half.
That was because he couldn't borrow the Five-Tails' chakra. A body created by the Impure World Reincarnation could not become a Jinchuriki!
Although the Five-Tails was currently sealed within Kagaya's body, it was more accurate to say the Five-Tails was using Kagaya's body as a barrier, locking itself inside. Between the Five-Tails and Kagaya, there was no "passage" connecting them.
Kagaya wasn't a Jinchuriki. At best, he was an object sealing the Five-Tails.
A piece of wood or a stone could serve the same function in Kagaya's place.
This was also one of the reasons Madara, in the original story, had been willing to abandon the undying body and infinite chakra of the Impure World Reincarnation to truly resurrect. Without resurrection, he couldn't become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. He couldn't even achieve Kagaya's current state of sealing a Tailed Beast.
After all, Kagaya's current state of sealing the Five-Tails was only possible because the Five-Tails had been willing—it had sealed itself into Kagaya's body of its own accord.
"So weak."
Kagaya frowned. Although his chakra was continuously replenished due to the Impure World Reincarnation, its total capacity could never grow. Compared to his living self, Kagaya's current strength was vastly diminished.
Setting everything else aside, the loss of the Five-Tails alone was a major blow.
He walked to the edge of the Four Violet Flames Formation. His black pupils rapidly transformed into the Eternal Mangekyo. Then, a section of golden skeletal arm materialized and slammed a ferocious punch into the barrier!
BOOM!
The entire barrier shook violently from that single punch.
Outside the barrier, Shikamaru instinctively spoke.
"Is that... the Susanoo? Is he from the Uchiha clan?"
Kagaya looked at the Four Violet Flames Formation before him. The barrier was indeed quite formidable. His full-power punch from the Susanoo hadn't broken it. It seemed he would have to get a bit serious to shatter this thing.
Massive amounts of golden chakra surged from Kagaya's body. A six-meter-tall Susanoo manifested within the barrier. A massive, shattered blade appeared in its hand. Then—a single slash!
BOOM!!!
An immense force crashed against the barrier. In an instant, the barrier began trembling more violently than ever.
Crack... crackle...
White cracks appeared on the purple light screen, spreading continuously. A few seconds later—
CRASH!
Accompanied by a crisp, clear sound, the entire Four Violet Flames Formation shattered. Around them, the four shinobi maintaining the barrier were knocked unconscious by the shockwave.
"Impossible! Choza! The barrier's broken! Be careful—me! And the guy beside me—be especially careful of him! Find a place to trap me again with the Four Violet Flames Formation. As for this guy beside me... I don't have a good solution either. I need time to think. But before that, all of you must be careful!"
Kato Dan was the first to shout a warning. Although his actions were controlled, Kabuto—in order to preserve Kato Dan's strength—hadn't deliberately suppressed his consciousness or forcibly controlled him. So Kato Dan attacked Shikamaru and the others while simultaneously giving them advice.
"I know!" Choza roared.
"Super Expansion Jutsu!"
His body instantly expanded to a gigantic size, nearly matching Kagaya's Susanoo. Then, he charged ferociously at Kagaya.
"So he broke that barrier, did he? Looks like a real monster."
Nearby, Darui also drew the blade from his back and fixed his gaze on Kagaya.
Kagaya watched Choza charging at him with a calm expression. He hadn't wanted to make enemies of these people. But they seemed to have mistaken him for an enemy and had taken the initiative to attack.
Well, then he couldn't be blamed. Although he didn't want to fight them, when a fist was flying toward his face, he couldn't exactly stick his face out and take the hit, could he?
Choza's fist slammed into the Susanoo's body. But the Susanoo didn't budge in the slightest!
The golden right hand gripped the sword and swung ferociously from right to left!
It kicked up violent gusts of wind.
On Choza's abdomen—now six meters tall—a massive spray of blood erupted in an instant.
Although he had retreated at the very last moment, Kagaya's sword ignored distance. To dodge it, one had to evade the direction of the slash itself.
"AAAAHHH!!"
Choza shrank back down in an instant. Even though Kagaya had held back, a single slash from the Susanoo was more than painful enough for a person.
Kagaya's expression remained calm. He was just about to say something like "I mean you no harm."
"You bastard!!!"
But the golden-glowing Naruto clearly had no intention of letting Kagaya speak. Upon seeing the massive wound Choza had suffered, Naruto instantly flew into a rage. He transformed into a point of golden light and shot toward Kagaya.
Kagaya frowned slightly. The Susanoo extended its left hand to grab the airborne Naruto.
Whoosh!
Truly like a beam of light, Naruto instantly dodged the Susanoo's hand.
Kagaya raised an eyebrow. He had almost forgotten—Naruto, after seizing the Nine-Tails' power, was extraordinarily fast. Was it this speed that gave him such confidence?
The massive Susanoo quickly vanished. Kagaya took a small step forward, then vanished instantly!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
A colossal sonic boom erupted. Immediately after, an even greater explosion followed.
BOOM!!!
Naruto was kicked out of the sky and slammed deep into the earth. The ground within a radius of over ten meters collapsed downward, forming an enormous crater and kicking up waves of dust and smoke.
No one saw the exchange. In everyone's perception, the moment Kagaya vanished, the sonic boom and the crash of Naruto hitting the ground followed instantly.
At that moment, Kagaya reappeared in his original spot and smiled faintly.
"So this is my speed at full power, huh? Almost lost control."
At this moment, Kagaya's appearance was horrifying. More than half of his head was shattered. His abdomen had nearly vanished. His chest was battered and broken. Only one leg remained, and it was severely damaged.
His body had ended up like this because, just now, Kagaya had recklessly unleashed his speed without restraint. His body couldn't withstand it, resulting in this state.
While alive, Kagaya would never have dared to do such a thing. But now it was different. A body created by the Impure World Reincarnation was undying. Within mere seconds, Kagaya was fully restored.
As for Naruto—he had vanished. It had only been a shadow clone. After taking a kick at Kagaya's full speed, it couldn't possibly have remained.
The leg Kagaya had lost earlier had been destroyed by that very kick against Naruto.
At Kagaya's full speed, a normal body simply couldn't endure. Correspondingly, his opponents also couldn't withstand his attacks.
Flexing his now-restored hand, Kagaya smiled.
"The body of the Impure World Reincarnation still has its uses, doesn't it? At the very least, it's extremely effective for testing moves I never dared to use before."