At this moment, at the bottom of the canyon, on the left side divided by the Earth Release: Sandwich Technique, was the staging area for the Iwagakure forces.
The Iwagakure elite force, which had over five hundred members upon arrival, had seen their numbers plummet to just over three hundred and fifty in their effort to lure Konoha's "Heavenly Ninja" into the designated trap. More than a hundred had lost their ability to fight during close-quarters combat with the Heavenly Ninja.
Now, the remaining three hundred and fifty-plus shinobi, including Kitsuchi, were gasping for breath. Performing a joint, ultra-large-scale ninjutsu that altered the terrain was no small burden for them.
Fortunately, the series of traps designed by Iwagakure's brain trust specifically for the Heavenly Ninja had all succeeded—
Relying on mass and inertia to counter atmospheric pressure and repulsive force;
Relying on structural weaknesses to disrupt the mechanics of his techniques;
Altering the medium to fundamentally destroy the physical properties of the fluid;
Creating vortices to deplete the kinetic energy of the Wind Release;
Creating confined spaces to restrict airflow, thereby limiting the essential conditions for fluid motion!
Finally, Roshi, who could enter the Lava Release Chakra Mode and undergo Tailed Beast transformation to grant himself immunity to high-temperature dust explosion damage...
Would personally deliver the fatal blow to Konoha's Heavenly Ninja!
Given the scale of the explosion tested during their advance rehearsals and the fact that there was absolutely nowhere to run in that environment, Kitsuchi did not believe anyone could survive. Even if someone did, they would be heavily wounded at the very least, making it impossible to fight Roshi, who served as the Jinchuriki weapon for the Four-Tails.
Therefore, their next step was simply to wait quietly for the results. Of course, Iwagakure had prepared a backup plan, but Kitsuchi did not think they would be pushed to the point of using it, given that the first plan had been executed flawlessly.
However, as intense sounds of combat continued to echo from beneath the stone crater after the initial massive explosion, Kitsuchi and the elite Iwagakure shinobi above could not help but look at one another. Gradually, a sense of caution began to creep over them.
Kitsuchi immediately summoned a messenger to order Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki who was lying in ambush along the Heavenly Ninja's "likely escape routes," to return at once.
Han was recalled quickly. However, under the massive stone ceiling, no one could tell who held the upper hand in the battle below. A question soon arose: what if Roshi had the advantage and was on the verge of beating the Heavenly Ninja to death, but they opened the lid now? Wouldn't that do more harm than good by personally allowing the Heavenly Ninja to escape?
After all, the Heavenly Ninja was famous for his Wind Release, and his Wind Release Nintaijutsu granted him extreme speed unmatched by ordinary ninja. Once the Heavenly Ninja escaped the extreme environment below, no one on Iwagakure's side could truly catch him if he chose to run.
This followed the same logic as the battle to ambush the Third Raikage. If the Third Raikage hadn't chosen to delay his retreat to buy time for the large Kumogakure force that had been ambushed while trying to sneak-attack Iwagakure, even the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, would have been powerless to stop him from escaping.
When hunting down top-tier powerhouses like the Third Raikage or the Heavenly Ninja, the most crucial factor was restricting any environment that allowed for escape.
Thus, based on his calculations of the explosion's scale from their rehearsals, Kitsuchi could only optimistically assume that Roshi, the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, held the upper hand below. Even though Han had already arrived and Iwagakure was ready to initiate their backup plan, Kitsuchi dared not rashly order the lid to be opened. That was, until—
Following a muffled, violent explosion from deep underground, a brilliant pillar of cyan light pierced through the stone ceiling, shooting straight into the highest heavens!
Less than half a second after the pillar of light appeared, an immense volume of wind began to whirl furiously around it. A tornado exceeding the force of a category-eight gale erupted within the entire canyon!
Only then did Kitsuchi finally realize that the situation had completely spiraled out of his control!
He abruptly turned his head, his eyes locked onto the cyan pillar of light that was relentlessly swallowing boulders, tree branches, rain, and everything else in sight. In sheer horror, he shouted to Han beside him, "This is bad!"
"The one being suppressed in the battle below... is actually Roshi!"
"Han, get ready! We must rescue Roshi immediately!"
Han, who wore a red cloth mask and a conical straw hat, with his entire body encased in red steam armor, narrowed his eyes as his expression grew solemn. He gave a low, muffled nod. Then, widening his stance, he slammed his feet hard against the ground. High-temperature steam began to surge violently from the gaps in his armor. As the temperature soared, his already massive, bulky red armor immediately expanded!
Facing an ultra-S-rank Wind Release jutsu capable of altering the weather, affecting the environment in an instant, and changing the very terrain with the slightest movement, Han understood completely—this was no longer a realm that ordinary ninjutsu or shinobi tactics could touch!
At the same time, he gained a clearer understanding of why all the strategies Iwagakure had previously designed to hunt down the Heavenly Ninja had succeeded on paper but ultimately yielded no results. It was likely because...
From the very beginning, that Heavenly Ninja had never intended to flee, evade, or fight them in a conventional ninja manner!
For someone possessing such monumental power, the current situation... was probably nothing more than a way to test the fruits of his training!
Therefore, all of Iwagakure's previous conspiracies, schemes, secret alliances, and underhanded political maneuvers were entirely futile!
When facing a formidable enemy of this caliber—a true genius who defied all traditional understanding of Iwagakure shinobi and had grown into a near-complete form at an unbelievable speed—the only thing Iwagakure could do, should do, or rather, their only path forward was—
To hold nothing back from the very start, confronting this man with the exact same attitude they would use against the Third Raikage in his prime. They should have deployed all of Iwagakure's powerhouses, including the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, their Jinchuriki weapons, and the remaining eight thousand Iwagakure troops left from the Third Shinobi World War to fight a decisive battle to the death!
Only then would they have stood a chance of killing him before he fully rose to power!
But now...
Han shook his head and took a deep breath as he stared at the terrifying cyan pillar connecting heaven and earth. In the next instant, a massive white tail—resembling that of a fox or a pure white raccoon dog—swung up from behind him!
One tail, two tails, three tails...
The moment he broke past the third tail, the Boil Release chakra began to spiral out of control. Crimson, rampaging chakra erupted wildly from the seams of his armor, staining the three white tails a deep crimson. Soon after, a fourth and then a fifth ominous, crimson tail extended and swayed!
The crimson chakra dyed his cheeks—no, it wasn't dyeing them... rather, the skin on the surface of his body was peeling away layer by layer and burning to ash under the extreme heat of over 1000°C!
From his throat, a stream of white steam hissed out through the gaps of his teeth, instantly striking the rocky ground below and melting the stone into glowing lava!
"Wait, Han, that form... Are you planning to...?!"
Turning his head to witness this scene, Kitsuchi's expression changed drastically. He asked in horror, "Is even a semi-tailed beast transformation not enough?!"
Suppressing his violent emotions, Han struggled to respond in broken sentences under this state: "Kit... suchi..."
"The Five-Tails is... mocking me. She says... that brat... has already mastered the true power of the 'Heavenly Ninja'."
"She... showed me a vision!"
"You don't understand, you could never understand... Hurry... rescue Roshi, and take everyone and run..."
Kitsuchi did not understand what kind of vision Han had seen from the Five-Tails to arrive at such a conclusion. Seeing this unfold only left his heart filled with an unspeakable shock. But just as he was about to speak and press further—"BOOM!!!"
A terrifying storm abruptly erupted beside them, and another crimson pillar of light that connected heaven and earth appeared!
The massive, violent winds instantly sent Kitsuchi and the surrounding group of Iwagakure ninja flying backward, throwing them into complete chaos!
Immediately after, the crimson pillar of light began to expand, from one meter across, to three meters, five meters, ten meters, thirty meters...
Finally, it reached a staggering width of fifty meters!
In mid-air, an immense, awe-inspiring amount of crimson chakra instantaneously and gracefully transformed into a plume of pure white chakra!
From the center of that pure white chakra, a massive, sky-blotting shadow slowly stepped forward!
A colossal, elegant, and terrifying monster materialized! It tossed its mane, sporting four horns with golden tips atop its head, looking like a fusion of a wild stallion and a dolphin. It measured over sixty-five meters in length and stood over forty meters tall!
Though it was merely pacing forward as if taking a casual stroll, the entire floor of the canyon trembled violently with its every movement. Boulders crumbled, and the earth shook to its foundations!
And amid this thunderous, terrifying commotion, the massive white beast raised a single hoof!
Stomp!
"BOOM!!!"
A white shockwave rippled outward in all directions from the point of the hoof strike!
"Boil Release: Unrivaled Strength!"
The earth split open instantly as the most powerful physical force in the entire shinobi world erupted!
With just a single ground-shaking stomp, the massive stone ceiling—a hundred meters in diameter and created by the combined efforts of three hundred Iwagakure ninja roughly two hundred meters ahead—shattered with a resounding crash!
Following that, Kokuō, the Five-Tails in its fully materialized form transformed from the Jinchuriki Han, began to stride forward!
One step, two steps, three steps... until it burst into a full sprint!
It was actually building up momentum to ram itself headfirst into the massive crater where the Heavenly Ninja and the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, Roshi, were buried!
At the exact same time, within the crater, the terrifying cyan pillar of light that connected heaven and earth shed its outer layer of overflowing chakra, revealing its true physical form!
It was, surprisingly, a sword!
It had no blade, no guard, no tip, no crossguard, and no hilt... Rather than calling it a sword, it was more like a thick staff composed of three segments of cyan, cone-shaped objects spinning furiously in opposite directions!
Its main body was made of an invisible substance that warped the very air!
Its blade body was formed by hundreds of high-pressure wind rings compressed to the absolute limit!
Its energy source consisted of tens of thousands of Wind Release: Vacuum Blades, roaming continuously inside the sword according to some precise logic, manifesting as countless dense and intricate patterns that made one's scalp tingle just looking at them!
And connecting the three segments of the sword body were two pure black [Chakra Beads] that served as the rotating axles!
When these four elements combined, they merged the majestic power of the Tenseigan with the absolute pinnacle of fluid-dynamics Wind Release. It formed a furiously spinning "Mountain of Swords" that was one hundred and thirty-two meters long, thirty meters thick at the base, and five meters thick at the tip!
Unbelievable!
Magnificent and glorious power!
Even a fully materialized, massive Tailed Beast looked like livestock dragged onto a butcher's block in front of it, merely waiting to be slaughtered!
As for its name, the Heavenly Ninja below, who lifted this "Mountain of Swords" with a single hand, formidably proclaimed it as: "Wind Release: Super Shinra Vacuum Blade!!!"
On the other side, atop a mountain peak in the canyon of the Land of Rain, was a space hidden by twisted chakra manifested through eye power.
A pitch-black figure emerged from the soil as if swimming. It looked at the terrifying "Mountain of Swords" rising from the ground, its face also displaying an expression of incomprehension. However, it quickly turned its head to look at a messy-haired youth standing in the spectator's area. The youth looked even more shocked than it was, his face and gaze appearing exceedingly bitter. "My, my~ 'Madara'-sama, why do you have that kind of expression on your face?"
Teased by Black Zetsu, the youth wrapped in a black robe and wearing a white swirled mask snapped in a low, cold voice, "Stop calling me 'Madara'!"
"Oh, well then, Obito-san—"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu shrugged nonchalantly and asked with a chuckle, "Is the operation still going to continue?"
Obito Uchiha fell silent for a moment before letting out a powerless sigh. "The operation is suspended. We... will not contact Nagato for now."
"But this goes against the plan of the real 'Madara Uchiha'... Obito-san, if you fail to do it, you know what the consequences will be."
Hearing those words, Obito Uchiha instantly became emotional. He raised his hand, pointing at the "Mountain of Swords" that shone brilliantly across the world and struck terror into the shinobi of various nations not far away. His scalp tingled, and his face was filled with an incomprehensible, broken despair as he shouted, "Initiating the Eye of the Moon Plan requires capturing the Tailed Beasts!"
"And capturing the Tailed Beasts means we inevitably have to make a move on Konoha. With that dead-last's current strength, even if he doesn't become the Fourth Hokage in the future, he will definitely be the Fifth Hokage!"
"Yahiko and Nagato have formed an alliance with him, and the Nine-Tails is under his and Minato-sensei's protection!"
"How am I supposed to fight? How am I supposed to capture them? What do you expect me to do? What can I do?!"
"I... how could I possibly defeat that kind of... that kind of monster?!"
Obito Uchiha panted heavily. Within his single eye, that Mangekyō Sharingan trembled violently, revealing an extremely complex look!
Perhaps even Obito himself didn't know how to interpret this complex emotion that had suddenly welled up from his heart, or rather, he already understood it—he had recognized him. The so-called Heavenly Ninja down below, who was wielding that "Mountain of Swords," rampaging across nations on behalf of Konoha Village, and stepping onto the path to becoming the Hokage... wasn't he exactly his former classmate, Hyuga Yu, who used to be an Academy dead-last and had even suffered a crushing defeat at his own hands during the Chunin Exams?!
Seeing him, Obito felt as though he instantly saw himself, and he instantly understood from what perspective Kakashi Hatake used to view him. Just as he used to constantly chase after Kakashi, that peer named Hyuga Yu—the dead-last he used to ignore, the eccentric, the shame of the Hyuga clan—had probably been constantly and effortlessly chasing after his own footsteps, just like he chased Kakashi!
(Note: From Obito's perspective.)
But... now!
Kakashi had fallen into depravity because of Rin's death and was about to join Root, while he, Obito Uchiha, had embarked on a wicked path to subvert the existing order of the shinobi world. Yet, that eccentric of the Hyuga clan, the dead-last of dead-lasts who had been quietly chasing him from behind, had silently grown into the exact image of his own dream!
Under the intense emotional stimulation, events of the past involuntarily flashed before his eyes. Obito Uchiha could not help but ask himself:
Why on earth?
Why on earth were their situations so vastly different?
And why had he, whose dream was to become the Hokage, ended up in such a miserable state?
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