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"What is that…thing?"
"My leg, where did my leg go…"
"Come out! You bastard Yagura!"
"Ahhhhhhh…"
On the smoke-shrouded battlefield, various sounds of bewilderment, fear, or madness could be heard. Even the faint murmurs, when hundreds converged, formed a buzzing noise that could drive one mad. Yet, the Bloodline Faction Mist Ninja present seemed completely oblivious, walking like reanimated corpses across the blood-soaked battlefield.
Most of them had their eardrums shattered by the previous attack, completely losing their hearing.
Only a very few Jonin, who had taken care to protect themselves from the start, still managed to retain some fighting capability.
But fighting?
The Hozuki Clan Leader, who had scrambled out of the ruins, felt a brief moment of confusion the instant he thought of this. This battle-crazed individual, usually as renowned as the Kaguya Clan in the Hidden Mist, was momentarily lost.
Fight whom?
That Sawara Kiri?
That god-like monster who, the moment he appeared, annihilated their entire elite army?!
What a joke?!
Even the Hozuki Clan Leader himself was amused by his own absurd thought, a look of what could only be described as deranged, rather than ferocious, uncontrollably twisting his dust-covered face.
No…that's not right!
But immediately after, he clutched his ringing head, as if suddenly remembering something, and abruptly looked up towards the street.
It wasn't entirely hopeless!
"Gahhhhhhh…"
A hoarse, choking wail, like a windpipe being torn out, suddenly emerged from the deep gully in the center of the battlefield, like a crow's cry.
Sawara Kiri quietly lowered his head, looking at the small figure in the center of the deep pit. A flicker of curiosity crossed his azure eyes.
"It didn't even kill him?"
"Such tenacious vitality."
At the same time, the Hozuki Clan Leader, cautiously peeking out from amidst the broken walls and rubble, already saw that figure reflected in his vision.
His pupils suddenly constricted.
At this moment, Kimimaro, though still entirely crimson as if his skin had been flayed, had a 'blank' spot the size of a human head from his left collarbone to half of his neck.
His head was tilted to one side, and the five Shikon no Tama fragments embedded in his brow pulsed with dazzling light under an extreme will to survive.
Then, his body, with his head almost only connected by a thin layer of skin, suddenly twitched. His pale spine then crawled like a centipede, attempting to reconnect with his brain—the bizarre scene was exceptionally eerie.
"Gulp."
The Hozuki Clan Leader, who prided himself on being a ruthless individual, felt a moment of uncertainty about which side to support the instant he saw this.
After he came to his senses, he suddenly clenched his fists, his eyes fixed on Kimimaro's neck.
The Sealing Collar was broken.
He wasn't the only one who noticed this; Sawara Kiri, directly facing Kimimaro, saw the scene that had just unfolded even more clearly.
On his always gently smiling face, a different kind of interest slowly emerged. He looked down at the figure, who, despite his head not being fully reconnected to his body, still struggled to writhe on the ground like an insect, and said with emotion:
"Facing an attack like that, not even dodging, but instead taking it head-on with the sealed part of his neck…"
"Truly extraordinary courage."
Sawara Kiri spoke, slowly walking towards the 'Blood Beast' writhing on the ground, drawing a Kunai from his waist.
However, almost the instant his steps came within two meters of Kimimaro.
A mischievous, childish smile suddenly appeared on Kimimaro's face, which was distorted towards the ground.
"Gah."
Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Seedling Fern.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!"
Beneath the stone-paved street, the ground suddenly surged like a roiling sea. Countless pale bones shot out from below, like a dense forest growing in an instant, at a speed too fast for ordinary people to react. They surrounded Kimimaro's fallen body, completely covering a hundred-meter radius.
Whether it was his wailing comrades on the ground or the Bloodline Faction Ninja who had barely survived the previous attack, all were enveloped by this technique.
A deafening wail once again erupted.
Almost the instant this underground bone forest burst from the ground, Kimimaro, who had been lying half-dead, had his spine shoot from his chest with a 'snap' to reconnect with his fractured neck bone. Even though the flesh and blood vessels of his neck were not yet reconnected, his broken body already flipped over.
"Hee! Ha—!"
In his pure white eyes, streaked with crimson blood, a child's unique cruel gaze burst forth, shooting forward with near-maniacal excitement. From his seemingly slender arms, bone blades like swords suddenly sprouted, and he roared as he charged forward to tear apart the man in front of him.
Just as he had done countless times before.
All of this happened in a fraction of a second, as brief as a blink.
However.
"Clang—!"
With just a raised Kunai, the two arm-blades, swinging down like long swords, were parried at an angle that seemed to thread a needle, perfectly interlocking at the point of intersection.
A look of confusion seemed to cross Kimimaro's crimson face, and his frenzied gaze seemed to clear a bit.
The man who had fired a blast at him seemed utterly unhindered by the bone blades constantly emerging from beneath his feet, standing perfectly still.
Only at this moment, looking down from his overhead perspective.
Did Kimimaro realize.
The bone spikes that should have pierced the man's body were all crushed beneath his feet, like finely ground calcium powder.
Within a one-foot radius centered on Sawara Kiri, everything was pure white.
"The recovery speed is faster than I imagined."
"It's somewhat like the Ōtsutsuki's energy life characteristics, but even more tenacious."
"Is it a reassembled mutation?"
Sawara Kiri recalled the 'future screenshots' he had seen in Chaldea, and his gaze towards this little monster couldn't help but carry a hint of scrutiny.
"So, just how far can you go?"
The instant he heard this, even the irrational monster, Kimimaro, couldn't help but feel a slight sense of foreboding.
However, before he could make another move.
Sawara Kiri's right hand, holding the Kunai, suddenly lifted upwards.
"Hm?!"
Kimimaro's hands immediately lifted uncontrollably with this immense force, exposing his vulnerable abdomen.
Even his bloodshot eyes couldn't discern the movement in that instant. A suddenly extended leg, like a swiftly striking great axe, or a spring pulled to its extreme, slammed into his body with a fierce blow.
Kimimaro's body visibly caved in mid-air to a great extent. His internal organs seemed like an insect flattened by a mischievous child, almost squeezing out of his upper and lower orifices. His spine was compressed in an instant to the extreme extent of a slingshot, carrying his entire body, which was then shot out by this overwhelming force.
"Bang bang bang—!"
Like a skipping stone on water, he bounced a dozen or more times, directly smashing all the houses along his path.
However, before Kimimaro could even land, the figure like a demon god had already appeared before him, moving even faster.
"Eeyah!!"
From the monster's mouth, whose body color grew even more crimson, came a sharp, meaningless shriek. His nearly distorted body forcefully flipped in mid-air. His two hand-claws suddenly grew to tens of meters in size, carrying a whirlwind with the inertia of being kicked away, and swung towards Sawara Kiri like an enraged beast.
"Oh?"
"He can still counterattack?"
"Beyond imagination in terms of resistance to strikes."
Sawara Kiri stood still, like a professional researcher, meticulously recording his observations—Mr. Orochimaru would surely ask later.
"Thud—!"
Kimimaro's gaze froze again.
The scene before him was just as before: whether it was the giant claws he swung or the protruding bone spikes hidden within his palms, all of them solidified within a mere foot of the man's face.
Only the shattered stones and tiles at his feet and around him were blasted away by the intensely impactful shockwave.
Though right before his eyes, the man seemed infinitely far away from him.
"Ah, Ahhhhhh!"
His meaningless roars grew increasingly piercing, countered by an unyielding increase in strength.
The two giant claws, which had instantly expanded to tens of meters long, fiercely gripped Sawara Kiri entirely within their palms. His fingers intertwined, constantly trying to apply force towards the center.
But the only thing that changed was his own giant claws, forcibly created by his Shikotsumyaku.
Cracking, compressing, wearing down.
Yet, they couldn't get even an inch closer.
Instead, Sawara Kiri quietly looked at the claws that enveloped his body within a one-foot radius, and said with interest:
"His strength is still increasing?"
"The rate of improvement is also astonishing."
"What a terrifying monster."
Almost the instant his words fell.
"Bang—!"
The giant claws, with fingers intertwined, wrapped around his body, were suddenly torn apart from the middle by an invisible force, exploding into countless fragments of flesh, bone, and blood, like a firecracker thrown to the ground.
Kimimaro, covered in blood, was sent flying once again by this strike, landing with a 'thud' and raising a large cloud of dust.
Among the surviving Mist Ninja, whether they were from the Bloodline Faction who had just witnessed the Super Electromagnetic Cannon, or the Reformist Faction who had just arrived, not a single one dared to approach the battlefield of these two monsters.
Everyone seemed like helpless children, trying to curl up their bodies and hide their presence in corners where the two could not find them.
Sawara Kiri walked step by step towards Kimimaro.
Yet, the moment this inherently evil monster got up, he instinctively recoiled half a step, his eyes, which were ferocious and deranged, seemingly devoid of any reason, now narrowed to a pinpoint, expressing a fear that could not be articulated by a beast.
"Oh?"
"So he's not completely devoid of emotion?"
Sawara Kiri's gentle and handsome face approached to within a foot of him, observing every subtle muscle movement on his bloody countenance.
Suddenly approached to such a close distance by the monster in front of him, the 'Blood Beast's' body first instinctively trembled, and then he suddenly felt an immense insult, letting out a "Haa—" roar like a startled monkey.
However, the moment the sound escaped his mouth, it was violently forced back down his throat along with his flattened facial features by a punch that struck his very soul.
"Boom—!"
Another straight line of dust.
Sawara Kiri continued to walk in his direction.
Although he appeared calm on the surface, the astonishment in his heart was no less than that of the Mist Ninja around him, who were watching the gods fight, their mouths agape in bewilderment.
Seven years had passed, and his body had long since matured; at this point, even a combination of mere taijutsu and Limitless was something that ordinary Kage-level powerhouses could not withstand.
Even the Third Raikage Jinchuriki, after taking a few such blows, would probably be completely incapacitated.
But this little guy in front of him, despite being much weaker than the Third Raikage, possessed vitality and regenerative abilities far exceeding any Ninja he had ever seen, even including those Ōtsutsuki.
'Just how many Kekkei Genkais were integrated into this, and what kind of mutation occurred?'
'Or is it the power of the Shikon no Tama?'
Just as he was pondering this.
Chakra, suddenly erupting like a pillar, continuously surged from the direction where Kimimaro had fallen, like a reverse waterfall spiraling up into the sky.
The ominous crimson Chakra, even its aftershocks, caused large sections of the surrounding broken walls and ruins to collapse again, and countless broken stones were swept into the storm, emitting a muffled 'Wahhh Wahhh' sound.
"Die—!!"
After such a long time of fighting, this beast was finally forced to utter its first human words.
Sawara Kiri looked in his direction.
From the two severed arm stumps of the Blood Beast, large bone spurs, like branches, had now extended, continuously plunging into the ground.
At the same time, thick bone branches, like adult thighs, continuously pierced out and curved from his body.
The various Bloodline abilities contained within his body were simultaneously activated at this moment, just as they were when he fought Yagura Karatachi, forming a giant bone form whose upper body alone exceeded a hundred meters—several times larger than the last time.
The giant, using Kimimaro's tiny body as a pivot, remained in a prone position on the ground, hands propped against the earth, and opened its mouth wide towards Sawara Kiri.
Following that, countless tiny black and white light points were seen continuously converging towards the giant mouth.
Looking at that familiar movement, Sawara Kiri couldn't help but narrow his eyes.
'This is… a Biju Bomb?'
'He learned it just by seeing it once?!'
'Such astonishing learning ability, wait a minute...'
Just as Sawara Kiri was thinking this, his thoughts suddenly paused, and his deep blue eyes stared fixedly at the young man's face, which was covered in shadow and also maintained a prone posture.
Deep eye shadow covered half of his cheek.
Within the Chakra vision range of his Six Eyes, a sticky and obscure power, completely different from ordinary Chakra, was slowly squeezing into the young man's body.
A dazzling glint suddenly burst forth in Sawara Kiri's eyes.
Natural energy?!
"Hah—!!!"
The high-density Chakra, condensed into a single point, suddenly pressed down on Sawara Kiri with an unstoppable momentum.
The turbulent, surging energy reaction overwhelmed his entire field of vision, and even the ground beneath his feet seemed to tremble with it.
The hundred-meter distance between the two vanished in an instant under the crushing force of this simulated Biju Bomb.
The next moment, Kimimaro's expression suddenly froze.
Sawara Kiri stood in place, raising both hands towards him.
"Technique Lapse: Blue, Stage Two."
Almost the instant he extended his hands, two tiny, almost imperceptible cyan-blue light points were held before him, palms facing each other, and shot straight out towards the pitch-black Biju Bomb, which had a diameter of over ten meters.
Those two cyan-blue centers of gravity, under Sawara Kiri's meticulous control, collided with each other like two black holes orbiting each other.
Within the narrow space between his opposing palms, the intense distortion caused by the entanglement of gravity and gravity made the space in front of Sawara Kiri visibly twist, as if this one-foot square area had been thickly coated by a child with transparent ink, blurring all rules and forces present within this area.
The terrifying power that should have erupted from the collision of the two sides was thus compressed by his extreme control within this small area.
Until the moment it collided with the Biju Bomb.
"Ohm—!"
The seemingly enormous Biju Bomb, just as it touched the blurred, distorted ring, seemed to be absorbed by some invisible aperture, or like a water-filled balloon that had accidentally sprung a leak; the internal liquid was rapidly drained, and the sphere itself flattened.
The entire process occurred in silence.
Only Kimimaro opposite him stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
"What is this thing?!"
His astonished expression clearly conveyed this meaning.
However, Sawara Kiri obviously couldn't explain his abilities to an enemy whose learning ability seemed to be very strong.
Moreover, after realizing that such an attack couldn't resolve him, the natural energy fluctuating abnormally violently from this little guy had become several times stronger than the previous second.
"I apologize."
Sawara Kiri's expression became uncharacteristically serious: "Your potential is simply too astonishing."
"I cannot allow you to grow any stronger."
Upon hearing this, a hint of confusion clearly flashed across Kimimaro's face.
The next moment, Sawara Kiri clapped his hands together in front of him.
"Binding Spell Sixty-Two: Hundred Steps Rail!"
The moment he spoke, Kimimaro almost instinctively discarded the giant body connected to him from behind and suddenly shot forward a short distance.
However, dozens of glowing javelins suddenly fell from the sky like bullets, plunging into his torso with a series of 'thump, thump, thump' sounds.
Before Kimimaro could pull out the glowing rails from his back, Sawara Kiri's hand seals changed again.
"Binding Spell Seventy-Five: Five Pillar Iron Pierce!"
In an instant, five chains of iron pillars descended from the sky with a roar.
Steel giant pillars, over ten meters in length, landed precisely on Kimimaro's head and limbs in an extremely stable manner.
The sealing power attached to the pillars even suppressed the Chakra he was about to unleash.
Immediately, all sound ceased.
Watching this scene, Sawara Kiri let out a slight breath.
Clearly, whether it was the 'Super Electromagnetic Cannon' he had drawn or the 'Advanced Binding Spells (Numbers Fifty to Ninety-Nine)' he was now using, they were still quite effective.
However, the phenomena on this little guy's body had exceeded his expectations.
"Seriously."
"There wasn't such an absurd monster in the original storyline."
Sawara Kiri sighed softly, as if scratching his head.
His gaze then fell into the distance.
The Konoha army, which had been ambushing outside Hidden Mist Village for a long time, was already charging towards the center of Hidden Mist Village under the leadership of Minato and others.
Such a hassle, let's just get this over with.
He thought to himself.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr