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"Ino!"
Shikamaru shouted. That shout, of course, wasn't telling Ino to attack—it was telling her to go check on Choza's injuries. After all, on this battlefield, the one with the best medical skills was probably Ino.
As for Naruto's disappearance, Shikamaru didn't say a single word throughout. Because Shikamaru wasn't stupid—he also knew that had only been a shadow clone. Given that, there was no need to waste too much attention on it. Right now, if they weren't careful, even the real people would die. How could he spare any concern for a mere clone?
"Bastard!"
Darui cursed. He stared at the massive crater the mysterious man (Kagaya) had just kicked into existence. He had to admit—there was no way he could do that.
What's more, what frightened Darui the most was this: when the mysterious man had attacked just now, Darui hadn't detected any presence whatsoever!
That meant—if that kick had been aimed at him instead of Naruto, he would probably be dead too.
Tell me, how could this not infuriate Darui? Discovering his own weakness through such details before the battle had even truly begun. It even carried a sense of helplessness. At this moment, Darui almost wished he weren't so calm, that he didn't think so much.
Because, sometimes, the more you think, the more afraid you become!
On the contrary—the ignorant are fearless.
"Dad!"
When Choza was injured, the first to charge out had been Naruto. But the one who was truly the angriest was Choji. After all, that was his biological father.
"Choji!!"
But a hand blocked Choji's path. It was Shikamaru's hand. At this moment, Shikamaru's expression was as serious as it could possibly be. He spoke in an ice-cold, commanding tone.
"Choji! Stand down!"
Looking at Shikamaru's cold eyes, Choji instantly calmed down. As a fellow member of Team Ten, as part of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, Choji's trust in Shikamaru was immense. He knew his friend would never obstruct him without reason. So, the only explanation was that the enemy before them had some kind of problem!
Choji's sensory abilities weren't outstanding. He hadn't realized the terror hidden within that kick Kagaya had just delivered. So, compared to Darui and Shikamaru, Choji's understanding of Kagaya's strength wasn't very clear. He only knew it was very powerful.
After stopping Choji, Shikamaru continuously signaled the surrounding Allied shinobi with his eyes, indicating for them to retreat a bit.
His speed is very fast. His attack power is ferocious. And he has the Susanoo. This guy before us might be someone on par with Sasuke... no, maybe even stronger. If we all attacked together, we could probably win. But the casualties would be severe. Most importantly—this guy...
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and carefully scrutinized Kagaya.
This guy... doesn't seem to have any fighting spirit? What's going on? Shouldn't someone under the Impure World Reincarnation be controlled and forced to fight, whether they want to or not? But this guy...
This was why Shikamaru had stopped the others from attacking. Not only had Shikamaru noticed through the details that this man had no fighting spirit—but most importantly, although he had no evidence, Shikamaru couldn't shake the feeling that this man's movements were far too... unrestrained!
Unrestrained movements were nothing unusual for a living person. But for someone under the Impure World Reincarnation, it was a massive red flag.
Based on the information Shikamaru had gathered since the start of the war, those resurrected by the Impure World Reincarnation were absolutely under the caster's control. Because of this, anyone could notice that every resurrected person moved with a slight sense of dissonance.
A classic example was Kato Dan right beside them. The dissonance in his movements was very pronounced. With his mouth, he was advising Shikamaru and the others. With his hands, he was mercilessly killing people.
Any normal person could sense that dissonance.
And what caused that dissonance was the control of the Impure World Reincarnation's caster.
But this mysterious man gave Shikamaru the feeling of acting freely. What did that mean?
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Shikamaru's forehead. He was afraid. But at the same time, he couldn't help but smile. If his guess proved true, then for their Allied Shinobi Forces, it might be good news—or it might be bad news.
Could this guy... actually be free from control?
In the rear, Ino came over to treat the wound on Choza's abdomen. But after examining it, Ino froze.
Seeing Ino freeze, Choji couldn't help but ask.
"What's wrong, Ino? Is my dad's injury that serious? That bastard!!"
Ino immediately snapped back to her senses and shook her head, her face full of doubt.
"No... it's the opposite. It's not serious at all. Just a little treatment and he'll be fine. That mysterious man held back..."
Choza had seemed to bleed a lot earlier, but that was because his body had been enlarged by the Super Expansion Jutsu. So, correspondingly, the amount of blood spraying out also looked much greater. But Kagaya had held back. If he hadn't, a single slash would have cut Choza in half. No need for treatment—just bury him on the spot.
"Wait! Ino, what did you just say?"
Suddenly, Shikamaru turned his head and looked at Ino.
Ino didn't ask why. Out of trust for Shikamaru, she immediately repeated.
"Uncle Choza's injury isn't serious at all. That mysterious man must have held back."
Shikamaru was silent for several seconds. Then—
"Ha... hahahaha."
Shikamaru's laughter wasn't very loud. But on this solemn battlefield, it instantly drew many gazes.
Darui furrowed his brow. "Kid... I know it's unlikely, but you haven't been scared stupid, have you?"
Shikamaru's laughter faded. His face regained its look of extreme confidence. "Of course not!"
Then, Shikamaru looked at Kagaya. He even stepped forward several paces, stopping just one or two meters in front of him.
"Senior... I believe we can have a talk."
At this moment, Kagaya was still repeatedly clenching and unclenching his hand, observing his own body. He was doing this to acclimate himself to his Impure World Reincarnation body. Hearing Shikamaru's words, Kagaya lifted his head and sized him up.
"What's this? You're not going to attack me? Then I'll be leaving."
Those words further confirmed Shikamaru's suspicions. The confidence on his face grew even stronger.
"Senior... do you want to destroy the world?"
Kagaya let out a scoff. He wasn't an idiot—he saw through Shikamaru's scheme in an instant.
"Save it. If you want to fight, fight. If not, I'm leaving. As for recruiting me—forget it."
Shikamaru smiled faintly. He did indeed intend to form an alliance with this mysterious man. Because he had already confirmed: this mysterious man was absolutely not under the control of the Impure World Reincarnation's caster.
If he were controlled, he wouldn't have held back against Choza, and he wouldn't have said something like "I'm leaving."
"Senior... don't you feel any anger toward the shinobi who stole your remains and resurrected you as a living corpse?"
Kagaya snorted coldly.
"No. Let me tell you something—although the process changed greatly, my resurrection was always part of my plan. Stop trying to persuade me. The reason I held back against that man earlier wasn't because I couldn't kill him, nor because I didn't dare. It was simply because I wanted to leave as quickly as possible. After all, if I get blocked by a large group of shinobi like you, it'll still take me quite some time to clean up."
Kagaya stared coldly at Shikamaru. It seemed Shikamaru, having noticed that Kagaya wasn't under control, wanted to pull him into their camp. But that idea held no meaning for Kagaya.
The reason he had resurrected was purely to be resurrected. Why would he, after coming back to life, go and become a hired thug for the Allied Shinobi Forces?
If the Allied Shinobi Forces could produce a pair of Rinnegan and offer them to Kagaya, then he might consider playing bodyguard for them once.
Shikamaru was stunned. This mysterious man didn't seem to resent the living-corpse method of resurrection that was the Impure World Reincarnation. And what's more... he had planned for this all along?
If that was the case, then Shikamaru truly didn't know how to recruit this man right now.
Kagaya flexed his hand. He had more or less adjusted to this body. Time to leave.
However, before leaving, Kagaya raised his hand and extended it toward Shikamaru.
"Tell me—you must have realized I'm not under control, right? So, what makes you think I won't hurt people just because I'm not controlled? You actually dared to stand this close."
Shikamaru's eyes instantly flew wide open. He stared at the hand reaching toward him. His body reflexively retreated.
"Stop!"
"Shikamaru!"
In an instant, a large group of shinobi charged forward, with Darui and Choji leading the charge toward Kagaya.
In the very next second, with Kagaya at the center, golden light erupted!
Everyone was blasted away in an instant.
A six-meter-tall golden giant materialized there. Kagaya and Shikamaru were now inside the Susanoo.
Kagaya's hand was still several centimeters from Shikamaru, but it had stopped.
Raising an eyebrow, Kagaya smiled.
"Impressive. Setting aside strength for now—your intellect is truly remarkable."
Shikamaru maintained his hand seal, gasping for breath as he replied.
"You flatter me."
Just moments ago, in the instant Kagaya had activated the Susanoo—when the golden light had blazed its brightest—the shadows had also expanded. Shikamaru had seized that exact moment, using the golden light of Kagaya's Susanoo to send his own shadow straight beneath Kagaya's feet, completing the Shadow Imitation Technique!
What Kagaya admired was precisely this: from his previous Naruto world to this parallel world, Shikamaru was the only person who had ever utilized the factors of his Susanoo to, in turn, restrict Kagaya himself.
Shikamaru had only seen the Susanoo once, briefly, before this. And yet he had managed to pull this off!
At the very least, Kagaya hadn't anticipated this move beforehand. Perhaps he had to admit—in a contest of pure intellect, he was no match for Shikamaru.
"So, you thought of this step and that's why you dared to get this close to me?"
Kagaya asked unhurriedly.
Sweat poured ceaselessly down Shikamaru's forehead. He found controlling this mysterious man far too strenuous! Shikamaru had once again come to understand the power of the man before him. Never before had controlling anyone been this exhausting—he was nearly on the verge of collapse!
"Well... sort of. So far, everything has gone more or less according to my calculations. But I don't know what other abilities you possess, so I'm not sure whether things will continue to go my way."
Kagaya nodded in admiration. "Everything within your calculations, huh? Truly impressive. I offer my respect to your intellect. However—"
Shikamaru instantly tensed up. Under his Shadow Imitation Technique, this mysterious man shouldn't have been able to make a nodding motion like that!
Kagaya smiled faintly.
"I said earlier—setting aside your strength, your intellect is truly remarkable. Well then, let me now evaluate your strength: while your intellect is astonishing... your strength is far too weak."
A massive amount of chakra instantly erupted from Kagaya's body, surging outward in all directions.
It even kicked up violent gusts of wind!
Although Kagaya had lost the Five-Tails' chakra, his own chakra reserves alone were still far beyond anything Shikamaru and the others could imagine!
It was as if the entire sky had collapsed upon him. Shikamaru felt the most terrifying pressure of his entire life!
His shadow was being pushed out of Kagaya's shadow, bit by bit!
This was absurd!
Shikamaru's eyes widened.
This man... he's actually trying to break my Shadow Imitation Technique with sheer brute force?! That's completely unreasonable!!! Just how strong is this person?! This clearly surpasses the Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Villages! Damn it! No wonder they dared summon this guy directly into the Four Violet Flames Formation! That barrier is nothing but a joke to this man! Who the hell is he?!
Waves of darkness flooded Shikamaru's vision. He was about to pass out!
The pressure was far too terrifying, far too insurmountable!
It was simply beyond what Shikamaru could endure!
Forget Shikamaru—even the shinobi outside the Susanoo were so terrified they kept retreating, not daring to take another step forward.
The entire battlefield fell instantly silent. No one knew how to put this absurd chakra into words.
Slap!
Finally, Kagaya's hand closed around Shikamaru's neck—the Shadow Imitation Technique was forcibly broken.
Shikamaru was completely drained. His limbs were weak. His hair was thoroughly soaked with sweat. His face was also covered in sweat. His eyes were half-closed, listless and exhausted.
Kagaya lowered Shikamaru to the ground. He no longer had the strength to stand. If Kagaya kept holding him up by the neck, Shikamaru might just suffocate.
"Impressive! Your name is Shikamaru, right? Although I won this battle, you didn't lose either. You're just a shinobi of Jonin strength—maybe not even quite up to standard—yet you made me expend enough chakra to defeat a Kage-level shinobi. That's already extraordinary! You wanted to recruit me earlier, didn't you? Well, what a coincidence. I have some things to do next, and your intellect should be of help to me. So, how about you come along with me?"
Shikamaru replied weakly. "Right now, we're in the middle of a war. I won't go with you."
Kagaya snapped his fingers.
"Don't say such meaningless things. You should understand, shouldn't you? When you wanted to recruit me, you needed my consent—because my strength is right here. If I don't agree, there's nothing you can do. But conversely, when I want to recruit you, I don't need your consent—because my strength is right here. Your disagreement won't change anything. Alright, I've already wasted quite a bit of time here. Time to set off. I'm not in a hurry, but there are some things I'd rather retrieve sooner than later."
With that, Kagaya dispelled the Susanoo and vanished on the spot with Shikamaru.
Everyone was left utterly dumbfounded. What just happened? Shikamaru had tried to recruit him, and instead, he got dragged off?!
"Bastard!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Choji and Ino immediately chased after them.
Darui scratched his head. He wanted to chase after them too, but...
Turning around, he looked at Kato Dan, who had been causing chaos nearby the entire time. If Darui left too, no one would be left to deal with him. So Darui couldn't leave—he had to stay and handle Kato Dan.