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Akira shot forward and stopped in front of Shigaraki Tanuki, one hand clamping around his throat.
"Where are Naruto and Izumi?"
"Don't look down on me, you freak! You think you can squeeze intel out of me? Keep dreaming!"
Even though Akira's absurd defense had shaken him, Shigaraki still forced himself to act tough.
Akira didn't bother arguing. His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan flared to life.
If the man wouldn't talk, then there was no reason to waste time. He would just rip the answers out of him with genjutsu.
Boom!
Shigaraki's head exploded.
The curse mark carved into his brain activated the instant Akira's eye power invaded. Under the crushing force of the Eternal Eye, his skull detonated like a cracked melon.
"Damn it! Plan B failed too!"
Hidden in the shadows, a Root ninja gritted his teeth, eyes burning with vicious resolve.
"No choice. Activate Plan C. We hold this monster here no matter what. We cannot let him interfere with Lord Danzō!"
"Take him down with us if we have to!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Figures burst from concealment one after another, charging Akira without a shred of fear.
"Moths to a flame."
Akira's expression remained icy as they rushed him from all directions. His fingers flicked lightly.
Compressed air bullets tore through the air.
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Several Root ninjas dropped dead before they even reached him.
"Let's go to hell together, you monster!"
A ninja suddenly erupted from the ground behind Akira. A red glow ignited at his chest.
Akira's brows tightened. For the first time, he sensed real danger.
Without hesitation, he activated his Rinnegan and swapped places with a distant Root ninja.
Boom!!!
The instant the switch completed, a massive black sphere erupted into existence.
Everything nearby, including the two Root ninjas, was swallowed whole.
"…The Reverse Four Symbols Seal."
So that was it. No wonder he'd felt threatened. It was a suicide sealing technique.
His body might be invincible, but that didn't mean he was untouchable. Sealing jutsu could still deal with him.
"You lunatics," Akira said coldly, scanning them. "Every last one of you carved the Reverse Four Symbols Seal into your bodies?"
Each ninja bore the same seal etched across their chest.
"Too bad. It won't work on me."
"Die!!"
Another ninja lunged, roaring as he activated the Reverse Four Symbols Seal at point-blank range.
Akira glanced at him, utterly calm, and used Amenotejikara again, swapping with someone farther away.
The man who had finally reached him ended up sealing only himself and a comrade.
"Damn it!!"
The remaining Root ninjas gnashed their teeth.
The Reverse Four Symbols Seal was terrifyingly powerful, capable of forcing a one-for-one trade. But if they couldn't touch him, it meant nothing.
Even knowing it was useless, they kept charging. Their mission was to buy time for Danzō. That was all that mattered.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Black spheres bloomed and vanished in succession, leaving craters everywhere.
Akira moved like a ghost, switching positions effortlessly. Not a single sealing sphere so much as brushed his clothes.
Minutes later, the battlefield was in ruins.
Akira held the final Root ninja by the throat. He had deliberately spared this one.
"Where are they?"
The man stared back, face twisted.
"You think I'll tell you? Go to hell!"
Crack.
Akira snapped his neck before he could trigger the seal.
With the enemies eliminated, Akira pressed deeper into the base.
It was massive. Naruto and Izumi could be locked up anywhere.
He advanced down the corridor, smashing open every locked door he passed. Inside were laboratories filled with equipment, human and animal test subjects. None were the ones he sought.
At the end of the passageway, a staircase led downward.
Below was something like a prison.
Not for ordinary criminals, judging by the layout. More likely for experimental subjects.
Akira searched the area but found no sign of Naruto or Izumi.
Instead, he discovered a large cell packed with children.
The oldest were around fifteen. The youngest looked barely six or seven.
Experimental material? Or future Root cannon fodder waiting to be brainwashed?
Crack!
Akira bent the iron bars apart with his bare hands and stepped inside.
Fear. Worry. Curiosity. Blank indifference.
A mix of emotions stared back at him.
"Hey, brats. Have you seen a blond kid, about seven, whisker marks on his face?"
He gave a rough description of Naruto. If the boy had been held here, someone would remember.
Silence.
"If anyone gives me useful information, I'll take you out of here. You'll be free. If you want money or anything else, I'll give it to you."
He suppressed his killing intent and asked again, offering generous terms.
"I know!"
"Me too!"
Two boys around fourteen, the oldest in the group, stepped forward at once.
They exchanged a glance, then rushed toward him, scrambling to speak first. Their eyes burned with longing for freedom.
"Me! Let me say it! I have what you want!"
"I'll talk! I know where the blond kid was taken! Please, get me out of here!"
Akira frowned and pointed at one.
"You. Speak."
"Yes, sir!"
The chosen boy beamed. The other lowered his head, eyes flickering strangely, as if waiting for something.
"This morning, I saw a blond kid brought here, and then—"
His voice cut off.
A kunai appeared in his hand, stabbing straight toward Akira's eye.
At the same time, the other boy lunged, targeting his other eye.
Clear objective. Blind him.
"Looking to die?"
Akira's face turned cold. His fists shot out.
His blows landed first.
Bang! Bang!
The two boys were blasted backward, slamming into the wall. Massive bloody holes gaped in their chests. They died instantly.
"So even children are tools now, huh?"
Akira's gaze swept the remaining kids. Killing intent flooded the cell.
He'd been wrong. They weren't experimental subjects.
They were brainwashed recruits. Future Root hounds.
"Sir! We had nothing to do with that! We weren't going to attack you!"
The children trembled under his aura.
Only one stepped forward. A pale, black-haired boy, no older than seven.
He faced Akira's crushing gaze, afraid but resolute.
"Earlier, Danzō came here. He told us to stall you. If we succeeded, he'd reward us when he returned."
"Danzō? That bastard isn't he supposed to be rotting in prison?"
Akira's eyes narrowed.
"It was him. I'm sure. He was here not long ago."
"So the old dog broke out."
Akira's lips curved faintly.
Not entirely bad news. If Danzō escaped Konoha's prison, Hiruzen wouldn't be able to wash his hands of it.
A perfect excuse to deal with the old Third as well.
He replayed the earlier events in his mind. Uchiha Tekka's sudden appearance. Everything inside the Root base.
Danzō had lured him here on purpose.
Lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Akira snorted inwardly. He wasn't too worried.
With Itachi and Fugaku guarding the Uchiha district, two Kage-level fighters holding the line, nothing catastrophic would happen so quickly.
Still, better not take chances.
Bang!
He created a shadow clone to handle the children and immediately left with his real body.
…
Outside.
Might Gai, with the Seventh Gate open, was battling Nue head-on. Hiruzen and Fugaku supported from the flanks. Konoha's shinobi assisted from all sides.
Even so, they could barely contain the monster.
With his Susanoo unavailable, Fugaku's strength was heavily reduced. On top of that, Nue had already drained a significant amount of his chakra. He was nearing his limit.
"Third! What's going on? It's been this long and the sealing squad still isn't ready? If this keeps up, I won't last much longer!"
Fugaku roared through gritted teeth.
"I've been fighting this monster nonstop! I don't know what's happening on their end!" Hiruzen shouted back, swinging his staff to knock aside one of Nue's tails.
"No need to wait for them. I've already killed the entire sealing squad."
Danzō appeared atop Konoha's wall, sneering.
"Danzō, you bastard!"
Fugaku turned to curse him.
That single lapse cost him.
A smaller tail split off from Nue and wrapped around his legs.
"What?!"
He felt his chakra draining rapidly. He slashed the tail off with a kunai.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Before he could recover, three massive tails whipped in and bound his entire body.
"Idiot. You dare lose focus against an enemy like that?"
Danzō mocked.
"Damn it! Fugaku!"
Hiruzen tried to rush over, staff spinning.
But Nue's enormous tail coiled around him, trapping him in place.
Fugaku's face grew paler as his chakra continued to be siphoned away.
Roar!!
Nue bellowed. After absorbing yet another Kage-level's chakra, its power surged violently.
Its original fifty-meter body doubled, shooting up to nearly a hundred meters tall.
The surrounding Konoha shinobi stared in horror.
An enemy th
A thunderous boom ripped through the sky.
Wrapped in blazing blue chakra, Might Guy shot backward like a falling comet, hurled more than ten thousand meters in an instant.
"Pfft!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth midair. By the time he crashed into the ground, the impact shook the earth. His body went limp, the Eight Gates slamming shut one after another. His head lolled to the side.
He passed out cold.
"Guy!!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face turned ashen. With Guy gone, their strongest frontline fighter had fallen. The pressure on him spiked instantly.
At this rate… he wouldn't last much longer.
"Fugaku! Where is Uchiha Akira?! Get him out here now!"
Hiruzen roared, voice cracking with urgency.
"If this keeps up, not only will Konoha be destroyed, your Uchiha clan will be dragged down with it!"
Fugaku's face was deathly pale. His chakra was nearly drained dry; even speaking took effort now.
Having your chakra sucked out wouldn't kill you outright—but it left you collapsed on the spot, powerless, unable to fight. On a battlefield like this, that might as well be a death sentence. One stray shockwave could finish you.
The next second, the last thread of chakra inside him was ripped away. Not a drop remained.
Nue released him immediately—but not out of mercy.
As Fugaku hit the ground, the monstrous creature lifted its massive foot and stomped down, intending to crush him into pulp.
Staring at the shadow descending from above, utterly unable to move, Fugaku's heart pounded in terror. In desperation, he screamed inwardly:
Ancestor, save me!
BOOM!!!
His silent plea was answered.
A colossal purple giant, two hundred meters tall with wings spreading wide across the sky, burst from the earth itself.
Its fist came crashing down onto Nue's head.
"ROOOAR!"
The beast shrieked in agony. Its face twisted grotesquely from the impact as it was blasted hundreds of meters away.
Even drained and barely conscious, Fugaku's eyes lit up when he saw that familiar figure towering over the battlefield.
"Ancestor! You've finally come!"
"It's the Ancestor! The Ancestor is here! That monster's finished!"
"Ancestor! That thing slaughtered so many of our comrades—please, don't hold back! Kill it!"
"It's Konoha's hero, Uchiha Akira! He's here! That damn monster dared run wild in Konoha—now it's going to pay!"
Cheers erupted in every direction.
Uchiha shinobi and Konoha ninja alike shouted themselves hoarse, their despair swept away in an instant.
The sight of that two-hundred-meter-tall purple titan, half a body taller than Nue itself, filled them with overwhelming confidence.
They believed in Akira. It wouldn't be long before he crushed the beast completely.
"Uchiha Akira… you came out sooner than I expected."
Danzo's face darkened, his voice laced with irritation.
"Tch. Those useless fools. They could only hold you back for such a short time."
To him, the men who had sacrificed their lives to stall Akira were nothing but tools.
"Still, it doesn't matter. Things didn't go exactly as I planned, but it's close enough."
A thin, twisted smile crept onto his lips.
"Uchiha Akira, you're too late. Nue has absorbed the chakra of two Kage-level powerhouses. It's invincible now. You showing up at this point is nothing but suicide!"
Standing atop Susanoo's head, Akira looked down at him, eyes cold.
"Hmph. Danzo, you shameless dog. I spared your life, and instead of being grateful, you crawl back out to stir up trouble."
His gaze sharpened.
"Looks like I've been too merciful."
"Merciful?!" Danzo's expression warped in fury.
"Fugaku said the same thing. You too. As expected of the Uchiha—you're demons by nature. All of you should rot in hell!"
He had his limbs broken, his skin flayed, his tendons torn, and was thrown into prison to suffer endless torment.
And they called that mercy?
Was that supposed to be a joke?
Danzo's voice grew hoarse and distorted as he screamed, "Just wait, Uchiha Akira! The pain I endured—I'll repay it a hundredfold, a thousandfold!"
"Shut up."
Akira didn't even bother arguing.
He raised Susanoo's massive hand and brought it down toward Danzo in a crushing strike.
BOOM!!!
Stone shattered. Konoha's outer wall collapsed instantly, blasted open with a massive breach.
Danzo's figure exploded into pieces on the spot…
at grew stronger the more you fought it. How were they supposed to win?
If not for Guy in the Seventh Gate holding the front line, and Hiruzen providing support earlier, they would have been wiped out already.
But that was before.
Now, empowered and faster, Nue's colossal tail ripped through the air and smashed into Might Guy before he could dodge.
Boom!
"..."
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