The newborn Hirasaka never imagined that Brook, who had been suppressed only moments earlier, would suddenly reverse the situation and strike back from a seemingly hopeless position.
He could feel the tree roots crawling across his face and body, writhing like living things as they frantically devoured his power.
"Impossible! I don't want to disappear!"
"Brook! Let me go! I'll submit to you! I'll even help you deal with that dead toad and that ugly slug!"
The newborn Hirasaka panicked.
No matter how violently he struggled, he could not break free from Brook's restraints. The rune shield around his body, which had once been his greatest protection, now seemed like a cage. Brook had fixed himself firmly to the flaw in the barrier, and from there, his devouring roots had already spread across Hirasaka's entire body.
If this continued, he would truly be drained dry.
"You think I need your help to handle them?"
Brook sneered.
"I could have let you reincarnate, but now, you're better off becoming my food."
With that, Brook dragged the newborn Hirasaka into his alternate dimension.
He would savor this meal slowly.
Kaguya and Ten-Tails Groot had just been about to help Brook, but in the blink of an eye, Brook had already turned the tables and vanished with Hirasaka.
With no other choice, the two turned their attacks toward the Slug Sage.
When the forces of Pure Land Hell, All Nations, and Ryūchi Cave saw that Brook had already defeated the strongest enemy on the opposing side, some of their earlier hesitation vanished instantly.
Resistance was meaningless.
The Slug Sage, terrified after seeing both the Toad Sage and Hirasaka disappear one after another, immediately split into thousands of tiny slug clones. They scattered madly in every direction, slipping into cracks in the ground and fleeing underground.
As long as one clone survived, it would not die.
The Slug Sage's method did allow many clones to escape, but countless others were destroyed in the chaos, scattering traces of the heart's primal energy.
The moment the first slug clone escaped, most of the energy had already been transferred into that clone, turning it into the new main body.
Ten-Tails Groot immediately began absorbing the primal energy left behind by the Slug Sage. Its strength rose slightly once more.
With the Slug Sage gone, the toads of Mount Myōboku lost their last pillar of support and began fleeing in panic.
But the hunters behind them showed no mercy.
At this moment, Jiraiya once again stepped forward to protect the toads.
Even with the help of Fukasaku and Shima, and even after entering Sage Mode, Jiraiya was still ultimately defeated by the others.
Brook's order was clear.
Exterminate the toads of Mount Myōboku.
Meanwhile, inside the Amenominaka ice dimension, the Toad Sage was trapped.
He had power, but no way to use it properly.
All he could do was bombard the frozen space in fury, trying to shatter it completely. Yet no matter how hard he attacked, he could not find a way out.
Then, he remembered his Reverse Summoning Technique.
Back then, he had used a reverse summoning method to help the Sage of Six Paths gather the power of many Kage and forcibly summon Brook.
Now, the thirty-five percent of the Divine Mountain's heart power inside him should already be comparable to the combined power of the Sage of Six Paths and those Kage-level souls.
"I'll try it!"
"Sage Art: Reverse Super Spirit Summoning!"
The Toad Sage felt a massive amount of chakra drain from his body.
At last, he vanished from the icy dimension and returned to the ninja world.
At that moment, the forces of Ryūchi Cave and All Nations were trying to kill Jiraiya, Fukasaku, Shima, and the remaining toads. If Tsunade had not stepped in to stop them, Jiraiya and the others would already have died.
By sheer coincidence, the Toad Sage appeared right beside Jiraiya after escaping through reverse summoning.
The snakes of Ryūchi Cave and the ninjas of All Nations were startled and immediately retreated.
Tsunade, who had been standing in front of Jiraiya, also fled without the slightest hesitation.
If she were captured by the Toad Sage again because of something as foolish as protecting Jiraiya, she had no doubt Brook would abandon her as queen.
The Senju clan might even be implicated and thrown into the Animal Path.
There was absolutely no room for leniency.
The Toad Sage had just returned to the ninja world, but he immediately realized he had missed a perfect chance.
Kaguya and Ten-Tails Groot had already surrounded him.
"I never thought a dead toad like you could actually escape my Amenominaka space."
Kaguya looked at the Toad Sage coldly.
"But you paid a heavy price."
She could clearly sense that the Toad Sage's condition had weakened.
"Where are Brook and Hirasaka? Where is the slug?"
The Toad Sage glanced around, and his heart sank.
In the short time he had been trapped, both of his allies had disappeared. The toads of Mount Myōboku had also been defeated and suffered heavy losses.
"Great Sage, Hirasaka was captured by Brook and disappeared! The Slug Sage split apart and fled! We've lost!"
The injured Fukasaku and Shima spoke with grief in their voices.
The sight of Mount Myōboku's toads being slaughtered had broken their hearts.
"What?"
The Toad Sage was shaken.
One ally had fled, the other had been captured, and now he was alone. Worse still, he had already spent most of his energy escaping the icy dimension.
As the ninjas of All Nations and the priests of Pure Land Hell closed in, despair finally surged inside the Toad Sage's heart.
Brook's divine art seemed capable of finding anyone. His space-time ability was everywhere.
Escape was impossible.
Even if the Slug Sage ran, how long could it hide?
Faced with this hopeless situation, even the Toad Sage fell into despair.
But even if he died, he would drag someone down with him.
His bloodshot eyes locked onto Kaguya and Tsunade.
He would make Brook regret this.
"Fukasaku, Shima, thank you for all these years. Now, lend me all your strength!"
The Toad Sage suddenly acted, absorbing all the Mount Myōboku Sage Art energy inherited by Fukasaku, Shima, and Jiraiya.
The remaining toads, now drained of Sage Chakra and natural energy, had their chakra seized as well to replenish his strength.
"He's going all out! Everyone, be careful!"
The White Snake Sage shouted.
As an old rival who had known the Toad Sage for thousands of years, it immediately saw what the old toad was doing.
"You left our toad clan with no way to survive, so none of you will have an easy end either!"
With crimson eyes, the Toad Sage entered Sage Beast Mode. Sage Chakra and natural energy surged wildly from his body.
His gaze fixed on Tsunade.
Kaguya's spatial abilities were too troublesome to deal with.
So first, he would kill the Queen of All Nations.
Ignoring Kaguya's attacks, the Toad Sage charged straight toward Tsunade Senju.
-------------
When Hashirama, Tobirama, and the other members of the Senju clan saw the Toad Sage charging toward Tsunade with naked killing intent, every one of them tensed.
"Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
Hashirama knew full well how terrifying the Toad Sage had become. His power had already surpassed the Six Paths level, so Hashirama used his strongest technique from the start.
Even so, he also knew it would not be enough.
He only hoped to delay the Toad Sage for a second or two.
"Sealing Technique: Adamantine Sealing Barrier!"
Mito Uzumaki also moved at once, trying to create a chance for her granddaughter to escape.
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Tobirama vanished from where he stood and appeared beside Tsunade, who was fleeing at full speed. He grabbed her and prepared to take her away.
"Sage Art: Giant Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"
The Toad Sage opened his mouth and spat out a flaming ball of oil as large as a small mountain. It roared toward Tsunade and Tobirama with terrifying heat.
"What a useless burden."
Seeing that Tsunade and Tobirama were about to be burned to ash, Kaguya immediately activated Yomotsu Hirasaka and pulled the two weaklings into the black portal before dropping them behind her.
The Toad Sage easily tore free from the Adamantine Chains binding him and smashed the giant wooden Guanyin statue as if it were nothing more than a toy.
At this moment, apart from Brook and Hirasaka, no one was worthy of being his opponent.
Not even Kaguya.
Seeing Tsunade rescued, the Toad Sage glared at Kaguya with a vicious expression. Before Brook returned, he was determined to kill these people and vent his hatred.
Sensing the Toad Sage's frenzied killing intent, the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave immediately led its subordinates to dispel Brook's summoning and flee back to their lair. It did not dare face the nearly invincible Toad Sage head-on.
The ninjas of All Nations also retreated in panic. No one dared to confront him directly and suffer meaningless casualties.
Only the demon generals and priests of Pure Land Hell remained, slowly gathering behind Kaguya, the emperor's wife, to face the Toad Sage.
After hunting down several of the Slug Sage's clones, Madara and the other demon generals realized those clones were only bait and gradually returned to the battlefield.
"Haha!"
The Toad Sage laughed bitterly, his eyes filled with resentment.
"I never imagined that the world I protected my entire life would come to this! In the end, I am being besieged by humans who follow two alien invaders. What a perfect joke!"
Back then, he should have let the summoned beasts rule the world instead of allowing humans to develop.
In ancient times, humanity had been nothing more than a weak, backward race hiding in remote corners of the land.
If the Sage of Six Paths had not founded Ninshū, passed down chakra, and continued protecting the ninja world, humanity would never have become the master of this planet.
The Toad Sage glared at the Kage-level souls from Hell, all of whom had now become Brook's subordinates.
Why had fate played such a cruel joke on him?
"You dead toad, winners become kings and losers become villains. You were acting for your own interests too, so stop pretending to be noble."
Kaguya looked at the Toad Sage with disgust.
She admitted that she was an invader. To this planet, she was undoubtedly a sinner.
But the Toad Sage was no saint either.
"Then today, I'll slaughter all you fools who can't tell right from wrong!"
The Toad Sage roared and launched a wild, indiscriminate assault on the officials and demon generals of Pure Land Hell.
In only a few moves, he shattered many ghost soldiers into smoke, forcing them to return to Pure Land Hell and recover their souls within their respective Six Paths Palaces.
Just as Kaguya was about to throw Tsunade, this troublesome burden, into Amenominaka's dimension, a powerful aura appeared.
Joy instantly flashed across everyone's faces.
"Hey, dead toad! You should hand over Hirasaka's heart power too!"
Brook slowly emerged from a black space, his body shimmering faintly with powerful golden runes.
"You devoured Hirasaka already?"
The Toad Sage retreated a great distance in terror, despair surging in his heart.
He had not even had time to kill Brook's woman.
How could he accept this?
"I've finished eating. Now I'm digesting."
Brook smiled.
"So don't even think about running."
In an instant, Brook appeared beside the Toad Sage and stomped him into the ground. Then, ignoring the Toad Sage's Sage Mode attacks, he beat him down without mercy.
Hirasaka's rune shield had already become Brook's spoil of war.
The Toad Sage's attacks could barely affect him now.
Meanwhile, Ten-Tails Groot acted with great cunning.
While everyone's attention was fixed on the battle between Brook and the Toad Sage, it quietly extended its tentacles toward the powerful toads of Mount Myōboku, including Fukasaku, Shima, Gamabunta, and Gamaken.
In the end, it did not even spare the weakened Jiraiya.
It devoured them all and enjoyed a hearty meal.
By the time Tsunade noticed Jiraiya had disappeared, it was already too late.
Facing Brook, who had become even stronger after devouring Hirasaka, the Toad Sage had no power to resist. He lasted less than an hour, during which a small part of Mount Myōboku was destroyed.
Unsurprisingly, he was eventually swallowed by Brook and slowly digested.
Brook returned to the center of Mount Myōboku with a satisfied expression and began cleaning up the mess on the mountain.
The Slug Sage had successfully escaped.
The toads of Mount Myōboku had all been devoured by Ten-Tails Groot.
"It's over. Everyone, go home."
Brook ignored Tsunade's request and refused to revive Jiraiya.
He only said that after Jiraiya's soul entered Pure Land Hell, he would be made an ordinary demon soldier.
Then Brook threw the sulking Tsunade back to the City of Flames through a black portal.
After that, he sent Orochimaru, Minato, and the other ninjas of All Nations back to their territories, letting them leave Mount Myōboku and return to their own duties.
Finally, he withdrew all the gods and demons of Pure Land Hell.
Only then did Brook feel at ease and begin his own journey of digestion.
Ten-Tails Groot transformed into half a divine tree, taking root in Mount Myōboku and absorbing the rich natural energy and overflowing divine power.
Seeing that the toad clan had been wiped out, Kaguya finally felt at ease and began focusing on her pregnancy.
She wanted to raise two powerful children with Brook before the Ōtsutsuki clan descended.
With Brook as their father this time, surely she would not raise another pair of unfilial sons.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the ninja world, the Slug Sage was trembling as it moved.
Its entire body was filled with terror. It feared that a black portal would appear beside it at any moment and drag it away to be devoured.
It fled desperately toward the sea.
Perhaps, if it hid in the ocean, it could escape Brook's pursuit.
However, Brook had now entered a state of digestion and fusion. For the time being, he had no attention to spare for the portion of Hirasaka's original power inside the Slug Sage.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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